Israeli General Amir Eshel threatens to kill even more Lebanese civilians in a future Israeli attack on Lebanon

February 1, 2014, 6:59 pm

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HERZLIYA, Israel: Israel accused Hezbollah Wednesday of putting “thousands” of bases in residential buildings and said it would destroy these in a future conflict, even at the cost of civilian lives.

The unusually explicit threat by air force chief Major-General Amir Eshel appeared to be part of an effort by Israeli officials to prepare world opinion for high civilian casualties in any new confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel says Iran and Syria have supplied improved missiles to Hezbollah, which fought the technologically superior Israeli military to a standstill in a 2006 war in Lebanon.

“We will have to deal aggressively with thousands of Hezbollah bases which threaten Israel and mainly our interior,” Eshel said in a speech, citing Beirut, the Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon among the locations of the bases.

Other Israeli officials have alleged that Hezbollah uses Lebanese civilian homes as missile silos or gun nests.

Eshel said Hezbollah sometimes had entire storys of residential buildings ready, under lock and key, to be used in combat.

“Above and below live civilians whom we have nothing against – a kind of human shield,” he told the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Strategic Studies, a think-tank near Tel Aviv.

“And that is where the war will be. That is where we will have to fight in order to stop it and win. Whoever stays in these bases will simply be hit and will risk their lives. And whoever goes out will live.”

Much of Hezbollah’s attention is now devoted to Syria, where its fighters have been helping President Bashar Assad battle an almost 3-year-old insurgency.

While content to watch Hezbollah and the Islamist-led Syrian rebels fight each other, Israel worries that its Lebanese foes will obtain more advanced weaponry from Assad’s arsenal.

On at least three occasions last year, Israeli forces bombed suspected Hezbollah-bound arms convoys in Syria.

Asked whether Israel had done too little to intercept such transfers, Eshel said Israeli forces still had the upper hand.

“I don’t think this is a failure,” Eshel said.

“I think the Israel has extraordinary deterrence which should not be discredited – significant deterrence, bought in blood.”

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The Useful Failure of Geneva II: Washington Finds Alternative to Assad

February 1, 2014, 7:10 pm

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Medical personnel look for survivors following a reported airstrike on the Tariq al-Bab district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on February 1, 2014. (Photo: AFP - Mohammed al-Khatieb)

By: Sami Kleib

Published Saturday, February 1, 2014

The most important result of Geneva II is its failure. Now, it is time to prepare better for the second round of negotiations, which might fail, too. The failure will likely continue until Russia and the United States agree on what the political solution will look like. Until the solution is ripe and ready, it is alright to administer some over-the-counter pain medicine and pretend that the cancer is being cured.

The failure of the first round of Geneva II allows the Russians to say the opposition is the problem. Moscow was not satisfied with the Syrian National Coalition delegation that negotiated in Geneva. Perhaps it was happy deep down that the delegation was weak and did not represent the opposition. Now, it can push to expand the representation of the opposition, end the coalition, and include most of the leftist, liberal, and secular opposition.

The failure of Geneva II does not bother Washington. The United States is looking to get rid of the specter of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is natural, then, to hold him responsible for the failure of the current round. The Barack Obama administration realizes that Assad is going to run in the presidential elections next summer. They think that if he runs, he will win. The United States is under Russian, Iranian, and Chinese pressure to leave the Syrian people to decide their future. There is an international consensus that Assad is guaranteed to win, even if the elections take place under international supervision.

The Americans cannot even imagine this possibility, but they can not overthrow Assad or kill him. If they do, the chemical weapons deal would stop and the open door with Iran would close. There would be a major problem with Russia and China who have not gotten over the international fraud involved in overthrowing the Libyan regime and killing Moammar Gadhafi. Most dangerous is that no one knows how the Syrian army and its allies would react.

It was necessary to pull the rug from under the feet of the Syrian government’s delegation in Geneva II. The speeches of the US, Saudi, Turkish, Qatari, and French foreign ministers in Montreux all held Assad responsible for the war and terrorism in the country. The former US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, continued the campaign with his statements about war crimes. The US Congress resumed non-lethal military aid to the moderate Syrian opposition. The United States and France accused the regime of obstructing the delivery of chemical weapons, and Washington proclaimed, again, that the war option against Syria is not off the table.

The message is clear: Assad is not allowed to retake the reins. At this point, almost everything is in his favor. A fractured political opposition, fighting among opposition fighters, the reconciliation process moving forward at a faster pace, the presence and vitality of the official delegation in Geneva II whose members dominated foreign media coverage, the high morale of the army on the ground, and the shift in the Syrian public mood, whereby many want a return of the state. Add to the mix the consistency of the Iranian and Russian positions in support of their Syrian ally. Sources from both sides confirm that Assad himself, and not just the regime, is still a red line.

What can Washington and its allies do?

There are three options. Either the US accepts Assad’s survival, candidacy, and victory based on a tacit agreement with Russia. (It is possible despite the American noise that will accompany it). Or it will try again to tip the military balance by giving the opposition lethal weapons. (An unlikely possibility because of concerns over al-Qaeda, al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). Or it will put forward an acceptable alternative to Assad. (This option is being highly promoted at this point).

A senior US official says the alternative is ready. He is reticent about the details, but he points to two options. Either it will be someone who is acceptable to the army and the main figures of the regime, which means there will be no problem with the Russians and Iranians, or the presidency in the next phase will be a kind of transitional body based on Geneva II.

Before that, the Swiss city would have hosted a number of meetings to reach an international consensus on the shape of the transitional body, its powers and its role. The same official confirms, without batting an eyelid, that the alternative has been found, and he is from the Alawi sect. He confirms, too, that contacts have been made with people inside Syria for that purpose, and that the matter is now being discussed with the Russians. You can hear similar accounts from coalition leaders who were in Geneva.

Is it serious or is it just hype? Figures within the Syrian regime and a number of their allies believe that the United States has left no stone unturned to find an alternative to Assad. They add, however, that the United States was unable to achieve this goal, even when the regime was weak. So, how will it be able to do so now, when the state has regained many of the elements of its power? It is just hype, they insist.

As such, it appears that the failure of the current round of Geneva II is useful for Washington. The United States stresses that the coalition delegation made a major concession by sitting at the negotiating table. They also agreed to discuss side issues, abandoning the precondition for negotiations, i.e., Assad stepping down. But according to Washington, the official delegation demonstrated an unwillingness to accept anything that has to do with redrawing Syria’s political future. The United States confirms that, with its allies, they tried their best to encourage the coalition delegation to come to Geneva but that it might be harder in the future.

The Russians and their allies respond that the regime, too, made a major concession when it sat with parties it describes as terrorists. That is why Moscow argues that the reason this round of negotiations did not go anywhere is because the coalition is unable to control the opposition forces on the ground and does not represent the opposition.

It is necessary, then, to have future negotiations attended by a larger cross section of the opposition and to have a more effective regional presence. The Russians talk about the need to include Iran in future negotiations that will likely take place in a few months.

It is said that Tehran, through the warm reception it gave the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is trying to pull the rug from under the feet of Saudi Arabia. The Iranian and Turkish sides are looking for a Syrian opposition that is not subject to Saudi influence. Turkey wants a price for that, however. It keeps on saying that Assad is the problem, hoping to soften Iranian opposition to the idea of abandoning him. Nevertheless, the facts on the ground indicate that the Turkish wind is blowing against the al-Qaeda-affiliated groups. This is the only thing that will weaken the fighters and make it possible to find future common ground regarding Aleppo and its countryside.

All this reveals that not all the elements of the political solution are available. But it also suggests that efforts are accelerating behind the scenes, even though the most likely possibility is that the war in Syria will go on for quite some time. However, concern over terrorism means that the United States and its allies do not have the luxury of managing the Syrian crisis forever. It is necessary, therefore, to keep the two Syrian sides within a framework of successive negotiations, even if the results are modest or even non-existent in the early stages.

This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.

Indonesian extremists

February 1, 2014, 7:31 pm

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Posted by: Hadi F. February 1, 2014

Indonesian extremists joined thousands of foreign militants fighting the Syrian government, a report said on Friday.

The report said the Indonesian militants have traveled to Syria to help extremist groups trying to create an Islamic state there.

The report by the Institute for Indonesian militants joining the fight in SyriaPolicy Analysis of Conflict, based in Jakarta, said that the Syrian conflict, approaching its third anniversary in March, had “captured the imagination of Indonesian extremists in a way no foreign war has before.”

“The enthusiasm for Syria is directly linked to predictions in Islamic eschatology that the final battle at the end of time will take place in Sham, the region sometimes called Greater Syria or the Levant, encompassing Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel,” the report said.

Sidney Jones, the institute’s director, said the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, based on information from the Syrian government, estimated that at least 50 Indonesians had traveled to Syria via Turkey to take up arms since 2012. While she emphasized that the figure was “a guesstimate,” the report warned that the numbers could increase.

As many as 11,000 foreign fighters have poured into Syria by way of the Middle East and North Africa. The fighters include radicalized young Muslims with Western passports from Europe, North America and Australia.

Ms. Jones said Indonesian fighters could easily fly on commercial airlines to Turkey, where Ahrar al-Sham, one of the extremist groups fighting the Syrian government, helped them cross the border into Syria. Some Indonesian extremists have also been linking up with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a hard-line group linked to Al Qaeda, she said.

“There are two main concerns for Indonesia,” Ms. Jones said. “One is the return of foreign fighters and what that could mean to providing leadership to the very weak and incompetent jihadi movement here.”

“Second, the process of raising funds for Syria could strengthen the resource base of groups in Indonesia, such as Jemaah Islamiyah,” she said, referring to the Southeast Asian terrorist network linked to Al Qaeda.

So know which nationality or from which country militants didn’t come to fight in Syria …maybe its time for polar bears to come to Syria.

US to Step up War on Syria After Geneva II

February 1, 2014, 7:48 pm

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Posted on February 1, 2014 by Alexandra Valiente

By Finian Cunningham

Just as the designed-to-fail Geneva II negotiations between the Syrian government and the Western-backed fake opposition came to a close at the weekend, another media smear campaign against the Damascus authorities conveniently surfaces.

The latest “sensational” story is that the Syrian state army has been “wiping civilian residential areas off the map” in the cities of Damascus, Aleppo and Hama.

This must be seen as not just another sporadic Western propaganda stunt. It appears to signal a concerted effort to intensify the US-led agenda of regime change in Syria – an agenda that is criminal to the core. It dovetails with the “failure” of Geneva talks and reports of increased weapons supply from the US to the Al Qaeda proxies waging a war of terror inside Syria, as well as renewed threats of military aggression by Washington’s top diplomat, John Kerry.

Human Rights Watch – a proven propaganda tool for the US government – presented satellite images that purport to show large residential areas having been “razed to rubble” by deliberate Syrian army demolition. In an all-too familiar pattern of dissemination, the story was duly given prominence by Western media, including France 24 and the [state-run] BBC.

HRW claims that the alleged demolitions represent a “war crime” and that the UN Security Council should now refer the Syrian government for prosecution.

It is no coincidence that the lurid allegations should emerge just as the Geneva II talks were coming to an inconclusive end. In Geneva, the Syrian government delegation quite rightly rejected the preposterous demands made by the Western, Saudi, Qatari-backed so-called Syrian National Coalition for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

As previously noted in this column, the SNC – which exists only in the figment of exiled imagination – has negligible mandate from the Syrian people. The only “mandate” it has is from Washington and its allies, who created the front to do their political bidding for regime change in Syria.

The fake “peace conference” never had a chance of succeeding in its ostensible purpose. By placing impossible demands on the Syrian government it appears that the real agenda of the conference, from the Western point of view, was aimed at casting the Syrian government as intransigent.

The sensational claims of “wiping civilian residences off the map” are timed to add further smear on the Syrian government.

Just before the Geneva II conference opened, we had another synchronized Western media psyops campaign courtesy of the Guardian and CNN, which claimed that they had been provided with over 50,000 images of “industrial-scale killing” of prisoners carried out by Syrian state forces. The alleged source of the images was an un-named single individual who was described as an ex-policeman.

As with all smear tactics, the telling thing is that they never seem to be followed up with substantiation. How many times during the three-year Syrian conflict have we been told of “massacres” committed by the Syrian state, only for these massacres to fade into obscurity with no conclusive evidence? Indeed, in some cases, it quietly emerges much later that the culprits of massive violations were the Western-backed foreign mercenaries.

One such notorious incident was the alleged chemical weapons attack on civilians near Damascus on 21 August last year. Recall that the incident nearly resulted in an all-out US military attack on Syria.
Both the New York Times and Human Rights Watch have since slyly backed away from their once-adamant claims that the Syrian army was responsible, as evidence subsequently shows that the perpetrators of that horror – involving hundreds of deaths – were the Western-backed terror gangs.

So what were the alleged demolitions in Damascus, Aleppo and Hama about? For a start, what the Western propaganda complex of human rights groups, media and governments conveniently omits is that the residential areas in question were already vacated by civilians. The innuendo that the Syrian forces were bombing civilians out of their homes does not stand up.

Secondly, the Western-backed foreign insurgents are typically operating by holding towns and city districts under a siege of terror. It is these foreign mercenaries that are the ones creating a humanitarian crisis in Syrian urban areas by cutting off the supply of food and medicines.

This nefarious criminal practice of holding civilians as hostages and human shields was clearly demonstrated this past week in the Yarmouk district of Damascus, where aid convoys finally began arriving to besieged civilians after the stranglehold of the Western-backed al-Qaeda-linked militants was broken. It was also seen in the town of Qusayr when the Syrian army liberated it from the vice of the mercenaries last June.

The same criminal practice of holding civilian communities to ransom is extant in other areas of Damascus, Aleppo, Homs and Hama. There are credible reports of civilians protesting against the militants over their inhumane conditions and being brutalized or killed for daring to protest.

The Syrian army’s demolition of buildings from which civilians have fled under the reign of terror imposed on them by the regime-change Western covert army – buildings which are then turned into sniper nests, explosive dumps and operating centers to further inflict sieges on adjacent civilian areas – is therefore an entirely legitimate national security response.

It is the legitimate right of the Syrian authorities to use such military force to root out the foot soldiers of this Western covert war of terror against Syria.

And it is risible that Western media and so-called human rights groups then turn around and try to blame the Syrian government for “war crimes”.

This is all part of an odious choreography. Set up a “peace process” designed to fail and combine it with heaps of smear against the Syrian government. Add that to reports this week of the US Congress voting secretly for increased weapons supply to the extremists in Syria, and now we have US secretary of state John Kerry threatening Syria with more war because it is allegedly “failing to meet targets for handing over chemical weapons”. (Ironically, chemical weapons that the Syrian army never even used in the first place, but most probably were fired by Western-backed militants.)

The concerted propaganda campaign in the context of “failed negotiations” at Geneva has a foreboding meaning – Western regime-change efforts in Syria are about to be intensified.

Behind the Scenes: Arresting Al-Atrash Helped in Discovering Many Terrorist Suicidal Attacks

February 2, 2014, 2:09 am

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Local Editor

. Senior security and intelligence officials in the Lebanese army affirmed that the capturing of Omar al-Atrash helped a lot in discovering and sabotaging many terrorist suicidal attacks that were in the making.


. Turkish Iranian relations are expected to advance and set a new positive record especially after the rapprochement that Erdogan has kick started during his recent visit to Tehran. This is to translate itself into more coordination between the two countries vis-a-vis the Syrian crisis.

. Certain European capitals have expressed uneasiness towards the recent French Saudi deal to arm the Lebanese army. The European reservation is a result of excluding those countries from the partnership of contributing in this affair.

Source: Al-Manar Website	02-02-2014 - 10:06 Last updated 02-02-2014 - 10:22

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Israel to create ‘buffer zones’ in Syria

February 2, 2014, 2:24 am

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admin / 6 hours ago

Israel has reportedly decided to create two militarized buffer zones inside Syria as a precaution against Al-Qaeda and the Assad regime.

Feb 1, 2014, World Bulletin

An Israeli news website with close ties to Israeli intelligence has reported that Israel is using the current unrest in Syria as an excuse to create two buffer zones as a precaution against Al-Qaeda and the Assad regime.

According to claims made by the Debkafile website, the move shows signs that Israel is abandoning its position of neutrality in the three-year-old Syrian civil war and decided to create the buffer zones last week as a safeguard against Al-Qaeda-linked rebel groups Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The first buffer zone will be placed along Syria’s border with Jordan and will be 45km long 75km wide. The second buffer zone will be 60km long and 30km wide along the Israeli border in Syria’s southern region of Golan.

The news story suggested that these buffer zones will be heavily militarized and control over them will be given to Syrian opposition groups that are approved of by the US, Israel and Jordan.

The report states that the first zone is currently occupied by Druze tribes with up to 180,000 people spread across 12o villages. Although this community has preferred to stay out of the fighting in Syria, Al-Qaeda incursions into their region by force them to get involved. The other zone is home to around 300,000 people.

The plan for the buffer zones apparently began in April 2010 when 15,000 US Special Forces and the Jordanian military instructors began training and arming Syrian opposition fighters at the King Hussein airbase in Mafraq.

IOF arrested 400 Palestinians in January including 75 children and 8 women

February 2, 2014, 2:31 am

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Gaza, ALRAY - Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)  arrested 400 Palestinians , 75 children and 8 women among them during last January  , Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies reported.

In a reported issued on Saturday the center explained that the IOF intensified its arresting campaign against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and noted that there was a sharp rise in the intrusions of Palestinians detainees cells by the Israeli special units.

According to the report  the IOF arrested 7 Palestinians from Gaza , illustrating that two fisherman were arrested after destroying their boats while 3 young men were arrested near the border to the east of Gaza. It also reported that the IOF arrested two patients in their way to receive medical treatment inside the occupied West Bank.

Riyad al-Ashqar, Media spokesman for the Center  made clear that the IOF carried out 260 storms  against Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank and arrested 70 children and 8 women.

The report noted that 35 children were arrested just form Hebron , illustrating that the child Obeida Asaid ,16, launched a hunger strike for two days  asking for transferring him from  Ofek civil prison.

It also reported that Israeli special forces stormed Palestinian detainees cells for 17 times during last month , three detainees were injured in section 3 in Rimon prison.

The IOF called the storm process " First Rain" noting that it is an ongoing campaign. It isolated 16 detainees in  solitary confinement, while the number of hunger strikers up to 6.

Al-Ashqar explained in the report that the general health conditions of Palestinian detainees  in the prisons are deteriorating  severely  highlighting the impacts of the  medical negligence policy of Israel Prison Service  (IPS) on the detainees .

He also explained that the IPS issued 38 new administrative detention orders  and extended 26 other orders.

The un-controlled Opposition

February 2, 2014, 7:59 pm

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By Gilad Atzmon

If you really want to understand the world we are living in, you better stick with the Zionist media. The Jerusalem Post will provide you with the names of the Jews who own the planet. The British Jewish Chronicle will teach you about arch pedophile Jimmy Seville’s ties with Israel. Haaretz will even let me speak about all those topicsThe Guardian (Of Zion) is there to shamelessly suppress.

Yesterday I came across a text by Dave Rich, a Hasbara mouthpiece operating within the UK ultra-Zionist Community Security Trust. Rich suggested that making a common cause “between Holocaust deniers, neo-fascists, the pro-Palestinian left, and the revolutionary Islamists of Iran is precisely what Dieudonné has spent the past decade trying to achieve.”

Let us admit it, no one could have been more succinct and precise in analysing Dieudonné’s vast impact. Yet in order to fully understand Rich’s statement we’ll have to decode the kosher sound bites and rewrite the above sentence using terminology that may resemble a familiar language.

Holocaust deniers – In the real world there are no ‘Holocaust deniers’: what we have instead are history revisionists – people who understand that the making of history, is a continuous attempt to narrate the past as we move along. The so-called revisionists re-visit, re-write and revise the past. Those whom Zionists and progressives often tag as ‘Holocaust deniers’ are often enough the last True Historians.

Neo-Fascists and Fascists – Zionists and Progressives tend to attach the ‘Fascist’ label to those who refuse to surrender to the tyranny of political correctness. Those few people who insist to say what they think against all odds. Thus, those whom the Zionists call ‘Fascists’ are in practice merely a bunch of Authentic People.

Pro-Palestinian Left – points in the direction of the last pockets of resistance to Kosher indoctrination within the Left, namely, those few resilient subjects and organisations that say NO to George Soros’ funding. Rich is basically referring here to the Genuine Left, people and organisations that are committed to Labour, working class politics and solidarity, as opposed to Identity politics spin.

Revolutionary Islamists of Iran – is the tag Zionists and progressives often attach to Proper Resistance — those Muslims who won’t work for Israel, not even in the spring.

Now that we are familiar with the basic Zionist glossary we are ready to translate Rich’s statement into proper English.

By suggesting that Dieudonné is articulating a common cause  for “Holocaust deniers, neo-fascists, the pro-Palestinian left, and the revolutionary Islamists of Iran” Rich actually admits that Dieudonné has managed to unite the True Historians, Authentic People, Genuine Left and the Proper Resistance.

In case someone fails to realize it, what Rich is describing here is the true dissidence, an uncompromised league of people that forms the un-controlled opposition: those people and institutions that do not subscribe to Zionist hegemony funded by Soros and his ilk.

It is not a secret that the Zionists and Left are in a state of panic, and for a good reason. The ‘anti-quenelle’ campaign that was supposed to ruin Dieudonné’s career backfired colossally. Pretty much when it seemed as if the French people had been Zionised by means of ‘correctness’ and were stripped of their revolutionary inclinations, a tsunami of resentment towards kosher socialism and Jewish political power swept the ground. They panicked and struck back hard. But you cannot fight a tsunami with a boomerang.

Dieudonné’s ‘quenelle’ is already a monumental development in the history of the Jews and their stooges within the Left and the media.

The Wandering Who? A Study Of Jewish Identity politics and Jewish Power in particular – available onAmazon.com  & Amazon.co.uk

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CONTROLLED OPPOSITION – FROM GOLDSTEIN TO SOROS AND BEYOND

February 2, 2014, 8:45 pm

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SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2013 AT 1:29PM GILAD ATZMON

http://www.counterpunch.org

By Gilad Atzmon

Jewish power is the unique capacity to stop us from discussing or even contemplating Jewish power. It is the capacity to determine the boundaries of the political discourse and criticism in particular.

In his new book, “The Invention Of The Land of Israel”, Israeli academic Shlomo Sand, manages to present conclusive evidence of the far fetched nature of the Zionist historical narrative - that the Jewish Exile is a myth as is the Jewish people and even the Land of Israel.

Yet, Sand and many others fail to address the most important question: If Zionism is based on myth, how do the Zionists manage to get a way with their lies, and for so long?

If the Jewish ‘homecoming’ and the demand for a Jewish national homeland cannot be historically substantiated, why has it been supported by both Jews and the West for so long? How does the Jewish state manage for so long to celebrate its racist expansionist ideology and at the expense of the Palestinian and Arab peoples?

Jewish power is obviously one answer, but, what is Jewish power? Can we ask this question without being accused of being Anti Semitic? Can we ever discuss its meaning and scrutinize its politics? Is Jewish Power a dark force, managed and maneuvered by some conspiratorial power? Is it something of which Jews themselves are shy? Quite the opposite - Jewish power, in most cases, is celebrated right in front of our eyes. As we know, AIPAC is far from being quiet about its agenda, its practices or its achievements. AIPAC, CFI in the UK and CRIF in France are operating in the most open manner and often openly brag about their success.

Furthermore, we are by now accustomed to watch our democratically elected leaders shamelessly queuing to kneel before their pay-masters. Neocons certainly didn’t seem to feel the need to hide their close Zionist affiliations. Abe Foxman’s Anti Defamation League (ADL) works openly towards the Judification of the Western discourse, chasing and harassing anyone who dares voice any kind of criticism of Israel or even of Jewish choseness. And of course, the same applies to the media, banking and Hollywood. We know about the many powerful Jews who are not in the slightest bit shy about their bond with Israel and their commitment to Israeli security, the Zionist ideology, the primacy of Jewish suffering, Israeli expansionism and even outright Jewish exceptionalism.

But, as ubiquitous as they are, AIPAC, CFI, ADL, Bernie Madoff,‘liberator’ Bernard Henri Levy, war-advocate David Aaronovitch, free market prophet Milton Friedman, Steven Spielberg, Haim Saban, Lord Levy and many other Zionist enthusiasts and Hasbara advocates are not necessarily the core or the driving force behind Jewish Power, but are merely symptoms. Jewish power is actually far more sophisticated than simply a list of Jewish lobbies or individuals performing highly developed manipulative skills.Jewish power is the unique capacity to stop us from discussing or even contemplating Jewish power. It is the capacity to determine the boundaries of the political discourse and criticism in particular.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not ‘right wing’ Zionists who facilitate Jewish power, It is actually the ‘good’, the ‘enlightened’ and the ‘progressive’ who make Jewish power the most effective and forceful power in the land. It is the ‘progressives’ who confound our ability to identify the Judeocentric tribal politics at the heart of Neoconservatism, American contemporary imperialism and foreign policy. It is the so-called ‘anti’ Zionist who goes out of his or her way to divert our attention from the fact that Israel defines itself as the Jewish State and blinds us to the fact that its tanks are decorated with Jewish symbols. It was the Jewish Left intellectuals who rushed to denounce Professors Mearsheimer and Walt, Jeff Blankfort and James Petras’ work on the Jewish Lobby. And it is no secret that Occupy AIPAC, the campaign against the most dangerous political Lobby in America, is dominated by a few righteous members of the chosen tribe. We need to face up to the fact that our dissident voice is far from being free. Quite the opposite, we are dealing here with an institutional case of controlled opposition.

In George Orwell’s 1984, it is perhaps Emmanuel Goldstein who is the pivotal character. Orwell’s Goldstein is a Jewish revolutionary, a fictional Leon Trotsky. He is depicted as the head of a mysterious anti-party organization called “The Brotherhood” and is also the author of the most subversive revolutionary text (The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism). Goldstein is the ‘dissenting voice’, the one who actually tells the truth. Yet, as we delve into Orwell’s text, we find out from Party’s ‘Inner Circle’ O’Brien that Goldstein was actually invented by Big Brother in a clear attempt to control the opposition and the possible boundaries of dissidence.

Orwell’s personal account of the Spanish Civil War “Homage To Catalonia” clearly presaged the creation of Emmanuel Goldstein. It was what Orwell witnessed in Spain that, a decade later, matured into a profound understanding of dissent as a form of controlled opposition. My guess is that, by the late 1940’s, Orwell had understood the depth of intolerance, and tyrannical and conspiratorial tendencies that lay at the heart of ‘Big Brother-ish’ Left politics and praxis.

Surprisingly enough, an attempt to examine our contemporaneous controlled opposition within the Left and the Progressive reveal that it is far from being a conspiratorial. Like in the case of the Jewish Lobby, the so-called ‘opposition’ hardly attempts to disguise its ethno-centric tribal interests, spiritual and ideological orientation and affiliation.

A brief examination of the list of organisations founded by George Soros’ Open Society Institute (OSI) presents a grim picture – pretty much the entire American progressive network is funded, partially or largely by a liberal Zionist, philanthropic billionaire who supports very many good and important causes that are also very good for the Jews. And yet, like staunch Zionist Haim Saban, Soros does not operate clandestinely. His Open Society Institute proudly provides all the necessary information regarding the vast amount of shekels it spreads on its good and important causes.

So one can’t accuse Soros or the Open Society Institute of any sinister vetting the political discourse, stifling of free speech or even to ‘controlling the opposition’. All Soros does is to support a wide variety of ‘humanitarian causes’: Human Rights, Women’s Rights. Gay Rights, equality, democracy, Arab ‘Spring’, Arab Winter, the oppressed, the oppressor, tolerance, intolerance, Palestine, Israel, anti war, pro-war (only when really needed), and so on.

As with Orwell’s Big Brother that frames the boundaries of dissent by means of control opposition, Soros’ Open Society also determines, either consciously or unconsciously, the limits of critical thought. Yet, unlike in 1984, where it is the Party that invents its own opposition and write its texts, within our ‘progressive’ discourse, it is our own voices of dissent, willingly and consciously, that are compromising their principles.

Soros may have read Orwell - he clearly believes his message – because from time to time he even supports opposing forces. For instance, he funds the Zionist-lite J Street as well as Palestinian NGO organisations. And guess what? It never takes long for the Palestinian beneficiaries to, compromise their own, most precious principles so they fit nicely into their paymaster’s worldview.

The Visible Hand

The invisible hand of the market is a metaphor coined by Adam Smith to describe the self-regulating behaviour of the marketplace. In contemporary politics. The visible hand is a similar metaphor which describes the self-regulating tendency of the political-fund beneficiary, to fully integrate the world view of its benefactor into its political agenda.

Democracy Now, the most important American dissident outlet has never discussed the Jewish Lobby with Mearsheimer, Walt, Petras or Blankfort - the four leading experts who could have informed the American people about the USA’s foreign policy domination by the Jewish Lobby. For the same reasons, Democracy Now wouldn’t explore the Neocon’s Judeo-centric agenda nor would it ever discuss Jewish Identity politics with yours truly. Democracy Now will host Noam Chomsky or Norman Finkelstein, it may even let Finkelstein chew up Zionist caricature Alan Dershowitz – all very good, but not good enough.

Is the fact that Democracy Now is heavily funded by Soros relevant? I’ll let you judge.

If I’m correct (and I think I am) we have a serious problem here. As things stand, it is actually the progressive discourse, or at least large part of it.  that sustains Jewish Power. If this is indeed the case, and I am convinced it is, then the occupied progressive discourse, rather than Zionism, is the primary obstacle that must be confronted.

It is no coincidence that the ‘progressive’ take on ‘antisemitism’ is suspiciously similar to the Zionist one. Like Zionists, many progressive institutes and activists adhere to the bizarre suggestion that opposition to Jewish power is ‘racially motivated’ and embedded in some ‘reactionary’ Goyish tendency. Consequently, Zionists are often supported by some ‘progressives’ in their crusade against critics of Israel and Jewish power. Is this peculiar alliance between these allegedly opposing schools of thoughts, the outcome of a possible ideological continuum between these two seemingly opposed political ideologies? Maybe, after all, progressiveness like Zionism is driven by a peculiar inclination towards ‘choseness’. After all, being progressive somehow implies that someone else must be ‘reactionary’. It is those self-centric elements of exceptionalism and choseness that have made progressiveness so attractive to secular and emancipated Jews. But the main reason the ‘progressive’ adopted the Zionist take on antisemitism, may well be because of the work of that visible hand that miraculously shapes the progressive take on race, racism and the primacy of Jewish suffering.

We may have to face up to the fact that the progressive discourse effectively operates as Israel’s longest arm - it certainly acts as a gatekeeper and as protection for Zionism and Jewish tribal interests. If Israel and its supporters would ever be confronted with real opposition it might lead to some long-overdue self-reflection. But at the moment, Israel and Zionist lobbies meet only insipid, watered-down, progressively-vetted resistance that, in practice, sustains Israeli occupation, oppression and an endless list of human rights abuses.

Instead of mass opposition to the Jewish State and its aggressive lobby, our ‘resistance’ is reduced into a chain of badge-wearing, keffiyeh-clad, placard-waving mini-gatherings with the occasional tantrum from some neurotic Jewess while being videoed by another good Jew. If anyone believes that a few badges, a load of amateur Youtube clips celebrating Jewish righteousness are going to evolve into a mass anti-Israel global movement, they are either naïve or stupid.

In fact, a recent Gallup poll revealed that current Americans' sympathy for Israel has reached an All-Time High. 64% of Americans sympathise with the Jewish State, while only 12% feel for the Palestinians. This is no surprise and our conclusion should be clear. As far as Palestine is concerned,  ‘progressive’ ideology and praxis have led us precisely nowhere. Rather than advance the Palestinian cause, it only locates the ‘good’ Jew at the centre of the solidarity discourse.

When was the last time a Palestinian freedom fighter appeared on your TV screen? Twenty years ago the Palestinian were set to become the new Che Guevaras. Okay, so the Palestinian freedom fighter didn’t necessarily speak perfect English and wasn’t a graduate of an English public school, but he was free, authentic and determined. He or she spoke about their land being taken and of their willingness to give what it takes to get it back. But now, the Palestinian has been ‘saved’, he or she doesn’t have to fight for his or her their land, the ‘progressive’ is taking care of it all.

This ‘progressive’ voice speaks on behalf of the Palestinian and, at the same time, takes the opportunity to also push marginal politics, fight ‘Islamism’ and ‘religious radicalisation’ and occasionally even supports the odd interventionst war and, of course, always, always, always fights antisemitism. The controlled opposition has turned the Palestinian plight into just one more ‘progressive’ commodity, lying on the back shelf of its ever-growing ‘good-cause’ campaign store.

For the Jewish progressive discourse, the purpose behind pro-Palestinian support is clear. It is to present an impression of pluralism within the Jewish community. It is there to suggest that not all Jews are bad Zionists. Philip Weiss, the founder of the most popular progressive pro-Palestinian blog was even brave enough to admit to me that it is Jewish self -interests that stood at the core of his pro Palestinian activity.

Jewish self-love is a fascinating topic. But even more fascinating is Jewish progressives loving themselves at the expense of the Palestinians. With billionaires such as Soros maintaining the discourse, solidarity is now an industry, concerned with profit and power rather than ethics or values and it is a spectacle both amusing and tragic as the Palestinians become a side issue within their own solidarity discourse.

So, perhaps before we discuss the ‘liberation of Palestine’, we first may have to liberate ourselves.

The Wandering Who? A Study Of Jewish Identity Politics and Jewish Left's  spin particular    Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

US plane loaded with weapons lands in al-Mafraq, Jordan delivering weapons to Al-Qaeda in Syria

February 3, 2014, 1:10 am

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Posted on February 3, 2014 by michaellee2009  Jordanian sources: US plane loaded with weapons lands in al-Mafraq, Jordan Feb 02, 2014

Amman, (SANA)-Jordanian news and press sources revealed that a US airplane, loaded with fatal weapons, landed in al-Mafraq airport in Jordan to deliver the weapons to the armed terrorist groups in Syria. Al-Wahda news network quoted Jordanian sources as saying that a US aircraft, loaded with weapons arrived in al-Mafraq airport to hand over these weapons to the armed terrorist groups in Syria, referring to the graduation of a new batch of 1500 gunmen, of al-Zaatari camp residents, who were trained for fighting and using weapons to join nearly 50000 others existing in Syria. US Security officials have unveiled that the US congress had secretly endorsed a bill to fund weapon shipments to the armed terrorist groups in Syria through Jordan.

Israel 'killed 6 Palestinians, injured 41' in January

February 3, 2014, 2:03 am

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GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces killed six Palestinians and injured 41 in attacks on Gaza in January, a ministry official said Saturday.

Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesman for Gaza's Ministry of Health, said in a statement that "the Israeli occupation intensified airstrikes against unarmed civilians, particularly in the eastern Gaza Strip" in January.

The statement pointed out that a large number of the injured were children.

The health sector in the Strip has been suffering a severe shortage in medicines and medical equipment, al-Qidra added.

Over the past month, tensions have risen in and around Gaza after more than a year of relative calm following Israel's war on the coastal territory in November 2012 which killed over 170 people, mainly civilians, and injured thousands.

Israeli army figures show nine rockets have struck Israeli territory since Jan. 1, and another five were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system.

None of the rockets caused injuries.

Israeli airstrikes this year on targets in Gaza have injured dozens of people, mainly civilians.

Deadly Hermel attack claimed by al-Nusra Front

February 3, 2014, 2:34 am

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Lebanese emergency personnel are seen at the site of a car bomb explosion targeting a petrol station in eastern Lebanon's town of Hermel on February 1, 2014, which left at least four people dead and tens wounded, the army said. (Photo: AFP)

Published Saturday, February 1, 2014

Updated on Sunday at 11:45 am: A car bomb killed at least four people on Saturday evening near a gas station in eastern Lebanon's town of Hermel, according to caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.

The Al-Nusra Front in Lebanon, a group named after al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, claimed the attack on Twitter, saying it was a suicide bombing in response to Hezbollah's involvement in Syria.

"At least four people were killed and more than 15 wounded, two or three of them in critical condition," caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told al-Manar television station.

A security source told Reuters that, besides the three dead bystanders and the dead bomber, 28 other people had been wounded in the blast, which took place around 6:00 pm.

The proximity of the explosion to the al-Aytam gas station had sparked a huge blaze that hindered the arrival of emergency services, according to statements by a security source to NNA.

Security forces later closed off the area and firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze.

Lebanon's National News Agency (NNA) cited witnesses who said the perpetrator entered the gas station and asked to buy fuel before detonating the bomb, leaving a meter-deep hole in the ground and setting the station and nearby cars on fire.

According to the Lebanese National News Agency, the blast was also in proximity of a school hosting orphans. The al-Mabarrat school confirmed that none of their resident students were hurt

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the attack.

"Once again, the hands of treason target a Lebanese region and claim the lives of innocent citizens," he said.

Charbel, told Reuters by phone that the situation in Lebanon was "unstable and getting worse every day."

"This matter is very, very dangerous," he said. "It is bigger than the security apparatus."

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi, speaking on satellite television channel Al-Mayadeen, said "this terrorist attack, like those before it, only benefits the Israeli enemy".

The United Nations Security Council issued a statement condemning the "terrorist attack" and calling for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

Council members also appealed to all Lebanese people "to preserve national unity in the face of attempts to undermine the country's stability" and for all parties to refrain from any involvement in the Syrian crisis.

In a separate statement the UN secretary general's spokesman Martin Nesirky said Ban Ki-moon also strongly condemned the car bombing and extended his condolences to the bereaved.

"The recent escalation in acts of terrorism and violence in Lebanon is of grave concern," he said, adding that Ban called on all players, including the army and security forces, "to confront such unacceptable and indiscriminate actions and to safeguard their country's security and stability".

Tensions surfaced elsewhere in Lebanon after the explosion.

Residents of al-Labweh blocked the road to Ersal in protest of the recent explosion late on Saturday. While in Beirut, a hand grenade was thrown at the al-Manar's headquarters that same evening, according to a report by al-Mayadeen television channel.

Lebanon has witnessed multiple major car bomb attacks since July 2013. The country has seen almost a deadly bombing per week in January, with two explosions in Beirut's southern suburb of Haret Hreik.

A car bomb had previously hit Hermel on January 16, killing six and injuring 40. These previous attacks had also been claimed by the Lebanon branch of al-Nusra Front.

(Al-Akhbar, AFP, Reuters)

• ثلاثة شهداء في تفجير انتحاري في الهرمل: القتلة معروفون فمن يوقفهم؟

Yarmouk: Starving People Talk

February 3, 2014, 3:13 am

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اليرموك _ حديث الجياع / الفضائية

Syrian Army Kills non-Syrian Terrorists, Foils Infiltration Attempt from Lebanon

February 3, 2014, 4:58 am

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SYRIAN ARAB ARMY ON FACEBOOK
January: Syrian Army Victories Daily Updates

We never asked for mercy, and we shall not show any.

It`s not a shame terrorists came to our homeland but it will be a shame if we let them live to leave.

Syrian Arab Army

Army kills non-Syrian terrorists, foils infiltration attempt from Lebanon

Feb 02, 2014

 Provinces, (SANA)- Army units continued operations against armed terrorist groups, targeting them and their hideouts in several areas, and preventing terrorists from infiltrating the borders from Lebanon.

Terrorists eliminated, infiltration attempt from Lebanon foiled in Homs

Units of the armed forces on Sunday foiled a terrorists attempt to infiltrate from Lebanon to the southern countryside of al-Qseir, destroying a number of their dens and gatherings along with the weapons and ammunition inside them.

A military source told SANA that the army units destroyed terrorists’ dens in al-Zara village, killing scores of them.

Among the dead terrorists were Mohammad al-Mashhadani, Alaa al-Mashhadni from Saudi Arabia, Ali Jarbou’a, Dwreid Safouan, Walid al-Awaishat from Lebanon and Khalefa Hamdan al-Naseir form Jordan.

The source pointed out that an army unit in cooperation with the border- guard personnel foiled terrorists’ attempt to infiltrate from Lebanon to Tal al-Naemat in the southern countryside of al-Qseir , killing 6 of them, including Mohammad Abdulrazaq al-Daher from Lebanon and seizing their weapons.

The source pointed out that other army units killed and injured all members of armed terrorist groups in al-Safsafeh, Om al-Twaini and al-Jaref villages, in addition to destroying their weapons.

Meanwhile, another army unit ambushed terrorists  on Ein al-Niser-al-Sheikh Hmaid road in the countryside, killing 10 of them.

Army units eliminated the last of the terrorist gatherings in al-Bardaiyat farms near al-Zara village in Talkalakh countryside.

An army unit destroyed a pickup truck equipped with a heavy machinegun along with the terrorists and weapons inside it in the village of al-Ghanto.

Terrorists fired five rocket shells at the village of al-Mukhtariye and Beit al-Nabhan near Talbiseh, causing material damage to properties but no injuries.

211 gunmen from Homs countryside turn themselves in

211 people involved in the current event turned themselves in and surrendered their weapons to the authorities in the village of Sukara and nearby villages in Homs’ eastern countryside.

A source at the province told SANA’s correspondent that the 211 people were released and their legal status were settled after they pledged not to return to bearing arms or carrying out any action that would harm the safety of the country and citizens.

Terrorists eliminated in several areas in Damascus Countryside

Army units eliminated a number of terrorists and destroyed their weapons and ammo in the areas of al-Ebb farms, Ein Tarma valley, and al-Mleiha in Damascus Countryside, in addition to destroying a terrorist hideout along with several terrorists in al-Zabadani.

An army unit eliminated a number of terrorists and injured others in Maaloula city and near the Cherubim Convent in Sednaya, while another unit carried out a special operation near the town of Jaba’adin in which it destroyed a terrorist gathering.

In Daraya, army units pursued terrorists in several areas, leaving scores of them dead or injured and destroying their weapons and ammo, in addition to eliminating a number of terrorists during operations in Khan al-Sheih and its farms.

Army units clashed with terrorist groups in al-Qadam areas, resulting in leaving dozens of terrorists dead or injured.

Terrorist mortar attacks injure 24 citizen in Jaramana city

24 citizens were injured, including women and children, by mortar shells fired by terrorists on the schools and the residential neighborhoods in Jaramana city in Damascus Countryside.

A source at the Police Command told SANA that mortar shells landed on the neighborhoods of al-Janaein, al-Jama’iat, al-Rawda, al-Talaleh, Daf al-Sakher, al-Baedar, al-Bassel street and a number of schools in Jaramana, causing the injury of 24 citizens.

The source added that one of the shells fell on Martyr Hassan Basher School, causing the injury of 2 children, while another shell landed on martyr Walid Jaber School, causing material damage to its building.

The source pointed out that the terrorist attacks caused large material damage to the citizens’ houses and shops.

Three citizens wounded by terrorist explosion in Esal al-Ward

Meanwhile, three citizens were injured by a terrorist explosion with an explosive planted in Esal al-Ward town in Damascus countryside.

A source at Damascus Police told SANA that terrorists blew up an explosive in front of the house of Peasants Union’s Head Mohammad Khalof, wounding three citizens.

Army inflicts heavy losses upon terrorists in Aleppo

A military source told SANA that the army units foiled terrorists’ attempt to infiltrate from  old city of Aleppo to the neighboring safe areas, killing and injuring many of them.

The source added that other army units eliminated a number of terrorists and destroyed their weapons and ammunition in the neighborhoods of Karm Humad, al-Shaar, Qadi Asqar, Bab al-Haded, al-Mayser, al-Marjeh and al-Jandoul round about in Aleppo city.

The source pointed out that other army units killed large number of terrorists and destroyed their cars along with the weapons and ammunition inside them in the villages and towns of Kweirs, Abu jbar, Taibet al-Emam and Deir Hafer in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.

Terrorists killed in Idleb countryside

A unit of the armed forces destroyed a number of cars along with the weapons and ammunition inside them in al-Mastuma village and to the south of Areha.

Military source: 14 terrorists eliminated in Daraa

A military source said that a unit of the army eliminated 14 terrorists and injured others in Atman town in Daraa countryside.

The source added in a statement to SANA that a pickup was destroyed and other vehicles belonging to the terrorists in al-Hirak town and killed and injured all terrorists inside the vehicles.

English Bulletin

SAA 3rd Armored Division just opened the doors of hell upon the terrorists in the town of Yabroud, Qalamoon.

More details from the battlefield as soon as we get them.

Syrian Arab Army

Terrorists eliminated, their weapons destroyed in several areas

Feb 01, 2014

Army units on Saturday carried out several successful operations against the armed terrorist groups in several areas, killing and wounding scores of terrorists and destroying their weapons and ammunition.

Units of the armed forces regained complete control over the area surrounding al-Tim oil well, eliminating terrorists’ hideouts and gatherings in the groves of al-Mari’aeh village in Deir Ezzor countryside.

A source told SANA that units of the armed forces clashed with terrorists in the surrounding al-Tim oil well, asserting that the clashes resulted in regaining complete control over the well after eliminating the terrorists’ last hideouts and gatherings, and destroying their weapons, vehicles and ammunition.

The source added that an army unit destroyed terrorists’ hideouts and two cars equipped with a mortar and an anti-aircraft machineguns in the groves of al- Mari’ayeh village, killing scores of terrorists, among them Mohammad Matar al-Rawi and Hamad Abdel-Fattah al-Hussein al-Jalil.

Army eliminates “Islamic Front” and “Jabhet al-Nusra” terrorists in Damascus Countryside

The army units eliminated the majority of terrorist groups’ members affiliated to the so-called “Islamic Front” near Adra Workers city, among them was Hassan al-Mulla, leader of a terrorist group.

Dozens of terrorists, among them a sniper, were killed in the areas of Alya farms, Joubar, Daraya, Khan al-Sheeh, Yabroud, Ras al-Ein and Harast.

In the area of al-Qadam, the army pursued terrorists after eliminating all terrorist groups on Damascus-Sahnaya highway and the New Kiswa road.

Meanwhile, 6 persons from the area of Wadi Barada have turned themselves in along with their weapons to the authorities and released them after pledging not to take part in any act that undermines the homeland’s security.

So-called Religious court headquarters in Aleppo destroyed

A military source told SANA that terrorist groups’ hideouts were destroyed in the surrounding Aleppo central prison, near Rasem al-Abboud village and Hilan, with all the weapons and ammunition inside them.

The source added that army units killed and wounded a number of terrorists in the villages of azan, Hadadin, al-Wdaihi, Erbid, al-Jadideh, Kwairis and Shiekh Najjar, destroying cars loaded with weapons and ammunition.

In Aleppo city, army unit destroyed terrorists hideout of the so-called the religious courts in al-Mashhad neighborhood, killing all terrorists inside it.

All members of an armed terrorist group were eliminated in al-Shaar, al-Ansari, al-Marjeh, Bustan al-Qaser, Bani Zaid, Karm al-Jazmati, Karm Maisar and Qadi askar neighborhoods in Aleppo.

Army units eliminate terrorists in Daraa

Units of the Syrian Arab Army confronted a terrorist attempt to attack military points and bombarded several of their dens in Daraa and its countryside.

A military source told SANA reporter that units of the army clashed with terrorists who tried to attack military points in Shaqra and Izra towns and killed and injured tens of them.

The source added that terrorist dens and gatherings were razed to the ground in al-Nazihin Camp in Daraa al-Balad and tens of terrorists were killed.

Terrorists eliminated in Homs

The competent authorities in Homs foiled an attempt by an armed terrorist group to enter a truck loaded with weapons and ammunition from the Jordanian territories into Syria.

A source told SANA reporter that the car was destroyed in a tight ambush along with the weapons, ammunition and terrorists inside it.

The source added that units of the army eliminated terrorists dens in al-Dar al-Kabira, al-Khalidia and al-Saaen towns.

Army targets and destroys terrorists’ hideouts in Idleb

The army targeted and destroyed a number of terrorists’ hideouts and gatherings in the town of Binnish in Idleb countryside, killing scores of terrorists and destroying vehicles equipped with heavy machineguns.

A military source told SANA that an army unit also targeted terrorists’ hideout on Idleb-Central Prison highway, killing 6 terrorists and injuring others.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency “SANA”

Syrian Arab Army

 قتلى لبنانيين وسعوديين في إحباط محاولة تسلل جديدة نحو ريف القصير

• Terrorist Groups in Syria Treat over 700 of Their Injured in Israeli Hospital
• Moallem: Syria Rejected US Talks Bid without Kerry Apology
• Iran: US Failed to Achieve its Goals in Geneva 2
• Russia Wants inter-Syrian Agreements to Be Made in Form of UNSC Resolutions
• عشرات القتلى من الجبهة الإسلامية في مواجهات مع الجيش السوري جنوب حلب
• استعدادات لمعركة القلمون الكبرى
• الجيش السوري يُفجر قريبا مفاجأة من العيار الثقيل في شمال حلب

Army: Atrash Confessed to Transferring Explosive-Rigged Cars, Suicide Bombers

February 3, 2014, 7:14 am

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Local Editor

The Lebanese Army announced on Thursday that the arrested Takfiri cleric Omar al-Atrash confessed to transferring booby-trapped cars and suicide attackers to Beirut’s southern suburb (Dahiyeh) and the southern city of Sidon.

In a statement released by the army command, he confessed to transporting explosives-laden cars to Beirut.

Atrash confessed to transporting the vehicles to a Syrian national called Abou Khaled who in turn was planning to hand them to a terrorist called Naim Abbas in cooperation with a man identified as Omar Saleh.

The cleric also transported explosive belts, hand grenades, and different ammunition, the army command added.
In addition, he transferred in one of the vehicles two suicide bombers equipped with explosive belts.

The bombers were killed at the Awwali and Majdelyoun army checkpoints on undisclosed dates.

Atrash confessed that he had transported suicide bombers from different Arab nationalities to Syria.
They were handed over to the terrorist Takfiri Nusra Front group in Syria, said the Army Command statement.

الرواية الكاملة لتجنيد عمر الاطرش: قنبلة متنقّلة بعباءة رجل دين !

عباس عبد الكريم

الشيخ عمر ابراهيم الاطرش، الذي تمّ اعتقاله من قبل مديرية المخابرات في الجيش اللبناني بعد عمليات استقصاء ومراقبة مكثفة ورصد لحركة الاتصالات، وجهٌ جديدٌ من الوجوه التي تفتك بالشعب اللبناني، كما تقول بعض المصادر، حيث تشير إلى أنّه شارك في التخطيط والدعم والتنفيذ في عمليات التفجير التي شهدتها الضاحية الجنوبية، لافتة إلى أنّ اعتقال الاطرش يأتي في ظل انجازات كبيرة حققها الجيش في اطار مكافحته للارهاب إذ ألقى القبض على أمير كتائب عبد الله عزام الارهابي ماجد الماجد وغيره من اعضاء التنظيمات الارهابية.

الأطرش وغيره شكلوا مجموعات أمنية تابعة  لتنظيم القاعدة ومتفرعاته من جبهة النصرة وكتائب عبدالله عزام وتنظيم الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام. وفي معلومات خاصة لـ”النشرة” أنّ بداية قصة الأطرش كانت مع الشيخ مصطفى الحجيري الملقب بأبو طاقيّة وهو المحرك الاساس لعمل تنظيم “القاعدة” في البقاع  وهو شيخ من عرسال لديه مستوصف ومسجد في البلدة ويملك قوة عسكرية تقدر بـ500 مقاتل، لديها كميات كبيرة من الاسلحة الخفيفة والمتوسطة والثقيلة وذخائر وعبوات فردية كان قد حصل عليها من مستودعات الجيش السوري في مهين-حمص وجزء كبير منها خزن في الطابق السفلي للمسجد الذي يؤم فيه الصلاة كما يملك سيارات رباعية الدفع عليها رشاشات ثقيلة ومدافع هاون من اعيرة مختلفة، وهو من قام بتجنيد الاطرش منذ انسحاب الجيش السوري من الحدود مع لبنان في السلسلة الشرقية، بالاشتراك مع أمير جبهة النصرة في القلمون ومسؤولها العسكري وهو سعودي الجنسية، وقام هؤلاء بتجنيد الاطرش باعتبار انه رجل دين ما يسهل حركة تنقلاته ومروره على حواجز الجيش اللبناني والأجهزة الأمنية.

وعلمت “النشرة” أنّ “مخابرات الجيش كانت ترصد منزلا في بلدة مجدل عنجر إحدى قرى البقاع الاوسط يجتمع فيه الى الاطرش، الفلسطيني ابراهيم عبد المعطي ابو معيلق “الملقب بأبو جعفر الذي كان دوره ميدانياً وهو كنز من المعلومات”، إضافة إلى شخص اخر يدعى ع. ص من مجدل عنجر، وقد خرجوا بعد انتهاء الاجتماع وقسموا انفسهم في ثلاثة مواكب، وقام الجيش بالرصد وملاحقة المواكب، وعندما شعر المدعو ع. ص. بأنّ هناك حركة امنية قام باطلاق النار والفرار بسيارته المرسيدس حمراء اللون باتجاه المرج فقامت دورية بتعقبه وهناك تفاجأ بزحمة سير ليترك مركبته والهرب، وقد تم ضبط جهاز ايباد وعبوات مثل الذي كانت تستعمل في استهداف مواكب حزب الله وبعض الخرائط والاسلحة في سيارته، أمّا الفلسطيني ابو جعفر فقتلته دورية تابعة للجيش بعد اطلاقه النار عليها، وقامت دورية اخرى باعتقال عمر الاطرش امام مركز الجمارك في شتورة”.

وفي معلومات لـ”النشرة” ان الشيخ “الاطرش كان دوره لوجستياً بصفته رجل دين، فكان ينقل الاحزمة الناسفة والسيارات المفخخة الى من يستلمها منه في بيروت، وهو كان قد وضع احدى السيارات التي انفجرت في حارة حريك في مسجد في بلدة جلالا، وفي المعلومات  ايضاً ان الشيخ عرفان المعربوني المعتقل في السجون السورية والاطرش استخدما في بدايات الازمة السورية مستودعات المسجد لتخزين اسلحة وذخائر وتسليمها لاشخاص سوريين كانو ينقلونها الى الداخل السوري، بعد تمويه يقومون به، فكانوا يركنون سيارتهم خارج المسجد، ويدخلون اليه لتأدية الصلاة وتقوم جماعة المعربوني والاطرش بشحن الاسلحة ووضعها في السيارة، وداخل هذا المسجد كانت تعقد اجتماعات لخلايا لبنانية وسورية تعمل في الاراضي اللبنانية وجميعها ينضوي تحت لواء تنظيم القاعدة”.

وعلمت “النشرة” ان “هناك شخصا كان يرافق الاطرش في عملياته توارى عن الانظار بعد اعتقال الجيش للاخير”.

وبشأن التحرك الذي قام فيه مشايخ من هيئة علماء المسلمين امام وزارة الدفاع والذي طالب باطلاق الاطرش ودان التعرض لرجل دين، علمت “النشرة” ان النبرة المرتفعة التي تكلم بها هؤلاء المشايخ كانت من خوفهم من ان تشمل عمليات الاعتقال رجال دين اخرين مرتبطين ببعض العمليات، واشارت معلومات لـ”النشرة” ان مفتي البقاع الشيخ خليل الميس لم يكن يريد هذه النبرة المرتفعة في خطاب بعض المشايخ ضد الجيش.

إذا كان ما يُسرّب عن اعترافات الأطرش وغيره صحيحًا، فإنّ الحقيقة التي لا لبس فيها ستكون أنّ الإرهابيين استخدموا الدين الاسلامي والمساجد في خدمتهم للأسف، فجندوا الشيوخ لتسهيل حراكهم، واخذوا الدين غطاءً لأعمال لا تتّصل بروح الاسلام من قريب او بعيد، وهو دين التسامح والعطاء، والذي يحرم الفتنة وقتل الابرياء، ويدعو الى محاربة الظالم وليس المظلوم. فهل يعي من يغرّر بهم أنهم لن ينجوا بفعلتهم؟!
النشرة

• لولا حزب الله وقتاله في سوريا

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Ayman al-Zawahiri Disavows ISIL in Syria

February 3, 2014, 7:26 am

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Al-Qaeda Disavows ISIL in Syria

Local Editor

Al-Qaeda has disavowed the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), whose members have been locked in deadly clashes with Syrian armed opposition, according to a statement posted on jihadist websites. Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri had already ordered the group in May 2013 to disband and return to Iraq, and announced that another jihadist group, the Al-Nusra Front, was Al-Qaeda's official branch in war-torn Syria. "Al-Qaeda announces it is not linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as it was not informed of its creation... (and) did not accept it," the group said in a late Sunday statement. ISIL "is not a branch of Al-Qaeda, has no links to it, and the (Al-Qaeda) group is not responsible for its acts," it added. Extremists were initially welcomed by some rebels in Syria's conflict, but allegations of brutal abuses against civilians as well as rival opposition fighters has sparked a backlash. ISIL and other foreign-backed opposition groups (including extremist militants) have been engaged in deadly clashes few months ago.

Source: AFP 03-02-2014 - 12:20 Last updated 03-02-2014 - 12:53

القاعدة تتبرأ من داعش

أعلنت “القيادة العامة” لما يُسمى تنظيم “القاعدة” في بيان منسوب لها نشر على الانترنت، ان” لا صلة  لها بتنظيم  الدولة الاسلامية في العراق والشام المعروف ب”داعش” .

وجاء في البيان الذي نقلته مؤسسة “سايت” المتخصصة في رصد المواقع الاسلامية

أعلنت القيادة العامة لتنظيم “القاعدة” أن “لا صلة لها بالدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام “داعش”، مؤكدة انها “غير مسؤولة عن أفعال هذه الجماعة التي اشتبكت مع جماعات معارضة سورية هذا العام”.

وأوضحت انها “لم تخطر بإنشائها، ولم تستشر، بل أمرت بوقف العمل بها ولذا فهي ليست فرعا من جماعة قاعدة الجهاد، ولا تربطها بها علاقة تنظيمية، وليست الجماعة مسؤولة عن تصرفاتها، فإن أفرع الجماعة هي التي تعلنها القيادة العامة وتعترف بها”.

• داعشي يدعي أنه يريد التفاوض فيقتل 16 من الحر بينهم قائدين في لوائي الفتح و التوحيد
• حرب “الجهاديين” تمتد إلى دير الزور

Yemen: Houthi’s Ansar Allah Progress against Al-Ahmar Extremists

February 3, 2014, 8:01 am

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Local Editor Houthi fighters in Yemen, Ansar Allah group, have overrun the strongholds of pro-extremist tribes following weeks of fighting, which have left scores dead. On Sunday, Houthis took control of the town of Houth as well as Khamri village from tribal gunmen in the north, according to local sources. The move is considered a major advance for the Houthis fighters following weeks of battles with pro-al-Qaeda militants. Houthi fighters and gunmen from the Hashid tribe [al-Ahmar] have been engaged in heavy fighting since early January. Hundreds of people have lost their lives in the clashes since last October. On Friday, at least 60 people were killed in clashes between the Houthi fighters and pro-Salafi tribal gunmen in Yemen's Omran Province. The Houthis say Hashid tribesmen are helping the Salafi groups fighting against them in the city of Dammaj in Sa'ada Province and have turned the city into a safe haven for thousands of foreign militants. Houthi movement spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam has also accused the Yemeni government of backing the Salafis. The Houthis blame the government for political, economic, and religious marginalization of the country's Shia community and violating their civil rights. Yemen's Houthi movement draws its name from the tribe of its founding leader Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi. On January 21, the Houthi movement withdrew from the national reconciliation talks following the assassination of the group's envoy to the negotiations. Ahmad Sharafeddin was gunned down by unknown gunmen in Sana'a. He was the second representative of the Houthi movement to the negotiations to be assassinated. Meanwhile, a mortar shell was fired overnight in the direction of the French embassy in Yemen, while a car bomb exploded meters away in Sanaa's diplomatic quarter, a police source said Monday. "The two attacks happened after midnight. There were no victims," the source said. The shell fell by a concrete block, installed for security reasons on a road leading to the embassy, he added. That blast came shortly after a car exploded on the nearby main road. "The shell landed about thirty meters from the wall of the French embassy," while the car "was parked halfway between the embassy and the residence of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in the capital's diplomatic district of Hadda, the same source said. Those explosions came shortly after two devices went off in a minibus parked in the center of Sanaa not far from the defense ministry, also causing no casualties, a military source said. Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

03-02-2014 | 09:17

A LESSON TO ALL (Except Daniel Mabsout)

February 3, 2014, 7:29 pm

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Mr. Mabsout, Or Mazbout as Sectarian Hamayreh used to call him, said that I am biased because I am pro-ASSAD and I called the Muslim Brotherhood and their offshoots TERRORIST. 

"They are not the enemy". He claimed and justified their treason. The MB just coordinated with US, so did the Egyptian the Military Council.

It is shameful really how some pro Assad thinkers and intellectuals are trying to implicate the Muslim Brothers of Egypt and HAMAS in everything bad or controversial or even criminal , and they do this openly in the media and everywhere else .......They are exposing HAMAS and the Muslim Brothers of Egypt labeling them as terrorists or pro US and at the same time they are promoting rulers like al Sisi who was chief of Intelligence under Mubarak, justifying his acts and his military coup and his oppressive means, seeing in him a national hero and seeing in the Egyptian army, a par to the Syrian army . 

This is frankly dishonest and serves an agenda . The MB coordinated with US administration alright, but so did the Egyptian officers and the Military Council by cooperating fully with the Pentagon with the difference that – now- the Muslim Brothers of Egypt have been prohibited and their assets frozen and their leaders under lock while the Military Council and the minister of Defense – who is non other than al Sisi- have seized power. In order to go around this matter , the pro Assad intellectuals are saying that US is putting pressure on al Sisi and withholding aid to the army because Egypt has opted to open up to Russia . Well, now that the US aid has been resumed , what are they going to say ?

According to Mr Mabsout the enemy is Nasserist and secularists who Paved the way for Sisi, the new Pharaoh. The World Order is now supporting the Arab armies in their war against Terror. 


He criticized Syria for going to Geneva 2

"The real outcome (Of Geneva 2) is being cooked elsewhere and the choices are not many . In order to continue to rule , Assad who agreed to shift the battle – according to Russia’s instructions – would have to present concessions not only to US but to Russia as well and this has already started in approving of the Egyptian military coup in Egypt and in turning the war against NATO and Israel into a war against Terrorism."

"Honest" Daniel, in his latest post translated the interview with the Irani thinker Political, Mohammad Sadick Al-Husaini, aired today by Al-manar, under the title:  TURKEY: A LESSON TO ALL

The "honest" Daniel in selective translation focused  on The fruitful visit of Erdogan to the Islamic republic.

"The visit of Erdogan to the Islamic Republic was not fruitless , and this not because significant deals were concluded that amount to billions of dollars, but because the Turks promised to cooperate in putting term to the war on Syria . The agreement consists in three steps which start by delivering the positions of the terrorist factions in Iraq and their locations and this has been done according to Iranian expert Mohammed Sadek al Husseini. The second step is to continue to build the wall on the Syrian/ Turkish border to prevent infiltration to Syria across the borders that has started in Bab al Hawa and tightening the control on the borders and the third step is to stop any supply in men and weapons heading to Syria ."

That's exactly what Al-Husaini said. 

It is compelled that Erdogan accepted this deal while Iran has found itself in a strong position not only due to the achievements of the Syrian Army on the ground, but also and thanks to the partial lifting of the embargo , Iran is no more in a desperate need for relations with Turkey according to al Husseini . Not only this, but Erdogan- right now- is losing on many fronts and not only in Syria . The Muslim Brothers dream has evaporated with their fall in Egypt.

In the above paragraph the "honest" Danial gave the full credit to Iran, and ignored to mention the Turkish secular role in the Turkish u-turn, and,how the Syrian ASSAD turned the Turkish sectarian Magic turned against Erdogan Brothers Magic. He ignored what Husaini said about Erdugan's trying since months to use the Irani Assad channel to mediate with the Syrian ASSAD.




He can't confess and give some credit to the GREAT ARABIC SYRIAN  ARMY in evaporation of "The Muslim Brothers dream" in Egypt. The "objective"Daniel can't thanks to Syria steadiness, and Russian support in the partial lifting of the embargo on Iran.

The "honest objective"Daniel avoided What Hussaini said about Egypt. He can't tell his reader what Husaini said about the USA and its regional tools defeat at the gates of the Lion's Den in Damascus and the ongoing battles to control the Strait of Bab el Mandeb in Yemen and the Suez Canal of Egypt, and how Iran and, Egypt supported by Russia and China, will meet in the Mediterranean. 

Can he confess that he was totally wrong on what he claimed, few days ago, about the THE RUSSIAN US ARRANGEMENT cocked elsewhere. can he tell you the Joke, Hussaini mentioned, in the interview:

"If what happened in Geneva 2 continues in Geneva 4,4,5.6,7, then after 20, 30 years, BANDAR BIN AHMAD BIN JARBA (Son of Jarba), would ask TARIK BIN WALID AL-MOAALIM (Son of Moaalim) to confice HAFEZ BIN BASHAR AL-ASSAD (Son of Bashar) to quit.

Therefore the "objective honest" Daniel, who failed to see the diplomatic battle in Geneva, avoided translating what Al-Hussaini said about the Syrians diplomacy and media victory in Geneva 2, where the real negotiation was between Bashar Al-Jaafari and USA FORD.



In Irani Geneva, Iran was enough and in the Syrian Geneva One Moallim was enough for  Kerry. Thus said Husaini (غلبت الروم في جنيف 2 كا غلبت فب الشام) 

The Syrian achievement in Geneva 2 is a reflection of the Syrian Achievement in the battle fields, and the ongoing achievements in the battle fields is a reflection of the diplomacy victory in Geneva 2. Thus said Husaini, "In Geneva 2 the Syrian said, here, at the negotiation battle, I have the upper hand as the upper hand in the three years old battle fields was mine."

After blaming Syria for trusting Erdogan, who stabbed Syria in the back, and after praising Iran for bringing him, kneeling to Tehran, the "honest objective" Danial said:  

 The lesson in all this is : Never trust an ally of Israel whatever he says and however he behaves. 

I ask Daniel: Does this lesson applies on tehran? 
Why would Tehran trust an ally of Israel whatever he says and however he behaves?
Why you ignored what Hussaini said about the ongoing co-ordination in the battle against Terrorism between the Turkish/ Irani/Iraqi/Syrian intelligence ?



After manipulating the interview, and ignoring what Husaini said about SISI co-ordinating with Syrians and walking in a mine field towards east, Daniel ended his article asking:

Is there a lesson in this that the Syrian officials supporters of Marshall Field al Sisi can learn?

No Daniel, its a lesson for you, Sisi is neither Nasser, nor Mubarak, You can't ignore it is the tide of June 30, that evaporated Muslim brothers and their sectarian crescent, brought him to rule Egypt. You can't ignore the rise of a Multi-pole new world order. You can't Ignore the Assad, the emerging star of the world (using Husaini's worlds), 


According to Husaini, Sisi will rule for many years ans wil change the face of Egypt. Iran and Egypt will meet in the Mediterranean to defend Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.

• اجتماعات وخُطط سريّة.. ماذا فعل فهد الفريج في حلب؟!
• الجيش السوري يرسم ورقة التفاوض الأقوى “الميدان”
• كتائب المعارضة في حيي “الخالدية” و “الأشرافية” على شفير السقوط
• بالفيديو: انتشار جثث المسلحين بيبرود، ومعركة تلة الكويتي
• بالاسماء عشرات القتلى اللبنانيين و السوريين في معارك الزارة
• قرار سوري بتنظيف «الجيوب» المحاذية للاراضي اللبنانية

Orient Tendencies: The War Against Syria and the Illusion of Compromise

February 3, 2014, 11:32 pm

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Posted on February 3, 2014 by Alexandra Valiente

Orient Tendencies
Monday February 3, 2014, no169
Weekly information and analysis bulletin specialized in Arab Middle Eastern affairs prepared by neworientnews.com
Editor in chief Wassim Raad
wassimraad73@gmail.com
New Orient Center for Strategic policies

The war against Syria and the illusion of compromise

By Ghaleb Kandil

Some politicians believe that Russia and the United States agreed on compromises in the region, and that everything that happens politically and militarily in Syria is part of a scenario to implement these arrangements.

In fact, international relations are going through a transitional period that will see the outlines of a new balance of power. These new equilibrium were able to emerge through the resistance of the Syrian state against the colonial aggression led by the United States. It is clear that the US unilateral post-domination era is under construction. The rules of the new Cold War are not yet definitively drawn. Recognition by the United States at the end of its unilateral hegemony is accompanied by continued attempts to influence the new equations that are emerging.

It is in this context that fit US and Western pressures and interference in the backyard of Russia. Ukraine crisis is the best example of this attitude, as well as the continuation of the partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia, to prolong the bloodshed in Syria, in the hope of changes for the benefit their agents of balance of power relations underlie all coming political compromise.

These are the realities emerging from the Geneva II Conference, where Americans have negotiated indirectly with the Syrian official delegation, through a delegation established by its ambassador in Damascus Robert Ford. It is in this same context that was taken the decision to exclude Iran from this conference, which was a message to Russia, worthy of the time of the unilateral hegemony through orders given to the Secretary General of the United Nations. The reform of this organization and the rebalancing of relations within it are also unavoidable conditions for establishing a multipolar world.

In this transitional period, the confrontation continues to develop new relations between international powers, and Syria is the mirror of the new international order. The belief in the existence of supposed international arrangements and a serious American will to fight against terrorism, is a pure illusion. Worse, it can distort the calculations and produce erroneous analyzes.

These are the United States, which exported to Syria qaïdiste terrorism in cooperation with the Saudi regime, Turkey and Qatar. It was Washington who hosted and hatched the Muslim Brotherhood, and it continues to do so even though it knows that the brotherhood promotes takfirist thought and terrorism in the Muslim world. The U.S. refusal to consider as a priority the fight against terrorism in Syria, as claimed by the Syrian official delegation, is an admission of Washington’s determination to use terrorism to bleed the Syrian state. The arguments presented by Barak Obama, in an interview at the New Yorker, to explain the reasons for its support to Islamic Front, illustrate perfectly this reality. He described as “jihadist” the fighters of this terrorist organization calling to make a distinction between them and Al-Qaeda. The Front is a pure Saudi-American product that is only active inside Syria and does not constitute a terrorist threat, as claimed by the Foreign Policy magazine in an article published few days ago.

The next step will be characterized by an upsurge in fighting on the ground and the pursuit of American, Saudi, Qatari, French et British support for extremist movements. Despite the last maneuver of Recep Tayyeb Erdogan during his visit to Tehran, which was not accompanied by any concrete measures on the ground, Turkey will also continue its support to terrorists.

The U.S. administration has acknowledged the failure of his bet to destroy the Syrian state. Its new strategy is to permanently install lines of demarcation between the Syrian Arab Army and the rebels, through a massive support in weapons, money, human reinforcements and technical advice. Certain circles in Washington openly mention the dismantlement of Syria by separating the provinces of Idleb, Aleppo, Raqqa, Deir Ezzor and Hasakah, from the central state . Other projects talk about the division of Syria into three regions: the first, under the control of the central state and its armed forces; the second under the hegemony of armed groups; and the third under the domination of the Kurds.

The Syrian Arab Army is therefore fighting for the unity of Syria and for its independence. Americans and their agents will discover that all their plans are only pure illusion, because when it is the unity and independence of their country which is at stake, the Syrian people and its army are willing to make all the sacrifices that are necessary.

______________________________________________________________

Statements

Gebran Bassil, Caretaker Energy Minister (Free Patriotic Movement)

«We should reduce the difficulties in forming a new Cabinet such as the agreement to postpone discussion on the government’s policy statement rather than adding more obstacles such as the rotation of ministerial portfolios. The principle of rotating ministerial portfolios is a sound policy if it is adopted by consensus and consultations … [and] at the beginning of a new Parliament or presidential term. If there were good intensions, the rotation would have been based on consensus and included all ministerial posts but the intentions aim at excluding not only a person or a political movement but also an entire sect. It is strategic for Lebanon and Christians because it entails international relations stolen from the Christians 25 years ago. It also includes a balanced development that was absent from Christian areas for 25 years. Therefore, it is a primary ministry par excellence and should not be a target of exclusion and it is the right of this sect to be trusted with Lebanon’s oil for an interim period. Is it acceptable to allocate the Interior Ministry to a sect in order to reassure it, allocate the Finance Ministry to a specific sect to compensate for it or allocate the Defense Ministry to a party to protect a grant for the Army?. The issue is now bigger than forming a government but it is concerned with constitutionality and trust, which if breached would require not only a new social contract but a whole new nation. Deviating from the National Covenant will lead to Sunni-Shiite strife and a conflict between Muslims and Christians in the events Muslims fail to correct this deviation. Consensus is at the heart of the Taef Accord which also stipulated fairness and equality … The Constitution also stipulates that the absence of sectarian balance can [legally] force the collapse of the government. The prime minister-designate is not the one in charge with forming a Cabinet and cannot impose or threaten a certain reality.»

Samir Mazloum, Maronite bishop

«The presidential election is an absolute priority for the Maronite Patriarchate. All deadlines are important but nothing should prevent the holding of presidential elections. If a political party with a large parliamentary bloc, such as the Free Patriotic Movement, is not represented in the government, this means that the government is not in conformity with national unity. The Christian community must be represented qualitatively in terms of people and ministries that will be assigned, as well as other communities.»

Samir Geagea, Lebanese Forces leader

«The Mars-8 coalition prevents the formation of a national unity government, intentionally or not, because of the will of Hezbollah to stand alongside Aoun. President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam should not lose any minute and should exercise their constitutional prerogatives to form a neutral government. Such a measure has become an urgent necessity in the interest of Lebanon.»

Elie Ferzli, Former Vice-president of the Lebanese Parliament

«If the new government has an age of two months only, the rotation at the ministerial portfolios is then directed against the Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, who represents the largest Christian political force in the country. The block of General Michel Aoun has 20 of the 27 Maronites members of Parliament. Bassil represents the Free Patriotic Movement. We must respect the Christian component of Lebanese partnership. Michel Aoun has the sovereign right to decide on portfolios allocated to Christians. Neutrality does not exist in Lebanon and Prime Minister-designate, Tammam Salam, is not neutral.»

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Events

• A car bomb killed at least four people Saturday near a gas station in eastern Lebanon’s town of Hermel, according to caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel. Speaking to al-Manar television channel, the minister stated that the blast was carried out by a suicide bomber, which also injured at least 15 people. “At least four people were killed and more than 15 wounded, two or three of them in critical condition,” he said. “We think it is a suicide attack,” he added. However, Hermel’s Municipality Head, Subhi Saqr, stated to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) that at least 28 were wounded. Furthermore, the proximity of the explosion, which took place around 6:00 pm, to the Al-Aytam gas station had sparked a huge blaze that hindered the arrival of emergency services, according to statements by a security source to NNA. According to the Lebanese National News Agency, the blast was also in proximity of a school hosting orphans. The al-Mabarrat school confirmed that none of their resident students were hurt Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the attack. “Once again, the hands of treason target a Lebanese region and claim the lives of innocent citizens,” he said. Tensions surfaced elsewhere in Lebanon after the explosion. Residents of al-Labweh blocked the road to Ersal in protest of the recent explosion at Hermel. While in Beirut, a hand grenade was thrown at the Al-Manar’s headquarters, according to a report by al-Mayadeen television channel. A car bomb had previously hit Hermel on January 16, killing five and injuring 40. The previous attack had been claimed by the Lebanon branch of the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front.

• Ad Diyar daily reported that the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, Commander General Jean Kahwaji, went to Riyadh at the head of a delegation of senior officers for talks focused on the delivery of French weapons for a value of $ 3 billion paid by Saudi Arabia.

• The French Justice suspended on Friday a decision of the Communist mayor of Bagnolet, who made an honorary citizenship of the Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, sentenced to life in France. The Administrative Court of Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) issued an order for immediate suspension of that decision. On December 11, 2013 the communist mayor of Bagnolet, Marc Everbecq, awarded the title of honorary citizen to Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, following the example of two other communist municipalities in the Pas-de-Calais.

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Press review

As Safir (Lebanese daily, Arab nationalist)

Imad Marmal(January 31, 2014)

The issue of the ministerial rotation opened all the wounds of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM). It is no longer a matter of ministerial portfolios only. The controversy on the principle of alternation woke all latent fears of Rabié, whether those on his ambiguous relationship with allies or opponents. The FPM has the feeling of being disappointed by the allies who went too far in the negotiations before agreeing with the Future on government composition, sparing no previous commitments with the FPM. Some of the Aoun supporters detailed facts about the agreements that have been concluded in their camp, following the designation of Tammam Salam for the formation of the government, and would have involved the maintenance of the Ministry of Energy in the hands of the FPM. If the government agreement sealed between Amal, Hezbollah and the Future Movement was necessary and vital to counter the danger of sectarian fitna, why the Christian partner was excluded from such agreement that is of great strategic importance? ask Aoun supporters.

An Nahar (Lebanese daily, close to March-14 Coalition)

Rosanna Bou Moucef (January 30, 2014)

The speech on the state of the union, delivered by Barack Obama, brought nothing new to those who follow American politics. The president reiterated his intention to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. After Afghanistan, Obama outlined the priorities of his country as follows: the continuation of the war against Al-Qaeda, in cooperation with the countries where the organization operates, and the continuation of diplomatic efforts within the framework of Israeli peace talks-Palestinian; support for a Syria without dictatorship and without fear of terrorism, and its announcement that he will use veto against any act of Congress imposing new sanctions on Iran during the negotiations with Tehran on its nuclear project.

In foreign policy, Obama has focused on the option of diplomacy and the refusal of direct military intervention, stressing the importance of diplomacy backed by pressure in the area of ​​negotiation with Iran. This position confirms the guidelines enshrined in the abandonment by Obama of the military option against the Syrian regime and the Libyan solution in Syria.

This year is very important for the region (Syrian crisis, the Iranian nuclear issue, Israeli- Palestinian negotiations), but this was not reflected in Obama’s speech.

There is an increasing fear of a Russian capacity for better management of the Syrian file that the US. Ultimately, Washington may be resigned to accept that the search for a solution to the Syrian crisis is entrusted to Moscow.

Al Akhbar (Lebanese Daily close to the Lebanese Resistance)

(February 1, 2014)

Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces (ISF) have circulated a warning that Prime Minister Najib Mikati has been named as a possible target for assassination. Some security officials have downplayed the threat, but others are taking it seriously, given al-Qaeda’s increased activity in Lebanon, particularly in the north and the Bekaa. Is Mikati now on an al-Qaeda hit list? A memo dispatched by the chief of the Government Guard, states: “Information has come to light that an explosive charge has been planted in a champagne-color Kia SUV, driven by a Syrian suicide bomber named Abu al-Adnan from the Khaled bin al-Walid Brigades of the Islamic Front. The car might target a senior political figure in Tripoli or Beirut, and has started moving closer to the target. There are [also] reports about a black bomb-rigged Honda that might be detonated in Tripoli near the house of the figure in question.” When the memo was first publicized, it was thought to be one of a dozen similar reports circulated by the security services to their units, based on tips from informants or “technical sources,” like phone and electronic surveillance. But upon closer examination, it can be seen that it was the Directorate General of the ISF itself that issued the warning, while the original information had named the target as Mikati. Furthermore, it appears that the Government Guard has stepped up its security measures over the past two days in the vicinity of Mikati’s home in Tripoli, and those of his family. Some of the security officials we spoke to downplayed the report, saying, “We know that this is not a credible threat.” But if so, then why was the information circulated? One security official answered, “We cannot afford to be complacent about such information. We circulate it to fulfill our duties and allow precautionary measures to be taken.”

The report identified the Islamic Front as the party planning to assassinate Mikati. The Islamic Front is a Syrian opposition group that was formed two months ago, merging a number of Syrian opposition factions. The backbone of the Front is made up of Salafi fighters and clerics, with various political affiliations. Some are backed by Turkey, others by Qatar, but a majority of them are closely linked to Saudi intelligence.

Some political sources have found reason for pause in this information, especially since it is emerging in parallel with an incitement campaign led by the Future Movement – and Saudi Arabia – in North Lebanon against Mikati, even though he resigned as prime minister more than 10 months ago, in deference to a Saudi desire to remove Hezbollah from the government. Sources said that Saudi Arabia’s doors remain closed to Mikati.

Incitement in the north is not limited to Mikati. Prominent clerics in Tripoli have also complained about receiving death threats from Salafi extremists affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Clerics and security officials reckoned that the threat is serious because it comes at a time when al-Qaeda affiliated groups are operating freely in the north and Bekaa. In some areas, for example, armed militants from al-Qaeda affiliates like al-Nusra Front and ISIS now appear publicly, from Tripoli to Akkar, all the way to Ersal.

These areas, despite the Future Movement’s clout, are now practically in the hands of extremist groups, including those close to al-Qaeda. Indeed, on the ground, the Future Movement’s strength in Tripoli is in decline. People previously thought to be supporters of Future are now closer to the discourse of al-Qaeda. Similarly in Ersal, mayor Ali al-Houjeiri and other Future-affiliated figures no longer control things on the ground, and have long been overtaken by al-Nusra- and ISIS-affiliated groups.

Sources close to the security establishment and Islamist sources say that ISIS has decided to expand into Lebanon. ISIS’ bid has been reinforced following the disputes among jihadi groups in Syria, for example, between ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani.

Twitter user @wikibaghdady, who has been leaking confidential information about ISIS for weeks, has mentioned that Baghdadi wants to expand his group and gather pledges of allegiance from all around the world, with the first logical destination after Iraq and Syria being Lebanon. Al-Qaeda’s successes in carrying out suicide bombings and other attacks in Bekaa and Beirut – against mostly civilian targets – has also helped ISIS’ bid. Al-Qaeda’s affiliates believe that by merely starting a battle with Hezbollah in Lebanon, jihadis everywhere will flock to the country.

Meanwhile, reports have surfaced regarding Lebanese Salafi groups heading to Syria to receive the approval of jihadi groups there to begin operating in Lebanon. A group led by a North Lebanon-man identified as A. M. reportedly went to Syria to obtain ISIS’ blessing, before returning to Tripoli.

Al Akhbar (January 31, 2014)

A primary round of investigations into Omar al-Atrash established him as a suspect in a string of suicide bombings and attacks in Lebanon’s Bekaa, Dahiyeh, and Saida. Atrash’s statements provided invaluable information, as the detained cleric allegedly confessed to transporting two Saudi suicide bombers, who are still at large, to Beirut. Atrash has now been officially charged, paving the way for further questioning.

On January 30, an official statement by Lebanon’s army command confirmed previous press reports regarding Atrash’s confessions to his role in the recent wave of deadly bombings in Lebanon. Atrash has been referred to a military court, which charged him over his alleged role in the attacks.

Al-Akhbar learned that the military court intends to request the intelligence directorate to expand the scope of the investigations into Atrash. According to informed sources, the information the suspect may be in possession of cannot be extracted from him in just a few days of investigations.

Atrash reportedly spoke at length during his interrogation about his role in the terrorist bombings in Lebanon. The cleric also revealed some secrets about the work of jihadi organizations, but many details need to be followed up and verified. It is understood that there have been talks with the Ministry of Justice and the military court to get their consent to keeping Atrash in the custody of army intelligence for a longer period of time.

According to the same sources, Atrash was apprehended while army intelligence was in pursuit of a Saudi national, who, according to US intelligence tips, had entered Lebanon to carry out a major terrorist attack. During the search for the Saudi, information surfaced that made Atrash a suspect.

Atrash was subsequently arrested. Shortly after, he admitted his intent to move the Saudi national, who remains at large, to the capital. Atrash also confessed that he had previously brought another Saudi to Beirut, revealing that both of the Saudis were commissioned in Syria to carry out two suicide attacks in areas with sizeable Hezbollah influence.

Atrash also confessed that the registration papers found in his possession belonged to cars in the process of being moved to Beirut, to be handed over to suicide bombers for detonation in Dahiyeh or other areas. The suspect also said he was helping with logistics, including transferring funds.

The sources said Atrash disclosed information about certain events, details of which had been hitherto secret, including facts like:

– Atrash transported to Beirut the two suicide bombers who attacked the Iranian embassy, handing them over to the Palestinian fugitive Naim Abbas. Abbas operates from Palestinian refugee camps, including Ain al-Hilweh in South Lebanon.

– Atrash transported one of the suicide bombers involved in the Haret Hreik bombings to Khaldeh, also handing him over to Abbas.

– Atrash sent one of the suicide bombers using a microbus from Bekaa to Beirut, where Abbas was waiting for him. Abbas then moved the bomber to another location, where he gave him the explosive-rigged vehicle and an explosive belt.

– He transferred funds to Abbas, which he obtained from inside Syria.

– The two suicide bombers who blew themselves up at Lebanese army checkpoints in Awwali and Saida, and who until now had not been identified, were Qatari nationals, whom Atrash helped move from Bekaa to Beirut.

– The suicide bomber in the recent attack in Hermel was probably the brother of a Lebanese national who blew himself up in Syria a while ago.

Investigations into Atrash revealed Abbas, born in 1970, as a prominent al-Qaeda figure in Lebanon and the mastermind of a number of suicide attacks that targeted the southern suburbs of Beirut. In statements given by Islamist prisoners in Lebanon years ago, Abbas was named as the perpetrator of the assassinations of Army Major General Francois al-Hajj and MP Walid Eido. The prisoners cited leaders of Fatah al-Islam as the source of this information, but security services were not able to verify its accuracy.

According to reports, Abbas resides in South Lebanon’s Ain al-Hilweh camp, bearing in mind that security reports indicate Abbas often vanishes from the camp before reappearing with his beard shaven.

Atrash’s confessions have revealed that Abbas, who is a former member of the Islamic Jihad, is the same person known as Abu Suleiman. The latter was previously identified by the army as the owner of a warehouse in an area near Dahiyeh. Abbas, according to the same reports, gave a bomb-rigged car to Qutaiba al-Satem, the perpetrator of the first suicide bombing in Haret Hreik, after receiving it from Atrash.

The sources pointed out that Atrash confessed when he was confronted with damning evidence, including recordings of phone conversations proving his involvement, in addition to images sent by phone of the rigged cars and the perpetrator of one of the suicide attacks in Dahiyeh.

According to the sources, the army tasked a doctor to examine Atrash before handing him over to the military judiciary, to prove that he was not beaten in custody. Both the forensic doctor and Atrash have signed a report to this effect, the sources added.

Government commissioner to the military court, Judge Saq Saqr, charged Atrash and 12 others, including Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian nationals and other unidentified suspects, with joining an armed terrorist group with the goal of carrying out terrorist attacks, recruiting people for terrorist acts, and involvement in the bombings in Haret Hreik. Judge Saqr referred the case to the military investigative judge.

In the meantime, the army’s crackdown on terrorism continues. According to reports, more than 20 suspects have been arrested over the past two months, including Danish, Belgian, and German nationals suspected of being members of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), al-Nusra Front, and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.

In the same vein, investigations with detainee Jamal Daftardar, who was arrested by the intelligence directorate in Kamed al-Loz, continue. Daftardar had been under close surveillance after Lebanon received US tips regarding the movements of the now-deceased leader of Abdullah Azzam Brigades Majed al-Majed, as Daftardar was in charge of medical care for the latter in Lebanon.

According to reports, Daftardar is from the second generation of al-Qaeda operatives. His role focused on explosives and combat training.Al-Akhbar learned that his 16-year-old wife has since been released by the authorities, but was referred to General Security for processing, as she is a Syrian national. It appears that Daftardar knew the real identity of Majed, unlike others who were taking the Saudi terror leader to hospital or paying his medical bills.

Al Akhbar (January 31, 2014)

Amal Khalil

Early 2014, fugitive Lebanese Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir made a comeback via online social networks, tweeting messages and posting audio messages. Though these almost daily posts won’t make up for his absence since late August, for some, they may fill a void amid the absence of Sunni leaderships.

Many consider Assir’s rise to celebrity status as a sign of Sunni frustration. In just a few weeks, he captured local attention and created a media frenzy.

He first emerged as an advocate of the Syrian revolution but was so taken by fame that he proclaimed himself a spokesman of “oppressed Sunnis” all over the world, from Lebanon to Somalia to Burma. In Mecca’s holy mosques, Syria’s battle fronts, and Egypt’s squares, signs were raised saluting this rising “champion.”

Many factors contributed to the myth of Assir. The sheikh played the sectarian card well and used the absence of Sunni leaders to his advantage. Today, he plans on exploiting the fact that former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri reneged on his previous promise to not join a government with Hezbollah unless the party gives up its arms or withdraws from Syria.

Assir has lambasted the Hariri family and their Future Movement ever since the Abra battle last June. In a tweet posted yesterday, he noted sarcastically: “The first outcome of the peaceful resistance against the party’s arms was the agreement to participate in an inclusive government that would cover its crimes in Lebanon and in Syria.”

Assir continued: “The youth of March 14 were mistaken to hand their revolution to leaders who only raise the ceiling of their demands then surrender because they follow outside orders.” Assir suggested that Hariri and Lebanese Prime-Minister designate Tammam Salam introduce a special portfolio for Sunnis: the ministry of disgrace and shame, amid the supremacy of Speaker Nabih Berri and Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, the opportunism of MP Michel Aoun, and the wit of MP Walid Jumblatt.

From his hiding place, Assir pledged to fight oppression “until the last minute of my life.”

Assir had been bashing the Future Movement even before Abra, accusing the young Hariri of “living the good life and dancing around abroad.” He hasn’t even spared Saida deputies Bahia al-Hariri and Fouad Siniora, though it is no secret that they both sympathized with him before and after the battle.

In a phone interview with Al-Akhbar, Sheikh Maher Hammoud, imam of al-Quds Mosque suggested that the fugitive sheikh should add the word “stupid” to his tweets. According to Hammoud, Assir would be utterly stupid to try to present himself as a leader for Sunnis or any other group of people, calling upon him to draw lessons from his past experience and “repent.”

Hammoud explained that the leadership of Hariri family is now shaken “because they are puzzled between moderation and extremism. They believe that by not responding to Assir’s insults, they would be able to keep about 20 percent of the votes in the coming elections.”

He also pointed out that late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s leadership “did not fill a void and was not integral. It was temporary and interest-based. It came at a time of frustration and political vacuum. Meanwhile, traditional Sunni leaderships in Lebanon have always had Arab extensions, precisely with late leaders Gamal Abdel Nasser and Yasser Arafat.”

“A real Sunni leadership is the one based on an integral and sound understanding of Islam, one that bears the great causes of the nation. It champions Palestine and confronts US hegemony over the region,” he said.

In a previous tweet, Assir asserted he was “among the last people who withdrew from the neighborhood of Bilal bin Rabah Mosque in Abra,” adding, “I went out with my face revealed and holding my arms. If it was not for the women and children, I wouldn’t have withdrawn.”

Reenacting his role as a preacher and a spiritual guide, he advised “Sunni scholars and politicians to speak the truth about Hezbollah’s crimes against us, committed directly by the party or through its tools in the Lebanese army.”

Al Akhbar (January 31, 2014)

Sami Kleib

The most important result of Geneva II is its failure. Now, it is time to prepare better for the second round of negotiations, which might fail, too. The failure will likely continue until Russia and the United States agree on what the political solution will look like. Until the solution is ripe and ready, it is alright to administer some over-the-counter pain medicine and pretend that the cancer is being cured.

The failure of the first round of Geneva II allows the Russians to say the opposition is the problem. Moscow was not satisfied with the Syrian National Coalition delegation that negotiated in Geneva. Perhaps it was happy deep down that the delegation was weak and did not represent the opposition. Now, it can push to expand the representation of the opposition, end the coalition, and include most of the leftist, liberal, and secular opposition.

The failure of Geneva II does not bother Washington. The United States is looking to get rid of the specter of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is natural, then, to hold him responsible for the failure of the current round. The Barack Obama administration realizes that Assad is going to run in the presidential elections next summer. They think that if he runs, he will win. The United States is under Russian, Iranian, and Chinese pressure to leave the Syrian people to decide their future. There is an international consensus that Assad is guaranteed to win, even if the elections take place under international supervision.

The Americans cannot even imagine this possibility, but they can not overthrow Assad or kill him. If they do, the chemical weapons deal would stop and the open door with Iran would close. There would be a major problem with Russia and China who have not gotten over the international fraud involved in overthrowing the Libyan regime and killing Moammar Gadhafi. Most dangerous is that no one knows how the Syrian army and its allies would react.

It was necessary to pull the rug from under the feet of the Syrian government’s delegation in Geneva II. The speeches of the US, Saudi, Turkish, Qatari, and French foreign ministers in Montreux all held Assad responsible for the war and terrorism in the country. The former US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, continued the campaign with his statements about war crimes. The US Congress resumed non-lethal military aid to the moderate Syrian opposition. The United States and France accused the regime of obstructing the delivery of chemical weapons, and Washington proclaimed, again, that the war option against Syria is not off the table.

The message is clear: Assad is not allowed to retake the reins. At this point, almost everything is in his favor. A fractured political opposition, fighting among opposition fighters, the reconciliation process moving forward at a faster pace, the presence and vitality of the official delegation in Geneva II whose members dominated foreign media coverage, the high morale of the army on the ground, and the shift in the Syrian public mood, whereby many want a return of the state. Add to the mix the consistency of the Iranian and Russian positions in support of their Syrian ally. Sources from both sides confirm that Assad himself, and not just the regime, is still a red line.

What can Washington and its allies do?

There are three options. Either the US accepts Assad’s survival, candidacy, and victory based on a tacit agreement with Russia. (It is possible despite the American noise that will accompany it). Or it will try again to tip the military balance by giving the opposition lethal weapons. (An unlikely possibility because of concerns over al-Qaeda, al-Nusra Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). Or it will put forward an acceptable alternative to Assad. (This option is being highly promoted at this point).

A senior US official says the alternative is ready. He is reticent about the details, but he points to two options. Either it will be someone who is acceptable to the army and the main figures of the regime, which means there will be no problem with the Russians and Iranians, or the presidency in the next phase will be a kind of transitional body based on Geneva II.

Before that, the Swiss city would have hosted a number of meetings to reach an international consensus on the shape of the transitional body, its powers and its role. The same official confirms, without batting an eyelid, that the alternative has been found, and he is from the Alawi sect. He confirms, too, that contacts have been made with people inside Syria for that purpose, and that the matter is now being discussed with the Russians. You can hear similar accounts from coalition leaders who were in Geneva.

Is it serious or is it just hype? Figures within the Syrian regime and a number of their allies believe that the United States has left no stone unturned to find an alternative to Assad. They add, however, that the United States was unable to achieve this goal, even when the regime was weak. So, how will it be able to do so now, when the state has regained many of the elements of its power? It is just hype, they insist.

As such, it appears that the failure of the current round of Geneva II is useful for Washington. The United States stresses that the coalition delegation made a major concession by sitting at the negotiating table. They also agreed to discuss side issues, abandoning the precondition for negotiations, i.e., Assad stepping down. But according to Washington, the official delegation demonstrated an unwillingness to accept anything that has to do with redrawing Syria’s political future. The United States confirms that, with its allies, they tried their best to encourage the coalition delegation to come to Geneva but that it might be harder in the future.

The Russians and their allies respond that the regime, too, made a major concession when it sat with parties it describes as terrorists. That is why Moscow argues that the reason this round of negotiations did not go anywhere is because the coalition is unable to control the opposition forces on the ground and does not represent the opposition.

It is necessary, then, to have future negotiations attended by a larger cross section of the opposition and to have a more effective regional presence. The Russians talk about the need to include Iran in future negotiations that will likely take place in a few months.

It is said that Tehran, through the warm reception it gave the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is trying to pull the rug from under the feet of Saudi Arabia. The Iranian and Turkish sides are looking for a Syrian opposition that is not subject to Saudi influence. Turkey wants a price for that, however. It keeps on saying that Assad is the problem, hoping to soften Iranian opposition to the idea of abandoning him. Nevertheless, the facts on the ground indicate that the Turkish wind is blowing against the al-Qaeda-affiliated groups. This is the only thing that will weaken the fighters and make it possible to find future common ground regarding Aleppo and its countryside.

All this reveals that not all the elements of the political solution are available. But it also suggests that efforts are accelerating behind the scenes, even though the most likely possibility is that the war in Syria will go on for quite some time. However, concern over terrorism means that the United States and its allies do not have the luxury of managing the Syrian crisis forever. It is necessary, therefore, to keep the two Syrian sides within a framework of successive negotiations, even if the results are modest or even non-existent in the early stages.

Associated press (American News Agency, January 28, 2014)

Syrian Al Qaeda-linked groups want to attack the United States and are training a growing cadre of fighters from Europe, the Mideast and even the United States, United States intelligence chief James Clapper warned. Director of National Intelligence Clapper told the Senate Intelligence Committee that groups such as the Al Nusra Front in Syria have inaugurated training camps “to train people to go back to their countries,”the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

He described this as “one of the newest threats emerging in the past year to U.S. security.” He added: “Al Nusra Front, to name one …. does have aspirations for attacks on the homeland.”

However, Clapper did not elaborate or offer any evidence of al-Nusra’s desire to attack the U.S. He said the civil war in Syria has become a “huge magnet” for these groups while sub-Saharan Africa has become a “hothouse” for extremists even as Al Qaeda’s core leadership has been steadily weakened in Pakistan.

America’s intelligence agencies estimated that there were about 26,000 fighters deemed to be “extremists” operating in Syria out of a total opposition force of 75,000 to 110,000 from some 50 countries, Clapper said.

He said more established groups, like Yemen’s Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, are still more capable of carrying out attacks against the U.S., but described steep growth in numbers of fighters in Syria.

He also offered a warning on advances in Syria’s biological weapons program.

Although Syria has agreed to eliminate its large arsenal of chemical weapons, the regime may now have the ability to produce biological weapons on a limited scale, he said.

“We judge that some elements of Syria’s biological warfare program might have advanced beyond the research and development stage and might be capable of limited agent production, based on the duration of its longstanding program,” the Associated Press quoted Clapper as saying in written testimony.

Clapper offered no further details, but it was the first time an official has publicly stated that spy agencies believed Syria had made strides in its biological program.

Neither President Bashar Al Assad’s regime nor the rebel groups appear able to achieve a decisive victory on the battlefield in the next six months, said Clapper, adding that the war would further foment Sunni-Shiite sectarian tensions across the region.

Meanwhile, another U.S. official warned of extremist rebels getting access to technologies that could be used against Washington. “Not only are fighters being drawn to Syria, but so are technologies and techniques that pose particular problems to our defenses,” the Associated Press quoted committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein as saying.

She warned Syria could become “a launching point or way station for terrorists seeking to attack the United States or other nations,” in the annual hearing Wednesday to hear the U.S. intelligence committee’s assessment of worldwide threats.

U.S. intelligence analysts have told the Associated Press that Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahri and his lieutenants are too preoccupied by the constant threat of U.S. drone strikes to plot a major attack against the U.S. similar to Sept. 11.

This has pushed Zawahri to empower various “nodes” of his organization to choose their own, often local targets, though he encourages them to focus on the “far enemy” of the U.S. when they can.

U.S. intelligence officials told the Associated Press that Zawahri so far has not called on the Syrian branches to attack U.S. targets, allowing them to focus on the war against Assad.

Reuters (British News Agency, January 31, 2014)

Myriam Karouny

Faced with recent setbacks in Iraq and Syria, al Qaeda is slowly but firmly gaining influence in Lebanon, helped by the country’s increasing sectarian violence and the turmoil caused by Syria’s civil war, sources close to the group say.

Lebanon, a small Mediterranean state with a fragile sectarian power sharing system, has seen the worst of the Syria’s war spillover with car bombs in Beirut and Tripoli, gunfights in city streets and rocket fire in the Bekaa Valley.

The violence is exacerbated by Lebanon’s own sectarian divisions and entrenching them. Shi’ite Hezbollah supports President Bashar al-Assad while his rebel opponents are backed by Sunni Muslims including Islamists and al Qaeda fighters.

In Syria, the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holds territory in the north and east but has been on the defensive in recent weeks after coming under attack from rival rebel groups that resent its harsh rule.

The sources say it is now seeking to expand in Lebanon, particularly the northern city of Tripoli, plagued by violence and lawlessness since the start of Syria’s uprising nearly three years ago.

The accounts from the sources, including fighters who support and oppose al Qaeda inSyria, appeared to be supported at the weekend when a statement in the name of Abu Sayyaf al-Ansary – described as al Qaeda’s commander in Lebanon – said the group had put down roots in Lebanon.

In an audio statement Ansary declared allegiance to the head of ISIL. Speaking, he said, from Tripoli, he announced Lebanon would be a gateway for al Qaeda to strike at Israel.

Several Syrian rebel sources said the group was in the final stages of establishing itself in Lebanon’s north – a region seen as fertile ground for the group where many people have adopted a stricter interpretation of Sunni Islam in the past few years.

Against that backdrop, a local commander in Syria who is close to al Qaeda commanders there said Ansary had been given the conditional blessing of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to announce al Qaeda’s presence in Lebanon.

“There will be statement in the next few days and the world will know then what will happen in Lebanon, and with God’s will it will warm the heart of the faithful,” he said.

While the group is expected to focus on Tripoli as a base, local commanders may be present in the northern province of Akkar, in the Bekaa Valley and the southern city of Sidon, where supporters of Sunni Islamist Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir clashed with the army last year.

Residents say al Qaeda is already calling the shots in some Tripoli neighborhoods and areas of the northern province of Akkar and the Bekaa Valley. Black and white flags associated with its uncompromising Islamist agenda openly fly from the streets and balconies of some Tripoli districts.

Baghdadi, an Iraqi who leads thousands of fighters from across the world but mainly from Iraq, Egypt and Libya, initially sent his men to fight alongside Syrian rebels, most of them Islamists.

But many Syrian fighters grew to resent his dominance, especially after his fighters killed and tortured hundreds of Syrians including other Islamist fighters.

“His dream is to create a state, he cannot see anything else but that and will crush anybody who stands in his way,” said a Syrian commander who fights against al Qaeda.

The sources were divided over how powerful the group is at this stage in Lebanon. Some said it had already established its base and would launch more organized attacks in the country, while others said it was still in final preparatory stages.

“Our understanding is that they are around 80 percent established but not fully established. They are still not well organized or the cells connected to each other,” said another Syrian commander via Skype. “They are in the process of re-grouping, that is what we know.”

Sources in Tripoli said that a debate took place for weeks among the jihadis on whether to go public. They were told by higher command to wait for approval from Baghdadi.

Saturday’s audio statement, posted on YouTube in Abu Sayyaf al-Ansary’s name, suggests that approval has been granted.

“After the flag of Islam was raised from Iraq to the Levant … we have decided to announce our allegiance to them,” he said. “We swear allegiance to Emir Abu Bakr al-Husseini al-Baghdadi, from Tripoli, so that we will be a door for him, God willing, from Lebanon to the holy site (Jerusalem).”

“So we offered the idea of regenerating their cells in Lebanon so that we continue the path of jihad which has scared America in its den.”

“The north (of Lebanon) is a fertile ground for this for many reasons. People are extremists – but because of ignorance,” said a third Syrian commander who lives in Turkey. He predicted an escalation in violence in Lebanon but said all-out conflict remained unlikely for now.

“More car bombs and explosions will happen here and there. As for an all out war in Lebanon, I think it’s not possible in the near term,” he said.

- See more at: http://www.neworientnews.com/news/fullnews.php?news_id=125561#sthash.mq6bHdWR.dpuf

"Good News" and Bad from Palestine

February 4, 2014, 12:34 am

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Palestinian Declaration

Please Sign the Palestinian Declaration Here

by Stephen Lendman

First the good news. There’s much to report. On November 29, 2013, the UN General Assembly designated 2014 as the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.

A previous article asked why this year? Why not every year? Why not action, not words. Hope springs eternal. Maybe policy changes will follow.

Good things are happening. Global BDS successes highlight them. They’re impressive. They’re essential. They suggest more ahead. More on this below.

BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti asked “why BDS?” It defines three fundamental Palestinian rights. It supports them uncompromisingly. They include ending:

• Israel’s lawless West Bank, Gaza, Golan, and Lebanese territory occupation;

• institutionalized discrimination against Israeli Arab citizens; and

• permitting diaspora Palestinians right of return.

BDS supports Palestinian sovereignty. It wants East Jerusalem as Palestine’s exclusive capital.

It wants Palestinians controlling their borders, air space, coastal waters and resources.

It wants no Israeli soldiers or settlers on their lands. It wants Israel’s Apartheid Wall demolished.

The International Court of Justice ruled it illegal. It breaches international law. It must be torn down, it said.

BDS wants reparations for destroyed Palestinian homes and property. It wants Israeli lawlessness ended.

It wants international law enforced. It wants long denied peace, security and stability. It wants Palestinians free at last.

Barghouti calls Israel “exclusivist, ethnocentric” and unjust. It’s morally, ethically and legally reprehensible. It’s repressive. It’s undemocratic. It’s lawlessly out-of-control.

BDS is a vital initiative for change. It’s effective. It’s working. It punishes Israel politically and economically. It demands worldwide support.

In early January, Norwegian singer Moddi cancelled his planned Tel Aviv performance. He did so following calls for a cultural boycott. Gazan activists urged him not to come.

Veolia was one of three companies comprising the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad (MBCR). It holds a 60% share.

On January 8, it lost a $4.26 billion contract. Boston BDS “Derail Veolia” to be “on the right side of history” prevailed. It’s complicit in numerous West Bank human rights violations.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) awarded its contract to MBCR’s sole competitor, Keolis America.

On January 13, Dutch pension fund PGGM announced it’s divesting from five large Israeli banks. It cited serious international law violations.

Media reports suggest other European banks may follow. ABP and two other major European investors raised concerns about Israeli banks financing illegal settlements.

On January 17, Villar Focchiardo became Italy’s 6th local council to condemn Pizzarotti & Co.’s involvement in building a high-speed Jews-only West Bank railway on stolen Palestinian land.

Last summer, Al Haq published a legal opinion. It found “substantial grounds” to hold Pizzarotti responsible for “serious violations of international law such as war crimes of pillage and destruction and appropriation of property.”

In 2011, Beutsche Bahn withdrew from the project for this reason. Villar Focchiardo’s decision came when other European governments and companies are taking greater care to avoid complicity with Israeli lawlessness.

In December, Britain published new guidelines. They warn about “clear risks related to economic and financial activities in the settlements.” They neither encourage or support them.

Romania banned its construction workers from settlement expansion activities. It said doing so violates international law.

New 2014 EU guidelines prohibit awarding grants or loans to entities involved in illegal settlement projects. Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni expressed concern about BDS successes.

They “won’t end,” she said. “The boycott is advancing uniformly and exponentially. Those who don’t want to see it will end up feeling it.”

Israel is a pariah state. It’s incrementally becoming “a lone settlement in the world,” Livni added.

Other Israeli politicians voice similar concerns. At the same time, they support business as usual policy. They endorse so-called peace based on unconditional Palestinian surrender.

BDS successes suggest hope. Jordan Valley Israeli settlers complained about European retailers increasingly spurning their products.

G4S provides security-related services and equipment. It’s a UK/Danish company. It supplies Israeli prisons, police, checkpoints, and Apartheid Wall operations.

In April 2012, Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations called for action to hold it accountable. They accused G4S of complicity with Israeli international law violations.

A panel of legal experts said it’s potentially criminally liable. Oslo University students pressured administration officials to terminate its G4S contract.

Similar pressure got EU nations to decline renewing their own. It involves security services at some of their Brussels premises.

European parliamentarians raised concerns about serious international law violations. UK broadsheets featured a demonstration outside G4S’s annual meeting.

Britain’s Good Energy announced its termination of business with G4S. It issued a statement saying it felt feedback pressure from customers.

Several Danish charities and a bank terminated G4S contracts. Months earlier, it lost its Danish Merkur Bank business.

Its spokesman, Karl Johnsen said it was “because of G4S’s involvement in the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”

Earlier, Amnesty International Denmark terminated its G4S contract saying:

“We do not want to work with G4S because the company’s global activities do not live up to Amnesty International’s requirements for corporate action in relation to human rights.”

In December, the Netherlands trade union Abvakabo ended its relationship with G4S. It provided security for its Utrecht office.

Spokesman Marion Nordemeule said action was taken because of G4S’s “role in Israel’s violations of international law.”

Last September, the Dutch Green Left party (GroenLinks) said it’ll no longer use G4S because of its “activities in the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel.”

In mid-January, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) UK staff said G4S’ Israeli security services will be investigated.

At issue is international law violations. Britain warned about doing business in Occupied Palestine.

The UK Trade and Investment web site says operating in illegal settlements is risky.

It warned against conducting financial transactions, investments, purchases, procurement and tourism.

It said EU citizens and businesses should “be aware of the potential reputational implications of getting involved in economic and financial activities in settlements, as well as possible rights abuses of individuals.”

“Those contemplating any economic or financial involvement in settlements should seek appropriate legal advice.”

Under 2013 UK guidelines, G4S and other companies must provide evidence of concern for protecting human rights.

On February 1, Denmark’s Danske Bank (its largest one) divested from Israel’s Hapoalim. It did so for its involvement with illegal settlement construction.

It earlier terminated investments with two other Israeli companies. It cited international humanitarian law violations.

Days earlier, the Norwegian Ministry of Finance said it’ll exclude Israeli firms Africa Israel Investments and Danya Cebus from its Government Pension Fund Global.

It cited “serious violations of individual rights in war or conflict through the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem.”

Momentum shows signs of building. Doing so is encouraging. BDS successes suggest more to follow. Slapping Israel down hard is long overdue. So is holding its war criminals accountable.

On February 1, Tunisians rallied in Tunis. Dozens of associations demonstrated against Zionism. They demanded criminalizing Tunisian/Israeli ties.

They cited longstanding Israeli crimes. One protester perhaps spoke for others, saying:

“Zionists are funding and arming terrorists and the media are targeting the Syrian government.”

“Three years on, Syria is still resisting global hegemony.”

“The Syrian Arab army will win against the fierce imperialist attacks of Zionists and the terrorist Wahhabi and Takfiri allies.”

Demonstrators burned Israeli flags. They chanted anti-Zionist slogans. They called for national protests.

Maybe similar regional ones will follow. Israel threatens Middle East peace and stability.

It’s nuclear armed and dangerous. It maintains formidable chemical and biological weapons arsenals.

It uses them in waging wars. It uses radiological weapons. It maintains occupation harshness.

In the week ending January 29, it conducted 73 lawless Palestinian West Bank community incursions (over 10 a day).

It conducted two more in Gaza. At least 42 Palestinian civilians were arrested. They included six children.

Ten Palestinians were arrested at checkpoints. Four children were targeted.

Israeli naval forces attacked two Palestinian fishermen. One boat sustained damage.

Israeli crimes against humanity repeat multiple times daily. Rogue states operate this way.

America and Israel are by far the worst. They threaten humanity’s survival.

On February 1, the Ahrar Center for Detainees’ Studies and Human Rights reported Israeli forces killing six Palestinians and kidnapping 383 others in January alone.

Air and ground attacks were involved. So were dozens of weekly community incursions.

Nine Palestinians kidnapped in Gaza are patients. They were seized at Erez crossing.

They had Israeli permits to seek medical attention. Imagine requiring them for vitally needed healthcare.

Imagine them for any reason. Militarized occupation mandates are merciless. Palestinians are denied virtually all rights.

Children are treated as ruthlessly as adults. Ahrar said soldiers and settlers conducted over 30 lawless violations against Palestinian lands, property and holy sites.

A mosque was burned. Farmland and orchards were uprooted. Produce was stolen. Excessive force is longstanding Israeli practice.

On February 1, Israeli soldiers shot two Palestinian youths. They were wounded.

Israeli dogs mauled them. Soldiers beat them with batons and rifle butts. They kicked and punched them.

They dragged them on the ground over 300 meters. They caused multiple fractures and other injuries.

Tareq Barghouth is Palestinian Ministry of Detainees legal counsel. He called what happened “immoral.”

It constitutes “very serious violations and escalation.” Neither youth was threatening. They were visiting a friend.

They were attacked provocatively. Barghouth accused Israeli soldiers of “criminal acts.” They barely stopped short of cold-blooded murder.

What happened wasn’t an isolated incident. Similar ones occur regularly.

On January 31, Israeli soldiers lawless invaded al-Jalazoun refugee camp. It’s north of Ramallah.

Clashes followed. At least 14 Palestinians were injured. Eyewitnesses said soldiers acted provocatively.

They used rubber-coated bullets, tear gas and live ammunition. They did so against Palestinians protesting Mohammad Mubarak’s death.

Israeli soldiers murdered him in cold-blood. He was working at the time. He was involved in road repairs.

He was a flagger. He helped direct traffic. He was unarmed. He threatened no one. He was shot and killed anyway. It was preemptive murder.

On February 1, Israeli soldiers invaded Hebron. Five Palestinians were arrested. They included two young children.

Concussion grenades were fired at Palestinian homes. Nearby towns and villages were attacked the same way. So was al-Fawwar refugee camp.

On January 31, Israeli soldiers kidnapped seven children in Bethlehem. They fired rubber-coated bullets and tear gas.

Local youths hurled rocks and empty bottles in response. Ahmad Breijiyya was lawlessly abducted.

He’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements coordinator. His whereabouts is unknown.

On January 31, Israeli soldiers shot and injured two Palestinian youths. They did so at a checkpoint east of Jerusalem.

They abducted them. They’re held incommunicado. It’s unknown how seriously they were injured. Or if their wounds are being properly treated.

On January 31, dozens of Israeli soldiers invaded Jenin. They broke into homes lawlessly.

They ransacked them. They terrorized local families. They rampage across Palestine daily the same way.

They operate with impunity. They claim sovereignty over Occupied Palestine.

Community incursions occur multiple times daily. Ransacking homes follows. It’s for training purposes.

It’s about terrorizing Palestinians into submission. Crimes against humanity explain what threatens all Palestinians. They’re lawlessly occupied.

Israel’s military Advocate General lied claiming “no legal obstacle to holding training in inhabited areas as part of maintaining security in the area.”

“The orders issued for the drills that take place in populated urban areas include a statute requiring coordination with the ones doing the drill.”

“It will also be made clear that as part of the training exercises, the soldiers must avoid putting the population at risk, damaging their property or causing unreasonable disturbance to their daily routine.”

Fact check

It bears repeating. Israel’s occupation is lawless. Collective punishment defines it. So does institutionalized racism.

Ruthlessness is longstanding Israeli policy. International humanitarian law is clear.

Occupied people are protected persons. Occupiers are responsible for their well-being.

No physical, psychological or moral coercion is permitted. No intimidation, reprisals, pillage or hostage-taking.

No holding people against their will. No restricted freedom of movement. Nothing comprising public safety and security.

No collective punishment. No denial of food, healthcare, shelter, clothing, education, transport or other essential services.

No denying the right of paid employment. No forced labor. No guilt by accusation.

No forcible transfers. No ethnic cleansing. No gulag prisons. No compromising all other universally declared human rights.

Settlements are illegal. Occupiers are prohibited from transferring portions of its population to occupied territory.

Nor may occupied people be deported to an occupying power’s land – or any other country, for any reason with no exceptions.

Displacing Palestinians, destroying their homes, other property and personal possessions, stealing their land, as well as letting settlers occupy it directly contravenes fundamental international law.

Geneva’s Common Article 3 requires “humane treatment for all persons in enemy hands, specifically prohibit(ing) murder, mutilation, torture, cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment (and) unfair trial(s).”

On January 31, Maan News contributor Abdulrahman Murad headlined “Is Israel building up for an offensive against Gaza?”

Palestinians fear the worst. Murad “received two inquiries from oversees friends during the past few days regarding the high-pitch Israeli threats against Gaza, and Hamas in particular,” he said.

“The last one was asking for a confirmation of Israeli TV channels warning foreigners in Gaza to immediately leave, in anticipation for military action.”

Netanyahu threatened to “teach Hamas a lesson very soon.” Does he have Cast Lead 2.0 in mind?

Israeli drones overfly Gaza daily. They’re “a permanent source of fear,” said Murad.

In December, Israel deployed three missile batteries near Beersheba, Sderot and Ashdod.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon is militantly hardline. He suggested “preparation for possible escalation.”

Doing so would be lawless aggression. It’s longstanding Israeli policy. Pretexts are invented. Palestinians are blamed for Israeli crimes.

Besieged Gazans suffer most. Will more Israeli aggression follow? It’s hard imagining how much more suffering Gazans can take.

World leaders able to make a difference turn a blind eye. Israel gets away with murder unaccountably.

Occupation harshness is merciless. Ruthlessness defines longstanding Israeli policy. Its deplorable record speaks for itself.