Jabhat al-Nusra, Ghassan Hitto Divide Syrian Opposition

Syrians mourn  the body of an opposition  fighter killed during clashes with Syrian army soldiers in Maarat al-Numan, in  the northwestern province of Idlib, March 20, 2013. (photo by AFP/GETTY  IMAGES/Bulent Kilic)

By:  Mohammad Ballout Translated  from          As-Safir (Lebanon).

اقرا  المقال الأصلي باللغة العربية

Even before the “conqueror” Abu Mohammad al-Joulani, commander of Jabhat al-Nusra, held up his hand to pledge allegiance and  obedience to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, the Nusra Front had already  completed its integration into the Aleppo and Idlib countrysides, where it began  making changes to the political process and people’s perception of Syrian  jihadist Islamists.

The timing of this pledge seemed neither random nor hurried, and in giving  it, the “conqueror” did not take into consideration the opinions of any other  factions of the opposition. The political and military facts on the ground  giving credence to Jabhat al-Nusra’s role in the revolution long preceded  Joulani’s pledge to obey … Zawahri.

It all began with the dispute that erupted during the Marrakech Friends of Syria conference a few months ago,  when the Americans decided to put Jabhat al-Nusra on the list of terrorist  organizations. Joulani saw then how the Syrian National Council (SNC) and the  Syrian National Coalition rushed to unequivocally defend Jabhat al-Nusra, with  the SNC’s president, Georges Sabra, saying, “The rifles of all revolutionaries  are sacred.” For his part, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, Moaz  al-Khatib, attacked the Americans and demanded that they go back on their  decision, while the Free Syrian Army’s chief of staff, Salim Idriss,  characterized Jabhat al-Nusra’s fighters as being some of the bravest ever. All  this came to confirm and reflect the popular opinion that “Jabhat al-Nusra has  proved to be the most effective in fighting the Syrian army.”

In any case, Joulani’s planned [Islamist] state seems closer to becoming a  reality than Ghassan Hitto’s interim government. Toward that end, Jabhat  al-Nusra has adopted a different Levantine approach to al-Qaeda’s doctrine,  whereby it has departed from the nihilistic jihadist approach whose sole aim is  to establish a new caliphate, shun and oppose all forms of politics, forsake all  who don’t pledge allegiance and obedience to the emir, and blindly polarize and  mobilize the downtrodden populace.

Its re-evaluation of al-Qaeda’s traditional ideology and mechanisms led to  the successes that made Jabhat al-Nusra a popular organization. Its moves  include the establishment of institutions and departments tasked with managing  Idlib and Aleppo’s affairs, offering aid to thousands of Syrian families, and  supporting an army estimated to be 12,000 strong. In the Levantine experiment,  Joulani found in Syria the conditions necessary to transform al-Qaeda from a  global organization with no land or base out of which to fight the United  States, into one possessing land, permanent bases, with supply lines, names and  institutions.

A Western sociologist who just returned from the countryside around Aleppo  and Idlib said that Jabhat al-Nusra, along with other Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated fighting brigades, has  succeeded in building a need-based relationship with the peasant inhabitants of  Idlib and Aleppo as a result of the penurious conditions, the unrelenting war  and the destruction of the inhabitants’ main sources of livelihoods. Jabhat  al-Nusra thus went into competition with other fighting groups, taking advantage  of its abundant and constant funding by Gulf Arab states, as well as its  fighting power, which is greater than that of other groups.

Although the loyalties of fighters in the Idlib countryside change and  vacillate, Jabhat al-Nusra has succeeded in maintaining an important reserve of  full-time combatants. Other fighting groups do not possess exclusive rights to  particular areas, towns or cities in the Idlib countryside, and their members  are able to leave and join other groups as they wish, which is an indication of  the lack of ideological conviction among those fighters and the predominance of  mercenary and locally driven motivations. As a result, enlistment in Jabhat  al-Nusra’s ranks has risen, which opponents have attributed to the conservative  nature of Idlib and the religiosity of the people as opposed to their desire to  join a global movement for jihad. Syria’s al-Qaeda understands this well and has  accepted this shunning of its elitist isolation as a precondition for the group  remaining on the battlefield. Whole brigades have thus undergone reallocation to  other factions. Such is the case for the Ahrar al-Sham faction (the Free Men of  Greater Syria), which has recently seen complete fighting brigades choosing to  leave it and join Jabhat al-Nusra’s ranks.

Military control of land areas is nonexistent, and combatants lacking fixed  encampments or barracks are mostly compelled to take refuge in their own  villages in the countryside around Idlib and Aleppo, where they are welcomed and  helped by a largely sympathetic populace. Clashes between different fighting  brigades have subsided, as has the level of competition and fighting over  captured loot, particularly when compared to the quarrels that erupted between  some brigades of the Free Syrian Army and local fighting forces in other  regions of the country.

It would seem that Jabhat al-Nusra and various other Salafist factions have  achieved much in the area of coexisting and accepting the influence of local  elders, chieftains and forces that rose to prominence when the area was  abandoned by the state’s security forces and Baath party. Radicalism, in its  present incarnation, is thus forced to live with these people and groups, while  it awaits a new change in the balance of power. Furthermore, the temptation that  compels Jabhat al-Nusra’s leaders, or some of them, to try to impose a  comprehensive Salafist agenda on the Aleppo and Idlib countryside is thwarted by  an inherent inability to instill radical Islam in an already conservative  society endowed with an effective local religious body that strongly resists  such changes.

Jabhat al-Nusra does not want to enter into a confrontation with the local  communities and try to impose Shariah law, following the lessons that were  learned in Iraq, where the Americans exploited al-Qaeda’s excessive zealotry and  organized a clan-led coup spearheaded by the Sahwa (Awakening) army against the  organization. The fighting brigades thus managed to create mechanisms by which  disagreements would be kept in check in the areas under their control, when  their military gave civilians complete control over the Shariah councils.

Through these Shariah councils, Jabhat al-Nusra has infiltrated Idlib and  Aleppo’s societies in order to normalize its relationship with Syrian society at  large. As a result, any future authority will find it difficult to wrest power  from these Shariah councils that the fighting brigades established, for they  have become the nucleus of a real government. The nine councils overseeing  Idlib’s countryside have expanded the scope of their authority beyond the  judiciary, to include the police force, supervision of security-related issues  and the administration of prisons.
Idlib’s councils are also leaning toward uniting into a supreme Shariah  council that would supervise the work of all other branches.  These courts,  however, are predominantly composed of clerics and not civilians; each of them  is presided over by two imams, in addition to a judge specializing in civil  affairs. These Shariah councils are governed by the Arab Unified Penal Code,  which the Arab League penned, and which includes articles that were inspired by  Shariah law, though Shariah punishment is not imposed.

Jabhat al-Nusra’s ascension is limited by the continued control exercised by  a conservative religious body, divided between members of the pro-regime  Association of Islamic Scholars of Syria, most of whom apprenticed with the late  Sheikh Mohamed Said Ramadan Al-Bouti, and followers of Saria and Osama al-Rifai,  as well as the Association of Syrian Scholars, which includes clerics with close  ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Aleppo constitutes a huge arena for competition between the Muslim  Brotherhood and Jabhat al-Nusra, whereby the Brotherhood administers the western  neighborhoods of the opposition-controlled areas under the supervision of a  Shariah council led by a group aligned with the Syrian National Coalition,   while Jabhat al-Nusra and its own Shariah council administers the eastern  part, in alliance with the Tawhid Brigade, Ahrar al-Sham and the Ahfad al-Rasul  (Descendants of the Prophet) Brigade.

These brigades have also entered the relief arena, for Jabhat al-Nusra has  succeeded in organizing aid-distribution operations in the areas under its  control. In this context, the aforementioned sociologist said that Jabhat  al-Nusra now has among its ranks dozens of relief workers who have daily contact  with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants who primarily live on the aid given to  them by Jabhat al-Nusra and other such groups.
Jabhat al-Nusra’s pledge of allegiance only garnered one single line of  objection, when Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib wrote on his Facebook page: “Al-Qaeda’s  ideology does not suit us, and the revolutionaries must now take a stand.” The  Coalition, on the other hand, had nothing to say about al-Qaeda’s official  entrance into the Levant, busying itself with preparations for the formation of  an interim government that would rule the whole of Syria. However, Hitto should  prepare himself to share that land with the Islamic state that Joulani strives  to establish. [It was reported this week that the Islamic State in Iraq and  Jabhat al-Nusra had joined together to form the Islamic State in Iraq and  Syria.] For its part, Syrian opposition abroad is afraid of being marginalized if it  were to fully espouse the West’s views and proclaim its animosity toward  Joulani. For the overwhelmed head of the interim Syrian government cannot afford  to antagonize Jabhat al-Nusra and be caught between a rock and a hard place  afforded him by the Free Syrian Army, which refused to even nominate him, and  still refuses to accept the post of defense minister, which it was offered.  Hitto needs both of these factions to gain the legitimacy he requires to return  to Syria and spread his administration’s authority.
In all probability, the problem of coexisting with al-Qaeda is only raised  inside small circles of people belonging to internal opposition factions such as  the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, the Building the  Syrian State Movement  and some other secular movements. It is also raised,  on another level, by Western powers that do not fear the transformation of Syria  into an Islamic state as much as they fear chaos reigning over the country and  its conversion into a rear base for global jihad that would threaten Syria’s  neighborhood, as well as Israel, European interests, and nearby dependent  economies.

The National Coalition and National Council, which are controlled by a  liberal Islamic alliance, have managed, on the other hand, to avoid until now  any discussion about the true nature of Jabhat al-Nusra and other Jihadist  brigades, equally as Salafist and jihadist as Jabhat al-Nusra. The time now is  not for the discussion of any trespasses, but for toppling the regime. Only  afterward is the opposition expected to discuss the conduct of Jabhat al-Nusra  and other Jihadist factions, their monopoly over the administration of cities,  especially in al-Raqqah, and the countryside of Aleppo and Idlib which, in some  parts, has been transformed into Islamic emirates.

Behind the scenes, conflict is currently underway between the Unified  Military Council and Jabhat al-Nusra. This threatens to escalate into full blown  assassinations and killings, such as those that involved the Farouq Brigades in  Homs and Tal Abyad; it is nonetheless hard to imagine that units of the Free  Syrian Army would become involved in an open confrontation with Jabhat al-Nusra  and al-Qaeda any time soon, as the West planned months ago when the Unified  Military Council was formed to isolate and curtail the growth of Jabhat al-Nusra  and other jihadist factions.

It is also unlikely that Jabhat al-Nusra’s relationship with the Syrian  opposition will be affected by France calling for Jabhat al-Nusra to be  classified as a terrorist organization by the United Nations Security Council,  regardless of the opposition’s stance vis-à-vis Jabhat al-Nusra and al-Qaeda,  because the French priority now remains the toppling of the Syrian regime at any  cost. Only then will other matters be tackled.

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Syrian Oil Sector Suffers Disastrous Losses

 

A man working at a makeshift oil refinery  site watches an improvised burner in Aleppo’s countryside on April 2, 2013.  Residents are refining crude oil to extract gasoline and kerosene due to supply  shortages. (photo by REUTERS/Giath Taha )

By:  Ziad Haydar Translated from           As-Safir (Lebanon).

اقرا  المقال الأصلي باللغة العربية

The Syrian oil minister’s interview  with Al-Thawra newspaper yesterday [April 3] was quietly  received, just as his predecessor’s was two years ago. Suleiman al-Abbas talked  about fuel prices, import policies, and petroleum processing. The minister also  alluded to additional catastrophes that could exacerbate the ongoing Syrian  tragedy, the consequences of which no one can predict.

Abbas explained that at least nine oil wells in the eastern sector had been set on fire as  a result of the state’s total absence. He also said that other wells in the same  sector were being plundered and their oil sold on the Turkish market, which has  become an outlet for stolen Syrian goods. This migration to Turkey started with  factories that were dismantled, transported in their entirety, and sold in bulk  or retail, and has gone all the way to grain storage depots emptied of their  strategic reserves. In addition, cotton crops, and now raw petroleum, have been  sold.
Abbas said that, in normal times, one well catching on fire was considered  “a national disaster.  What then would we say about nine wells being on fire, especially considering  that three of them are still burning, namely the al-Yamkan-105 well set ablaze  last March, and the Jazieh-115 and North East Omar-114 wells torched March  29.”

According to the oil minister, the vandalized wells are the “Tel Marmar  fields 1 and 3, Thuhban 134, Tayyaneh 107, Ghalban 105, Qahhar 109, Ghalban,  al-Yamkan, Jazieh, and North Omar. Control over five of them was restored, but  Qahhar 109, the most dangerous of these wells, was set ablaze Nov. 23, following  which a plan was put in place to bring the fire under control and secure the  well on Nov. 26, in preparation for it being capped. But its petroleum was  stolen and it was set on fire again on Dec. 24.”

Abbas pointed out that the wells burning out of control were not only an  economic disaster, but an environmental one. He said one negative implication of  the fires was the formation of water cones within the oil strata that would  negatively affect future exploitation and diminish output.

Abbas said estimating the amount of economic damage would be pure conjecture  because the wells can’t be physically inspected. But he alluded to a  catastrophic “initial loss to date equaling approximately 750,000 barrels, based  on previous tests conducted before the attacks, as well as on some assumptions  built upon field operations reports.” He added that losses would only multiply  as “indiscriminate attacks” continue.
Abbas said the amount of oil that was being taken out of the aforementioned  wells had been carefully calibrated “to guarantee the highest output and most  effective exploitation. This is completely contrary to the saboteurs’ tactic of  keeping the wells’ output valves wide open, resulting in double or triple the  output, in violation of the wells’ proper exploitation scheme.”

Media reports indicated that stolen oil was sold for a tenth of its  international market value to smugglers and Turkish dealers, who were operating  in cooperation with the region’s inhabitants and armed factions controlling the  wells. Two main oil fields fell victim to sabotage in the northeastern region,  while information was not accurate enough to judge the condition of a third  field situated in the wasteland outside Tadmur (Palmyra).
The Syrian Ministry of Petroleum had talked about losses in the sector exceeding $3 billion in the past  two years, despite independent estimates putting the losses at $4 billion,  especially considering that Syria was forced to import from the black market as  a result of the European embargo. The country also has been unable to export its  oil. In addition, many oil wells have been out of commission, while others have  been looted. The concern is that, as time passes, the intensifying damage  suffered by the petroleum sector might become an economic “black hole” as this  source of a quarter of the Syrian treasury’s income mutates into an  environmental and economic burden as a result of looting and the possible total  collapse of the sector’s infrastructure.

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Back … again, and again …and again!

 

FLC

“… Zawahiri  lauds the success of al Qaeda in Syria and Iraq in contrast. In Syria, al Qaeda’s  franchise, Jabhat al Nusra, has become the fastest-growing Qaeda movement in the  world after Zawahiri called upon jihadists from across Islam to go and fight in  Syria a year ago.  Since then the Qaeda core headquarters in Pakistan  has been in close  communication with the Nusra front in Syria. Zawahiri also praises the  Qaeda organization in Iraq for outlasting the American occupation and for its  constant attacks on the Shia government in Baghdad.In both Syria and  Iraq, Zawahiri blames Iran and its ally Hezbollah for  supporting the Assad and Maliki governments. He accuses Tehran of secretly  colluding with Washington in the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.  …

Zawahiri pays tribute to the Qaeda franchise in Iraq, the self-styled  Islamic State of Iraq, for helping the al Nusra front in Syria get organized.  Shortly after Zawahiri’s statement the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, who uses the  nom de guerre Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, publicly claimed credit for helping set up  the Qaeda franchise in Syria and announced the two groups had merged into an  Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria. Al Baghdadi’s statement confirmed what  the United States had been saying for months: the al Nusra front is an offshoot  of al Qaeda in Iraq.

Next the  leader of al Nusra, who calls himself Abu Muhammad al Golani, walked it back a  bit. He said he had not been “consulted” on any merger with the Iraqi group,  although he was careful not to criticize al Baghdadi and stressed his loyalty to  Zawahiri and al Qaeda. The exchange has brought al Nusra out of the closet; it  is clearly now part of the Qaeda global jihadist campaign. Al Golani admitted  that he had earlier been a fighter in Iraq and was a supporter of the Iraqi  franchise but he went out of his way to declare al Nusra’s loyalty is to  Zawahiri and the Qaeda core group

The tempest over al Baghdadi’s comments is likely to  pass, and the two Qaeda groups will continue to collaborate closely.  Both in Syria and Iraq  al Qaeda is growing in numbers and power at a dangerous pace. And with Zawahiri’s  encouragement, al Qaeda’s support base  across the Islamic world is funneling sympathizers to go to Syria and Iraq to  join the fight. In his statement Zawahiri makes clear the end state is  creation of a new caliphate across Islam …”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 10:41 AM

Nusra pledge to Qaeda boosts Syria regime

Via FLC

“… “It’s  a point in the regime’s favour because it reinforces the official narrative that  claims (the army faces) terrorist groups backed by foreign forces,” said  Damascus Centre for Strategic Studies head Bassam Abu Abdallah.

“The  opposition’s stance is weakened before Syrian and international public opinion,”  he said.

Al-Nusra  Front’s chief Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani pledged allegiance on Wednesday to  Al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is calling for an Islamic state in Syria  and the “restoration of an Islamic caliphate”.

“The opposition’s  stance is weakened before Syrian and international public opinion,” he  said. Al-Nusra Front’s chief Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani pledged allegiance on  Wednesday to Al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is calling for an Islamic  state in Syria and the “restoration of an Islamic caliphate”. “The Syrian  opposition cannot justify to the Europeans the jihadist presence in Syria. What  will it do after this announcement? It’s embarrassing for the West which is  calling for democratic change in Syria,” said Abu  Abdallah…”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 10:24 AM

Syria, just like Iraq, Libya & Iran, all about oil, gas & pipelines

Oil and Pipeline Geopolitics: The US-NATO Race for Syria’s Black Gold

Syria’s proven oil reserves, amounting to 2.5 billion barrels

Syria’s proven oil reserves, amounting to 2.5 billion barrels, are greater than those of all neighboring countries except Iraq: according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s estimation of its oil reserves. This makes Syria one of the largest producers and exporters of crude oil in the Middle East.

The country also has large reserves of natural gas, hitherto used for domestic consumption, especially for conversion to gas-fired power plants. But there is a problem, the U.S agency reported that since 1964 the license for the exploration and exploitation of mineral deposits has been reserved for Syrian government agencies. Until 201O an annual income of more than $ 4 billion was procured from the export of oil, particularly to Europe. But things are changing with the war.

The ‘”Free Syrian Army” has taken control of important oil fields in Deir Ezzor. Other fields, in the Rumeilan, are controlled by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, who are also hostile to the “rebels” with whom they have repeatedly clashed.

The U.S. / NATO strategy focuses on helping rebels to seize the oil fields with a twofold purpose: to deprive the Syrian state of revenue from exports, already strongly decreased as a result of the EU embargo, and to ensure that the largest deposits pass in the future, through the “rebels” under the control of the big Western oil companies.

Fundamental to this end, is the control of the internal pipelines. This has been sabotaged by the “rebels” in several places, especially near Homs where there is one of two refineries in the country, to stop the supply of petroleum products. But there is something strategically more important at stake: Syria’s role as a hub of alternative energy corridors, through Turkey and other pathways, controlled by the U.S. and the European Union.

The “war of pipelines” has begun: during its invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United States destroyed the Kirkuk-Banias pipeline carrying Iraqi oil to Syria. It remained in use, however, between Ain Zalah and Suweidiva.

Subsequently, in defiance of the prohibitions of Washington, Damascus and Baghdad have undertaken the project for two pipelines and a gas pipeline through Syria, connecting Iraqi fields to the Mediterranean and then to international markets.

Even more dangerous for Western interests is the agreement signed in May 2011 between Damascus, Baghdad and Tehran: it involves the construction of a gas pipeline through Iraq, which will transport Iranian natural gas to Syria and from there to foreign markets. These and other already funded projects, have been blocked by what the U.S. agency defines as “the uncertain security situation in Syria»

First published in Il Manifesto. Translated from the Italian by Gearóid Ó Colmáin

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
 

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Fraudulent Syrian human rights group is UK-based “one-man band” funded by EU

Fraudulent Syrian human rights group is UK-based “one-man band” funded by EU

“Pro-Democracy Terrorism”: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is a Propaganda Front funded by the EU

Posted by: S. April 13, 2013

 

The NYT admits fraudulent Syrian human rights group is UK-based “one-man band” funded by EU and one other “European country.”

In reality, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has long ago been exposed as an absurd propaganda front operated by Rami Abdul Rahman out of his house in England’s countryside. According to a December 2011 Reuters article titled, “Coventry – an unlikely home to prominent Syria activist,” Abdul Rahman admits he is a member of the so-called “Syrian opposition” and seeks the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad:

After three short spells in prison in Syria for pro-democracy activism, Abdulrahman came to Britain in 2000 fearing a longer, fourth jail term. “I came to Britain the day Hafez al-Assad died, and I’ll return when Bashar al-Assad goes,” Abdulrahman said, referring to Bashar’s father and predecessor Hafez, also an autocrat.

One could not fathom a more unreliable, compromised, biased source of information, yet for the past two years, his “Observatory” has served as the sole source of information for the endless torrent of propaganda emanating from the Western media. Perhaps worst of all, is that the United Nations uses this compromised, absurdly overt source of propaganda as the basis for its various reports – at least, that is what the New York Times now claims in their recent article, “A Very Busy Man Behind the Syrian Civil War’s Casualty Count.”

The NYT piece admits:

Military analysts in Washington follow its body counts of Syrian and rebel soldiers to gauge the course of the war. The United Nations and human rights organizations scour its descriptions of civilian killings for evidence in possible war crimes trials. Major news organizations, including this one, cite its casualty figures. Yet, despite its central role in the savage civil war, the grandly named Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is virtually a one-man band. Its founder, Rami Abdul Rahman, 42, who fled Syria 13 years ago, operates out of a semidetached red-brick house on an ordinary residential street in this drab industrial city [Coventry, England].

The New York Times also for the first time reveals that Abdul Rahman’s operation is indeed funded by the European Union and a “European country” he refuses to identify:

Money from two dress shops covers his minimal needs for reporting on the conflict, along with small subsidies from the European Union and one European country that he declines to identify.

Photo: “Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (Reuters)

Abdelrahman leaves the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after meeting Britain’s Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in central London November 21, 2011.

Abdelrahman is not the “head” of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, he is the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, run out of his UK-based house as a one-man operation.

And while Abdul Rahman refuses to identify that “European country,” it is beyond doubt that it is the United Kingdom itself – as Abdul Rahman has direct access to the Foreign Secretary William Hague, who he has been documented meeting in person on multiple occasions at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. The NYT in fact reveals that it was the British government that first relocated Abdul Rahman to Coventry, England after he fled Syria over a decade ago because of his anti-government activities:

When two associates were arrested in 2000, he fled the country, paying a human trafficker to smuggle him into England. The government resettled him in Coventry, where he decided he liked the slow pace.

Abdul Rahman is not a “human rights activist.” He is a paid propagandist. He is no different than the troupe of unsavory, willful liars and traitors provided refuge in Washington and London during the Iraq war and the West’s more recent debauchery in Libya, for the sole purpose of supplying Western governments with a constant din of propaganda and intentionally falsified intelligence reports designed specifically to justify the West’s hegemonic designs.

Abdul Rahman’s contemporaries include the notorious Iraqi defector Rafid al-Janabi, codename “Curveball,” who now gloats publicly that he invented accusations of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the West’s casus belli for a 10 year war that ultimately cost over a million lives, including thousands of Western troops, and has left Iraq still to this day in shambles. There’s also the lesser known Dr. Sliman Bouchuiguir of Libya, who formed the foundation of the pro-West human rights racket in Benghazi and now openly brags in retrospect that tales of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s atrocities against the Libyan people were likewise invented to give NATO its sought-after impetus to intervene militarily.

Unlike in Iraq and Libya, the West has failed categorically to sell military intervention in Syria, and even its covert war has begun to unravel as the public becomes increasingly aware that the so-called “pro-democracy rebels” the West has been arming for years are in fact sectarian extremists fighting under the banner of Al Qaeda. The charade that is the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” is also unraveling. It is unlikely that the New York Times’ limited hangout will convince readers that Rami Abdul Rahman is anything other than another “Curveball” helping the corporate-financier elite of Wall Street and London sell another unnecessary war to the public.

الإرهابي المنادي بالديمقراطية: القصة الكاملة لرامي عبد الرحمن

‏الثلاثاء‏، 16‏ نيسان‏، 2013
أوقات الشام

رامي عبد الرحمن ليس “رئيس”  “المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان”؛ إنه هو “المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان”. فقد  اعترفت صحيفة “نيويورك تايمز” أن مجموعة حقوق الإنسان السورية المزيفة ليست سوى  “فرقة من رجل واحد” موجودة في بريطانيا و ممولة من الإتحاد الأوروبي و “بلد أوروبي”  آخر.

وفي حقيقة الأمر, تمت تعرية “المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان”, منذ زمن طويل,  بصفته جبهة دعائية عبثية يديرها رامي عبد الرحمن من منزله الواقع في الريف  الإنكليزي. فتبعاً لمقالة نشرتها “رويترز” في شهر كانون الأول من سنة 2011 بعنوان  “كوڤنتري – موطن غير مناسب لناشط سوري بارز”, يعترف عبد الرحمن بأنه عضو فيما يسمى  “المعارضة السورية” ويسعى إلى إسقاط الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد:

“بعد ثلاث فترات  قصيرة في السجن في سوريا بسبب أنشطته المطالبة بالديمقراطية, جاء عبد الرحمن إلى  بريطانيا في سنة 2000 خوفاً من حكم رابع بالسجن أطول زمنياً.

‘جئت إلى بريطانيا  في اليوم الذي توفي فيه حافظ الأسد, وسوف أعود عندما يرحل بشار الأسد,’ قال عبد  الرحمن, مشيراً إلى والد بشار الأسد وسلفه حافظ الأسد, الذي كان حاكم

اً أوتوقراطياً  أيضاً.”

ليس بمقدور المرء أن يتصورَ مصدراً للمعلومات أكثرَ تحيزاً وأقلَ  مصداقية, ومع ذلك فقد شكلَ “مرصدُه”, خلال السنتين الماضيتين, مصدرَ المعلومات  الوحيد للدعاية الجارفة التي يبثها الإعلام الغربي بلا توقف. والأسوأ من ذلك, ربما,  هو أن الأمم المتحدة تستخدم هذا المصدر الدعائي السري والعبثي بمثابة أساس  لتقاريرها المختلفة – على الأقل, هذا ما تزعمه “نيويورك تايمز” الآن في مقالتها  الجديدة بعنوان “رجل مشغول جداً وراء إحصائيات ضحايا الحرب الأهلية  السورية”.

تعترف الصحيفة في مقالتها:

“يتابع المحللون العسكريون في واشنطن  أعدادَ القتلى من السوريين والمتمردين المسلحين التي يقدمها المرصد لتوجيه دفة  الحرب. كما أن الأمم المتحدة ومنظمات حقوق الإنسان تتبنى توصيفاته لعمليات قتل  المدنيين لاستخدامها كأدلة في محاكمات جرائم الحرب المحتملة. كما أن المؤسسات  الإخبارية الرئيسية, مثل هذه الصحيفة, تقوم بنشر أعداد الضحايا التي يقدمها هذا  المرصد.

ولكن, وعلى الرغم من دوره المركزي في هذه الحرب الأهلية الوحشية, فإن  ‘المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان’, الذي يحمل اسماً مفخماً, ليس سوى فرقة مكونة من رجل  واحد. ويعمل مؤسسه, رامي عبد الرحمن البالغ من العمر 42 عاماً والذي هرب من سوريا  منذ 13 سنة, من منزل شبه منفصل يغطيه القرميد الأحمر ويقع في شارع سكني عادي في هذه  المدينة الصناعية البائسة [كوڤنتري/إنكلترا].”

كما أن “نيويورك تايمز” تكشف  للمرة الأولى أن نشاط عبد الرحمن مموَل من قبَل الاتحاد الأوروبي و “بلد أوروبي”  يرفض

 تسميته: “إن المال الذي يجنيه من محلين لبيع الثياب يكفي احتياجاته  الرئيسية اللازمة لتغطية النزاع, بالإضافة إلى مساعدات قليلة من الاتحاد الأوروبي  وبلد أوروبي يرفض تسميته.”

ومع أن عبد الرحمن يرفض تسمية ذلك “البلد الأوروبي”,  إلا أنه بلا أدنى شك المملكة المتحدة نفسها – بما أن عبد الرحمن يستطيع الوصول إلى  وزير الخارجية وليام هيغ في أي وقت يشاء, والذي تم توثيق لقاءاته معه شخصياً في  مناسبات عديدة في “مكتب الخارجية والكومونويلث” في لندن. وتكشف “نيويورك تايمز”, في  الحقيقة, أن الحكومة البريطانية هي التي قامت بنقل عبد الرحمن إلى كوڤنتري في  إنكلترة بعد هروبه من سوريا منذ أكثر من 10 سنوات بسبب نشاطاته المناوئة للحكومة  السورية:

“عندما تم اعتقال اثنين من زملائه في سنة 2000, هرب من البلد, حيث دفع  لأحد المهربين المالَ لإدخاله إلى إنكلترة. ثم قامت الحكومة بنقله إلى كوڤنتري, حيث  عبرَ عن ارتياحه في هذا المكان الهادىء.” إن عبد الرحمن ليس “ناشطاً في مجال  حقوق الإنسان”. إنه دعائي مأجور. ولا يختلف عن مجموعة الكذبة والخوَنة الذين قدمت  لهم واشنطن ولندن الملجأ والحماية خلال الحرب على العراق والفسوق الذي مارسه الغرب  مؤخراً في ليبيا, بهدف تزويد الحكومات الغربية بسيل متدفق من الدعاية والمعلومات  المزيفة المصممة لتبرير مخططات الغرب في الهيمنة.

ويشمل رفاق عبد الرحمن  المعاصرون المنشق العراقي المعروف رافد الجنابي الملقب باسم “كيرڤبول” الذي يتبجح  الآن علناً أنه اخترع الاتهامات المتعلقة بأسلحة الدمار الشامل العراقية, والتي  شكلت ذريعة الغرب في شن حرب دامت 10 سنوات وكلفت أكثر من مليون قتيل, بما في ذلك  آلاف من القوات الأجنبية, وتركت العراق في فوضى قاتلة حتى يومنا هذا. وهناك أيضاً  الدكتور سليمان بوشويقر الليبي الأقل شهرة, الذي شكلَ أساسَ المزاعم الغربية  المتعلقة بحقوق الإنسان في بنغازي, والذي يتبجح علانية الآن باختراع وتلفيق القصص  حول الجرائم الوحشية للزعيم الليبي معمر القذافي ضد الشعب الليبي بهدف إعطاء الناتو  الذريعة التي كان يبحث عنها للتدخل العسكري.

لكن على العكس من العراق وليبيا,  فشل الغرب بشكل كامل في تمرير التدخل العسكري في سوريا, كما أن حربَه السرية بدأت  تتكشف مع تزايد الوعي الشعبي بأن “الثوار المطالبين بالديمقراطية” الذين يسلحهم  الغرب منذ سنوات ليسوا سوى متطرفين طائفيين يقاتلون تحت راية القاعدة. كما أن  المهزلة المسماة “المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان” بدأت تتكشف أيضاً. ومن غير المرجح  أن تتمكن “نيويورك تايمز” من إقناع القراء بأن عبد الرحمن أكثر من “كيرڤبول” آخر  يساعد النخب الرأسمالية في “وول ستريت” ولندن في بيع الرأي العام حرباً أخرى غير  ضرورية.
غلوبال ريسيرش – ترجمة الجمل

Posted by Michael at 8:01:00 am

Syrian Muslim Brotherhood capo: “There is no extremism in Syria!”

 

FLC

“… “It  is not true that extremists are in charge of liberated lands,” SMB  leader al   Shakfa said in Istanbul. “The land … belongs to a united front of the  opposition.” …  he  added: “As far as I know,  there is no extremism in Syria.” His  comments came days after the jihadist Al-Nusra Front, one of the fiercest forces  battling the Syrian regime, pledged fealty to Al-Qaeda, sounding alarm bells in  the West and triggering concerns among the main opposition group, the Syrian  National Coalition (SNC)….”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 2:06 PM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author  and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Posted byuprooted Palestinian at7:14:00 am

Labels: Muslim Brotherhood, Nusra Front, War on syria

Two Muslim Brotherhood members to stand trial in Egypt for torture

Published Monday, April 15, 2013

Two Muslim Brotherhood officials in northern Egypt have been ordered to stand trial on charges of detaining and torturing students during a protest against President Mohammed Mursi. The charges are a rare acknowledgement of the alleged role that some of the president’s supporters have had in attacks on his opponents.
Mohammed Bahnasy, a lawyer for the three victims, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the case was referred to trial a day earlier. The two Brotherhood officials – Mustafa al-Khouli and Mohammed Abdel-Radi – have not been detained.
Al-Khouli was identified by Bahnasy and Abdel-Aziz as the administrative head of the Brotherhood’s office in Damanhour. They said Abdel-Radi is a senior member of the local branch of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.
An arrest warrant has been issued for al-Khouli, who has failed to respond to a summons for questioning, according to Bahnasy. Abdel-Radi was questioned and released pending the start of the trial, according to him and another lawyer involved in the case, Mohammed Abdel-Aziz. The Brotherhood’s chief lawyer, Abdel-Monaim Abdel-Maqsoud, said the decision to refer the two to trial was “hurried” and described the investigation as “flawed.”
“Everything will now have to wait for the trial,” he said. “I am surprised at the speed with which this has been done. We have many cases of Brotherhood victims of violence and we have not seen any of them go to trial yet,” said Abdel-Maqsoud.
The US State Department has suggested this month that Egypt was selectively prosecuting those accused of insulting the government while ignoring or playing down attacks on anti-government demonstrators.
Opponents of Mursi also accuse him of trying to dominate state institutions such as the judiciary. The president has said he is working to rid the government of corrupt remnants from the era of Hosni Mubarak, ousted by a popular uprising in 2011.
The prosecutor’s office in Damanhour said on Sunday that the men were accused of detaining and beating the students in November at the Brotherhood office in the Nile Delta city during clashes between opponents of Mursi and his Islamist supporters.
Bahnasy said the referral documents leave no room for doubt that the alleged detention and torture of the three men took place in the Brotherhood’s Damanhour offices and quotes witnesses as saying they had seen sticks, tasers and swords inside the group’s headquarters.
The clashes in Damanhour were part of a wave of protests and violence set off by Mursi’s decree in November to temporarily expand his powers and prevent court challenges to his decisions.
The crisis triggered by Mursi’s decree deepened the divisions in Egyptian society, mainly between the increasingly empowered Brotherhood and its allies and other groups that fear what they see as autocratic tendencies of the Islamist group.
The prosecutor’s office referred the case to trial on Saturday, court officials said. It was not immediately clear when the trial would take place.
Brotherhood officials in Cairo were not immediately available for comment. (Reuters, AP, Al-Akhbar)

• Egypt police kill 34, torture 88 under Mursi: Report

 

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author  and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Posted byuprooted Palestinian at8:24:00 pm

Labels: Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood, Torture

The War within Hamas – Part 2

القصة الكاملة للحرب القطرية الايرانية داخل حماس / الجزء الثاني

‏الجمعة‏، 12‏ نيسان‏، 2013

 

أوقات الشام

موقف مرشد الاخوان وخيرت الشاطر

 انتهى اللقاء لأن المجتمعين كانوا على موعد للقاء المرشد وخيرت الشاطر، وتم الاتفاق في هذا اللقاء على ترحيل الأزمة والتعايش خلال الفترة القادمة، وقد فهم أعضاء حماس من خلال هذا اللقاء أن موقف الأخوان المسلمين في مصر حالياً ليس مع إسقاط نظام بشار الأسد، لأن الإخوان المسلمين مقتنعون تماماً أن إخوان سوريا غير قادرين الآن ولا مؤهلين، وأن السيناريو الأقوى في حال سقوط نظام بشار الأسد هو تقسيم سوريا، وهو أكبر الأخطار التي تهدد أمن مصر القومي والإقليمي، وأكبر الإنفراجات لأزمة اسرائيل، وموقف الاخوان بالنسبة لدعم دول الخليج لما يحصل في سوريا غير مطمئن، وهم معنيون الآن باستعادة الدور السعودي على حساب الدور القطري، وهم ينظرون بريبة وشك وعدم اطمئنان لأي دور قطري،

المرشد تمنى على قادة حماس حسم خلافاتهم، والتوافق بالسرعة المطلقة، لأن الرئيس مرسي محرج من ملف المصالحة الفلسطينية، وهو يريد أولا حسم الخلافات داخل حماس، ثم الإنتقال فوراً لملف المصالحة، لأن التأخير لا يخدم مصر، والمطلوب منكم في هذه الفترة أن تساعدوا الرئيس مرسي قبل أن يساعدكم.. مصر الآن مهددة في أمنها، والرئيس مرسي أمام مصالح الأمن القومي المصري لا يهتم كثيرا،ً ولا يبحث عن مصالح لا الاخوان المسلمين ولا حماس، أمن مصر القومي خط أحمر لكل المصريين، ولا تنتظروا في هذه الفترة الشيء الكثير من الدكتور مرسي، عبئه ثقيل، والمطلوب أن تساعدوه لأن ملف المصالحة الفلسطينية هو انجاز مهم للدكتور ولمصر جميعاً، الوضع الفلسطيني الحالي هو ثغرة في جدار أمن مصر والمؤسسة الأمنية المصرية، والجيش ينظر بريبة لما يحدث في الأنفاق، وهناك تقارير أمنية تصل للدكتور مرسي تقول: إن إسرائيل تخترق بعض الأنفاق ما بين غزة ومصر، الدكتور مرسي لن يضحي ولن يهمل أمن مصر.

في الختام يجب أن نكون واعين جميعاً أننا في بداية الطريق، ويجب أن نضحي ببعض المصالح والمكاسب من أجل أن تكون تجربتنا في الحكم تجربة رائدة، فالكل يراهن ويتصيد فشلنا، والدكتور مرسي يمكن أن يتصادم مع الجميع، لكن لا يمكن أن يتصادم مع المؤسسة العسكرية والأجهزة الأمنية، من أجل أمن مصر.

يا إخواني بارك الله فيكم جميعاً، وننتظر أخباركم السارة القريبة ان شاء الله من أجل مصلحة شعبكم وأمتكم الإسلامية.

وبالقدر الذي تساعدوا أنفسكم فيه .. تساعدونا وتساعدوا مصر… وشكراً.

دعم قطري لرفع معنويات مشعل

 

 بعد هذا اللقاء أدرك مشعل أن الأمور التي سار عليها لم تكن مضمونه، وليس هو سيد الموقف، وغادر القاهرة متوجهاً إلى الدوحة وهو غاضب، دون أن يلتقي أو يودع أياً من قيادات حماس الموجودين في القاهرة.

فالموقف الذي أخذه بانتقال وتغيير موقع وموقف حماس لم ينل التأييد الكبير في صفوف حماس، بهذه الخيبة طلب فور عودته إلى قطر لقاءً سريعاً مع أمير قطر ليضعه بصورة ما حدث في القاهرة، مخبراً إياه أن موقفه صعب للغاية، وأن هناك حالة تمرد واسعة في صفوف حماس على قيادته، وأنه في هذه الحالة لم يعد سهلاً عليه مواصلة المشروع إلى نهايته، وأن تنحيه عن قيادة حماس هو أحد الأمور التي تشغل تفكيره الآن.

هنا شعر أمير قطر أن مشعل محبط للغاية وقد هزم في القاهرة، فلا بد من خطوة كبيرة من أجل عودة القوة إلى موقف وموقع مشعل، فطلب من رئيس الوزراء القطري ورئيس المخابرات القطرية التنسيق السريع مع حكومة تركيا ومخابراتها من أجل أن يذهب مشعل إلى تركيا، ويلتقي سريعاً بقيادة المعارضة السورية السياسيين والعسكريين، ليضعوه في صورة الأمور وما يحدث في سوريا والدور المطلوب منه في هذه المرحلة.

وفعلاً ذهب مشعل ومعه عزت الرشق ونزار عوض الله بمرافقة رئيس المخابرات القطرية إلى أسطنبول، وهناك في انضم إليهم صالح العاروري عضو المكتب السياسي المقيم بأسطنبول، وفوراً بدأت المخابرات التركية بعقد لقاءات سريعة بين وفد حماس وفصائل المعارضة السورية العسكرية والسياسية، كان الهدف منها هو رفع معنويات خالد مشعل وإقناعه بصحة الموقف الذي اتخذه.

مشعل يلتقي المعارضة السورية

 الخلاصة التي توصل إليها خالد مشعل في تركيا هي أن نظام الأسد قد انتهى، وأن سقوطه أصبح في غضون أسابيع، إذا لم يكن في غضون أيام؛ إن ما علمه من المعارضة السورية أن الأوروبيين والأميركان وحلف الناتو أصبحوا على وشك توجيه ضربة قاضية لنظام الأسد، وزاد القناعة أن موقفه كان صحيحاً، فالذهاب مع الفاتحين والمنتصرين أفضل لحماس من الهزيمة والهروب مع المنهزمين والخاسرين.

في لقاءاته في أسطنبول يبدو أن المعارضة السورية والمخابرات التركية والقطرية طلبت مساعدة مشعل في بعض التسهيلات الفنية واللوجستية، خصوصاً فيما يتعلق بالتواجد الإيراني وتواجد حزب الله في سوريا، ويبدو أن مشعل قد وافق ضمناً على ما طلب منه.

عاد مشعل إلى الدوحة مرتفع المعنويات، وإن كان صالح العاروري في اسطنبول قد طالبه بعدم الاندفاع السريع في هذا الاتجاه أو ذاك، وقال له: ماذا تريد من قادة المعارضة السورية أن يقولوا لك غير أنهم على أبواب دمشق؟ إن لم يقولوا إنهم على أبواب القصر الجمهوري في دمشق، وهذا ما ينفيه إخوتنا المقيمين في سوريا والمطلعين على أدق التفاصيل في سوريا. إخوتنا يقولون إن المعركة إن لم تكن مستحيلة فهي طويلة جداً بالنسبة لسقوط النظام.
كلام العاروري لم يؤثر كثيراً في مشعل الذي كان بحاجة لشيء يعيد اعتباره في حماس.

فور عودة مشعل إلى الدوحة طلبت منه المخابرات القطرية سرعة الإلتزام بتنفيذ ما وعد به المعارضة السورية، بالمساعدة للوصول لبعض الأهداف الإيرانية وحزب الله داخل الأراضي السورية، وفعلاً أعطاهم مشعل اسم وعنوان وطريقة الاتصال بأحد القادة العسكريين والأمنيين الكبار لحماس في سوريا، وهو ضابط ارتباط لحماس مع الإيرانيين وحزب الله وهو (كمال غناجة).

تصفية كمال غناجة .. وموقف حماس

 

 تحركت بعض قوى المعارضة السورية نحو غناجة في دمشق بناءً على ترتيب من خالد مشعل، وفعلاً التقى غناجة ببعض قادة المعارضة السورية، وطلبوا منه المساعدة وتسهيل ضرب أهداف ايرانية في سوريا، المفاجئ أن غناجة لم يكن من مؤيدي وجهة نظر مشعل، ويرى أن مشعل غير وفي بضرب رفاقه وحلفائه ومن احتضنوه، غناجة أبلغ قادة حزب الله الموجودين في سوريا بما حصل معه، وبعد التنسيق مع المخابرات السورية طلب من غناجة الإستمرار بالتنسيق مع المعارضة السورية، لكن وفق خطة يضعها الأمن السوري وأمن حزب الله لاصطياد المعارضة السورية، وفعلاً بقي غناجة يزود المعارضة السورية بأسماء وعناوين أنها للأمن الإيراني وحزب الله، وفي كل هجوم كانت تشنه المعارضة السورية على هذه الأهداف كانت تباد بالكامل، حتى شعرت المعارضة انها وقعت في كمين اسمه غناجة، فكان لا بد من تصفيته في منزل في إحدى ضواحي دمشق تدعى قدسية،  

وفور مقتله سارعت حماس بإصدار بيان تتهم فيه قوات النظام السوري بتصفية أحد قادتها وكوادرها، في محاولة منها لخلط الأوراق، ولم تكن على علم بأن غناجة كان على تنسيق دائم مع المخابرات السورية وحزب الله، وهذا ما دفع الحج (وفيق صفا) أحد القادة الأمنيين في حزب الله في لبنان إلى استدعاء عضو المكتب السياسي لحماس أسامة حمدان المقيم في بيروت للقاء سريع وعاجل، ومن هذا اللقاء أسقط في يد حماس بعد أن أطلع الحج وفيق صفا اسامة حمدان على كاسيت فيديو بالصوت والصورة لغناجة وهو يروي بأدق التفاصيل ما حصل معه، وكيف طلب منه التعاون مع المعارضة السورية، وكيف رفض، ولماذا رفض، وكيف تعامل من ناحية وطنية وضمير مع هذه الموضوع، محملاً مسؤولية ما حصل لخالد مشعل.

أسامة حمدان فور خروجه من لقاء وفيق صفا أصدر بياناً صحفياً أعلن فيه أن غناجة ربما يكون قد قتل على أيدي مجموعة تابعة للموساد الإسرائيلي، نافياً تحميل النظام السوري مسؤولية مقلته، هذا الموقف من أسامة حمدان جاء بعد تهديد الحج وفيق صفا لحماس مطالباً إياهم بإعلان بيان واضح يبرئ النظام السوري من مقتل غناجة الآن، فإن لم تفعلوا فهذا الكاسيت سيبث مساء اليوم على تلفزيون الميادين فوراً.

بيان أسامة حمدان هذا من بيروت رد عليه عزت الرشق ببيان آخر من الدوحة يقول فيه: إن غناجة قد قتل في سوريا نتيجة انفجار مولد كهربائي في شقته في قدسية.

ايران تحظر التعامل مع مشعل

 

 

بعد كل هذا أدرك مشعل أن الأمر قد انكشف، وأن حماس ربما تكون قد خسرت أكبر حلفائها؛ وهما ايران وحزب الله، وهنا تدخل بعض القادة من التيار الآخر المحسوبين على ايران وحزب الله لتطويق تداعيات ما حصل، محملين خالد مشعل شخصياً مسؤولية ما حصل، ولم يكن قادة حماس على علم بكل هذه الترتيبات، ولو عرضت عليهم لرفضوها بالمطلق.

هذا الموقف أقنع القيادة الإيرانية بأن يكون قرارها فقط حظر التعامل مع مشعل شخصياً ومن معه دون أن يكون حظر للتعامل مع حماس بالمجمل، على اثر ذلك توجه وفد قيادي عالِ من حماس بقيادة موسى أبو مرزوق وعدد من أعضاء المكتب السياسي كان بينهم احمد الجعبري وعماد العلمي إلى إيران، وتم الإتفاق مع الإيرانيين على طي هذه الصفحة، والتحقيق المشترك فيما بينهم بخصوص ما حصل، والتأكيد على العلاقة الإستراتيجية بين حماس وطهران، وتم الإتفاق أيضاً على وقف أي تعامل رسمي (أمني، مالي، سياسي، عسكري) مع خالد مشعل، وتم الاتفاق أيضاً على أن ايران ستبقى ملتزمة بمعونتها المالية الثابتة لحماس على أن تكون: (سبعة ملايين دولار شهرياً لكتائب القسام من خلال أحمد الجعبري، وسبع ملايين دولار شهرياً تصرف لحماس في سوريا ولبنان من خلال حزب الله، ومليون دولار شهرياً تذهب لمكتب هنية في غزة).

هذا الإتفاق الذي كُرِّس في طهران جعل من مشعل مجرد قائد بلا معنى، وبدا أن التيار المعارض له قد كسب جولته الأخيرة معه، خصوصاً بعد انحياز أبو مرزوق وهنية للتيار المعارض لمشعل في هذه القضية، أي أن قيادة حماس اتخذت قراراً بعزله فعلياً مع الإبقاء عليه رسمياً، وكان القرار الأهم لحماس بالموافقة على عودة عماد العلمي عضو المكتب السياسي في حماس للإقامة الدائمة في قطاع غزة، وهو ما يفسر على أنه تعزيز للقرار الإيراني في حماس، كون العلمي الشخصية الأقرب لإيران في حماس.

اعمار غزة لتقوية مشعل

 

 بعد هذا، شعر القطريون ومن معهم أن كل ما خططوا له بالسيطرة على قرار حماس لم ينجح، إن لم نقل إنه قد فشل، كان لا بد من خطوة قطرية قوية تمكنها من العودة لاستقطاب الجزء الأكبر من قيادة وكوادر حماس، وأبلغ مشعل من قبل أمير قطر أنه ذاهب إلى غزة، وسيدفع أموالاً طائلة هناك من أجل إعادة الإعمار، وأن كل هذه الزيارة ستتم فقط بالتنسيق مع مشعل شخصياً، مما يعيد إليه الاعتبار والقوة في قيادة حماس، وفك الاصطفاف الحاد في قيادة حماس ضد مشعل، وفعلاً تمت هذه الزيارة، وأغدقت الأموال بكثرة، دون أن تكون لها أي أثر في تغيير موازين القوى في قيادة حماس.

المشروع القطري كان يقوم بالنسبة للملف السوري على جر حلف الناتو للتدخل المباشر في سوريا كما حصل في ليبيا، وكانت الإستراتيجية القطرية تنطلق من أن يكشف بشكل واضح ومباشر عن تدخل خارجي لصالح النظام السوري من قبل ايران وحزب الله، ليكون سبباً ومبرراً لحلف الناتو في التدخل المباشر لحماية الشعب السوري، وكانت الاستراتيجية الإيرانية تنطلق من أن الطرف الأقدر على كشف هذا الدور الإيراني وحزب الله في سوريا هي حركة حماس، كونها حليفاً لهما، وتعرف أدق التفاصيل في سوريا، إلا أن هذا قد فشل بانكشاف لعبة مشعل القطرية من خلال اغتيال غناجة.

مساعدات قطرية مشروطة ومدققة اميركيا

 

 كل المساعدات القطرية إلى غزة كانت مشروطة بأن لا يذهب أي دولار واحد لعمل أمني أو عسكري، وكل المشاريع التي يجري تنفيذها في غزة هي بعلاقة مباشرة بين الممول القطري والمقاول، وكل الفواتير التي تدفع من قطر تذهب للتدقيق عند الاميركان.

مشعل أدرك أن الأمور لم تسر كما أراد وأن هناك فراغاً في الدعم لحماس، لم يجد بديلاً عن إيران، وأن رهانه على قطر لم يحقق غايته، فهو يعرف مسبقاً أن قطر غير قادرة على أن تكون بديلاً لإيران، لأنها تعمل وفق معادلة أمريكية اسرائيلية، أي لا تستطيع أن تغطي ثمن رصاصة واحدة، وغير مسموح لها بذلك.

 

نتائج زيارة أمير قطر لغزة.. واغتيال الجعبري

 يبدو أن نتائج زيارة أمير قطر لم تعطِ النتائج التي كانت تريدها اسرائيل والولايات المتحدة، وكانت بالنسبة لهم فاشلة، فحماس استفادت منها أكثر من كل الاطراف التي خططت لها، فمعادلة الصراع في حماس بقيت على ما هي عليه، وبالعكس من ذلك فانتخابات مجلس الشورى أظهرت سيطرة التيار المعارض لمشعل على الصورة؛ هناك في حماس من يتهم أمير قطر بصورة مباشرة بأنها دفعت اسرائيل لاغتيال الجعبري، في محاولة منها لتغيير موازين القوى داخل حماس، وهناك من يطالب مجلس الشورى والمكتب السياسي بتشكيل لجنة تحقيق في ظروف استشهاد الجعبري، دون اتهام لأي طرف في حماس بالوقوف وراء ذلك، وإن كان الاتهام منصباً فقط على قطر وجهاز مخابراتها، خصوصاً أن مدير المخابرات القطرية هو الذي رتب لزيارة أمير قطر إلى غزة بالتنسيق مع الجانب الإسرائيلي والأميركي، وكل اللقاءات التي أجراها مدير المخابرات القطرية في غزة لم تكن ايجابية، وإن كان قد قال: (إن الأسلحة الليبية ممكن أن تكون لكم بديلاً عن السلاح الإيراني، ويمكن لكم من خلال علاقاتكم مع بعض القوى في ليبيا أن تحققوا ما تريدون).

إن اغتيال الجعبري شكل صدمة كبيرة لحماس، وخصوصاً لخالد مشعل، لأن الجعبري كان المد القوي والمعارض بشدة لمنهج مشعل، وشعر مشعل أنه استدرج بطريقة حقيرة ومرتبة لوضعه في محل اتهام، لينساق نهائياً في المشروع القطري، لكن ذلك دفع مشعل سريعاً نحو الطرف الآخر، معلناً التزامه بكل توجهاتهم، وأن دم الجعبري لن يذهب هدراً، وكان من أشد المتطرفين في حرب غزة الأخيرة معتبراً ذلك صك غفران وإعلان براءة مما سار عليه، وبذلك قاد المفاوضات بالقاهرة بكل فروسية، وكان مستقوياً برمضان شلح، الذي أصّرت طهران على وجوده كمفاوض أساس ومباشر على طاولة المفاوضات، خصوصاً أن موازين القوى العسكرية في قطاع غزة أصبحت تميل لصالح حركة الجهاد الإسلامي.

الجهاد الاسلامي.. دعم ايراني وقبول فلسطيني

 

 

الفترة الأخيرة شهدت امتلاك حركة الجهاد الإسلامي في غزة بعض الأسلحة التي لم تكن بحوزة حركة حماس، وأن الدعم الإيراني والقبول الفلسطيني العام لحركة الجهاد الإسلامي يمكن أن يجعل منها القوة الرئيسة في قطاع غزة، خصوصاً أن شلح، وخلال مفاوضات وقف اطلاق النار في القاهرة، وبالتنسيق مع المخابرات المصرية التي أدارت هذه المفاوضات، كان على اتصال مباشر بالرئيس محمود عباس، وهذه رسالة واضحة وصريحة من إيران وشلح إلى حركة حماس، بأنكم لم تعودوا المرجعية والجهة الوحيدة التي تقرر بشأن قطاع غزة، حماس قبلت بكل ذلك في محاولة لعدم خسارة الدعم الإيراني ودفع ايران لشطبها من معادلة المقاومة، واستبدالها بحركة الجهاد الإسلامي كقوة وحيدة تتلقى الدعم الإيراني وتكون قادرة (حركة الجهاد الإسلامي) على مساعدة قوى منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية في غزة، وهذا الذي تريده إيران على المدى الطويل، لأن إيران اعتبرت نفسها خاسرة برهانها على حماس، وأن حماس لم تتردد في حال تحقيق مصالحها الضيقة، في التخلي عن حلفائها، وبالعكس من ذلك التآمر عليهم، وهذا ما تفعل من أجله حماس من أجل استعادة الثقة المفقودة مع ايران.

زيارة “الهزيمة”

 

بعد انتهاء معركة غزة وذهاب مشعل إلى غزة ومنع شلح من ذلك،، ذهاب مشعل كان محاولة منه للملمة قوى حماس المتناثرة، وحاول اقناع شلح بأنه لولا حاجة حماس الضرورية لذهابه إلى غزة، لما وافق على الذهاب منفرداً إلى غزة.

رحلة مشعل إلى غزة وإن حاولوا تصويرها بأنها زيارة الإنتصار العسكري والسياسي إلا انها كانت زيارة الهزيمة الداخلية لخالد مشعل ورهاناته. 

خالد مشعل وخلال الزيارة إلى غزة تملص من عقد أي جلسة رسمية للأطر القيادية لحماس في قطاع غزة، مكتفياً بأن تكون زيارته اعلامية وسياسية ومجتمعية، ويقال إن الزهار قد قدم لمشعل طلبا رسمياً بعقد جلسة طارئة لمجلس الشورى، من أجل البحث في قضية اغتيال الجعبري، وخصوصاً أن مشعل وقبل 3 أيام من اغتيال الجعبري، قد أبلغ الجعبري شخصياً بأن المصريين أبلغوه بأن اسرائيل التزمت ووافقت على اتفاق التهدئة أو الهدنة الطويلة، وأن بإمكان الجعبري أن يتحرك بطريقة أوسع، لكن مع الحذر.

لقاء في غزة دون حضور مشعل

 بعد مغادرة مشعل قطاع غزة وبقاء أبو مرزوق بالقطاع، عقد لقاء موسع مع أبو مرزوق وعماد العلمي، الذي قال في الإجتماع: (إن بحوزته أدلة على أن أحد أجهزة الأمن العربية هي التي طلبت من إسرائيل تصفية الجعبري، وأن هذه الأدلة لن يطرحها إلا في اجتماع رسمي لمجلس الشورى)؛ العلمي أضاف: (يمكن لنا أن نستفيد من أي دعم موجه لنا إن كان ذلك لا يهدف لمصادرة قرارنا أو لا يهدف إلى اختراقنا لصالح اسرائيل، نحن بأمس الحاجة لاجتماع أطرنا القيادية لمناقشة مسارنا بالفترة الماضية، لأننا بمقتل الجعبري تعرضنا لزلزال قوي وكبير، يجب دراسته بكل تفاصيله).

نصر الله.. عتب وغضب من مشعل

بعد عودة أبو مرزوق من قطاع غزة، وخلال وجود مشعل في الدوحة، طلب أبو مرزوق من مشعل ضرورة اللقاء السريع على أن يكون اللقاء في القاهرة وليس في الدوحة، حضر مشعل إلى القاهرة وتناقش مع أبو مرزوق بكل التفاصيل التي جاء بها من غزة، وحضر اللقاء أسامة حمدان الذي جاء من بيروت، وكان في طريقه إلى القطاع، ونقل حمدان موقف حماس في الساحة السورية واللبنانية الذي كان متقاطعاً تماماً مع موقف العلمي في قطاع غزة، وخلال اللقاء سلم أسامة حمدان كاسيت الفيديو الذي يتحدث فيه غناجة عن ما طُلب منه.

أسامة حمدان أبلغ مشعل أن هذا الكاسيت هدية من الشيخ حسن نصر الله إليك شخصياً، وقال حمدان: إنّ الشيخ حسن نصر الله أصر علي أن أسلمك إياه باليد، ويستحلفك بالله يا أبا الوليد أن تكون أميناً ووفياً لقضية شعبك، ويقول لك إنك عندما حضرت اليه في بداية الأزمة السورية من أجل أن يقوم نصر الله بالحديث مع الأسد بضرورة حل الأزمة السورية من بدايتها، قال لك نصر الله بوضوح: (أنا كلمت الرئيس الأسد وسأكلمه، لكن يا أبو الوليد خذ هالنصيحة من أخوك، لا تلعبوا بالورقة السورية، الورقة السورية ليست ورقة داخلية، وليست صراعات داخلية سورية، الأزمة السورية أكبر من ذلك وأكبر مما تتصور. ليست حقوقا وديمقراطية ولو كانت كذلك سأحلها خلال ساعة، معركة سوريا معركة معد لها إقليمياً ودولياً، ولن تنتهي بإعطاء بعض الحقوق هنا وهناك، إياكم والإنزلاق في هذه الأزمة، إذا شعرتم بأن القيادة السورية تدفعكم لاتخاذ موقف ما سأقف معكم في مواجهة ذلك، وكل الأطرف الفلسطينية الأخرى من مصلحتها عدم الانزلاق بالمسألة السورية من هنا وهناك، أنتم إن لم تكونوا مجتمعين لن تكونوا مع أي طرف من الأطراف، لكن الكلام ما زال على لسان نصر الله، اتفقت مع أبو الوليد على ذلك، لكن الأخ العزيز لم يصدقني القول، وكنت طيلة الفترة الماضية فرقة إطفاء لترميم العلاقة بين حماس وسوريا، وهناك أعدادٌ كبيرة من حماس ساهمتُ بإطلاق سراحهم من السجون السورية كانوا متورطين بالنزاع المسلح في سوريا).

أسامة حمدان نقل غضب وعتب حسن نصر الله إلى مشعل لتصرفاته وتصريحاته ما بعد حرب غزة الثانية، متهماً مشعل بأنه لم يكن وفياً لدم الشهداء، وأنه استخدم نصر غزة في بازار النفاق السياسي وبيع المواقف، نصر الله قال: أليس عيباً أن يبدأ مشعل بشكر قطر بنصر غزة ولم يقم بشكر من يستحق الشكر، أليس هذا استفزازاً أو نكراناً لجميع من ساهم بصورة حقيقية لنصر غزة، نحن في حزب الله لم ننتظر شكر مشعل، لأننا نتعامل مع ذلك بصيغة الواجب وليس بصيغة الإمتنان، ولكن ألا تستحق إيران الشكر؟ ألم تستحق سوريا الشكر؟

 أسامة حمدان أبلغ مشعل في القاهرة أنه سيتوجه إلى طهران عقب عودته من غزة، مطالباً مشعل بالعمل قدر الإمكان وبالسرعة القصوى على انعقاد مجلس شورى حماس، لانتخاب القيادة الجديدة لأن الوضع الذي نمر فيه أصبح لا يحتمل، وهناك تكتلات جديدة بدأت بالظهور في الحركة، وإن استمرار ذلك سيدمر الحركة، وسيكون كل تكتل معبراً عن الجغرافيا التي يعيش على أرضها، نحن يا أبو الوليد وفي آخر جلسة للمكتب السياسي عقدناها كان هناك اتفاق واضح وصارم أن نكون حذرين وحساسين لما يحصل في المنطقة، لكننا انزلقنا هنا وهناك، وهذا ما أثر على موقف الحركة ووحدتها.

• The War within Hamas – Part 1
• The War within Hamas – Part 3
• ويكيليكس تكشف علاقات الإخوان وواشنطن

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian  

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this

Muslim Brotherhood Paves Way for Qatar’s Ascent

By: Layla al-Shoumari

Published Friday, April 12, 2013

In the wake of the Arab uprisings, Qatar is using its vast wealth and media empire to become a regional superpower. Its historic ties with the Muslim Brotherhood will determine the success of Doha’s strategy. 

It is not unusual for a country like Saudi Arabia to try to play a leading role in the region’s politics, but for a tiny nation like Qatar – with a native population of no more than 200,000 people – it is remarkable.Due mainly to its vast oil and gas wealth, the small Gulf peninsula is able to stand among the region’s central powers. Qatar has been successful in leveraging its economic fortune and al-Jazeera media empire to bolster its reputation as a regional superpower.

In the years prior to the Arab uprising, Qatar adhered to a pragmatic diplomacy, building strong relationships with sworn enemies like the US and Iran or Hamas and Israel. In a sense, Doha preceded Turkey in successfully implementing a “zero problems” foreign policy.

Today, however, Qatar has moved more boldly, taking sides in the upheavals sweeping the Arab world and unleashing al-Jazeera against its enemies. It has effectively placed itself in the eye of the storm.

After its media support of the revolutionaries, Doha is getting cozy with Egypt and Tunisia’s new Islamist rulers. In Libya, Qatar was at the forefront of Arab military and financial support for the NATO and Libyan rebel forces that unseated Muammar Gaddafi. In Syria, the emir is risking everything to bring down the Bashar al-Assad regime.

At the center of Qatar’s strategy is its historic ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, who have become the main beneficiaries of the Arab uprisings. Betting on the Brotherhood, however, has its risks – particularly among the other Gulf states, who view them as a greater threat than Iran.

The Brotherhood in Qatar

 

The presence of the Muslim Brotherhood from a number of Arab countries in Qatar dates back to the 1950s, when many of its members were forced into exile, in particular from Gamal Abdul-Nasser’s Egypt. In 1999, the Qatari branch of the Muslim Brotherhood dissolved itself, with it leader Jassem Sultan declaring in 2003 that the state was adequately fulfilling its religious obligations.

Similar attempts to reconcile the Brotherhood with the ruling family in the United Arab Emirates were not as successful. The UAE branch of the Brotherhood, called al-Islah, was allowed to operate as a charitable organization, but had to cease its political activities.

Over time, ties between Qatar and prominent Brotherhood members grew, most notably with Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi and a long list of Islamist journalists and activists who flooded the ranks of al-Jazeera, including its former general manager Wadah Khanfar (Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood) and Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafiq Abdul-Salam, who headed up the channel’s research center.

Qatar has wasted no time in coming to the support of the new Muslim Brotherhood regimes by filling their coffers. Contrary to other Gulf states, which reduced their investments in Egypt after Mubarak’s fall, Doha has promised to raise its share to $18 billion in the coming years.

Qatar’s lavish spending on the Islamists also succeeded in luring Palestinian Hamas away from Iran and Syria. In a recent trip to the Gaza Strip, the country’s emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani launched investments and initiated projects that amounted to a quarter of a billion dollars.

Gulf Discontent

Qatar’s embrace of the Muslim Brotherhood is a source of discontent among its Gulf neighbors, particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE. This is not the first time Doha has ruffled feathers in the area, as it was once on the best of terms – primarily for economic reasons – with Iran.

But the remaining Gulf monarchies are growing increasingly wary of the rise of the Brotherhood in the region. Some view the Brotherhood as a greater threat than Iran. The UAE’s recent arrest of dozens of Islah members for allegedly plotting to overthrow the regime is but one example.

Saudi media are becoming more open in their criticism of Qatar’s relationship with the Brotherhood and the UAE is in the process of launching a television station directed against them. Kuwait has yet to send even a symbolic amount of aid to buffet Egypt’s ailing economy.

This situation has made Qatar careful not to upset its Gulf neighbors, putting out any fires before they spread. When Qaradawi, for example, publicly criticized the UAE for deporting Syrians to Egypt in May 2012, al-Thani appeared in Abu Dhabi the next day for damage control.

Qatar’s policy in the Gulf appears to be an extension of its earlier pragmatic approach of allying itself with bitter enemies, reconciling between its Gulf partners and its patronage of the Muslim Brotherhood. However, in other parts of the Arab world, like Syria, it is playing a new and potentially dangerous game of staking all in favor of one side against the other.

This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.

• The War within Hamas – Part 1
• The War within Hamas – Part 2
• The War within Hamas – Part 3
• ويكيليكس تكشف علاقات الإخوان وواشنطن

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
 

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

US looted thousands of Iraq’s cultural treasures

 Source

An Iraqi archaeologist and architect says the United States has stolen thousands of ‘Iraq’s cultural treasures’ during the war in the Arab nation.

“Some 35,000 small and large items are missing from the National Museum of Iraq,” said Ihsan Fathi in an interview with RT earlier this week.

He went on to say that “huge amounts of documents representing historical importance that cannot be assigned a monetary value were taken by the US.”

“Large amounts of currency have been also misappropriated…. Everything that was stored in the Central and other banks was sent to the US without any documentation and now is kept in archives,” the Iraqi archaeologist stated.

In March, Assistant Director General for Culture at the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Mounir Bouchenaki issued a statement saying that over 1,500 modern paintings and sculptures from Baghdad’s Museum of Fine Arts were stolen during the US-led invasion of Iraq.

The statement added that “This is a real cultural disaster.”

In 2003, the US and Britain invaded Iraq in blatant violation of international law and under the pretext of finding weapons of mass destruction. But no such weapons were ever found in Iraq.

More than one million Iraqis were killed as the result of the US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of the country, according to the California-based investigative organization, Project Censored.

“… A nasty, dark & highly relevant dimension to the the rebel campaign in Syria”

FLC

“…What this teaches
us is, of
course, to take with a pinch or two of salt the protestations of freedom and
righteousness with which leaders cloak the actions of their men-at-arms…….,
…… 
Few people in the UK will be aware the a very prominent
British journalist and his team have only recently emerged from the terrifying
experience of becoming kidnap victims in rebel hands. That story has still not
appeared in any media in the UK because a “news blackout” was declared in order
to facilitate their release. Few would – or should – have any qualms with that
degree of self-censorship.
However, their organisation – a very major force
in the British media – has chosen to say nothing about the issue since. The
public are entirely unaware this has happened.
In doing so they – and we by extension – have effectively muzzled
ourselves and not told an important part of the Syrian war story – a nasty, dark
and highly relevant dimension to the the rebel campaign there. The great
Syrian question is all about what kind of freedoms people are fighting for.
That’s why this issue matters so much.
When the prominent US TV journalist
Richard Engel of NBC was kidnapped and released, recently, he wasted no time in
putting the story out when he was safely out of Syria.
But I would say he
took the opportunity to tell an important story just when our governments are
considering arming these people who will kidnap our reporters.
I think that
matters. Matters more then self-censorship. Whilst there may be reasons for not
telling the story when it is happening and trying to get people out is
paramount, it should be a very different story when, with luck, the people are
freed.
This self-censorship after the event is not stopping the kidnapping,
nor is it telling and essential truth of the war. In fact it is actively hiding
that important truth…”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B
at 11:36 AM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
 

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

Fabrication: Hezbollah fighter martyrs in Syria without knowing

مقاتل من حزب الله يسقط شهيدا في سوريا من دون ان يعلم

‏الجمعة‏، 12‏ نيسان‏، 2013        أوقات
الشام

في ظلّ أخبارٍ توالت، مفادها بأن “حزب
الله” يشارك الجيش السوري القتال في عملياته واتهامه بالتدخل في الشأن السوري
الداخلي، والتحذير الدائم من مهبّ الولوج في مستنقع مساعدة النظام, وأن ذلك سيعود
بسلبيات على الحزب سياسياً ومعنوياً من جهة وعلى لبنان من جهة
ثانية.وردّاً على الحملات المزيّفة التي
تُشنُّ هنا وهناك على هذا الحزب وعلى أفراده، أكدّ مسؤول جهادي لعربي برس أن حزب
الله يحمي مصالح محدودة له في سوريا، كان قبل الأزمة يواكبها وأضحى بعد الأزمة
يحميها.وأضاف: “لطالما أكد الحزب ولأكثر من
مرّة أنّ النظام السوري لا يحتاج إلى مساعدته وأنه بعدتّه وعتاده كفيل لأن ينهي
مهامه دون اللجوء إلى أحد“.ولكن! تتردد الكثير من التساؤلات في أذهان من يتابع
أخبار الأزمة السورية والأنباء التي تتحدث عن سقوط عدد من الشهداء لحزب الله أثناء
تأديتهم للواجب الجهادي، انطلاقاً من أين يسقط أولئك الشهداء، وصولاً إلى التساؤل
عن حقيقة الكلام الدائم عن سقوط شهيد دفاعاً عن مقام السيدة زينب, وذاك الشهيد
دفاعاً عن حرم السيدة سكينة.ومثال على ذلك، تناقلت بعض وسائل الإعلام إضافة إلى
صفحات التواصل الإجتماعي معلومات تفيد باستشهاد شاب يدعى “حسن فنيش” من بلدة معروب
الجنوبية قضى أثناء دفاعه عن حرم السيّدة زينب في دمشق. ونعرض بعضاً من الصور التي تناقلتها صفحات التواصل
الإجتماعي في خبر استشهاد حسن فنيش:

وفي اتصال بالمقيمين في بلدة معروب
لمعرفة تفاصيل الخبرعلم عربي برس أن الحاجة إم حسن فنيش كانت قد بدأت تتحضّر
لإستقبال جسد ولدها إذ أن الأخبار كلّها تشير إلى أن ولدها قد استشهد, ولكن سرعان
ما ظهر ولدها حيٌّ يُرزق.إضافة إلى ورود أنباء تتحدث عن أن الشهيد “حسن فنيش”
هو أخ عباس فنيش مراسل قناة المنار أو إبن عمّه.

وبعد الإتصال بمراسل قناة المنار
الزميل عباس فنيش، نفى الأخير صلة القرابة بينه وبين الشهيد المزعوم قائلاً:” أنا
أصلاً ما عندي خي إسمو حسن ولا إبن عمّ“.وللتحقق من صحة خبر استشهاد حسن، أكدت والدته لعربي
برس أن إبنها بخير وهو حيّ يرزق، والإشاعات التي تناولت ولدها ما هي إلا أفكار
مغرضة تهدف إلى تشويه صورة المقاومة.

“معروب لم تشيّع بحسب الصور المفبركة أي شهيد،
والأسئلة التي يطرحها الناس نصفها من مخيلتهم والنصف الآخر هو من صنع فبركات بعض من
يصطاد بالماء العكر”، حسبما أفادنا أحد قياديي الحزب.

وأضاف: “ليس هناك أي شهيد سقط بالقرب
من مقام السيّدة زينب أو أيّ من أماكن المواجهة في داخل سوريا إنّما شهداؤنا كما
قال الأمين العام لحزب الله السيد حسن نصر الله وحتّى الآن لا زالت تسقط على الحدود
وفي نطاق عمل المجاهدين المعتاد“.

ويبقى الكلام الأهمّ لماذا يُتهم حزب
الله بشكل دائم بتدخله لصالح النظام على أرض المعركة، ولا يُنظر إلى وضوح إنخراط
أطراف سياسية في خضمِّ المعارك على الأرض السورية وعلى الرغم من وجود أدلة كثيرة قد
عرضها الإعلام بشكل واضح في الأيام الماضية تثبت تورط بعض الميليشيات المتطرفة في
تهريب الأسلحة وتدريب عناصرها للقتال ضد النظام السوري، أو حتى بالقتال ضدّه بشكل
فعّال وإرسال مجموعات إلى قلب المعارك, علّ حلم الدولة الإسلامية الذي تكلم عنه
تنظيم القاعدة وجبهة النصرة في سوريا يتحقق.

 

عربي برس

SYRIA WARNS INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF THE DANGERS OF DISREGARDING TAKFIRI TERRORISM

 Posted on April 11, 2013 by Alexandra Valiente            

SEE SYRIA’S AL-NUSFRA FRONT PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO AL-QAEDA

Foreign Ministry: Syria Warns against Danger of International Community’s Disregard of Takfiri Terrorism

Apr 11, 2013

 

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Foreign and Expatriates Ministry sent on Thursday two identical letters to the U.N. Security Council Chairman and the U.N. Secretary General informing them that on April 7th, 2013 websites linked to al-Qaeda broadcast an audio recording of al-Qaeda leader, Aiman al-Zawahiri, calling on the gunmen in Syria “to aspire for a Jihadist Islamic State as the outcome of their Jihad in Syria to be the basis for the restoration of the Caliphate.”

The Ministry added, “al-Zawahiri’s call received rapid response from al-Qaeda in Iraq “the Islamic State of Iraq ” organization leader Abu-Baker al-Baghdadi who announced on April 9th, 2013 that “Jabhat al-Nusra is fighting for building an Islamic state in Syria,” revealing that “Jabhat al-Nusra is an extension of the Islamic State of Iraq and part of it.

Abu-Baker al-Baghdadi also announced a merger with “Jabhat al-Nusra” to form “the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham.”

The Ministry said, “on April 10th, 2013, websites linked to terrorist organizations broadcast an audio recording of Jabhat al-Nusra leader, Abu-Mohammad al-Jolani, who pledged allegiance to Aiman al-Zawahiri.”

Foreign Ministry stressed that those statements prove the warnings of the Syrian Arab Republic against the relationship between the armed terrorist groups and al-Qaeda and the danger of the crimes perpetrated by these groups in Syria.

The Ministry added that Syria reiterates warning against the danger of the international community’s disregard of the Takfiri terrorist crimes practiced by “Jabat al-Nusra” and its allies, including so-called “Free Syrian Army.”

The Ministry pointed out that Syria has completed all procedures required to request enlisting “Jabhat al-Nusra” organization to the consolidated list of individuals and entities belonging to or associated with al-Qaeda organization pursuant to U.N. Security Council resolutions No. 1257 (1999) and 1989 (2011).

The Ministry added, “The final report issued by the Panel of Experts on Libya established pursuant to resolution 1937 (2011)  which included information on cases of transferring illegitimate weapons to Syria in support of the armed terrorist groups through various ways from Turkey or southern Lebanon.

F.L

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
 

The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

How Damascene Jews Hope to Return… to Normalcy

 
Franklin Lamb

Al-manarBab Touma Jewish
Quarter, Damascus
— Growing up in the small town of  Milwaukie, Oregon and until after graduating from high school, I never  knew or knowingly met a Jew. Not until my first post-high school job as a swimming instructor and life guard at the Portland Jewish Community Center, having recently earned an American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor Certification — something I would recommend to any teenager today. My plan was to teach swimming and lifeguard over the summer at the JCC until the fall, when I planned to head to Boston University.It was a terrific job. I got to swim laps during work when no one was in the pool, was given free lunches, and learned a lot from the old couple from Poland who handed out towels and looked after the pool dressing rooms.

We became good friends. When we were first introduced, I noticed that this inseparable couple walked stooped over, seemed to be in failing health and had what looked like numbers tattooed in blue ink on their right arms.

I had no idea what the numbers were for and didn’t want to appear nosy so it wasn’t until a couple of weeks later, during lunch one day, that my new friends explained what had happened to them and how they came to be in Oregon. They explained how they had miraculously survived death at a place they called Auschwitz, a word I don’t recall having ever heard.

From not having any Jewish friends in high school, in Boston I soon had mostly Jewish friends and several times was invited for a weekend to Brooklyn, Long Island, Teaneck, New Jersey and other places in the metropolitan New York area. For a hayseed kid from a small town in the
Pacific Northwest it was great to have socially-connected and sophisticated Jewish girlfriends, all platonic until I fell deeply in love with Hanna K, an observant ultra-orthodox student from a Newton, Massachusetts family.  Hanna, who always covered her head stood out on campus from the typical Jewish girls from places like the Bronx or Westchester County, NY.  Despite our mutual affection, Hanna explained she could never invite me to meet her family who lived just 20 minutes from BU because I was not  Jewish and her father was very conservative. Both her parents fled Germany  sometime in the 1930’s. I more or less understood, and she taught me a lot about Judaism, and I actually studied Hebrew for a while, at Hanna’s insistence.

Finally I marshaled the courage to visit her father’s real estate investment office which was just opposite the Boston Common and the historic Arlington Steet church within walking distance of Boston University Law School. Much like a nervous a new lawyer appearing before a harsh judge for the first time, I practiced my lines as I walked along. I still remember the speech I hoped to deliver, but close to his office I passed the statute of the William Lloyd

Garrison the 19th century editor of the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, and one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society as well as a prominent voice for the Women’s Suffrage movement. I paused to read  the words inscribed on the stone at the base of his statue, words still clear to me: “I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD!” They emboldened and gave me renewed courage to face Hanna’s father.

My petition to Hanna’s very stern father, Abraham, was that I deeply loved his daughter, and that I would try to be for her the best possible husband. I then made what I hoped would be a case-winning appeal: “And sir, I would like you to know that by association, by education, by liberal politics, by philosophy and by choice, I consider myself Jewish and am studying Hebrew and Jewish religious teachings.” It was true and I was sincere.

As Hanna subsequently told me, her father was not at all liberal in his politics, was an atheist and he was not in the least impressed with my presentation. Before rather abruptly showing me the door, he did sort of mumble that he would consider the matter and inform me of his decision. I never heard back from the gentleman. Hanna and I remained inseparable during my last couple of weeks in Boston. But, as happens far too often in life, one loses contact with the dearest of dear friends. I left for a summer job in Washington, DC and then England, and I have no idea where life has led her. To happiness I hope.

During the following years I experienced the intense Zionization among those in the Jewish community I was involved with while working on the Hill in Washington. Being known to be pro-Palestinian, I noticed the increased politicization and polarization among my Jewish friends. Since then, thanks somewhat to the Internet, this fracturing of the Jewish community has only increased, with even some progressive liberal friends getting caught up in the anti-Arab, anti-Islam, neocon-Zionist hate-mongering-nonsense now so endemic in the US.

Against this backdrop, and after years of living in this region with few Jews, recent visits to the Jewish community in Damascus has been a joy and a breadth of fresh air because the ugliness of fascist Zionism and its corrosive effects on Judaism as a philosophy is absent among Jews here. It’s like the old days. I have now met more than half of the 30-40 (depending on whose estimate) Jews remaining in the Bab Toumy Jewish Quarter of Damascus. In 2003, for example, the Jewish population was estimated to be fewer than 100. In 2005, the US State Department estimated the Jewish population at 80 in its annual International Religious Freedom Report for 2008. In May 2012,

it was reported by the State Department that only 22 Jews still lived in Syria,all of them elderly and living in Damascus in a building adjoining the city’s only functioning synagogue. This is not true. The remaining Jews live scattered around the Jewish Quarter and generally in family homes they have occupied for many years.

My new, excellent friend Saul, is the last remaining Jewish tailor in Syria. We spend time discussing just about everything but what I particularly like about Saul, and Albert Camero, the head of what’s left of the Jewish community in this battered country, is our discussions of “what went wrong” from the days when Jews and non-Sunnis like Twelver Shiites, Alawites, various Christian denominations, Druze and other heterodox communities lived together in Syria, nearly as family.

( Photo: Syria’s only known remaining Jewish tailor, Saul L.)

Other new Jewish friends in Syria include R. and G. two sisters in their late 70’s who were born in Syria and live in their grandfathers lovely home amidst the now empty mansions and less imposing Jewish homes in the Jewish Quarter. Their residence is next to the former home of Nissim Indibo, the last Rabbi in Damascus who died in 1976. “The sisters” as they are known to this tiny community, invited me to tea in their home adorned with Hebrew tiles on the walls and other Jewish religious artifacts. One day I listened to R. and G. for five hours as they recited their families’’ history in Syria and even
their current political views. More time with them would have been better, so interesting and charming are they.

(Photo:  fplamb 3/13. One of the three remaining  Synagogues in Damascus’ Jewish Quarter. No longer in use.)
A few years ago the American embassy offered Saul and R. and G. visas to  America, where over 75,000 Syria Jews live in just New York. Saul showed me his. But like other Jews here, when the subject came up about moving to occupied Palestine or America, they explained they have no interest in leaving their country where, like the Palestinians living in Syria, they are treated the same as any other Syrian, including free education, universal government-paid health care, the full right to work and to own a home. They are Syrian.

(Photo:  fplamb 3/13.  A fairly typical unoccupied Jewish home, one of dozens boarded up in the, in Jewish Quarter of Damascus. Unlike Zionist occupied Palestine, Syria has rejected any absentee occupant law and Jewish homes remain the sole property of the families who own them, irrespective of where they currently live. Consistent with local zoning laws in this historic district, these often magnificent dwellings can be renovated and sold by the former occupants with government permission.)

 

What the Jewish community in Damascus believes must happen to resolve the current crisis is precisely what other Syrians in this capital city want. The process leading to peace, noted below, is gleaned from interviews with a cross-section of citizens in the Jewish Quarter and also from conversations with a spectrum of Damascene society ranging from academics, retired and current officials, members of the opposition in Parliament, small business and shop owners, and just random people enjoying the spring weather in the parks and surprisingly packed popular restaurants.I was invited to such a restaurant this week. Into the late evening the place in central Damascus was filled with narguilé smoking, card playing,
scrumptious desert eating, laughing and joking young and old people. I was tempted to mount one of the tables and shout to the revelers: “Excuse me please but haven’t you folks heard there is a civil war going on around here!” The zest for life is strong here— even enveloped as it is, by so much death and unimaginable suffering.

Asking Saul and others in the Jewish Quarter what their views of what the solution is to stop the slaughter, they insist that the government is now basically and finally getting on the right track, yet they yearn for the days of Hafez al Assad and are adamant that, and then tend to believe it will happen,  that systemic modernization and liberalization be immediately implemented,  ranging from the economy, routing out graft, and expanding civil liberties.  They lament the misjudgments that were made during the spring of 2011
following the crimes committed by the regime against the youngsters in Deraa who were brutalized and killed. That an opportunity to nip the uprising in the bud was lost is a fairly common opinion heard in the Jewish community.

The path to internal civil peace for Syria, and likely the region, in the view of Damascene Jews, as well as others in Syria seeking a return to normalcy, emphasize the following points.

• There must be an immediate and real, across the country, cease-fire supported and insisted upon by all the local and international power brokers;

• All manner of humanitarian aid and methods of delivering it across Syria and also to the approximate one million Syrian refugees forced out of Syria by the violence must be immediately organized and supported by all sides without political and military calculations of which side might benefit. The Syrian people will benefit and that outsiders should return to whence they came is a common expression;

• All parties much commit to saving the endangered cultural heritage and historic sites and support the still existing government institutions, infrastructure and civil services;

• The holding of the 2014 scheduled multi-party presidential elections on time, with international monitoring by groups such as the UN and the Carter Center. Internationally arranged security during the voting must be arranged to avoid the experience of Iraq with respect to voting intimidation and even targeting. In the run-up to the voting and during the campaign period, security must be guaranteed by all sides. Following the elections an immediate national referendum must be held for the citizens to render their verdict on the current constitution

In Syria’s Jewish community there appears to be no interest in the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine. ”Zionism is completely alien to Judaism. It concerns expansionist political goals not religion. ” one gentleman explained.

“What we see being done to our Palestinian brothers under occupation by fanatics in the name of religion has much more in common with some of the extreme Jihadists around here than with most Jews” another explained.

Alfred M. Lilienthal — Palestinian Children

One old lady brought out an article translated into Arabic she acquired years ago entitled, “Israel’s Flag is Not Mine“. It was written by my late friend who I had the honor to work for on his Middle East Perspectives magazine years ago. Alfred M. Lilienthal was the author of “The Zionist Connection” among several other important works and, I was told, has always been popular in
Syria despite the Zionist lobby labeling him “A self-hating Jew” whatever that is supposed to mean. One gentleman, who has lived in the same house on Straight Street for 47 years, explained to me that the label meant the same as the “anti-Semite” smear as applied to non-Jewish critics of Zionism.

“Most Jews in Syria have always agreed with most this man’s views. Zionism and the Zionist regime in Palestine is the enemy of Jews, not our saviors.” she explained.

Saul then injected, “Zionism has caused most of the problems in the area. Our religion is much respected in Syra. We have all lived together without problems for millennia. There were no pogroms or ghettos here. Religion comes from God. Zionism comes from fascism and racism.”

I left the meeting for a tour of one of the three remaining Synagogues in Damascus, the Franji synagogue off Al-Amin Street across from the Talisman Hotel in Bab Touma, and at which Jewish artifacts this week are being collected for preservation in case war comes to the Quarter. Accompanied by Saul and the remarkably fit sisters, R and G, I was reminded of a few words the sometimes profane and often brusque scholar Lilienthal frequently used to sum up his political views on the Middle East:

“Everything for the Jews. Nothing for the Zionists.”

I believe my new friends would agree.

Posted by uprooted Palestinian at 5:47:00 pm

Franklin Lamb, Judaism, Syria, War on syria, Zionism

Libya: Which Fate for Gaddafi’s Henchmen?

 

An empty bullet shell is seen outside the entrance of the al-Ghani oil field, belonging to Libya’s Harouge Oil Operations company, near the city of Waddan in the central Al-Jufrah province on 23 March 2013. (Photo: AFP – Abdullah Doma)

By: Abdullah Elmaazi

Published Sunday, April 7, 2013

Libya is at a crossroads. It has a choice between the politics of vindictiveness and exclusion, or of reconciliation and inclusion. On 24 March 2013, about 200 former rebel fighters in Libya besieged the prime minister’s office, demanding that he resign in accordance with a political isolation law banning members of the former regime from political life. Ali Zeidan, the current prime minister of Libya, served as a diplomat under Gaddafi.
The draft political isolation law being debated applies to anybody who held an official position during the final two decades of Gaddafi’s rule, which includes many who have played a prominent post-revolutionary role in Libya. However, there are calls for this draft law to be expanded to include anybody who held an official post over the entire period of Gaddafi’s 42-year rule. This would exclude the majority of governmental and parliamentary figures.
The proposed law bears a striking resemblance to the disastrous de-Baathification in Iraq. After the collapse of the Baath regime following the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, the Baath party was outlawed and all Baathists lost their jobs. As a result, hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats, civil servants, police officers, and members of the armed forces became unemployed, fuelling the insurgency which continues to this day.
As Miranda Sissons, former head of the Iraq program at the International Centre for Transitional Justice, pointed out, many countries in the Middle East are now struggling to find a way to effectively dismantle the political structures of former regimes. The expansion of the proposed political isolation law in Libya will be a recipe for the alienation of thousands of people who could make valuable contributions to the development of the country.
On 6 March 2013, hundreds of armed gunmen threatened lawmakers and held them hostage in an attempt to force approval of the controversial law. The will of the electorate and the independence of the judiciary must waver in the face of those who resort to violence to impose their will. A fait accompli imposed by the force of arms in such circumstances will never be legitimate.
The Roots of Justice It has been said that in post-Gaddafi Libya the men who slept in the desert, not the men who slept in five-star hotels, should rule. While no one can deny that the revolutionaries who toppled the regime must be assured of their rightful place in government, the victor’s justice must be fair or else we will have merely replaced one form of tyranny for another.
The English philosopher John Locke highlighted the consequence of people taking the law into their own hands when he wrote of, “those evils, which necessarily follow from men being judges in their own cases” which is to “magnify the wrong suffered, if any, and to exact a punitive revenge rather than a dispassionate retribution.”
In Libya, because of a prevalent tribal culture and sentiments of regional bias, the judicial application of all laws is essential. It is incumbent on Libyans, who exercised their free will and chose the path of democracy, to reject extremism and dogmatism.
When a 42-year-old regime ends as a result of a violent revolution, anomie is inescapable. But it is the duty of the successor regime to come up with a strategy that ensures justice is dispensed fairly. The present and the past are always entwined and the burden of the past will continue to be an albatross around our present and future. The only way we can ensure that this albatross does not bring us down is if we find ways by which we can deal with our past and move on, rather than remain forever captive to our past.
One avenue to take is to allow the truth to set us free. In a number of post-conflict societies airing grievances in public forums had a cathartic effect and was nationally therapeutic. These public forums brought perpetrators and their victims face to face. Publicly acknowledging the pain and grief of victims can reduce the likelihood of continuing a vicious cycle of revenge.
A truth-telling process, including full disclosure of human rights abuses, ensures that “the facts” remain alive in the national memory. The records of these proceedings should be incorporated in the curriculum of law enforcement training academies as well as law schools. Educational curricula should incorporate human rights, and the history of its abuse in Libya. This is how we should teach future generations of the mistakes and the crimes of the past in order to learn from them and to prevent their repetition.
For some, general knowledge of the truth is not enough. An official recognition of the injustices that have been suffered is necessary. This can only be achieved through a uniformly and judicially applied law, specific to this transition period to close the chapter of the past in order to usher in the far more important future chapter.
If we are to put in place a transitional justice process the essence of the process will need to be the establishment of accountability for past crimes of human rights abuses and to address allegations of participation in systematic abusive practices in a court of law, in a transparent and fair manner. It is in the proceedings of this transitional justice process, perhaps more than anywhere else, that the concept that “justice must be seen to be done” is of paramount importance, in particular in helping speed up the national reconciliation process. Seeing their tormentors brought to justice is a moral obligation owed to all victims. It can have a tremendously important cathartic effect both on the individual and national level.
It should go without saying that in the long term, a fairly administered justice system is fundamental to reconstructing a morally just society. Not only will it combat and ultimately stem the rise of vigilantism; but justice served and seen to be done will also be an important deterrent against future abuses of human rights.
A Haunted Revolution If Libyans fail in cleansing themselves of their heinous past, they will forever be beset by incessant ruminating. The worst investment we make in the future is to allow the present atmosphere of vindictiveness revenge seeking to prevail. Unfortunately this is what is taking place at present and the political exclusion law is fuelling the fires of revenge and the blood lust which feeds it.
Life under a totalitarian regime with its lawlessness should have taught us Libyans the importance of legal security in its most elementary sense of freedom from arbitrary, selective and collective punitive measures, including those of political exclusion.
In building a democratic Libya we should be cognizant of the fact that the notion of equality in justice could not be more important. In practice this means just laws shall be applied without discrimination.
The emphasis on a central role for the rule of law and equality before the law cannot be meaningfully discussed in the absence of a robust and independent judiciary not susceptible to pressures emanating from transient popular whims and prejudice nor one which conforms to executive pressure for the sake of political expediency.
It is broadly accepted that an independent and empowered judiciary is central to the rule of law. An independent judiciary is equally central to the maintenance of horizontal accountability, without which democratic development is impossible.
A national consensus must be reached on whether a small number of individuals should be expected to forfeit their right to participate directly in government, for a limited period of time, as a result of them being proven to have been an integral part of the Gaddafi regime.
If this is done, it must not be as the result of armed gangs threatening members of the public or parliament to introduce such a law. If such a law is to be introduced it must be limited in scope, subject to judicial review, and must not contradict every person’s right to a fair trial.
Legitimacy cannot stem from the barrel of a gun but from the will of the people exercised freely through the ballot box.
One cannot but feel grief at the sight and sound of swathes of Libyans “politicians” who are increasingly spewing hatred and foaming malevolence in pursuit of the same nationally divisive and at times tyrannical politics of the former regime. There is no moral or legal distinction between the violence, malevolence and tyranny when practiced by the onetime exploited and oppressed and that of their exploiters and oppressors.
Libya is currently at a crossroads. History is filled with revolutions that begin with much hope and promise, but end with variants of the same form of tyranny that they ostensibly sought to end. Libyans must eschew the nihilistic politics of revenge and adopt policies of reconciliation and inclusion. This is the only road to national salvation.
Abdullah Elmaazi is founder and CEO of Trakon Consulting & Training. He is a regular contributor to The Tripoli Post. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect Al-Akhbar’s editorial policy. Want to publish a (thoughtful) response to one of our opinion pieces? Send your contribution to our Submissions editor.

US, Al Qaeda Join Forces in Syria

Robert Dreyfuss on April 12, 2013 – 12:19 PM ET

http://www.thenation.com/blog/173808/us-al-qaeda-join-forces-syria#

A Syrian rebel waves the independence flag outside Damascus. (Reuters/Ahmed Jadallah.)

The civil war in Syria is on the verge of another escalation. President Obama, who last year rejected a joint proposal from Hillary Clinton, Leon Panetta, General Martin Dempsey and David Petraeus to get involved militarily, is under new pressure to intervene. Great Britain and France are toying with ending the arms embargo on military aid to the Syrian rebels, which so far has come mostly from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with US encouragement.

According to CNN:

Under pressure from Democrats and Republicans, the Joint Staff of the Pentagon and the US Central Command have updated potential military options for intervention in Syria that could see American forces—if ordered—doing everything from bombing Syrian airfields to flying large amounts of humanitarian aid to the region, a senior US military official said.

And the beleaguered, scandal-hit Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the relative lightweight who took over the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after John Kerry moved to the State Department, wants Obama to aid the rebels, too:

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), has joined the growing chorus of lawmakers calling on the Obama administration to arm the rebels in Syria.

The Syrian rebels are looking for heavy weapons, including antitank and antiaircraft weapons

But the problem continues to be that some of those weapons would fall into the hands of the overtly Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front in Syria and other extreme-Islamist groups. Just this week came the stunning but not entirely surprising announcement that the Islamic State of Iraq, which is controlled by Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), is one and the same organization as the Nusra Front. In other words, the selfsame group that the United States is helping Iraq’s government fight in Anbar province and throughout Iraq is also the recipient of U.S. aid in Syria!

As the Wall Street Journal reports:

Al Qaeda’s branch in Iraq said it has merged with a Syrian rebel extremist faction, in a push by the terrorist organization to exert more influence on the Syrian rebellion and its outcome.

The declaration reflects cross-border coordination between al Qaeda in Iraq and Syria’s Jabhat al Nusra, or the al Nusra Front, a force with growing battlefield clout that has been a target of U.S. efforts to isolate rebel extremists in Syria. The two groups are already closely linked; when the U.S. designated the Syrian group as a terrorist organization in December, it described al Nusra as an alias for the Iraqi group.

And Ayman al-Zawahiri, who leads Al Qaeda now, following the killing of Osama bin Laden, approves the merger, according to the Journal:

The announcement from Iraq followed a statement on Sunday by al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri calling on Syrian rebels to direct their fight at establishing a “jihadist Islamic state” there as they seek to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

And, many Iraqi militants from Shiite-led radical groups with ties to Iran are fighting in Syria:

By recognizing their role in Syria’s war, Iraqi Shi’ite fighters may gain recruitment momentum to help Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam, in a war that is splitting the region along sectarian lines.

Message to Obama: Stay out.

Meanwhile, Israel is pressuring Obama to intervene in Iran. Read Robert Dreyfuss’s take on the situation after the latest negotiations.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian
 
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!

History of USA Funding Al Qaeda

 

PRISTINA– Wikileaks cables revealed by “Wikileaks” show for a while, at least in the years 2001-2002, Osama Bin Laden had his people in Kosovo, KTV reports. ”Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation” was the financial arm for terrorist activities Al-Qaeda anywhere in the world, and has its head office in Indonesia.

From there and in many branches around the world, including such in the U.S., “Al-Haramain,” except humanitarian activities for orphans, to recoup millions had intended to leave the other orphans.

In January 2003, the then Secretary of State, Colin Powell, widely reported to finance the “Al-Qaeda” and the fact that many organizations raise funds for humanitarian guise terrorist activities. Report Poweel secret CIA sent him, the Department of Commerce, Department of Treasury, Department of Defense, Government of Israel, the Government of Jordan and the Government of Saudi Arabia.
At one particular sector of activity dedicating Balkans and the “Al Haramain” in this region. ”Documents seized in the Balkans show that workers” Al Haramain “in Albania, Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, supporting” Al – Qaeda “and groups related to it. Individuals in these offices or work financed by bin Laden. E-mails of members of “Al-Qaeda” found in 2002 in the seized computers in the offices of “Al – Haramian” in Travnik Croatia, contained instructions to attack an SFOR base in Tuzla, “wrote Powell . Secretary of State told the officials attempt to “Al-Haramain” in Kosovo to hide their illegal activity. ”After the September 11 terrorist attacks, officials of the” Al-Haramain “in Kosovo destroyed all documents can bind the organization with militant or terrorist activities.

At the end of 2001 officers “Al Haramain” decided to temporarily reduce the level of activities before they continue illegally, “Powell wrote. ”Al-Haramain Foundation” was created in Saudi Arabia and in 2004 was declared a terrorist organization with links to the U.S. and its activity was banned by the Committee of the Security Council of the UN. officials had planned her unsuccessfully killing American officials in Nairobi, Kenya in 1997 .

A year later, more than 200 citizens, including dozens of Americans were killed in terrorist attacks in Kenya and Tanzania. An official “Al-Haramain” Was Convicted Perouz Sedaghaty was sentenced to 33 months in prison in the U.S. in 2011 , after being found guilty lied to funds that were dedicated to religious extremists in Chechnya.

“Welcome to the Islamic State of Syria!”

Via FLC

“… The United
States, however, still finds itself largely powerless to stop the terror
organization. Washington simply does not have any good policy options in Syria,
even though Jabhat al-Nusra’s new branding may lower the legal hurdles to targeting it with drones. Its
strategy now must prioritize containing Syria’s unconventional weapons. Make no
mistake, it would be a disaster if Assad transfers them to the Lebanese
paramilitary organization Hezbollah, but it would be even worse if they fall
into the arms of al Qaeda.…”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B
at 12:27 PM

“Those
men will continue to fight in Syria until there is a clear order that Lebanon is
a land of jihad,”

 

“Ahmad
Abu Adas, in a videotape aired in February 2005′ exclusively on the Qatari-owned
Al Jazeera saying he belonged to the group ‘Al Nusra’ that killed Saudi Arabia’s
Hariri”

“…“Those
men will continue to fight in Syria until there is a clear order
that Lebanon is a land of jihad,” said Abu Baraa, when I asked him about the
future of the Lebanese and Palestinian fighters who went to Syria. He added,
“This day will have to come sooner or later, I don’t want war, but sometimes you
have to do what you don’t like.” He subsequently ended with a verse from the
Quran: “Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you. But
perhaps you hate a thing, and it is good for you, and perhaps you love a thing
and it is bad for you. And Allah knows while you know
not.”…”

Posted by G, M, Z, or B
at 12:20 PM

In Afghanistan, NATO Now Committing Bald-Faced ‘Murder’

Source

On Saturday, in northeastern Afghanistan’s Kunar Province: American and Afghan troops battled their enemies. After several hours, as reported by The New York Times, the Americans called in air support.  The house of the opposing commander was to be destroyed. When it was all over, the Taliban are dead. And according to the provincial government, ten children also lose their lives. Five women were also said to be injured. This is the reality of the war in Afghanistan – a war in which the Bundeswehr is participating. A war that is completely nonsensical. Because by the end of 2014 it should all be over. The foreign troops will pack up their things and withdraw – the way a circus packs up and moves on when a performance is over. But this is no game. Truth be told, it is murder. Because a senseless war can be called nothing but murder.

There was a similar attack in February. On that occasion, five children, four women and a man were killed. Afghan President Hamid Karzai subsequently forbade his own security forces from calling in NATO air support. Bombs from the air bring an indiscriminate death. And ISAF had already determined that it would no longer target residential buildings.

But apparently, that is no concern of the Americans. ISAF troops, among them Germans, are waging this war based on a meaningless routine. It is no longer about a goal – about victory or defeat, or about anything at all. It is just a matter of killing time until the troops pull out. One day, at midnight, the fight will simply end. This is surreal. Only the dead who fall victim to this madness are real.

That is why this war cannot be won

Expressing outrage over this has nothing to do with naïve pacifism. Very few people have the wherewithal to be pacifists. It is hard to imagine morals stronger than those held by a true pacifist. Most people cannot tolerate the complete absence of violence. They believe in violence and find ways of soothing their guilty consciences. The worse the violence, the better must be the reason.

Posted By Worldmeets.US

How good must the reasons be to justify killing ten children? Perhaps there are such grounds. Perhaps there is someone who thinks he can make that judgment. But in this case, we know there are no such reasons.

 

Like Worldmeets.US on Facebook

 

Who seriously believes that if one Taliban commander more or less is killed, it will make a difference for the future of Afghanistan? In this case, the individuals targeted by the Americans were called Ali Kahn and Gul Raouf. They allegedly organized attacks in the country’s mountainous northeast. According to everything we are able to read, these men are now dead. And now? Will the Kunar region now be more peaceful? Others will take the place of the dead, as it was in Afghanistan’s past. That is why this war cannot be won. That is why a date for the withdrawal of Western occupation forces has been set.

Every death is one too many

Everything is geared toward the withdrawal. ISAF troops are already trying to figure out how to get their stuff home. Not so easy with such poor infrastructure. If the withdrawal is to be accomplished on schedule, until the end of 2014, one container must to leave the country every seven minutes. The transit countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan will make a fortune allowing ISAF troops to retreat by land and through the air. Pakistan opens and closes its border to Western military materiel depending on its mood – and according to how many Pakistanis have just fallen victim to America’s drone war.

On the subject of German participation in the war, former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder recently said in an interview with Spiegel: “The decision was the correct one at the time.” But “whether the entire deployment of more than ten years was correct can only be assessed later, perhaps even many decades later.” So far, this was Schröder’s most critical statement on the war in Afghanistan. But it wasn’t enough. Schröder would have done himself and the SPD a favor by expressing what in any case, everyone already understands: This war is lost, it is senseless, and everyone already knows it.

Each additional day of fighting is one day too many. Every death is one death too many, and it weighs on our collective conscience. We have made ourselves into accomplices to a crime. A few years ago, it was said that Germans should again become accustomed to war. It was said that this was the global responsibility of an economically strong and politically sovereign nation. At least in this respect we can say: mission accomplished! We got used to war again. The senseless deaths of ten children don’t bother us anymore. Now we know the meaning of global responsibility. Thanks for the lesson.

SEE ALSO ON THIS: Afghanistan Times: Karzai is Right – Taliban are in the Service of America

Asia Times, Hong Kong: Karzai’s Curious Counterblast

Die Zeit, Germany: Unwarranted Pessimism Over Leaving Afghanistan

The Nation, Pakistan: U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan: ‘Please Don’t Wait Until 2014!’

FTD, Germany: The Beginning of the End for the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan

The Nation, Pakistan: U.S.-Afghan-Taliban Talks Must Benefit Pakistan, Not India

Guardian, U.K.: U.S. Suspends Joint Military Operations with Afghan Forces

Telegraph, U.K.: Taliban Hit U.S.- U.K. Afghan Base; ‘Miss’ Prince Harry

The Independent, U.K.: Obama’s Foreign Policy of Reconciliation in ‘Tatters’

Frontier Post, Pakistan: Obama’s Drone War a PR Disaster for America

Der Spiegel, Germany: President of Dissapointment: How Obama Failed to Deliver

Frontier Post, Pakistan: Panetta Spills Beans: U.S. Handing Afghanistan to IndiaThawra Al-Wada, Syria: Middle East Borders to Be Drawn in Arab Blood

Tunis Hebdo, Tunisia: A Method to Bush’s Madness?

The Frontier Post: Co-opted U.S. Media Will Always Blame Pakistan

The Frontier Post: Just Say ‘Thank You’ to Cut in American Aid

The Frontier Post: Letter to A.Q. Khan Resembles CIA Iraq War Forgery

Guardian, U.K.: Pakistani Generals ‘Helped Sell Nuclear Secrets’

Guardian, U.K.: Pakistan Hits Back at Mullen Over Journalist’s Murder Claim

Dawn, Pakistan: Even if U.S. Nuclear Accusations are True, Pakistan Broke No Law

Asia Times, Hong Kong: America Homes in on al-Qaeda’s New Chief

The Nation, Pakistan: CIA Chief Panetta Says Zawahiri Living in Pakistan

The Frontier Post, Pakistan: Obama Withdrawal Plans ‘Spell Doom’ for Pakistan

The Frontier Post, Pakistan: Karzai Finally Awakens to American TreacheryThe Daily Jang, Pakistan: The Beginning of the End of U.S. in Afghanistan?