Syrian Crisis...2013

hardware said:

it seem's to me the Syrian rebels unable to overthrown assad,while assad unable to defeat the rebel,it going to end up in a stalemate.

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Delayed by sniper fire earlier today near Damascus, a United Nations inspection team nevertheless proceeded towards a rebel-controlled eastern suburb to meet with doctors and victims of last week's purported chemical attack.

The UN inspectors have now returned to their hotel in central Damascus, after having collected samples from the site of a suburb in the outskirts of the capital.


UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the team visited two hospitals and interviewed witnesses, survivors and doctors while collecting samples around the Rawda Mosque. Ban said the team was committed to completing its mission despite "very difficult circumstances," referring to their brush with sniper fire.

Angela Kane, the under-secretary general for disarmament, briefed him on the incident.

"I have instructed Angela Kane to register a strong complaint to the Syrian government and authorities of opposition forces so that this will never happen and the safety and security of the investigation teams will be secured from tomorrow," Ban said.

Although there were no injuries from the assault on the UN inspectors, CBC’s Melissa Kent reported that "the lead vehicle was so badly damaged … the team had to turn around and return to the government checkpoint to exchange vehicles.”

Mortar attack

At least two mortar bombs struck a wealthy district of central Damascus on Monday, in the same area where a team of United Nations inspectors are staying as they investigate alleged chemical weapons attacks.

Syrian state media said the mortar bombs were locally made and fired by "terrorists," its term for rebels. SANA state news agency said three people were wounded.

UN inspectors lhad reportedly already left their hotel to visit sites of the alleged chemical weapons strike on the outskirts of Damascus last week.

— Reuters

The Syrian government and opposition fighters continue to trade blame over who was responsible for the sniper attack.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had earlier pledged that a ceasefire would be put in place while the investigators continue their work.

Intimidation tactics are nothing new to UN weapons investigators in a foreign land, according to former UN arms investigator Tim Trevan.

"Clearly this is intimidation against the team," Trevan told CBC News from Washington. "It's something teams have to deal with, confrontation situations like this one."

Trevan added that although it's difficult to say whether the sniper was with the opposition or government forces, "the suspicion must be that this is the Syrian regime."

'They want to show the international community they're willing to go ahead and co-operate, and at the same time ensure it doesn't happen by subjecting the convoy to fire, making the inspection site itself too dangerous to visit.'

The UN's stated mission is only to determine whether chemical weapons were used, but not to determine who used them. (WTF????)

However, the United States strongly suspects that Assad's regime was behind the Aug. 21 attack near Damascus. That suspicion is supported by the international aid group Doctors Without Borders, which reported that 355 people were killed in an artillery attack that also included the purported use of a toxic chemical weapon.

Its numbers are also consistent with those of Syrian activists and opposition leaders, who have said that between 322 and 1,300 people were killed in the alleged chemical attack.

Canada's response
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird reiterated that Canada is still committed to a peaceful solution to the violence.

"Canada believes the only way to help the bloodshed in Syria is through a political solution," he told reporters today in Ottawa. "However, we understand that this solution is becoming more and more difficult as the crisis enters a very dangerous new phase."

Baird has been speaking with his French and British counterparts about the Syria situation and expressed a shared "outrage" over reports about possible chemical attacks, according to a spokesperson from his office.

Syrian-Canadians have been calling on Ottawa to participate in an international action to stop the violence and Baird has acknowledged that the delay in allowing UN inspectors to do their work will likely impair their investigation.

Baird also heaped more diplomatic pressure on Russia on Monday, criticizing the nation for using its veto on the UN Security Council to block resolutions designed to punish Syria with sanctions.

"The complete obfuscation of Russia, the Security Council and the United Nations needs to end, and they need to become part of the solution," Baird said.

'Too late to be credible'
Although Syria has said that a UN team was welcome to visit the site, a senior White House official dismissed the deal with inspectors as "too late to be credible."

British Foreign Secretary William Hague added that it was likely that artillery fire at the site would have destroyed much of the evidence.

SYRIA CIVIL WAR Key facts, important players in Syria's bloody conflict
Meanwhile, a defiant Assad claimed foreign leaders were making excuses so they could intervene militarily in Syria, telling a Russian newspaper the accusations that his troops used chemical weapons were "politically motivated."

"This is nonsense," Assad was quoted as saying in the interview with Russia's Izvestia daily. "First they level the accusations, and only then they start collecting evidence."

Angela Kane, the UN high representative for disarmament affairs, watches a convoy of UN inspectors heading to the scene of an alleged chemical weapons strike in a rebel-held area in Syria.Angela Kane, the UN high representative for disarmament affairs, watches a convoy of UN inspectors heading to the scene of an alleged chemical weapons strike in a rebel-held area in Syria. (Khaled al-Hariri /Reuters)
The UN team's conclusions could have a dramatic impact on the trajectory of Syria's civil war as France, Britain, Israel and some U.S. congressmen urge swift military action against Assad's regime.

Meanwhile, Germany has indicated willingness for the first time to support a possible military response in Syria.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said Syria "must be punished" if UN inspectors are able to confirm the use of chemical weapons by Assad's forces. (Except the UN is saying they're not going to do that...)

Turkey, another of Assad's harshest critics, said it would back an international coalition to move against Assad if sanctions against the government fail.

However, Syria still has a staunch ally in Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western powers of having hawkish tendencies despite a lack of evidence to show the Syrian government was behind the purported chemical attack.

The countries calling for action "cannot provide evidence" of such an attack, Lavrov said in a televised conference on Monday, adding that talk of military action is undermining efforts to resolve the crisis peacefully.

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TerraN_EmpirE said:

I have said it before I will say it again the UN should stand for Useless Nonentity. The UN has no real intelligence capability and a whole lot of leeway to do as it pleases. Basically they will say either yes or no and then back what ever intelligence agency happens to come up with a answer.

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Jeff Head said:

So, I beleive he will work out a deal with the other Western Powers to bring a few of them in on this. UK for sure, and perhaps Germany, Italy, etc. The US will launch 40 or so Tomahawks, the UK will launch 6-8, and the others will provide logistical support and escort.

They will hit a number fo buildings like the Defense Ministry at 3 AM when no one important will be there. They will hit a few military installations.

Then, the US will say, "There, see? We are tough and will not allow Assad to be a bad man."

The UK and others will make similar announcements.

Syria will cry loudly, principally to the UN. Russia will make a lot of noise and ensure that its own ships are in the area, perhaps sailing close to the NATO forces.

Then things will proceed as they are. Not enough damage to do anything serious to Assad. Lots of chest thumping and warnings.

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thunderchief said:

...it is not Obama who is in control. Forces behind all of this are pushing for the creation of Sunni Caliphate, relatively friendly with the West , in rhetoric war against Israel but nothing much more than that like Saudi Arabia - and on the other hand hostile towards Iran and to a lesser extent to Russia & China . West is hoping to appease Muslim world with this creation , so they are supporting "Arab Spring" which is slowly turning into Al Qaeda autumn .

Obama , being barely more than a figurehead , will do what he is told . So , after a few salvos of cruise missiles I would expect full airstrikes and then God help us all .

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John Kerry said:

August 26, 2013 Press Conference

Well, for the last several days President Obama and his entire national security team have been reviewing the situation in Syria. And today I want to provide an update on our efforts as we consider our response to the use of chemical weapons.

What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world. It defies any code of morality. Let me be clear. The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standard, it is inexcusable. And despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured, it is undeniable.

The meaning of this attack goes beyond the conflict on Syria itself. And that conflict has already brought so much terrible suffering. This is about the large-scale indiscriminate use of weapons that the civilized world long ago decided must never be used at all, a conviction shared even by countries that agree on little else.

There is a clear reason that the world has banned entirely the use of chemical weapons. There is a reason the international community has set a clear standard and why many countries have taken major steps to eradicate these weapons. There is a reason why President Obama has made it such a priority to stop the proliferation of these weapons, and lock them down where they do exist. There is a reason why President Obama has made clear to the Assad regime that this international norm cannot be violated without consequences. And there is a reason why no matter what you believe about Syria, all peoples and all nations who believe in the cause of our common humanity must stand up to assure that there is accountability for the use of chemical weapons so that it never happens again.

Last night, after speaking with foreign ministers from around the world about the gravity of this situation, I went back and I watched the videos — the videos that anybody can watch in the social media, and I watched them one more gut-wrenching time. It is really hard to express in words the the human suffering that they lay out before us.

As a father, I can’t get the image out of my head of a man who held up his dead child, wailing while chaos swirled around him, the images of entire families dead in their beds without a drop of blood or even a visible wound, bodies contorting in spasms, human suffering that we can never ignore or forget. Anyone who could claim that an attack of this staggering scale could be contrived or fabricated needs to check their conscience and their own moral compass.

What is before us today is real, and it is compelling.

So I also want to underscore that while investigators are gathering additional evidence on the ground, our understanding of what has already happened in Syria is grounded in facts, informed by conscience and guided by common sense. The reported number of victims, the reported symptoms of those who were killed or injured, the firsthand accounts from humanitarian organizations on the ground, like Doctors Without Borders and the Syria Human Rights Commission — these all strongly indicate that everything these images are already screaming at us is real, that chemical weapons were used in Syria.

Moreover, we know that the Syrian regime maintains custody of these chemical weapons. We know that the Syrian regime has the capacity to do this with rockets. We know that the regime has been determined to clear the opposition from those very places where the attacks took place. And with our own eyes, we have all of us become witnesses.

We have additional information about this attack, and that information is being compiled and reviewed together with our partners, and we will provide that information in the days ahead.

Our sense of basic humanity is offended not only by this cowardly crime but also by the cynical attempt to cover it up. At every turn, the Syrian regime has failed to cooperate with the U.N. investigation, using it only to stall and to stymie the important effort to bring to light what happened in Damascus in the dead of night. And as Ban Ki- moon said last week, the U.N. investigation will not determine who used these chemical weapons, only whether such weapons were used, a judgement that is already clear to the world.

I spoke on Thursday with Syrian Foreign Minister Muallem, and I made it very clear to him that if the regime, as he argued, had nothing to hide, then their response should be immediate: immediate transparency, immediate access, not shelling. Their response needed to be unrestricted and immediate access. Failure to permit that, I told him, would tell its own story.

Instead, for five days the Syrian regime refused to allow the U.N. investigators access to the site of the attack that would allegedly exonerate them. Instead, it attacked the area further, shelling it and systematically destroying evidence. That is not the behavior of a government that has nothing to hide. That is not the action of a regime eager to prove to the world that it had not used chemical weapons. In fact, the regime’s belated decision to allow access is too late and is too late to be credible.

Today’s reports of an attack on the U.N. investigators, together with the continued shelling of these very neighborhoods, only further weakens the regime’s credibility. At President Obama’s direction, I’ve spent many hours over the last few days on the phone with foreign ministers and other leaders. The administration is actively consulting with members of Congress, and we will continue to have these conversations in the days ahead. President Obama has also been in close touch with the leaders of our key allies, and the president will be making an informed decision about how to respond to this indiscriminate use of chemical weapons.

But make no mistake: President Obama believes there must be accountability for those who would use the world’s most heinous weapons against the world’s most vulnerable people. Nothing today is more serious, and nothing is receiving more serious scrutiny.

Thank you.

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The White House said on Monday that it is undeniable that chemical weapons were used in Syria and that there is little doubt that the Syrian government used them.

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cn_habs said:

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Notice the US didn't directly declare Assad used those chemical weapons. Yet she is spinning this whole attack indirectly by implying that "chemical weapons were used".

There's little doubt there are plenty of capable CIA assets on the ground there so whoever believes Assad is stupid enough to use chemicals on hundreds women and kids knowing the UN team were miles away must be really naive.

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