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Subscribe to RSSSyrian warplanes rained terror on the rebel held town of Azaz. Bombs left more than thirty people dead. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
An air strike by Syrian government forces killed 30 people in the rebel-held town of Azaz on Wednesday, a local doctor said, and a mass kidnapping linked to Syria in neighboring Lebanon raised the prospect of sectarian violence spreading.
That citizens of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, key supporters of the Sunni Muslim insurgency, were among those seized by Lebanese Shi'ites prompted Gulf states to urge citizens to leave Lebanon. It also underscored how the Syrian conflict is dividing the region along sectarian lines as world powers remain deadlocked.
PhotoBlog: Air strike in Azaz kills 30
Also, in Geneva, a highly anticipated report by an independent commission appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council, found evidence of war crimes perpetrated in Syria.
Doctor Mohammad Lakhini said at a hospital in Azaz, in the north near the Turkish border, that scores of people there were wounded in the raid by President Bashar al-Assad's air force. It reduced several houses to rubble and dozens of men clawed through the concrete and metal debris looking for survivors.
In video posted by activists earlier on Wednesday, residents in Azaz - close to the major urban battleground of Aleppo - screamed and shouted "God is greatest" as they carried bloodied bodies from collapsed concrete buildings.
Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
A man carries the body of a boy after a Syrian air force air strike in Azaz, some 29 miles north of Alepp on Aug. 15.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens had been killed. One activist in the town said at least 30 bodies had been found and rescuers were searching for more.
The video footage, which could not be immediately verified, showed crowds of residents wrestling with steel bars and pulling away a giant slab of concrete to reveal the dust-covered arm of a child. "This is a real catastrophe," said an activist who gave his name only as Anwar. "An entire street was destroyed."
Syrian state TV: Bomb rattles UN monitors' hotel
"The building they were in was hit," rebel commander Ahmed Ghazali told the Lebanese news channel Al Jadeed.
"We were able to remove seven from the wreckage. They are wounded, and some of the injuries are serious."
Syrian rebels attack the staff headquarters of the Syrian military in Damascus on Wednesday morning. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.
Assad's forces have increasingly used helicopter gunships and warplanes against the lightly-armed insurgents - elements in fresh accusations of war crimes leveled by United Nations human rights investigators on Wednesday.
Sectarian overtones
The Syrian civil war has taken on overtly sectarian overtones, with most rebels belonging to the Sunni Muslim majority, fighting against government forces rooted in Assad's Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
Regional powers are being drawn into the fight, with Sunni-led Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey supporting the rebels and Shi'ite Iran backing Assad's government. Fighting between Sunnis and Shi'ites lay behind long civil wars in Syria's neighbors Iraq and Lebanon, and the West fears the violence could spread.
'Acted like I was dead': 11-year-old boy says he survived Syria massacre
Gunmen belonging to the Shi'ite clan abducted more the men, including at least one Turk, one Saudi and several Syrian anti-Assad fighters, in retaliation for the capture of one of their kinsmen by rebels in Damascus.
The incident, in an area of Lebanon controlled by Hezbollah Shi'ite militants long allied to Assad and supported by Iran, raised the prospect of Syria's sectarian violence spilling over to its neighbor. Mass kidnapping was a perennial tactic in Lebanon's own sectarian civil war from 1975-1990.
Members of the Meqdad clan said they had carried out the kidnappings in retaliation for the capture of kinsman Hassan al-Meqdad by anti-Assad rebels in Damascus two days earlier.
One of the most senior figures to defect from President Assad government today called the regime "an enemy of God". Former Prime Minister Riad Hijab said the government is losing its grip on the country and is collapsing. ITV's John Ray reports.
They threatened to carry out more abductions of Qataris, Turks and Saudis. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates told their citizens to leave Lebanon - potentially dealing a blow to Beirut's reviving tourist business.
Syria's civil war has polarized Lebanon, with Shi'ites rallying behind Assad and Sunnis backing his enemies.
As the violence intensified, U.N. human rights investigators accused forces loyal to Assad of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. Investigators determined that May killings in the town of Houla, in which more than 100 people died, including nearly half of them children, as well as numerous other murders, unlawful killings, acts of torture, rape and other sexual violence and indiscriminate attacks on civilians were carried out "pursuant to state policy pointing to the involvement at the highest levels of the armed and security forces and the government."
The UN panel also concluded that anti-government armed groups committed war crimes, including murder, extrajudicial killings and torture, but said that "these violations and abuses were not of the same gravity, frequency and scale" as those carried out by government forces and the shabiha militia.
Opposition sources say 18,000 people have been killed since the uprising against Assad erupted in March last year. The bloodshed has divided regional and world powers, making peace efforts fruitless and paralyzing the U.N. Security Council.
On Wednesday Syrian troops pushed even farther into the key city of Aleppo where rebels are running short on much-needed supplies. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
Most Western and Arab governments have called on Assad to go, saying his government's violent response to initially peaceful protests give him no place in a future Syria.
Russia has opposed tougher U.N. sanctions against Damascus, a long-time strategic ally, but denies it is actively helping Assad remain in power. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western governments of reneging on a deal among world powers made on June 30 to push for a transitional government in Syria.
More world stories from NBC News:
- UN investigators conclude war crimes perpetrated in Syria
- I'd like a beer, 70-year-old says after icy 6-day ordeal in Alps
- Germany arrests 4 suspected of violating Iran embargo
- Study: Japan nuclear disaster caused mutated butterflies
- Restaurateur claims Games cost her business $140,000
- Video: Virtual tour of the next Olympic city
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It is only a matter of time before the violence 'spills over' into Israel. Lebanon is merely a suburb of Israel and Syria has been causing havoc there since the 1970's. Syria will attack anyone it feels will get in the way of Assad and his brutal regime. Israel is already on the lookout for Iranian 'pilgrims' trying to infiltrate Israel on the behalf of Syria and Assad.
I wish these cretins would all just blow themselves up already. The civilized world would be infinitely better off.
So Hotticket, you make a comment like that and call them the cretins? LOL! You're the cretin with your idiotic asinine remarks. These are intelligent, extremely compassionate human beings that are more concerned about the life of another than your useless azz. So think about who the real cretin is.
The next words out of any American Representative should be, 'I feel for you...but I just can't reach you!" We have our own civil war going on in this country between the Have's and the have-not's. it is killing about as many per day due to suicides from no job, no healthcare and stress from living way below means
Cockroaches cannot be completely exterminated and have lived for millions of years.......
Doesn't matter. If the Israelis are smart they will do no more than defend their borders. Getting in the middle of this Sunni/Shiite conflict would bankrupt us and the Israelis long before the war was over.
Our presence would take this thing to a whole other level. We are 'the Great Satan' to many over there and religious zealot fighters would come just to take us on.
to now hear this: "I feel for you, but I can't reach you" is exactly our position, and unfortunately, we can't easily change from that.
The rebels don't have a unified leadership or clear goals, so we don't know what we're getting if we help them. The whole place could just break down after Assad topples, because there's no clear source of leadership.
Yes, the situation there is absolutely terrible and far worse than anything here, but right now there is absolutely nothing we can feel safe about doing over there.
I am ALL for Hillary's game plan for a no fly zone. Also a strategic bombing down Assad's throat. Do it now. Do it without ANYONE's permission.
And the killing will keep on going until Israel and Palestinians comes to a peaceful accord. Israel and the Palestinian people are to be blamed for all the turmoil in the Middle East from day one. It will get gravely more deadly. Israel is asking for a battle that would give her a victory, with the help of U.S.A., to prosper for another 6 years.
Was wondering how long it'd be before some jerk tries to blame the Jooooos.
The U.S. needs to mind it's own business for once. What goes on in Syria is an internal problem. How would my fellow Americans feel if they saw foreign soldiers marching down Main St. , U.S.A.?
Besides, even of the rebels win it will become another Islamic republic and we will have to fight them somehow, someway in the future. Let them kill each other and save us alot of trouble later.
"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It
points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers,
recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them
and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In
boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which
tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive
out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for
the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with
deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it
was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have
no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for
truth and justice... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we
are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I
have also a duty to my own people."
'Adolf Hitler
hsart - May I point out that intelligent, extremely compassionate human beings don't kill each other over a religious belief. These people have been hating each other for hundreds of years over which brand of Islam is the real one. Not very intelligent to me.
There are a number of civil wars ongoing in Africa. Should we intervene in these wars as well? If Russia devolves in to civil war over the imprisonment of 'Pussy Riot' should we intervene there?
Where does it end? When do stop calling it a 'Defense Department'? And a 'Defense Budget'? Maybe we should rename it the Offense Department. Or maybe the Intervention Department. Then we can increase the budget from One Trillion Dollars per Year to Two Trillion Dollars per year. And then we can ask Unicef and CARE to come and feed our poor children in Phoenix, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas and every other major city because we had to cut all social programs out of the budget.
Thank you Odin!..good to hear froma fellow Pagan
As a Parent with a Child in Harms Way in Afghanistan I can only say IMPEACH POMPUS OBAMA for Treason if he even "Thinks" about providing Al-Qaeda in Syria with ANY more Secret Support Or Otherwise!
No More Not Wars For Wall Street Corporate Fun & Profits!
Nobody cares about this Mainstream Media Ra Ra Nonsense and when was the LAST story they Printed or Aired about Our "Poor Little Children" still being KILLED almost everyday in Iraq or Afghanistan?
Enough is Enough and Do Not Re-Elect ANY Incumbents In November.....Not Even The King Bee!
Hello folks, Syria is not Libya. Waging an all-out war against Syria is a further step towards WWIII. People who support a UN or NATO intervention in Syria are by extension in favor of World War III.
Obama has outBushed Bush. Our country in its short history has bombed over 65 countries. We have been a country for approximately 236 years and have been at war for 216 of those years.
Currently, Washington has wars underway, or occupations, or is violating the sovereignty of countries with drones and/or troops in seven Muslim countries, and is arming rebels in Syria. All of this is being done without the constitutionally-required authorization by Congress, allegedly the people’s representatives.
We are broke, our allies are broke but yet we can somehow come up with the taxpayer funding to invade another country? Now why is that? Middle class and the poor get the bill for the war and the rich get richer for funding and supplying all the materials used in war. Not only do they (Halliburton, Bechtel, GE, Northrop Grumman, etc.) benefit from the armaments but from the rebuilding of the cities and buildings they bomb. It’s a “win win” situation for the purveyors of war and everybody else loses and yet you have the sheeple buying into the propaganda they use to incite support for war.
In the past year, Syria has seen a massive infusion of arms and terrorists from outside its borders. At the same time, the U.S. has attempted to manipulate world public opinion and exploit the chaos it unleashed in Syria.
The U.S., NATO, Saudi Arabia, and Israel continue to stir up trouble in Syria to get a larger war going in the region. The U.S. and their allies have openly admitted to funding the rebels who they know consist of Al Qaeda. Look at all the lives and money lost on "the war on terror". Know we are aiding and abbetting the terrorists. They are not only supplying armaments they are supplying U.S. paid mercenaries.
Rebels have attempted to stage ‘false flags’ recently when British Channel 4 reporter Alex Thomson was purposefully led by rebels into a trap whereby it was hoped he would be killed by government troops and his death used as a propaganda stunt. Rebels have set off bombs next to the UN peacekeeper's hotel.
Washington’s goal is to build up an international consensus to carry out a larger military operation against the Assad government under the cover of a “humanitarian intervention.” So far, that consensus has been lacking because the case for a military solution is based on total lies and U.S.-Israeli war propaganda, much of which has been repudiated by evidence gathered by independent journalists and eye witnesses on the ground in Syria.
According to Veterans Today:
“There is no question this is a Washington-orchestrated war. It is a low-level war to the extent that NATO has not gotten directly involved. But it is exactly what happened in Libya last year. An insurgency began; Washington orchestrated it; insurgents were recruited; they were funded; they were armed; they were US special forces, British special forces, CIA, MI6, Qatari special forces. They are in Syria now; they are directing these massacres, these killings. They are funding, they are training; they are picking targets; they are leading these dead squad games to places like Houla [and] Takiba. They are picking up who to slaughter. They go after pro-Assad loyalists.
You always have to ask, when terrible incidents occur, whether it is car bombings, whether it is massacres of civilians, cui bono, who benefits? Assad gets nothing from this. Only the opposition gains. Assad is the victim. The victim is being blamed for the perpetrator’s crimes. But again make no mistake. The nexus of this struggle emanates from Washington, doesn’t matter whether it is Obama, [former US President] George Bush or anybody else. Syria, and other regional countries, have been targeted for regime change for years, at least a decade. It was only the question when each one would come up. Syria’s turn came up and violence has been raging since early last year.”
Folks this has been pre-planned for a while, Syria has been on the list for a long time and now their time has come up. Do you really want another unnecessary war? Do you want your children fighting for another corporate war? I keep adding General Clark’s admonition of America’s plan to take over the Middle East because it is playing itself out right in front of the world! This isn’t a necessary war!
General Wesley Clark: "America will take out 7 countries in 5 years"
According to Former NATO supreme allied commander, former presidential candidate and 4 star US General Wesley Clark that they had received a memo that America is going to take out 7 countries in the Middle East starting with Iraq, Libya, Syria Lebanon Sudan, Somalia, and finally Iran. It is amazing that even if it is taking longer than originally planned, how these things that were planned years ago are being achieved in front of our eyes.
Folks, haven’t we spread enough blood shed and death around the world? This isn’t a necessary war! If you support this carnage you are as complicit as those that are pulling the triggers and dropping the bombs.
EXCELLENT!!!
Hitler was no Christian, he promoted the so called German Church which was nordic pagan and Aryan, anti old testament, and anti anything jewish. Hitler only pretended to be a christian to hoodwink the Catholics and Lutherans. His eventual aim was to revive the pagan nordic gods.
Hey, WESTERN world ----- The Syrian conflict is a sectarian, neighborhood dispute. Bloody and vicious as it is, it should be handled SOLELY by the local combatants. Both, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have OVERWHELMING military hardware (including many "regional" front line aircraft and tanks) and even personnel. Let them support the "rebels". The West, INCLUDING ISRAEL AND THE UNITED STATES, must keep their distance no matter what happens.
Still more lies and propaganda. The buildings that were supposedly hit by airstrikes are very much more likely to have been blown up by NATO's terrorist friends. Hilary and company desperately want to impose "no fly zones" in Syria and will stop at nothing to fabricate the necessary pretext.
Who Started the War in Afganistan? Does anyone remember? Its been going on now for over 9 years with american troops.
Who withdrew more than 100 thousand troups in the last 3 years? HUMMMM.
I heard that the rebels downed a helicopter with 10 people in it, in Afghanistan today. I was just wondering if they have borrowed the weapon from Free Syrian Army rebels. You know they after all belong to same society, religion, taliban.
Rebel would definitely help another rebel.
What do you guys think?
Dlsteph,even though I agree with you about the draw down Obama did if you are really a history buff and you want to ask who started the war in Afghanistan this is not a seperate war. You people need to see that this is one huge war from the start of the Soviet-Afghan War to the current War of today. The Afghans kicked the Soviets out and dismantled their puppet government just to have decades of bloodshed and sectarian violence orchestrated by the Taliban and other warlord/freedom fighter factions. In 1999 the Taliban rested control and won the war except for small bands of fighters called the Northern Alliance who were fighting the Taliban on the pay roll of the U.S. government and we even used special forces operations to hamper the Taliban from slaughtering this faction. The invasion began 2001 but special forces were already on the ground for months supporting the Northern Alliance who helped our invasion forces chase the Taliban out of the major provinces and thier capitols. So you want to blame Afghanistan for the war we were intervening since day 1 and then they turned on us. That is what I see the future of Syria becoming, another Afghanistan.
All because of the good old land of the free to tell the rest of the world how to act.
The Middle East is the Land of da Devil. The U S should just stay out of there. They will never have Peace.
Why do all the Middle Eastern women have to dress up like “Cousin It”?
Hopefully there will come a day when we can tell them to “Drink their Oil and Eat their Sand”.
Remember Republicans, when these Foreign Countries ask for Aid and Funding….just say No.
Cut off all Funding to Foreign Countries, especially Pakistan. Why are we giving them Billions of $$$$$$ just to be our “Little Friend”? Did they Apologize for Hiding Out Bin Laden?
You Bet Cha….Fer Sure
Hundreds of millions Pakistanis. tossing them all down the drain is not a viable policy.
Yes, letting them go down the drain they've been circling for hundreds of years IS a viable policy. No matter how much money we send to them to be stolen by one whackjob or another, they will be sewer-swimming for eternity. It's their culture. Staying with the Hindus in India was their only hope.
Hey jstdafacts
You are so full off hate and ignorant that you despise what your country stand for that if you are a American. Freedom...freedom and dreams....
No...if you know your history at all,any relatively 'new' religon such as this goes thru growing pains and bloody as this is,it is just that.Does anyone remember a thousand years ago,with Christianity?Does this all sound familiar?Our 'Crusaders'were famous for this..for many years Christians of all sects shed blood for their cause.Shi'ites and Sunni's are no different. And YES the USA and the rest of the world should stay out of this mess,other than humanitarian and economic reasons.Yes we can sell them weapons,but the conflict itself should follow natural courses for as we know..every time we intervene we screw it up..
Remember Republicans? It is the republicans that (Bush) invaded the region and are beholden to the Saudis (again, Bush) --- it is the republicans that want to continue to crown oil as king, which the Saudis love, it is the republicans that favor international corp. many OWNED or heavily invested by these oil oligarchs, over the American people. The republicans sold the US a long time ago buddy ---- it is they that first put BOOT on the ground in the region.
Jimmy Carter was probably the first president to actually put US troops in the Middle East after WWII...Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson had plans in place to do so if certain conditions arose..
Oh well more blow back from American covert operations....I wonder has anyone in the government come up with a plan to deal with these Shi'ites after Assad and gang defeat these "rebels".
Don't know if you've been paying attention, but, Asaad and gang are on their last legs. The only question now is where they will flee to; Russia, China, or Iran!
Their heads will fit on top of a pig pole. Lead by example.
Barry I don't really understand your comment?
On the last legs yeah thats why the Rebels are losing Aleppo and Damascus.
These are pathetic terrorists who have shown that they will even resort to bombing buildings to get there way. A bunch of cowards who hide in the skirts of the innocent people just trying to live thier lives without getting blown to pieces by artillery.
And the only reason they could even win is because those bastard Turks are protecting them with their military on the border
Screw the Turks and kill them all we all know they don't want peace in Syria because their is a huge Kurd population there that I know the Turks would just love to make secondary class citizens like they are in their own country.
These rebels are terrorists nothing more if they really cared for lives they would give up and beg for mercy from an apparentlly lenient regime that has only really started using it's heaviest weapons when the rebels showed themselves to be more than a few pests and took Damascus and Allepo.
Every time Dick Cheney hears da word “Invasion”…..he gets a “Boehner”. You Bet Cha…Fer Sure.
This is Obama, not Cheney you jerk.
Aaaaah, if only Bashar would capitulate - take the "Dacha on the Caspian" offer that a 'little bird' told me had been made to him, by some nice person with some extra room for an bad, but understandable, and therefore forgivable, guy like Bashar al-Assad in their nation-state on the Caspian - and the Iranians would Rise Up and throw off the fascists who've betrayed there own revolution......if onlyu we had a President Rafsanjani and/or Khatamai making covert getures (through the Swiss Ambassador) to re-open Diplomatic Relations with the western world, while recognizing Israel and opening Formal Diplomatic Relations between tel Aviv and tehran, too, all while the (now deceased) leader of Hizbollah is loudly - shockingly! - and very publically proclaiming that "Israel has the Right To Exist", like we did back in , oh, say, 2004, 2005-ish......
Wow! Look at what One Idiot - in this case, John Bolton - and one bunch of PTSD Afflicted (but lovable) Old War Hawks, in Israel - can DO to the Future that - because of THEM - NOW ISN'T!!! Eh? Condi Rice?
Once again Islam tries to show how civilized they are to the rest of the world by pitting Shia against Sunni for the complete domination of a sand box.
Kinda reminds me of the troubles. 1000 years ago muslims were developing algebra and chemistry while christians were burning heretics and people who bathed more than once a year. I see what's happening in the middle east not as a condemnation of Islam, but of any system where education is withheld and religious beliefs take prescidence over knowledge and reason.
Thank you..exactly
freecascadian: Christians were burning people who bathed more than once a year? The "religious beliefs" you speak of are interpretations of the Quran by a large minority of Muslims and what is occurring in the Middle East is, therefore, a condemnation of Islam.
The middle east is about to ignite and the war will be on. Many books have described this scenario and it's coming to be. Hopefully the Iranian government will be destroyed that Iranian people will be free to live as they please.
Hezbollah is a joke. If not for Iran funding them they couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. Screw them and the cheap Chinese bike they rode in on.
We can't afford to take it on. If they are going to dissolve into war, we have to let them. The Saudi's have money, the Qataris have money. Let them blow their own resources on it, they are the ones who would benefit the most from peace. We should not do it for them.
You are absolutely wrong. You should read my novel ‘Twins in Arms.’ If you believe that the twenty thousands of well educated fighters of Hezbollah that they could fit in any society on our planet is a joke, than you must be living in a desperate land. As today, Zion has its match.
Hezbollah is no joke, they can run up the body count as well as any other Muslim terrorist group...
A few days ago, I posted it was stupid of the media giving the location of the rebels. That it just gives Assad info of where to send air strikes. Now today, we hear Assad sent air strikes in that area. I really don't know if anyone in this world knows how to fight wars any more. We are in a wacky era today. The only thing working well, is arm sales by US,China,Russia and Europe. Who is stupid today? These four countries buys these leaders of the middle east a villa in Dubai, plus plenty of cash for a life time. This is a weird time for sure.
Yea, a few days ago it was Azaz in which that reporter captured that nifty shot of an obsolete anti-aircraft gun mounted on the bed of a pickup truck engaging a Syrian military jet.
The story was something about the evil wicked Assad killing innocent civilians.
Later we had another story about the rebels controlling the border crossings with Turkey, crossings like the village of Azaz, and bringing weapons and supplies across.
Today we're back to another story about airstrikes on Azaz.
Makes one wonder whether the Syrian air force is hitting the border crossing of Azaz because weapons and supplies are coming across to be used in the battle at Aleppo?
Civilians with half a brain should know enough to get outta Dodge when both the cavalry and the indians show up looking for a fight.
Lebanese military forces have been confiscating weapons from Syrian refugees...it seems the Lebanese still remember the 2005 hotel bombings by the Syrians...
You'd think it would be in the "Dictators' Handbook" somewhere that when things get to the point where keeping your people in line requires sending fighter jets to bomb your own cities, that that's probably the queue that it's time to retire to the lake-front villa in a friendly third-world country that conveniently doesn't have an extradition agreement with the UN war crimes tribunal... this @!$%# really isn't gonna give up, is he...
I wonder at what point Russia and China will decide to withdraw support from Assad? You'd think by now what's obvious to everyone else, would be obvious to them (the Assad reign is toast)?
They're just afraid they're going to be out of the equation when the dust settles. Too bad there's not some way we (or perhaps more properly, the Arab world), could credibly offer to help them wiith that, in exchange for "doing the right thing".
There is no right thing, except the Arabs dealing with this on their own.
Who Cares!
If you don't understand why you should care you are seriously dumb!
Aw gee whiz Mike076, explain why we should care. C'mon speak up boy.
human much ?
We, the United States, absolutely must not get involved with this, no matter what happens. We will be in the middle with both sides against us by turns, just like in Iraq. You will all remember what happened over there. Yes, its sad that so many are suffering, but the Arab world needs to deal with this entirely on their own. We would just drag ourselves into financial ruin by taking on their chaos.
How many things did we build in Iraq that were just destroyed immediately afterwards? How many in Afghanistan? No one would benefit from our involvement in Syria and it would just be a huge waste of our lives and resources to go there. The Arabs need to be untrained from thinking we will step in and try to solve their problems. Their getting over this belief would probably be the one thing that might help move them all toward civility with the modern world.
Not sure how true that is, the rebels are pretty desperate there was a video the other day where a lot of them were considering taking aide from the al-quida in exchange for their allegiance (which they didn't want to be a part of) but they felt that was the only way to they could deal with their government and they said they would deal with al quida later.. I'm not suggesting we put ground troops there but establishing a no-fly zone would go a long way with their trust and establishing relations with the soon to be new government (if they succeed). Its pretty sick they resort to bombing their own villages
Very True Brendan. Who has been the voice of every person who has been victimized
by deranged authoritarian assasins? The United States.
Sadly, the powers have shifted.
KNOW THIS: CHINA and RUSSIA have steadfastly and predictibly vetoed
ANY AND ALL USA attempts at intervention.
Why is this? It is directly attributible to OBAMA.
They know he has a lack of tes*tic*ular fortitude. If you doubt my words, look at the
Russian invasian of USA air and water boundaries since OBAMA took
office (beginning 2009).
They would not do this under GB, WHY? Because they knew he was an American. Obama has given all opponets of America a green light to do any and everything they want, REGARDLESS of human life.
So.... Thank you, EVERYONE who voted for OBAMA last election. I pray that the lives lost by your vote will not harm you. But we all live by our choices. Think! My friends.
Please see what is involved, it is much more than YOU.
Interesting set of comments, joz. "Mission Accomplished"! These two words, put together, outline the lack of Testicular Fortitude that the Cheney/Bush team had for addressing military objectives.
Your breast-beating humpha undoubtedly works wonders at your local Teabagger meetings, but here in the real and rational world, they are just blabber.
The same thing that happened to Saddam Hussein will happen to Assad and his wife, it's just a matter of time. Those Syrian fighter pilots should be held accountable too. If we get involved in this we would just get a kick in the Ass later for it.
Israel treats it's enemies better than these arab leaders treat their own citizens. Iran (and it's proxy hizbulah) and Russia are backing Assad heavily as Iran's survival is on the line as well.
After Assad is gone, I am hoping for rivival of the 2009 failed revolution against the Iranian theocratic dictators.
We can't even afford to get involved for Israel. The Israelis should keep their heads down and focus on defending their borders. Let the Arabs sort out their internal disputes. Both sides hate the Israelis, if they are smart they will do their best to stay out of the way.
Obama missed his chance at doing the right thing when he refused to support the 2009 Iranian revolutionaries...it appears they weren't radical Muslims.....Iran is inching towards another youthful revolution just like the one that overthrew the Shah of Iran in 1979.....
numerous other murders, unlawful killings, acts of torture, rape and other sexual violence and indiscriminate attacks on civilians
Just another day of Muslims following the examples set forth by Mohammad (Al-Insan al-Kamil)....the perfect man...
What a sensational story... too bad it's not our f'n problem.
this is great, the rebels are filled with al qaeda fighters. Bet you didn't know that.
Americans need to wake up.
I did know that, we still can't get involved. If we make a knee jerk reaction and go to war wherever some religious radicals call themselves Al Qaeda we will bankrupt ourselves. They defeated the Soviets by making them spend themselves to death and they intend the same for us. The best thing to do is to stay away and let their plan fail.
Hey let take out Assad and in his place we can send in Mitt & Ryan...They'll do good with a bunch of flea baggers, and all the teawackers and RepublicanPUKEs that want war we can send them to.
You are an idiot. No other way to phrase it.
I am only suprised that Iran and Hezbollah haven't sent their armies into Syria en mass yet. I did read about 28 "Pilgrims" from Iran. Heard about plenty of "Freedom Fightes" from other Sunni states. The ME is about to explode. The US needs to stay the f out of it.
Ahhhh. Our daily dose of "we might wanna think about gettin' involved", "pro rebel", "anti Assad" propaganda.
Don't bite, people.
Keep an eye on the baited hook, smell it occasionally, then swim off quickly.
Our government has bigger fish to fry.
yep,america does not need to getin volved at all. this is a middle east problem. we have lost enough of AMERICAN military peoplefor no reason at all.
The UN determines that the rebel forces have committed the same atrocities as Syrian loyalists,but not the same ,"gravity,frequency,and scale"....wow,i feel better about the rebels now...their rape, murder and pillage percentage is a bit lower..
Something was left out of this story...they are at war...And if I remember rightly...wasn't it President Bush who said that civilian casualities are common in WAR...Guess that only applys when WE KILL CIVILIANS!!!!!
Civilian casualties have occurred in every war in history..
...spills into Lebanon."
That's what the jihadis want, to enlarge this war to Lebanon, long a thorn in their side as the Christian Maronites have a say in the government, unlike the totally Muslim governments of virtually all other Muslim countries. So many Christians have fled the persecution...
Of course, the Jews of Lebanon, there since Biblical days, are long gone.
Syria and Assad have the right to protect his people from these thugs , these murdering Alqaida thugs the one we are supporting and arming on the request of the countries that attacked us on 9/11 , these Saudis and Qataris trying to control that area and Syria's Assad stand in their way because he is not a Muslim Wahhabi and have the Christians living in peace in his Syria , these murderers are beheading people in public and throwing them of buildings roof tops , The US , NATO , Turkey are helping in training these thugs and smuggling then into Syria and the Saudis and Qataris paying their salaries and paying the Syrian Sunnis to flee the government , Israel helping and hoping that Syria will end up breaking into little states , so they control that part of the world , just listen to Henry Kissinger , Hillary , McCain , Graham , Lieberman and Mr. Obama should be ashamed and should answer to the American people about why they are helping the same thugs that attacked here on 9/11 , and why are they sending our tax dollars to these Alqaida groups in Syria , Mrs. Clinton breaking her neck flying ever where trying to create a safe area for these thugs , wake my Friends before its too late , these people trying to get us in a war that will change our life for ever , these people went from lawyers to world solving problems and their clients are not the American people that voted them in , their client's are the corrupt Kings and Princes and Israel the country that do not wish good for the US , THE ONLY THING THEY ARE DOING IS TRYING TO GET US IN WW3 , AND THEY ARE DOING PRETTY DAMMED GOOD JOB AT IT , OUR POLITICIANS LOOKING FOR THE INTEREST OF OTHER COUNTRIES INSTEAD OF OURS , WAKE UP .
You had me until you started blaming Israel. Israel knows that these Arab states are artificial conglomerations of tribes and far more dangerous as loose cannons than as ever-so-slightly modern and ruled by a saber-rattling dictator like Assad. They don't want the whole ME going up around them. You're naive to think Israel wants Assad out. They probably even wanted Saddam to stay, as he was a counter to the Iranians, but his murderous ways got the Israelis, the only democratic people in the ME, worked up.
The Al Qaeda involvement in Syria is recent, and I expect it's targeted at trying to get us dug into the ME again so they can force us to spend money in order to take us down with the same plan they used against the Soviets. It's time to cut our losses. Nothing would be so frustrating for Al Qaeda as our not showing up.
Third way, do you not understand Al Aaeda?
These people are not just wanting to sink the U.S. into another quagmire they don't care if we intervene or not what they are doing is strategically reorganising using Syria to do it.
After Assad falls Al Qaeda will do everything to make sure a fundamentalist government takes over and after they are done all the new meat that they have aquired in Syria will cross the border into Iraq and they will attack again to destroy the American supported regime of Iraq.
This is strategical not them trying to beat us again.
The problem with our intelligence is we vastly underestimate just how intelligent this organization is at the core.