Sirija

[dillinger]

Fiskov rant na Saude i ostale umerenjake

 

 

 

 

Saudi Arabia’s unity summit will only highlight Arab disunity

 

Everyone opposing President Bashar al-Assad of Syria will be invited to Riyadh later this month with one significant exception: a delegation from the so-called “Islamic State”.

 

At least 65 “opposition figures”, in the words of Saudi Arabia’s state-controlled press, are supposed to achieve the impossible – Arab unity – in time for the new year’s round of multinational peace talks on Syria. But the whole shebang is likely to prove as mystifying as David Cameron’s 70,000 “moderate” fighters. There will, we are assured, be representatives of the “armed opposition”. But who are they? Will the head-chopping and sectarian al-Qaeda outfit Jabhat al-Nusra be represented, funded by sources in Qatar and posing as the new “moderates”? And then there’s the virtually non-existent “Free Syrian Army”, which will certainly be ready to fly to Riyadh, if only to prove it exists.

 

Will the Kurds be there? The Turks, who are spending more time bombing them than any other groups in Syria, will not approve. The Iranians have already expressed their anger, sneering that the Saudi conference will cause the failure of the international talks in Vienna. The US Secretary of State John Kerry has, of course, given his approval – why should Washington oppose an initiative by its “moderate” Arab ally, Saudi Arabia? But then, as British MPs now know all too well, it all depends what you mean by “moderate”. 

And the poor old Germans, who are now committing 1,200 soldiers, a frigate and reconnaissance aeroplanes to the Syrian war – in a strictly non-combat role, of course – were huffing and puffing yesterday that Saudi Arabia was “a key partner in regional conflict resolution”. A necessary if dodgy assertion, after the German foreign intelligence service (the BND) dumped on the Saudi Defence Minister, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for his bloody intervention in the Yemeni war.

 

“An impulsive policy of intervention,” was how the BND characterised the young prince’s bombing of the Shia Houthi rebels, suggesting that the prince and his father – the new King Salman – wanted to present themselves as “leaders of the Arab world”. The job of the German intelligence agency, a foreign ministry spokesman announced, was to provide “information that the government requests” and “not to supply journalists with information”. All of which suggests that the BND’s assessment of Saudi Arabia was perfectly accurate – merely handed to the wrong group of Germans.

And so we come to Isis. Since their Wahhabi tradition of sectarianism and brutality is the very same Wahhabi faith which lies at the foundation of Saudi Arabia’s version of the Sunni religion, and since much of the cult’s funding has come from Saudi Arabia, we have to ask who will represent their unique, purist and violent point of view at the Riyadh conference?

 

For surely they are fiercer opponents of the Assad regime than any of the opposition groups which will turn up in Riyadh. Their propensity for chopping off heads scarcely prohibits them from attending, not least because Nusra, which will assuredly have someone there, also has a habit of throat-slitting.  

All in all, then, this will prove a most intriguing conference. Twenty members of the fractious Syrian “coalition” are supposed to turn up, along with seven members from inside Syria. The Syrian National Coalition says that “business leaders and religious figures” will also be in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia’s UN ambassador, Abdullah al-Mouallimi, insists the conference will include “all shades of the opposition”. Surely that means all bar those Saudi Arabia would be too embarrassed to acknowledge. The lads from Isis could, if invited, visit the new museum being constructed in Riyadh – to the founder of the Wahhabi faith in which they so fervently believe.

 

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/saudi-arabia-s-unity-summit-will-only-highlight-arab-disunity-a6761251.html

Edited December 5, 2015 by dillinger

[Prospero]

A crack team from the SAS tracked down IS executioner Jihadi John and called in the air strike that killed him in Syria, it can be revealed today.

 

Until now the top-secret operation to eliminate the masked British extremist – who beheaded UK hostages Alan Henning and David Haines – was thought to have been conducted entirely from the air without any Western troops.

 

But The Mail on Sunday has learned that the perilous plan depended on a team of eight men from the Special Forces regiment risking their lives to penetrate deep inside the IS stronghold of Raqqa.

 

And the secret weapon used to identify Jihadi John was a 1lb helicopter drone launched by the soldiers.

 

The daring mission began in darkness on November 11 when two US Chinook helicopters skimmed low across the Syrian desert to land at an isolated spot.

 

Avoiding all roads, the team of soldiers drove in desert buggies 35 miles south towards Raqqa. At about 3am, they 'dug in' five miles outside the city, where they remained undetected.

 

The following evening, while the rest of the team were on lookout, one man assembled four 3ft nano-helicopters with infrared and night-vision cameras in the nose. They were pre-programmed to fly to Jihadi John's hideout – a six-storey building in Raqqa.

 

The first drone set off towards its target, then entered 'hover and stare' mode, recording the movements of IS suspects at a building near the Sharksa mosque. 

 

It beamed footage by satellite back to SAS HQ in Hereford and the US Central Command in Doha, Qatar.

 

At 8.30pm, with the first drone low on power, a second one took over, and after another fruitless wait, it was replaced at 10pm.

 

But when the third suddenly shot back images of Jihadi John – real name Mohammed Emwazi – the tension in the control rooms was palpable.

 

A source said: 'US commanders re-tasked a Reaper drone armed with Hellfire missiles. At 11.40 a car pulled up and he got inside. The Reaper locked on to its target and Jihadi John was history. The guys were chuffed to get that maniac.'

 

 

Edited December 6, 2015 by Prospero

[iDemo]

Raste broj porudzbini na slicne naslove:

 

[Eraserhead]

Sjajna je ova internacionala koja se pravi sastavljena od evropskih ekstremnih desnicara, bliskoistocnih diktatora i malog Staljina.

 

"Boreći se protiv Asada, samo smo ojačali ID"

 

 

Kako je ona navela, stabilnost Sirije je najveći prioritet, bez obzira na to ko je njen lider.

 

“Ostaje samo jedan izbor: da li želite da tamo ima bar malo države ili želite Islamsku državu?“, navela je Le Pen, a prenosi “Sputnjik“.

 

Ona je rekla da o sudbini Bašara al-Asada treba da odlučuje sirijski narod na demokratskim izborima. Asad je, kako kaže, trenutno jedini političar koji je u mogućnosti da drži državu pod kontrolom i ne dozvoli joj da se podeli. 

 

“Sirijski pobunjenici nisu sposobni da spreče državu od raspada. Mi treba da vidimo situaciju ne kakvu vi želite da ona bude, već kako stvarno jeste“, naglasila je francuska političarka. 

 

Ona je navela da je Francuska boreći se tri godine protiv Bašara al-Asada “samo ojačala pozicije Islamske države“. 

 

Le Pen smatra da bi Francuska trebalo da promeni politički kurs i započne saradnju sa sirijskim predsednikom kako bi se rešila kriza u toj zemlji.

 

[dillinger]

Sjajna je ova internacionala koja se pravi sastavljena od evropskih ekstremnih desnicara, bliskoistocnih diktatora i malog Staljina.

 

U svakom slučaju ne gora od moderate opozicije umiksane sa Al Nusrom, pod patronatom Saudijske Arabije i uz podršku zapadnih liberala.

[Muwan]

[Takeshi]

rusi i zvanicno odbijaju da zovu islamsku drzavu tim imenom. sada je daesh, po nazivu koji se pojavio jos prosle godine. 

i britanci pocinju slicno.

 

Daesh is an acronym. It stands for the Arabic name of the Islamic State: al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham. When Jen Percy, a New Republic contributor, went to northern Iraq this year, the Assyrian Christians waging a war against ISIS were calling ISIS troops “Daesh.” In her article for our September issue, she called it “a pejorative term for ISIS in Arabic.”

 

Zeba Khan, writing for the Boston Globe, has explained why “Daesh” could be read as an insult: “Depending on how it is conjugated in Arabic, it can mean anything from ‘to trample down and crush’ to ‘a bigot who imposes his view on others.’”

 

In light of its more unsavory connotations, ISIS leaders threatened last June “to cut the tongue of anyone who publicly used the acronym Daesh, instead of referring to the group by its full name,” according tothe Associated Press. 

 

[Budja]

Sjajna je ova internacionala koja se pravi sastavljena od evropskih ekstremnih desnicara, bliskoistocnih diktatora i malog Staljina.

 

Nisi citao sta je nedavno rekao Fabijus?

Neko je kacio pre par strana.

Le Penova koristi priliku da sukne Vladi koja stoji danas na prilicno razlicitim pozicijama od one 2012, kada su bili prvi koji su Asada pustili niz vodu (pre Amera).

 

Eve ga:

 

"Ujedinjena Sirija podrazumeva političku tranziciju. To ne znači da Bašar al- Asad mora da ode pre tranzicije, ali mora da postoje uveravanja za budućnost", istakao je Fabijus. 

 

Edited December 6, 2015 by Budja

[dillinger]

BHL mora da je konsterniran.

[odmor]

poredjenja frekvencija akcija protiv ISIS-a sa drugim intervencijama

 

[nautilus]

Ovo poredjenje ima ozbiljan problem. ISIS je manja vojska koja promenjuje potpuno drugaciju i nekonvencionalnu taktiku. Klasicne strateske ciljeve, kasarne, skladista, komunikacione centre ili komandna mjesta su vec odavno, jos u vreme ratovanja dronovima, preorali. ISIS bi trebalo tretirati kao gerilu i primenjivati taktiku koja je shodna tome. To zahteva kako trupe na zemlji, tako i drugaciji pristup bombardovanjima i drugacije avione.

[hazard]

BHL mora da je konsterniran.

[emoji38]ol:

 

Le Pen pour president!

 

Marina dobija sledeće predsedničke u 2. krugu tesno, mmw. Tj. osim ako se ne desi još jedan teroristički napad u Francuskoj, u tom slučaju dobija u 1. krugu by a landslide.

[Muwan]

Mali nesporazum među prijateljima:

 

 

 

BEIRUT | By John Davison and Suleiman Al-Khalidi
 

 

Groups that have received support from the United States or its allies have turned their guns on each other in a northern corner of Syria, highlighting the difficulties of mobilising forces on the ground against Islamic State. As they fought among themselves before reaching a tenuous ceasefire on Thursday, Islamic State meanwhile edged closer to the town of Azaz that was the focal point of the clashes near the border with Turkey.
 

Combatants on one side are part of a new U.S.-backed alliance that includes a powerful Kurdish militia, and to which Washington recently sent military aid to fight Islamic State. Their opponents in the flare-up include rebels who are widely seen as backed by Turkey and who have also received support in a U.S.-backed aid programme.

 

Despite the ceasefire, reached after at least a week of fighting in which neither side appeared to have made big gains, trust remains low: each side blamed the other for the start of fighting and said it expected to be attacked again. A monitoring group reported there had still been some firing.

 

The fighting is likely to increase concern in Turkey about growing Kurdish sway near its border. It also poses a new challenge for the U.S.-led coalition which, after more than a year of bombing Islamic State in Syria, is trying to draw on Syrian groups to fight on the ground but finding many have little more in common than a mutual enemy.

 

Azaz controls access to the city of Aleppo from the nearby border with Turkey. It also lies in an area coveted by Islamic State, which advanced to within 10 km (six miles) of the town on Tuesday and took another nearby village later in the week. The fighting pitched factions of the Free Syrian Army, supported by Turkey and known collectively as the Levant Front, against the YPG and Jaysh al-Thuwwar - both part of the Democratic Forces of Syria alliance backed by Washington. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that monitors the conflict in Syria, said Levant Front was supported in the fighting by the Ahrar al-Sham Islamist group and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said the rebels had received "new support, which is coming in continuously" from Turkey, a U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic State.

"Turkish groups against U.S. groups -- it's odd," he said.

 

Although the YPG has been the most effective partner on the ground for the United States in the fight against Islamic State, Turkey does not want to see its influence expand further, even if the group is fighting Islamic State. The United States and Turkey have for months been talking of a joint effort to clear Islamic State from the remaining part of the frontier, but there has been no sign of progress.

 

LONG-STANDING SUSPICION

The clashes were in villages between predominantly Arab Azaz and the majority-Kurdish town of Afrin further southwest. A few dozen people were killed, including 13 civilians, and small tracts of territory have changed hands. The insurgents blamed the Kurdish forces and their allies for trying to advance. But a Democratic Forces of Syria spokesman said Islamist groups had attacked first under the pretext that his group was a front for the Kurds.

 

In Aleppo city, insurgents shelled a Kurdish-inhabited area, and the YPG fired from there at the rebel supply route that leads from Aleppo to Azaz and Turkey, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The rivalry is stoked by long-standing rebel suspicion of the Kurdish agenda.

"The Levant Front and the others are in dispute over who should control the Azaz area, and so you have this fighting between them, and the Jaysh al-Thuwwar and the (YPG)," said a rebel leader familiar with the situation. "This is strife between Jaysh al-Thuwwar and the Kurds, with the FSA factions."

Levant Front commander Abu Ahmad al Jazrawi said he hoped Thursday's ceasefire would hold. But if the YPG and their allies "try another time to raid our areas we will not hesitate to attack them again," he warned. The spokesman for the Democratic Forces of Syria said most of the fighting on its side was being done by non-Kurdish forces, though YPG fighters were reinforcing them from nearby Afrin. A Levant Front fighter told Reuters the fighting began when the YPG and Jaysh al-Thuwwar seized three villages in the Azaz area.

"They cut our main supply route," he said. "We then succeeded in evicting these forces."

 

Rebels say the YPG has been emboldened by Russian air strikes in Syria that have mostly hit groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad, and are not targeting the Kurds, whose fight with Islamic State has been praised by President Vladimir Putin. The Syrian Kurds, who have established their own government in areas of northern Syria they control, have been accused by President Bashar al-Assad's opponents of cooperating with him during the 4-1/2-year-old conflict - a charge they deny. The spokesman for the Democratic Forces of Syria blamed the flare-up on Ahrar al-Sham and the Nusra Front, which he said had initiated hostilities against Jaysh al-Thuwwar positions on the pretext that it was a front for the Kurds.

"Ahrar al-Sham and the Levant Front were dragged behind the lie of the Nusra Front," said Talal Ali Selo, the spokesman, an ethnic Turkmen who is a member of Jaysh al-Thuwwar. The YPG were involved in the fighting on their side, he said.

Selo said he did not trust those groups to keep the peace.

"In my personal opinion, they will not remain committed" to the ceasefire, he said.

 

NEW U.S. STRATEGY

The Democratic Forces of Syria alliance, unveiled on Oct. 12, comprises the YPG, Arabs and groups representing other ethnicities. The United States promptly air dropped ammunition to members of the alliance to press the war against Islamic State in northern and eastern Syria, an overhaul of U.S. policy after it abandoned a programme to train and equip rebels to fight IS. The YPG is the strongest element of the coalition, having cleared IS from swathes of eastern Syria with the help of U.S.-led air strikes earlier this year.

 

The Syrian Kurds already control an uninterrupted 400 km (250 mile) stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border. Turkey's fear is that they aim to link that territory with Afrin by seizing the territory north of Aleppo. Ankara is fighting an insurgency against Kurdish PKK fighters in its southeast. The border territory on the Syrian side is currently controlled by a mix of rebels and Islamic State, and was the area where Turkey and the United States had been working on plans to crush IS. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Nov. 17 the United States was starting an operation with Turkey to finish securing the northern Syrian border - an apparent reference to the area north of Aleppo.

[Muwan]

Izgleda da je američka koalicija bombardovala položaje SAA u Deir Ez Zoru, ima mrtvih i ranjenih.

[ravena]

 

Ovo narandzasto desno od Kobanea? Zar to nije sada u rukama Kurda?