Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 67

On August 23 2013 09:11 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
So if France is threatening force that automatically means UK, Italy following suit.

On August 23 2013 09:11 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
Here's hoping it stays a "European" affair.

On August 23 2013 09:11 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
So if France is threatening force that automatically means UK, Italy following suit. Here's hoping it stays a "European" affair.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon -- Twin car bombs exploded outside mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli Friday, killing at least 27 people, wounding over 350 and wreaking major destruction in the country's second largest city, Lebanese Health Ministry officials said.

Footage aired on local TV showed thick, black smoke billowing over the city and bodies scattered beside burning cars in scenes reminiscent of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.

The blasts hit amid soaring tensions in Lebanon as a result of Syria's civil war, which has sharply polarized the country along sectarian lines and between supporters and opponents of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. It was the second such bombing in just over a week, showing the degree to which the tiny country is being consumed by the raging war next door.

Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city, has seen frequent clashes between Sunnis and Alawites, a Shiite offshoot sect to which Assad belongs. But the city itself has rarely seen such explosions in recent years.

Friday's blasts mark the first time in years that such explosions have targeted Sunni strongholds and were bound to raise sectarian tensions in the country to new levels. It was also the most powerful and deadliest in Tripoli since the end of the civil war.

Attacks have become common in the past few months against Shiite strongholds in Lebanon, particularly following the open participation of the militant Shiite Hezbollah group on behalf of Assad in Syria's civil war.

On August 23 2013 21:15 Uvantak wrote:
Oh hell there is.

+ Show Spoiler +

It is always energy/oil man.

http://www.inogate.org/

Russia -- one of the most tenacious allies of the Syrian regime -- has called on the the government of President Bashar al-Assad to allow a mission of United Nations inspectors to investigate alleged chemical attacks in the suburbs of Damascus and guarantee safe passage for U.N. workers entering the country, according to Reuters.

Russia has also called on forces opposed to Assad's government to guarantee the investigators' safety. Russia's appeal to Syria comes after months of warnings from Moscow against foreign intervention in the two-year civil war that has left more than 100,000 people dead and displaced nearly 2 million Syrians, including 1 million children.

Video footage that has not been independently verified by Al Jazeera shows what appears to be the remnants of a chemical weapons attack.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked the Syrian government to allow U.N. inspectors to investigate the allegations "without delay."

Ban said the use of chemical weapons in Syria would constitute a "crime against humanity" and a violation of international law. He also warned Assad's government of "serious consequences" if their use is proved.

WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - U.S. and allied intelligence agencies have made a preliminary assessment that chemical weapons were used by Syrian forces in an attack near Damascus this week, likely with high-level approval from the government of President Bashar al-Assad, according to American and European security sources.

The early intelligence finding could increase pressure for action by President Barack Obama, who made clear that he planned to tread cautiously even as his aides sought to narrow their differences in debate over possible military responses to the Syrian government.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, cautioned that the assessment was preliminary and, at this stage, they were still seeking conclusive proof, which could take days, weeks or even longer to gather.

But with a mounting international outcry over the apparent mass poisoning of hundreds of people, the issue appeared to have taken on a sense of urgency for the Obama administration.

In his first public comments since Wednesday's attack in the Damascus suburbs, Obama called the incident a "big event of grave concern" and one that demanded U.S. attention, but said he was in no rush to get war-weary Americans "mired" in another Middle East conflict.

Obama's wary response, which underscored a deep reluctance by Washington to intervene in Syria's 2-1/2-year-old civil war, came as senior U.S. officials weighed choices ranging from increased international sanctions to the use of force, including possible air strikes on Assad's forces, administration sources said.

Materials implicating the forces of Syrian president Bashar Assad in chemical weapons use near Damascus were prepared prior to the alleged incident on August 21, the Russian foreign ministry said.

Moscow continues to monitor closely the event surrounding the “alleged” chemical attack near Damascus, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich, said in a statement.

“We’re getting more new evidence that this criminal act was of a provocative nature,” he stressed. “In particular, there are reports circulating on the Internet, in particular that the materials of the incident and accusations against government troops had been posted for several hours before the so-called attack. Thus, it was a pre-planned action.”

Below are the three videos posted on Youtube said to be showing the child victims affected by chemical weapons near Damascus. Despite the date of the alleged attack – August 21 – being mentioned in their titles, they were posted on YouTube one the previous day, August 20.

On August 24 2013 19:44 HeartOfTheSwarm wrote:
a chemical attack is some kind of a poisonous gas, isn't it? So after such an attack how long the zone remains contaminated, the gas remains in the air and possibly gets to other areas becaouse of wind?

The chemical weapons allegedly used to kill hundreds of Syrian civilians by the regime of President Bashar Assad last Wednesday were fired by the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Army, an Israel TV report said.

This division is under the command of the president’s brother, Maher Assad.

The nerve gas shells were fired from a military base in a mountain range to the west of Damascus, the Channel 2 news report said.

The embattled regime has concentrated its vast stocks of chemical weaponry in just two or three locations, the report said, under the control of Syrian Air Force Intelligence, itself reporting to the president.

The TV report further added that “the assessment in Israel” is that the attack was intended to serve as the possible start of a wider operation.

It said Israel was increasingly concerned about the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and their possibility of these weapons falling into still more dangerous hands than those of Assad. Israel was “privately” making clear its concerns to the United States, the report said.

In his first response Thursday to the alleged attack, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Iran was closely watching how the world would deal with the attack.

“Syria has become Iran’s testing ground, and Iran is closely watching whether and how the world responds to the atrocities committed there by its client state Syria and its proxy Hezbollah against innocent civilians in Syria,” he said.

DAMASCUS, Syria — The Syrian government accused rebels of using chemical weapons Saturday and warned the United States not to launch any military action against Damascus over an alleged chemical attack last week, saying such a move would set the Middle East ablaze.

The accusations by the regime of President Bashar Assad against opposition forces came as an international aid group said it has tallied 355 deaths from a purported chemical weapons attack on Wednesday in a suburb of the Syrian capital known as Ghouta.

Syria is intertwined in alliances with Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and Palestinian militant groups. The country also borders its longtime foe and U.S. ally Israel, making the fallout from military action unpredictable.

Violence in Syria has already spilled over the past year to Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Battle-hardened Hezbollah fighters have joined the combat alongside Assad's forces.

Meanwhile, U.S. naval units are moving closer to Syria as President Barack Obama considers a military response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by Assad's government.

U.S. defense officials told The Associated Press that the Navy had sent a fourth warship armed with ballistic missiles into the eastern Mediterranean Sea but without immediate orders for any missile launch into Syria. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss ship movements publicly.

BRITISH and US military planners are drawing up potential targets for missile strikes on Syria amid growing certainty that the Assad regime was behind chemical weapons attacks which killed hundreds of civilians last week.

David Cameron and Barack Obama discussed “a serious response” including military action in a 40-minute phone call last night, according to Downing Street.

While there has been no decision on whether to go ahead with a strike, staff in London and Washington are compiling a list of targets, among a range of options.

Last week’s chemical attack by President Bashar al-Assad, and his failure to allow UN weapons inspectors to take samples from victims of the strikes, has forced Obama and Cameron to look at “all the options”, Downing Street said.