The problem with you, guys, is that you do not look for truth, but you just push the agenda of those who in power, over all topics.
You're projecting how you push the agenda of those in power in Syria, Iran, and elsewhere, onto others.
Once a doubt of Assad message has popped up, it was easy to find Syrian, Russian and TURKISH FM denial.
No one cares what three liars have to say.
But you, I guess intentionally, keep protecting this piece of anti-Syrian propaganda, aimed to demonize Syrian government, to prepare public opinion for military invasion as the only viable way to remove Assad from power, that is the goal, and it is not a secret or conspiracy, read the UN SC press release, of US, Israel and EU.
Syria is quite good at generating anti-Syrian propaganda on its own.
I do not know how bad Assad is, I did not follow Syria closely, but in this particular episode I can see lie and I step up against it.
Funny how all the lies you manage to see are on one side...
And then you call me "an incompetent propagandist" after all. Why are you doing this??
Because that's what you are, an incompetent propagandist for brutal murderers.
Well, he loves terrible dictators that massacre their populations even more than just terrible dictators. Also, when NATO supports them in their crimes like in Bahrein that just spoils it a bit for him.
Money quote. There hasn't been a revolt against a mass-murdering dictator that Geyzer hasn't yet opposed.
Once a doubt of Assad message has popped up, it was easy to find Syrian, Russian and TURKISH FM denial.
No one cares what three liars have to say.
"Israeli Haaretz: Iranian news agency quotes remarks made by Syrian president during August meeting with Turkish FM."
You call Turkish FM, the anti-Assad side, a liar, but it is the initial source of information you are protecting. Since when Iranian news agency is more reliable source for you then pro-Western Turkish FM?
Report: 30 Syria soldiers killed in clashes with army defectors Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says rebel gunmen ambushed a Syrian army bus, leaving dozens killed and wounded.
At least 30 Syrian troops were killed in recent clashes with rebel forces, a Syrian rights group said on Sunday, with another group indicating that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad killed over 300 civilians since the Arab League gave Damascus a deadline to enact a cease-fire.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that a clash Saturday night in the restive central city of Homs between soldiers and gunmen believed to be army defectors left at least 20 soldiers dead and 53 wounded.
The Arab council has agreed to economic sanctions against syria.
Also Moscow has announced it is sending Warships, and a Carrier to the Port of Tartus. WTF is going on here? There is also a US strike group off of Syria as well, and the sixth fleet is out there as well. It will be interesting to see how France and even Italy respond, given their strong Naval response to Libya.
Moscow is deploying warships at its base in the Syrian port of Tartus. The long-planned mission comes, providentially, at the very moment when it could help prevent a potential conflict in the strategically important Middle Eastern country.
The Russian battle group will consist of three vessels led by the heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser, Admiral Kuznetsov.
Russian military officials insist that the move has no connection with the ongoing crisis in the region and was planned a year ago, the Izvestia newspaper reports. Apart from Syria, the aircraft carrier and its escort ships are set to visit the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Genoa in Italy and Cyprus, says the former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko.
Russia would surely make a hastey retreat should this begin to escalate to some real action. They can't take on their opponents in open battle and they know it. Oh, and nukes.
I'm actually willing to believe that Russia's presence is really just a coincidence and was planned a year ago, because all else would seem so improbable or illogical. Isn't it pretty obvious by now that it's only a matter of time until Assad is overthrown? So surely, Russia wouldn't be there to support him (even though they have been supporting him earlier)?
Russia might be inclined to support the revolt, seeing how France and Italy was rewarded (all too generously, if you ask me) for their contributions in Libya, and wanting a piece of the cake (well, barrel) of Syria if another military intervention went down, but why haven't they then supported the NTC in Istanbul? It just doesn't make any sense.
It could of course have something to do with the upcoming election in Russia or NATO's missile shield in some way, but I don't really see how...
It's quite complex, it's more than a coincidence for sure (they could have opted for another plan for the warships).
They want their fleet there. They want Assad out. They got their interests flucked inLibya, they're not going to do the same mistakes again. If there's pie, they want some.
Russia's geopolitics has always been different from others. They are always more calculated and more cautious (they're never going to openly support something). It's a double edged sword. They have a military naval base in Syria, they want that base to stay there, if assad gets kicked by western supported revolts then it's likely they'll lose another strategic point.
Anyhow, this game in middle east is getting dangerous.
Al Jazeera has obtained exclusive footage of Syrian army deserters who joined the ranks of the opposition Free Syrian Army, or FSA, a group that is getting larger and more organised by the day.
The soldiers said they defected from the regular army because they were forced to fire on unarmed protesters.
The recent attack by the FSA on an air force intelligence base in the suburbs of the capital Damascus has raised the profile of the band of army deserters, who are seeking to end President Bashar al-Assad's long rule.
The group is now believed to number between 1,000 and 25,000 devided over 22 battalions spread across the country.
On November 16, the FSA announced the creation of a temporary military council which it said aims to "bring down the current regime, protect Syrian civilians from its oppression, protect private and public property, and prevent chaos and acts of revenge when it falls".
The main opposition bloc, the Syrian National Council (SNC), has voiced its sympathy with deserters and acknowledged their "legitimate role of protecting unarmed protesters", but that it did not support the FSA's offensives.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Burhan Ghalioun, the SNC president, visited the Turkish border this week to meet the commanders of the FSA.
Ghalioun said he had reached agreement with the FSA's commanders that their military operations would focus solely on protecting Syrian civilians and not on offensive operations.
"We don't want, after the fall of the regime in Syria, armed militias outside the control of the state," Ghalioun said.
Hundreds of army defectors in southern Syria have fought with loyalist forces in one of the biggest armed confrontations in a nine-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, residents and activists said.
Troops, mainly from the 12th Armoured Brigade, based in Isra, 40km from the border with Jordan, stormed the nearby town of Busra al-Harir, the Reuters news agency reported.
Al Jazeera's Nisreen El-Shamayleh, reporting from near the Jordan-Syria border, said that the clash started when "tens of tanks mounted with machine guns opened fire in that area earlier on Sunday morning to try to put an end to a general strike" called for by the opposition.
The sound of explosions and heavy machine guns was heard in Busra al-Harir and in Lujah, an area of rocky hills north of the town, where defectors have been hiding and attacking military supply lines.
At least 22 people were killed by government troops on Sunday, including a woman and four children, activists said. Nine of them were killed in the city of Homs, six in Hama, three in Deraa, two in Idlib and another two outside of Damascus.
At least five Syrian soldiers, including a military officer, were also reportedly killed.
The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, has said Arab troops should be sent to Syria to end the political unrest in the country that the UN says has left more than 5.000 people dead.
In an interview on Friday with US broadcaster CBS for the news programme 60 Minutes, Sheikh Hamad was asked if he was in favour of Arab nations intervening, to which he replied: "For such a situation to stop the killing ... some troops should go to stop the killing."
Sheikh Hamad is the first Arab leader to publicly support foreign intervention in Syria, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad is now in its tenth month.
Speaking about his own influence on the uprisings in the Arab world, he said: "We are supporting the people of those countries ... [who are] asking for justice and dignity.
"If this [is] influence, I think this is a healthy influence. I think all the world should support this."
The Syrian army has reportedly agreed to a ceasefire with opposition fighters in the town of Zabadani, near the capital, Damascus.
Opposition figure Kamal Labwani, who fled to Jordan two weeks ago, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that an agreement had been made between town leaders and Asef Shawkat, the deputy minister of defence, who is also the brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad.
Labwani said town leaders had consulted the opposition Free Syrian Army and local activists, who in turn agreed to the ceasefire.
Under the deal, troops and tanks were to withdraw from Zabadani, a town of about 40,000 people, and opposition fighters would withdraw from the streets, according to Labwani.
There was no comment from the Syrian authorities.
"As of now there is no shelling and no gunfire. It is quiet. But the army is still surrounding the area," a Zabadani resident who gave her name as Rita told the Reuters news agency. "The agreement last evening was that the army would withdraw and the armed rebels would leave the streets and clear roadblocks."
Zabadani, located about 30km northwest of Damascus, in the foothills of the mountains which separate Lebanon from Syria, has seen regular big demonstrations demanding the removal of Assad.
Troops backed by tanks reportedly attacked the town on Friday, in the biggest military offensive since Arab League monitors went into the country last month.
A statement by activists from Zabadani, published on Facebook, said the ceasefire was agreed after two days of negotiations.
"We are waiting their withdrawal tomorrow [Wednesday] morning from our honourable land," the statement said.
The Syrian city of Homs was left reeling on Saturday from harrowing accounts of a massacre that has left hundreds of people dead. Residents of the besieged city said that at least 300 people had been killed in a massive regime artillery barrage, the most deadly attack of the 11-month uprising.
The reports described horrific scenes in a city that has suffered most from recent violence, but not previously experienced a bombardment on this scale. Homs is divided almost in two, with Alawites, who are loyal to the regime, on one side and Sunni Muslims, who want to oust Assad, on the other.
(Reuters) - Russia and China vetoed on Saturday a U.N. resolution that backed an Arab plan calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to quit, stalling global efforts to end his bloody crackdown on unrest after hundreds were reported killed in the city of Homs.
The high-level diplomatic setback came after world leaders and Syrian opposition activists accused Assad's forces of a massacre in a sustained shelling of Homs, the bloodiest episode in 11 months of upheaval in the pivotal Arab country.
Russia and China joined in a double veto of a Western- and Arab-driven resolution at the U.N. Security Council endorsing the Arab League plan for Assad to hand power to a deputy to make way for a transition towards democracy.
On February 05 2012 21:52 HellRoxYa wrote: I think that it's hilarious that Russia and China still veto even when the Arab League wants to act.
Really? Who's the arab league to be a decisive factor? Russia's foreign minister has made it all very transparent, everyone knew their position way before the voting took place. They do not agree to certain ambiguous paragraphs which leave door open to abuses - such as happened in Libya's case where instead of no fly zone, NATO bombed the crap out of them.
Beside, Russia made its own draft which was pointed towards both groups the country's security forces and the opponents to cease fire and sit down for negotiations unlike the actual draft which only points to the authorities for cease of fire.
EPT
