Category: Syria

  • Kiss Of ‘Democratic’ Death: Israel’s Plot To Take Down Syria I

    Kiss Of ‘Democratic’ Death: Israel’s Plot To Take Down Syria I

    israel syria
    The Zionist entity and its criminal network of allies have initiated operations to destroy Syria.

    by Jonathan Azaziah

    This is the first of a 2-part series that exposes the ‘Syrian Revolution’ as a destabilization operation commanded by the usurping regime of Israel and assisted by its allies in Washington D.C., Paris, London, Riyadh and other faces hiding behind masks of friendship and neutrality. This selection deals with the 40+ years of history that led to the unprecedented events unfolding now and how Tel Aviv and Riyadh have once again joined hands in modern day to eliminate Syrian Resistance once and for all…

    Al-Jumhuriyyah al-Arabiyyah as-Suriyyah, the Syrian Arab Republic, or simply, Syria, is being systematically assaulted by the world’s arrogant powers. No, Syria isn’t being bombarded with bombs and missiles from helicopter gunships or F-16s (at least… not yet). It is being bombarded by something else; something more sinister, more cunning and deadlier. It is being bombarded by an entity that is almost full of life in its undying intransigence: Zionist-designed, Zionist-enforced ‘democracy.’

    Like the poison dart frogs of the Amazon rain forest, the Angel’s Trumpet flowers scattered along the Andes Mountains from Colombia to Chile and the blue-ringed octopuses swimming through the tide pools of the Pacific from Japan to Australia, this ‘democracy’ is associated with the idea of an almost magnificent beauty. It is described as something of uniqueness, a creation indigenous to the higher-learning-infested institutes of the West; something alien to the other peoples of the world; the easterners, those of Arab and African descent. Fallacious however, are these assumptions.

    Also like the poison dart frogs, the Angel’s Trumpets and the blue-ringed octopuses, the beauty of ‘democracy’ is merely a front for the venom that lies beneath an eye-pleasing exterior. A venom that can kill. A venom that has killed. In the millions. Democracy is the kiss of death, bringing ruin, pillage and desecration while cloaked in the garments of freedom, equality and higher-learning. If democracy was an entity of female origin, it would be the succubus of mythological lore. If it were of male origin, it would be the incubus. And the easterners, Arabs and Africans, can speak for millennia about what this demonic ‘democracy’ actually represents. Syrians beware, ‘democracy’ is targeting you now; heed the lessons of the past, taught in blood by your oppressed brothers and sisters.

    The people of Iraq, irradiated by an eternity of depleted uranium, can tell you in graphic detail of the wonders democracy has brought them: 6 million Iraqis are now refugees, 2 million of which are displaced internally, 2 million Iraqi women are now widows, 5 million Iraqi children are now orphans and 80% of Iraqis have witnessed shootings, kidnappings, rapes, killings and other atrocities (1). The people of Afghanistan, reeling from more than 4 decades of American military-intelligence adventurism, can tell you in equally graphic detail of democracy’s glorious benefits: 7.4 million Afghan men, women and children are now living in hunger on the brink of death from occupation-induced starvation (2).

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    The Zionist 'democracy' demon, seen here feasting on Gaza; it now hungers for Syria.

    Palestine, a holy and historic land that has been called home by prophets and saints, heroes and revolutionaries, has been occupied by a usurping entity for 63 years. This entity that calls itself ‘Israel’ also calls itself the ‘only democracy in the Middle East.’

    Palestinians scream at the world, day and night, at the top of their lungs, that this democracy is farcical. In the ethnically cleansed Palestinian land now known as ‘Israel,’ at least 30 laws exist that discriminate viciously against non-Jews (3). Weekly protests for freedom from occupation and respect of universal human rights are savagely suppressed by IOF with tear gas, ‘skunk’ water, live ammunition and sound bombs (4), and last month, a 16-year old Palestinian boy named Milad Ayyash was shot to death by an illegal settler (5).

    In the besieged Gaza Strip, 95% of the factories are closed and 93% of the water is contaminated due to Zionist pollution and the Zionist entity’s criminal siege (6). In the occupied Jordan Valley, Palestinians are denied education, health care, transportation, electricity and water (7). In occupied al-Quds, land still internationally recognized as Palestinian is ‘zionized’ daily, with the latest announcement being 7,900 new illegal settlements (8). These represent a fraction of the principles embedded in the ‘democracy’ of Zionism; occupation and apartheid, land theft and slow drip genocide.

    Kashmir is a place of such angelic gorgeousness it is commonly referred to as ‘heaven on earth.’ This heaven though, could not be any more miserable. It, like Palestine, is also occupied by a usurping entity and has been so for 64 years. This entity is known as Hindutva, a sister of Zionism, and it refers to itself as ‘India, the world’s largest democracy.’ Rape, torture, brutalization, murder, suppression of protests, epidemic-like influx of narcotics flooding the streets at the hands of Indian and Israeli intelligence, beatings, kidnappings, demolitions of homes, desecration of mosques and shootings are just a smidgen of what Kashmiris experience on a daily basis under the criminal Indian occupation (9). And for the record, Hindutvadi occupation forces carry out their heinousness with Israeli weaponry (10).

    bashar al assad
    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad: Zionism's next target.

    Taking this, never-ending fountain of ‘democracy’ into account, one word can describe what is taking place in Syria: woe; woe that mutates a little further into chaos and disaster with each passing moment.

    The late George Orwell, author of the masterpieces ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm,’ once eloquently wrote,  “Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.” This scenario is being played out to the letter in Libya. Under the guise of saving ‘peaceful, pro-democracy’ Libyan protesters from the guns and air raids of ‘Mad Dog’ Muammar Qaddafi, a ‘humanitarian intervention’ was initiated at the behest of some of the greatest ‘humanitarians’ of modern times: Paul Wolfowitz, Dan Senor, Eric Edelman, Elliot Abrams, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, (a good portion of) the Zionist monsters responsible for orchestrating the mutilations of Iraq and Afghanistan (11).

    It became evident shortly after the Zionists’ intervention call that the protesters weren’t really protesters at all. They were armed insurrectionists being directed by the CIA to take down Qaddafi in a blatant regime change operation (12). These ‘rebels’ are now not only ready to recognize the usurping Zionist entity, something Muammar Qaddafi never did and never would (13), they are receiving on-ground orders and training from Israeli military advisors (14) and they have signed multiple agreements with Zionism, including one which would provide the occupier of Palestine with a military base in Libya (15). All the while, US-led NATO pounds Tripoli on a nightly basis with depleted uranium and white phosphorus (16). The latest attack murdered at least 9 Libyan civilians, including 2 toddlers (17).  Democracy’s ‘awe’ is being painfully felt in Libya; the ‘shock and awe’ of NATO’s criminal bombardment.

    The Zionist media-concocted scenarios that were used as justification to take down ‘homicidal maniac’ Qaddafi are now being recycled to take down ‘homicidal maniac’ Bashar al-Assad, vastly popular President of Syria and stalwart of the Resistance Axis that includes the Islamic Resistance of Lebanon, Hezbollah, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is a plot that involves major players, both regional and global. And at the very core of this sadistic agenda, which will only leave the Syrian people trapped in a bloodbath to pick up the shards of their lives, is the Zionist entity’s most ludicrous, nightmarish fantasy: Greater Israel. Syria is being destabilized by a ‘democratic’ demon intent on giving the Resistance government the kiss of death, sending it to the gallows forever and subsequently enslaving the Syrian people to the Zionist machine of neoliberalism and colonization.

    hafez al assad
    The late Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father. Hafez faced the same Zionist plot over 30 years ago that his son is fighting now.

    History On The Fly I: The 1976-1982 ‘Uprising’

    From the moment Israel launched its criminal, preemptive war in June 1967, Syria was officially at war with Zionism. The usurping entity took over al-Jaulan (the Golan Heights, an ancient mountainous region in southern Syria) during that war and the illegal occupation has existed ever since. And in 1981, the Zionist entity engaged in yet another illegality: it ‘annexed’ al-Jaulan and imposed Israeli laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Syrian citizenry (18).

    The President during the time of the illegal annexation was none other than Hafez al-Assad, Bashar al-Assad’s father. Hafez had come to power on November 13,1970 in the Syrian Corrective Revolution, overthrowing Salah Jadid whose popularity sharply declined due to his poor domestic policies, political repression and loss to the Zionist entity in the 6 Day War. Hafez, like his son that would succeed him, was widely viewed with respect for his foreign policy and implementation of social justice-based policies at home. His 1973 constitution guaranteed equal rights and status for women throughout Syria, and also in ‘73, he gained back a portion of al-Jaulan after the Yom Kippur War. He invested Syria’s wealth in the sectors of education, medicine, the middle class and the rehabilitation of the urban areas throughout the nation. Under Hafez al-Assad, literacy and economic growth skyrocketed.

    But yet, despite Hafez al-Assad’s popularity and his commitment to providing for the Syrian people, there was a disconnect with a marginal, but powerful party within Syrian society: the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). From 1976-1982, the MB waged armed warfare against Hafez al-Assad’s government, though the Zionist media would like the globe to believe the protests were ‘peaceful.’ This ‘uprising’ was fully backed by the Zionist-occupied government residing in Washington DC, the dictatorial regime of the US-Israeli puppet Saddam Hussein and of course, Tel Aviv itself (19).

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    The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood tried to overthrow Hafez al-Assad from 1976-1982.

    This was no peaceful uprising but an attempt at a coup d’etat, fully incited by the puppet regimes of the Western-client states of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan (20). The reasons? To strike back at Hafez al-Assad for supporting Iran during the Iran-Iraq War, an act of aggression supported and funded by the GCC, the US and Israel (21), and to weaken his government to prevent it from properly intervening in the Lebanese Civil War, 15 years of massacres and bloodshed manipulated by the Zionist entity and America to fractionalize Lebanon into smaller, subservient-to-Zionism satellite states (22).

    The MB, armed by the Saddam Hussein regime and the powerful Saudi Arabian monarchy, was ruthless in its campaign of terror against the Assad government. It conducted assassinations of high-level government officials and murdered thousands of civilians, including dentists, teachers and doctors, and off-duty soldiers and policemen. In June of 1980, the MB went after Hafez al-Assad himself in Damascus, adding yet another unequivocal proof that the ‘uprising’ was anything but peaceful (23).

    The Saudi-financed, Zionist-supported Syrian Muslim Brotherhood’s insurrection against Hafez al-Assad’s government came to an end in the city of Hama in February 1982. Media reports and ‘documentation’ from ‘human rights groups’ stretching far and wide, coast to coast, have labeled what took place in Hama as a massacre. Typically, nothing could be further from the truth.

    hama syria
    Hama, Syria: the site where Hafez al-Assad where defeated the Tel Aviv-Riyadh plot and ended the MB uprising.

    In the realm of the real, Hama was a war zone. In the realm of the real, there were heavy casualties on both sides. It began when the MB opened fire on mosques frequented by government officials and their families, as well as their homes, murdering men, women and children without mercy. The MB then mutilated the bodies in the streets. Syrian security forces responded by raiding a massive weapons cache that was central to the MB’s anti-government activities to subdue the uprising. But when the MB’s killings continued, two full brigades of soldiers, a new special operations militia and special security units were deployed into Hama to defeat the conspiracy, which Hafez al-Assad accurately described as ‘the US interfering in Syrian affairs,’ once and for all. After brutal fighting continued for several weeks, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood’s insurrection was beaten and its leaders were sent into exile, with thousands dead in a full-scale civil war-like bloodbath, and relative calm had returned to Hama (24).

    The aforementioned human rights groups and the propaganda that they disseminated (and are still disseminating) in regards to the battle of Hama are the same human rights groups disseminating vile, warmongering propaganda against Bashar al-Assad now. These organizations are always at the forefront of any Zionist-instigated war/invasion, posing as the defenders and upholders of the oppressed while delivering them to the democracy demon.

    amnesty interntional
    Amnesty International is always there with a false story when Zionism needs cover to destroy a nation.

    Leading the pack, is Amnesty International, the internationally-renowned organization that is self-described as politically independent. Indeed, independent of all ideologies excluding those that bring ruin to enemy nations of the hegemonic powers. Amnesty stated that somewhere between 10,000-25,000 were killed by Syrian security forces in the ‘Hama massacre,’ with most casualties being civilians (25). ‘Government sympathizes,’ i.e. those who are interesting in acquiring the truth of the matter, put the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood’s casualties between 3,000-5,000 fighters (26).

    Amnesty International is no stranger to falsehood. It is intimately linked to the internationalist-Zionist war criminal billionaire George Soros and was an integral part of Soros’ color revolutions in Eastern Europe, spreading propaganda against the now-overthrown regimes and it serves this exact purpose to this very day (27). Amnesty is also a ‘Standard Corporate Member’ of the Chatham House, Britain’s version of the Council on Foreign Relations, the parasitic ‘mother of all think tanks’ in America. The Chatham House, like the CFR, is funded by a who’s who of globalist mega-corporations and media outlets including the Rothschild-owned Economist, Zionist-run BBC and Zionist-dominated Goldman Sachs. Its most recent criminal activity involved generating malicious propaganda to give credence to a color revolution in Thailand (28).

    But the lie that Amnesty International is most famous for propagating, is what led to the 20-year annihilation of Iraq: 312 Kuwaiti babies being murdered in their incubators by Iraqi forces (who invaded Kuwait on the green light from the Zionist-occupied US government), based on the testimony of the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US posing as a witness to the murders. Not only did the story turn out to be completely, totally and utterly false, it was revealed to be a high-level Zionist operation with British intelligence assets within Amnesty working closely with ultra-Zionist war criminal Tom Lantos and his Congressional Caucus for Human Rights to pave the groundwork for the invasion (29). What followed, as it is said, is history… bloody, genocidal history. These three instances of Amnesty’s subversive activities alone, along with its shady Zionist backers, funders and collaborators, expose it for what it truly is.

    Another organization that has targeted Syria for the Hama massacre and other alleged abuses at Syria’s Tadmor Prison, is the notorious Human Rights Watch (HRW). Although HRW admits within the report that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood engaged in open, brutal warfare against the Hafez al-Assad government, and although HRW admits within the report that it cannot verify a single account of abuse at Tadmor prison before, during or after the battle for Hama, it still pleads its case to the international community of warmongers, kleptocrats and hypocrites that Syrian officials must be brought to justice for their crimes (30).

    Human Rights Watch by Zain Art 88
    HRW: the best friend of Mossad, CIA and the Zionist lobby.

    HRW is another tentacle of Zionist billionaire-criminal George Soros’ octopus-like empire, one that he vehemently and publicly supports and funds to the tune of $100 million (31). HRW worked hand in hand with the CIA, Mossad and Zionist Lobby organizations like JINSA (Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs) and AIPAC itself to perpetrate the ‘Kurdish Genocide’ myth, a story that the Zionist cabal in the White House would cling to and wield as its last weapon to justify the criminal invasion of Iraq in 2003 (32). There is not a drop of evidence that Saddam Hussein carried out any such atrocity against the Iraqi Kurds, nor is there a drop of evidence that Saddam Hussein carried out the Halabja massacre, another HRW fabrication (33). Saddam was a loyal puppet to the Zionist power axis and a criminal, but a mass murderer he was not. Thanks to the money poured into HRW by Soros, HRW is deeply embedded in the global media sphere and can transform anyone it pleases into mass murderers. Rivers of blood stain its corrupt hands.

    syrian human rights committee
    The SHRC is a London-based promoter of several Soros-funded and Mossad-affiliated groups.

    The Syrian Human Rights Committee (SHRC) is the least well-known of the ‘human rights’ militias that assaulted Hafez al-Assad’s government for what took place in Hama, accusing the Assad government of murdering 30,000-40,000 civilians with ‘all kinds of artillery’ and demanding Assad and other party officials be brought before the International Criminal Court for war crimes (34). Of course, no evidence is provided for this outlandishness. Though the SHRC doesn’t have the notoriety of the previously mentioned organizations, it is just as dangerous for it represents ‘indigenous’ activism and criticism of Hafez al-Assad and therefore, its perceived indigenousness grants legitimacy to its claims, no matter how bizarre of farfetched. Don’t let the name hoodwink you however; the Syrian Human Rights Committee is anything but indigenous. It is self-admittedly based in London (35).

    A closer look at SHRC’s affiliations reveals what its real agenda is, and it is by no means one based on human rights, dignity and prosperity for the Syrian people. Not only does SHRC avidly promote the Soros-funded, propaganda-manufacturing institutions of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, it is an affiliate of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan {PUK} (36), headed by Kurdish-Iraqi war criminal and current Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), headed by Massoud Barzani, are willingly overseeing the Zionist entity expand into occupied Iraq, take over multiple religious shrines and through a Mossad campaign of false flag terror, ethnically cleanse northern Iraq of indigenous Christians (37). These parties have been proxies of the illegitimate Israeli regime since the 1950s (38) and the militias of PUK and KDP are both Israeli-trained (39). What kind of organization proclaims to be representative of the Syrian people and the Syrian nation, a people and nation at war with the Zionist entity, while promoting groups subsidized by Zionists and Israeli intelligence? Rhetorically, an organization serving a Zionist purpose.

    Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Syrian Human Rights Committee with resurface shortly and even Hama will be revisited, as all are integral to the current Zionist plot being orchestrated against Hafez al-Assad’s son, Bashar.

    israeli warplanes syria
    Prior to the current uprising, Israel tried on multiple occasions to draw Syria into war.

    History On The Fly II: Oded Yinon, A Clean Break and Direct Israeli Aggression

    It is nowhere near a coincidence that the same month (February of 1982) Hafez al-Assad’s government weathered the storm of chaos inflicted upon Syria by the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, a disturbing essay appeared in the Kivunim Journal For Judaism and Zionism, a magazine published by the World Zionist Organization’s Department of Publicity, entitled ‘A Strategy For Israel In The Nineteen Eighties.’ The essayist was Oded Yinon, a senior Israeli foreign policy advisor. Yinon laid out a twisted plan of ethnic cleansing and partitioning on sectarian lines to break up Arab nations into smaller states that would effectively (and perpetually) serve as Zionist clients. One of the Arab nations discussed was Syria.

    Yinon put forth not just a string of theories, but foreign policy objectives that he considered essential to the survival of the usurping entity. He viewed Syria’s dissolution a primary long term goal and the dismantlement of its army the short term goal for Zionism. He wrote that Syria will fall apart if his plan is followed; an Alawi state on the Syrian coast, a Sunni state in the Aleppo area, another Sunni state in Damascus that would be hostile to the government in Aleppo and lastly, a Druze state to be set up in southern Syria, preferably in occupied al-Jaulan, to be governed by the Israeli military (40). This plan is not only disturbing but bone-chilling, considering these very areas are the areas rocked with unrest today. The Saudi-Israeli-American axis failed in Syria in 1976-1982. Oded Yinon’s strategy was put forth to regroup, rearm and re-engage.

    Fast forward 14 years later to 1996, and another work of Zionist treachery placed the Syrian nation in the crosshairs. Known as ‘A Clean Break: A New Strategy For Securing The Realm,’ or simply, the ‘Clean Break Papers,’ the Zionist warmongers responsible for ravaging Iraq into oblivion, led by Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, Robert Loewenberg, David Wurmser, and Meyrav Wurmser, penned this essay as the main governing policy for the butcher of Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu.

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    Zionist war criminal Richard Perle: the leader of the pro-Israel team that produced the 'Clean Break' papers.

    The ‘Clean Break’ authors wrote that Netanyahu’s government should bomb targets of Syrian interest in Lebanon in hopes of provoking Syria, as well as the Lebanese Islamic Resistance movement, Hezbollah, into a greater war. If this didn’t work, the deranged authors opined, then Zionism should just bomb Syria outright. The ‘Clean Break Papers’ also reinforced the lies about the battle for Hama and suggested that the Syrian government participates in obscene levels of drug trafficking. Taking it a step further, Perle and company wrote that the Zionist entity should reject peace with Syria, reject the return of al-Jaulan and move to ‘contain, weaken and roll back’ the Syrian state for its own hegemonic interests (41). This document, like Yinon’s, transcends the realm of disturbing and breaches the realm of bone-chilling, as it reflects several events involving Zionism’s assault on Syria in recent years. Most notably, it states that Zionism should ‘diplomatically, militarily and operationally’ support Jordan and Turkey in destabilization efforts against Syria. Exactly what is taking place today.

    On February 14th 2005, the car bomb heard ‘round the world detonated at the St. George Hotel in Beirut, Lebanon. The target of the assassination was former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. The Zionist media and puppet governments across the Western world immediately blamed Syria and Hezbollah for the hit. Evidence? Telecommunications data obtained by the Israeli-British-US-financed United Nations’ Special Tribunal For Lebanon (STL). There was one problem with this data however. It came from an Israeli spy line, planted by the Zionist entity’s assets in its all-out penetration of the Lebanese telecommunications sector (42).

    Apart from the obviousness of the benefits that the usurping entity would acquire with the assassination, i.e. a revamp of civil war in Lebanon and the further isolation of Syria and Hezbollah, this piece of evidence by itself cast light on possible Zionist involvement. But then his eminence, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, took it a step further in August 2010, over 5 years after the assassination. The Sayyed stepped forward because the STL was wreaking more and more havoc in Lebanon, and to a lesser extent, in Syria. He had to clear Hezbollah’s (and Syria’s) name(s) before Israel obtained its desired result: another war. In a live conference via video feed from his bunker, Sayyed Nasrallah presented video evidence and sworn testimony from apprehended Zionist agents that debunked the Zionist media’s lies and exposed Rafiq Hariri’s assassination as an Israeli intelligence operation (43).

    israel bombs syria
    The Zionist entity bombed Syria in 2007 as per the objectives laid out in the 'Clean Break' papers.

    Following the Hariri assassination, the Zionist entity upped the ante with a new round of aggression against Syria. And this time, it wasn’t by proxy. It was direct. In late 2006, Mossad hacked the laptop of a senior Syrian government official while he was staying in London and after planting a Trojan horse, the Zionist intelligence service obtained information about a Syrian facility known as al-Kabir. The information illegally obtained would lead to Israel’s ‘Operation Orchard,’ the criminal, unilateral September 6th, 2007 bombing of al-Kabir by Zionist warplanes. Israel and the United States accused Syria of building a nuclear facility, and the powers then cited the IAEI finding uranium on the scene as proof. Bashar al-Assad vociferously rejected the allegations and maintained that it was nothing more than a conventional military facility and that Israel committed an act of war. He further said that the uranium found at al-Kabir was planted by Zionism (44).

    Despite the Zionist media’s best attempts at whitewashing the act of Israeli aggression against Syria as ‘justifiable’ because a nuclear facility belonging to an ‘enemy state’ was bombed, its narrative repeatedly crashed and burned. Intelligence experts, citing precision satellite imaging (45), several investigative journalists (46) and the director of nuclear policy at the Center for American Progress (47) all confirmed that al-Kabir was nothing more than a military warehouse that stored various armaments, including rockets and missiles. There was absolutely nothing nuclear about it.

    mossad
    Surprise, Surprise: Mossad was behind the killing of top Syrian General, Mohammad Suleiman.

    This flagrant violation of Syria’s sovereignty wasn’t enough for the Zionist entity however, as it never is. No, the usurping Israeli state needed blood. And it needed blood that would send a message to not only Syria, but the Resistance Axis as a whole. On August 1st, 2008, Syrian General and Special Presidential Advisor for Arms Procurement and Strategic Weapons Mohammed Suleiman was assassinated by sniper fire in the port city of Tartus. Suleiman was extremely close to Bashar al-Assad, he was in charge of financing and arming the Syrian military and most importantly, he was also the Syrian government’s liaison to Hezbollah. The most likely suspect in the killing was obviously the Zionist entity. Typically, the Israeli regime denied any involvement, but its denial was utterly bizarre. An Israeli defense source told Zionist-owned, Zionist-run Sky News, “To the best of my knowledge, we didn’t do it (48).” It seems, that on this day, the hasbara was sloppy.

    Disregarding Tel Aviv’s pathetic attempts at covering its tracks, the assassination of General Suleiman was indeed revealed to be part of a three-prong Israeli intelligence operation, attached to its bombing of al-Kabir and its criminal extrajudicial killing of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh (49). Long-time Israeli spy (since 1982) Ali Jarrah confessed to providing essential logistics for the killing of General Suleiman, as he scouted various points in Tartus that would later be used in the Zionist operation (50). Additionally, Syrian sources later confirmed that Mossad was behind the high-profile murder and act of war, and that the sniper was an Israeli agent (51).

    Despite multiple attempts at provoking Syria into war by violating its sovereignty and waging nonstop war on its ally, the Lebanese Islamic Resistance of Hezbollah, the Zionist entity failed. And as events unfold in Syria today, with innocent blood flowing from moment to moment, it is clear that Israel has reverted back to its original plan, what nearly achieved success decades ago in ousting Assad’s father and crushing the Resistance Axis, and what was laid out by Oded Yinon and the ‘Clean Break’ study group: an armed, insurrectionist coup d’etat, manipulated by Israel and its regional allies under the guise of a ‘democratic’ revolution. ‘Kiss of Death’ 2.0 initiated.

    israel and saudi arabia
    Israel and Saudi Arabia: United against Syria.

    The Syrian Revolution: 100% Manufactured by Israel and Saudi Arabia

    When events that reflect a greater geopolitical shift begin to unfold, there are two questions that must be asked regarding the game-changers to accurately assess why the said shift is occurring: Who is behind the events? And, who benefits from them? In the case of what is being referred to by the international Zionist media as the ‘Syrian Revolution,’ the organizers and benefactors of the unrest beleaguering Syria are the Zionist entity and the House of Saud, controllers of ‘Saudi’ Arabia.

    Since 2004, Mossad had not only been funding Syrian opposition groups with millions of US dollars, but directing them. The funding continued until the end of 2009. Mossad was running a unit of cyber dissidents, training them to spread hasbara against Bashar al-Assad and the Resistance Axis and even offering them sanctuary in Israeli logistics facilities. Mossad worked hand in hand with the Zionist-run, Zionist-founded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in recruiting these dissidents to incite violence within Syria. NED of course, has been at the heart of the ‘Arab Spring’ from the very beginning. NED’s involvement with Mossad in organizing Syrian opposition groups explains the $6 million given to such groups by the Likudnik Bush administration in 2006 (52). What is most telling however, is that several of the meetings held between Mossad and the Syrian opposition were hosted by former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam and the Comptroller General of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood (53).

    Despite repeated (and ongoing) Zionist media reports of ‘pro-democracy’ opposition, there was something very wrong, violently wrong, with the Syrian Revolution from the beginning. Protesters chanted, “No Iran, no Hezbollah, we want a president who fears Allah!” as they burned the flags of the Lebanese Resistance and the Islamic Republic (54). The vile, vicious, racist chants continued, “Alawiyya in coffins and move all the Christians to Beirut (55)!” These chants were heard throughout the protest strongholds, including Aleppo and Damascus. But the worst of all, was heard in Daraa, where eyewitnesses stated, “Let Obama come and take Syria. Let Israel come and take Syria. Anything is better than Bashar al-Assad (56).” This is not the behavior of the righteous Syrian people, who support the Resistance wholeheartedly, who have rejected sectarianism completely, living together harmoniously for centuries and who would rather die with dignity than ever grant recognition to the Zionist regime.

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    'Pro-Democracy' Syrian protesters chanted for Obama and the Zionist regime to 'come take Syria.'

    It is essential to note, that Bashar al-Assad publicly acknowledges that there is an opposition movement in Syria, “We make a distinction between those with legitimate grievances and the saboteurs who represent a small group which has tried to exploit the goodwill of the Syrian people for its own ends (57).” Equally essential, is that the Syrian opposition publicly states that it isn’t trying to topple the Assad government, instead stating, “Bashar Al-Assad is our president and we are trying to achieve a solution to escape the current crisis. The opposition here is not trying to topple the regime like the opposition in Libya, but it demands real reform which is possible in the current system (58).” The opposition in Libya, as previously discussed in the opening, is an armed group of Israeli-advised CIA rebels who are seeking the ouster of Muammar Qaddafi. Syria’s opposition is the exact opposite.

    Who then, are these saboteurs, these infiltrators, these insurrectionists? They are split into two camps, one led by assets of the Zionist regime, who will be addressed in a moment, and the other led by Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s Syrian Muslim Brotherhood sits at the head of the opposition to pass off the idea that the uprising is indigenous (59). It was the MB that openly led a massive ‘Day of Rage’ demonstration at the end of April (60). The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood’s involvement is explicitly indicative of why such vile rhetoric was being chanted by protesters: the House of Saud despises Hezbollah and Iran with a passion.

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    Jeffrey Feltman: US State Dept official and major player in the Zionist operation to topple Bashar al-Assad.

    A crown prince of the UAE, staunch ally of Saudi Arabia and GCC member, provided opposition groups with cell phones to coordinate their anti-government activities. The cell phones were loaded with special satellite-linked SIM cards from not only the UAE, but Jordan as well. As the opposition began preparing for its ‘democratic’ assault on the ground, the Future Movement of Saad Hariri, former Lebanese Prime Minister and well-known Western-Saudi puppet, began coordinating the press campaign with none other than ubiquitous Zionist war criminal US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffery Feltman and US Ambassador to Israel, Zionist Dan Shapiro (61).

    The cell phones provided by the Zionist-Saudi ‘pro-democracy’ army are important to bringing down the Syrian Revolution’s house of cards. March 15th was the day that the Syrian Revolution began, and it was on this day, that many residents in Damascus were filing complaints with telecommunications firms, reporting unwanted text messages sent to them that called for all Syrians to join the protests. A Syrian investigation revealed that the text messages were sent from an Israeli military base in Tel Hashomer, near Tel Aviv. The Syrian official went on record, “The Israeli enemy could not have done this without help from one of the satellite communications companies (62),” i.e. the satellite-linked cell phones provided by Saudi Arabia’s UAE ally. Once again, the Zionist-Saudi nexus is exposed.

    farid al ghadry
    Farid al-Ghadry: House Arab, Syrian opposition leader and avid Zionist.

    The assets of the Zionist regime in Syria were being led by the notorious Syrian exile Farid al-Ghadry, who had been disseminating information to the Western press through his Reform Party of Syria from the very beginning of the Syrian Revolution (63). The ‘unofficial spokesperson’ for the protesters in Syria was another infamous Syrian exile, Ammar Abdulhamid (64). Al-Ghadry and Abdulhamid are funding, guiding and organizing the protests of the tech-savvy insurrectionists who are mobilizing on the ground via the satellite phones that Israel’s miliary has direct access to. Al-Ghadry is staunchly pro-Zionism and is a proud member of AIPAC. Al-Ghadry also holds the putrid distinction of being the only Syrian to give a speech in front of the racist Israeli institution known as the Knesset. Abdulhamid is a fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, one of the most powerful Zionist think tanks in America (65).

    Former Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam, who facilitated contacts between Mossad and the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, has also surfaced as a leader during the Syrian Revolution, calling for the West to intervene in Syria and take down Bashar al-Assad (66). Khaddam’s call echoes that of the same neoconservative mass murderers behind the invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and the drone bombings in Yemen and Pakistan; leading the way on Syria is Zionist war criminal Elliot Abrams (67).

    abdul halim khaddim
    Ex-Syrian VP Abdel-Halim Khaddam is very close to Saudi Arabia and integral to Zionist destabilization in Syria.

    Khaddam is extremely intimate with Saudi Arabia. He accepted $30 million from the House of Saud in 2005 to step down from Bashar al-Assad’s government and the Saudi rulers later secured his safe passage from Damascus to Paris following his resignation. Subsequently, he initiated an alliance with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and outwardly plotted the removal of Bashar al-Assad. Over the years, Khaddam has been at Saudi Arabia’s beckoned call, his entire family enjoys Saudi citizenship and is directly related to fellow Saudi-stooge Saad Hariri and House of Saud ruler Abdullah due to their wives being sisters. Khaddam’s leadership role in Syria’s Revolution was mapped out at the Saudi embassy in Brussels, where he was transferred via Saudi transport just prior to the beginning of the Syrian Revolution. He became a director of the revolt, alongside al-Ghadry and Abdulhamid in the US. The Saudi Embassy in Brussels became a joint operational headquarters for the Israel-America-Jordan-Saudi nexus to plunge Syria into total chaos. Jordan’s role was vital, as it was in charge of providing weapons to the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood’s soldiers in its ‘capital’ cities of Daraa and Homs (68).

    Jordan’s role was reaffirmed when Muthanna al-Dhari, son of Iraqi Resistance leader Sheikh Harith Suleiman al-Dhari, was apprehended by Syrian security forces for terrorist activities within Syria. Al-Dhari was expelled from occupied Iraq by his father at the beginnings of the occupation for being involved with the Mossad false flag bombings that have ravaged Iraq and for repeatedly meeting with Zionist military establishment leaders in Tel Aviv. Syrian officials uncovered that al-Dhari had set up a base of operations in Jordan and held a meeting at the base with a representative of Abdel-Halim Khaddam. It was also uncovered that al-Dhari was working with Israeli intelligence to coordinate Iraq-like terror attacks in Syria (69). This should not be surprising; Jordan has kowtowed to the occupying Zionist regime’s every whim for decades.

    With the Saudi-Israeli-directed protesters continuing to pour into the streets and insult Iran, Hezbollah, slander Ayatollah Sayyed Ruhollah Khomeini and despicably burn photographs of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah (70), former Mossad chief Meir Dagan declaring that it is in Israel’s best interest to overthrow Bashar al-Assad and install a ‘Sunni’ regime to weaken Hezbollah (71) and the Zionist-occupied United States government routinely contacting the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood (72), the whole picture should be illuminated now: the Syrian Revolution is 100% manufactured by the Zionist entity and the House of Saud.

    ~ End Of Part I ~

    Next: Al-Jazeera’s shadowy role in the ‘kiss of democratic death’ placed on Syria, Turkey’s two-faced involvement and Israel’s ‘greater’ agenda…

    Sources:

    (1) Iraq Today: 5 Million Orphans by Zaineb Alani, Socialist Action

    (2) UN: 7.4 Million Afghans Are Living With Hunger And Fear Of Starvation by Michelle Nichols, RAWA News

    (3) Haneen Zoabi: A Palestinian Woman Fighting For Equality In Israel by Khaled Khalefa, Xinhua

    (4) 10 Injured In Non-Violent Weekly Protests Friday by IMEMC and PNN; The Weight Of Nationalism In Nabi Saleh by Joseph Dana, 972 Magazine

    (5) Interview With Milad Ayyash’s Sister by Palestine Monitor

    (6) B’TSelem: Gaza, 95% Factories Are Closed, 93% Of Water Is Polluted by Haitham Sabbah, Sabbah Report

    (7) Life In Jordan Valley Strangled By Israeli Military Control by Jillian Kestler-D’Amours, The Electronic Intifada

    (8) Jerusalem’s Israeli Municipality Discusses Plans To Build 7600 Units by WAFA

    (9) Israel And India: Brothers In Occupation Of Kashmir by Jonathan Azaziah, Mask of Zion

    (10) CRPF Troopers In IHK Get New Israeli Assault Rifles by Kashmir Media Service

    (11) US Neo-Cons Urge Libya Intervention by Jim Lobe, Al-Jazeera English

    (12) Mounting Evidence Of CIA Ties To Libyan Rebels by Patrick Martin, Global Research

    (13) Libyan Rebels Will Recognize Israel, Bernard-Henri Levy Tells Netanyahu by Radio France Internationale

    (14) Libya War Is About Theft Of State Assets And Total Restructuring Of A Nation by Martin Iqbal, Empire Strikes Black

    (15) NATO Operation In Libya Is Collective Punishment – Ex-Congresswoman by Russia Today

    (16) Libya Under NATO Attack by Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Dissident Voice

    (17) Libyan Gov’t Claims ‘Barbaric’ NATO Raid Killed Civilians, Children by The Raw Story

    (18) UNSC Resolution 497 Invalidating Israel’s Annexation Of The Golan Heights by The Institute For Middle East Understanding

    (19) Special Commentary: Iranian Reaction To The Great Syrian Revolt by Babak Rahimi, The Jamestown Foundation

    (20) Saudi Arabia, Jordan Behind Syria’s Unrest by Hassan Hanizadeh, Press TV

    (21) Ofergate: The Latest Zionist Propaganda Blitz Against Iran by Jonathan Azaziah, Mask of Zion

    (22) Lebanon Marks 36th Anniv. Of Civil War by Serena Shim, Press TV

    (23) Asad: The Struggle For The Middle East by Patrick Seale

    (24) February 24, 1982: Syria Offers Picture Of Hama Revolt by John Kifner, The New York Times

    (25) Dreams And Shadows: The Future Of The Middle East by Robin Wright

    (26) Destruction Of Hama and Hums In Syria by The UN Refugee Agency

    (27) George Soros’ International School Of Youth Corruption by Marek Glogoczowski, Free Speech Project

    (28) Naming Names: Your Real Government by Tony Cartalucci, Land Destroyer Report

    (29) Incubator Babies, “Stonings” And Amnesty International’s Dirty Propaganda War by Aion Essence, Alter Net

    (30) Syria’s Tadmor Prison: Dissent Still Hostage To A Legacy Of Terror by Human Rights Watch

    (31) George Soros Gives $100 Million To Human Rights Watch by Ed Pilkington, The Guardian

    (32) What Happened In Kurdish Halabja? by Professor Mohammed al-Obaidi, Global Research

    (33) Flashback: What Do Fallujah And Halabja Have In Common? by Ghali Hassan, Uruk Net

    (34) The Massacre Of Hama (1982): Law Application Requires Accountability by The Syrian Human Rights Committee

    (35) About Us by The Syrian Human Rights Committee

    (36) Links: Government And Politics by The Syrian Human Rights Committee

    (37) Israel Hopes To Colonize Parts Of Iraq As ‘Greater Israel’ by Wayne Madsen, Online Journal

    (38) The Israeli-Kurdish Relations by Sergey Minasian, 21st Century, Number 1, April, 2007

    (39) Israelis ‘Train Kurdish Forces’ by Magdi Abdelhadi, BBC News

    (40) A Strategy For Israel In The Nineteen Eighties by Oded Yinon, Kivunim

    (41) A Clean Break: A New Strategy For Securing The Realm by The Institute For Advanced Strategic and Political Studies

    (42) The Hariri Assassination: The Role of Israel? by Rannie Amiri, Global Research

    (43) Sayyed Nasrallah: “Israel” Behind PM Hariri’s Assassination by Nour Rida, Moqawama English

    (44) Mossad Hacked Syrian Official’s Computer Before Bombing Mysterious Facility by Kim Zetter, Wired

    (45) Syria Rebuilds On Site Destroyed By Israeli Bombs by William J. Broad, The New York Times

    (46) Sy Hersh Confirms: Syrian Facility Bombed By Israel Was Not Nuclear by David Edwards and Muriel Kane, The Raw Story

    (47) What Did Israel Bomb In Syria? by Pepe Escobar, The Real News

    (48) Israel Denies Involvement In Syrian General’s Assassination by Yoav Stern, Haaretz

    (49) Defence Chiefs Urge Hawk Netanyahu To Strike Deal With Syria by Uzi Mahnaimi, The Sunday Times

    (50) Spy For Israel ‘Admits’ Scouting Mughniyeh Hit Site by The Daily Star

    (51) Israel Implicated In Suleiman Shooting by The Tehran Times

    (52) US ‘Secretly Funded Syrian Opposition’ by Li Ying, Global Times

    (53) British Report: Mossad Unprecedentedly Penetrates The Syrian Opposition Financially And Politically by Jouhina Portal News

    (54) “A President Of Afraid Of Allah” by Michael J. Totten, Pajamas Media

    (55) From Syria With Doubt by As’ad Abu Khalil, The Angry Arab News Service

    (56) ‘Let Israel Come And Take Syria’ by Ynet

    (57) Syria’s Assad Offers Dialogue, Rejects Chaos by Ma’an News Agency

    (58) We Are Not Seeking To Topple Assad: Syrian Opposition Member

    (59) In Syria, The Regime Lies And So Does Elements Of The Opposition–US Government Confirms The Presence Of Religious Armed Groups by As’ad Abu Khalil, The Angry Arab News Service

    (60) AP: Muslim Brotherhood Behind Syria’s New ‘Day Of Rage’ by Jonathon M. Seidl, The Blaze

    (61) Syria, In The Eye Of The Storm – Part II by Nidal Hmedeh and translated by Eslam al-Rihani, Al-Manar

    (62) Syria: Israel Behind Anti-Government Rallies by Roee Nahmias, Ynet

    (63) Syria, In The Eye Of The Storm – Part I by Nidal Hmedeh and translated by Eslam al-Rihani, Al-Manar

    (64) Syrian Rebels Don’t U.S. Aid, At Least For Now by Eli Lake, The Washington Times

    (65) Uprisings In Syria Appear To Be The Work Of Foreign Agitators by Keith Johnson, American Free Press

    (66) Syria, In The Eye Of The Storm – Part III by Nidal Hmedeh and translated by Eslam al-Rihani, Al-Manar

    (67) Neocons Target Assad Regime by Jim Lobe, Antiwar.com

    (68) Saudi Arabia, Jordan Behind Syria’s Unrest by Hassan Hanizadeh, Press TV

    (69) Syria Nabs Israeli-Backed Terrorist by Press TV

    (70) Syrian Protesters Turn On Iran And Hezbollah by France 24

    (71) Dagan Doubts ‘Arab Spring’ by Yoav Zitun, Ynet

    (72) US And Syrian Muslim Brotherhood by As’ad Abu Khalil, The Angry Arab News Service

    http://www.maskofzion.com/2011/07/kiss-of-democratic-death-israels-plot.html, 6 July 2011


  • Family meetings: Syria, Iran, Turkey

    Family meetings: Syria, Iran, Turkey

    Family meetings: Syria, Iran, Turkey

    Author: Greg Austin

    15 July 2011 – Issue : 944

    In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu last week, Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi declared those two countries to be part of one family with Syria. Alluding to the repression in Syria, Salehi said that the problems of one member could be solved amongst the family. This followed a statement by President Ahmadinejad that all citizens of the region should “enjoy equal rights, the right to vote, security and dignity”.

    The ties in this triangular “family” do not run deep, but they are strengthening. This can be seen in the agreement in March this year among the three countries (plus Iraq) to issue a common tourist visa. There have also been moves to liberalize trade among the three countries, including through new investments in cross-border transportation designed to reach from Turkey to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

    There are many ways to characterize the relative power of each of the three countries. It is clear that Turkey and Iran are far more powerful than smaller Syria. Turkey and Iran each have economies about ten times bigger than that of Syria (based on PPP estimates of GDP). On population size, Syria at 22 million comes much closer to its two neighbours, each with just under 80 million.

    Yet, even while Turkey and Iran may have been the power holders in this family, Syria’s potential power, or at least influence, in current and emerging political circumstances is considerable. This may sound odd given the debilitating civil unrest and large scale violence against the citizenry in Syria. But there are governments in the region and outside it who are looking at this emerging family of three as a potential game-changer in regional affairs. The other big group of states most interested in this new family of three is the group of Arab monarchies, but Israel is watching closely too.

    To understand and anticipate the direction and scale of change, now is the time for an opening up of new channels of political communication among these three countries on the one hand and, on the other hand, among them, Europe and the United States. One dilemma is that Iran and Syria are both viewed by so many in the West as outlaw states that it is hard to garner support for such new dialogues. But new conversations may well prove surprisingly beneficial in terms of new and unexpected outcomes.

    The most productive subjects will probably not be the most highly political or the most topical, but rather ones that centre on regional economic integration and long term development of physical infrastructure to facilitate cross-border movement of people. One reason why such new talks, and an innovative framework for sustaining them, are so important can be seen in the number of regional threats and confrontations over which these countries hold some sway. These include terrorism in Iraq, Iranian and Syrian support for Hezbollah against Israel, and the half century military face-off between Syria and Israel. There are also important opportunities that seem to be begging, not least a hope for political liberalization and, less important but still strategically significant, a possible reduction of European dependence on the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz for transport of regional energy supplies.

    Yet another reason lies in the changing shape of geopolitics and geo-economics in the region. International relations here are increasingly dominated by local powers while the authority and influence of the United States is ever more visibly in decline. As urgent as the current needs for European engagement might be in North Africa (Libya, Egypt, Tunisia), there are strong foundations in the Mediterranean for European engagement there. These include the Barcelona Process and the Mediterranean Union. By contrast, very stark at that, Europe has few assets for political engagement with Syria, Iran and Turkey on matters that concern these local states most. Who can lead Europe on a new course of dialogue in this region?

    via Family meetings: Syria, Iran, Turkey – New Europe.

  • Syria, Iran, and Turkey are members of one family: Salehi

    Syria, Iran, and Turkey are members of one family: Salehi

    Syria, Iran, and Turkey are members of one family: Salehi

    Tehran Times Political Desk

    02 EP35TEHRAN — Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held a meeting in Tehran late on Sunday, in which they discussed the latest developments in the region, notably the unrest in Syria.

    During the three-hour meeting, Salehi and Davutoglu emphasized the need to hold regular consultations between Iranian and Turkish officials on the developments taking place in the countries that have been experiencing pro-democracy uprisings in order to help defuse the crisis in these countries, help people realize their legitimate demands, and help prevent foreign intervention in the internal affairs of these states.

    The negotiations also covered the developments in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, and Palestine as well as relations between Tehran and Ankara.

    During a joint press conference after the meeting, Davutoglu said, “All regional countries should pay attention to public demands and consult with great countries in the region such as Iran.”

    He also stated, “Syria is (Turkey’s) valued and good friend and is the brother of Turkey and has close relations with Iran.”

    “In tonight’s meeting, we exchanged views on the issue of Syria,” Davutoglu said, adding, “Our positions and consultations are in line with (efforts to help) resolve the problems, and we share our concern and viewpoints with our brothers.”

    On Ankara’s stance toward the pro-democracy uprisings in the region, he said, “We are opposed to resistance to public demands in regional countries as well as any action which violates human rights, and at this critical juncture we call on regional governments to respond positively to people’s legitimate demands.”

    Salehi said, “Syria, Iran, and Turkey are members of a family, and if any of the members of the family faces a problem, the entire family should make moves to help remove that.”

    He also stated that necessary measures should be taken to prevent sectarian strife in the region.

    “Iran is the friend and brother of Turkey and Syria, and (holding) consultations between members of a family is normal,” he added.

    Regional nations will not fall for outdated U.S. plots

    The Turkish foreign minister also met with secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili on Monday.

    During the meeting, Jalili said that regional nations’ awakening and vigilance about the outmoded plots of the U.S. will not allow the global arrogance (forces of imperialism) to extend its dominance over the region.

    Davutoglu also emphasized the need to hold consultations between Iranian and Turkish officials.

  • What if Turkey invaded Syria?

    What if Turkey invaded Syria?

    Soner Çağaptay – S o n e r C @ w a s h i n g t o n i n s t i t u t e . o r g

    SONER ÇAĞAPTAY

    soner cagaptayTurkish-Syrian ties are unraveling. After becoming Assad’s close ally, Ankara is now worried about the Syrian conflict. Turkey has expressed outrage at the situation, calling the crackdown in Syria a “savagery,” and a Turkish army commander recently issued a tacit warning while visiting the Syrian border. Meanwhile, Damascus has positioned tanks along its border with Turkey.

    Still, when reacting to the unrest in Syria, the instinct of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government in Ankara will be to avoid conflict and opt for a buffer zone inside Syria to manage the likely flow of refugees on Syrian territory. But if that does not work, Turkey could take matters into its own hands, sending troops into Syria. Did I just say Turkey might invade Syria? Yes. And what a can of worms such an intervention would open, humanitarian though it would be. As the Syrian crisis spills over into Turkey, the AKP’s conflict avoidance policy may not be sustainable. Should the Assad regime carry out massacres in large cities, the AKP might find Turkish sympathies for the persecuted fellow Muslims next door too unbearable to ignore. Massacres in Syria, coupled with the breakdown of law and order, would make Turkish intervention almost inevitable. A Turkish intervention in Syria could change almost everything about the Turkey we know today. For instance, domestic politics. Although Turkey is split down the middle between the AKP’s supporters and their opponents, war would unify domestic opposition behind the AKP leader and Turkish Prime minister Erdoğan. But it is worth considering that a successful military campaign would also re-empower the secular Turkish army, which has lost face in recent years for purported involvement in a coup plot against the AKP. As for foreign policy, a Turkish intervention would nearly revolutionize the AKP’s regional agenda.

    Strong ties with Syria that the AKP has cultivated since 2002 would crumble in the case of an invasion. In 1998, Damascus stopped allowing the Kurdistan Workers Party to use it territory to launch terror attacks into Turkey, when Ankara threatened to invade Syria. Since then, the Turks have come to believe that Syria is neither a threat nor a source of instability and that Israel is the true problem in the region. This view would change with a Turkish intrusion into Syria, as would Turkey’s relationship with Israel, harkening back to the 1990s, when the two countries united against Damascus for its harboring of terrorist groups. The AKP’s decision to pressure Turkey’s NGOs to disengage from this year’s Gaza flotilla signifies the renewal of a Turkish realization that Israel could be an ally in an unstable region. In addition to reconfiguring Turkish-Israeli-Syrian ties, a Turkish incursion would drive a wedge between Ankara and Tehran, thus, ending the honeymoon Ankara has pursued with Tehran since the Iraq War, when the two countries found themselves allied in their opposition to the U.S.-led campaign. Today, Ankara and Tehran are at odds; their policies on Syria are diametrically opposed. In the event of a Turkish intervention in Syria, the competition between Ankara and Tehran for influence in Iraq would further compound the situation. Such an intervention would deteriorate Turkey and Iran’s increasingly problematic relationship. A Turkish invasion would rejuvenate Turkish-U.S. ties, which have yet to recover fully from the Iraq War. Since 2003, many Turks have come to believe that the U.S. does not care for Turkey and that the two countries have conflicting interests in the Middle East. But now, Turkey and the U.S. are on the same page. Both countries resent crackdown and fear a likely refugee crisis. The crisis in Syria is leading the U.S. and Turkey to coordinate their Middle East policies to an extent not seen for nearly a decade. A Turkish intervention in Syria and backed by the U.S. to uphold the nascent doctrine of “responsibility to protect,” would indeed warm up U.S.-Turkish ties beyond imagination. A can of worms, indeed.

  • Turkey in a quandary over missile threat

    Turkey in a quandary over missile threat

    As Iran develops technologies associated with ballistic and cruise missiles, neighbouring Turkey faces an emerging security threat.

    By Aaron Stein for Southeast European Times in Istanbul – 05/07/11

    ”]Iran has developed a large ballistic and cruise missile capability. [Reuters]Recent war games in Iran have again attracted attention to the significant resources the Islamic Republic is devoting to extending the range of its current stockpile of ballistic missiles and the development of cruise missiles to overcome existing ballistic missile defences (BMD).

    “Iran’s long-range missiles have been worrying Ankara for more than a decade,” Sebnem Udum, an associate professor of international relations at Hacettepe University, told SETimes, adding that ballistic missile defence (BMD) has become more important for Turkey’s future defence plans.

    At the same time, “Ankara does not want to send the wrong signals to Iran,” she says.

    For this reason, Turkey objected to the naming of Iran and Syria as specific threats to the Alliance during negotiations with its NATO Allies in 2010, out of concern it would actually spur both Iran and Syria to speed up their missile programmes.

    The Turkish leadership “aims to solve problems within a ‘co-operative security’ framework based on talks, improved relations, and trade”, Udum says.

    NATO eventually agreed to remove Iran and Syria from its final declaration of specific threats and, as part of this compromise, Turkey agreed to host one radar installation for the Alliance’s missile defence shield.

    Despite agreeing to the shield, Ankara has shown it is intent on pursuing an independent BMD capability.

    The proposed independent BMD system has potential drawbacks, however, according to Dennis Gormley, a security studies professor at the University of Pittsburgh and author of “Missile Contagion”.

    “Turkey might not have access to ballistic missile warning information, as well as the benefits of working with NATO partners in training on tactics and procedures related to perfecting missile defence operations,” he told SETimes.

    According to Gormley, neither Turkey nor NATO should focus on ballistic missiles at the expense of guarding against other risks. “The threat of land-attack cruise missiles is also growing and is much more demanding than that of defending against aircraft,” he said.

    Cruise missiles are essentially small-unmanned aircraft designed for offensive missions. Their low trajectory, terrain masking capabilities and 360-degree route of attack make it difficult for current BMD sensors to track and identify these targets. Despite having a theoretical capability to intercept low-flying cruise missiles, “significant improvements are needed in airborne sensors and radar data sharing to provide defence,” Gormley said.

    Iran is known to have imported 18 Kh-55 cruise missiles with a range of 3,000km in 2001, and is developing a cruise missile based on the Chinese Silkworm that could conceivably carry a well-designed nuclear warhead 105km, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

    Turkey has not announced any plans to defend against the growing threat of cruise missiles, choosing to focus solely on ballistic missiles.

    Advanced fighter jets, like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, have some capability to defend against cruise missiles, but improvements are needed to adequately defend against a cruise missile attack.

    According to Gormley, “the F-35’s active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar could track low-flying cruise missiles.” If equipped with advanced medium range air-to-air missiles, “they could destroy such missiles, including the Kh-55 and Ra’ad,” he said.

    Turkey is a member of the US-led consortium building the plane and has indicated a willingness to buy 100 F-35s over the next 15 years.

    While such a capability would be good for small volume attacks, the limited range of the plane’s radar would present problems for larger attacks, says Gormley.

    This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.

    via Turkey in a quandary over missile threat (SETimes.com).

  • Turkish Actions Designed To Trigger NATO Confrontation With Syria?

    Turkish Actions Designed To Trigger NATO Confrontation With Syria?

    Betrayed by NATO after Israel’s high seas attack on the Mavi Marmara just over one year ago, Turkey may be on its way to becoming a military launch pad for the Alliance’s operations against its erstwhile ally, Syria. Rick Rozoff fleshes out Turkey’s sinister role in the US-led counter revolutionary charge in the Middle East.

    VOLTAIRE NETWORK | CHICAGO (USA) | 21 JUNE 2011

    ClintonGivesAHighFiveToDavutoglu
    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gives Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu a high five at the start of their bilateral meeting at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi on June 9. (Reuters)

    Last week, a feature by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton excoriating the political leadership of Syria appeared in the London-based Arabic-language daily Asharq Al-Awsat. Saudi-supported and printed in twelve locations, it is considered to be among the most influential newspapers in the Arab world.

    As such, her comments (in English and Arabic) were intended to signal to Arab readers and the world at large that the American position toward Damascus is becoming more stringent and confrontational, evoking Clinton’s statements toward the leadership of Ivory Coast and Libya earlier in the year.

    Her characteristically imperious, contemptuous and inflammatory comments, indeed threats, included:

    In his May 19 speech, President Obama echoed demonstrators’ basic and legitimate demands… President Assad, he said, could either lead that transition or get out of the way.

    It is increasingly clear that President Assad has made his choice.”

    “…President Assad is showing his true colors by embracing the repressive tactics of his ally Iran and putting Syria onto the path of a pariah state.

    “By following Iran’s lead, President Assad is placing himself and his regime on the wrong side of history…

    If President Assad believes he can act with impunity because the international community hopes for his cooperation on other issues, he is wrong about this as well. He and his regime are certainly not indispensable.”

    The Wall Street Journal reported on June 18 that the Washington administration is preparing a case against Syrian President Bashar Assad and other government officials at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. The same newspaper feature added that “The U.S. is also exploring ways to more directly target Syria’s oil and gas revenue…

    On June 14 four members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, including the military alliance’s three European powerhouses – Britain, France, Germany and Portugal – proposed a draft resolution in the United Nations Security Council aimed at Syria. Three days later in Berlin German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed their governments would push for a new UN resolution targeting Syria. In Sarkozy’s words: “France, hand in hand with Germany, calls for tougher sanctions against Syrian authorities who are conducting intolerable and unacceptable actions and repression against the population.”

    The USS George H.W. Bush nuclear-powered supercarrier and its assigned carrier strike group and carrier air wing – with 9,000 sailors, 70 aircraft and four guided missile destroyers and cruisers – is in the Mediterranean Sea not far from the Syrian coast. One of the destroyers, USS Truxtun, just left the Israeli port city of Haifa after a two-day stopover.

    The USS Monterey guided missile cruiser is docked off the Georgian Black Sea city of Batumi currently and will re-enter the Mediterranean soon. Deployed as the first warship assigned to the U.S.-NATO potential first-strike pan-European interceptor missile system, it can launch Tomahawk cruise missiles as well as Standard Missile-3 interceptor missiles.

    The guided missile destroyer USS Barry left Gaeta, Italy where nine other US. warships have been stationed, on June 17 after a five-day port visit. USS Barry is part of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, headed by the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, used at the beginning of the U.S.-NATO Libyan campaign in March and currently in the Mediterranean.

    The Pentagon and its allies – every nation in the Mediterranean is now a NATO member or partner except for Libya, Syria, Cyprus (under renewed and intensified pressure to join the bloc’s Partnership for Peace program) and Lebanon (whose coastline has been blockaded by NATO states’ military vessels since 2006) – have the military hardware in place for a replication of the 95-day war against Libya directed at Syria: Scores of warplanes on carriers and on bases in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey and guided missile ships ready to launch Tomahawk missiles.

    On June 19 Ersat Hurmuzlu, senior adviser to Turkish President Abdullah Gul, told the United Arab Emirates-based Al Arabiya television channel that Syria has less than a week to respond to what Reuters described as “calls for change.” Hurmuzlu’s exact words were:

    The demands in this field will be for a positive response to these issues within a short period that does not exceed a week.

    “The opposite of this, it would not be possible to offer any cover for the leadership in Syria because there is the danger… that we had always been afraid of, and that is foreign intervention.”

    Although the last sentence can be read as either warning or threat, it is in fact the second. The statement as a whole is an ultimatum.

    Since the war against Libya was launched by U.S. Africa Command under the codename Operation Odyssey Dawnto the present NATO-run Operation Unified Protector in place since March 31, air operations have been run from NATO’s Air Command Headquarters for Southern Europe in Izmir, Turkey.

    In March Turkey supplied five ships and a submarine for the blockade of Libya’s coast and on March 28 Hurriyet Daily News announced that Turkey was “assuming control of the Benghazi airport, and sending naval forces to patrol the corridor between the rebel-held city and Crete,” quoting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan:

    Turkey said ’yes’ to three tasks within NATO: the takeover of Benghazi airport for the delivery of humanitarian aid, the task about control of the air corridor and the involvement of Turkish naval forces in the corridor between Benghazi and Crete.”

    In 2003 the U.S. ambassador to NATO at the time, Nicholas Burns, stated in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee:

    NATO needs to pivot from its inward focus on Europe – which was necessary and appropriate during the Cold War – to an outward focus on the arc of countries where most of the threats are today – in Central and South Asia, and in the Middle East.

    NATO’s mandate is still to defend Europe and North America. But we don’t believe we can do that by sitting in Western Europe, or Central Europe, or North America. We have to deploy our conceptual attention and our military forces east and south. NATO’s future, we believe, is east, and is south. It’s in the Greater Middle East.

    Earlier this month Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul announced that Izmir will also be the new home of the Alliance’s Land Force Command, consolidating and transferring ground forces currently stationed in Germany and Spain to the Izmir Air Station.

    On June 17 Turkey took over command of Standing NATO Maritime Group-2 which, with Standing NATO Maritime Group-1, is part of the NATO Response Force and centers its activities in the Mediterranean. Each group consists of between 4-8 warships – destroyers and frigates – and since 2005 has expanded its missions through the Suez Canal to the Gulf of Aden and the Somalia coast, circumnavigating the African continent in 2007 and traveling the length of the Atlantic coast of the U.S., then entering the Caribbean Sea the same year, the first time NATO had ever deployed to the Caribbean. The NATO naval groups have also sailed to Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, the Persian Gulf and the Baltic Sea among other locations.

    Turkey hosted a conference of Syrian opposition forces called “Change in Syria” from May 1-June 2 in the city of Antalya. Although held under the sponsorship of the Egyptian-based National Organisation of Human Rights, logistics and security were provided by the host country.

    Had Syria allowed a gathering of Turkish opposition groups whose express intention was the overthrow of the government in Ankara, one can only imagine the Turkish administration’s reaction.

    On June 13 Britain’s The Guardian – since the Balkans crisis began in the early 1990s, never slow to fan the flames of moral panic over humanitarian crises, with techniques ranging from hyperbole to hysterics, in order to alarm and neutralize its readership into acquiescence to Western military action (while claiming formally, if not convincingly, that it is not advocating the latter) – ran an editorial titled “Syria: Butchery, while the world watches,” which let the cat out of the bag regarding the prospect of U.S. and NATO military intervention in Syria by stating:

    Turkey, a member of Nato, could yet drag the west in, if it decides its own interests require action to defend its borders from the [Syrian] refugees. The world would then pay a high price indeed for having pretended that Assad was somebody else’s problem.”

    On June 19 the major Turkish daily newspaper Zaman quoted Veysel Ayhan of the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies harking back to the rationale for NATO’s first military actions 16 years ago:

    Remember when NATO was accused by the international media and public of not being able to prevent 8,000 Muslim Bosnians from being murdered in front of the world’s eyes? As a member of NATO and a country whose border is about to witness such a massacre by the Syrian army, Turkey will not allow such a thing to happen again, especially before its own eyes.”

    Last week Turkey’s President Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu were reported to have toughened demands on Syria in a meeting with President Assad’s special envoy Hasan Turkmani in Ankara, and on January 18 Al Arabiya reported that Ankara had dispatched an envoy to Damascus to demand that Assad’s brother Maher relinquish his command of the Republican Guard and the Fourth Armored Division.

    Zaman recently cited what was identified as a pro-government Syrian official saying to the United Arab Emirates-based daily The National:

    The West wants to put the region under Turkish control like in the Ottoman days. Turkey is a NATO member and embodies a safe kind of Islam for the West, so they have done a deal to give everything to Ankara.”

    Should a conflict erupt between Turkey and Syria on their border, NATO will be obligated under its Article 5 collective military assistance clause to enter the fray on Turkey’s side. Should NATO intend opening hostilities against Syria, no better pretext could be devised than that scenario.

    In February of 2003, on the eve of the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq, in NATO’s words “Turkey requested NATO assistance under Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty.”

    NATO’s Integrated Air Defence System in Turkey was put on full alert and augmented with equipment and personnel from other NATO commands and countries.”

    Four Alliance Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft were deployed from their base in Germany to the Forward Operating Base in Konya, Turkey. Three Dutch and two American Patriot missile batteries were deployed to the country in March of that year, and “Preparations were made to augment Turkey’s air defence assets with additional aircraft from other NATO countries.

    Article 4 of the 1949 Washington Treaty, NATO’s founding document, states:

    The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.”

    Article 5 says:

    The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.”

    If Turkey opens armed hostilities with its neighbor, the conflict will not remain a local one for long.

    Rick Rozoff
    https://www.voltairenet.org/Turkish-Actions-Designed-To