Syrians attacked with chemical weapons in Aleppo, say reports

Both the Syrian government and the terrorists groups in charge of the conflict in Syria deny using chemical weapons

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | MARCH 19, 2013

The Syrian government accused rebel militias that vie for control of the country of using chemical weapons in an attack in the southern province of Aleppo. According to the Information Ministry of Syria, 16 people died as a result of the attack.

In previous weeks and months, Western military forces issued a warning about the use of chemical weapons on the civilian population, with U.S. President Barack H. Obama threatening military action if Assad attacked his own people. This attack may then be the beginning of a set up by Western supported insurgents to create an excuse for a full invasion of Syria.

Syrian Information Minister, Omran Al Zoabi, said on Tuesday that the rebels used chemical weapons in an attack on Aleppo in which, in addition to the 16 deaths, mostly civilians, there were at least 86 wounded, mostly in critical condition. “This is a dangerous escalation,” said Al Zoabi on state television in an interview in which he said that Turkey and Qatar, official supporters of the rebels, are responsible for the “legal, moral and political” consequences of the attack.

Several rebel groups rejected the accusations on Tuesday and instead accused the regime of being responsible for the launch of a Scud missile loaded with these materials. “We have no long-range missiles or chemical weapons. If we had them, we would not employ civilians as a target,” said military spokesman Istanbul Lobre Sirius, Louay Muqdad, to AFP.

The regime has, in addition to conventional arsenals, vast reserves of sarin, mustard gas and cyanide. One of the concerns of the international community is that either the regime used these chemical weapons or that terrorists groups linked to the rebels and al-Qaeda in Syria who were brought to fight the Assad regime, get their hands on chemicals weapons handed out to them by Western supporters.

The news agency SANA did not specify what type of chemical weapon were used by the rebels, who the Assad regime has been fighting for over two years and that is composed by terrorists brought in from Jordan, Turkey, Qatar and other neighboring countries. The Syrian war, in which the West is heavily invested, has already claimed the life of more than 70,000 people and caused one of the largest migrations of refugees –more than one million– in the region.

Last week, the head of Israeli military intelligence, Brigadier General Aviv Kochavi, told a conference that he believes Assad is preparing for the use of its chemical arsenals. “Assad retains control over chemical weapons, air force and military equipment from Syria. Assad is making preparations to use these chemical weapons. He has not yet given the order, but is preparing for it,” he said. Israel is said to have requested that the United States attacks Syrian sites where they believe the Assad regime houses its military arsenal.

In August, U.S. President Barack Obama, who tomorrow will visit Israel, warned the Syrian government that if it used chemical weapons against its own people it would face a U.S. military intervention. Until today, the prospect of a chemical attack from the part of the Assad regime has been null, and continues to be, but the use of chemical weapons against civilians –either by Assad or the rebels– is the perfect excuse to invade the country with foreign troops. Several attempts by the United States and some European countries to drive through United Nations resolutions to attack Syria have failed due to the vetoes by Russia and China.

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No Peace in Syria unless Assad dies

Western supported terrorists admit to attacking infrastructure as a strategy to fight the Assad regime.

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | FEBRUARY 15, 2013

“The war in Syria will end up being very similar to that of Libya. We will liberate city by city until we get to Damascus, ” said Gen. Abu Abeida, a rebel leader from the Al Liwa Derea Shabaa militia. According to him Aleppo is important for the regime, and if the city falls, it will mean the fall of the regime.

“After Aleppo and Idlib,” he says, the rebels will continue to fight to recover the rest of the country, “that the regime’s army defends tooth and nail,” such as Homs, Latakia and Damascus. “These will be our next targets” he asserts.

The same view is shared by Abdul Khader the Salad, commander of all operations in northern Syria, and who is a member of Liwa Al Tawhid. “We will not stop when Aleppo falls. Right now it is the stronghold of Assad, but when we move our troops to areas of Latakia and Tartus, we will enter the final battle for Syria, ” he said.

After nearly eight months of fighting in the city of Aleppo, the second largest city in Syria, the fight has become an entrenched battle between rebels and troops loyal to Assad. The bombings have decreased significantly and the fight has moved to the outskirts of the town.

“We started fighting in the city because we had a well-developed plan, most of the soldiers of the SLA-Free Syrian Army were civilians with no military experience and we needed a thinking head to develop, unify and come up with combat tactics.

The union of the ‘katibas’ or brigades was vital to put a spin on the strategy and “then we focused on attacking military bases, airports and schools that are scattered in the province of Aleppo, so we could do much more damage to the regime,” said the leader of Al Liwa Derea Shabaa.

According to the general, the situation in Aleppo is 50% of the city for each side, but he says he controls about 80% of the territory of the province. “We only need five or six military bases to choke the regime,” said the officer.

“We are focusing on Aleppo International Airport, the Artillery Academy and the Central Prison to give a blow to the regime within the city,” he added.

“Possibly, the battle over Aleppo becoming the most important element of this war. The regime was economically dependent on this city and with the outbreak of war, the industries stopped, causing them much economic damage, “says Abu Abeida.

“Assad sent many troops to regain control of the city and we have stopped them, causing the loss of many soldiers. In Aleppo the regime signed his death,” he says.

Abeida accusses the Syrian Army of bombing civilian targets because “they want the citizens to expel the ELS from Aleppo”. He adds that the regime wants the people to hate the rebels and to fight them, but that such strategy is not working and it is having the opposite effect.”

Abdul Khader believes that the Army has lost a lot of power in recent months. “At first it all depended on the firepower of tanks and we have destroyed a lot. Also they do not have enough soldiers to fight, as they have many fronts throughout the country.” He assures the press that the regime will collapsed and eventually die, but he just doesn’t know when. “Maybe a month, maybe three … maybe a year.” ELS has become the new army for the Syrian rebels, who are recognized by the international community as the acting government.

“You can not negotiate with someone who butchers his own people to stay in power.” Given a hypothetical negotiation with the Syrian regime, the generals have it clear. “There will be no negotiation if it does not include the death of Assad,” Abdul Khader says.

After nearly two years of war, the aim of the revolution is still the same. “A free Syria without Assad … There will be time to decide if we will have democracy or Islam, what is important now is to defeat the regime.”

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Turkey will Officially Declare War on Syria

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | OCTOBER 4, 2012

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Turkish Parliament will debate on Thursday in special session a bill that would allow intervention in Syria. The debate will take place a day after the Turkish government ordered the bombing of Syrian territory in response to a shell launched from across the border that killed five people in a small ottoman town.

On Wednesday, NATO issued an official press release where it manifested it supported Turkey and condemned the “flagrant violation” of international law by Syria.

According to the source, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the chief of staff of the Turkish army, Necdet Özel and the representative of the Justice portfolio, Sadullah Ergin, held a one four-hour long meeting to discuss Turkey’s response to actions the situation in Syria, which Turkey itself has helped made worse by hosting al-Qaeda and other U.S.-led terrorist groups which are directed by the CIA and MI6 intelligence.

During the meeting, the Turkish head of state and his ministers decided that it was necessary to introduce a bill to make it official that Turkey intends to meddle in Syria’s domestic unrest, which again, Turkey has helped create and stir. The media say the bill was the result of these discussions and could be incorporated into existing legislation that allows “operations outside the Turkish border.”

This type of arrangement allows, for example, to conduct military operations in northern Iraq to try to pursue Kurdish groups. The project, which is signed by the Council of Ministers of Turkey, was sent this very morning by Erdogan to the President of the Parliament. Turkey has said that the bill is a preventive measure and that they do not expected to launch an attack on Syria, unless it is necessary.

According to local media, the text states that “the crisis in Syria not only adversely affects the stability of the region, but also threatens Turkey’s national security.” Now, the public knows well what happens when any country decides to act because it feels its national security is threatened; even though its concerns are unfounded. In the case of Turkey however, its leaders should be worried indeed, since they have helped launch attacks on Bashar Assad’s army, hosted Syrian rebel groups and allowed the infiltration of foreign agents through its land to destabilize Syria. All of these are clear examples of acts of war against Syria, and it wouldn’t be crazy to think that Assad may consider retaliation.

The tension between Syria and Turkey escalated on Wednesday, registering an attack on Turkish territory launched from Syrian soil. The attack killed a mother and her four children. A few hours later, Turkey responded by firing on targets in Syria. Neither Turkey nor Syria know for sure who launched the attack, but in Turkey’s case, the motto is shoot first ask questions later. The fact that Turkish planes are now bombing Syrian territory is enough of an aggression for Syria to consider similar actions against Turkey, which would set the region ablaze.

Meanwhile, the Turkish military continues bombing Syrian army positions on the border between the two countries, in response to the attacked launched from Syrian territory on Wednesday. Several Syrian soldiers have been killed in a bombing of the Turkish army in Rasm al-Ghazal region, near the town of Tal Abiad, on the border between Syria and Turkey, as reported a Syrian NGO. Tensions between Syria and Turkey, which supports Syrian insurgents, have seen a sharp escalation since yesterday, when several bullets hit the Turkish city of Akcakale, located just across the border from Syria, killing five Turkish civilians.

Syria accused Israel, the U.S. and American allies in the Arab world of directing the operations that seek to destabilize the country. According to the accusations the United States, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are running military operation centers in Turkey, from where many of the terrorist groups now operating in Syria are carrying out their 17-month long attacks. The Syrian ambassador to the United Nations said last week that Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are “harboring, funding and arming the armed terrorist groups.” This accusations have already been independently confirmed.

In a letter to the UN, ambassador Ja’afari said that Turkey had established military operations in its territory which included members of the military and intelligence agencies from Israel, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.” He added that “those centers are being used to oversee battles that are being waged by the terrorists against Syrian citizens in Aleppo and other Syrian cities and the massacres the terrorists are perpetrating after entering Syria in large numbers”.

United States president Barack Hussein Obama himself has expressed its support for the terrorist groups now killing thousands of innocent Syrians after he signed a secret order authorizing the financial and military backing of the rebels. Washington official also said that the US is working with a secret command center located in Turkey, which is composed by military personnel from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

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Obama Authorizes War Against Syria Without Congressional Approval

The US President has violated the Constitution once again by authorizing support for the Syrian rebel groups that fight against the Syrian Army. Having done so, he has effectively declared war on the country.

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | AUGUST 3, 2012

President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing Washington’s support for Syrian rebels in their fight against government forces, as reported by a U.S. source familiar with the matter.

The order, approved this year — although it is not known when it was signed — allows the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct support operations to get the rebels to overthrow President Bashar al Assad. In addition, the presidential order reflects the collaboration of U.S. a secret command center led by Turkey with the collaboration of Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The comprehensive framework of U.S. assistance to the rebels has not been determined clearly, but the data points to a step forward by the U.S. government to aid the rebels, which until now had been limited to non-lethal aid, according to Washington.

In fact, the United States increased to $ 15 million the funds for non-lethal aid to be delivered to the Syrian opposition.
The spokesman for the U.S. State Department, Victoria Nuland, said that Washington “has said all along that is ready and willing to deliver non-lethal support to the Syrian opposition.”

“Given that this support has been utilized, we have decided to increase the amount of support given for non-lethal aid” she said. “Also, we will expand our coordination and cooperation with other countries that have chosen other forms of support,” she added, referring to the delivery of weapons by third countries, presumably Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

Regarding the secret command center, the British agency Reuters has suggested that this could be the secret base established by Turkey in collaboration with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, near the Syrian border, a fact that came to light last week. Apparently, the purpose of it is to control military operations and communication taking place in Syria and thus to help the rebel forces.

This example of a secret decision among Middle East countries is an example of the leaders of those countries’ wish to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad after together with Western countries, just as they did in 2011 with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Turkey has played an increasing role in Syria, including reports that have Ankara could be behind the bombing of Syrian military leaders on 18 July.

However, the Turkish government has denied any support for such actions. A senior officer in the reserve of an army in the region, indicated that at least 20 Syrian generals who have defected in Turkey are coordinating the rebel forces.
The Israeli authorities have indicated that at least 20,000 Syrian soldiers have deserted.

According to new reports, the Turkish base, near the border with Syria, is located in the Turkish resort of Adana (south), about 60 kilometers from the border with Syria, which also houses the U.S. airbase at Incirlik.

In late December 2011, the Turkish newspaper ‘Vatan’ said the U.S. Army has stored 70 tactical nuclear warheads of the B61-12 type, 50 of which would be reserved for U.S. use. He noted that between ten and 20 of the remaining warheads are designed to be carried and launched by Turkish warplanes.

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury Department confirmed Wednesday that it has authorized the representative of the Syrian Free Army (SLA) — which brings includes many of the armed opposition groups, to conduct financial transactions on behalf of those rebel organizations.

The information about Obama’s authorization to deliver support to the rebels comes amid fighting between security forces and the rebels themselves to regain control of Aleppo, the second largest city in the country.