Syria unrest fuels local tensions in Turkey

litwin · Feb 23, 2012

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/02/2012223163013423263.html

Thousands of Syrians have fled to neighbouring Turkey seeking safety since the government cracked down on protesters. Many of them have been living in refugee camps in towns close to the Syria border for the last eight months.

These refugees are increasingly calling for international intervention in their home country to help topple Bashar al-Assads government.

However, many Turkish Alawites - a branch of Shia Islam to which President Assad's family belongs - living in the city of Antakya have come out against intervention in Syria, calling it "imperialist intervention".

Al Jazeeras Anita McNaught reports from the Syrian-Turkey border.
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as i have predicted before ....

waltky · Feb 23, 2012

World pressure for Assad to allow international aid organizations in...

Tunis Conference Aims to Pressure Syria's Assad on Aid, Political Change
February 23, 2012 - Representatives of more than 70 countries and organizations are gathering outside the Tunisian capital, Tunis, for a conference Friday aimed at supporting the Syrian opposition. Getting aid to civilians caught up in Syria's violence will be high on the agenda.

The officials are gathering for the first meeting of what is now called the Friends of the Syrian People -- a movement that came in reaction to the Russian and Chinese vetoes of a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have condemned the Syrian government. The group lacks the Security Council's authority, but hopes to use a combination of pressure and persuasion to convince Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to allow humanitarian aid and agree to end his family's more than 30-year monopoly on power.

It will be a difficult task. Mr. Assad already has defied the Arab League, which is a leader of the movement, and the U.N. General Assembly -- intensifying his military campaign against pro-democracy activists that unofficial reports say has killed thousands of civilians. En route to the Tunis meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday the conference will reflect the international consensus for change in Syria, and that she hopes it will put enough pressure on the Syrian leader to convince him to change.

"We see a lot of developments that we think are pointing to pressure on Assad. We hope it'll pressure him to make the right decision regarding humanitarian assistance. But in the event that he continues to refuse, we think that the pressure will continue to build. So it's a fluid situation. But if I were a betting person for the medium-term and certainly the long-term, I would be betting against Assad," Clinton said.

A senior State Department official traveling to the conference with the secretary told reporters that participants will issue a challenge to President Assad to allow international aid into areas his troops have cut off from the outside world while residents suffer daily artillery barrages. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the conference will also express support for the Arab League transition plan for Syria that would replace Mr. Assad with a council and lead to elections. He said it will also expand ties with the main opposition group, the Syrian National Council, and will seek ways to increase pressure on the Assad government through better focused and coordinated sanctions.

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Diplomats: 'Friends of Syria' May Demand Entry of Aid Within Days
February 23, 2012 - Diplomats say a group of Western and Arab-led nations gathering in Tunis to discuss Syria's worsening unrest may issue a demand for Damascus to allow the delivery of foreign humanitarian aid to hard-hit areas within days.

The officials say participants in Friday's "Friends of Syria" meeting are likely to call on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to order an immediate stop to his crackdown on an 11-month uprising, so that the aid can be delivered. Representatives of more than 70 nations and international organizations will attend the gathering, among them U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Tunisia's presidential spokesman said Thursday his government will propose a peacekeeping force to resolve the Syrian crisis.

It is not clear if the Friends of Syria will announce any punitive measures in the event that Syria rejects their demands. Residents of the central Syrian city of Homs say food, water and medical supplies are running dangerously low after almost three weeks of relentless bombardment by pro-Assad forces surrounding the opposition protest hub. Russia and China have said they will not attend the Tunis meeting. Both powers have repeatedly blocked the U.N. Security Council from taking action against the Syrian government, saying the Council should not take sides in a domestic conflict.

Speaking on a visit to London on Thursday, Clinton said Syrian opposition forces resisting the government crackdown "will somehow, somewhere find the means to defend themselves as well as [to] begin offensive measures," said Clinton. She did not elaborate further. Speaking on a visit to London on Thursday, Clinton said Syrian opposition forces resisting the government crackdown "will somehow, somewhere find the means to defend themselves as well as [to] begin offensive measures," said Clinton. She did not elaborate further.

Rebels of the Free Syrian Army have been urging the international community to arm them, but Western and Arab nations have been reluctant to agree, fearing foreign military intervention could make the situation worse. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the Obama administration still supports a political resolution of the crisis. But, he said the Assad government's ongoing assault on the Syrian people is "heinous and unforgivable" and will require the United States to "evaluate" its approach "as time goes on."

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waltky · Feb 24, 2012

US, Europe Prepare For Syria Intervention...

US, France, UK, Turkey, Italy prepare for military intervention in Syria
February 23, 2012, Despite public denials, military preparations for intervention in the horrendous Syrian crisis are quietly afoot in Washington, Paris, Rome, London and Ankara.

President Barack Obama is poised for a final decision after the Pentagon submits operational plans for protecting Syrian rebels and beleaguered populations from the brutal assaults of Bashar Assads army, debkafiles Washington sources disclose. This process is also underway in allied capitals which joined the US in the Libyan operation that ended Muammar Qaddafis rule in August, 2011. They are waiting for a White House decision before going forward.

In Libya, foreign intervention began as an operation to protect the Libyan population against its rulers outrageous crackdown on dissent. It was mandated by UN Security Council. There is no chance of this in the Syrian case because it will be blocked by a Russian veto. Therefore, Western countries are planning military action of limited scope outside the purview of the world body, possibly on behalf of Friends of Syria, a group of 80 world nations which meets for the first time in Tunis Friday, Feb. 24, to hammer out practical steps for terminating the bloodbath pursued by the Assad regime.

The foreign ministers and senior officials Russia has excluded itself will certainly be further galvanized into action by the tragic deaths of two notable journalists Wednesday, Feb. 22, on the 19th day of the shelling of Homs. Preparations for the event are taking place at the Foreign Office in London. Wednesday, Foreign Secretary William Hague said: Governments around the world have the responsibility to actand to redouble our efforts to stop the Assad regimes despicable campaign of terror.

Hague pointedly said nothing about removing the Syrian ruler. Nor did he spell out the efforts need to stop the campaign of terror. debkafiles military sources note that he left these issues open because a decision by President Obama about if and how the US will act is pending until the Pentagon submits operational plans to Commander-in-Chief Obama. The US president is also waiting for Secretary of State Hillary Clintons report on the mood at the Tunis conference. He wants to know in particular if Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and the UAR will support US-led Western intervention in Syria, both politically and financially.

More http://www.debka.com/article/21762/
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waltky · Feb 24, 2012

Scandalous humanitarian disaster in Syria...

U.S.: 'Humanitarian disaster' in Syria
Feb. 24,`12 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking Friday in Tunisia, applauded the selection of Kofi Annan as U.N.-Arab League special envoy for Syria.

"We are all here because the Assad regime's escalating violence in Syria is an affront to the international community, a threat to regional security and a grave violation of universal human rights," Clinton said at the international Friends of Syria conference in Tunis. "The Assad regime has ignored every warning, squandered every opportunity and broken every agreement," she said. "Faced with determined protesters demanding their rights and their dignity, the regime is creating an appalling humanitarian disaster." Clinton said the United States strongly supports the Arab League's demand that Syrian forces "immediately halt all attacks against civilians" and called for a "negotiated political solution to the crisis."

The Tunis meeting came as the United Nations named top international diplomat Kofi Annan, a former U.N. secretary-general, as an envoy to Syria and targeted top Syrian officials for "gross human-rights violations." Annan -- secretary-general from 1997 to 2006, and a Nobel Peace laureate with the United Nations in 2001 -- was named a special U.N.-Arab League envoy, with a mandate to try to end the bloodshed and arrange a political transition, the world body said. Annan, from the West African country of Ghana, is said to have kept good lines of communications with the Syrian regime, The Wall Street Journal reported.

U.S. President Barack Obama, meeting with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt in Washington, said: "All of us who have been seeing the terrible pictures coming out of Syria and Homs recently recognize it is absolutely imperative for the international community to rally and send a clear message to President Assad that it is time for a transition. It is time for that regime to move on and it is time to stop the killing of Syrian citizens by their own government. "It is important that we not be bystanders during these extraordinary events," he said.

The Red Cross said Friday it has begun evacuating injured women and children from Homs, Syria, after weeks of shelling by the regime of President Bashar Assad. Homs has been bombarded by government forces for weeks, causing death, destruction and shortages of much-needed food and medicine, even as Assad denies his troops are targeting civilians, CNN reported. Syrian Arab Red Crescent ambulances began removing the sick and injured from the hard-hit suburb of Baba Amr after negotiating with the government, the BBC said.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...er-in-Syria/UPI-75931330068600/#ixzz1nMXCsLc6
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highlander · Feb 25, 2012

All I can say is more of the Fascist dictatorships of UK and America with hangers on!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbMbWp0BV7o&feature=player_embedded#!

Regards
Highlander

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Syria unrest fuels local tensions in Turkey

litwin Well-Known Member

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Syria unrest fuels local tensions in Turkey

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