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Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images
Syrians run for cover as a helicopter hovers over the northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday.
Syria sent thousands of troops surging toward Aleppo in the early hours of Wednesday, where its forces have been pounding rebel fighters from the air, engulfing the country's largest city in total warfare to put down a revolt.
"[President Bashar] Assad is fighting hard here because he has already lost control of nearly all the towns around Aleppo," NBC News' chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel said from the city's outskirts on Tuesday.
Recent days have seen Syria's 16-month-old uprising transformed from an insurgency in remote provinces into a battle for control of the two main cities, Aleppo and the slightly smaller capital, Damascus, where fighting exploded last week.
President Bashar Assad's forces have launched massive counter assaults in both cities. They appear to have beaten rebels back from neighborhoods in the capital and are turning toward Aleppo, a commercial hub in the north.
Dozens are reported dead in Syria where opposition forces are fighting to maintain control of Syria's commercial capital and biggest city. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Syrian forces fired artillery and rocket barrages early on Wednesday at the northern Damascus suburb of al-Tel in an attempt to seize the town from rebels, causing mass panic and forcing hundreds of families to flee the area, residents and opposition activists said.
The 216th mechanized battalion headquartered near Tel started bombarding the town of about 100,000 people at 3:15 a.m. (8:15 p.m. ET Tuesday) and initial reports indicated residential apartment blocks were being hit, they said.
Photos: Syrian forces launch air attacks in Aleppo
"Military helicopters are flying now over the town. People were awakened by the sound of explosions and are running away," Rafe Alam, one of the activists, said by phone from a hill overlooking Tel. "Electricity and telephones have been cut off."
After months of protests and violent crackdowns, a look back at the violence that has overtaken the country.
Jets firing?
Some residents said they believed the planes had dropped bombs, but others said booming sounds could have been caused by supersonic jets breaking the sound barrier. A correspondent for Britain's BBC television also said the jets had fired on parts of the city.
Syrian forces launch air attacks on largest city
Assad's forces have occasionally launched airstrikes from fixed-wing jets on other cities during the uprising, but tend to rely on helicopters for airstrikes in urban areas.
Opposition activists said thousands of troops had withdrawn with their tanks and armored vehicles from the strategic Jabal al-Zawiya highlands in Idlib province near the Turkish border and were headed toward Aleppo.
Rebels attacked the rear of the troops withdrawing from the region at the villages of Orom al-Joz and Rami near the main Aleppo-Latakia road and at the village of al-Bara west of the Aleppo-Damascus highway, activist Abdelrahman Bakran said from the area.
A first? Helicopter gunships bombard Syrian capital
Alex Thomson of Channel 4 Europe reports from Damascus, Syria, where, while at a military hospital this weekend, rebels opened fire disrupting the Syrian Army's ability to carry out funerals for their deceased troops.
"I heard at least 20 rockets fired, I think from helicopters, and also a lot of machine-gun fire," a resident near one of the areas being shelled, who asked to be identified only by his first name Omar, said by telephone.
"Almost everyone has fled in panic, even my family. I have stayed to try to stop the looters; we hear they often come after an area is shelled."
General speaks
Meanwhile, a Syrian former Brigadier-General spoke for the first time since defecting earlier in July.
In a statement broadcast Arabic news channel Al Arabiya, Manaf Tlas called on Syrians to unite.
AFP - Getty Images, file
An undated photo shows Manaf Tlass smoking a cigar in an undisclosed location.
"I speak to you as a defected member of the Syrian army, who refuses criminal violence … I speak to you as one of the sons of Syria," Tlas said. He was believed to be speaking from Paris where he has family.
"Honorable Syrian army officers do not accept the criminal acts in Syria … Allow me to serve Syria after [President Bashar] al-Assad's era." he said.
Tlas' defection was a significant blow to Assad and his government. While Tlas is from Syria's majority Sunni community -- Assad and much of his inner circle are Alawite, an offshoot of Shiite Islam -- he was reportedly part of the president's inner circle for many years.
"We must all unite to serve Syria and promote stability in the country, rebuilding a free and democratic Syria," Al Arabiya quoted Tlas as saying.
"Allow me to call on a united Syria," he added.
Tlas also said he did not blame those troops who have not defected, adding that "whatever mistakes made by some members of the Syrian Arab Army ... those honorable troops who have not partaken in the killing ... are the extension of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army."
Chemical weapons safe?
Also on Wednesday, Moscow said it had received "firm assurances" from Damascus that its Syrian chemical arsenal is "fully safeguarded," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the state-owned Itar-Tass news agency.
"We have received firm assurances from Damascus that the security of this arsenal is fully safeguarded," Gatilov told the agency in an interview.
Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi acknowledged on Monday that the country had chemical weapons, and Western countries and Israel have expressed fears chemical weapons could fall into the hands of militant groups as Assad's authority erodes.
Government troops launched an offensive against opposition forces in Syria days after rebels killed some of President Assad's top deputies. NBC's Lester Holt reports.
Israel, which has publicly discussed military action to keep Syrian chemical arms or missiles out the hands of Assad's Lebanese militant allies Hezbollah, said there was no sign any such diversion had occurred.
"At the moment, the entire non-conventional weapons system is under the full control of the regime," a senior Israeli defense official, Amos Gilad, told Israel Radio.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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- Afghan police commander leads defection to Taliban
- After Hong Kong weathers typhoon, anger roils over Beijing flood deaths
- This family's Olympic odyssey includes bikes, satellite dish, reindeer pelts
- In Kenya, cell phones can do everything
Leave a Comment:
That's right Syria!! Defend your country against the European colonization. If you don't stand up now with all of your strength, you will fall to Europe's empires who will steal your resources or Muslim extremists who will then let them right through the door for a bribe or two!! Syria FIGHT!!!
Go Assad you less than a SOB than what's going to replace you. Assad bad for his country, no Assad, bad for the world. I know which one I don't give a shiite about, just like Lybia that has spawn the fall of Mali! Who'll be next in Syria's so called democratic fight for freedom!
"Syria is none of our business. Don't fall for these lies again." ~ Ron Paul
What are you on crack? They are fighting against their own leader Bashar the dictator, Bashar the murderer, Bashar the king of genocide.
Even if Assad is able to "win", there won't be much left of the country and he won't have any resources to rebuild it. And he will always be looking over his shoulder.
The "King" of genocide? Please, Hank, lets not resort to hyperbole. Bashar is sort of the cousin of the nephew of a guy who knows the king of genocide. He is a drop in the bucket. Hell, Idi Amin could kick his ass 4 ways from Sunday. There are lots of Muslim rulers who've killed more of one single ethnic group than Bashar. (genocide is killing one group just because they are themselves.)
Let's just say he is the block captain of genocide and not exaggerate.
That's right Syria. Defend your artificial borders that were created as a French mandate when the Arab Levant was broken up after World War I. The European desire to partition the Middle East into spheres of influence that ignored the populations is the root cause of most of the conflict in the area, not the present-day threat.
Anti-Colonizaton, hmmm sounds like Obama's father. Is that why Obama sits this one out when he jumped right into Libya and Africa? Or is it because he doesn't want to disturb the Russians who support the regime and with whom he will "be more flexible" after the election???
There will probably come a time when America must intervene in Syria to contain the conflict and protect our interests in the Middle East. I hope any involvement is limited to air strikes so that American lives will not be lost. In-fighting among the various Muslim factions is not worth the loss of a single American life.
What would happen if a country intervened in an area where we had an established military base, JK?
Russia has a military base in Syria.
Following our own rules, it would be up to the Russians to intervene, would it not?
Maybe a pre-emptive strike against Moscow would be in order.
Sunni Syrian rebels are supported by Sunni Islamic religious Nazis like al-Qaida, MB and others.
Look at that Sunni Brig Gen who defected and joined other members of his family in Paris. Their family was loyal to Assad's father and this Brig Gen Sunni traitor defected after having been loyal servant of Assad. For them till now, Assad and his father were not bad!
What an irony to take refuge in an infidel nation!
Assad should go after each and everyone of the Sunni and should not leave a single one.
After he is done in Syria, Assad, Shiites of Iraq and Iran should march their armies into Saudi Arabia, mother all problems in ME and other nations and fountainhead of Sunni Islamic extremism.
US government would have done the same thing when faced with an armed insurrection. Remember Civil War? Half a million Americans died in that internal conflict.
Somewhere down the road UN troops will probably become involved in this fiasco- another opportunity for the US to spend resources it can't afford on someone else's mess
Shaking my head, I think you shook a little too hard and dislodged a big fraction of your already limited supply of neurons.
Two thoughts - U.N. Troops cannot get involved without the approval of the Security Council. Two permanent member nations are opposed to this.
Secondly, who do you know that loses sleep at the thought of U.N. troops? The very idea is almost comical. They're very good at driving around, but they run and hide from a firecracker.
U.N. membership costs the United States over $6 billion per year.
'Fool me once, shame on, shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again.' — George Bush, September 17, 2002
The Assad Regime is living on borrowed time.
I am not sure what will replace it, but, again, the Assad Regime is living on borrowed time.
Crimes against humanity can never last forever....despite the massive bloodshed.
Never Stop Asking Questions
How wrong that is. Crimes against humanity will never end until humans are extinct.
When you have to destroy your own cities to "save" them, it is probably time to accept the game is over......
Frenchie... you mean like gen. Sherman who burned Atlanta in 1864?
The bad fighting the bad. No matter who wins, Syria is going to be one of the most backward countries in the Middle East.
We can't help it with religous heroin addicts. They have marched too far.
Followers of Islamic cult, especially Sunni Saudi inspired Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, MB and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days.
They are indulging in rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims (Darfur, S. Sudan, Nigeria and spreading like wild fire in many regions and Muslims (Mali, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places.
Sunni Saudi backed Salaffi and MB new chapters are opening up in Egypt. Just watch the fate of Christians, women and Israel as the time goes by.
We see Muslims inventing problems in most of the non-Muslim nations.
Manaf Telar -Syria's Douglas "I shall return" Mac. You all fight and die and I will lead you from the rear. Then, when the coast is clear I shall lead you, my brethren when it is safe enough for people such as myself. I am too valuable to my country to risk dying.
stonehead,
On MacArthur's worse day he was braver and more of a man then you could ever hope to be, or even pretend to be.
Read a little history before you make a fool of yourself (again). Mac was nearly always in the thick of things, and he only left the Philippines when ORDERED to by the President of the United States, who he has no choice but to obey.
Telar braved death by defecting and is a valuable asset to the resistance. He has knowledge of Assad's tactics and brings experience and training to their cause.
Without leaders there can be no followers. With no followers there can be no change. Yes, some people are more valuable alive then dead!
Lead, follow or get out of the way. Sounds like you should just get out of the way.
It sounds more like you should blow me.
stonehead,
Well there you go, showing off your intelligence and maturity again :)
But if you want to play... I'm sure it's so small and limp that it wouldn't be any fun, and would just be embarassing for you to show off what little manhood you have.
now now children. could we just let the syrians figure out what THEY want? or should we decide for them like we usually do. i vote let them figure it out.
@wtfwwus, actually if go deeper into the historic facts about Mac you will find out he was a pain the but and kept trying to get his personnel agenda in Admerril Nimmits Battle Plans, Who was the man in charge of the island hopping campaign in the Pacific and defeating the Japanese Navy. Did you know they were going to carry the General from the boat to the shore but someone said it would look better on camera if the General would walk the few feet to the shore through the water? Not blowing MacArther out of the water, he wasn't that great. Heck after he walked back into the Phillipenes he didn't hear anymore about him.
Don't forget: The Illustrious McArthur was also the one tapped by President Hoover to evict the Bonus Marchers. A little history is in order:
And...
On Korea:
Got that? After seeing what the atomic bomb did in Japan, our "hero" McArthur wanted to drop 30-50 of them in Korea. Getting the picture here yet?
On the other hand, our darling nationalistic media, would have you believe McArthur was a hero. McArthur would gladly have soaked the world in blood - he just didn't have enough power to do so.
Thank God.
Next up: Henry Kissinger, who drove policies from overthrowing governments in S. America to secret bombing campaigns in Cambodia (say, what happened in Cambodia again?)... won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Is It Time To Wake Up Yet?
There are kids all over that first picture. Shameful that they have to live that way.
We have a next generation of killers everywhere. America included. But that's not the point, is it..
While doing suicide bombings, do the Islamic Nazis like al-Qaida and other militants bother about kids, women, innocents, injured, old and so on?
If atrocities and barbarism on girls, children and women are the criteria, then the most despotic, autocratic and bigoted Sunni Saudi ruler with his 5000 princes and princesses, Kuwaiti, UAE and other Arab League Sunni rulers and their rich sheiks are the biggest culprits in the history.
In killing of opponents again, these people have established world records.
If the US, Britain and others support such Sunni barbarians and beasts who treat girls and women as cheap sex slaves, then one can only conclude that Saudis, oil companies and their lobbyists determine what to see, how to lecture and where and when to act.
Rest like “human rights”, “killing of children and women”, “militants”, “terrorists”, “WMDs”, “chemical weapons” and so on are a pure hoax.
Similar hoaxes were played each time before Iraqi wars on directions of Saudi, oil companies and their lobbyists.
Now none of them are looking into Iraq, where at least a million have been killed and devastated.
Twice are too much to tolerate.
War is War and death is the biproduct. If they were attacking us on our shores do you think for 1 minute that they would care about women and children? You need to harden your heart up some to facts. Remember this, One man in one country is not going to change another mans entire country.
9/11 was an attack to bring down a financial institution they did not care how many lives were lost. They didn't even give it a thought.
One man's freedom fighter, is another mans terrorist, is another man's rebel, is another man's muslim extremist. and so the world turns.....
Only history will show who was right. I would think that there were a lot of uneasy governments looking hard at us when we rebelled against Britain. Also when we had our civil war.
No, history won't show who was right. History will show who was left.
Our Civil War wasn't for the same reasons as Syrias or lebinon. Lebenon has no standing government, Syria will have no standing Government. We had a standing Government.
History will not show who is right.
The Victor(s) will dictate for History what she is to write about who was right.
No doubt Russia and China has known about the chemical and biological weapons in Syria all along. Which it now makes sense why they have veto'd all international intervention. They've all got Russian and Chinese labels on them. You can be Iran has a similar stash.
Actually, the CIA has known for some time. CIA reports say France & Russia have been aiding Syrian weapons development.
It's just something that is not reported on in the United States.
p.s. - America also has a big stockpile of chemical & biological weapons - but we would only ever use them if we had to, like in the case of foreign intervention in our country.
http://tinyurl.com/cscvpg5
BTW Pilgrim, Israel has the biggest stores of chemical, bacteriologocal and radiological weapons in the Midde East - plus some 250/300 nukes that the US technologically supports. Of course. no one is supposed to know this. The recent expose of how Natanyahu was involved in smuggling of American manufactured 'Krytons' (An electronic device that sets off a nuclear warhead explosion) is another one of those 'best kept secrets' the US Jewish owned and operated media holds close to its chest.
Some like you had similar arguments before Iraqi wars.
Where were the "chemical weapons" and "WMDs"?
How many times likes of you repeat the Sunni Saudi seventh century dances and stories?
Hum........Let's see, Iraq, a Baathist state. Syria, a Baathist state. Where did the WMDs go? To Syria most likely.
@freedman1, I noticed that that report was in the middle of the second term of Bush, I don't whole heartedly believe it. The fact is Syria has some nasty Chemicals. These are very bad to deal with in their own rights but can be delt with. Be thankful they were not into Germ Warfare.
It is obvious that his reporting is one sided. He has been busy trying to stir up support for intervention, and it's wrong. I have not seen one interview with the country's christian leaders explaining why they are overwhelmingly in support of the current government, but plenty from the insurgents. Apparently Engels is fluent in Arabic, so he could get both sides of the story, but simply chooses not to.
Engle works for the US Jewish owned and operated corporate media. What do you expect to hear from him when its the Jews that 'butter his toast.' Have you heard any different from Anderson 'giggles' Cooper, Rachel Maddow, Hardball, the Fox Jews Network, NBC, CBS, ABC?
Hey Freedman1 ( RICHARD ENGLE ) BECAUSE HE IS IN BED WITH THESE ALQAIDA , Watch his pictures in Libya , he is standing next to an Alqaida leader him and Arwa Damon , and now in Syria he has one guy he concentrate on, I think he is just Like Anderson Cooper , Looking for Love , instead of news .
@my turn-5304605
Just like Peter Arnett would stand by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese and bad-mouth his own country while his Viet Cong wife fed him as his editor. Him and Richard must've went to different schools together.
Not at all surprising that there's a parallel discussion going on about international controls on sales of weapons. The sideline issue here is going to be sales of chemical and biological weapons, and no doubt either Iran or Syria or both are going to use them to add substance to the talks. We already know who the culprits are.
Sorta like when Clinton and Reno took out Waco.
Waco, paleeze, an extreme religious group with more weapons than an NG unit. I don't feel nothing when something happens to a group like that. I just view it as a tradgity and life goes on. Stuff like this is out of any presidents hands. What other groups in past met with downfall from within? What was that group that went to Africa and their leader poisoned them all, Men, women, and Children. If your going to fight a war, don't bring a Little Brown Church to a an Inquest.
Russia accused Western powers on Wednesday (07/25) of encouraging terrorism over their refusal to condemn the suicide bombing that killed Syria's defense minister last week.
"In other words, they are saying: 'We will continue to support such terrorist acts until the UN Security Council does what we want it to," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists. "This is a chilling position."
Four top Syrian security officials, including Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha, a Christian, were killed when a rebel suicide bomber managed to infiltrate the government building where they were meeting in the capital, Damascus, on July 18.
The United States envoy to the UN, Susan Rice, said after the bombing that the attack was further proof of the necessity to adopt a Security Council resolution against the regime of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Israel's minister of the Goldman UN Report on Jewish genocide in Gaza and US/UN Ambassador Susan Rice is about as black minded a skunk as the other dyke Rice who said that Jewish terror was 'The Jewish people seeking peace.' She has soooo much to say in defense of the low life Jewish parasites and US' murder, mayhem and Imperialism and so little to say about the United Snakes war crimes in AF/PAK, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Palestine and places in Africa only the CIA knows about. As my grandmother used to say: "The skunk never smells under its own tail."
Susan Rice is a rat - any other statements to make about Israels' Minister of the UN Goldman report?
Correction: It's the United Snakes 'say' and not the Russians and Chinese 'say' (Who, by the way, should qualify for the Nobel Peace prize this coming selection with so many war criminals on the United Snakes side.
Time to turn Israel lose .Go get them my friends from Israel.
Start with Iran and work your way around put them all six feet under ground.
Ok, Cowboy, we get it. You hate Jews. Do you have any non-conspiratorial insights to add to the conversation?
@ MissionMan2k
I do not hate Jews by no means! I think they are the only ones with the balls to take out the trash.
@AZ cowBOY, you don't like Jews and You don't like this country either. Suppose you just pack your bags and go, Mexico is close to you and if you go further than 25 miles from the border you can buy a house there. Have a safe trip. OH, and if you need a ride to Airport just let me know, I will not only call you a cab but, I'll even pay for it.
mike, I think his comment was to TheAssCowboy, not you. I agree, Israel will be taking it to them before long. I just hope we back them, as we should.
Is anyone forcing you to live in the US Cowboy? Can't find any other nation that will let you in? We sure wouldn't miss you.
@ 6 dogs. If you can't afford it , I will cover the cabbies tip.
U.S. intelligence suspects Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have finally been located.
Unfortunately, getting to them will be nearly impossible for the United States and its allies, because the containers with the strategic materials are not in Iraq.
Instead they are located in Lebanon’s heavily-fortified Bekaa Valley, swarming with Iranian and Syrian forces, and Hizbullah and ex-Iraqi agents.
You can bet that these weapons have already been moved- at least in part- back to the Bekaa in Lebanon. (On Russian trucks :)
Assad hated Saddam, and never would have taken his weapons of mass destruction which did not exist except in the echo of those desparately wanting to build the case for war. And US intelligence now suspects those weapons have finally been located? Why are you broadcasting such sensative information? Something tells us you've a strange imagination and sit rather to the far left side of the Bell Curve in learning.
Liars and losers 'never give up' in trying to make truth out of their lies, huh Pilgrim?
Oh well............
@ Frank Anderson. I agree with what you said up until you said "left". funny how that happens isn't it? We agree on so much yet we blame the other side every time. about time to leave left and right out of it and start worrying about right and wrong wouldn't you say? I'll say nothing more with "right wing or conservative in my statements. I sure would like to get that pledge from many others on here. Maybe we could find that we agree on a heck of a lot of things.
If and when the oil ever runs out over there no one will care about the middle east. The indigent population will go back to raising goats, figs and dates and will still be trying to figure a way to parlay their monopoly on the worlds largest repository of raw material for making sandpaper.
and Hashish
Let's STOP THESE "oil" WARS, NOW! Let's switch to MAGNETICALLY-DRIVEN ELECTRICAL ENERGY SYSTEMS! The hell with the corrupt Republican OIL & FINANCIAL corporate MONARCHY! They STOLE our American way of life from us and MADE US THEIR SLAVES!!
There are 3 VIABLE PATENTS in our U.S. Patent Office by Howard Johnson and they have been there a long time! These patents wouldn't be there IF THEY WEREN'T VIABLE!! These energy systems are INDEPENTDENT of each other, 100% NON-POLLUTANT, NO FOSSIL FUEL REQUIRED, extremely cheap to produce, install, operat & maintain. There are people here already using this form of energy for their home electricity! And, Troy Reed, an electrician from Tulsa, OK, has been developing a MAGNETICALLY-DRIVEN ELECTRICAL MOTOR for automobiles!
WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? Let's eliminate their CAPITALISTIC GREED ONCE & FOREVER! Vote 100% STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC, the lives you save WILL be YOURS & your CHILDREN!! BELIEVE IT, IT'S TRUE!!!
You can patent anything. It doesn't have to be viable.
Whooppee. just when we thought the Taliban were the only ones (((slamming))) the United Snakes (US/NATO) with their trusty Vietnam era AK-47's (what a weapon, huh? You drop it in the river and next week you fish it out and 'Bam-Bam-Bam!, you're a dead MFer!). Yassar, the Jews may want a Middle East they can rein over and murder, maim and displace Palestinan and Lebanese 'at will' but, uh-uh, tain't this way anymore schmucks. The Great Satan with all of his fancy high-tech toys may think that 'King Tut' has come back from the dead in his golden chariot, but, no sireee, that's not the way it's gonna be amigos. Let's go Assad, let's take those scumbag al-Qaeda rats and turn them into (((scrambled))) chorizo with eggs. Yup, the gonads they seem to lack when they're looking into the 6-barrel gattling 30mm cannons on those Russian Mil-28 helicopter gunships, Bam! Bam! Bam! (You're dead sucka!). Oh yes, bitch Hillary will be on TV talking abut Assad 'killing his people' but hey, it's the rebel's he's tearing to shreds and the Russians and Chinese are 'guarding all the escape routes from Allepo and elsewhere' to be sure that each cigar box that is returned to the United Snakes has a complete set of the 'rebel's guts, bones, and all 20 fingers and toes to bury in their 'hero's' grave yards. To be continued......
How long have you been off your meds cowboy?
@ Frank Anderson
Assad opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2003 despite a long-standing animosity between the Syrian and the Iraq governments. Assad used Syria's seat in one of rotating positions on the UN Security Council to try to prevent the invasion of Iraq. Following the Iraq invasion by US and allied forces, Assad was accused of supporting the Iraqi insurgency. A US general accused him of providing funding, logistics, and training to Iraqi and foreign Muslims to launch attacks against U.S. and allied forces occupying Iraq. It's a Ba`ath Party thing, Frank. They didn't hafta like each other.
The last time Israel and the Hizbollah got into it, Israel was well aware of what was in the Bekaa Valley, and dared not go there. They fully understood what it would mean. The media mentions the location(s) of the chemical and biological weapons as being inside Syria. The Mossad knows they are not there. I hope the USA and their allies aren't stupid enough to believe they are and use it as a motive for attack.
I'll be happy when I see a picture of the rebels carrying the head of Assad and the head of his wife around the streets of Damascas. This woman, so pretty in pictures, exemplifies the saying that beauty is only skin deep. She knows what's going on but is afraid to speak up for the cause of humanity and decency.
We (USA, Inc.) need to stay strictly out of the Syrian situation! To a man they are enemies of Israel. Furthermore, what side CAN we choose? The Assad regime? No Way! The rebels, now supported by Al Quaeda? Please!
Intervention here is a fools errand. The real struggle here and in the greater middle east/north Africa is the Sunni vs. Shi'a conundrum. Each side considers the other blasphemous, pointing to a problem with no solution other than domination of one over the other. The real confrontation is between Saudi Arabia & Iran, each claiming to be the spiritual home of the two sides.
Women and children in this greater conflict are collateral and nothing more, yet we continue to be surprised as these people that we rush in to "save" turn on us over and over again.
It is not our fight, we can't win it, we can't afford it and in our Judeo-Christian viewpoint can't even understand it. The only stake that we realistically hold is business for our armaments industry, which of course relies on perpetual war.
Defend Israel...Absolutely! Take a position with the "Arab Spring"...you have got to be kidding!
Absolutely correct, Danny. Good post. (Except for the 'defending Israel' part. I don't think it needs defending actually :))
If the Rebels wanted any thing good for the people of Syria . they wouldn't of taken the cites by destroying them ! and endangering the people that lived there !
I'm putting this out there for input. If Assad releases chemical weapons on his own people and there is an absolute and I mean an absolute threat that is absolutely creditable that these weapons can easily be made available to al Quida, the taliban and other terrorist organizations, should the U.S. get involved?
To me John, only to neutralize those weapons. Period!
sad to say we would probably get involved cause of humanity causes. but remember when Bush sent millions of medical aid to Iran after they had a earthquake ? a week later they were chanting death to America ! and we still haven't learnt any thing from it ! I learned every thing about Islam on 9-11 ! to bad many more didn't learn from it !
Sam the problem is , we send medical help but on the other hand we support the people and the countries that hates them , in Lebanon we were sending medical help to the Lebanese but at the same time we were sending Israel all the new bombs to bomb the Lebanese civilians , and if you ask Codi Rice , what one of the Lebanese leaders told her , You can take your medical help back , we do not need them , if you want to help quit sending the bombs to Israel .
@my turn. Israel just wants peace ! It's a shame the countries around Israel want her wiped off the map ! truth is the Muslim countries don't want to stop with Israel, they want the world after Israel. I rather support Israel cause they don't want to kill us !!! @my turn do you speak arabic ?
J ohn C.Mayer Are sure you are not one of these Alqaida rebels , because that's exactly what they are doing to the Christians and Assad troops in Syria , the are just like you , TERRORIST . And you call you your self civilized , why don't you ask your corrupt and paid off Media to interview just one Christian leader or just get the other side story , what happened to your FING fair and balanced , or telling the truth , or just ask your corrupt politicians why all of the sudden Syria is so important to them ??? and why they are going out their way to kill the Syrians ?/? they never cared when Israel were bombing Syria , and Israel still holding Syrian lands and Turkey Stole Syrian land with the help of the EUROPEANS , why don't they care about that , and how about the civilians in Yemen , Bahrain , Saudia and Africa why don't they care about them , You all bunch of Hypocrites .
I doubt any of us in this discussion truly knows what is going on in the middle east. We have a media that is either partisan or has such a short attention span that can only show you one crisis at a time. if another crisis develops, they forget to finish the first story and walk away from it. Seems to me like all media shows an incomplete and biased storyline each week.
my turn-5304605; we are all rebels when it comes to our core values. The question I posed was for a general response on the U.S. position. Your outburst is more personal toward me which was not the intent of the question posed. If you have children, what would your response be if one of them just happened to be in a theatre in Aurora, Colorado?
up is down, down is up
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.”
― George Orwell
@freedman1:
Excellent point, good sir.
Enough with the doublethink, people.....freedman1 wins.
*golf clap*
That a boy anti Christ...That a boy...
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's foreign minister warned on Wednesday his country will act immediately if it discovers Islamic militants are raiding Syria's chemical or biological weapons stocks.
Any rebel with a laptop and internet connection will think they now know where these weapons are, and are likely considering to what extent can their advantage be in attacking it to trigger an attack from Israel. Not on the rebels, but, on those guarding them. Assad -being a well-educated man and a doctor - would surely have moved them by now. (if they were even there in the first place, which they are not). Once gain, the media meddling may have an impact on world events. Now, if only they could tell the truth for a change. That would be different.