The flight of Dr. General Engineer Salim Hero Idris

The flight of Dr. General Engineer Salim Hero Idris
▻http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-flight-of-dr-general-engineer-salim.html

... the accounts in US papers (WP and NYT in particular) are quite false. Arabic newspapers added more details. It is not that the warehouses were taken over by the Islamic Front: they were handed over according to an agreement that was supervised by the cousin of Dr. Engineer General himself (apparently, like the regime, the Syrian rebels especially the Fee Syrian Army make appointments on nepostic grounds). And there are accounts that Gen.Dr Engineer once settled in Qatar, was ordered by the US government to go back to Syria but he chose his fancy home in Turkey instead.

Furthermore, the contents of the US-supplied warehouses are not what US papers have reproted: apparently they include advanced weapons including Stinger missiles supplied by Gulf regimes (clealry with a nod and wink from the US government). Basically, Obama has upgraded the weapons capability of the Bin Ladenites gangs in the Middle East region.

Première nouvelle,
▻http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2013/12/13/les-actions-du-front-islamique-affaiblissent-l-armee-syrienne-libre_4333875_

Si l’Arabie saoudite persiste à soutenir des unités dites modérées et pro-occidentales, le Qatar et la Turquie, deux Etats à la pointe de la lutte contre le régime Assad, auraient financé, selon une source diplomatique, la création du Front islamique.

Toujours est-il que ledit Front islamique, est intensément courtisé maintenant, ▻http://www.985fm.ca/international/nouvelles/conference-de-paix-sur-la-syrie-les-islamistes-so-288164.html

Un représentant de la Coalition nationale syrienne, Monzer Akbik, a déclaré devant des journalistes à Londres que l’opposition syrienne était favorable à la formation d’une délégation aussi inclusive que possible et que le Front islamique, une coalition de rebelles islamistes, était invité à envoyer des représentants pour prendre part aux négociations.

▻http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2013/12/13/can-the-free-syrian-army-do-better

To remedy these shortcomings, the memo proposes creating a “logistical board” that includes the seven major moderate and Islamist factions, excluding only the al-Qaeda affiliates, the al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Obama’s Syria policy is pretty much dead, and there are few good options
▻http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/Backchannels/2013/1212/Obama-s-Syria-policy-is-pretty-much-dead-and-there-are-few-good-options

What are the options going forward for a real US strategy in Syria – where the conflict continues to cast a shadow of destabilization over Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and to some extent Turkey? None particularly obvious.

Direct military involvement is so unlikely as to not worth being considered. A major outreach to the non-Al Qaeda Islamists, coupled with a major diplomatic effort to convince the Saudis to arm-twist their clients into compromise? Perhaps that’s a way forward – (...)