The Syria Thread 2011 - Present

[MacCruiskeen]

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2016/12/how-can-i-be-neutral-on-syria.html

How can I be neutral on Syria
I hear from supporters of the Syrian regime and Hizbullah (largely in Arabic) that I have lost all sense of morality and steadfastness by refusing to support their side. And I hear from supporters of Syrian "revolution" (largely in English) that I have lost all sense of morality for not supporting the US-EU-GCC-Syrian rebel side. I get faulted for my neutrality. Who says I am neutral? Far from being neutral, I am in fact hostile--to all sides. You may not like my stance and you may disagree with me, but don't call me neutral.
Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil.

You're not neutral, American Dream; you're pure. That's what makes your Moral Stance so profoundly admirable. You have a beautiful soul. Why can't Syrians be more like you?

Meanwhile, the Empire continues to eat the planet because the planet is not pure enough to see the sinfulness of its ways. In its blind selfishness, it continues to resist being eaten (and shat back out in more profitable form).

Bad Syria. Bad Libya. Bad Iraq. Bad Afghanistan. Bad Planet.

Bad, bad planet. Let us pray for it, because that alone will help.

[MacCruiskeen]

Samantha Power plumbs new depths of shamelessness; the Russian ambassador to the UN responds. (vine/video at the link, 52 seconds, can't embed it):

https://twitter.com/RanaHarbi/status/809148221620621312

(Notice that little smirk she gives, while glancing up in the expectation of applause.)

[MacCruiskeen]

Serge
‏@Zinvor

Photo shared hundreds of times of "Assad killing Sunnis" actually from 2014, shows ISIS killing prisoners after rebel-ISIS breakup.#FakeNews

Disinfo is rampant.

on edit: deleted the very bloody photos. And yes, they show that an ISIS mass-murder in 2014 was deliberately falsely attributed to the Syrian Army in Aleppo this week.

[Nordic]

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2016/12/how-can-i-be-neutral-on-syria.html

How can I be neutral on Syria
I hear from supporters of the Syrian regime and Hizbullah (largely in Arabic) that I have lost all sense of morality and steadfastness by refusing to support their side. And I hear from supporters of Syrian "revolution" (largely in English) that I have lost all sense of morality for not supporting the US-EU-GCC-Syrian rebel side. I get faulted for my neutrality. Who says I am neutral? Far from being neutral, I am in fact hostile--to all sides. You may not like my stance and you may disagree with me, but don't call me neutral.
Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil.

Here is how. Andrew Ashdown is a Priest with the Church of England and is actually in the ground in Aleppo right now. He is giving the best reporting I've yet seen of the place and time.

And here is how he addresses that exact concern:

I sensed that I was coming to Aleppo at an historic moment, and tonight I think that is true. Throughout the night there has been an unceasing and relentless bombardment of the last 'rebel'-controlled pockets in the city, all of which I have a bird's eye view from my hotel room. Every few seconds there are huge explosions rending the air and lighting up the sky a few kilometres away, interspersed with rapid bursts of gunfire. I can see tracer bullets, and the trail of missiles as they hit their target. This is a frightening, relentless and prolonged attack that has gone on for hours. I watch and listen with sadness and ambiguity. Sadness because as a priest I abhor violence, hate conflict, am thinking of any civilians trapped in that hell-hole and wondering how many are dying - and because like everyone else, I only want peace. But ambiguity, because over the past few years, I have been listening to the voices of ordinary Syrians whose cries and experiences of brutality and violence at the hands of extremist terrorist factions supported by the international community have been ignored by the outside world ; and whose suffering in the conflict has been exploited and heightened by the arrogant intransigence and bloody-minded single-mindedness of an international agenda that has nothing to do with the interests or human rights of the Syrian people. The fact is, across the country, and amongst the citizens of Aleppo - including those who have finally been able to flee the terrorist-controlled areas and are emerging with heart-rending accounts of the violence and brutality meted out on them these past years by the terrorists occupying their neighbourhoods - everyone wants to see the terrorists defeated and an end to the fighting. Independent journalist, Vanessa Beeley interviewed one woman yesterday who had fled East Aleppo a few days ago and whose 8 year old daughter was killed and husband shot by the 'rebels', and who saw a woman shot in the mouth asking them for food who said: "I hope the Army will show them no mercy. They are animals and deserve to die." (She will be uploading a video of the interview soon) The international community are calling for a ceasefire. Why on earth, when the Syrian Army are making such progress which the people of Aleppo are celebrating, and when every ceasefire so far has been used to resupply the terrorists, would the Syrian Government stop now? The last ceasefire which the Government held for two weeks last month was broken relentlessly by 'rebel' attacks on Western Aleppo that killed and maimed dozens of innocent civilians. Make no mistake, this is not a Government attacking its own people. I have laid out before me a whole city, in the majority of which, and as in all other Government-held areas of the country, citizens from whatever faith or ethnic community, are getting on with their lives and living together. I am standing a few kilometres away from the battle zone but am safe. The bombing is taking place, not across the city, but only in those small pockets of the city where the 'rebels' have held out. Most of the civilians that have been able to flee those areas are being looked after in Centres run by the Syrian Government and Syrian Red Crescent and with aid which the Russians are providing. They all tell of the 'rebels' shooting at those trying to leave. (Few know anything about the 'White Helmets' and those that do, have little good to say about them because they are working with the terrorists.) So I stand here watching a battle with deeply mixed and conflicted feelings...sadness at the loss of life taking place before me; but a feeling like so many others in this city that the Syrian Government has been left with no other choice. It is only when fighting ceases that a political solution can be found, but it is clear that as long as the Western -backed al-qaeda linked terrorists are able to operate, there can and will be no peace in the city or the country. Believe me, most Syrians are cheering their army on. The refusal of western governments and media to listen to the Syrian people, and to follow only their own agendas, has ensured that this brutal conflict and suffering on all sides has gone on for far too long. So as I watch a relentless battle taking place before my eyes, I feel that sadly, there is no other option. And when the battle ends, in Aleppo and in other parts of the country, the long and no doubt difficult and painful task of rebuilding people's lives, and healing the pain, will begin.

https://m.facebook.com/andrew.ashdown.9

[Nordic]

[MacCruiskeen]

^^That's a very good short summary of the bullshit for anyone who's pushed for time. (I wish she'd tone down the stridency and stop flapping her hands, though. It's a bit offputting and that's a pity.)

"Seven-year-old Bana Alabad's English Twitter account" is one of the clumsiest propaganda efforts I've ever seen. The child can barely speak five words of English, yet somehow she can write it as well as many German university students. JK Rowling has been sending the kid Harry Potter books and promoting her account bigtime, and the Guardian has of course been catapulting the propaganda.

[seemslikeadream]

The United States Just Canceled an Arms Deal With Saudi Arabia

The Obama administration responds to civilian casualties in Yemen's bloody civil war.

BRYAN SCHATZDEC. 13, 2016 5:15 PM


Smoke rises after a Saudi-led airstrike hits an army academy in Sanaa, Yemen, in September 2015. Hani Mohammed/AP
The Obama administration has canceled an arms deal with Saudi Arabia amid growing concerns about the high civilian death toll from the kingdom's air campaign in Yemen. "We continue to have concerns about the conflict in Yemen and how it has been waged, most especially the air campaign," a State Department official told Mother Jones in an email. The blocked sale reportedly involves precision-guided munitions built by the American defense contractor Raytheon.

Saudi Arabia has been repeatedly criticized for committing potential war crimes in its war against the Houthi rebels who ousted the Saudi-backed government of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi in January 2015. Throughout the nearly two-year-long conflict, the Saudis have used American and British weapons, including banned cluster bombs. The United States has also provided refueling missions and intelligence. Saudi airstrikes have hit weddings, funerals, hospitals, schools, markets, and places of worship, killing hundreds of civilians.

Between 2009 and 2015, the Obama administration inked more than $100 billion worth of arms deals with Riyadh. Just last week, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced the approval of yet another deal, worth $3.5 billion, for Chinook helicopters and related equipment, training, and support.

Yet today's announcement may be a sign of the Obama administration's growing discomfort with the war. In May, it canceled the sale of US-made cluster bombs. In September, the Senate held its first debate to question the decision to continue supplying the Saudis. "There is a US imprint on every civilian death inside Yemen, which is radicalizing the people of Yemen against the United States," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said at the time. "There really is no way this bombing campaign could happen without United States participation."

The State Department official, who asked not to be named, said the United States is exploring how to refocus training the Saudi air force to address its targeting practices. The official also stated that the State Department, the Pentagon, and other agencies are reviewing current policy "to ensure that our limited support for the Saudi-led Coalition is consistent with our foreign policy goals and values." A senior administration official told AFP that "US security cooperation is not a blank check."

President-elect Donald Trump has not outlined his policy on Yemen. However, during a January campaign rally with Sarah Palin, he suggested that Iran is destabilizing Yemen and seeks to take over Saudi Arabia:

Now they're going into Yemen. And if you look at Yemen, take a look, they're going to get Syria, they're going to get Yemen, unless—trust me, a lot of good things are going to happen if I get in, but let's leave it the way it is. They get Syria. They get Yemen. Now, they didn't want Yemen, but did you ever see the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia? They want Saudi Arabia.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 ... abia-yemen

[stefano]

Yeah, thanks for that video. Two other things I picked up on those 'final messages' was that not one shows a view from a window or anything at all to indicate the speaker's in Aleppo, and they all talk at length about Assad and Putin to keep framing the message. The ones in Arabic have a lot in about Shias (usually calling them Rawafid), a trope which the English ones seem to avoid, and that's suspicious too. If they lose Aleppo then they want at least to have a perception advantage if there's negotiation for east Syria.

[MacCruiskeen]

Yeah, thanks for that video. Two other things I picked up on those 'final messages' was that not one shows a view from a window or anything at all to indicate the speaker's in Aleppo, and they all talk at length about Assad and Putin to keep framing the message. The ones in Arabic have a lot in about Shias (usually calling them Rawafid), a trope which the English ones seem to avoid, and that's suspicious too. If they lose Aleppo then they want at least to have a perception advantage if there's negotiation for east Syria.

Yes, that's very striking (the bit I bolded): They could be anywhere. Also, the first of those guys is obviously acting, and he is a truly terrible actor. This was pointed out in several quite funny comments under his lengthier clip on YouTube.

The ones in Arabic have a lot in about Shias (usually calling them Rawafid), a trope which the English ones seem to avoid, and that's suspicious too.

Thanks for that. These things are important to know. I wish I spoke the language. Among the worst things about Western media pontifications is that very few of the pontificators speak Arabic, and even fewer of them are on the ground in Aleppo or have any credible contacts there. That's the difference between them and (say) Eva Bartlett or Vanessa Beeley.

Imagine it the other way round: Syrians who spoke no English reporting authoritatively on the situation in London or LA.

[MacCruiskeen]

Jesus. This latest BBC screed is a shameless and truly massive propaganda effort. Reading it, you would think that no one in Syria is happy to have been liberated from jihadist murderers, and that no one anywhere else is happy for them.

It is pure manipulative kitsch. All it lacks is a soundtrack of strings.

Aleppo Syria: Global shows of solidarity over Aleppo

4 hours ago
From the section Middle East


A Turkish student cries during a protest in Sarajevo, Bosnia

The final cries for help from rebel-held areas of Aleppo - heard against a backdrop of falling bombs - have horrified many thousands across the world.

But for the vast majority, there is little they feel they can do but watch, helpless, as Syrian government forces and their allies close in.

Yet there are individuals - and sometimes cities and countries - who have decided to do something, whether it be protest, donate or make a simple show of solidarity.

Like [plucky little] Qatar, which has cancelled its national day of celebration on 18 December - usually a spectacular with fireworks and a parade along the promenade.

The emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, said the decision had been made "in solidarity with our people in the city of Aleppo, those who are subjected to the worst kind of repression and torture, displacement [!!] and genocide [!!!]".

In Paris, the Eiffel Tower went dark to "alert the international community to the need for urgent action" [to save the jihadist headchoppers] in east Aleppo, while hundreds of people took to the streets of Istanbul to blame Iran, an ally of Syria's government, for the failed start of a cease-fire deal.[WTF?]

In cities as far apart as London, Sarajevo and Amman, protesters poured on to the streets to show their anger at the events [what events?] in the rebel-held areas.

[...]



[...]

In Illinois, a teacher has been expressing solidarity with the residents of Aleppo through his artwork.

In the past few days, Marc Nelson has been sharing his drawings - inspired by the pictures emerging from the besieged district - on Twitter, writing: "My students and I want you to know we are grieving for you #Aleppo. We will always raise our voices for you."

[...]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38327586

It goes on forever like that, with millions of propaganda photos and heart-tugging tweets from a Brazilian supermodel, from Ellen DeGeneres, from "Popular YouTuber Tanya Burr", and god knows who else. Yet it's almost entirely content-free. The only content is trivial, irrelevant, blatantly onesided, totally unsubstantiated, or just plain false.

Not one person in Syria is interviewed or even mentioned.

And, uniquely in my experience of the BBC: No author is named.

[Rory]

The United States Just Canceled an Arms Deal With Saudi Arabia

As far as I can tell they're restricting the sale of embedded guidance systems. Because that is so helpful for the civilians - in the future they will face a less accurate Saudi onslaught. yay for human rights. Thanks, Obama

[seemslikeadream]

Rami Jarrah ‏@RamiJarrah Dec 13
BREAKING: Thousands this moment in front of the Russian consulate in Istanbul rejecting ongoing massacre of Syrian civilians in #Aleppo
243 replies 13,068 retweets 13,825 likes

https://twitter.com/RamiJarrah

[MacCruiskeen]

Two very good articles by two very good people. (These can't be skimmed, they have to be either read at source or ignored.)

The Truth About Syria: A Manufactured War Against An Independent Country

The people of the world should ask Western leaders and their allies: Why are you prolonging this war? Why do you continue funding and enabling the terrorists? Isn’t five years of civil war enough? Is overthrowing the Syrian government really worth so much suffering and death?

By Caleb T. Maupin | May 26, 2016

http://www.mintpressnews.com/truth-syri ... -2/216688/

Controlling the Narrative on Syria

by Louis Allday | 13.12.16

Since 2011, the torrent of ill-informed, inaccurate and often entirely dishonest analysis of events in Syria has been unremitting.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2016/allday131216.html

Congratulations to the brave Syrian people for successfully defending their secular state against the Empire and its headchopping jihadi tools. You will not go the way of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Inshallah.

Socialism or barbarism species-extinction.

Over and out.

[Elvis]

^^^^ Those are excellent articles, thank you, Mac.

[American Dream]

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2016/12/c ... tlett.html

Canadian Journalist, Eva Bartlett
Of course, Western media (from Democracy Now to New York Times) have been quite disgusting in the coverage of Syria. There is a rigid line and not one medium is allowed to deviate from. They all sing the same tune. You can't distinguish between them. Eva Bartlett rightly criticizes those media but she concludes by sounding like an apologist of the Syrian regime when she says that her evidence of public support for Bashshar in Syria is...the elections. Let me state this: Ba`thists (in Syria and Iraq) never once held a free elections. Free elections and Ba`thism don't go together.
Posted by As'ad AbuKhalil