Archive for category Middle East

Al Akahbar: Syria – Damascus Repels Another Rebel Attack

A Syrian rebel takes position with a heavy machine gun on the Jabal al-Turkman mountain in Syrian's northern Latakia province on 5 February 2013. (Photo: AFP - Aamir Qureshi)

A Syrian rebel takes position with a heavy machine gun on the Jabal al-Turkman mountain in Syrian’s northern Latakia province on 5 February 2013. (Photo: AFP – Aamir Qureshi)

Remember all those articles over the last few months – Syria to fall soon; what will post-Assad Syria look like?  Soon, we were lead to believe, the demands of Former Secretary of State (and neo-colonialism) Hillary Clinton would come true.  When didn’t she say – “Assad must go!”  Ironically, Assad is  still around and Clinton is  gone. That’s one big step for mankind and an even bigger step backwards for the Syrian rebels, particularly the very Al Qaeda fighters operating under the name Al Nusra.  They fight and win but rely on direct or indirect funding, weapons, and technical assistance from NATO and the Gulf plutocrats.  In fact, we now know that Ms. Clinton and the disgraced General Petraeus were pushing for the United States to openly arm the rebels.  Cooler heads prevailed.  Weapons and other items were stalled.  Assad’s military made some changes.  And now, voila!, the Syrian Arab Army is defending the capital.

 

  Was any of this dreadful, deadly conflict worth it?
– Michael Collins

From Al Akahbar-English
Creative Commons

By: Anas Zarzar, Marah Mashi

Published Thursday, February 7, 2013

The armed Syrian opposition declared yet another “zero hour” to take Damascus on Wednesday. By nightfall, however, the army managed to restore order in the capital and widen its offensive against the rebels in the countryside. Read the rest of this entry »

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On the Ground, a New Military Strategy for the Regime – Alakhbar-English

From – ALAKHBAR-ENGLISH

Hassan Illeik
Published Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Creative Commons

Optimized-syrianrebelintelSyria is in a state of war. Regardless of how the warring parties are labeled – the regime versus rebels, or a state versus terrorists – the fact remains that Syria is at war. It follows that politics in times of war is steered by the combatants, or as one Syrian official said, “outlined by the boots of the fighters.”

In his speech on Sunday, 6 January 2013, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad spoke confidently – even over confidently according to some. Yet Assad, according to insiders familiar with the situation on the ground in Syria, derived his confidence – which they called “realism” – from the capabilities of his army and its achievements over the past eight weeks.

In November 2012, Damascus and its surrounding areas repeatedly came under rebel attack. At first, al-Nusra Front – the strongest among the armed opposition factions – sought to advance on Damascus from two main axes: from Douma and the adjacent areas towards the capital’s Abbasiyeen district; and from Daraya towards the Kfar Sousa groves, and from there to the heart of Damascus. Read the rest of this entry »

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Kill for Peace – US and EU Sanctions Deny Medicine to the Critically Ill

Michael Collins

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United States and European Union sanctions against Iran prevent much needed medical care for the Iranian people.   Those with cancer, for example, have lost the option of treatment through chemotherapy while hemophiliacs are at high risk for any surgery due to a denial of essential pharmaceuticals. There are 85,000 new cases of cancer every year in Iran.  Those with cancer and the newly diagnosed will have to do without effective treatments. A large percentage of them will die sooner than anticipated as a result.  (Image:  Fergal of Calldagh)

The Iranian medical community is unable to get required medicines due to financial restrictions in the sanctions regime.  The restrictions effectively blocks pharmaceutical purchases by Iranian medical facilities.  No ticket, no laundry is the policy of big and little pharma throughout the world.  As a result, right now — as you read this — innocent Iranians are dying, sentenced to death by the U.S.-E.U. sanctions.

Who on earth would initiate and sustain such a policy? Read the rest of this entry »

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Syrian rebels threaten to storm two Christian towns

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Alahkbar, Beirut 12/22

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Posted by Michael Collins
“What happens when they start killing Christians?” Michael Collins 8/27

Rebels have threatened to storm two predominantly Christian towns in central Syria, saying regime forces are using them to attack nearby areas, an activist group said Saturday. It says such an attack could force thousands of Christians from their homes. (Image: White House Web Page, headlines added)

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that one rebel group has issued an ultimatum to the towns of Mahrada and Sqailbiyeh in the province of Hama.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said some Christians and Alawis have also left Hama province in the past several days to escape violence. He said some of them found shelter in the coastal city of Tartus.

A video released by rebels showed Rashid Abul-Fidaa, who identified himself as the Hama commander of the Ansar Brigade, calls on residents to “evict” regime forces or be attacked. Read the rest of this entry »

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Violations Prevail in Egypt’s Constitutional Referendum

By: Rana Mamdouh

Creative Commons License
Published Tuesday, December 18, 2012
ALAKHBAR, Beirut, Lebanon

Cairo – The official results of the first round of Egypt’s constitutional referendum have yet to be released, but arguments over the outcome have already begun. Forces opposed to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) insist that voters rejected the draft constitution by 66 percent. Morsi’s supporters, on the other hand, insist that the result was in their favor with 56.55 percent approving the constitution.

These contradictory reports come amidst silence from the supreme committee charged with supervising the constitutional referendum. Officials maintain that results will not be disclosed until the second round of voting, scheduled to take place next Saturday, 22 December 2012.

The numerous violations and irregularities reported during election day prompted civil political forces to protest again today in Tahrir Square and even in front of al-Ittihadiya presidential palace. From there, protesters headed to the headquarters of the supreme committee for supervising the constitutional referendum and demanded a re-vote. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Nouveau Reign of Terror

Michael Collins



The Syrian regime should be smashed fast.

Mr. Bashar al-Assad doesn’t deserve to be on this earth.

Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Minister
Voice of America August 17

What do you expect from a fake socialist government?  French President Francois Hollande joined the Empire Project’s histrionic chorus just as soon as he could after taking office. His comrade, Mr. Fabius, announced the nouveau reign of terror policy toward foreign leaders who upset the grand plans of NATO and the Gulf Cooperation Council states.

“Off with their heads!” is the cry.  Hillary Clinton hasn’t been quite as explicit as Fabius but her statements are just offensive to the notion of sovereign integrity.

Fabius is a pathetic thug. His behavior is just slightly more crass than that of Hillary Clinton and the other hypocrites who think they can go around the world and “bump off” leaders at will. The new Napoleons should look at their own record before criticizing that of other leaders and ask the question – What right do we have to attack another nation that has not attacked us?

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Turkey – Running its Own Gauntlet

By: Hüsnü Mahalli  alakhbar english
August 9, 2012   Creative Commons
(Turkey: Running its Own Gauntlet
Turkey has burnt all its bridges with its neighbors – Iran, Iraq, and Syria – in a bid to ride the wave of the Arab Spring. Now, Ankara fears that Kurdish separatists will come to power if Assad’s regime collapses in Syria.

Istanbul – From the onset of events in Syria, Ankara has displayed relative caution in its relationship with Tehran. But now that the government of Recep Tayyib Erdogan has joined a “Sunni front” with Arab gulf countries, Ankara is being more direct with its Shia neighbor.

Chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces Hassan Firouzabadi recently blamed Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia for the bloodshed in Syria.

The Turkish government instantly jumped to respond to Firouzabadi’s accusations, and at the same time to remarks made earlier by senior Iranian envoy and chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili while on a visit to Damascus.

First came a declaration from Erdogan, followed by a more explicit position from his foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The latter accused Iran of complicity in Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s slaughter of the Syrian people. Read the rest of this entry »

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