US-backed rebels massacre more minorities in Syria

Another massacre by Obama’s rebel troops! 

The soldiers in the video are from Kuwait, and they urge their fellow countrymen to do right by their God and join in the slaughter of Syrian Shiites.

Personally, the only thing I find more disgusting than the men in the video is the way in which the US and Europe are scrambling to support them.

The world really has been turned upside-down!

Father Dave

US-backed rebels massacre more minorities in Syria

US-backed “rebels” carry out sectarian massacre in Syria

source: www.ws…

At least 60 people, including women, children and the elderly, were killed in a massacre of Shia Muslims by US-backed “rebels” in eastern Syria Tuesday.

The sectarian slaughter in the village of Hatlah in the province of Deir Ezzor near the border with Iraq, was reported by both the Syrian government and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based group that supports the Western-backed militias trying to overthrow the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A video posted online showed Islamist gunmen bragging about killing Shias and burning and looting their homes. A spokesman for the group, a Kuwaiti, declared that they killed for their religion and calling on Sunnis in Kuwait and elsewhere to do the same. Another exposed a covered corpse saying, “Look Shi’ites, this is how you will end up, you dogs.”

The killings came on the same day that a pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up in the busy Marjeh Square in the heart of Damascus, Syria’s capital, killing 15 people and wounding another 31. The terrorist attack took place near a police station.

The Deir Ezzor massacre, in which an estimated 1,500 gunmen took part, underscored the increasingly open sectarian character of the US-backed war for regime change in Syria, under conditions in which the so-called rebels have suffered a series of serious military defeats.

Al Qaeda-affiliated gunmen of the Al Nusra front and other Sunni Islamist militias have become the predominant forces in what pseudo-left elements in the West insist on calling the “Syrian revolution,” with many thousands of Islamist fighters having entered the country from neighboring Arab states as well as from as far away as Chechnya, the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere in Europe.

Particularly in the wake of the Syrian army’s retaking of Qusair, the strategically important town in the central province of Homs that served as a conduit for arms and foreign fighters coming into Syria from Lebanon, the “rebels” and their supporters have fomented increasingly rabid sectarianism. The pretext for this has been the aid given to the Syrian government forces by members of the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah movement, who crossed the border to help retake Qusair from Al Nusra and its allies.

In the aftermath of the battle, the media and leading Sunni clerics—particularly in Saudi Arabia and the monarchical Persian Gulf Sunni petrol states that have provided much of the money and arms for the “rebels”—have cast the Syrian conflict as a virtual holy war against Shi’ites.

Well-known Sunni cleric Yusuf al Qaradawi, who is based in Qatar and enjoys the support of its monarchy, called for every able-bodied Sunni across the region to go and fight the Shias in Syria and declared that Iran was determined to “devour” the Sunnis.

Qaradawi’s sectarian fanaticism is a reflection of the increasing desperation of his patrons. Britain’s Channel 4 quoted Qatari Deputy Prime Minister Ahmas Bin Abdullah Bin Zaid al Mahmoud addressing the US-Islamic Word Forum in Doha this week as stating: “Should … the United States fail to offer prompt and decisive assistance to the Syrian people to aid them in fulfilling their aspirations, we fear that the crisis at hand might have even more serious repercussions on neighboring states, the Arab region, and world peace.”

Having laid out an estimated $3 billion to arm and pay mercenaries in Syria, Qatar’s royal house fears its efforts are going up in smoke and that defeat may undermine its own grip on power.

In the wake of the government’s regaining control over Qusair, the Syrian military has begun to push into areas of the central city of Homs held by the Western-backed “rebels.” It is preparing a major offensive to regain full control of Aleppo, Syria’s commercial center near the Turkish-Syrian border.

The fear that the forces that the West and its allies among the Gulf State monarchies have fielded and armed as their proxies in the war for Syrian regime change are losing was also expressed in statements by French officials this week.

“We need to re-balance things because over the past few weeks the troops of Bashar al-Assad and especially Hezbollah and the Iranians, along with Russian arms, have gained considerable ground,” said Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.

Fabius indicated that this “re-balancing” was to take place through a major escalation of the Western intervention, including France together with Britain and the US directly arming the “rebels.” Ostensibly, Washington and its NATO allies have, until now, supplied only “non-lethal” assistance, but in reality, the CIA as well as British, French and German intelligence have provided direct aid, including the CIA’s coordination of the arms flow paid for by the Saudi and Qatari monarchies.

“We shouldn’t arm them for the sake of arming them, but there has to be a rebalancing,” Fabius continued. “Nobody is talking about sending troops on the ground, but the resistance fighters must be able to defend themselves.”

Fabius said that he had discussed the issue Tuesday with US Secretary of State John Kerry and claimed that Paris would wait until August 1 before sending weapons. This was the date agreed to by the European Union, after Britain and France succeeded in overturning an EU arms embargo on Syria.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague arrived in Washington Wednesday for discussions on Syria. White House officials have indicated that the members of the National Security Council are reviewing options for an escalation of the US intervention this week, including the direct arming of the anti-Assad militias and the imposition of a no-fly zone. That would entail a major US bombing campaign against Syria.

Other meetings on the crisis confronting Washington and its allies were scheduled elsewhere. The Turkish media reported that Tamir Pardo, the director of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, flew secretly into Turkey Wednesday to discuss the Syrian situation with his counterpart, Hakan Fidan, head of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT).

According to some reports, Pardo emphasized Iran’s role in the Syrian events and also apparently suggested Iranian involvement in the mass protests that have swept Turkey for the past two weeks. Turkey has been one of the main supporters of the so-called rebels, and Syria has repeatedly charged that Israel is giving them covert backing in a bid to overthrow Assad and undermine both Iran and Hezbollah.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would fly to London next week for talks on Syria.

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US Bishops call for peace in Syria

It seems extraordinary to me that there is not a greater outcry from the church against the carnage in Syria. We might have hoped that followers of Jesus Christ across the US in particular might have rallied to oppose their government’s efforts to pour further weapons into the already-devastated country. For the most part though church leaders have been cautious if not muted in their criticisms.

The letter of Bishops Pates and Kicanas is encouraging, though it may prove to be too little and too late.

Father Dave

Rev. Richard E. Pates

Rev. Richard E. Pates

Rev. Gerald F. Kicanas

Rev. Gerald F. Kicanas

source: al-bushra-updates.blogspot.com…

US Bishops Urging Syrian Ceasefire

The bishops overseeing international peace and relief efforts for the Church in the US urged Secretary of State John Kerry to work with other governments to obtain a ceasefire in Syria, initiate negotiations and provide humanitarian assistance, all in an effort to build “an inclusive society in Syria that protects the rights of all its citizens, including Christians and other minorities.”

Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, and Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, Arizona, sent a letter to Kerry on Wednesday.

Bishop Pates is chairman of the bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace. Bishop Kicanas is chairman of the board of Catholic Relief Services, the bishops’ international humanitarian agency.

“The Syrian people urgently need a political solution that ends the fighting and creates a future for all Syrians, one that respects human rights and religious freedom,” wrote Bishop Pates and Bishop Kicanas. The bishops cited the appeals for peace in Syria made by Pope Francis on Easter Sunday and in his June 15 message to the G8 Summit.

The bishops noted the reported use of chemical weapons, the United Nations estimate of more than 93,000 deaths, the displacement of millions from their homes and the kidnapping of two Orthodox archbishops on a mission of mercy as urgent reasons for a negotiated ceasefire and political solution.

The full text of the bishops’ letter is available in PDF format here.

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Obama shows his true colours by arming Syrian rebels

When I think back to 2009 when Barrack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize … it all seems like a sick joke now!

Obama’s decision to fuel the fire in Syria by arming the rebels, and so prolong the bloody conflict, makes him look more and more like his war-mongering predecessor. Indeed, when we take into account his murderous drone warfare campaign and the ongoing fiasco in Afghanistan, he may by now have surpassed George Dubya in criminality!

Moreover, Obama’s paper-thin peace rhetoric doesn’t seem to be fooling many of his international allies this time either! Of course the Middle Eastern enemies of Syria who met in Doha are in entire agreement with the American position, and yet traditional allies such as Canada and Australia are showing themselves to be far more reticent when it comes to joining the Syrian kill-fest!

The video below is of fiery Irish independent, Clare Daly. She speaks with clarity and power. One can only hope that political leaders around the world will stand up and follow her courageous example in speaking out!

Father Dave

Clare Daly Speaks out about Obama and Syria

Clare Daly Speaks out about Obama and Syria

Irish Independent, Clare Daly

Irish Independent, Clare Daly

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Mussalaha Delegation on Syrian TV

In May, 2013, I was privileged to travel to Damascus as part of an international ‘Mussalaha’ (reconciliation) delegation, let by Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mairead Maguire, and hosted by Mother Agnes Mariam.

Few in the ‘western world’ see what it is like inside Damascus at the moment, as the western media seem to have abandoned Syria, or at least they only appear by safely ’embedding’ themselves in the forces of the attacking rebels!

Apparently CNN is still in Damascus, but CNN was radically uninterested in what ‘Mussalaha’ had to say. Syrian TV, on the other hand, was very interested, and below are a few samples.

They are all in Arabic, and yet they all bring back powerful memories for me – including that of our trip to the Umayyed Mosque in Damascus, where I had the privilege of meeting the Grand Mufti of Syria, Dr Hassoun!

Father Dave

Delegation of peace in the land of peace
World peace delegation at the Umayyad Mosque - May 11, 2013
Peace delegation .. With the national opposition parties - May 9, 2013
An international peace delegation to visit Syria - May 9, 2013
Prayers with the participation of the delegation of the International Peace - May 10, 2013
Endosperm live and tolerance approach Syrian - May 13, 2013

Click on a thumbnail to watch

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Mussalaha Peace Mission to Syria – the Concluding Declaration

The Concluding Declaration of the Mussalaha Delegation to Syria – Friday, May 10th 2013

Syria exhibits a massive and terrible breakdown of human decency and respect. There are millions of innocent victims and many individual acts of heroism, but amongst the powerful we see an appalling degree of violence, hypocrisy and corruption. Tens of thousands have died, millions have been displaced, and nearly the entire population of 23 million lives in fear. The international community has stated and we confirm that the Syrian tragedy is possibly the worst since World War II.

States, political organisations and combatants are the primary causes of the misery, which they pursue for their own advantage, sewing terror and manipulating the suffering to reflect badly on their opponents while all too often refusing to compromise or even talk to each other.

These are the findings of our delegation, consisting of 16 human rights activists from seven countries. Over the course of nine days we visited refugee camps, affected communities, religious leaders, combatants, government representatives and many others – perpetrators and victims – in Syria and Lebanon.

We were already horrified by what we knew before coming, but what we have learned as a delegation brings shame to almost everyone involved.

We call on the international community to protect the territorial integrity of Syria and to respect the fundamental rights of Syria as a sovereign state. We deplore any intent to breach the integrity of Syria’s frontiers or to damage the unity and rich diversity of the Syrian people.

We recognise the legitimacy of the aspirations of the Syrian citizens for change, reforms, the eradication of State corruption and the implementation of a democratic life that respects and protects the fundamental rights of all citizens and minorities but we believe that effective and lasting reforms an only be achieved through non-violent means.

Our primary appeal is that all countries stop their interference in Syrian affairs – more specifically, that they halt the supply of arms and foreign combatants to both sides of the conflict. If foreign countries agree to eliminate the influx of arms and fighters, we are confident that Syrians can find their own solutions to their problems and achieve reconciliation.

We unequivocally oppose all aggression and foreign intervention against Syria under any justification. At the same time we appeal to all parties, including the government, to show restraint in response to the provocations that aim to escalate the violence and broaden the conflict.

We consider it beyond debate that the Syrian people have the right to determine their own government and their own future. Foreign interference is currently preventing the Syrian people from exercising their right to self-determination. We are concerned that such pernicious intervention is tearing apart the fabric of the country itself, with long-term consequences that can only be imagined.

The cautionary example of Iraq serves to remind us of the dire consequences of such international folly. This humanitarian crisis is already spilling into neighbouring countries. A collapse of Syrian society though will destabilise the entire region. We appeal to the international community to show that it can learn from history and make better choices in the case of Syria, which will spare further tragedy for the courageous Syrian people.

Secondly, we appeal to the international media to stop the flow of misinformation regarding the Syrian conflict. We believe that every Syrian, both in and outside the country, should be given the right to be heard and we do not see this reflected in the international coverage of this crisis.

Thirdly, while we entirely support the embargo on arms, we ask the international community to review and reconsider the crippling sanctions that are taking such a heavy toll on ordinary Syrian people.

Fourthly, we urge the international community to take seriously the vast number of refugees and persons who have been internally displaced by this conflict.

We look towards the cessation of all violence when these people might be allowed to return to their homes. In the meantime, however, humanitarian aid efforts must be expanded to meet the basic needs of such persons.

Our earlier report, the “Declaration of the Mussalaha Delegation to Syria on the Refugee Situation in Lebanon”, outlines the inadequacies of current refugee programmes. We appreciate that various government authorities have attempted to respond to the refugee crisis. We recognise though that the International Committee of the Red Cross and its affiliates, as well as other humanitarian agencies, must be allowed to set up centres inside Syria to care for internally displaced persons, so as to prevent these displaced persons from fleeing to foreign countries.

This work requires immediate and significant funding by the international community. While this will be a costly undertaking, we believe that the costs will in fact be only a fraction of the amount currently being spent on destroying Syria.

Finally, we appeal to all parties involved to put an end to all forms of violence and human rights violations – actions that target and terrorise innocent civilians and prisoners, indiscriminate terrorist attacks on the civilian population, the unjustified systematic targeting of vital state infrastructures, civilian installations, industrial zones, factories, communication facilities, agriculture reserves, health centres and hospitals, schools and universities, and religious and cultural landmarks – all of which results in the transformation of the residential areas into war zones, resulting in the flight of the civilian population.

We likewise oppose the use of religious decrees that encourage, trivialise and justify barbarity, rape and terrorism. We appeal to the entire religious community to call the faithful to nonviolence and peacemaking, and to reject all forms of violence and discrimination.  We express our admiration and respect for the many Syrian religious leaders who have refused to endorse the use of violence and have dedicated their lives to working for a peaceful solution to this conflict, and we appeal specifically for the immediate release of the two abducted Christian bishops, both of whom were dedicated to the work of peace and reconciliations, as we appeal for the release of all Christian and Muslim clerics and other abducted Syrian citizens.

We conclude by commending the work of Mother Agnes Mariam and the Musalaha initiative. We have witnessed their work inside diverse communities across Syria. We offer our unequivocal and ongoing support to these brave people, and we commit ourselves to continue to work alongside them until Syria is truly at peace.

We  thank the Patriarch, Gregorios III Laham, for his kind invitation and his ongoing support for Mussalaha. We likewise thank Mr. Jadallah Kaddour for his generosity that made our visit possible, and we express our gratitude  to all those who have facilitated our path, most especially the Organization Committee of the delegation’s visit and the Popular Council for the National Reconciliation.

Damascus, the 10/5/2013,

Mairead Corrigan Maguire in the name of the International Delegation to Syria for Mussalaha and Peace.

Mussalaha team members at Baalbek (Lebanon) preparing to cross into Syria

Mussalaha team members at Baalbek preparing to cross into Syria

Signatories from the Mussalaha Delegation to Syria:

Francesco CANDELARI (Italy) His current role is International Coordinator of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and he has held previous positions at the United Nations and as journalist covering the Arab Spring. He has been in close touch with people from Syria and interested in looking for possible nonviolent solutions to the conflict in Syria.

Marinella COREGGIA (Italy) Italian journalist and writer in the field of ecological justice; and an ecological farmer, Marinella Correggia, has been active for peace since 1991. Associated with the No War Network, she co-organised many demonstrations in Rome, petitions to the UN, sending information to some Un missions in Geneva, writing articles and conferences.

Mel DUNCAN (USA) is Director of Advocacy and Outreach, Nonviolent Peaceforce. Mel Duncan is the founding Executive Director and current Advocacy and Outreach Director of Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP). Modeled on the Gandhian concept of Shanti Sena, Nonviolent Peaceforce is composed of trained citizens from around the world. Mr. Duncan has 40 years of experience organizing and advocating nonviolently for peace, justice, and the environment. He currently focuses on advancing the recognition, policy and funding support for nonviolent peacekeeping at the UN.

Tiffany EASTHOM (Canada) She is Country Director for South Sudan for Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) which is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) engaged in the creation of a large-scale unarmed peacekeeping force, composed of specially trained civilians. Prior to becoming NP’s Country Director in South Sudan, Tiffany served as Country Director at NP’s Sri Lanka project as well as Country Director for Peace Brigades International in Indonesia.

Denning ISLES (Australia) is a graduate of Welsey Institute, majoring in Audio Technology (2008). He currently works for Fr. David Smith with Fighting Fathers Ministries, in which he supports various youth and community organisations such as Dulwich Hill’s Holy Trinity Youth Center, Binacrombi Camp Site and the Dulwich Hill Gym.

Alistair LAMB (USA)

Franklin LAMB (USA) is an international lawyer based in Beirut-Washington, DC. A former Assistant Counsel of the House Judiciary Committee of the US Congress, Lamb has written widely on Middle East issues as part of his commitment to the cause of Palestine.

Paul LARUDEE (USA)is a former Ford foundation project supervisor, and Fulbright-Hays lecturer in Lebanon, and a U.S. government advisor to Saudi Arabia. He has been a faculty member at several universities in the San Francisco Bay Area,an organizer with the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine and co-founder of the movement to break the Israeli siege of Gaza by sea, and was aboard the boats that succeeded in doing so in 2008 as well as the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which was attacked by Israeli forces on May 31, 2010. He is a cofounder of the Global March to Jerusalem.

Amir M. MAASOUMI (Canada) is a sociologist, specialist of contemporary Islam, intercultural and interfaith relations, dialogue among cultures and civilizations. He is also a peace, social justice and human rights activist.

Mairead MAGUIRE (Northern Ireland) is Nobel Peace Laureate (l976) Hon. President, Co-Founder Peace People, Northern Ireland. Mairead (Corrigan) Maguire is a Nobel Peace Laureate (l976) Hon. President and Co-founder of the Peace People, Northern Ireland. Mairead was responsible for co-founding the Peace People. She has received many honours and awards, including an honorary doctorate from Yale University, the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation’s Distinguished Peace Leadership Award and the Nobel Peace Prize Award (l976).

Michael MALOOF (USA) is a senior writer for WND (WND.com…), or World Net Daily, specializing in international political and economic reporting and analysis. He also writes a weekly column for subscribers only for WND’s G2Bulletin providing analysis in these areas. As part of his reporting, Maloof travels many times a year to Lebanon where he is expected to set up a bureau there for WND.

Ann PATTERSON (Ireland) is a family therapist at the Quaker Centre in Belfast, she works to provide counseling support for families from the divided communities. During the peace process in Northern Ireland, she worked with imprisoned paramilitaries from both sides, preparing them to enter into peace talks. She is founder member of the Peace People, a pacifist movement that played a critical role in promoting the Good Friday Agreement and advancing the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Antonio Carlos da Silva ROSA (Brasil) is the editor of TRANSCEND Media Service-TMS since its inception in 2008, he is also the Secretary of the Board of Conveners of TRANSCEND International-A Network for Peace, Development and Environment, founded by Johan Galtung in 1993.

Father Dave SMITH (Australia) started Fighting Fathers Ministries in 2002 – a company that aims to offer an alternative culture to young people, based on values of courage, integrity and teamwork. This work has been the subject of numerous TV documentaries and one short film. Particularly well-known for our use of boxing-training as a means to help young men overcome anger-management issues. He was twice nominated for Australian of the Year on the basis of this work. He is known for his friendship with Mordechai Vanunu (the Israeli ‘nuclear whistle-blower’), which started in Sydney in 1986, started my involvement in social justice work in the Middle East and has subsequently developed a strong profile in Australia as a Palestinian human rights activist.

Professor William Stanley (USA)

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Declaration of the Mussalaha Delegation to Syria on the Refugee Situation in Lebanon

Mussalaha delegation on the Lebanese/Syrian border

Mussalaha delegation on the Lebanese/Syrian border

May 7th, 2013

The summary conclusion of the Mussalaha delegation is that Syrian refugees in Lebanon are forced to rely mainly on their own resources and Lebanese hospitality, both of which are strained to the limit and portend a humanitarian tragedy when they are exhausted.  Lebanon hosts a disproportionate share of refugees in both absolute terms and relative to its population (4.3 million).  Reliable numbers are unavailable, but the most commonly quoted refugee figure is one million persons.

Since the cause of this crisis is the widespread violence in Syria, we call for an immediate end of all aid – lethal and nonlethal – to all combatants, an immediate and mutual ceasefire, and immediate negotiations among all the parties without preconditions.

With respect to the existing refugees, the lack of aid and support is disgraceful.  The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) claims that normal processing is 31 days, while in fact refugees wait up to four months, often without even tents for shelter.  UNHCR also charges a registration fee of $100.

UNHCR says that it is overwhelmed and has insufficient resources.  It should have facilities ready and waiting for new arrivals, and money should be flowing to the refugees, not from them to UNHCR.  In order to make this possible, donor nations should immediately live up to their obligations.  However, UNHCR also needs to be fully transparent, including an audit on the use and allocation of resources.

A lot of refugee care is happening at the individual level, as generous Lebanese and even Palestinian refugees in their camps open their doors with compassion to accommodate their Syrian brothers and sisters.  However, this support is often untenable over the long term and insufficient for the numbers of refugees, leading to makeshift camps that do not meet minimum international standards.  These camps often receive no supervision by UNHCR or any other agency for eight months or more.

In addition, the refugees become increasingly vulnerable to exploitation, including prostitution and human trafficking.  These conditions bring shame to the agencies and committees and their sponsors charged with refugee rights and support.  All refugees have a right to the basics of life and safety.  They must have immediate access to support services and adequate protection from abuse.

Lebanese citizens, Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, Lebanese charitable institutions and other Lebanese civil society institutions deserve much credit for providing support that the international society has not done.  However, a refugee influx of this magnitude is more than any society the size of Lebanon can accommodate without massive aid from the United Nations and its constituent members.  It is a matter of urgency for them to make their actions match their words of sympathy and compassion.

The Mussalaha Delegation to Syria was a group of 16 human-rights activists from seven countries who participated in a 10-day fact-finding mission across Syria and Lebanon:

  • Francesco CANDELARI (Italy) 
  • Marinella COREGGIA (Italy) 
  • Susan DIRGHAM (Australia)
  • Mel DUNCAN (USA) 
  • Tiffany EASTHOM (Canada) 
  • Denning ISLES (Australia) 
  • Alistair LAMB (USA)
  • Franklin LAMB (USA) 
  • Paul LARUDEE (USA)
  • Amir M. MAASOUMI (Canada) 
  • Mairead MAGUIRE (Northern Ireland) 
  • Michael MALOOF (USA) 
  • Ann PATTERSON (Ireland)
  • Antonio Carlos da Silva ROSA (Brasil) 
  • Father Dave SMITH (Australia) 
  • Professor William Stanley (USA)
  • Luke Waters (Australia)
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Will US intervention mean the end of Syria as we know it?

From where I stand, the decision by Barack Obama to arm the Syrian rebels will most likely lead us into another World War.

According to Franklin Lamb’s excellent analysis below, the US estimates another 50,000 people must be killed before they get the result they are looking for. That’s an extra 50% over the 100,000 human beings that have already been killed in the conflict. One has to imagine a similar increase in the number of displaced persons and refugees (currently numbering around five million)!

If things go according to plan for the US then it will certainly be the end of Syrian society as we know it, and another two million refugees will almost certainly lead to the collapse of Lebanon as well. Of course it is almost certain that things will not go according to plan, as Iran can’t afford to be left naked in the region (Syria and Lebanon being it’s only allies) and Russia isn’t going to abandon its naval base in Syria without a fight either!

In short, what is most likely is World War III, with Iran, Syria and Lebanon lined up on one side (backed by Russia and possibly China) and the US/Israel alliance on the other. The question then will be how many of Israel’s Arab allies will remain true to the Zionist state while the rest of the Arab/Muslim world is massacred?

Father Dave

Franklin Lamb with his son, Alistair, in Beirut

Franklin Lamb with his son, Alistair, in Beirut

source: Counterpunch 

Why Obama is Declaring War on Syria

by FRANKLIN LAMB

Beirut.

The short answer is Iran and Hezbollah according to Congressional sources. “The Syrian army’s victory at al-Qusayr was more than the administration could accept given that town’s strategic position in the region. Its capture by the Assad forces has essentially added Syria to Iran’s list of victories starting with Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, as well as its growing influence in the Gulf.”

Other sources are asserting that Obama actually did not want to invoke direct military aid the rebels fighting to topple the Assad government or even to make use of American military power in Syria for several reasons. Among these are the lack of American public support for yet another American war in the Middle East, the fact that there appears to be no acceptable alternative to the Assad government on the horizon, the position of the US intelligence community and the State Department and Pentagon that intervention in Syria would potentially turn out very badly for the US and gut what’s left of its influence in the region. It short, that the US getting involved in Syria could turn out even worse than Iraq, by intensifying a regional sectarian war without any positive outcome in sight.

Obama was apparently serious earlier about a negotiated diplomatic settlement pre-Qusayr and there were even some positives signs coming from Damascus, Moscow, and even Tehran John Kerry claimed. But that has changed partly because Russia and the US have both hardened their demands. Consequently, the Obama administration has now essentially thrown in the towel on the diplomatic track. This observer was advised by more than one Congressional staffer that Obama’s team has concluded that the Assad government was not getting their message or taking them seriously and that Assad’s recent military  gains and rising popular support  meant that a serious Geneva II initiative was not going to happen.

In addition, Obama has been weakened recently by domestic politics and a number of distractions and potential scandals not least of which is the disclosures regarding the massive NSA privacy invasion. In addition, the war lobby led by Senators McClain and Lindsay Graham is still pounding their drums and claim that Obama would be in violation of his oath of office and by jeopardizing the national security interest of the United States by allowing Iran to essentially own Syria once Assad quells the uprising.” Both Senators welcomed the chemical weapons assessment.  For months they have been saying that Obama has not been doing enough to help the rebels. “U.S. credibility is on the line,” they said in a joint statement this week. “Now is not the time to merely take the next incremental step. Now is the time for more decisive actions,” they said, such as using long-range missiles to degrade Assad’s air power and missile capabilities. Another neo-con, Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) said the opposition forces risk defeat without heavier weapons, but he also warned that may not be enough. “The U.S. should move swiftly to shift the balance on the ground in Syria by considering grounding the Syrian air force with stand-off weapons and protecting a safe zone in northern Syria with Patriot missiles in Turkey,” Casey said.

According to some analysts, Obama could alternatively authorize the arming and training of the Syrian opposition in Jordan without a no-fly zone. That appears unlikely according to this observers Washington interlocutors because the Pentagon wants to end the Syrian crisis by summers end, the observer was advised “rather than working long term with a motley bunch of jihadists who we could never trust or rely on. The administration has come to the conclusion apparently that if they are in for a penny they are in for a pound, meaning would not allow Iran to control Syria and Hezbollah to pocket Lebanon.”

Secretary of State Kerry had meetings with more than two dozen military specialists on 5/13/13. The Washington Post is reporting that Kerry believes supplying the rebels with weapons might be too little and too late to actually flip the balance on the Syrian ground and this calls “for a military strike to paralyze Al-Assad’s military capacities.” A Pentagon source reported that  the USA, France, and Britain are considering a decisive decision to reverse the current Assad momentum and quickly construct one in favor of the rebels” within a time period not exceeding the end of this summer.

Shortly after the meetings began, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia quickly returned to Saudi Arabia from his palace at Casa Blanca, Morocco after receiving a call from his intelligence chief, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan. Bander reportedly had a representative at the White House during the meetings with President Obama’s team. King Abdullah was reportedly advised by Kerry to be prepared for a rapid expansion of the growing regional conflict.

What happens between now and the end of summer is likely to be catastrophic for the Syrian public and perhaps Lebanon.  The “chemical weapons-red line” is not taken seriously on Capitol Hill for the reason that the same “inclusive evidence” of months ago is the same that is suddenly being cited to justify what may become essentially an all-out war against the Syrian government and anyone who gets in the way.  Hand wringing over the loss of 125 lives due to chemical weapons, whoever did use them, pales in comparison to the more 50,000 additional lives that will be lost in the coming months, a figure that  Pentagon planners and the White House have “budgeted” as the price of toppling the Assad government.

“We are going to see a rapid escalation of the conflict”, a staffer on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee emailed this observer: “The president has made a decision to give whatever humanitarian aid, as well as political and diplomatic support to the opposition that in necessary. Additionally direct support to the (Supreme Military Council), will be provided and that includes military support.” The staffer quoted the words of Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes to the media on 5/13/13 to the same effect.

A part of this “humanitarian assistance” the US is going to established in the coming weeks a “limited, humanitarian no-fly zone, that will begin along several  miles of the Jordanian and Turkish borders in certain military areas into Syrian territory, and would be set up  and presented as a limited bid  to train and equip rebel forces and protect refugees. But in reality, as we saw in Libya a Syrian no fly zone would very likely include all of Syria.

Libya’s no-fly zones made plain that there is no such thing as a “limited zone”.  Put briefly, a “no-fly zone” means essentially a declaration of all-out war.  Once the US and its allies start a no fly zone they will expand it and intensify it as they take countless other military actions to protect its zones until the Syrian government falls. “It’s breathtaking to contemplate how this in going to end and how Iran and Russia will respond,” one source concluded.

The White House is trying to assuage the few in Congress as well as a majority of the American public that it can be a limited American involved and that the no-fly zone would not require the destruction of Syrian antiaircraft batteries.  This is more nonsense.  During the no-fly zone I witnessed from Libya in the summer of 2011 the US backed it up with all manner of refueling, electronic jamming, special-ops on the ground and by mid-July a kid peddling his bike was not safe. Over the 192 days of patrolling the Libyan no-fly zones, NATO countries flew 24,682 sorties including 9,204 bomb strike sorties. NATO claimed it never missed its target but that was also not true. Hundreds of civilians were killed in Libya  by no-fly zone attack aircraft  that either missed their targets and emptied their bomb bays before returning to base  while conducting approximately 48 bombing strikes per day using a variety of bombs and missiles, including more than 350 cruise Tomahawks.

At a Congressional hearing in 2011, then US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates got it right when he explained which discussing Libya “a no-fly zone begins with an attack to destroy all the air defenses … and then you can fly planes around the country and not worry about our guys being shot down. But that’s the way it starts.”

According to the accounts published in American media, Obama could alternatively authorize the arming and training of the Syrian opposition in Jordan without a no-fly zone. That appears unlikely because the Pentagon wants to end the Syrian crisis by summers end, the observer was advised “rather than working long term with a motley bunch of jihadists who we could never trust or rely on. The administration has come to the conclusion apparently that if they are in for a penny they are in for a pound.”

In response to a question from this observer about how he thought event might unfold in this region over the coming months, a very insightful long-term congressional aid replied: “Well Franklin, maybe someone will pull a rabbit out of the hat to stop the push for war. But frankly I doubt it.  From where I sit I’d wager that Syria as we have known it may soon be no more. And perhaps some other countries in the region also.”

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Syria and Lebanon and can be reached c/o fplamb@gmail.com…

 

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Don’t arm the rebels: Syrian nun brings her plea to Australia

Mother Agnes Mariam

Mother Agnes Mariam

Sydney, June 16: The international spokesperson for Syria’s multi-faith grassroots reconciliation movement, Mother Agnes from the Monastery of St James in Homs, is in Australia to beg for an end to foreign interference in Syria.

As US President Barack Obama discusses further Western intervention against the Syrian regime, Mother Agnes is touring Australia until July 1 to call for a peaceful resolution. She is available from today for media interviews.

Mother Agnes has pointed out that the path for peace “is, in the first instance, an internal one, between Syrians and Syrians”.

“To stop the foreign interference, to stop fuelling weapons and fighters, to stop the chain of hatred and radicalization is the path. Avoid pouring oil on the fire is the path. To forgive is the path and to enter in the dynamic of reconciliation is the path”.

Last month she organised a peace delegation to Damascus led by Northern Irish Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire.

At a side event of the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 7, Mother Agnes challenged aspects of the latest report from the Council. She declared, “Can we know why the 85% of those displaced move naturally to regions stabilized by the government if, as alleged in the report, the government forces are killing them and ruining their properties?”
After at least one attempt on her life, Mother Agnes continues to travel across Syria on fact-finding missions and to speak to politicians, dissidents, imams, priests, public servants, humanitarian workers, victims of the war, soldiers and rebel fighters.

Some have dubbed her ‘a regime apologist’. But that label ignores the need to reconcile all who want peace.

In Australia, Mother Agnes will meet MPs, as well as government and shadow ministers. Her schedule also includes public meetings with academics, students, church leaders, and a moderated discussion with supporters of the militarized opposition in Syria.
Mother Agnes will be visiting Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Melbourne between June 15 and July 2.

For details of her schedule and availability for media interviews, please contact:
AMRIS.contact@gmail.com… Susan Dirgham: 0406 500 711

Check updates on the AMRIS webpage for details of public meetings: australiansforreconciliationinsyria.wordpress.com…

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Why the Assad victory at al-Qusayr changed everything!

It’s been almost a fortnight since Syrian government forces won a major victory at al-Qusayr. As Franklin Lamb’s analysis makes clear, the victory was a ‘game-changer’.

Unfortunately for the Syrian people, it seems that this battle does not herald the end of the violence but rather an increase. The result has been that the US has now effectively declared war on Syria by promising direct provision of ‘lethal aid’ to the rebels.

Father Dave

Franklin Lamb in Beirut

Franklin Lamb in Beirut

US and Israel Lobby reel from Hezbollah al-Qusayr victory

Franklin Lamb

Beirut — Although al-Qusayr may not be the decisive battle for Syria, it is irrefutably an important turning point in the crisis which has given the regime much sought military momentum. Plenty of adjectives and some clichés are being bandied about from Washington to Beirut to describe the al-Qusayr battle results and significance.  Among them are “game-changer,” “mother of all battles,” “altered balance of power,” critical “turning point in the civil war,” and so on.

It does appear that the victory of the Syrian government forces at al-Qusayr
is a strategic achievement, if also a humanitarian disaster for the civilian
population still waiting for the ICRC and SARCS, (Syrian Arab Red Crescent
Society) emergency help. Al Qusayr is located in Homs province, an area
central to the success of the Syrian government’s military strategy. It is
situated just west of the shortest route from Damascus to the coast, at a
juncture where regime forces have struggled to maintain control. Rebel
control of al-Qusayr had disrupted the regime’s supply lines from the port of
Tartus and was open for the cross-border movement of Gulf arms to rebels
via Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

Government control of al-Qusayr also provides a ground base for the Assad
government to move to retake control of the north and east of Syria. This
cross-roads city just 6 miles from the Lebanese border has many strategic
ramifications: breaking the opposition’s 18 month control of much of Homs
province, facilitating government forces momentum generally across Syria,
and psychological, by raising the morale of exhausted Syrian forces while
energizing the Assad government and its allies to finish the conflict and focus
on long-promised reforms and try to relieve Syria from the nearly 27 months
of hell for its people.

Perhaps less appreciated here in Beirut are al-Qusayr’s effects on the Zionist
occupiers of Palestine and their currently traumatized US lobby.

From conversations and emails with former colleagues at the Democratic
National Committee (on which this observer served during the Carter
administration) as well as with Congressional insiders, a picture emerges of
nearly debilitating angst among those committed to propping up the
apartheid state in the face of truly historic changes in this region that have
only just begun to re-shape the region.

The reactions from various elements of the pro-Israel lobby range from the
Arabphobic Daniel Pipes’ fantasy essay in the Washington Times this week
entitled “Happy Israel” to Netanyahu’s increased threats issued from Tel
Aviv about what Israel might do if his three cartoon “red lines” are breached,
to more pressure on the White House by Israel’s agents in Congress who are
demanding that Obama act immediately to undo “the major damage done
at Qusayr”.

Several aspects of “the Qusayr rules and results” are being discussed at the
HQ of the racist anti-Defamation League (ADL) which has summoned an
emergency gathering of the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations to craft a solution to the problem. The tentative agenda
reportedly includes for discussion and action the following:

The twin defeats at al-Qusayr and at Burgas, Bulgaria — the latter should not
be underestimated, according to one AIPAC activist who works on the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, given that it substantially knocks out the props
from the lobby’s project to get the European Union to list Hezbollah as a
terrorist organization, thus interfering with the Islamist party’s fundraising.

Bulgaria is claiming there is not probative evidence to conclude that Hezbollah was involved in the attack on Israelis last year.
The lobby is also reacting angrily to Austria’s Chancellor Werner Faymann and
Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger’s statement about that country’s
decision to withdraw its 380 peacekeeping troops, more than one-third of the
1000 United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, (UNDOF) contingent,
from the Golan Heights.

The lobby is claiming that Austrian move constituents an existential threat
to Israel because it opens the Quneitra crossing, the door to the Golan, for the
Syrian civil war to spill over the border into Israel. At the same time it is
being argued that al Qusayr lifts pressure off Hezbollah, Iran and Syria as
well as the Palestinian resistance and gain all more fighters who sense victory
for the current regime and major gains for all in the political dynamics of
the region.

The Israel embassy in Washington has chimed in with a statement that the
Austrian withdrawal threatened the role of the UN Security Council in any
future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, while at the same
time encouraging Hezbollah to move into the Golan.

Israel stalwart, Eric Cantor (R-Va) told a “brown bag” lunch gathering in
the House Rayburn Building cafeteria late this week that the “fall of al
Qusayr, will facilitate the Assad regimes advance on areas north of Homs
province and will likely return to Damascus control of important rebel-held
areas in the north and the east. Cantor claims that the Assad regime victory
effectively cuts off an important supply route to the rebels which will leave
the armed opposition even more weakened and scattered. Israel is
demanding an immediate US supported counter-offensive consistent with
the demands made by US Senators John McClain and Lindsay Graham.

The apartheid state also is demanding that the White House scrap Geneva II,
claiming that Assad is now too strong for the US/Israel to benefit from such
a dialogue. “If the international community is serious about seeking to enforce
a negotiated settlement, they will first have to do something to decisively
change the balance of power on the ground ahead of any serious negotiations,”
he added.

When asked about giving US aid to Lebanon, Cantor reportedly sneered,
as he expressed his shock that Hezbollah had so many troops and, without
US boots on the ground, would be very difficult for Israel to defeat, he
reportedly replied, “Forget about Lebanon, it never was a real country
anyway, just call the whole place over there Hezbollah and let’s send in the
marines to finish the job.”

One congressional staffer who attended the meeting winced at the thought of
US marines again being sent to Lebanon given their previous experience there
nearly 30 years ago.

The Lobby is also concerned about the fact that the Arab League and the Gulf
countries might be softening in their ardor to confront Syria and Hezbollah,
who they view as now being full partners in this crisis. A media source at
the Saudi Embassy in Washington has complained that the six member Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) has spent more than a billion dollars on the
opposition and have, to date, little to show for their “investment.” Nor does
Israel have much to show to date for its deepening role in the crisis given that
its air strikes are widely viewed in Washington and internationally as being
counterproductive and helping to unite Muslims and Arabs in the face of
their common global enemy.

The ADL reportedly wants the White House to act fast “to do something”
in light of a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released on Wednesday,
the day of the Syrian government’s victory at al Qusayr, showing that only
15% of Americans polled advocated taking military action, and only 11%
supported providing the rebels with arms. A quarter of respondents, 24%,
favored taking no action, similar to the White House current position.

Abe Foxman, ADL’s President for Life, and inveterate anti-Semite tracker,
myopically sees anti-Semitism, and surely not Israel’s decades of crimes
against humanity as the cause for other “anti-Semitic” polls released this
week. Those included the recent one commissioned by the BBC which
confirmed that Israel is not only ranked second from the bottom of 197
favorably viewed countries, including as a danger to world peace, and just
about the world’s most negatively viewed country, but its support globally
continues to evaporate. Views of Israel in Canada and in Australia remain
very negative with 57 and 69 per cent of their citizens holding unfavorable

views. In the EU countries surveyed, views of Israeli influence are all
strongly negative with the UK topping the list with 72 per cent of the
population viewing Israel negatively.

As Ali Abunimah noted this week, “The persistent association of Israel with
the world’s most negatively viewed countries will come as a disappointment
to Israeli government and other hasbara officials who have invested millions

of dollars in recent years to greenwash and pinkwash Israel as an
enlightened, democratic and technological ‘Western’ country.”*

With Wednesday’s National Lebanese Resistance (Hezbollah) victory at
al-Qusayr, coming as it does 97 years to the month after the Triple Entente’s
(UK, France & Russia) May 1916 secret Asia Minor Agreement, generally
known as Sykes-Picot, the scheme to control the Middle East following the
defeat of the Ottoman Empire has furthered crumbled. Its “Rosemary’s
Baby” progeny, the colonial Zionist occupation of Palestine, is increasingly
being condemned by history to an identical fate.

According to a growing number of US and European officials and Middle
East analysts as well as public opinion polls, it is solely a matter of time until,
like al-Qusayr, Palestine is returned to her rightful, indigenous inhabitants.

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Ron Paul tells Obama to get his hands off Syria!

I am not an unqualified supporter of Ron Paul but when it comes to US foreign policy he tells it like it is!

Mind you, Paul is guarded in his criticism of Israel and he gives scant attention to what I believe is the real aim of Obama’s intervention in Syria – namely, the weakening of Iran and  the securing of US and Israeli hegemony throughout the region. Even so, what he does say is spot on! 

It is just painful now to look back at how Obama once took pride in his opposition to the war in Iraq. Not only has he chosen the same murderous path. He is even using the same language of ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’!

Intervention in Syria is bound to backfire on the US. Indeed, if this intervention leads us into World War III then it will backfire on us all! God save us from all such forms of ‘humanitarian intervention’.

Father Dave

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