#eyesonsyria et thèmes voisins

We told Syria’s rebels to “win hearts & minds” - not eat them ! This is why careful translation of insurgency manuals is so important. #Syria

Germany fears return of European jihadists in Syria | World news | The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/16/germany-fears-european-jihadists-syria-return

Up to 700 Europeans are fighting the Assad regime in Syria mainly as militant Islamists, the German government hassaid, warning that the militants could return as “homegrown terrorists” and calling for a controversial new policy that would temporarily bar them from re-entering Europe.

Syria Refugee Response - Shelter Sector Activities Mapping: Number of Completed Shelter Interventions (As of 30 April 2013)

http://img.static.reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/styles/attachment-large/public/resources-pdf-previews/147630-ShelterSectorActivitiesApril2013.png

http://reliefweb.int/map/lebanon/syria-refugee-response-shelter-sector-partners-mapping-number-completed-s

#Syrie #réfugiés #asile #migration #UNHCR #carte #cartographie

U.N. condemns Assad forces, but unease grows about rebels | Reuters
http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/05/15/syria-crisis-un-vote-idINDEE94E0EO20130515

The U.N. General Assembly condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and praised the opposition on Wednesday, but a decline in support for the resolution suggested growing unease about extremism among Syria’s fractious rebels.

While the non-binding text has no legal force, resolutions of the 193-nation assembly can carry significant moral and political weight. There were 107 votes in favor, 12 against and 59 abstentions - a drop in support compared with a resolution condemning the Syrian government that passed in August with 133 votes in favor, 12 against and 31 abstentions.

U.N. diplomats cited concerns that Syria could be headed for “regime change” engineered by foreign governments and fears about a strengthening Islamist extremist element among the rebels as reasons for the decline in support for the resolution.

Best analysis of the situation in the Middle East so far: “Theocratic regimes back secularists; tyrannies promote democracy; the US forms partnerships with Islamists; Islamists support Western military intervention. Arab nationalists side with regimes they have long combated; liberals side with Islamists with whom they then come to blows. Saudi Arabia backs secularists against the Muslim Brothers and Salafis against secularists. The US is allied with Iraq, which is allied with Iran, which supports the Syrian regime, which the US hopes to help topple. The US is also allied with Qatar, which subsidizes Hamas, and with Saudi Arabia, which funds the Salafis who inspire jihadists who kill Americans wherever they can”
Source : http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/nov/08/not-revolution/?pagination=false
#Iran #Iraq #Syria #Qatar #USA #Hamas #Egypt #democracy

#Map of current territorial control by opposing factions in the Syrian civil war:
http://i.imgur.com/h3CI2MW.jpg #Syria

Elnashra.com (Site d’information indépendant) : Naji N. Boustani, journaliste libanais indépendant
http://mediaramalb.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/mediarama-337.pdf

Cinquième étape : Elle se déroule en ce moment. L’aviation syrienne bombarde les positions rebelles dans Qoussair, transformée en champs de ruine, en préparation de l’offensive au sol de toutes les directions.
Les objectifs de la bataille de Qoussair sont les suivants :
1-Préparer la bataille de Homs, dont la moitié est encore occupée par les rebelles, et qui était considérée comme le « berceau de la révolution ».
2-Empêcher le déploiement des rebelles vers la campagne au nord de Damas et éviter qu’ils coupent la route Homs-Damas. Maintenir ouverte la route Tartous-Damas. 3-Mettre un terme au ravitaillement des rebelles du centre de la Syrie à partir du Liban.
4-Sécuriser une large zone du centre de la Syrie, sous le contrôle du régime, et protégée par le Hezbollah sur son flanc ouest.

Bombings Lead to Anger, Questions Over Turkey’s Syria Policy - Al-Monitor : the Pulse of the Middle East
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/turkey-bombing-anger-syria-policy.html

But the haste with which the arrest of the alleged perpetrators was announced, together with persistent declarations that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is not involved in these attacks, has only increased public suspicions, and the official news blackout on reporting from Reyhanli has not helped the government’s credibility either.

The news blackout has not prevented the social media from being overtaken with rumors spread by angry people accusing radical elements within the armed Syrian opposition of carrying out the attacks on the eve of Erdogan’s visit to Washington . The speculation is that the attacks were carried out to influence the Erdogan-Obama talks to the advantage of the Syrian opposition.

Les réseaux sociaux en Turquie doutent de la version officielle sur l’attentat de Reyhanli... La « sagesse populaire » y verrait bien l’acte de rebelles radicaux...

In Cairo, desperate Egyptian men search in vain for Syrian brides

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/14/191195/in-cairo-desperate-egyptian-men.html

“They ask us where the office is to buy a Syrian woman, as if they are buying a chicken. They don’t believe us when we tell them it doesn’t exist,” said Khalid, who said he was 26. “Our women are not for sale. We are here because we did not want to be killed.”

#Syrie #Syria #mariage

UAE Ministry Issues Lebanon Travel Warning » Gulf Business
http://gulfbusiness.com/2013/05/uae-ministry-issues-lebanon-travel-warning

Emirati citizens have been warned not to travel to Lebanon “for their own safety” due to the current situation in Syria spilling over the border, official news agency WAM has reported.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ advice against travelling to the country, which is popular with wealthy Arabs vacationing in the Middle East, echoes an identical warning it made in December last year.

The advice comes after hundreds of Syrians in the Lebanese city of Sidon held a demonstration on Sunday in support of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

“If necessary, holders of diplomatic and special passports planning to travel to Lebanon should obtain prior permits from the Ministry and should coordinate with it before departure by calling the Ministry on 02-4449600,” a statement from the Ministry said.

Holders of normal passports will be required to sign a pledge at the airport to take full responsibility when they travel to Lebanon.

Syrian Opposition “Rearranging Cards” in Preparation for Geneva II | Al Akhbar English
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-opposition-“rearranging-cards”-preparation-geneva-ii

It is as if the marching order has come from the US Secretary of State John Kerry in Moscow: Forward unto Geneva II, the follow-up conference to a June 2012 meeting to end the conflict in Syria. A renewed sense of realism has pushed the administration of US President Barack Obama to finally agree to share the ‘Syrian pie’ with the Kremlin.

Syria : Secularism Takes a Backseat in Latakia
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syria-secularism-takes-backseat-latakia

But perhaps the most disturbing upshot of the “existential war” between the regime and its opponents in Latakia is the retreat toward religion. In a city that has long been known for the secular-leaning and open-minded attitudes of its residents, many have now sought refuge in their sectarian identities.

Clerics have staged a comeback, having had suffered a great decline in recent years. Of particular note is the clerical gathering known as the Islamic Alawi Council of Syria and Overseas. Though founded in 2007, most Syrians have never heard of this council.

[…]

However, this prompted some Alawi Syrians to wonder whether the council, too, represented anyone else but themselves. Such quarrels are now endemic to the Alawis, a community without a central religious leadership or hierarchy.

America’s hidden agenda in Syria’s war - The National
http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/americas-hidden-agenda-in-syrias-war

Then, by the rebel commander’s account, the discussion took an unexpected turn.

The Americans began discussing the possibility of drone strikes on Al Nusra camps inside Syria and tried to enlist the rebels to fight their fellow insurgents.

“The US intelligence officer said, ’We can train 30 of your fighters a month, and we want you to fight Al Nusra’,” the rebel commander recalled.

Opposition forces should be uniting against Mr Al Assad’s more powerful and better-equipped army, not waging war among themselves, the rebel commander replied. The response from a senior US intelligence officer was blunt.

“I’m not going to lie to you. We’d prefer you fight Al Nusra now, and then fight Assad’s army. You should kill these Nusra people. We’ll do it if you don’t,” the rebel leader quoted the officer as saying.

Genève2 pour la Syrie
http://www.argotheme.com/organecyberpresse/spip.php?article1757

3ème année de guerre civile en Syrie, après une contagion de ce qui est le « Printemps Arabe ». 4 présidents de républiques arabes ont rendu les tabliers, sous des révoltes populaires revendiquant les libertés démocratiques. Dont l’alternance démocratique qui, en fin de compte, favorise la dictature pernicieuse car, comme tous fascismes, intronisée par des votes, la théocratie des islamistes. Le baâthiste d’Irak, Saddam Hussein, a été déboulonné par les américains, sous prétexte mensonger de détention (...)

#Monde,informations,_actualité,_international,_politique,_relations,_diplomatie,_affaires_étrangères, #Syrie,_opposition,_commandement,_Turquie,_réunion,_Idriss_Salim,_armée,_Alep,_Damas,_Basar_Al-Assad, #Terrorisme,islamisme,_Al-Qaeda,_politique,_Monde_Arabe, #Afrique,_Monde_Arabe,_islam,_Maghreb,_Proche-Orient,

« Dérive // Bilad El Cham // CorresponTrans » (#France_Culture)
http://www.franceculture.fr/emission-l-atelier-de-la-creation-derive-bilad-el-cham-correspontrans-

Si tu es curieuse/x de savoir ce qui se prime en matière de #création_radiophonique, voilà dans l’Atelier de la création les oeuvres lauréates d’un des plus prestigieux concours, du nom de #Luc_Ferrari :
– « Dérive » par Sam Salem (Royaume Uni) : « j’ai sillonné la ville de #Paris en quête de sons et d’#environnements_sonores »
– « Bilad El Cham » par Julia Hanadi Al Abed (France) : « un #documentaire sensiblement engagé avec l’intention d’être au plus proche de ce que je sais de la #Syrie »
– et « CorresponTrans » par Alejandro Montes De Oca (Mexique) : « pièce radiophonique sur la correspondance amoureuse »

Diffusion des œuvres des 3 lauréats du 10ème concours international d’art radiophonique Luc Ferrari. Les projets ont été sélectionnés par le jury le 4 septembre 2012, les lauréats ont été accueillis dans les studios de La Muse en Circuit, et ont obtenu une bourse de résidence pour réaliser le projet sur lequel ils ont été sélectionnés. Les oeuvres ainsi produites font l’objet d’une édition discographique, de diffusions sur l’ensemble des radios partenaires et ont été créées le 16 mars 2013 à l’occasion du festival Archipel à Genève avant d’être reprises au Festival de La Muse en Circuit, Extension 13, au mois de mai à Paris

http://media.radiofrance-podcast.net/podcast09/11983-07.05.2013-ITEMA_20477654-0.mp3

#audio #radio

Syrian refugees ’sold for marriage’ in Jordan

Before the war began, Kazal was in love with her neighbour in Homs. “He was 20 years old and I dreamed of marrying him one day,” she says. “I never thought I would marry someone I didn’t love, but my family and I have been through some hard times since coming to Amman.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22473573

#migration #réfugiés #syrie #jordanie #mariages_forcés

Les ambiguïtés du discours de Nasrallah et les problèmes de sa traduction vus par la BBC

Hezbollah chief’s ambiguous phrase on Syria arms raises translation headache
Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah’s mention in his 9 May speech of new weaponry has had translators and journalists scratching their heads and scouring their dictionaries for a clear, consistent and meaningful translation.

Differences have emerged in Western news agency reports of the speech, Arabic English-language media and even Iranian news sources; all of them coming up with alternative phrases for a key passage.

In the literal translation of his speech, broadcast live on Al-Manar TV, Nasrallah says Syria would supply his movement with “qualitative weaponry” that would be considered as a “balance-breaker” in the region.

BBC Monitoring translates Nasrallah as saying in his speech: “The first response, you Israelis must know, if you considered Syria as a weapon corridor to the resistance, then Syria will give weaponry to the Resistance. This is a major strategic decision. More than that, if you [Israel] claim that your aggression’s aim is to prevent the expansion of the Resistance’s capability, then Syria will give the Resistance qualitative weaponry that the Resistance has never obtained until now. This is higher than a matter of capability expansion; we went for a balance-breaker.”

The key phrase in Nasrallah’s speech is “silahan naw’iyyan lam tahsal ’alayhi al-muqawama hatta al-an”, which BBC Monitoring translates as “qualitative weaponry that the Resistance has never obtained until now”.

Elsewhere, Nasrallah’s choice of the Arabic word for “qualitative” - “naw’i” - has also been interpreted as “game-changing”, “sophisticated” and “strategic”. Reuters, for example, quotes Nasrallah as saying: “then Syria will give the resistance sophisticated weapons the like of which it hasn’t seen before” Meanwhile AFP quotes the same passage from the Hezbollah leader as “Syria will provide (Hezbollah) with game-changing weapons it has not had before”

BBC Monitoring notes that Nasrallah uses the Arabic word “silah” - the singular form denoting weapon or weaponry - instead of the plural form “asliha” for weapons. It is used throughout in conjunction with the ambiguous term “qualitative”.

In the passage, Nasrallah uses the phrase “kasir lil-tawazun” (balance shifting, literally balance breaking), which may account for the “game-changing” translation elsewhere.

Iranian, pan-Arab coverage
Iran’s conservative student news agency ISNA quotes the key passage from Nasrallah in this way: “Syria will provide the Resistance with strategic weapons which the Resistance has never had before We are ready to receive any type of weapon; even if it upsets the current balance in the region.” (Farsi: amma [Syria] selahhay-e stratezhiqki be moghavemat khahad daad ke ta konoon moghavemat aan ra dar ekhtiyar nadashte ast.)

Iran’s conservative news website Tabnak uses the following phrase as a direct quote: “They will be unique weapons which the Resistance has never possessed before.” (Farsi: [Syria] selahhay-e monhaserbefardi khahad daad ke ta konoon moghavemat aan ra dar ekhtiyar nadashte ast.)

Iran’s English-language Press TV also chooses the term “unique” on its website: “Nasrallah said Hezbollah has the capability to obtain what he described as unique weapons that could be used to defend Lebanon against the enemies.”

The English-language Arabic source Al Jazeera TV website borrows both the Reuters and the AFP wording: “The head of Hezbollah has said he is ready to receive ’game-changing’ weapons from Syria, which has long been a conduit for Iranian weapons bound for the Lebanese armed group The resistance [against Israel] is prepared to accept any sophisticated weaponry even if it was to break the equilibrium [in the region],” Al Jazeera quotes Nasrallah directly saying in his speech.

Source: Media observation by BBC Monitoring in English 10 May 13

Has the Obama administration Given into Russia on Syria?
http://www.juancole.com/2013/05/administration-russia-syria.html

There seems little doubt that the Obama administration took a big step back from the brink in Moscow this week, and that rumors of an American push to arm the rebels are, in the light of this diplomacy, overblown.

Information à prendre avec précaution - elle vient de sources officielles israéliennes qui l’aurait transmise à Washington - un accord de vente d’armes serait sur le point d’avoir lieu entre Moscou et Damas pour la vente de missiles sol-air S-300, selon le Wall Street Journal. Précision : ces missiles S-300 capables d’abattre des avions de combat et des missiles guidés étaient les mêmes que ceux que l’Iran avait souhaité acquérir auprès de la Russie :
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324059704578471453006383248.html?mod=WSJEUROPE_hpp_MIDDL

Israel has warned the U.S. that a Russian deal is imminent to sell advanced ground-to-air missile systems to Syria, weapons that would significantly boost the regime’s ability to stave off intervention in its civil war.

Et voilà le résumé du problème pour les partisans d’une intervention directe en Syrie :

According to an analysis by the U.S. military’s Joint Staff, Syrian air defenses are nearly five times more sophisticated than what existed in Libya before the NATO launched its air campaign there in 2011. Syrian air defenses are about 10 times more sophisticated than the system the U.S. and its allies faced in Serbia.

Nasrallah : Le Hezbollah va aider la Syrie à libérer le Golan | Dernières Infos | L’Orient-Le Jour
http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/813622/nasrallah-le-hezbollah-va-aider-la-syrie-a-liberer-le-golan.html

Dans un discours retransmis par vidéo à l’occasion du 25e anniversaire du lancement de la radio al-Nour, organe du Hezbollah, le secrétaire général du Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah a déclaré que la Syrie va transférer au Hezbollah des armes qui vont changer l’équilibre des forces dans la région.

« Si vous considérez la Syrie comme un pays permettant le transfert d’armes au Hezbollah, alors la Syrie va donner à la résistance de nouvelles armes qui sont capables de changer l’équilibre des forces dans la région », a lancé Hassan Nasrallah.

« Vous avez lancé une guerre contre la Syrie pour l’affaiblir, vous avez donc ouvert la voie à la création d’une résistance populaire pour la libération du Golan occupé, a-t-il encore dit. Puisque la Syrie est restée aux côtés du Liban durant la guerre, nous allons rester à ses côtés et lui fournir un soutien militaire et logistique pour libérer le Golan occupé », a martelé Hassan Nasrallah.

#Syrie #Golan #Nasrallah

لماذا “يقاتل” حزب الله في سورية؟
Pourquoi le Hezbollah combat en Syrie, le point de vue de l’organisation
traduction en anglais ci-dessous

http://www.almanar.com.lb/adetails.php?eid=481099&cid=31&fromval=1&frid=31&seccatid=171&s1=1

Article explains Lebanese Hezbollah’s involvement in Syrian armed conflict
Text of report by Lebanese Hezbollah Al-Manar TV website on 2 May

[Article by Isra al-Fas: “Why is Hezbollah ’fighting’ in Syria?”]

Media exaggerations about battles Hezbollah is waging in Syria and about the number of the party’s martyrs in those battles or the number of those killed from the other side made people ask: Is Hezbollah really fighting in Syria? Why? Under what headline? Does the fight have a sectarian dimension in which the resistance, which often warned against sectarian strife, fell?

These are legitimate questions given the good reputation that Hezbollah built and entrenched over long years, during which it managed to change the equation and impose its balances of power in the face of the Israeli occupation, and given the ferocious media campaign that has Hezbollah’s “fight” in Syria as its main headline and the relentless media incitement that has been going on for two years now and that finds it easy to give the conflict a sectarian dimension.

Critics say that Hezbollah sends fighters under the headline of protecting holy shrines, which means that the party fell in the trap of a sectarian strife. They claim that through the party’s participation, the battle took a Sunni-Shi’i dimension. But how do those who are not influenced by this incitement read the situation?

Hezbollah’s record, to which the party’s secretary general implicitly referred in his speech the day before yesterday, gives answers to all these questions. The party, which in its repeated positions warned against sectarian strife, did not declare holy war when Iraq’s sanctities were violated and shrines of some infallible imams were bombed. Hezbollah did not support the demands of the Bahraini protesters when they went beyond the call for political reforms to a call for the removal of the king after the authorities demolished 30 Shi’i mosques, sabotaged dozens of worship places, and burned copies of the holy Koran.

In all those events, Hezbollah repeated its warning against sectarian strife, showing understanding each time for the sentiments of the followers of the sect, stressing that holy places do not belong to a certain Islamic group to the exclusion of the others, and always emphasizing that “greater jihad” must be directed towards the Zionist occupation.

Hezbollah’s policy did not change, just as the sentiments and feelings of the masses towards their holy places did not and will not change. But the conflict in Syria has another dimension that everyone near and far realizes - except, that is, for those who are under the full influence of the tendentious propaganda.

Hezbollah, which from the beginning of the events in Syria said it understood the reform demands that were raised and presented initiatives along with its allies to ease the tension, saw a new dimension of what Syria was witnessing. It warned others against riding the wave and spoke about a conspiracy targeting Syria and its role in the region and about attempts by some regimes to settle scores with the Syrian regime because of the support it offered for the resistance movements. Hezbollah also saw in the events an attempt to target an entire axis of which the party is a mainstay.

Hezbollah stresses that the conflict in Syria has an international dimension linked to the regime’s options with regard to the issue of resistance and opposition. The party sees itself as the next target. Perhaps the kidnapping of the Lebanese in A’zaz helped validate and entrench the party’s vision among the party’s supporters, who came to realize that sectarian affiliation is enough justification for attacks and blackmail in the bazaar of the international conflict with the resistance, the tools of which are armed groups affiliated with the intelligence agencies of countries that played a key role in the escalation of the crisis, without the crime of kidnapping civilians affecting the positions of those who supported the “Syrian revolution” as a “freedom-seeking” movement.

The prevailing conviction today is that any success in dismantling the resistance axis militarily, through the toppling of the Syrian regime, would not spare Hezbollah and others, especially after the failure of previous diplomatic efforts to distance Syria from this axis. Hezbollah’s supporters realize the dimensions of the battle and know its backgrounds. This is reflected in people’s acceptance of the fall of Hezbollah martyrs who confronted military attacks on their villages and property in border regions. Hezbollah supporters accepted to wage those battles in order to protect their lands and property, as they did in the past, after the State failed to carry out this mission.

Hezbollah and its supporters are paying the price of their enlightened reading of the events and their dimensions. The media propaganda, which fabricates news to produce reactions, portrays their self defence as “fighting” and “war crimes”. As a result of this propaganda, those who yesterday denounced “the Iraqi democracy that was imposed by the American tank” are the same ones who are today inviting this tank to come to Syria. The administration that “sponsors democracies” in the region is the same administration that refused to recognize a government produced by a popular will in Gaza in 2006 only because it is a resistance government.

Source: Al-Manar Television website, Beirut, in Arabic 0000 gmt 2 May 13

BBC Mon ME1 MEEauosc 080513 or

Iran says will turn Golan into ‘Fatahland’ - Israel News, Ynetnews
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4377663,00.html

After alleged Israel attack on Syria, Iran issues war-like declarations, orders Assad army to protect homeland, according to Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper. ‘Front open to Syrians, Palestinians, to all who wish to fight Israel’
Roi Kais

Will the latest attack allegedly carried out by Israel on the Syrian front awaken a military response from the Assad regime and its supporters?
 
On Wednesday, the Hezbollah-identified Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar quoted Iranian officials who claimed that Iran received a message from the United States and Russia stating that the alleged Israeli airstrike was not an attempt to launch a war against Syria.
 
 According to the sources, Tehran responded to both sides by stating that operational command officers of the Syrian army were ordered to automatically respond to any attack against their homeland.
 
As with other reactions in recent days, it appears that the involved parties are intent upon warning against future attacks, and not eager to enter into a full scale war.
 
 Iranian officials have warned that their reaction to preceived aggressions would likely would be expressed in one of two ways. The first, one of the sources said, would be “a blow below the belt in more than one location,” both within and outside of Syria, as they approached “the Day of Judgment.”
 
The same source indicated that “a final decision has been taken to turn the Golan Heights into the new ‘Fatahland’ and the front will be open to “Syrians, Palestinians and to all who want to fight Israel.”
 
The second manner of response, according to the same sources, would be expressed on the political level. Preparations are currently underway for a far-reaching Syria conference, to be held in Tehran, in which the Syrian regime will be represented by Syrian Minister for National Reconcilation Ali Haider and by the Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil.
 
In addition, preparations are underway for an international conference of states designated “Friends of the Syrian people,” which is scheduled to take place two weeks from now in Tehran. Forty states have been invited to participate. Iran will take the opportunity to announce a new initiative to solve the crisis in Syria.
 
The Kuwaiti newspaper, Alrai, quoted statements by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah in closed meetings. He rejected the possibility that Israel would enter into southern Lebanon, because, according to him, Israel knows Lebanon would become its “cemetery.” He was quoted as saying that “the Iron Dome (missile defense system) which Israel boasts about has proven that it is more feeble than a spider web."

 The report also said that Nasrallah recently participated in more than one session of the Hezbollah’s “Jihad Council.” The newspaper claimed that during these meetings, the secretary-general stated, “Israel believes that if it attacks facilities and strategic stockpiles, it changes the resistance capabilities. This is an erroneous assessment.” He said,"The reason being that the stocks of the resistance have been filled with all that it needs."
 
Nasrallah also warned, “If Israel attacks any (arms) cache of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the response will be immediate and total war.”

US Asked Moderate Syrian Rebels to Fight Al-Nusra « Antiwar.com Blog
http://antiwar.com/blog/2013/05/08/us-asked-moderate-syrian-rebels-to-fight-al-nusra

US foreign policy is constantly remedying the catastrophes it has previously wrought. Bush’s war for regime change in Iraq gave rise to al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). Obama’s meddling (and that of his allies in the Gulf) in Syria’s civil conflict prompted AQI to move to Syria and fight Assad as Jabhat al-Nusra. Now the meddling continues to try and eliminate al-Nusra, which has quickly become the foremost element in Syria’s rebellion. It is an endless trail of failures, leading to more interventions, which lead to more failures.

Une entente russo-américaine pour mettre fin à la guerre en Syrie par la négociation ?
Syrian opposition insists on Assad’s departure before any deal - Alarabiya.net English | Front Page
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/05/08/Syrian-opposition-insists-on-Assad-s-departure-before-any-deal.ht

Syria’s main opposition National Coalition on Wednesday said any political settlement to the country’s two-year-old conflict must start with President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster, implicitly rejecting a U.S.-Russian initiative for dialogue with the regime.
U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, meanwhile, hailed the agreement between Washington and Moscow to push both sides in the Syrian conflict to end the bloodshed and sit down for talks.
“The National Coalition welcomes all international efforts which call for a political solution to achieve the aspirations of the Syrian people and their hope for a democratic state, so long as they begin with the departure of Bashar al-Assad and his regime,” the opposition umbrella group said.
The response could be a blow to the U.S.-Russian initiative, which is based on an international deal agreed in Geneva last year that makes no mention of Assad stepping down.
The opposition has long insisted that the embattled president cannot stay on, but the regime insists that Assad’s future will be decided in elections, with a presidential vote scheduled for 2014.
“This is the first hopeful news concerning that unhappy country in a very long time,” Brahimi said of the deal announced by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russia counterpart Sergei Lavrov after talks in Moscow on Tuesday.
“The statements made in Moscow constitute a very significant first step forward. It is nevertheless only a first step,” said Brahimi, who an aide said has been mulling resignation over the apparent absence of a political track to resolve a war that has killed more than 70,000 people.
“There is every reason to expect” backing for the accord from the remaining U.N. Security Council permanent members” – Britain, China and France, the veteran Algerian diplomat added.
“It is equally important that the entire region mobilizes in the support of the process.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Wednesday he will fly to the Russian resort of Sochi on Friday to discuss the Syrian conflict with President Vladimir Putin.
The U.S.-Russian deal was announced at a joint press conference, with Lavrov saying the two countries were ready to use all their resources to bring “the government and opposition to the negotiating table.”
“We agreed that Russia and the United States will encourage both the Syria government and opposition groups to find a political solution,” he said.
Lavrov and Kerry said they hoped they could convene an international conference by the end of May to build on a deal agreed by world powers in Geneva last June for a peaceful solution in Syria.
The Geneva deal, which calls for a transitional government but makes no mention of Assad’s fate, “should be the roadmap... by which the people of Syria can find their way to the new Syria and in which the bloodshed, the killing, the massacres can end,” Kerry said.

C’est sûr, on peut trouver une meilleure source pour ce genre d’info, mais je la poste quand même.

Iranians urged to join Shiite fighters in Syria - Israel News, Ynetnews
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4377963,00.html

A website affiliated with the supporters of Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, posted a call to arms, inviting Iranians to volunteer and join the fighting currently underway in Syria.
 
In another article published by the same website, names and telephone numbers for those interested in volunteering were made available, allowing them to text or call for further information.
 

Attached to the article was Hezbollah’s logo and written underneath it was the name of one of the most famous of Shiite battalions currently fighting in Syria – Abu Fadl Al-Abbas.