Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

[Haykakan]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

TIME Magazine
Jan 30 2014


Syrian Christian Leaders Call On U.S. To End Support For Anti-Assad Rebels

By Elizabeth Dias


The stories told by five top Syrian Christian leaders about the
horrors their churches are experiencing at the hands of Islamist
extremists are biblical in their brutality.

Bishop Elias Toumeh, representative of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of
Antioch and All the East, tells of the funeral he led ten days ago for
the headless body of one of his parishioners in Marmarita. Rev. Adeeb
Awad, vice moderator of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and
Lebanon, explains how the rebels blew up his church and then pointed
the finger at the regime. Bishop Armash Nalbandian, primate of the
Armenian Church of Damascus, says he received word on Facebook from a
fellow bishop in Aleppo that two congregants were traveling when
opposition fighters stopped their bus, made them present their
Armenian IDs, and then took them away. The fighters, Nalbandian
recounts, returned to the fellow passengers a few hours later with a
box, which they said were cakes. Inside were the two Armenian heads.

The bishops' stories are difficult to independently verify, and the
war's death toll goes far beyond just Christian communities in
Syria-more than 130,000 people have been killed since the fighting
began, and at least two million others have fled the country. But they
are emerging as part of a concerted push by Syrian Christians to get
the U.S. to stop its support for rebel groups fighting Syrian
president Bashar al Assad. "The US must change its politics and must
choose the way of diplomacy and dialogue, not supporting rebels and
calling them freedom fighters," says Nalbandian.

The group is the first delegation of its kind to visit Washington
since the crisis began three years ago, and its five members represent
key different Christian communities in the country. Awad, Toumeh, and
Nalbandian were joined by Rev. Riad Jarjour, Presbyterian pastor from
Homs, and Bishop Dionysius Jean Kawak, Metropolitan of the Syrian
Orthodox Church. The Westminster Institute and Barnabas Aid, two
groups that focus on religious freedom and relief for threatened faith
communities, sponsored their trip.

Given the United States' increased support for non-terrorist rebel
groups in the wake of the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons, the
religious leaders' mission is a long shot. The bishops are asking the
United States to exert pressure on countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar,
and Turkey to stop supporting and sending terrorist fighters to Syria.
"The real problem is that the strong military opposition on the ground
is a foreign opposition," Awad explains, arguing that US support of
opposition groups means support for foreign terrorist fighters. "They
are the ones killing and attacking churches and clergy and nuns and
burning houses and eating human livers and hearts and cutting heads,"
Awad says.

The Syrian Christian churches are not publicly calling for outright
support of the Assad regime. Doing so would further endanger their
followers and hurt the moral component of their case, given the
regime's alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians. Instead,
they're meeting privately with law makers, diplomats and think tanks.
Sunday evening, they spoke with Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) at St. John the
Beloved Catholic church in nearby McLean. On Monday, they held court
at the Heritage Foundation and Catholic University of America. On
Tuesday, they met with Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Rep. Robert Aderholt
(R-AL) and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), and then met with leaders of the
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Wednesday's lineup
included Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Joe
Manchin (D-WV), State Department officials including Lawrence
Silverman, Near East Affairs deputy acting aecretary, and Uzra Zeya,
acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights,
and Labor, and then a final stop at the U.S. Institute for Peace.

It's been a difficult issue to gain traction on, if for no other
reasons than that support for Christians and endangered minorities can
appear as support for Assad and that an entire country is being
destroyed by war, not just Christian communities. President Obama only
briefly mentioned Syria in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
"In Syria, we'll support the opposition that rejects the agenda of
terrorist networks," he said. "American diplomacy, backed by the
threat of force, is why Syria's chemical weapons are being eliminated,
and we will continue to work with the international community to usher
in the future the Syrian people deserve--a future free of dictatorship,
terror and fear."

Traction in Congress has also been a challenge, but a handful of
leaders are speaking out. The U.S. House of Representatives passed
legislation in September, authored by Wolf and Eshoo, to create a
special religious minorities envoy at the State Department who would
work for policy options to protect faith communities, but the bill has
yet to move forward in the Senate. "Meeting with the delegation of
Syrian Christian church leaders this week provided a constructive
opportunity to raise awareness and to discuss concrete steps that can
be taken to help protect Christians and other religious minorities in
Syria," says Eshoo. "Christians in the U.S. should be informed by
their leaders about the atrocities taking place in Syria. The history
of violence against religious minorities must not be allowed to repeat
itself."

Wolf has championed the cause during his congressional tenure, but he
is retiring at the end of this term. Newer leaders like Aderholt see
it as a time to take a stand. "Most Americans do not realize that
Christians across the Middle East are in grave danger and have often
been forced to leave their home countries due to persecution and
threats from radicalized Muslims," he says. "If we want a true
democracy to emerge from this region, Christians and other religious
minority voices must share in the decision-making process, and
certainly not be persecuted and fear for their lives due to extremist
elements that are pouring in to Syria."

The bishops' stories are similar to other grim instances of violence
against Christians during the war. Christian schools in Damascus were
shelled in November. The next month, a dozen Greek Orthodox nuns were
taken from Mar Takla Monastery in Maaloula. Rebel groups abducted two
bishops near Aleppo last April. Jesuit priest Paolo Dall'Oglio, whom
TIME wrote about in 2012 when he visited the United States on a
similar lobbying trip, has been missing and feared dead since July.

http://swampland.time.com/2014/01/30/syrian-christian-leaders-call-on-us-to-end-support-for-anti-assad-rebels/

[Haykakan]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

TURKEY'S ROLE IN THE KIDNAPPING OF THE SYRIAN BISHOPS

BY STAFF
- POSTED ON FEBRUARY 2, 2014

By Dikran Ego

Bishop Yuhanna Ibrahim (left) and Bishop Paul Yazici.(AINA) -- On
April 22, 2013 Bishops Yuhanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazici were kidnapped
in Syria. During the kidnapping their driver was murdered. A fourth
person in the car, Fuad Eliya, was released. Bishop Yuhanna Ibrahim
is of the Syriac Orthodox Church and was considered the strongest
candidate to succeed the current Patriarch. Bishop Paul Yazici is of
the Greek Orthodox Church, he is the brother of the current patriarch.

The Bishops left the Turkish border on April 22, heading towards
Aleppo. In the silver coloured Kia Sorrento was also Fuad Eliya
and Bishop Ibrahim's driver, Fathallah Kabud. Bishop Paul Yazici
was on his way home to Aleppo after an overseas trip. To get home
safely to Syria he asked Bishop Ibrahim to pick him up at the Bab
El-Hawa border crossing. 20 kilometers from the border crossing the
car stopped at a checkpoint controlled by the Free Syrian Army (FSA)
and passed without incident. About two kilometers from this checkpoint,
at 3:45 PM, the car was stopped by eight heavily armed men.

According to Fuad Eliya, the only survivor of the kidnapping, the
perpetrators were not Syrians, but seemed to be people who came from
Caucasus. Their clothes were similar to Taliban attire. One of the
kidnappers forced the driver out of the car and put himself behind
the wheel, another armed man sat in the backseat of the car, and they
drove behind the kidnappers' blue truck. The cars changed direction and
drove back to Bab El-Hawa. This is where the Bishops were last seen.

The Chaos In Syria And Turkey's Role In The Conflict

Since the war broke out in Syria, Turkey has played an active role
in the conflict. The Syrian opposition's headquarters are in Istanbul.

The Free Syrian Army runs its operations virtually from refugee
camps in Turkey that are placed along the Syrian border. Qatar, Saudi
Arabia and Turkey have supported and financed the Syrian opposition,
helping with logistics and weapons. But Turkey has played an ever more
active role and has successively increased weapons deliveries to the
opposition. Even the more radical groups, such as Al-Nusra and many
more which are associated with Al-Qaeda, have received weapons from
Turkey. The chaos in Syria has attracted jihadist groups from many
countries in the region. The 900 kilometer border between Turkey and
Syria has becpme a gateway to Syria for jihadist groups.

Russia has supported the regime in the Syrian civil war. Russia's
support has evoked reactions from Muslims in the Caucasus region,
which have been drawn to the Jihad in Syria. Jihadists from the
Caucasus have two reasons to engage in the "holy war" in Syria, to
help their Sunni co-religionists and to exact revenge on Russia, which
according to the jihadists has been oppressing them in the Caucasus.

But these jihadist groups have rarely participated in any real battles,
instead they prefer to amuse themselves by plundering and murdering
innocent civilians. Often they commit war crimes and crimes against
humanity. This propaganda video is one of many examples showing how
brutally these terrorists act. Those who watch the video can see that
these terrorists are from the Russian Caucasus. The "holy war" -- Jihad
-- has united many extremists from Chechnya, Dagestan, Azerbaijan,
Turkey, the Balkans and many other Muslim countries. They have been
able to move inside Turkey unhindered, along the Syrian border.

It has been generally known that Turkey has helped these extremists
with weapon and logistics. But in the last few months Turkey has
been caught red-handed several times. Turkish media that slipped past
Turkish state censorship reported the following:

A truck loaded with armour-piercing rockets was stopped outside Adana,
close to the Syrian border. It was heading to the rebels in Syria
but was stopped at the police check point.

In early January, 2014 a police roadblock stopped a truck headed to
Syria. The police began searching the truck but were stopped by the
Turkish secret service, MIT, who escorted the truck to Syria.

According to the Turkish ministry of interior, the cargo consisted of
clothes, medicine and other emergency care for Turkmens in Syria. But
the question is why a load of "emergency care" was being escorted
by Turkish secret agents, which report directly to Prime Minister
Erdogan. A couple of days later the Turkmens organizations denied
that they had received any emergency care from Turkey.

As a result of Turkey's involvement and to the active support for
the extremist groups, eleven Syrian civil opposition organizations
decided to take Turkey to the court for Human Rights in Europe.

The Caucasus "Holy War" in Syria

The extremist group which consists of many different ethnicities from
the Caucasus was founded in 2006 under the name "Caucasus Emirate"
during the Chechen war against Russia. This Caucasian mobilization
is now also in Syria. The terrorists from the Caucasus excel in their
brutality. Abu Omar the Chechen, who founded the Hattab brigade very
quickly made a name for himself. Several small groups that came from
the Caucasus announced their allegiance to Abu Omar the Chechen. In
Syria these groups were called the "Turkish Brothers." The Caucasus
Emirate has at various times been allied with the Free Syrian Army and
Al Qaeda. Lately the group has joined the Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria (ISIS). Jihadist groups which are terrorising the population
of Syria along the Turkish border are well known to Turkey. These
jihadists are provided with weapons and communications equipment such
as walky-talkies by the Turkish secret service MIT.

One of these jihadist groups is lead by Abu Amer el-Kuwaiti, who
controls his operations in the Aleppo area from the Turkish border
city of Antakya. Abu Amer el-Kuwaiti is assisted by a person from
Dagestan by the name of Magomed Abdurrakhmanov, who uses the code name
Abu Banat (in Turkish Ebu Benat). It is this person who is suspected
of kidnapping the Bishops. We will return to this shortly.

During the summer of 2013 a video clip appeared on YouTube showing
a person brutally cutting off the heads of three men. People in
the video, including the killer, speak Russian. You can also hear a
Turkish voice that says "sit down, sit down" so that there is a clear
view of the slaughter. The person who is performing the decapitation
in the video is Magomed Abdulrakhmanov, a.k.a. Abu Banat. The brutal
slaughter drew the ire of many in many different parts of the world.

When these horrible pictures appeared in the media there was
speculation about who this man is. Information about Abu Banat's real
identity appeared on several Russian websites and forums (hereand
here). When his identity was disclosed it was learned that he was a
police officer in Dagestan who had found his way to Jihad in Syria.

In the beginning of 2013 Abu Banat's group established itself close
to the village El-Meshed, which is only five kilometers away from the
border crossing at Bab El-Hawa. He married a woman from the village
of El-Meshed. Abu Banat wanted to show his authority through brutality.

He terrorized the villagers and murdered a villager to set an example.

He instituted harsh Sharia laws, such as those who smoke would lose a
finger and those who drink alcohol will be punished. News of about Abu
Banat's brutality spread. His group engaged in raids and terrorized
the surrounding areas.

The group's activities drew attention and rumors started to circulate
about a "fantasy camp" with lots of weapons, money, valuables and
jihadists who played video games on PlayStations. News of the group's
raids and brutality reached the Free Syrian Army, which sent a group of
soldiers to investigate. The FSA claims the group never participated
in the war against the Syrian regime but devoted itself exclusively
to looting. A battle occured between the FSA and Abu Banat's group
which resulted in the dissolution of the group.

Abu Banat Is Detained In Istanbul

On April 23, 2013 the police stopped a car outside the city of Konya.

In the car they found a Syrian woman and three other persons of Chechen
origin. All were missing valid ID documents. The Turkish magazine
Radikal reported this event with the headline Orthodox Bishops'
murderer arrested in Konya. The magazine also wrote that because
these persons did not have valid ID documents they were deported to
their home countries.

But that was not so. The police released all of them after they
received a residential address in a suburb of Istanbul where the
group lives.

With the memory of the brutal decapitation video fresh in his mind,
one of the police officers recognized one of the persons in the car.

He reported to the police in Istanbul about his suspicions of the
group. A local magazine in Konya intercepted the police report and
the news spread throughout Turkey. Several magazines wrote that the
Bishops' murderer had been arrested in Konya. When the police searched
the house at the given address they found weapons and grenades. The
group was arrested for violation of the Arms Act and preparation for
terrorist attacks. The group has been in police custody since the
summer of 2013, in the Maltepe prison in Istanbul.

When the news about the group that was suspected of kidnapping of
the Bishops spread, the authorities stated the group had been deported.

Why was this stated when in reality the persons where in police
custody in Istanbul? The answer was discovered after access to the
police investigation report was gained. According to the report, Abu
Banat is known to the Turkish secret service MIT, who have supplied
him with equipment.

The Turkish Government's Handling of the Events

When the news about the arrest of the suspected murderer of the
Bishops spread in Turkey, Bishop Yusuf Cetin of the Syriac Orthodox
Church contacted the Turkish government. Secretary of State Ahmet
Davutoglu had on several occasions commented on the kidnapping case.

In a meeting with Syriac Orthodox Church Bishops, Davutoglu said that
he had received intelligence reports that the Bishops were still alive
and that Turkey is doing everything to save them. Secretary of State
Davutoglu had given the impression that they have knowledge of who the
kidnappers are. Prime Minister Erdogan also made similar statements
when he visited Stockholm and met Assyrian representatives in the
beginning of November, 2013. As late as last Christmas the former
Turkish attorney general Sadullah Ergin said to the Greek Orthodox
Church in Hatay the government was working on saving the Bishops.

These and many other statements were been given by Turkish officials
despite the fact that the Bishops' suspected murderer was in police
custody in Istanbul. All indications point to the fact that Turkey had
a hand in the Bishops' kidnapping and has therefore done everything
to hide the truth about the suspected murderer.

On September 29th, 2013 investigative journalist Erkan Metin published
a long article on www.suryaniler.com. During his investigation, Mr.

Metin discovered that Abu Banat's is Magomed Abdurkhmanov from
Dagestan and that he might be in custody. Mr. Metin contacted the
police and confirmed that they were holding a person named Magomed
Abdurakhmanov -- contrary to press and government reports that he and
his group had been deported. Abu Banat's group was in police custody
at the Meltepe prison in Istanbul.

[Haykakan]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

Upon further investigation Mr. Metin discovered a link between
Abu Banat's group and the kidnapping of the Bishops. A website
(www.kavakazcenter.com) that belongs to the "Caucasus Emirate" featured
on July 3, 2013 the headline Russian footsteps in Syria, and claimed
that it was the group led by Abu Banat that was behind the kidnapping
of the Bishops. The website also stated that Abu Banatis a Russian
agent. The website said that according to its sources in Syria, the
Bishops had been killed by an explosive belt strapped to their backs
(this method is often used by the Taliban in Afghanistan).

But why would Abu Banat, who is a member of the Caucasus Emirate,
be disavowed by being identified as a Russian agent?

According to Erkan Metin, the video of the decapitation on YouTube was
the breaking point. The Caucasus Emirate wanted to distance itself from
a group that had drawn negative attention to itself. This was also
confirmed by the Turkish police interrogation of Abu Banatabout the
decapitation. According to the transcript of the hearing, which was
published officially in December 2013, Abu Banat said the following:

It was I who decapitated these three persons. It was the first time I
had decapitated a human. But I don't understand why these came up on
the Internet. It was something we did every Friday after we sentenced
people in the Sharia court. I executed the punishment by decapitation.

When the report of the investigation of Abu Banat's group was
released publicly the results of of Erkan Metin's investigation were
corroborated -- that the group was responsible for the kidnapping of
the Bishops. The following are key findings from the report:

The police made a superficial hearing and avoided going deeper into the
events. No questions were asked about the kidnapping of the Bishops.

Abu Banat confessed that is was he who decapitated the persons the
YouTube video.

Abu Banat said that he had received walkie-talkies from a person by
the name Abu-Cahfer from the Turkish secret service.

Abu Banat and his companion were injured, probably in the battle with
the FSA, and fled from Syria.

Secret documents which were published during the investigation
showed that on April 26th 2013, four days after the kidnapping of the
Bishops, the Turkish secret service MIT wrote a report to the state
department in Ankara. In this report it described how the Bishops
had been taken and moved between different locations before they were
finally brought to the village Mashad Ruhin (also called el-Meshad)
outside Aleppo. This information tied Abu Banat to the kidnapping
of the Bishops. Since his group was using Turkish walkie-talkies,
the Turkish secret service MIT monitored the conversations and mapped
their activities and movements carefully.

Abu Banat acknowledged that he had committed both war crimes and
crimes against humanity. The ministry of justice refused to file
charges on the grounds that this was a Syrian matter.

Questions to Prime Minister Erdogan

Erol Dora, an Assyrian member of the Turkish Parliament, submitted a
written question to Prime Minister Erdogan about Turkey's involvement
in the kidnapping of the Bishops and the country's relationship
to the suspected killer. Erol Dora also asked the justice minister
Bekir xxxdag why the ministry refused to try a person who had admitted
that he decapitated people in Syria. According to Erol Dora, who is a
lawyer, the Turkish constitution says such crimes do not necessarily
have to occur in Turkey for the perpetrator to be tried.

Conclusions

Turkey is supporting the Syrian opposition, allowing jihadist to pass
through its territory to Syria. Evidence strongly indicates that
Turkey knew about the jihadist group lead by Abu Banat, and this
group had kidnapped the Bishops. The Turkish secret service, MIT,
were in contact with this group and supplied the group with equipment.

The following are interviews with investigative journalist Erkan Metin:
Turkish, Assyrian.

Dikran Ego is freelance Journalist living in Sweden; he regularly
writes on Assyrian matters and is editor at Assyria TV.

http://www.armenianlife.com/2014/02/02/turkeys-role-in-the-kidnapping-of-the-syrian-bishops/

[Mher]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

More Azeri Mercenaries Killed in Syria

BAKU—Websites managed by Islamist rebel forces in Syria, responsible for attacks against the country’s Christian minorities, reported Wednesday that three more Azeri mercenaries fighting in its ranks have been killed.

The Azeri press, quoting the rebel sources reported that the three Azeris fought alongside rebels of the Al-Nusra front and were allegedly killed by pro-government forces.

Interestingly, Azeri news sources are not shying away from reporting that hundreds of their native mercenaries are currently fighting with Islamist rebels—the very factions reigning terror of Syria’s Christian communities, among them the Armenians.

Recently, Azeri media reported about a number of deaths of Azerbaijani mercenaries in Syria. In early April, the Turkish sites have reported that about 30 terrorists from Azerbaijan have already been killed in Syria. According to the Azerbaijani political scientist Arif Yunus, more than 300 Islamists from Azerbaijan are fighting in Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Azerbaijani mercenaries have even released an online video-recording calling for “jihad.”

The relationship between international terrorist groups and Azerbaijan originated in the early 1990s. During that time, the Azerbaijani army, having failed in the aggression against the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, retreated with losses. Trying to save the situation, the Azerbaijani leadership, headed by Heydar Aliyev, called on international terrorist organizations and radical groups from Afghanistan (Taliban, Hezb-e Islami, and others), Turkey (Grey Wolves), Chechnya (Chechen Mujahedeen) and other regions to join the fight against the Armenians of Karabakh.

Despite the involvement of thousands of foreign mercenaries and terrorists in the Azerbaijani army during the war, the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh Republic failed, and the Baku authorities were forced to sign an armistice with Karabakh and Armenia. However, international terrorists forged ties in Azerbaijan during the war, and used them in the future. Recruitment was conducted among Azerbaijanis, who then were sent to Afghanistan and the North Caucasus, where they participated in battles against NATO forces and the Russian government.

In recent years, citizens from Azerbaijan have been actively involved in terrorist and extremist activities in Russia, Afghanistan and Syria. In Azerbaijan, the citizens are brought to criminal liability for participating in “illegal armed groups” in Afghanistan, sentenced to minor terms of imprisonment.

http://asbarez.com/119180/more-azeri-mercenaries-killed-in-syria/

[Hakob]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

18:19 06/02/2014 » S
Azerbaijani terrorists in Syria confess they fight against Armenians, Russians and Iranians

Azerbaijani terrorists fighting in Syria against the governmental forces issued a statement confessing that they had come to fight against the Iranians, Armenians and Russian. As the Avropa.info site reports, they made an appeal to the Azerbaijani Muslims.

On the sites controlled by the Mujahideen the message of the Azerbaijani terrorist named Furqan Azeri, who said that his message is addressed to "the Azerbaijani Muslims who suffer under the yoke of repression, and to those who threaten the Mujahideen that are fighting against the Armenians, Iranians Russians and the tyrant Assad."

The Azerbaijani terrorist admits that the Azerbaijanis have also joined the forces fighting against Assad. He accuses Iran and Syrian-Armenians of murdering rebel-terrorists.

Note that since the beginning of 2014 Azerbaijani news agency "APA" reported about elimination of 16 terrorists from Azerbaijan in Syria.

The relationship between international terrorist groups and Azerbaijan originated in the early 1990s. That time, the Azerbaijani army, having failed in the aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), retreated with losses. Trying to save the situation, the Azerbaijani leadership, headed by Heydar Aliyev attracted to the war against the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh international terrorists and members of radical groups from Afghanistan (groupings of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar), Turkey ("Grey Wolves", etc.), Chechnya (groupings Basayev and Raduyev etc.) and some other regions.

Despite the involvement in of thousands of foreign mercenaries and terrorists in the Azerbaijani army during the war, the Azerbaijani aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh Republic failed, and the Baku authorities were forced to sign an armistice with the NKR and Armenia. However, international terrorists found ties in Azerbaijan, and used them in the future. Recruitment was conducted among Azerbaijanis, who then were sent to Afghanistan and the North Caucasus, where participated in the battles against the forces of the international coalition and Russian organizations. Panorama.am

[Hakob]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

09:40 14/02/2014 » INTERVIEWS
Syria must expel foreign troops - W.G. Tarpley

Press TV has conducted an interview with Webster Griffin Tarpley, author and historian from Washington about the situation in Syria.

- Let’s talk about this threat. It’s been a repeated announcement now by the US, the threat of these foreign fighters. James Clapper came out and said there’s 7,000 of them. Some estimates actually put it at 150,000 from some 50 countries, even though the number of countries is said to be higher, which includes Europe, with some of these insurgents said to be Americans tied to al-Qaeda, the al-Nusra front in particular, inspiring to attack the United States.

And we still have the US saying they’re going to arm the moderate opposition. This threat is a big deal, isn’t it? We’re seeing the reaction from the US. Why would it then come out and say, again, that they are going to keep arming the moderate opposition?

- It’s very surprising. We’ve just had the first certified British...bomber going into action – a tragic and wretched story for this person from Sussex and for his family.

Yesterday here at the White House we had the state dinner for the French President Holland. And even though he’s somewhat changeable in his affections, the war-monger role seems to be a permanent fixture of Holland. We had a rather dangerous combination with some war-monger toasts being made at this state dinner, at the White House, a couple of hundred yards from where I’m sitting.

This has not been pacified. In other words, the threat of military action continues to be there. The war party here was of course checked back in September, October, thanks primarily to Putin and Lavrov for whom the American people, I think, have reason to be grateful.

But now there’s been a kind of gradual drumbeat and it takes the following form. It’s all around the humanitarian intervention, the so-called ‘Responsibility to Protect’ or R2P.

This focuses on the siege of Aleppo where the terrorist rebels have been gradually driven back, and some places like the Yarmouk camp.

What goes on in these places, of course, is that these...[militants] are the ones who prevent humanitarian supplies from getting in. In the majority of cases it’s certainly the...[militants]. They have every interest to block the humanitarian aid deliveries.

Then of course they turn around and the US, the British and the French have been working on this United Nations resolution since about seven to 10 days ago, I would say, which focuses precisely on these humanitarian issues within humanitarian corridors of some kind.

The Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has correctly said that this is based on unreality. It is absolutely unacceptable. Russia and China will and certainly should veto this.

The structure of the resolution has been if the aid is not delivered within two weeks, then the countries that want to, can begin taking sanctions or maybe even military action against Syria. So this is a one-way ticket to war.

I would just point out historically in the 20th century, the person who really pushed forward the idea of ‘Responsibility to Protect’ is of course Hitler. In the Czechoslovakian crisis of 1938, Hitler’s position was responsibility to protect, in that case Germans – Sudeten Germans inside Czechoslovakia. In that period, the Sudetenland became the humanitarian corridor.

Humanitarian corridor, when you see that word, just like ‘no-fly zone’, means acts of war. It means a general Middle East war which nobody can want.

The perspective, of course, here is when does it end? These imperialists seem to be one-trick ponies. They’re like a crocodile. They only know how to bite, that’s all they know how to do. This of course puts a big question mark over the future of the world.

As far as Kerry is concerned, there’s worry about his sanity. Has he begun to lose his marbles?

When the neocons lied, the neocons knew they were lying – people like Bush and Cheney, Wolfowitz and Feith, people like this. They had a whole theory of lying. They knew what they were doing.

Kerry seems to believe the nonsense that he tells. When he says that President Assad foments the presence of al-Qaeda for public relations purposes, we have to scratch our heads and say has Secretary of State Kerry gone off the deep end? Shouldn’t he be removed from office because of manifest mental instability?

- Sounds exactly like the question, Webster Griffin Tarpley, that Britain’s state TV, the BBC, asked in a press conference from Lakhdar Brahimi, which there came no answer to.

Saudi Arabia is known to be arming these terrorists, forming some of these terrorists under one umbrella.

And of course, you have Iran as being one of the countries not invited.

At this point, given the track record, Webster Griffin Tarpley, of the failure of the Geneva talks, which by many accounts it has been deemed as such, why is there not a movement towards inviting Iran to the talks given that the track record speaks for itself, that it hasn’t bore, really, any concrete results?

- Well I would certainly advocate the immediate presence of Iran in this. The State Department argument is that Iran is a party to the conflict. Well, if they believe that, then in the same breath they should be saying Iran has to be invited, because as Lavrov points out, the point of peace talks is not to invite people you like. It’s not your birthday party. It’s supposed to have the presence of the countries whose cooperation is essential to create a doable settlement, so that should be done.

I would also point out, I cannot see how Ban ki-Moon can stay in office. I think whatever the mechanism for impeachment might be in the UN charter, and I don’t think it’s actually spelled out, one of the things in the UN charter is that the Secretary General of the United Nations is not supposed to take dictation from any country or group of countries. He’s supposed to be an international civil servant. Ban Ki-Moon has flunked the test.

Back to this question about peaceful demonstrations at the beginning, I had an opportunity to investigate that question a little while ago in both Homs, the important center of this entire tragedy, and in Banyas along the coast.

In both of those cases, as soon as there were democratic demonstrations, in Homs in particular, there was a third force, people who came in with weapons and began shooting in both directions - in other words, provocateurs, and these were death squads. They were death squads sent in by Saudi Arabia and Qatar and like-minded people.

In the case in Banyas, before there was any democratic demonstration, there was a massacre of some poor Syrian logistical troops, draftees who were cut down by some pretty capable guerillas who had been shipped in by the United States from Libya, right? This was the project of the Ambassador of the United States who was killed there.

The most important question for Syria is to kick out the foreign fighters, repatriate them. Expel them.

As far as I can see, even the draft coming from the Jarba forces - the Syrian National Coalition or whatever they call themselves this week - that draft says that the removal of the foreign fighters is a goal embraced by the Syrian National Coalition. Of course, the Syrian National Coalition has no military ability to do that.

The magnets for terrorism are Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, MI-6, the British intelligence, the CIA and let’s not forget the famous DGSE, the DGSE of France, who have their dream of reestablishing some kind of French colonial yolk over Syria, where they were in recent decades. They occupied the place well into the 1940s.

But the foreign fighters - most of the Syrian fighters on the ground who were in a middle position would say Syrians could solve their problems.

Source: Panorama.am

[Federate]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

Sharmine Narwani. “65 Armenians have been killed since the Syrian crisis began”

Sharmine Narwani is a political commentator and analyst of Mideast geopolitics, and has travelled to and written extensively about Syria since the start of the conflict three years ago. Her commentary on the Middle East has been published in Al Akhbar English, The New York Times, The Guardian, USA Today, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post and others.

-Information about extremists who started to attack and kill Christians in Syria, was again spread in web in January. What information do you have about these attacks?

-I don’t have any further information on the alleged execution of the two Syrian-Armenian men from Aleppo. Sadly, at this point in the conflict in Syria, this kind of news is no longer surprising. It takes more than a mere ‘beheading’ or a chopped off body part to make the headlines today.

We are, however, increasingly hearing about forced conversions, particularly in the past six months as Islamist militants have taken control of the armed rebellion. I think it was last September - when Al Qaeda-linked groups seized the ancient Christian town of Maaloula – that the media first shone a spotlight on forced conversions. Local civilians later spoke of rebels using terms like “Crusader” to underline the sectarian nature of the attack – only serving to frighten Christian communities across Syria further.

The news earlier this month of the forced conversion of two Armenian families by the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was followed by reports of the executions of Wanis and Minas Livonian, who had allegedly accepted conversions. I’m not sure we can ever know the truth of that story. But this information comes on the heels of 13 nuns being kidnapped from Maaloula in December, so I think the tendency is to accept the worst.

- Having in mind the attacks that you have mentioned, and lots of other simliar examples, can this already be considered as the start of a “religious war” in the whole Middle East?

-I don’t think it is right to extrapolate from the actions of a few thousand extremists and plunge straight into a war-of-civilizations discourse. There is a real danger of exacerbating conflict by ‘framing’ the narrative in sectarian terms.

Let’s be honest here. Is there really a Christian versus Muslim conflict in the Mideast? Is there really a Sunni versus Shia conflict in the region? I don’t think so and neither do the majority of Arabs polled.

The conflict is not between sects – it is between “sectarians” and “non-sectarians.” There are Christians and Muslims and Shia and Sunni on both sides of that divide. And fortunately, those who are “sectarian” represent a miniscule population – they just happen to be louder, more zealous and more determined to sow discord among communities.

What is disturbing today is the staggering amount of financial assistance flowing to sectarian groups and individuals, both in and out of the Middle East. Part of this comes from the «politics of polarization» – what you might find in an Iranophobic Saudi Arabia or a Shia-hating Pakistani donor. But the real shocker is how far countries like the United States, Great Britain and France have been willing to go to isolate, marginalize, destabilize and destroy adversaries (Syria, Iran, Hezbollah) – even if it has meant investing heavily in sectarianism to make those gains. These three western powers – so influential in global media – have clung to divisive and sectarian narratives to describe events in the region, even going so far as to downplay violence against Christians to serve broader political agendas.

There is no ‘religious war’ in the Middle East. There is no popular support for any such thing. On the contrary, the horror of sectarian violence like beheadings and castrations has made a lot of Arabs disconnect from “sect” and adopt a more unifying “national” identity. Hence the rise in support for national armies in states like Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.

-Are the fears, that the Christian population becomes the main and only target of the extremist groups, true?

-No. I don’t think the Christian population has been singled out in this conflict. As rebels radicalized, all dissenters have been hit hard, regardless of sect, religion or anything else – this includes Sunni populations as well. Extremist groups are intolerant by nature and demand conformity, so anyone outside their framework is going to be a target.

I read somewhere that 65 Armenians have been killed since the crisis began – I don’t know what the number is for Christians in total. But out of a figure of more than 100,000 dead, that number is negligible.

- Today we are witnesses of Islamist extremists fighting against each other in Syria. What caused this rivalry between rebel groups who were focused only on fighting against the Assad regime in past?

-The so-called Syrian “Revolution” has been a turf war for power and control from the start. Disparate interests within, and competing interests from foreign backers, have ensured that there will never be a unified “opposition” in Syria. It was easy enough to pretend they were one fighting force in the early days, but as the various militias gained territory and assets, the competition for dominance accelerated.

The recent confrontations that have reportedly killed more than 2,000 rebels are mainly between the ISIL and other rebel factions that have organized themselves into new coalitions for this fight. At the heart of these clashes is a turf war, but the ISIL, which is viewed as a non-Syrian group, has alienated many rebel militias by attacking other fighters and refusing to cooperate on many levels.

Ideologically, there isn’t an awful lot of difference between the various Salafist militant groups, and the ones being re-packaged as “moderates” these days are simply the ones smart enough to publically defer all talk of “Islamic Empire” until they have assumed power.

I anticipate continued rebel infighting because, as we enter a new phase in the Syrian conflict where compromises, negotiations and military confrontation will produce winners and losers, the stakes increase and it will be “each militia for itself.”

- Do you think that western powers who were demanding the resignation of Assad before, now have a huge problem dealing with this new big Extremist threat?

-Absolutely. The West calculated that Assad would fall shortly after protests broke out in 2011. At various intervals they have tried to escalate the conflict, believing wrongly that one more “big push” would do the job. Instead, they helped push Syria into a situation of dangerous instability and chaos - producing the kind of environment in which Al Qaeda and like-minded radical groups thrive.

Washington has certainly recognized its error, and has taken recent bold steps to shift course. It is the only reason why the US bypassed its traditional allies Saudi Arabia and Israel and struck a nuclear deal with Iran in Geneva. The West now needs help from inside the Middle East to thwart extremism. And they know that Iran is one of the only countries that can do this – the Islamic Republic is a major target of Saudi-backed Salafist extremism and is therefore existentially motivated to thwart it. So now Iran, Hezbollah, Iraq and Syria are going to be at the forefront of a real War on Terror, fought and led from inside the region. Neighboring states like Turkey and Jordan will eventually participate, and Russia, China, India and other key states will lend significant support.

-If summarizing recent developments, what is the future of Christians still living in Syria?

-A lot of Christians have fled Syria at this point. Those who could afford it left early, mainly to keep their spouses and children out of harm’s way. The decision to leave has weighed heavily on all the Christians I have spoken with: they are torn between love for their country and concern for their families. Most resolve to return when the worst is over.

Christians and Armenians also feel a profound sense of responsibility to ensure the continuity, after thousands of years, of their presence in Syria - and to maintain their heritage sites and treasures. Extremists have destroyed so many churches, monasteries and places of worship that this aspect, at least, seems bleak for now.

Resolve to remain in Syria is put to the test often. An acquaintance from Homs tells me of the massive exodus of more than 50,000 Christians from the city since late 2011. Most of the Homs Christians didn’t leave Syria – they relocated first to Wadi al Nasarah (also known as Valley of the Christians) (closer to the Lebanese border) and set up checkpoints and protection patrols in their neighborhoods. Just opposite this area you have the Krak de Chevaliers, the famous Crusader fortress which is now entirely occupied by armed Islamist militias - this is a strategic point between Lebanon and Syria, well-travelled by fighters and weapons. But on August 14, eleven Christians were brutally murdered by Islamist militias from the nearby town of Amar al Hosn, prompting another wave of Christians to leave or send their children out of Syria.

It is a hard choice Christians face today. The Levant is all the richer for its diversity, and Christians play a huge part in that. This may be a fragile community, but there is a real determination to preserve heritage and history, both. Right now the future may not look too rosy, but I don’t see Syria without its Christian community.

The international community is now taking Islamist extremism in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq very seriously, and I anticipate some significant military and political efforts to turn the tide in Syria. Christians remaining in the country will participate in these efforts, particularly as Salafist attacks become more sectarian and brutal. It will be important, during this time, to coalition-build with other communities and enhance defensive security measures Christians can’t afford not to be proactive any longer. I also think this finally means the plight of Christians and other Syrian minorities will be highlighted in the global media with more regularity - and less bias - than in the past.

Narine Daneghyan talked to Sharmine Narwani.

http://www.mediamax.am/en/news/interviews/9113/

[Artashes]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

Talking to an old friend today. Told him the only reason Assad was using barrel bombs was because he didn't have the correct munitions. Friend says to me --- we (USA) did the same thing in Vietnam. Napalm in essence was the same thing.
Indiscriminate, from the air.
As Londontsi said --- it's ok when it suits the west, but it's terrorist when the side that the west DOESN'T favor does it (I paraphrase).
Artashes

[Haykakan]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

Syrian opposition head to visit Russia: report
Syrian opposition head to visit Russia: report
January 30, 2014 - 23:18 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The head of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition group will visit Moscow next week, a Russian diplomatic source said Thursday, Jan 30, according to RIA Novosti.
The source said a meeting between Syrian National Coalition head Ahmad Jarba and Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov is scheduled for Feb 4.
Earlier in the day, Agence France-Presse quoted Jarba’s head advisor Monzer Aqbiq as saying that the opposition leader “has accepted the Russian invitation” for talks in Moscow.
Russia, which has supported Syrian President Bashar Assad in the ongoing conflict between armed rebels and government forces in the Middle Eastern country, first invited National Coalition leaders to visit Moscow back in September.
Jarba earlier expressed interest in visiting Moscow, but said he was unable to come during the timeframe suggested by Russia due to prior commitments.

[Mher]

Re: Bashar al-Assad, Syria and the Armenian people

Federate do you have any updates on the situation in Syria, if there is any military end in sight, and on the Armenians and Armenian neighborhoods?
Based on this 01.27.14 update it looks like the government has made some more advances

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Syrian_civil_war.png