Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Endgame in Syria
As the showdown in Syria moves into a decisive phase, U.S. officials report sharply rising Syrian army defections, double-dealing by an anxious Iran and mounting Arab pressure for a transition plan to remove President Bashar al-Assad.
“I am stunned at how fast this is moving, and how fast Assad is falling,” said one senior administration official who helps coordinate U.S. policy toward Syria. This official said the U.S. hopes that Russia — recognizing how quickly Assad’s position is deteriorating — won’t oppose a U.N. resolution this week calling for Assad to step down.
Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council, summed up the new developments Tuesday with this statement: “Assad’s fall is inevitable. It’s clear his regime is no longer in full control of the country and only continues to take Syria toward a dangerous end.”
According to the latest U.S. intelligence reports, 300 Syrian army soldiers defected Monday in the Damascus suburb of Jisrine; 50 more defected in the town of Rsatan and dozens in other suburbs of Damascus. The defectors joined the opposition force known as Free Syrian Army, the administration official said, adding that the defections continued Tuesday.
The total number of defectors is now roughly 7,000 to 10,000, the official said — impressive but hardly a match for the 300,000-man Syrian army. In addition to the defectors, there are perhaps 15,000 Syrian soldiers who have fled their units and are taking refuge in Jordan, Turkey or Syrian hideouts.
As the Syrian army rushes to protect the newly embattled centers ofDamascus and Aleppo, it is pulling some troops out of opposition hotbeds in central Syria such as Homs, Hama and Idlib — leaving those areas more vulnerable to the insurgents. These aren’t yet “liberated zones,” but government control is spotty and weakening by the day, the official said. Simply put, the Syrian army isn’t large enough to maintain control over all of the country.
The deteriorating situation in Syria has frightened Iran, which sees Damascus as its only Arab ally. This worry promoted a rush visit to Damascus in mid-January by Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, according to Vietor. Suleimani is said to have offered money, arms and other assistance to Assad, in a sign of Iran’s support.
Drones Over Iraq: When is a Pullout not a Pullout?
January 31, 2012
" … the enduring power of our moral example, America is back."(President Obama, State of the Union address, 24th January 2012.)
First the world was sold imaginary weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, General Colin Powell, at the United Nations in February 2003, asserting: "My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence."
Now it seems the world is sold a withdrawal from Iraq which was not quite what it seemed, as presented by the Panetta-Obama-fest in the Baghdad, Fort Bragg speeches of just six weeks ago. At Fort Bragg: "The war in Iraq will soon belong to history …" said the President.
Well, not quite.
In an interesting sleight of hand, the State Department, rather than the Pentagon, is operating a fleet of surveillance drones over Iraq.
In: " … the latest example of the State Department’s efforts to take over the functions in Iraq that the military used to perform."(i)
Further, the near Vatican City sized US Embassy in Baghdad is protected by five thousand mercenaries and has a further staff of eleven thousand, a large number, seemingly in a "military advice" capacity, training Iraqi forces – a nation that, ironically, nine years ago the US and UK cited as having a military capability not alone a threat "to the entire region", but to the West.
Little noticed has been that the State Department has been operating drones in Iraq since last year. Additionally when "Embassy" staff travel, they are escorted by helicopters, frequently with machine gun toting mercenaries "tethered to the outside." Another Nisour Square massacre (176h September 2007) waiting to happen.
The Pentagon-operated drones, it seems, went out by the front door and returned through the State Department back door.
http://www.uruknet.info/?new=85292
U.N. Council urged to act fast on Syria, Assad forces push back
UNITED NATIONS/AMMAN |
(Reuters) - Arab and Western states urged the U.N. Security Council to act swiftly on a resolution calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside as his forces reasserted control of Damascus suburbs on Tuesday after beating back rebels at the gates of the capital.
Obama goes public on drone strikes
Invariably, any time a public official in Washington is asked about drones strikes over Pakistan, the answer is the same: "We are not able to discuss intelligence matters."
But on Monday night all that changed when for the first time since taking office President Obama publicly acknowledged the deadly drone strike campaign waged on al Qaeda militants operating inside Pakistan and in the tribal regions along the Afghanistan border.
During an online question-and-answer session sponsored by Google's new social media outlet, Google Plus, Obama surprised listeners with candid answers to a question about the C.I.A.'s worst kept secret: missile strikes inside Pakistan.
"So, obviously, a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA [Federally Administered Tribal Areas] and going after al Qaeda suspects who are up in very tough terrain along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan," the president said.
That was the statement that caught every
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/31/obama-goes-public-on-drone-strikes/#ixzz1l5uEUOej
Russia against military action on Syria
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Russia would not allow the UN Security Council (UNSC) to push for military action against Syria, Press TV reports.
Lavrov made the remarks during an interview in Sydney, Australia on Tuesday.
“If the Syrian opposition refuses to sit at the negotiating table with the regime, what is the alternative? To force the regime if they demand [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad to step down and he doesn't? Then what? To send in the aircraft to bomb Syria? We've been through that before,” he said, referring to the Western-led military intervention in Libya in March 2011.
“The Security Council will never approve that, I guarantee you that,” he added and noted that Moscow would “never allow” the UNSC to legalize a Libya-style operation in Syria to defuse the unrest in the Middle Eastern country.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/224198.html
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