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Subscribe to RSSThe United Nations is now raising the death toll in Syria to over 60,000 as fighting in the country continues. NBC's Frances Kuo reports.
Updated at 11:40 a.m. ET: At least 30 civilians were killed Wednesday when Syrian warplanes bombed a gas station in a suburb on the eastern edge of Damascus, opposition campaigners told news agencies, as the United Nations announced that the death toll from the conflict had surpassed 60,000.
"The number of casualties is much higher than we expected and is truly shocking," U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said, citing an "exhaustive" U.N.-commissioned study into more than a year and a half of fighting in Syria.
Of Wednesday's incident near Damascus, activist Abu Saeed told Reuters: "I counted at least 30 bodies. They were either burnt or dismembered."
Shaam News Network via AP video
This still image taken from video shows a wounded man being pulled from the site of a purported Syrian government airstrike on a gas station in the eastern Damascus suburb of Mleiha on Wednesday.
Another activist, Abu Fouad, said warplanes had bombarded the area as a consignment of fuel arrived and crowds packed the station.
An amateur video posted online showed charred and dismembered bodies and vehicles in flames. The Associated Press reported that the video appeared genuine and was consistent with information it had received.
NBC News has been unable to independently confirm the accounts.
The reported airstrike continued a day of intense violence in the country.
Earlier, rebels in the north attacked a sprawling air base as the opposition expanded its offensive on military airports.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebel assault on the Afis military air base near Taftanaz was preceded by heavy shelling of the area, and the fighters appeared to be trying to storm the facility.
Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman described the attack as one "of the most intense" on the airfield. There was no immediate account of the fighting around the air base from Syrian state media.
Grim accounting
Wednesday's violence served to underscore the U.N. report on the bloody conflict. Pillay said in Geneva that researchers cross-referencing seven sources over five months of analysis had listed 59,648 people killed in Syria between March 15, 2011, and Nov. 30, 2012.
Opposition activists in Syria say government warplanes bombed a gas station in Damascus as fuel arrived, killing at least 30 people. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
"Given that there has been no let-up in the conflict since the end of November, we can assume that more than 60,000 people have been killed by the beginning of 2013," she said.
There was no breakdown by ethnicity or information about whether the dead were rebels, soldiers or civilians. Previously, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had put the toll at around 45,000 confirmed dead but said the real number was likely to be much higher.
PhotoBlog: Syrian rebel chief tries to unite militias
Increased attacks on airports
In the past few weeks, Syrian rebels have stepped up their attacks on airports around the neighboring province of Aleppo, trying to chip away at President Bashar Assad's air power, which poses the biggest obstacle to the opposition fighters' advances.
Muhammed Muheisen / AP
A look back at the violence that has overtaken Syria.
As its control of large swaths of territory has slipped over the past year, the government has increasingly relied on its warplanes and helicopters to strike rebel-held areas.
Several past rebel attempts to capture the Taftanaz base have failed.
View from northern Syria: Rebels control countryside
The Observatory said Syrian army helicopters were helping defend the airfield against the rebel assault. It added that four rebels were killed in the clashes around the base and that one helicopter was hit by rebel fire.
The Observatory said the rebels attacking Taftanaz base included members of Jabhat al-Nusra, which has been branded a terrorist organization by the United States and is affiliated with al-Qaida, Ahrar al-Sham Brigade and other units operating in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib. The group's fighters have been among the most effective on the rebel side in their battle to oust Assad.
Aleppo forced to halt flights
On Tuesday, clashes between government troops and rebels forced the international airport in Aleppo to stop all flights in and out of Syria's largest city.
ITV's Emma Murphy spoke with Syrian refugee women in Jordan who described harrowing, brutal treatment.
The rebels have been attacking three other airports in the Aleppo area, including the Mannagh military helicopter base near the Turkish border. They have posted dozens of videos online that appear to show fighters shooting mortars, homemade rockets and sniper rifles at targets inside the bases.
The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said rebels Wednesday bombarded the Mannagh air base, which has been subjected to almost daily attacks since late last month.
Rebels have been fighting for control of Aleppo since launching an offensive on the city over the summer.
The fight over the commercial hub has turned into a bloody stalemate, although rebels have captured large swathes of territory in the surrounding Aleppo province west and north of the city up to the Turkish border.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Machine guns operated by motorcycle brakes? Get a glimpse at the rebels fighting against Assad's forces in Syria's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area.
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Leave a Comment:
"The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebel assault on the Afis military air base near Taftanaz was preceded by heavy shelling of the area, and the fighters appeared to be trying to storm the facility."
First kick out that Syrian Observatory for Human Rights from Britain. Let them go and operate from some Muslim nations.
What do barbaric, beastly, bigoted and despotic seventh century Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and Sunni Arab League nations and their hater and killer fronts like these Syrian Observatory, al Qaida, MB, Salaffi, Taliban, Boko Haram and others know about "human rights"?
Sunni Islamic religious madness has made many of them most intolerant one-way traffic hating and killing beasts.
We have no roles in the Shiites vs Sunni battles on whose Allah is greater.
If some try to be smart, Benghazi will be repeated.
Where were McCains, Hillarys, Bushes, Romneys, Netanyahus hiding during Banghazi murders?
If Sunni Islamic mad nuts can't tolerate a far better leader like Assad, then Assad and Shiites need to battle for liberation from Sunnis in all Muslim nations.
Go Assad, Go Assad: eliminate as many Sunni Syrian rebels and their hating and killing Sunni supporters.
And there you have it. I think its time for us to come home and leave this disagreement to the combatants
And Obama's ally Assad continues to get a free pass as the BO admin does nothing to stop the slaughter. Assad's agreeing to hide Iraq's chem weap's is paying off in spades.
musician by night
Apparently you believe that all those who are not assad supporters are terrorists. You are wrong, and many civilians are dying at the hand of Obama's ally.
Rebels are not civilians which is any person who tries to over throw their government. Any person or persons who assist the rebels are enemies of the state. If you are from a foreign government (Country such as USA) then you can be treated as spy. Remember folks in war there is no human rights. Only after the war the losers will be tried. Myself I find that anybody who takes on a government who isn't prepared then expects the world to help them by crying foul is beyond me. How does one plan on setting up a government when you are ready asking for welfare. Please give me a break
Iran is in a very hypocritical position. They are supporting and arming a dictator who inherited office (so he may as well be a Shah, or King), who is unpopular with 90% of the population. Actually, Assad is about the only sane semi-secular fool in the entire area, in spite of his insideous regime.
They condemn Americans for doing the same with the Shah back in the late 1970's. America supported a dictator who was clearly better at leadership than the mob of religious fundamentalists who were rebelling to replace him.
The Iranians are Hypocrites who practice the same type of intervention at a far more desperate and despicable level.
But the real problem for the Iranians, is that a Sunni led (uggh!) Syria will cut them off from their terrorist buddies, Hezbollah in Lebanon. Their Islamic revolution, and attempt at an Iranian led Caliphate is turning into an Island of Shia Islam that has 0 friends...except Hamas...sort of and parts of Iraq.
Civilians are not rebels. To believe that all the people fall into one of two categories is incredibly stupid. There are Syrian government forces. There are rebels (like those folks we help overthrow eygyt's and Libya's governments). But there are also civilians, who are trying to get by and have nothing to do with the revolution but are killed (like yesterday's gas station strike) by syrian forces without the blink of an eye. BO could end it, but won't. He has allied with the brutal dictator in order to keep the Iraqi chem weaps in syria hidden.
The Rebels (Activist,Terrorist) started this Syrian Civil War that has turned into a "religious War" among terrorist groups. The Rebels are legitimate targets where ever they may be located. The Rebels operate from residential areas and those that support the Rebels become legitimate targets. The U.S. and NATO should let the Rebels either win the Civil War they started, surrender or die, it is their choice.
Jonathan-1982062
Damn.... What gives with you libs... Romney is not and never has held office in the US Gov't... what the hell did you expect him to do?
80% of all Syrian Rebels are foreign al-Qaida from Saudi Arabia backed by the House of Saud, British Intell and American CIA.
Turkey is in on the insurrection of Syria by allowing boarder crossing of foreign rebels to fight in Syrai in addition to allowing arms shipments to Syria to supply AL-CIADA FORCES IN SYRIA
WAR KILLS children
Syria makes Sandy Hook look normal
Where is MSNBC's outrage and wanting to ban BOMBS? AMERICAN HEAT SEEKING MISSILES TO SYRIAN REBELS?
Were are all the reports of guns killing children in Syria?
Bias to say the least
Benghazi is a world away from syria. If you are having such a problem with it, pack up a ruck, go there and get a weapon and do something about your whinning.
On the way why don't you stop off in syria and offer your serveces to Assad. You sure do not know, in the field of bad guys, who the bad guy is.
By the way take your Trolling Azz to someplace else and quit compounding the problems we have here. DUH!!!
The Iranians aren't interested in supporting the most efficient regime, but the one that most closely approximates its ideological and political goals. By your reasoning the United States should've wholeheartedly supported any up-and-coming Marxist regime during the Cold War - provided that it enjoyed a majority of the popular support in that country.
Times-Running-Out: Thank God that Romney did not win. Or else we would have had Saudi outsourced war in Syria.
Romney is like another Bushes. They represent Christian right wing in their own hell holes and too cheap to jump wherever monies are splashed.
Saudi Arabia, oil companies and lobbyists outsourced Iraqi wars. Bushes became handy tools.
Results were economies of many nations were shattered due to high oil price manipulations; poor soldiers lost their lives and many were injured; many are unemployed and the US heavy debts.
Were NATO forces wars in Iraq in 1991 and 2003 to save the bigoted seventh century barbaric and beastly Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and others worth it?
In Syria for the last 20 months there has been a Sandy Hook school shooting EVERY DAY! (The only difference is that it is committed by the Syrian army and Assad's Hezbollah buddies!)
And Obama has done nothing about it!
When will the liberal media start asking the Obama administration what they're going to do about this?
Do we have to wait until the U.N. says that there are 100,000 dead in Syria? Or 200,000?
What level of death will be unacceptable to Obama? What level of brutality does he find unacceptable???
Does Assad have to gas thousands of people before Obama finally wakes up?
Duqu: We have nothing to do in Syria. We are not world policemen!
Even millions dying is no big deal for followers of Islamic cult.
For a change, let the brave Sunnis and Shiites handle their battles themselves.
If they ask our infidels' help to solve their problems, they should be ashamed of themselves.
In hating and killing us, infidels, they join hands.
So it is better if Obama sleeps on ME and does all the things necessary to solve our economic problems including huge unemployment.
To weaken our enemy No. 1 seventh century barbaric, beastly and bigoted Sunni haters and killers and their sponsors, Obama needs to remove sanctions on Iranian oil.
Iran can get as many nukes as it wants from Pakis!
Clinton the wicked witch of Washington should perhaps be sent over there to see what she could do? Perhaps she might have a flash of memory recall.
Wait a minute!
She has to take permission from the Jewish lobby before doing anything!
She did lots of dancing with oil rich Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and other Sunni Arab League nations and learnt lots about women rights, human rights and so on!
Hillary will not be short of cash to contest elections in 2016!
Figured you to be a Jew Hater when I saw your previous ignorant posts. Learnt? Moron.
Does this mean the price of gas is going up in Syria?
musician by night: No sir!
Iraqi wars were a good excuse for manipulating oil prices by Sunni oil rich rulers like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar and other Sunni Arab League nations, oil companies and lobbyists!
Except oil, desert robes, harems of girls and women, burkha/niqab, inventing enemies and fight and fight do they have anything useful and did they do any thing useful till now?
Now sanctions on Iranian oil is another trick to manipulate oil prices higher. It was $40 or so in 2009 and now more than $110!
Musician by night,
When you say "the free market determines the price" you would normally be correct, but when there is a cartel (OPEC) artificially manipulating supply, that alters the street price. In essence, it is no longer a "free market".
Scubasteve,
"when there is a cartel (OPEC) artificially manipulating supply"
Is that any worse than how De Beers controls the supply of diamonds?
Mickey,
Well, most people don't consider diamonds a necessity so, yes I would say OPEC is worse.
Seen from that perspective, you may have a point, Scubasteve. Just don't tell it to a woman. Remember, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend"!
Mickey-it's not fair, mine is a dog. But she is always happy to see me.
I just read all your comments. First of all I'm a Vietnam Nam vet. Lets cut to the chase here. For one thing I took the oath to protect the people and the constitution of the united states of of America. That was over forty years ago and my faith and conviction has not faltered. Now for the middle east. These people have hated and fought each other for thousands of years. We cannot change that. It's more than time that the rich kingdoms over there step up to the plate and do their part. In my opinion, Israel is a part of all this crap and all the other jerks that keep this stuff going in the name of their GOD. Well guess what, GOD has nothing to do with this. I'ts mankind and if we, that's right, WE THE PEOPLE have to stop this stuff. I'm sick and tired of reading the news that some idiot blew themselves up and took others with them. For the name of what? Call it what you will. OPEC seems to be the current and past buzzword. I did not go to VN for OPEC. I went for freedom of all peoples no matter what their color, race, or religion was. Take the time out for a second and think where the peoples of the world would be right now if we didn't help. You got it. No holidays, no malls, and no expression of freedom. The countries of the middle east have plenty of dough. They just don't have the NADS to do it. Lets back off and let them duke it out without no more American blood spilled.
take a simple economics 101 class guys ....real damn simple when you DEVALUE the dollar it cost's MORE to buy LESS...... hence every friggin time barry spends our economy gets worse. that and... THAT ALONE ....is why gas prices are where they are. You libs were screaming off with his head when bush let the cost of gas go over 3 bucks a gallon for 6 MONTHS... its been there now for OVER 4 years. where is your self righteous indignation now? OH and case you haven't been to the store lately and noticed the price of groceries, guess how those groceries got there. that's right nimrod .. by truck...and what makes trucks run? ummmm....the obamafairy perhaps?
IA.ScooterTramp: Due to high oil/gas prices, we have high inflation and all sets of economic problems.
Whole bunch of problems are due to high oil price manipulations by barbaric, beastly and seventh century oil rich Sunni rulers of House of Saud, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Oman and others and their agents like oil companies and Wall Street manipulators.
There is no need to take out even simple economic class to figure out!
We saw the devastations due to Iraqi wars and high oil price manipulations by the same ungrateful and backstabbing Sunni barbaric and bigoted rulers.
Some never learn from the past blunders and some never want to learn!
You are incredibly dumb. Gas prices aren't high at all. Adjusted for inflation they are lower than the mid 70's. Your posts seem to indicate you're a moron of the Shiite variety.
Let the League Of Nations I'M SORRY the united nations deal with this. But with out US assistance give them the same caliber of help they've given us. And by the way let Assad use the chemical weapons on these people. That Sadam moved to him before we went in to Iraq. But they don't exist so I personally don't have a problem with the us of something that dose not exist.
The problem is that Barack and Hillary have been tranquilized by the wishful thinking and writing of the likes of Karen Armstrong and John Esposito, plus watching Christiane Amanpour on CNN and PBS and thinking that she has deep insight into Islam and religious harmony.
The conspiracy of wishful thinking among western elites is paving the way for the Muslim Brotherhood and like-minded Islamic extremists to seize (or be elected to) power all over the Middle East. We're told that if they gain power through an election then that's just dandy. It's not. These religious Nazis will never loosen their grip on power once dug in.
Our feckless leaders keep doubling down on their blunders; Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and soon-to-be Syria, are ALL WORSE over the course of Hillary/Barack power/policies for the Mideast. Even Turkey is only a friend of convenience now that Islamists have gained power there. They'll be stabbing us in the back at the first opportunity too.
rhe chemical weapons was provide for US to Sadam Hussein and he used to kill the kurd civilians and iranian soilders, the ONU don't said NOTHING, is ok...only the press show "some" pictures, but after that is ok baceause at the moment Sadam is our puppet and later we send our dog puppet to atack Iran, the rest you know...
Adam44 Rocks
"Another activist, Abu Fouad, said warplanes had bombarded the area as a consignment of fuel arrived and crowds packed the station."
One thing is for sure. Most Muslims in Muslim majority nations are not in 21st century!
Syrian rebels were claiming that they were winning.
Within 24 hours, they claim that they are being hit by airstrikes!
So they have to kill and kill only but not like being killed!
They don't know that in jihad and Islamic religious cleaning battles they get 72 virgins!
They should also know: when you do kill, kill, and kill, you will get killed and killed very badly.
And soon there will be pork spray after they are killed.
they are no't islamic, they are mercenaries and fight FOR MONEY include free weapons and food their receibe support in Turquey territory
baco78: I don't want to devalue so much all the Sunni Islamic mad haters and killers.
Most like Osama have high dosage of Islamic heroin addiction.
Here most of the Sunni rulers of House of Saud, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and other Sunni Arab League nations are the biggest culprits and criminals.
They deserve to be wiped out first for world peace.
The whole point is this. You have this UN that is called United Nations which of course is anything but united, period. They even state they are appalled at so many people (60,000) and counting are dead. What is the whole point here? If you can do nothing about it or stop it what the hell good is the UN? Wait, I will answer that for you. All these years and the billions that US citizens have paid to run this inane, useless, gutless, every country has their own agenda and could absolutely care about any human on the face of this earth, this so called human rights Organization of cut-throat Governments of the World. This is why we have leaders imposing their will upon everyone they possibly can, just because they can. UN Ha! We should all be so lucky.
The NWO is getting just what they want. How many people have been killed by the US since GW sent troops to Iraq for the second time? How many have died in Libyia, Egypt, Lebbanon, Yemen, Tunisia and so many more? Millions upon millions, and where is the outcry from the American people? Are you all so content to say "As long as it doesn't affect me we need to do what we need to do" As far as I'm concerned it is digusting!!! Soon enough this will all come back to us and the people will pay the price not the politicians.
Iran just called Gaza to start shooting off some rockets into Israel , so Assad can continue his pounding. 60,ooo dead, so some "outrage" at Israel's actions need to be started ASAP. NBC get ready for lead story, banner headlines, and more dismay at Israel
Yes and where did those terrorists, excuse me, "rebels" get those weapons. From OBAMA and his secret stash of weapons he sent to them.
When they first tried to take over the government over a year ago, and Obama had to admit that "yes, I did sent weapons to the "rebels" in secret".
Now they are using the so called weapons he sent to Turkey to "defend" their borders. Ya, we all know where those weapons ended up.
So these human rights groups can cry all they want about innocents being killed. That is going to happen when counties like the U.S. help fund the terrorists against the government that was recognized as a legit government. Like it or not. All that blood is on Obama and Clinton's hands.
We have no right to demand that those governments run their counties against our standards.
Obama's secret stash of weapons? If you know about them, they're not so secret. Or are you just making this up? Not sure he would have said "yes I did sent...."
So Obama is allied with Assad now? What a crock of BS. Just because you say it, doesn't make it true.
Sending Patriot Missile Defense systems to Turkey is what allies do. Sending arms to rebels in Syria will end up being used against us.
Rebels are not civilians which is any person who tries to over throw their government. Any person or persons who assist the rebels are enemies of the state. If you are from a foreign government (Country such as USA) then you can be treated as spy. Remember folks in war there is no human rights. Only after the war the losers will be tried. Myself I find that anybody who takes on a government who isn't prepared then expects the world to help them by crying foul is beyond me. How does one plan on setting up a government when you are ready asking for welfare. Please give me a break
Bull. In the American Revolution 1/3 were pro-British 1/3
was neutral and 1/3 was rebel. Due to the bad behavior of the British the 1/3
that was neutral went over to the rebels. It was enough for the rebels to win.
Just because your town is in rebel hands do mean that the government
has the right to kill everyone in it. Sure some will be killed in the fighting
but you do not target civilians. Unless you’re taking about nukes and it is
total war.
The media continues softening up the public to the idea of the inevitable US military involvement in Syria
You either have your bombers wrong, or you full of it. The first prototype of the bomber flew in Sept of 42. Well after Pearl Harbor!
That many B-29's would have drastically changed the Pillippines, you have to admit.
Roosevelt was trying to get us up to speed instead of mired in isolationism. (whether right or wrong). He was not advocating war, he was trying to make sure we had the balls to fight. Because Hitler and the Japanese would surely not have left us alone. The flying Tigers were chiefly studying Japanese tactics, and it was never claimed they would conquer much. They were fighters, not bombers. Antique fighters at that.
But...I have to vote "full of it". America was in the depths of the depression during the period you claim Roosevelt (and I'm a republican, so I can't believe I'm defending Roosevelt) borrowed money to fight. We ended up rebuilding most of Asia and Europe while our own economy and infrastructure suffered. I saw a series of 2011 pictures of Detroit and Hiroshima recently, and you wouldn't believe the difference. Detroit is a hell hole, and Hiroshima a thriving modern city.
But you don't count the dead when God's on your side.
Bob Dylan
Time has come to wind up partisan UN and all its agencies.
Are they under the pay roll of rich Sunni rulers like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other places?
They can't even do their seventh century dances properly in 21st century!
What is the big deal about 60000 deaths in Syria?
Where were the UN and agencies, human rights groups, and all those talking big when there were more than genocides of more than 300000 Christians in Darfur?
Were they not human?
The most insensitive barbaric, beastly and bigoted seventh century Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and other Sunni Arab League nations sent human right watch group to Syria.
It was headed by a Sudanese Gen responsible for the genocides Christians in Darfur!
What do these idiotic partisans think of themselves?
Muslim credo:
Kill your neighbors because their beliefs are slightly different from yours.
All of you commenters who think the US should get involved in the Syrian CIVIL WAR need to spend their own money on the side they favor and send their own sons and daughters to fight and die there. Better yet go there yourself and expend your own life. Just pick a side; blood thirsty Islamists or brutal dictator, each side committing war crimes!
Just keep the US out of it. Too bad no one was around to intervene in the US civil war where over 600,000 died. Let Syria fight its own civil war.
Actually, hardly anyone here is advocating for U.S. intervention in Syria. The commentators have a lot more sense than the article writers who continue to unleash a continuing propaganda barrage against the present government in Syria. Okay, so they're no angels (Assad et al), but they're a lot better than what will replace them. ONCE AGAIN (as in Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt before), bad will be replaced with worse. Potentially MUCH worse. The odds of something better replacing Assad at this point are very slim indeed. Yet our prescient "leaders" in D.C. continue to push for the downfall of such secular authoritarian governments without a clue as to what will replace them. So we get WORSE, time and time again. When will they learn? They won't, that much is clear by now.
Sorry, Adam but, Libya dictator was replace by an admittedly
week pro-western/secular democracy, but still a democracy. Tunisia and Egypt are
a work in progress. Sure the religious parties are now in power but that is because
the oppositions were disorganized.
I know how you love dictators because they are only way to
have a stable atheist/communist government.
One window-dressing election does not a democracy make. Plus, that weak "pro-western" group that you reference, they can't even control Tripoli where they're HQ'd, let alone anything outside of Tripoli.
Works in progress?? Egypt is a basket case now, perpetually one step from civil war. Getting worse all the time, not improving. Tunisia keeps heading back, back, back, until -- if the nutbags get their way -- they'll end up back in the 7th Century.
Wrong. I just prefer secular government to theocratic government if it comes down to that choice. At least the former are guided by rational thinking. I know how you love theocratic nuts in power because then you can congratulate yourself for supporting "democracy" all over the world. Elections that result in Ayatollah Khomeini, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood are not real democracy. It's like celebrating an election that results in Hitler. Hey, it's the peoples' choice, right? Yay!
and the world does nothing but watch
Go over there yourself Shane and send updates from the front!
Hey Ken, I've been over there in the past, so STFU with your assinine comments.
Don't be attacking Ken. He's right. If you have a problem, saddle up and get down there yourself. Sto, if you've been down there, that necessitates Ken shutting up....how??
If you don't support Ken's right to speak, you probably belong down in MuslimLand gutting your cousins, and not here. Go back.
the world have a tie hands for the governments under control of the ONU and the ONU under control of the Elite bloody, corrupts powerfull countries like a Cartel or mafia
Can we please call a spade a spade?
These are NOT civilians and especially NOT activists! They're terrorists!
So you have determined all the woman, men and children that have been killed had in fact taken up arms against the brutal, murderous dictator assad and deserved to die. How did you come up with that stupid beyond belief idea?
Of course there are innocents caught in the crossfire, but the fact remains that whenever "rebels" are killed they are invariably called "innocent civilians" by our mainstream media Hillary/Obama mouthpieces, so the trust level is just about zero by now, especially since we saw the same sorry story trumpeted ad nauseum in Libya for months on end. "oh those poor innocent civilians hunkered down in Benghazi; Gadhafi is about to butcher them; we better bomb Gadhafi's regime out of power so that the poor huddled masses aren't victimized." All we did was reverse the role who got butchered, and the end result was more chaos, instability and extremism in Libya, all the way up to our ambassador's murder and continuing to this day. How Wonderful! Let's have more of that! (sarcasm off)
Let the Arabs settle their own problems and take care of their brethren.
They are just fighting a traditional Arab war where everyone and everything is a legitimate target. Keep the US out so the bleeding heart folk who think you can save everyone because we are there will not be able to blame our service members for the killing that happens in a war.
2468z,
"They are just fighting a traditional Arab war where everyone and everything is a legitimate target."
No. The traditional Arab form of warfare was the "razzia" (Arabic "ghazu"), a much more limited form of warfare more like a plundering raid. The Arab world has changed.
Do I detect some Arab springiness? Always amusing when Muslims slaughter mass quantities of Muslims because neither side is Muslim enough to suit the other.
No, Mickey, if you study the pre-during and post Crusades battles, you will be hard pressed to say that mowing down men women and children for no particular reason is not the Muslim battle plan. Ghazu is simple thieving raids on surrounding territory. (stealing being easier than working for it.)
The Arab world would track you down and hack you up for saying they have changed. Ever.
Steve the dog man,
"Ghazu is simple thieving raids on surrounding territory."
That's right, Steve. And that is the traditional Arab form of war. I am not talking about the Crusades. I am talking about the traditional pre-Islamic form of Arab warfare.
Maybe Asaad should use ALL the WMD's he got from Saddam on the rebels. We wont have to worry about them falling into the rebels hands (Al Queda included) if they happen to win. How come our administration has not told us "exactly" how Asaad acquired these WMD's.....Saddam? Russia? NK? I am sure we would all like to know.
Amazing that all those killed were civilians.....not one rebel!!! How can you tell? Someone in civilian clothes carrying an AK-47 I wouldnt classify as a civilian. Remember Vietnam......We classified them as Viet Cong.....and they were legitimate targets. I dont see the difference here
So any one it the US caring an AR-15 is an ok target here in
the US. That is like saying “He had a
gun so we dropped a 500 pound bomb on his house”, here in the US.
Just because he has a
gun does not make him a rebel.
Interesting how 60,000 Muslims have been killed by a fellow Muslim and the Arab streets are quiet but when someone draws a cartoon of their prophet they go on a rampage.
The problems in Syria are for the Syrians to solve. Period. End of story. If they want to keep killing each other until nobody is left alive, I don't see any reason for anyone else to intervene. Let them have at each other, and sooner or later, one side or the other will prevail. I really don't care which one does, either. This crap takes place all over the rest of the world, and nobody gets their panties in a bunch about it, so why should this be different?
And Bush is not in office ----- Republicans are not in office ----- Fox news did not facilitate it -----but yet when they actually go kick some butt to take care of the murdering bullies, seems like everyone goes on a rampage to blame "the USA" for being the police. What should we do Obama and Hillary regime? Sit around and watch ? I mean either we will be the beacon of light and hope and bring peace by saving citizens lives through sacrifice or we will stand around in luxury debating it and calling it a humanitarian act.
Barabas, This is not the United States battle. If the UN wants to stick their nose into it, let them. We have our own problems. First, let's get out of the UN. It is an antiquated idea. The UN is a drain on the ameican people. Close down all of our bases in foreign countries. We don't need to be there. NATO was created to be a check against Soviet agression. Guess what? We don't need NATO anymore. Bring home our troops and put them on our borders. Pakistani are laughing all the way to the bank, with our money. I say let them blow each other to &ell and back. Why spend 2 billion dollars to train the police of Afghanistan when they are going to end up in the arms of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Stop all foreign aid. I mean ALL FOREIGN AID. We are not the police of the world. We are not responsible for the uncontrolled breeding of third world nations. We are not their guardians. I resent any tax money spent on foreign soil when we have children underfed and illiterate here in the U.S.
I raised my two daughters. I paid for them to go to good universities. I'm still paying the loans off. Not a free ride like most foreign students. Ask the University for your area what the percentage of foreign students attend there. Then ask how the students are paying for their education. Can you say foreign students aid.
Why don't the Ayatollah of Iran just order them to stop?? Find some Sura in the Koran that says that murder in this fashion is wrong? He does have that power doesn't he?
The best fighters the rebels have are moslem extremist, Obama is right to wait and see who the main players will be. We just got out of one war we whould not have fought and still in another, we can't police the world anymore unless someone will pay for it as they did in the first Iraq War...we need to rest our military awile before we commit them again...
Didnt our leader(Obama) lead them to fight for their freedom.
OBAMA!!!
First he interfered with Libya, now he is _not— interfering in Syria! What a travesty.
We can not afford to interfere with Syria and it is not in our best interest to do so, but it is still a travesty that Obama has not done anything.
Im a idiot, double speaking GOPer and i approve this message.