Suicide bombing kills top Syrian officials

by pat c Fri Jul 20, 2012 00:43

Assad is alive and well and in damascus.

President Bashar al-Assad put an end to rumors of his whereabouts by swearing in his new defense minister.
.
RT’s Maria Finoshina, who is in Damascus now, says Thursday’s clashes are the worst she has seen in weeks, with plumes of black smoke rising from the affected regions and sounds of gunfire being heard on regular basis. “It certainly feels like a pivotal moment for the country, although it’s hard to predict at the moment where it would be moving to now,” she reports.

She adds that despite the gunfights and overall tension, life in many neighborhoods not directly affected by the fighting continues as always, especially during daylight hours. People still patronize cafes and many shops remain open, though the escalating violence is starting to take its toll.

“Those battles no longer have borders, they are spilling out into previously untouched parts of the city,” she said.

Nevertheless many in Damascus remain calm even in the face of apparent disorder, believing they will persevere no matter what trials they are currently facing. There is no panic, Finoshina says.

The Syrian capital is facing the fifth day of violence in a row. On Wednesday a bomb attack inside the national security building killed three senior officials, including the country’s defense minister.

The whereabouts of President Bashar Assad have been speculated on ever since the attack, fueling rumors that he may have been killed by the bombing as wellIt has also been speculated that Assad left the Syrian capital for the coastal city of Latakia. A Reuter’s report, which cited western diplomatic sources, claimed he may have traveled to the Mediterranean port city before the bombing. However, Syria's state news agency and TV both reported that the President attended the swearing in of the new defense ministry, which took place in the capital Damascus.

Syrian General Fahd al-Freij (R) meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus following his swearing in ceremony as the new defence minister (AFP Photo/SANA)

by feudal castrato Fri Jul 20, 2012 03:05

RTE in a propaganda tour de force, gave much time on prime time news and a large piece of tonight's PrimeTime program to misleading statements about Russia' / China's Veto of UN proposal which contained unacceptable threats of sanctions, links to chapter 7 opening the door to military action a la Libya, and unreasonable one sided conditions introduced by the UK on the Assad government but not on the opposition.

Needless to say, Irish viewers were left ignorant of the reasons why Russia chose to use it's veto, whilst being left with the clear impression that Russia were merely just supporting a dictator in killing innocent civlians because they are evil commies and that's what they do.

Goebbels would be proud!! Keep it up RTE. Go back to bed Ireland. Here's another dose of celebrity shite for you now that we've programmed your knee jerk responses to Syrian conflict and Russian and Chinese foreign policy.

Remember, 4 legs good, two legs bad except when those 2 legs belong to the US and it's geopolitical vassal states. And all animals are equal but murder and slaughter by anonymous drones is ok when the good guys do it. Remember all those military shows you watched where all the US military guys are the good guys? Why, there's a few coming on right now. afterwards, watch some weapons porn on the military channel. Look at those cool guns people! Afterwards shoot some evil towel heads with your kids on xbox in ModernWarfare3 or even some nasty venezuelans in Bono's very own video game "mercenaries two".

Don't watch that nasty RT news channel though (sky epg 512). We got rid of that other nasty Press TV channel for you. And Al Jazeera now has Hillary Clinton's seal of approval so you can now watch carefully controlled and approved (by CIA) propaganda on the Syria/Iran situations with a nice authentic arab flavour, paid for by Qatar oil sheiks, a once worthwhile news channel gone bad.

RTE viewers, All you know about Syria (and a lot of other things) is WRONG!

by pat c Fri Jul 20, 2012 12:49

Full text & Vid at link.

Russia and China have for the third time vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria which would entail tragic consequences for Damascus. Russia’s ambassador to the UN told RT why a diplomatic solution to the crisis remains the only option.

In an exclusive interview with RT, Vitaly Churkin gave his explanation of what is going on in Syria and why he thinks the conflict has spread beyond that country's borders.

RT: Russia's decision to veto this latest resolution has caused consternation and widespread criticism of Moscow's stance – is Russia supporting the Assad regime?

Vitaly Churkin: Of course not. It is all about what needs to be done in order to settle the crisis. Unfortunately, the strategy of our Western colleagues seems to be to try to whip up tensions in and around Syria at every opportunity. And this time they took the occasion of the need to extend the mandate of the monitoring mission in Syria and attached a number of unacceptable clauses to their draft resolution. So, we needed to veto together with China that unacceptable draft to allow Kofi Annan more space to work on the document which was adopted by foreign ministers of a number of countries of the so-called “action group”, which calls for setting up transitional national body and that requires of course the dialogue between various parties. So, in this context, to introduce a resolution which would only entail pressure and almost inevitable sanctions on the Syrian government did not look like a good idea to us at all and we blocked the decision, which in our view was counter-productive.

RT: So, Moscow is not supporting the Assad regime, but America, Britain and France say Russia's failed the Syrian people – how do you react to that?

VC: You know, they are quite good and bad and loud about their propaganda. I think that’s what they have been doing by criticizing Russia and China stridently. Today it was the British and French [UN] perm reps who went out of their way, unfortunately, piling all sorts of falsehoods on the foreign policies of Russia and China. They should focus more on the need to help Kofi Annan. Unfortunately, they have not done anything at all in order to set and train a productive and positive process in Syria. Instead, they have been working with the so-called “Friends of Syria”. In fact, this is a group of countries who are enemies of the Syrian government, I would not call them the enemies of the Syrian people, but certainly those who want to topple the Syrian government, disregarding the consequences which are extremely tragic; such a policy inevitably entails [tragedy] because the government or President Assad is not simply one individual or a group of individuals. They represent a certain segment of the Syrian population, of a certain power structure, which has existed there for decades. To break it would cause and is causing considerable trouble and bloodshed. To reform it through dialogue, this would be a much more reasonable line of action and this is what Russia has been advocating.

by W. Finnerty Fri Jul 20, 2012 13:22

Reply to pat c at Fri Jul 20, 2012 12:49 ...

Thanks for this piece of very welcome information.

It seems like very good news to me, even though I realise there are others -- many perhaps? -- who would not see it as such.

A solution brought about by open, honest, and serious discussion does NOT appear to be the preferred-option for those who are absolutely itching for war: war at ANY cost perhaps?

"Basically, it's (as I see things) the very long-standing 'CONSTITUTIONALISM' versus 'TOTALITARIANISM' conflict being played out in July 2012, with Syria acting the extremely unenviable and unhappy role of 'card table' on this particular occasion."

Related Link:
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/102017?comment_limit=0&...90621

by An Drighneán Donn Sat Jul 21, 2012 04:56

Would you believe!!! The complete gobshites in RTÉ News have just said that Al-Assad has "reportedly" fled from Damascus before the rebel "advance."

Seems even NATO is getting worried about RTÉ's flights of fancy - they have sent BBC man, Kevin Bakhurst to control RTÉ's news/current affairs department. First rule of propaganda - you have to leave some level of plausibility in the lies you are telling. RTÉ has fallen of the cliff of psychosis. Nothing they say has any plausibility any more - and that doesn't serve the ends of imperialism.

by lefty Sat Jul 21, 2012 08:43

The deliberate cognitive dissonance and cynical blatant Orwellian lies in the original times piece are bordering on the ridiculous.
I thought RTE were bad but this one takes the cake!!

Quote:
"The New York Times reacted to the July 18 bombing in Damascus that killed several top Syrian security officials with unconcealed enthusiasm.

It titled its July 19 lead article on the attack “Bombing in Damascus Kills Key Aides to Assad and Deals a Potent Blow in the Struggle for Syria.” Its lead editorial, “Assassination in Damascus,” denounced Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and demanded that Russia allow the US to impose UN sanctions on Assad “if he continues to thwart the peace plan.”

The Times’ response to the bombing epitomizes the Orwellian character of the American media’s attempts to portray the Syrian war as part of a US struggle for democracy. Constructed from a series of grotesque euphemisms, the Times reports are clearly based on the assumption that no one will notice the contradictions in its positions, or even try to clearly comprehend what the newspaper is actually saying...."

rest of article plus links here:

http://wsws.org/articles/2012/jul2012/time-j21.shtml

by NATO/Israel = Psychopaths Sat Jul 21, 2012 14:59

The media whores have been lying and lying and lying in their narratives.
Framing a patently false narrative. Presenting fraudulent videos. The media whores and presstitutes obfuscated. The played fast and loose with the facts. They have blood on their hands.
And Marc Ginsberg hopes for more
Ambassador . Marc Ginsberg "The Secret Battle for Syria" - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amb-marc-ginsberg/the-sec....html

Marc Ginsberg begins, sort of, with this

"It's a shame Assad himself was not in the same room when the bomb went off."

Hmmm.... no lack of bloodlust on his part.

With the assistance of "non-lethal" U.S. strategic communications equipment and reconnaissance support carried into Syria by Turkish military teams through refugee safe havens on the Turkish-Syrian border, units of the increasingly organized Free Syrian Army have lethally deployed anti-tank weapons and shoulder-fired grenade launchers smuggled from Libya and Lebanon courtesy of elements of Gulf Cooperation Council military council.

Turkey has ramped up ammunition transfers and reconnaissance support, including the occasional overflights to detect Syrian troop movements [the Syrians shot down one of Turkey's jets a few weeks ago]

U.S. CIA drones have also overflown Syria outside the prying eyes of Russian forward intelligence based on Russian ships stationed at its fortified naval base in Tartus. CIA operatives are also desperately attempting to identify and monitor Assad's WMD stockpiles.... [most likely so they can set off a false flag of their own as previously]

Also assassination squads trained by Free Syrian Army commanders (with the assistance of Turkish and Saudi sniper trainers) have been picking off key Syrian military commanders in Homs and in Syria's northern and southern provinces sowing fear and increasing discord among Syrian commanders.

Sickening. Mr (bloodthirsty) Ginsberg fails to mention how the NATO/GCC trained snipers terrorized ordinary civilians. How these assassins/killers laid siege to entire towns. Terrorizing and ethnically cleansing the populace.

Pretty much par for the course from a blood-dripping-from-the-fangs psychopathic Zionist

by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite party Sun Jul 22, 2012 13:01

..before Goebbles even got out of bed..

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=31996

..the PR-op-agenda was polished in Madison Ave.

by pat c Sun Jul 22, 2012 19:56

Robert Fisk reports on the latest developments. Full text at link.

The deathwish of fighters in Damascus terrifies many who oppose Assad
By Robert Fisk

A young Syrian turned up just over a week ago at a smart office block in Beirut with a terrifying message. Without giving his name, he said he wanted to speak to another Syrian who worked in the office, a well-educated man who left his country months ago. The visitor was taken upstairs and introduced himself. "I was sent to you by the shebab," he said – shebab might be translated as "the youth" or "the guys" and it meant he worked for the armed Syrian opposition – "and we need your help."

His story was as revealing as it was frightening. Damascus was about to be attacked. But the fighters were out of control. There were drug addicts among them. "Some of our people are on drugs," the visitor said. "They will take anyone out. We can't guarantee what some of these men will do. If they went into Malki [a mixed, middle-class area of central Damascus], we couldn't protect any of the people who live there. We are against the Salafists who are fighting – there are good Syrians, Druze and Ishmaeilis [Alawites] who are with us. But if we capture Damascus, we don't know how to run a small town, let alone a country." ...

...[The uprising] initially took the form of unarmed demonstrations across the country – provoked by the torture and murder of a 13-year-old boy by secret policemen in Deraa in March last year – but armed men did appear rapidly on the streets of some towns. There is video footage of gunmen on the streets of Deraa that same month and al-Jazeera footage of armed men fighting Syrian troops just across the northern border of Lebanon in April 2011. Mysteriously, al-Jazeera chose not to broadcast it.

Now, of course, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, where al-Jazeera is based, make no secret of the funds and weapons they are running into Turkey and Lebanon for the resistance – without apparently caring very much who the "resisters" are. The Lebanese army managed to stop one out of five shiploads of guns, but the others, carried on Sierra Leone-registered vessels, were able to unload.

One of the two organisations that claimed responsibility for last week's Damascus bombing, Liwa Islam – the Islam Brigade – raises again the Salafist element in Syria's armed opposition. One newly arrived refugee from Syria told me last week that they have forbidden alcohol and openly say they intend to die fighting in Damascus. Given the savage response of the Syrian regime, they may get their last wish.

by An Drighneán Donn Mon Jul 23, 2012 03:05

I'm afraid, Robert Fisk's once sharp mind has become soft with old age. President Al-Assad is very well aware of the nature of the conflict. He only has to look at Libya. He must, at ALL costs, hold the line against these Salafist rats, and their Zionist string pullers.

by pat c Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:57

You should accept that not everyone will agree with you 100% all of the time.

In the above piece Fisk shows that the "rebels" have drug addicts among them and even their own comrades are afraid of what they will do. Fisk also points out that there was film evidence of armed bands attacking the Syrian Military from as early as April 2011 yet Al Jazeera chose to suppress this evidence.

This is an article which does a lot of damage to the Fundamentalists, far more so than any criticism he makes of President Assad.