person:assad

Syrie, l’entrée en guerre du Hezbollah - Les blogs du Diplo, @alaingresh
http://blog.mondediplo.net/2013-05-23-Syrie-l-entree-en-guerre-du-Hezbollah

(...) Plus grave est l’inscription de l’intervention du Hezbollah dans une vision régionale selon laquelle s’affronteraient chiites et sunnites, Arabes et Iraniens. Cette perception, largement diffusée par les médias du Golfe, trouve dans l’intervention du Hezbollah une confirmation. Ce clivage sunnite-chiite n’est pourtant ni aussi profond ni aussi historique qu’on le dit : en juillet 2006, quand le #Hezbollah symbolisait la résistance face à l’agression israélienne, les portraits de Hassan Nasrallah se retrouvaient dans les rues du Caire comme de Jordanie, et personne ne le voyait alors comme « un dirigeant chiite ».

Conséquence immédiate de l’intervention du Hezbollah, l’inscription probable de son aile militaire sur la liste des organisations terroristes de l’Union européenne. Dans tous les cas, c’est désormais la position de la France, qui y était jusque-là hostile. (...)

#Liban #Syrie #Islamisme #Salafisme

« Pourquoi le Hezbollah participe-t-il aux combats en Syrie ? » (25/03/13)
►http://blog.mondediplo.net/2013-03-25-Pourquoi-le-Hezbollah-participe-t-il-aux-combats

« La crise syrienne déchire les gauches arabes » (Le Monde diplomatique, #2012/08)
http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2012/08/DOT_POUILLARD/48029

Au contraire des révoltes égyptienne et tunisienne, l’insurrection syrienne de mars 2011 n’a pas fait l’unanimité au sein des gauches arabes. Entre sympathie envers les revendications démocratiques des manifestants et crainte des ingérences politiques et militaires extérieures, les dissensions s’exacerbent.

Syrie. Les services allemands révisent leur jugement sur la capacité d’Assad à résister. Sans être encore en mesure de vaincre l’opposition, le régime parvient à se renforcer, notamment par l’acquisition d’armes russes.

Report: German intelligence revises estimate, says Assad regime growing stronger.

IAF chief says Syria arming itself with advanced Russian weaponry, including Russian S-300 systems.

By Gili Cohen | May.22, 2013
Ha’aretz

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-german-intelligence-revises-estimate-says-assad-regime-growing-stron

Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine reported on Wednesday that German intelligence has revised its previous estimate and now believes the Assad regime has stabilized. Less than a year ago, German intelligence had said the regime’s downfall was imminent. According to the report, the head of Germany’s BND foreign intelligence service, Gerhard Schindler, presented the new estimate to politicians during a confidential meeting.

In the meeting, Schindler presented maps and data illustrating that Assad’s forces have managed to take over supply lines funneling weapons and other military equipment. He said that this new situation allows the Syrian army to attack multiple rebel targets and even retake positions it had lost. According to the new estimate, the Assad regime is not yet strong enough to defeat the rebels, but it is growing stronger (…)

Syrian opposition urges rebels to join key battle - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-opposition-urges-rebels-join-key-battle-091542816.html

In Germany, the weekly Der Spiegel reported that the German intelligence chief has revised his assessment of the Syrian civil war.

The chief, Gerhard Schindler, told a small group of politicians dealing with security issues in a secret briefing that Assad’s military is stronger than it has been in a long time, according to Der Spiegel. Additional successful offensives of the regime are possible anytime, he said.

The German intelligence agency BND believes this is a turning point. At the end of 2012, it appeared the regime was in its end phase.

He said the channels for restocking the regime’s weapons supplies are now open, and the supply of gas for tanks and aircraft is also working again. Schindler said Assad most likely won’t be able to defeat the rebels, but he can contain them and even win back some territory.

The BND predicts that in 2013, regime troops will be able to recapture additional territory. If the fighting continues as it has in recent weeks, the regime could recapture the entire south by the end of the year. In this case, the rebels would be left with only the north.

On Wednesday, Germany’s Foreign Ministry said it supports adding Hezbollah to the EU’s list of terrorist groups. The ministry linked the recommendation to a deadly attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year that was tied to Hezbollah.

Sylke Tempel, a Mideast expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, said she believed the German support for sanctions against Hezbollah’s military wing was due in part to its role in Syria fighting.

She said the presence of Hezbollah fighters in Syria has led Western and regional governments to ponder “what if Assad is going to win this thing” and “what if Hezbollah is a factor in making Assad win, or at least not lose.”

Si l’on en croit cet article d’Al Monitor, en Turquie, il y a deux camps : Erdogan d’un côté, et des malades mentaux antisémites de l’autre. Erdogan Confronts the Near Insanity Of His Opposition. Ambiance.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/reyhanli-bombing-watershed-moment-for-turkey.html

However, Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has had a different take on Reyhanli since the beginning. Spokesmen for the party, whose sympathies for the Assad regime — for ideological and sectarian reasons — have only been thinly veiled, rather implied that the Syrian opposition must be behind the bombings. One CHP speaker, Nihat Matkap, even offered a bizarre conspiracy theory by claiming that “there were strangely no Syrians on the streets right before the bombing.” In other words, he implied that Syrian refugees in Reyhanli were somehow informed about the bombing, and thus were collaborators of the crime. (To me, he sounded like a lunatic, similar to the anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists who keep claiming that Jews did not go to work in New York’s World Trade Center on 9/11.)
Soon, CHP’s leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu made another accusation, this time to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “The murderer of [the people of] Reyhanli,” he bluntly said, “is none other than Erdogan.” (A few days later, Erdogan sued Kilicdaroglu for these words, claiming that this is a personal insult.)

A more dramatic Kilicdaroglu statement came out in Europe and caused a political scandal. Speaking at a press conference during a visit to Brussels on May 15, Kilicdaroglu claimed that both Assad and Erdogan are “dictators,” and the difference between them is “only a nuance.” In the face of this claim — whose pro-Assadism was probably more intolerable than its anti-Erdoganism — Hannes Swoboda, president of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, who was supposed to meet Kilicdaroglu, canceled the meeting.

Syrie. (3 Articles et 1 communiqué du Ministère des Affaires étrangères français)

L’armée syrienne aurait repris pied dans la ville de Qoussaïr, ville proche de Homs où des combattants du Hezbollah se battent aux côtés du régime. Le contrôle de Qoussaïr est essentiel pour entrer au Liban ou en sortir. Si cette nouvelle était confirmée, ce serait un coup dur pour les opposants à Assad qui ont déjà perdu des positions le long de la frontière jordanienne et autour de Damas. La perte serait d’autant plus sévère que se profile la conférence internationale visant à mettre fin à la guerre. Les délégués d’Assad s’y présenteraient dans un rapport de forces plus équilibré en leur faveur (19 mai 2013). Le président se dit confiant dans le résultat des élections de 2014.

Article 1
Syrian army captures town of Qusair
Damascus: Syria | May 19, 2013
By arkar / Allvoices
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/14640053-syrian-army-captures-town-of-qusair

According to the latest reports, the Syrian army has taken control of the rebel held town of Qusair, a stronghold for the Syrian opposition located in the north of the country.

The storming of the city is said to have taken place earlier today according to Syrian state media, with the Syrian army apparently attacking the town from all sides, eventually capturing it, with many of the town’s main buildings such as the town hall in possession of the army. Qusair itself possess strategic importance as it means that whoever occupies it has access to the coast as well as to neighbouring Lebanon. (…) Syrian state media added that government troops were presently routing rebel soldiers and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview today that the “fight against terrorism” would continue and that in light of the recent announcement by Russia and the US to organize an international peace conference, that the international community should direct their attentions towards cutting the supply of money and weapons to the “terrorists” and that he himself would not step down as a captain does not abandon his ship (…)

Article 2
Syrian army storms rebel town of Qusair
BBC News Middle East
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22586378

Heavy fighting is reported in the besieged Syrian town of Qusair after state forces launched a major offensive to re-capture the rebel stronghold. State TV says troops have captured key buildings in the town centre, a claim strongly denied by activists. Rebels say 50 people have been killed while state media says 70 “terrorists” are dead. Lebanese militants are said to be involved - Hezbollah siding with the government, Sunni gunmen with rebels. The town - close to the border with Lebanon - has great strategic value. Its control would give the government access from the capital to the coast.

Article 3
Syria army ’storms’ rebel town Qusair
Syrian government forces have surrounded the rebel stronghold of Qusair and are storming it from several directions, says Syrian state TV.
19 May 2013 Pazar - 13:34
TIMETURK / News Center
http://www.timeturk.com/en/2013/05/19/syria-army-storms-rebel-town-qusair.html

(…) News of the assault on Qusair came as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed to continue the “fight against terrorism”. In his first interview since the US and Russia announced plans for a peace conference, Mr Assad told an Argentine newspaper that the meeting should focus on stopping the flow of money and weapons to “terrorists”. He rejected suggestions he might stand down, saying a captain did not abandon his ship and presidential elections next year would determine his future (…)

Article 4
Syrie - Assaut contre la ville de Qoussaïr (19 mai 2013)
Déclaration du Ministère des Affaires étrangères (France)

http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/dossiers-pays/syrie/la-france-et-la-syrie/evenements-4439/article/syrie-assaut-contre-la-ville-de

« La France est extrêmement préoccupée par la situation à Qoussaïr et s’inquiète des conséquences d’une action militaire massive du régime de Damas et de ses alliés. Elle appelle tous les acteurs en mesure d’éviter un nouveau massacre de la population civile syrienne à se mobiliser dans les meilleurs délais. Toute nouvelle violence entrave sérieusement l’espoir d’aboutir à une solution politique.

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

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...

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.

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.”

Israel tells Assad it is not on side of rebels | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR
http://dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/May-06/216124-israel-to-assad-air-strikes-did-not-aim-to-help-syria-rebels.as

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s biggest-selling newspaper, Monday, the Netanyahu government had informed Assad through diplomatic channels that it did not intend to meddle in Syria’s civil war.

Israeli officials did not immediately confirm the report but one suggested that such indirect contacts were not required.

“Given the public remarks being made by senior Israeli figures to reassure Assad, it’s pretty clear what the message is,” the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Former Bush administration official: Israel may be behind use of chemical arms in Syria - West of Eden Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
►http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/west-of-eden/former-bush-administration-official-israel-may-be-behind-use-of-chemical-ar

Retired U.S. Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who once served as Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff, believes that the chemical weapons used in Syria may have been an Israeli “false flag” operation aimed at implicating Bashar Assad’s regime.

Wilkerson made his astounding assertion in an interview on Current TV, the network once owned by former Vice President Al Gore and recently purchased by Al-Jazeera.

Wilkerson said that the evidence that it was Assad’s regime that had used the chemical weapons was “flaky” and that it could very well have been the rebels or Israel who were the perpetrators. Asked why Israel would do such a thing, Wilkerson said: “I think we’ve got a basically geostrategically, geopolitical inept regime in Tel Aviv right now.”

False Flag Chemical Attack on Syria - DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal News | DailyCensored.com - Breaking Censored News, World, Independent, Liberal News
http://www.dailycensored.com/false-flag-chemical-attack-on-syria

It doesn’t surprise. On April 27, WikiLeaks Supporters Forum headlined “Syria False Flag Chemical Weapons – Obama sets up America for invasion,” saying:

US intelligence “actively promot(es)” a false flag attack. Assad’s wrongfully blamed. Obama’s heading closer to full-scale intervention.

Britain’s “David Cameron demonstrates a willingness to assist the US military and Intelligence agenda.” UK controlled “BBC obediently falls into line, assisting in disseminating (false) information.”

US media scoundrels are worst of all. More on that below.

A previous article discussed hacked emails. They revealed Washington’s approved plan to stage a false flag Syrian chemical attack.

Syria has been subject to turmoil for anti-Israel stance and opposing US hegemony over Middle East
http://www.irna.ir/en/News/80640311/Politic/Syria_has_been_subject_to_turmoil_for_anti-Israel_stance_and_opposing_US_hegemo

Sanandaj, Kordestan Prov, May 2, IRNA — Supreme Leaderˈs representative in Syria, Mojtaba Hosseini said on Thursday that Syria has been subject to turmoil for anti-Israel stance and opposing US hegemony over the Middle East.

Hosseini said that resistance of people in Palestine and Lebanon and popular movements in Libya and Bahrain and other countries have worried the enemy.

He noted that despite US pressure, Iran-Syria relations are good and President Assad continues to cooperate with Iran.

He said that the enemies have attempted to use economic sanctions and social disorder to destabilize Syria.

The Iranian representative in Syria said that the enemy is worried about failing to divide Shia and Sunni Muslims and creating religious war in Syria.

He reiterated that current civil war in Syria is not connected to Shia and Sunni Muslims.

Hojjatoleslam Hosseni criticized the western media outlets for broadcasting distorted news on Syria.

He expressed hope that through implementation of new reforms and restoration of law and order the Syrian security, the economic and political problems would be solved.

La Syrie et l’épuisement de la psychologie washingtonienne
►http://www.dedefensa.org/article-la_syrie_et_l_puisement_de_la_psychologie_washingtonienne_30_04_2

• Le New York Times met les pieds dans le plat. • Les faucons raisonnent comme des tambours de guerre crevés.

Geneva Document Key To End Syria Stalemate
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/geneva-agreement-syria-solution.html

Most players on either side of the battlements fear such an outcome for their own reasons. But too close or literal a reading of the Geneva understandings is unnecessary if a diplomatic outcome is favored. Assad, in his January 2013 speech and former opposition president Moaz al-Khatib, as well as Tehran, have noted interest in a political dialogue. Geneva, as Kerry himself implied in his Brussels remarks, offers the only hope of a diplomatic path that leaves the country intact. Bitter and esoteric disputes about its details in this context are all but irrelevant, and even counterproductive. Argument over the precise meaning of the text not only misses this important point but also risks discrediting the creation of an effective, joint US-Russian plan and distracting attention into fruitless debates about the real intentions of Geneva’s authors. As Kerry himself acknowledged, “you have Assad and you have the opposition, and until they come to some kind of an assessment of what they’re willing to do here, this remains a very, very difficult diplomatic initiative to achieve.”

It is enough to say that a diplomatic solution entails Washington “walking back” its pre-emptive demand for Assad’s departure and Moscow’s support for the regime’s pre-eminence. Geneva is the first way station along this road, a hesitant step in a long journey that has only just begun.

Law blocking Israel’s enemies from suing the state gets government backing
By Jonathan Lis
Haaretz Daily Newspaper
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/law-blocking-israel-s-enemies-from-suing-the-state-gets-government-backing.

The Israeli government is backing draft legislation to prevent citizens of enemy nations from suing the state.  

The Ministerial Committee on Legislation gave the government’s approval to the proposed “Dirani Law,” named after Mustafa Dirani, a Lebanese citizen who was abducted by Israel in 1994 in an attempt to get information about captive Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad. Israel then detained Dirani to use him as a bargaining chip in securing Arad’s release by Hezbollah. Dirani sued Israel for NIS 6 million in 2000, while still in jail, claiming one of his interrogators, known as “Captain George,” sexually abused him and threatened his life.

Article apocalyptique dans le New York Times : Islamist Rebels’ Gains in Syria Create Dilemma for U.S.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/world/middleeast/islamist-rebels-gains-in-syria-create-dilemma-for-us.html

Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists. Even the Supreme Military Council, the umbrella rebel organization whose formation the West had hoped would sideline radical groups, is stocked with commanders who want to infuse Islamic law into a future Syrian government.

Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.

(C’est moi qui souligne cette dernière phrase.)

Ne pas se méprendre : ça ne veut pas dire que c’est plus vrai que lorsque le New York Times ment dans l’autre sens… Mon intérêt ici, c’est à nouveau de remarquer qu’il y a d’un côté l’habituel discours assez simple et binaire des dirigeants (avec spectaculaire alignement du gouvernement français), mais qu’il y a aussi, quasiment depuis le début, nombre de tribunes totalement contraires dans les médias. Certes loin d’être majoritaires, mais beaucoup plus forts et présents que pour d’autres guerres. Et ces discours hétérodoxes (pendant que les gouvernements occidentaux refont le coup des armes de destruction massive) débarquent au NY Times. C’est assez curieux.

Obama et le chimique, l’Irak et les rebelles syriens
http://www.dedefensa.org/article-obama_et_le_chimique_l_irak_et_les_rebelles_syriens_27_04_2013.ht

• Agitation à nouveau autour du chimique en Syrie. • Et cet avion, peut-être irakien, attaquant des rebelles en Syrie.

Renaud Girard du Figaro dénonce les néoconservateurs français de l’Elysées et du Quai d’Orsay sur le dossier iranien

Dans son article « La carte turque de la diplomatie américaine » du 23 avril, Renaud Girard écrit que sur le dossier iranien la France

semble hélas marginalisée

En mai 2007, Ali Larijani, alors numéro trois du régime iranien, en charge du Nucléaire avait, dans une entretien au Figaro, proposé que la France joue un rôle d’intermédiaire sincère entre Washington et Téhéran. Cette offre avait été torpillée par un petit cla de diplomates néoconservateurs sévissant au Quai d’Orsay et à l’Elysée. A Washington cela fait longtemps que les néoconservateurs ont perdu toute influence dans un Département d’Etat qui s’apprête à confier à la Turquie ce beau rôle d’honest broker en Orient...

La question est aussi de savoir si, aujourd’hui, avec un gouvernement socialiste, les néoconservateurs français ont perdu de l’influence sur le dossier iranien...

Le texte intégral n’est accessible sur Internet qu’aux abonnés
http://www.lefigaro.fr/mon-figaro/2013/04/22/10001-20130422ARTFIG00569-la-carte-turque-de-la-diplomatie-americaine.php

.

Liban : une grenade explose devant le club des officiers de Kobbé (les grenades explosent régulièrement, en ce moment à Tripoli)
http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/810110/-liban-une-grenade-explose-devant-le-club-des-officiers-de-kobbe.html

L’Agence nationale d’information (ANI, officielle) a rapporté qu’une grenade a explosé lundi devant le club des officiers de Kobbé, à Tripoli (Liban-Nord) sans causer de dégâts matériels ni faire de victime.

Ne pas oublier, il y a un mois :
►http://seenthis.net/messages/121196
qui référençait :
►http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon-tripoli%E2%80%99s-armed-commanders-mutiny-against-future

The commanders also singled out the most prominent military face of the Future Movement, former Lebanese army officer Amid Hammoud, saying he was responsible for much of Tripoli’s insecurity. In particular, they say that Hammoud is behind the recent spate of hand grenade attacks.

Syrie. Perception américaine des affrontements entre « extrémistes » et « modérés » en Syrie rapportée par le Washington Post. Accent mis sur le Front al-Nusra (déjà inscrit sur la liste des organisations terroristes par les Etats Unis) et sur al-Qaïda. Constat (pour le déplorer ?) que les « modérés » ne reçoivent pas autant d’armes que les « extrémistes ». Regret chez certains que le Président Obama continue de croire à une transition politique négociée avec le régime d’Assad.

A muddled plan for the clear danger in Syria By Editorial Board,
Apr 13, 2013 08:50 PM EDT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-muddled-plan-for-the-clear-danger-in-syria/2013/04/13/bf0e4c2e-a38a-11e2-82bc-511538ae90a4_story.html

“The Washington Post Published: April 13

SENIOR OBAMA administration officials offered a stark and even frightening picture of developments in Syria in testimony to Congress on Thursday. March, they said, was the deadliest month yet for that country’s civil war, with more than 6,000 people killed; almost one-quarter of Syria’s 22 million people have been driven from their homes. “What started out as a peaceful demand for dignity and freedom,” said Acting Assistant Secretary of State A. Elizabeth Jones, “has become one of the most devastating conflicts of the 21st century.”

Worse, the intelligence community’s assessment is that the war will not end even if the regime of Bashar al-Assad falls. “The most likely scenario,” said Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., is that for “at least a year, a year and a half, there would be continued inter-sectoral competition and fighting.” It will matter greatly who wins, since, as Robert S. Ford, the U.S. ambassador to Syria, put it, “there is a real competition under way now between extremists and moderates.”

(…) Mr. Ford said that the administration was still banking on “a negotiated political transition,” in which Mr. Assad voluntarily steps down. But as Mr. Clapper said, the intelligence community foresees the “most likely scenario” as a messy fight among factions, not a brokered handover. (…) Mr. Ford said that “we need to weigh in on behalf of those who promote freedom and tolerance.” Yet Ms. Jones reiterated that the administration was opposed to providing “lethal support” to any Syrian forces — notwithstanding the weapons and fighters that Mr. Ford said were being supplied by Iran or the growing military capability of al-Qaeda described by Mr. Clapper. Translation: It’s vital that Syria’s moderate forces win, but we won’t counter the military support the extremists are getting.
Senators from both parties expressed exasperation with this non-policy, but not as much exasperation as President Obama’s stubborn passivity deserves. (…)"

Syrie. Propos sans surprise de Haytham al-Manna, chef du Comité National de Coordination des Forces de Changement Démocratique en Syrie (CNCD) : une solution militaire ne résoudrait rien ; la Syrie doit choisir entre solution politique ou somalisation ; les opposants au régime n’ont pas la possibilité de l’emporter par des moyens militaires ; Assad ne s’est pas résolu à négocier ; le régime est capable de supporter encore deux années d’affrontement. Il est également convaincu que le départ d’Assad ne mettrait pas fin à la violence et que les Frères Musulmans ne renonceront pas à leurs privilèges.

Syrian Opposition: Assad’s Overthrow Wouldn’t End Violence

By: Mohammad al-Shazli Translated from Al-Hayat
Posted on : April 9 2013

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/04/syria-violence-assad-departure.html

The head of the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change (NCC) in exile, Haytham al-Manna, said that the Syrian regime is seeking to “clone the Algerian solution” to solve the crisis in the country. He called on “friends” of the regime to pressure the regime for serious negotiations that can “rescue those whose hands haven’t been stained with the blood of Syrians.”

In an interview with Al-Hayat, Manna added that the conflict could not be solved militarily. He said, “We have the choice of either the somalization of the country or a political solution. We blame the regime for wanting to clone the Algerian solution; it will not succeed.” He added that the opposition “will not succeed in reaching a military solution.”

“Thus far, the regime has not made any progress toward serious negotiations," he said. “It is focusing on public relations and agreeing to anything it is offered. However, when it comes to implementation, there is no practical element to this approval.”

#Syrian_National_Coalition #somalization #Lakhdar_Brahimi #political_solution #transitional_government #Haytham_al_Manna #Muslim_Brotherhood #National_Coordination_Body_for_Democratic_Change

Mohammad Ballout décrit comment les diverses composantes de l’opposition syrienne mènent, à la fois, un combat contre le régime d’Assad et une lutte interne pour la prise du pouvoir. Ces affrontements respectifs et concomitants retardent leur unification et, dans l’immédiat, la formation d’un gouvernement intérimaire. Ils se nourrissent, financièrement, politiquement et militairement, de forces extérieures venues d’Occident, du Qatar ou d’Arabie saoudite, chacune ayant son propre agenda (inclusion et protection des minorités pour les uns, islamisme pour les autres, etc.)

►http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2013/04/syrian-opposition-formation.html

Sectarianism, Saudi-Qatar Jostling Prevail in Syrian Opposition
By: Mohammad Ballout Translated from As-Safir (Lebanon)

The Syrian opposition finds itself at a standstill, following the moment of rapture when the National Coalition appropriated Syria’s seat at the Arab League.

The pace of consultations within the coalition points to a lack of urgency in moving forward toward the next step of forming an “interim government,” following the appointment of Ghassan Hito as its head. The task of forming the government is hindered by an American and Qatari insistence on nominating people who would help restructure and expand its level of representation and legitimacy, so that posts and ministries are more equitably divided. It also awaits a Qatari-Saudi consensus on the manner in which Hito’s government would be run, and the nature of that government: technocratic or political.

The Saudis have put all their media and financial potential at the service of the Syrian opposition, with the aim of reducing Qatar’s monopoly over the opposition, to the point of encouraging and enlisting secularists in their fight with Doha. Furthermore, the Americans, in the last few days, have also requested that the formation process be put on hold, as a result of it becoming a great point of contention between the different political and military Syrian opposition factions.” (…)

#Syria #National_Coalition #Arab_League #Ghassan_Hito #Qatar #Saudi_Arabia #Muslim_Brotherhood #Burhan_Ghalioun #Georges_Sabra #National_Council #Khatib #Friends_of_Syria #Lakhdar_Brahimi # Organization_of_the_Islamic_Conference #recognizing_the_Syrian_opposition #Syrian_revolution #interim_government

Article de Bruce Riedel qui souligne la montée en puissance de Jabhat al-Nusra en Syrie (un quart des combattants selon lui) réalisant ainsi la prophétie auto-réalisatrice d’Assad qui laissait entendre, au début de la guerre civile, que la contestation syrienne n’était en réalité qu’une guerre menée de l’étranger. (Dans un message publié hier, Abou Bakr al-Baghdadi, responsable d’Al-Qaïda en Iraq, a confirmé que Jabhat al-Nusra était une branche de l’Etat islamique d’Iraq). Riedel voit dans cette expansion une menace directe pour Israël et les pays occidentaux.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/jabhat-al-nusra-jihadist-al-qaeda-syria.html#ixzz2PyG1uWek

Jabhat al-Nusra Is Growing Menace To Mideast and Beyond
By: Bruce Riedel for Al-Monitor, Posted on April 8.

“As the Syrian civil war gets ever more violent and destructive, there is a big beneficiary: al-Qaeda and its franchise in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra— which is now the fastest-growing al-Qaeda front in the world, attracting fighters from across the Islamic world. Today it’s focused on destroying the Bashar al-Assad regime but its ultimate goals are much bigger, attacking America and its allies in the heart of the Middle East.

The Syrian franchise gets crucial support from the al-Qaeda core in Pakistan. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri issued a public call in February 2012 in which he urged “every Muslim and every free and honest person in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon to rise and help their brothers in Syria with everything they have and can do.”
Zawahiri’s call, just after the announcement of the creation of Jabhat al-Nusra and its first major attacks in Aleppo, was clearly coordinated with the fighters on the ground. Since that call, at least one senior member of the al-Qaeda Shura Council in Pakistan has traveled to Syria to further coordinate plans and operations with the core hiding in Pakistan. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton termed the exchanges of messages between al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria as “deeply disturbing” in one of her final interviews in office.”

Bruce Riedel is the director of the Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institution. His latest book is Avoiding Armageddon: America, India and Pakistan to the Brink and Back.

La solitude désenchantée et angoissée d’Israël
http://www.dedefensa.org/article-la_solitude_d_senchant_e_et_angoiss_e_d_isra_l_08_04_2013.html

• Une analyse contre le rapprochement avec la Turquie. • Israël doit rester “neutre”, – mais est-ce possible ?