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Ugarit News via AP
In this image taken from video obtained Thursday, people are seen after an airstrike on a gas station in Raqqa, Syria.
Scores of people were killed and wounded in a series of airstrikes— including one that hit a gas station — across Syria Thursday, according to activists.
Mousab Azzawi, of the British-based Syrian Network for Human Rights, told NBC News that there had been a marked escalation in air attacks by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.
He said his group had the names of 129 people who had been killed in places such as Homs, Aleppo, Hama, Idlib and suburbs of Damascus, but that he expected the death toll to rise as they were trying to verify 82 other names of people said to have been killed.
A Syrian activist group is claiming that at least 54 people are dead after a gas station is attacked in the northern portion of the country. NBCNews.com's Al Stirrett reports.
An airstrike on the town of Ain Issa, about 25 miles from the Turkish border, was said by activists to have hit a gas station, killing anywhere between 10 and 150 people, according to different reports.
Syria: Army chopper hits airliner with 200 aboard
Azzawi said they had confirmed the names of 10 people killed in that attack and were working to verify 18 others. His group uses a network of people on the ground who attempt to confirm reports of deaths with family members or medical staff.
"The regime today has been escalating the airstrikes on every province in the country," he said. "If you look about the map, there is no province spared today from being attacked … the regime is trying to go further on the military solution and thinking in that way he’ll be able to crack down on the rebels."
Barrels of TNT
Azzawi said Assad’s forces could not afford bombs, but were instead using planes to drop barrels filled with TNT explosives “in a very primitive way.”
He said he feared the final death toll from Thursday's attacks would be 200 or 300.
Obaida Fares, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council and a human rights activist, told NBCNews.com that they had confirmed 50 deaths in the Ain Issa attack, which he said hit the Hisham gas station.
Report: Iran ships arms, personnel to Syria via Iraqi airspace
He said there had been "many" airstrikes across Syria, but had not noticed a marked increase Thursday. Fares said they were still trying to confirm numbers of dead throughout the country and described the Ain Issa airstrike as "the main one."
Rebel fighters in Syria claim to have seized another border crossing into Turkey, from the control of President Assad's government forces. But around the capital Damascus, the rebels are losing ground. Three southern suburbs have been retaken by the president's forces. ITV's Bill Neely reports from Damascus.
Another SNC member, Obeida Nahas, added that the death toll at Ain Issa "is expected to be high, because the raid took place on the only [gas] station that had supplies and people were queuing to buy fuel.”
NYT: Schools re-open in war-torn Syria but students stay away
Nahas said earlier that they had heard reports from activists on the ground in Syria that up to 150 people had been killed, but added that the Syrian National Council had not been able to verify those claims.
Another group of anti-regime activists, the Local Coordination Committees, reported intense attacks by warplanes on the gas station. That group did not give a death toll, saying only that many people were killed or wounded. It said more than 70 wounded people were taken to a hospital in the provincial capital of Raqqa.
NBC News' Ian Johnston, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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The terrorist fsa are losing much world wide support as the exposure and true motives are known ! How interesting is the USA tyring to sweep Mr. Stephens brutal sadistic murder under the rug to avoid the terrorist tag which is what it was ! nato and the west has lied about Syria from day one. If an American life does not mean ANYTHING to the American government-then what happens to the Syrian people really does not matter at all to them. All the USA wants to do is support alQaida and put them in power. We have a sick corrupt government. Never on the news do you see the many Christians butchered by these fsa thugs ! Assad is one of the few to stand up to this madness !
Pretty much just a bleak reality for people over there. They are screwed no matter what the outcome is.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. If this were such a democratic uprising how come the only people taking part in it are Sunnis? Why are the Christians, Kurds, and Druze completely avoiding anything to do with this uprising even though they're 30% of the population and would probably benefit from a supposedly more open society?
Better to just let Assad steamroll these FSA thugs as you see. The last thing we need is an active Sunni insurgency in Syria linking-up with the ongoing Sunni insurgency in Iraq. Last I checked there was NOT ONE Shiite suicide bomber during the whole Iraq war. Last I checked the vast majority of foreign fighters entering Iraq came through Syria not Iran.
Few people in America realize that al-qaeda is the activists in Stria.
Obama is pulling the same bait and switch he pulled when he helped the muslime brotherhood and al-qaeda overthrow the governments of Egypt and LibyILLIONa.
For those of you that did not understand what I just said.
Egypt and Libya are now under the control of the muslime brotherhood and al-qaeda.
Barack Obama has sent over $2.5 BILLION of your dollars to them.
Starting in October Barack Obama is sending another $2 BILLION of your dollars to the muslime brotherhood and al-qaeda.
Why is Barack Obama sending terrorists money???
FORWARD?????
Some people were killed in Syria.... Yaaawn. that happens in war. Not our fight let those people settle it. I for one am not for change in any these countries because all your gonna get in charge is some crazy religious zealot with ties to Muslim Brotherhood or other dangerous organizations. At least the dictators in these countries kept most of the religious crazies under their thumb and were largely secular. People of other faiths or lifestyles were relatively unmolested. So these rotten dictators threw a few crazy religious zealots in the woodchipper who cares. Now people of of other lifestyles or beliefs will be under attack when these supposedly "good" revolutionaries take over. (read Islamic extremist) I dont know if Dear Leader is naive or part of a sinister plot. Neither of which is good.
crazy how some fools call FSA terrorists when they (former Assad forces refusing to kill unarmed citizens) while saying nothing bad about a mass murdering dictator thinking only of himself in his genocide efforts against citizens seeking freedom and rights
Too many american boys have died for that hopeless mess in the middle east. I'm sure Obozo will get us involved. I KNOW Romney will......... I feel I have nowhere to turn
Obama, nor anyone in this adminstration, nor in France nor Britain, is going to run to the aid of the rebels, after the ones in Libya, Egypt, and particularly Afghanistan after 8 years of US aid, expensive arms and money, all backstabbed us. The fundimentalist militant Sunni, no matter where they are, or no matter what they call themselves at the time, always turn on us, even after we saved them from the USSR for almost 8 years.
If their leader kills off most of his people, then he won't have any one to be a leader for, he will only have the ones that will kill for him and the ones that think it is alright to kill off most of their own people. He is another Hitler, with friends just like him.
I suggest to give activists in Syria more advanced weapons! Then send some ambassadors and marines so they could use those weapons right away. Why wait for free democratic elections? Activists can begin killing Americans now. I believe in the activists over there. They had a lot of training in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and know how to kill and torture!
Like we did in Libya? See how that turned out with our Ambassador and 3 other Americans killed
sarcasm is lost on some people :(
In the beginning I felt some sympathy for the rebels , but in recent weeks I have lost all sympathy and now just want us out of the region all together . No more troops , no more drones , no more aid !
SuperNormalGuy I think you got all backward buddy , Hitler today are McCain , Hillary , Lieberman , Graham ,Obama and all these no good senators of ours , they are arming and training Alqaida and Muslims brother hood thugs in Syria to kill civilians and Christians , they are destroying Syria schools plants and homes and every thing in Site , that's your freedom fighters , Just like our freedom fighters in Libya , you saw what kind of freedom fighters they are , they are Saudis and Qataris Alqiada and Muslims Wahhabi's , they want to destroy Syria and every thing Christian in that part of the world , look what happened to the Christians in Iraq after we invaded , so Bush is just as bad Obama when it comes to take of Christians , Obama might be Muslims according to Palin and McCain and Romney , But Bush and Obama's senators listen to the orders of the Alqiada's masters ( The Saudis and Qataris ) . I hope Assad kick these thugs ass and send them to hell , and I hope the Christians in that part of the world be little patiant , because I understand most of them fleeing their homes . shame on you Hillary , McCain , Lieberman and Graham you all do not care about any body but your pockets and your Fing Israel , the war monger country , quit lying to the American people , and shame on all of our paid off and crooked Media too , why don't you try to tell little truth and show whats really happening in Syria , if you do not answer to the American people , you have to answer to God one day , then go to hell .
So sad, bring our troops home and close our embassys over there. Use our troops to patrol our borders.
I hear you Sheryl-1137681.... This should have been the front page news story but as usual with NBC they bury the best news under pro Obama rhetoric. I predict that Foreign will be dominating the news Monday... The "new" Middle East Crisis is going to be a thorn in Pres Obama's side
.
Let's see....our fearless leaders wanted Mobarak in Egypt to step down.....bad move, they provided air support to get Gaddafi out....bad move, now they want Asaad out and put the rebels in power (with their fellow Al Queda fighters). I think I'd rather have Asaad in control of the WMD he got from Saddam. For some reason Al Queda and WMD dont sit well with me......how about you?
If you caN NOT BELIEVE bozoHUSSEN'S CORRUPT MACHINE, YOU CAN YA BELIEVE??!!
obama got on TV and lied to the Prez of Mexico about him & Holder giving guns to the Drug Cartel.
how about the Whoppers BOZOhussen & Over-the Hill'y are saying about the killing of the USA embassy staff... it was an over -done riot about a movie, that NO one has even seen...It had nothing to do with BOZO shouting " I Killed Osama and saved GM"...it just happened on 9/11.. NOTHING to see here..
Move along....Where is the American Journalism?? OUT drinking KOOLaid with the sheep leader---
OoooobbBAAAAAhhMMMaaaa-- put on your flower pot hats and sing along!!!Drink it UP, Drink it GOOD...BbbbBAAAaaahhhaaa!!!! the chosen one has fixed everything!!! Bad BUSH!!!!BBBAAAHHHAAA!!
If these fanatics want to kill each other left and right, so be it. It's a pity. But we need to stay out of this Syrian problem. Let the Arabs and Muslims handle it any way they can.
Stay out of it. Those people over there hate us. They have consistently been showing us that they will bite the hand that feeds them! Why waste our lives, time, and money. A good example is Libya, we helped them to get rid of their dictator, now they just burnt down our embassy and four of our people!
Not our problem,,,
If we help them kill Assad, they will be killing Americans next.
Earthycat, I'm just wondering if, after you remove all the religious fable from your article there, what you think you might have left?
I don't know what's wrong with McCain and friends but they are on the wrong side of this issue. I like articles like this one, keep up the good work. Always nice to hear the bad guys complaining about being roughed up.
rick....Mccain, Bush, the Clintons, obama and the like are all progressive "new world order" BSers!!!
If you caN NOT BELIEVE bozoHUSSEN'S CORRUPT MACHINE, YOU CAN YA BELIEVE??!!
obama got on TV and lied to the Prez of Mexico about him & Holder giving guns to the Drug Cartel.
how about the Whoppers BOZOhussen & Over-the Hill'y are saying about the killing of the USA embassy staff... it was an over -done riot about a movie, that NO one has even seen...It had nothing to do with BOZO shouting " I Killed Osama and saved GM"...it just happened on 9/11.. NOTHING to see here..
Move along....Where is the American Journalism?? OUT drinking KOOLaid with the sheep leader---
OoooobbBAAAAAhhMMMaaaa-- put on your flower pot hats and sing along!!!Drink it UP, Drink it GOOD...BbbbBAAAaaahhhaaa!!!! the chosen one has fixed everything!!! Bad BUSH!!!!BBBAAAHHHAAA!!
Hey Joe, didn't you cut and paste this very same statement into a thread yesterday? I'm pretty sure you did. Cutting and pasting is okay, it eliminates the need to have any thoughts of your own, but, it is also subject to information being out of date by the time you paste it.
After investigation it was determined by the courts that Holder had no knowledge of the Fast and Furious deal before he was questioned about it.
After it was investigated by professionals assigned to the case, by the president if I'm not mistaken, it became obvious that it was a planned and organized terrorist attack and the government informed us about that finding today. Prior to that we did not have enough evidence to prove anything but conjecture. While it may have been very obvious to those of us that have years of experience as professional armchair detectives, what really did happen, it wouldn't necessarily make our educated guesses hold up in court. Imagine the wrath of the public if this administration had concluded, the crime was something else, without proper investigation. If you can consistently solve international murders in three hours or less, I bet they'd find a role for you on Perry Mason.
This isnt about holder its about Assad but if you knew anything how fed cases work it goes like this. Agent has possible case or idea for one. They get approval from their boss, the SAC, then depending on the case it gets further review. This one would be a Tier 1 or top level investigation with international implications. This goes right to Justice Department AND the White House for reveiw. Since it goes to White House you now have the executive privilege. Holder would have to know about it and approve it. Joe Schmo agent isnt going to be starting cases with international implications without approval. There are tight reigns on these type of investigations.
Maybe Obama can help, Oh he's out of town campaigning. Oh I mean complaining. I bet Bush did it!
Mousab Azzawi is the lone guy in England who is the "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights". A horrible man, and of good service to no one.
Bring together several thousand people with weapons and tell them to head to our Capitol and see what happens....Within 24 hours it would be total bloodshed and if the foot soldiers couldn't handle it you bet the Government would use air power and drones to squash the uprising. Syria is doing the same thing but we call it an unfair and unnecessary use of force because we're the ones who are behind this uprising. We're the ones financing and providing logistical support along with weapons and supplies. How many private contractors are heading from Iraq and Afghanistan to Syria as we speak? This is just another quasi war being waged by the US and their allies in the region in an attempt to overthrow an unpopular regime. We are the ones engaging in international terrorism but we hide it under the guise of Democracy....Makes me sick to my stomach to know that I love such a hypocritical country like the United States. Here's a question for the puppet masters who are running this little campaign of death: Do you have a plan this time after you've removed the unpopular leaders and installed your new puppet regime or are you going to just sneak out the back door and leave the country in total disarray like Iraq and Libya? Is that the end game to just uproot the entire Middle East and send it into total chaos? You're doing a pretty good job at it right now....Obama has proved that he's clueless and a complete idiot. Vote for some real change this November and lets send this Socialist Power hungry Pig back to Chicago....Maybe he can get a job doing something he's qualified to do like empty trash cans or sweeping some streets
overunder I am glad to see few people understanding whats really happening in Syria , but you are wrong on two points buddy , 1) Assad is very popular in Syria , or he couldn't have lasted that long , he got the Christians , the Alwites and most of the Sunnis behind him now more than ever , after they found out who's really behind this so called Hillary's and McCain ,Lieberman , Graham and Obama's freedom fighters . and what their plans for Syria , and the beheading of people and destruction of Churches schools and every thing Syria lives on , 2) It does not matter who's in the white house , I even think Romney will worse than Obama when it comes to wars . he is a puppet for McCain , Lieberman , Graham and the rest of these war monger senators , and off course his love and respect for the most war monger man in the whole wide world ( NATENYAHU ) THE HITLER OF THE WORLD , THE GUY THAT THAT THINK THE US SHOULD DO WHAT EVER HE SAYS , BECAUSE HE IS THE LEADER OF THE CHOSEN ONES , LOL ) . The Saudis and Qataris ( Alqaida's Masters and financiers ) are telling our Honorable politicians what to do , NATO on board off course , so they can go in and steal what they can to help their broken economy , The TURKS GETTING PAID BILLIONS , JUST LIKE OUR POLITICIANS , LEBANON AND JORDAN GETTING MONEY AND PROMISES SOME PART OF SYRIA , TURKEY TOO . So here you go no body care about the civilians and the Christians any where , Alqiada and the Muslims brother hood want Syria for new base , But that want happened , Russia and China and Iran won't let the US get by with this war , not this time , I promise you , But Hillary and our crooked politicians cannot see it . I hope our Generals take control of the situation and not put our troops in harms way , on the orders of our dumb and ignorant civilian leaders .
You are a little off base, the Sunnis are not supporting Assad, Iran is....The Alawites are a Shia based Islamic sect...just today Assad was in Iran getting more Shi'ite support...The Sunnis are supporting the Al-Qaeda revolutionaries...Al=Qaeda is a Sunni organization...As soon as the Muslim Brotherhood takes control of Syria it will become just another Islamic terrorist breeding ground....just like Pakistan, Egypt, Yemen, Sudan, Libya, Iraq, and Iran...
Are you mad with BiBi because he refuses to submit to the Islamic nutcases?
Pulsar182 I am not really off base , and you are right the Alwaits are shia base Islamic sect , but you wrong Assad was not in Iran today , one of the Iranians minister that was at the meeting in Cairo was in Damascus and met Assad , and you are right , Alqaida is a Sunni terrorists just like the Wahhabi's and the Muslims brother hood , the Alqaida and the Wahhabi are funded and founded by the Saudis and the Muslim brother hood are funded by the Qataris , and that's should tell you and all the senators we have that the Saudis and Qataris are the ones we should go after , not Iran and Syria , and what I meant by the Sunnis with Assad , there are some modern Sunnis and the ones that love their country more than they love the FING Saudis and Qataris and listen to their crazy sheiks fatwas , that stayed loyal not to Assad , but to the safety of Syria and not wanting these thugs to destroy their country and kill their country men , (I wish we had some politicians like that here ) and what so funny with all this , you got Hillary , McCain , Lieberman , Graham , Obama and other senators that arming and training these thugs in Syria , with the knowledge that they are the Alqaida and Muslims Wahhabi's , the same ones that attacked here on 9/11 and in Libya and Afghanistan and Yemen , but in Yemen we made a deal along with the Saudis to pay 5000 of these Alqaida fighters and gave them safe pass to turkey and then into Syria so they can fight the Assad Regime , you tell me why are we doing that , if it was not for the sake of Israel , because Syria is an ally of Iran and Israel threatening Iran every day , and that's my friend when I have problem with BiBi , and the other problem is , he is trying to tell us what to do and demanding us to go to war with Iran , a country that have not done anything to us , and just yesterday Israel refused to go to the meeting in Europe the one that want to inspect these countries and stop the Nuclear spread , why ?? if they are serious about Iran not having Nuke which they do not , according to every organization there is , even the American ones , why don't they accept that and invite Iran to do the same , Israel got over 200 Nukes , the ones we gave them , a country of 8 million people , telling a country of over 70 million people ( Iran ) you can not have Nuclear plants not even to supple energy for your people , I have a problem with that , ans so should every body that have common sense , I know you going to say Iran is a terrorists country , show me one instance where Iran attacked another country , and went bombed another countries energy installations , because THEY THOUGHT that it was danger to them . what would think if CANADA told us that we have too many Nukes and we need to get rid of them , or they will take care of that for us ??? Look what BiBi doing in Israel , they are taking Palestinians lands , they are building settlements on them , against every UN resolution and they are even giving contracts to companies to drill for OIL in Syria's occupied land , and that's my friend our friend in the middle east , the one we give billions of Dollars to and we build and pay for every war they go to and they always tell us to go to hell , if we ask to do anything . so you read about it and see what kind of Friend we got , not that I care too much for these no good stab you in the back Palestinians , but both of these people the Israelis and the Palestinians deserve each other , and that's two people you should say , lets them go at it , but they are both want some body Else to fight their fight and some body Else's kids to die for them .
Let them kill each other and lets stay out of it. So, that way when they kill each other off we can at least say we were not involved. I am sure the world will come up with a way to blame us, because they always do, but at least we will not kill our men and use up our money and resources.
After this week's events Syria is on its own. I think the West has learned that maybe brutal totalitarian leaders are what those people need to keep the peace. Democracy is NOT for everyone, it never was, it never will be.
Bottom line folks; Isolate Israel. There will be an assaination of Assad by U S. That leaves only Iran to be the power of Middle East. The Muslim Brotherhood is but a mix of all that bunch, al Queda, Taliban, Hamas, etc. The prime objective is to surrond and obliterate Israel as a state; Not going to happen....time is growing short until Israel attack Iran. We will be drawn into a mass air bombing of all those places. 5th fleet is already stationed there and 25 other nations' naval ships are conducting war games in the area. We have bomber bases to the north and missle armed drones would no doubt blanket the whole region. C-130 gunships are crowd control or prime target weapons that can deliver anything from machine gun to missle fire, whatever is needed. After the smoke clears, Turkey will take control of the region.....a historical fact. Islam with its Shariah law are a constitution that all of those folks believe, anything else is evil and must be destroyed, especally Israel and the U S. There is no need for boots on the ground, once our power is unleashed on them, they will come to terms without conditions because that is what they recognize. Air drop a bunch of Hormel canned hams on them and watch them scatter.
Love it !!!! a little pork belly while we are at it would not hurt, spread the rumor gas has pork fat in it!!!!
Ass--ad must go, the sooner the better, before the whole nation dies.
And were is the down side to that, not working anyplace else, need more body bags for Americans, more bullets in the back from the ones you just saved from.....the Taliban.
Tuesday Nov 6 2012- Romney admits defeat Obama orders U.S> military to take action in Syria
Syria is one of the last Islamic anti-Al Qaida, anti-Muslim Brotherhood nations, so why would we support its destruction? What is the end game to this? To put another group into national power that hates the West? The al-Assad family has never been a friend of the U.S., but to help the radical Islamist gain more real estate does not make sense.
Chuck TELL THAT TO HILLARY, McCain , Lieberman , Graham and Mr.Obama and all these dumb ass's we got in the senate that have no idea what's going on in the world , and they do not mind in rushing to send our troops to die for the same people that attacked us on 9/11 ( the Saudis and Qataris ) Its kinda of comical really to see all these so called law makers supporting , Arming and training these Alqaida and Muslims brother hood thugs in Syria , they killing Civilians and killing the Christians and destroying every thing Syria has , and we are behind that , NATO and all these so called Allies of ours , pouring money to over throw Assad , I wish they out this money into our economy and into feeding the hungry of the world , they spent enough money to do just that , ask our politicians , you can not buy them cheap , these no good Gulf states have spent billions of dollars . Go Assad I hope you kill them all and send them to Allah real fast , and I hope some body here in the US will have the Balls to investigate all these senators and leader and especially Hillary , McCain , Liberman , Graham into , why they are so crazy about sending our troops and our money to help these Alqiada and Muslims brother hood , the same thugs that attacked here and in Libya and Afghanistan and every where in the world . we do not mind spending millions to see how Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson and Charlie Sheen and all these drug heads died or got in trouble or went into the deep end , but its too much to see why our heroes dying and who's behind it . Its a Crying shame .
From the belly of the beast and the Christians are the Infidel's, how many times have we gone thru over throwing one regime for another to rid them of the other one, has not worked to well in the last 8 years, now shooting our soldiers in the back, take one sadistic bastard out and just replace with another one that hates us, only common enemy, US!!!! Only aid I would ever give them is more bullets to kill each other with, let what is happening in Afghanistan as we type be the last lesson dealing with this mess.
It seems that Romney can't wait to get into office so he can start a War with Iran. It seems the only reason these guys want to be President is so they can have their own little War. Makes them feel like a MAN.
Think we should start a new aid program, I will donate some pretty handy stuff, several 1000 rounds of ammo, pretty good armor piercing goodies as well, will need that to get thru their stupid thick skulls...LOL
We stuck our noses in Iraq and got kicked in the Ass for it. We have been TRYING to help the Afghans have a better life for Eleven years now and got a Big Whopping kick in the Ass for it. We helped Libya and got another kick. Egypt, same thing. it's a good thing Obama kept us out of syria. Our Ass is sore as hell from all the Ass whooping we have been getting. As long as those people are killing each other they are not thinking about or killing us.
You have not been helping the afghans. You were helping yourselves. You dont give one damn about the afghans all you care about is the oil and mineral reserves in afghanistan and Iraq. If you did care I wouldnt be seeing all the hate comments that i see on this page. No one needs you there. You fools put yourselves there and you want rewards for it? Turn around and clean the bullsh-t off your donkey asses cuz no one is buying your stock of helping the ME bullsh-it
Kill the camel-f**ker rebels. Assad is great. He should crush these maggots and their families in to dust.