Yahoo: Assad predicts disaster if West meddles in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...=MasterAccount

Syrian forces step up attacks on rebel areas

Syria's military has intensified its aerial and ground bombardment of rebel-held areas around the country, particularly in the provinces of Idlib and Homs, activists say.

Government fighter jets bombed the town of Maarat al-Numan in Idlib on Monday, forcing many residents to flee their homes.

Meanwhile in Homs, heavy clashes were reported between government forces and opposition fighters in Homs' al-Khalidiyeh neighbourhood, as videos posted online appeared to show barrels of TNT explosives being dropped on the besieged areas.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syr...lding-damascus

Activists say explosions target air force intelligence building in Damascus

Activists in Syria have told Al Jazeera that two explosions have gone off in the capital Damascus on Monday night apparently targeting the headquarters of the air force intelligence in the Harasta neighbourhood. More details coming

https://twitter.com/DSyrer

Security forces in MaaretAlNouman, Idleb executed all their detainees before retreating from the town's jail
12:21 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

30 people were massacred in a regime holding area in MaaratAlNouman when the FSA entered it to free them.
4:21 PM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

Refugee shelter shelled in Maaret al-No'aman in Idlib. At least 19 killed.
3:03 PM

The explosion in Qaboun was near the Electrical Administration building. Clashes between FSA and regime is still happening. Damascus
3:11 PM

Video clearly showing the huge explosion in Harasta, Damascus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjTxv...ature=youtu.be …
3:19 PM

By the way, the Air Force Intelligence building is home to many prisoners and captured protesters. Expect deaths among them too...
3:20 PM

https://twitter.com/Nora0315

Our hero Abu Jaafar from Homs is badly injured :'((((. Here he sends out a message to all Arabs - http://youtu.be/fngGUocvB84 . pic.twitter.com/4dTTY0Qx
2:36 PM

he's basically pleading to all Arabs (Christians & Muslims) to save Syrians. he says Homs is close to being in regime... control again & if that were to happen, massacres will ensue & Homs will be destroyed. at the end, he says "ouch my arm my arm"
3:18 PM

Assad thug captured by FSA. He had a cell phone with video footage of him & others gang raping a 14-yr-old girl. http://twitpic.com/b2ddyc
3:54 PM

FSA converts a bottle of cologne into a homemade hand grenade to be used against Assad forces. - pic.twitter.com/azs5q0Wz
4:13 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The number of martyrs in Syria has risen to 165 thus far; 40 martyrs were reported in Aleppo; 35 in Idlib most of them were in Maret Noman; 34 martyrs were reported in Daraa; including 30 in Eastern Karak; 30 in Damascus and its Suburbs; 20 in Homs; 5 in Deir Ezzor; and 1 in Hama
3:08 PM

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/wo...seid=auto&_r=0

Westerners With Ties to Syria Trickle In to Help Rebels

The night before leaving his parents’ home in Wayne, Tex., to join the rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Obaida Hitto left a bouquet of white roses for his mother, with a sterling silver locket and a note: “You’ve made me what I am. But now I need to go and do what I need to do.”

Mr. Hitto, 25, a former high school football player, deferred his plans for law school to sneak into Syria to assist the rebels by making videos and spreading information on the Internet to help their cause.

“I’m one of them,” Mr. Hitto said proudly during a recent telephone interview.

Since the early days of the uprising, Syrian rebel forces have filled their ranks with army defectors and civilians. But as the war has dragged on, and the government has made it much harder for soldiers to defect, two other groups have contributed to the opposition.

There has been a rise in the number of foreign fighters, many of them Islamist extremists. But there has also been a small, though noticeable, number of men like Mr. Hitto, of Syrian descent and with Western passports, who have made the journey to join the Free Syrian Army. Experts estimate they number roughly a hundred and come from the United States, Britain, France and Canada.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...2a7_story.html

A revolt’s extremist threat

In this confusing scene, you can see the essence of the problem facing the Aleppo Military Council and others around the country as they try to coordinate the Free Syrian Army’s insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad. The challenge of enforcing discipline at nearby Tariq al-Bab, the rebels’ forward headquarters in eastern Aleppo, is multiplied a hundred times around the country.

The problem begins with the fact that this is an authentic, bottom-up revolution. It arose spontaneously in different parts of Syria, and every area has spun off its own battalions, many seeking funding from wealthy Arabs in the gulf. Unless these militia-like groups can be gathered around a single source for money and weapons, they’re unlikely to mount a unified resistance to Assad.

Syrians tell me the power of these extremist groups is growing across the country. One example is a Salafist group in Idlib called Soukor al-Sham, headed by a man who calls himself Abu Issa. He is now working to form an alliance with a similar Salafist group known as Arrar al-Sham. To gather funds, Abu Issa was said to have visited the Turkish border city of Antakya last week to meet with Saudi businessmen who might contribute to his group.

Another jihadist group bidding for power is known as the Majlis al-Shura, or Shura Council. Its former leader, Mohammed al-Absi, is said to have been killed recently after he raised the black flag of al-Qaeda at the Syrian border crossing at Bab al-Hawa. When supporters of the Free Syrian Army protested to Absi’s group about the banner, decorated with words from the Koran, the extremists answered, “What’s wrong with the name of God?” The black flag is now gone, but the confrontation between jihadists and moderates is just beginning.

Finally there is Jabhat al-Nusra, which openly boasts of its links with al-Qaeda. Yakzan Shishakly says he tried to warn a U.S. official recently: “These people are among us. If you don’t help now, there will be more and more.” From what I could see inside the country, he’s right.

The second article by Ignatius where he implies that enough isn't being done and that the current policy is not working.




https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Another checkpoint and village in JisrAlshughoor can be added to the list of liberated areas in the past 2 days there.
4:06 AM

Most of the suburbs of JisrAlshughoor has been liberated. The FSA is beginning its attack on the city itself. Idlib
4:43 AM

The FSA in JisrAlshughoor has now completely liberated the village of Alza`eeniyeh.
5:39 AM

6 villages liberated in JisrAlshughoor in the past 3 days: Bdama, Hambushiya, Ubeen, Khirbet Aljoz, Bkasriya, and Alza`eeniya Idlib
5:44 AM

https://twitter.com/FT

Iraq sends crucial fuel oil to Syria

Iraq is quietly shipping vital supplies of fuel oil to Syria in a deal that has triggered concern in Washington and exposes Damascus’s difficulties keeping its economy afloat in the face of a growing...

http://on.ft.com/R7ZpZZ
4:48 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

There were 90 people held in a regime holding area in MaaratAlNouman...21 were freed by the FSA...70 were found massacred inside.
4:24 PM

Reports that the FSA has shot down a helicopter in MaaratAlNouman Idlib.
4:27 PM

Several tanks inside Wadi Aldayf have been destroyed as the FSA shells them with mortars. MaaratAlNouman Idlib.
4:28 PM

Almarkaz Althaqafi checkpoint in MaaratAlNouman destroyed and burned by Suqoor Alsham http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHZTU...layer_embedded …
5:06 PM

2 entire families that are close friends with my family have been martyred in MaaratAlNouman. They were in a shelter in the city when the shelter was shelled.
5:33 PM

https://twitter.com/DSyrer

The Kurdish Saladin Battalion officially joins the Tawhid Brigade (Main FSA brigade in Aleppo)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7d1O1Rwzlk
6:28 PM

There are also 2 Turkmen brigades from Jarablus in Tawhid. It's a true reflection of Aleppo's countryside.
6:41 PM

https://twitter.com/KareemLailah

Breaking: Huge explosion near to Jamarek square in the heart of Damascus now.
6:11 PM

Confirmed: None of the detainees was injured in the explosion that hit the air force intelligence branch in Damascus.
6:13 PM

BREAKING: HUGE explosion in Kafarsoseh area now. Damascus
6:30 PM

Heavy clashes in Midaan area in Damascus city center now.
6:31 PM

Breaking: Clashes on Damascus-Daraa highway right now.
6:42 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

By the end of Monday the LCC was able to documented 170 martyrs including 5 women and 7 children; 40 martyrs were reported in Aleppo; 37 in Idlib most of them were in Maret Noman; 35 martyrs were reported in Daraa; including 30 in Eastern Karak; 32 in Damascus and its Suburbs; 20 in Homs; 5 in Deir Ezzor; and 1 in Hama
6:38 PM

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
33,041 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-19878278
BBC News reporting from Aleppo, on the "slow painful death of Syria"


http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...457809700.html

Turkey sends fighter jets to Syrian border

Turkey has confirmed it is deploying more fighter jets to an airbase close to the border with Syria, amid artillery exchanges along its tense southeastern border with Syria.

The announcement came amid reports of fierce fighting in the northern Idlib province on Tuesday where Syrian rebels are trying to take control of a strategic town.

"Assad ... is only able to stand up with crutches," Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, who was once a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, told a meeting of his ruling AK Party.

"He will be finished when the crutches fall away."

Erdogan, reacting to six consecutive days where shells fired from Syrian soil have landed on Turkish territory, has said Turkey will not shrink from war if forced to act.

But Turkey has also made clear it would be reluctant to mount any major operation on Syrian soil, and then only with international support.

At least 25 additional F-16 fighter jets were deployed at Turkey's Diyarbakir airbase late on Monday.

Against this backdrop of escalating border tensions, Syrian rebels took control on Tuesday of Maarat al-Numan, a strategic town in Idlib on the highway linking Damascus with the country's second city, Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

"Regular forces pulled back from all of their checkpoints around Maarat al-Numan, except for one at the entrance of the town," the UK-based opposition network's Rami Abdel Rahman said.

"This is a strategic location on the route from Damascus to Aleppo. All the regime reinforcements headed to Aleppo must pass through Maarat al-Numan."

Opposition activists in Syria told Al Jazeera that rebel fighters had captured most of the army's checkpoints in the area, but that fighting was still under way for other government positions on Tuesday night.

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

FSA in MaaratAlNouman using a BMP against the regime forces. Idlib https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX_n...layer_embedded …
1:10 AM

FSA in MaaratAlNouman has taken over the Sijin checkpoint and the Haloom checkpoint. Many Assad soldiers captured.
1:20 AM

10s of regime soldiers arrested by the FSA in MaaratAlNouman after they took control of the Alkhaymeh checkpoint.
1:40 AM

Only 3 checkpoints remain in MaaratAlNouman. Alhamdiyeh, Almiqlaa, and Wadi Aldayf.
1:41 AM

MiG23s and helicopters shelling MaaratAlNouman intensely.
2:00 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

All the checkpts inside the cjity of MaaratAlNouman have been destroyed. The FSA is now stomping on the checkpoints surrounding the city.
7:06 AM

There are several smaller checkpoints. But there are 2 large ones. Alhamdiyeh and Wadi Aldayf military base.
7:10 AM

Inside the city itself there are no more checkpoints. The rest are on the outskirts of the city...not sure of how many though.
7:46 AM

The FSA in MaaratAlNouman now focusing its offensive on Wadi Aldayf military base. https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=sr57jPCg07U
7:53 AM

after these 2 [Maret Al Nouman and Jisr Al Shugour] only Khan Sheikhoon and Idlib city remain [in regime control] in the province.
9:31 AM

https://twitter.com/dalalmawad

NATO says it has all necessary plans in place to defend Turkey
5:58 AM

Turkey sends additional fighters jets to its borders with Syria as Erdogan justifies retaliation to the Turkish opposition.
6:02 AM

https://twitter.com/martinchulov

Interesting; despite insisting intervention not an option, Nato says it has a plan ready for Syria in case Turkey needs help
6:27 AM

https://twitter.com/pdanahar

Syria 'doesn't look like Yemen anymore' so Yemen style solution to a transition no longer feasible says State Department spokeswoman
1:33 PM

https://twitter.com/liamstack

Al-Manar TV [pro-Assad Lebanese tv] tries to shoot video at maspero, protesters shout "get out of here!" "Down down with Bashar el Assad, the dog!" egypt
1:56 PM

[visionary]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...14a_story.html

Iran aids Syria in tracking opposition via electronic surveillance, U.S. officials say

Iran is providing crucial equipment and technical help to Syria in its effort to track opposition forces through the Internet and other forms of electronic surveillance, according to U.S. officials.

The aid is the latest example of how Iran is helping Syria in its battle against rebel forces threatening the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The technical assistance is coming mainly through Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, the officials said.

Iran, which has long experience in tracking dissidents internally, has supplied surveillance and communications gear, as well as technical support in computer network surveillance, said one intelligence official. Like others interviewed, he spoke on condition of anonymity because of the topic’s sensitivity.

Among the tactics in which Iran is advising the Syrians is how to gain access to Web forums and chat rooms, where they pose as opposition members to identify and track targets, the intelligence official said. Syrian agents are then dispatched to kill the rebels, the officials said.

An array of sophisticated techniques used to entrap Syrian opposition activists has already been unearthed by tech privacy and security groups. Pro-government hackers have covertly installed spy ware on activists’ computers by sending them e-mail and Skype messages purporting to be from opposition sympathizers that include attachments containing surveillance tools, said Eva Galperin of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet privacy group based in San Francisco.

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

FSA begins liberating a checkpoint located between MaaratAlNouman and KhanSheikhoon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m359...ature=youtu.be …
4:24 PM

The only regime strongholds remaining near MaaratAlNouman are Wadi Aldayf and Hamdiyah checkpoint. [Wadi Aldaif military base] is slightly outside the city. It is being shelled at with mortars and tanks by the FSA as they surround it.
4:42 PM

When the FSA entered the Sijin checkpoint in MaaratAlNouman they found 25 bodies executed by the regime. Thought to be defectors.
4:49 PM

Now that there is no regime stronghold in MaaratAlNouman, they are shelling it with everything they have.
4:56 PM

Formation of a new FSA battalion in Idlib city under the command of Suqoor Alsham. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4qU-kUCeOo&feature=plcp …
5:28 PM

https://twitter.com/markito0171

The battle to break siege of Homs from direction northern Rastan & from southern Al Qusayr http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfHeu...&feature=g-u-u …
5:32 PM

https://twitter.com/katebt3000

Our report from Assad heartland of Latakia - inc visit to the family mausoleum at Qardaha - coming up @BBCNewsnight pic.twitter.com/ugIP18Kd
5:35 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

With the end of Tuesday the LCC managed to document 165 martyrs including 10 children and 8 women: 65 martyrs in Damascus and its suburbs, including 25 unidentified martyrs found between Daraya and Qadam and 10 martyrs slaughtered by knives in Deir Asafeer; 35 in Aleppo; 15 in Deir Ezzor; 15 in Idlib; 13 in Homs; 12 martyrs in Hama; 6 martyrs in Daraa; and 2 martyrs in Lattakia
5:02 PM

Death toll jumped up to 183 and now 197 since then.
(although going by the numbers, it seems to be actually 195)

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

With the end of Tuesday the LCC managed to document 197 martyrs including 10 children and 8 women: 65 martyrs in Damascus and its suburbs, including 25 unidentified martyrs found between Daraya and Qadam and 10 martyrs slaughtered by knives in Deir Asafeer; 53 in Aleppo; 29 in Idlib; 15 in Deir Ezzor; 13 in Homs; 12 martyrs in Hama; 6 martyrs in Daraa; and 2 martyrs in Lattakia
6:16 PM

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
33,236 people killed so far in Syria

[visionary]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...945_story.html

Newly re-elected Hugo Chavez says Venezuela will keep supporting Syria’s leader and government

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that he will keep supporting Syria’s leader and called for the U.S. to rethink its stance toward the war-shattered nation.

Chavez likened the violence in Syria to the fighting in Libya that preceded last year’s ouster and killing of Moammar Gadhafi, who was also a Chavez ally.

The Venezuelan leader said he thinks the conflict in Syria has been provoked by Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s enemies abroad to try to topple him.

“The government of the United States is one of those most responsible for this disaster,” Chavez said at a news conference, calling for President Barack Obama to take a different tack.

“I hope Mr. Obama, if he’s re-elected, thinks things over, reflects — and the European governments,” Chavez said. He criticized European governments for meeting with Syrian dissidents.

Chavez has been a vocal defender of Assad, and Venezuelan officials have said the state oil company has sent three shipments of diesel fuel to aid Syria.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19882416

Viewpoint: Echoes of Spanish civil war in Syria

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...0a9_story.html

In Syria’s destruction, there is much to mourn

Amid the terrible human suffering — many remaining residents have no running water or electricity, and they lack food amid the nightmare of guerrilla warfare — concern about the destruction of material property can appear gratuitous. But the ancient urban fabric of Aleppo is more than an exotic tourist destination.

“The Aleppo souks . . . stand as testimony to Aleppo’s importance as a cultural crossroads since the second millennium B.C.,” says Irina Bokova, director general of UNESCO. She promised an investigation, though the conflict will make it hard to assess damage, much less protect what is left. “The situation is really catastrophic, as Aleppo is half destroyed,” Michel Amalqdissi, director of the Syrian government’s archaeology division, e-mailed me last week.

Nor is destruction limited to this commercial hub. Five of Syria’s six most important ancient sites reportedly have been damaged, and massive looting of the country’s ancient heritage may be underway. Archaeologists fear that the losses could dwarf those that occurred in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion. Syria has arguably the richest and most diverse history of any nation on Earth.

It is home to the ruin of what may be the world’s first city, a mound near the Iraqi border called Tell Brak, as well as the famous Roman-era desert city of Palmyra, the Crusader fortress Krak des Chevaliers and some of Islam’s greatest monuments. Thousands of smaller sites encompass more than 10,000 years of human history, from Neolithic villages to Hittite strongholds, Roman forts, early Christian monasteries and Umayyad palaces. Lacking protection, these sites are open to mass theft that will feed the West’s hungry antiquities market.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/wo...cus.html?_r=1&

Qaeda-Linked Group Claims Responsibility for Syrian Blasts
The group, Al Nusra Front for the People of the Levant, posted a statement on the Internet with details of what it called a three-stage attack on a compound run by a branch of the air force intelligence service in Harasta, on the edge of Damascus. It released a video showing nighttime blasts that it said were set off by vehicles packed with explosives.

The number of casualties from the attack was not known, and the Syrian state news media did not immediately report on it. On Oct. 3, the same group posted a statement on a Web site affiliated with Al Qaeda that claimed responsibility for explosions in the embattled northern city of Aleppo that killed dozens of people in areas held by the government, including an officers’ club.

While most Syrian insurgents are members of the country’s Sunni majority, many of them defectors from the military, much of the Alawite minority, which Mr. Assad belongs to, remains intensely loyal to him. Nonetheless, recent signs of fracturing have surfaced in his Alawite base, including unconfirmed reports of deadly clashes last weekend in his ancestral home, Qardaha, a village in Latakia Province, which borders Turkey.

In another possible signal of Alawite ambivalence about Mr. Assad’s political leadership, opposition figures in Syria and in neighboring Jordan said that as many as seven high-ranking Alawite military and intelligence officers had defected in recent days, with some saying they had entered Jordan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/10/wo...ia-crisis.html

U.S. Military Is Sent to Jordan to Help With Crisis in Syria

The United States military has secretly sent a task force of more than 150 planners and other specialists to Jordan to help the armed forces there handle a flood of Syrian refugees, prepare for the possibility that Syria will lose control of its chemical weapons and be positioned should the turmoil in Syria expand into a wider conflict.

The task force, which has been led by a senior American officer, is based at a Jordanian military training center built into an old rock quarry north of Amman. It is now largely focused on helping Jordanians handle the estimated 180,000 Syrian refugees who have crossed the border and are severely straining the country’s resources.

American officials familiar with the operation said the mission also includes drawing up plans to try to insulate Jordan, an important American ally in the region, from the upheaval in Syria and to avoid the kind of clashes now occurring along the border of Syria and Turkey.

The officials said the idea of establishing a buffer zone between Syria and Jordan — which would be enforced by Jordanian forces on the Syrian side of the border and supported politically and perhaps logistically by the United States — had been discussed. But at this point the buffer is only a contingency.

The Obama administration has declined to intervene in the Syrian conflict beyond providing communications equipment and other nonlethal assistance to the rebels opposing the government of President Bashar al-Assad. But the outpost near Amman could play a broader role should American policy change. It is less than 35 miles from the Syrian border and is the closest American military presence to the conflict.

The American military is also sending medical kits to the border and has provided gravel to help keep down the dust at the Zaatari refugee camp, which the task force helped set up and is now home to 35,000 Syrians. It has also provided four large prefabricated buildings to be used at Zaatari as schools. One official estimated the cost so far at less than $1 million.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153

about 15 hours ago
Syria has issued an international tender to purchase 100,000 tonnes of milling wheat, a commodity not subject to sanctions, as winter nears in the war torn country.

The state-run General Establishment for Cereal Processing and Trade (Hoboob) said bidding deadline is October 17. - Reuters

about 15 hours ago
Syrian troops entered the rebel district of Khaldiyeh in the besieged central city of Homs on Tuesday, Syrian state television announced.

"Our valiant armed forces have secured large parts of Khaldiyeh district and are now pursuing the remnants of the terrorists," the channel announced, using government terminology for the rebels.

13 minutes ago
British police said on Wednesday that they had arrested two people at London's Heathrow Airport as part of an investigation into travel to Syria in support of alleged terrorist activity.

Scotland Yard said in a statement released early Wednesday that counter-terrorism officers arrested a man and a woman, both 26, after they flew into the airport from Egypt late Tuesday.

Police did not make clear whether the suspects were thought to be returning from or heading to Syria. The statement said that officers were searching two homes in east London as part of the investigation.

The statement added that the pair were arrested on suspicion of the "commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism". The statement did not include the suspects' names, nationalities, or any other identifying information. [AP]

I wonder what specifically they're suspected of doing.

[visionary]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-...ing/?tag=socsh

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported fighting between Syrian rebels and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime around the Syrian town of Azmarin, in Idlib province, across from the Turkish border. It said Syrians were fleeing homes in the Azmarin region, some crossing into Turkey on rowing boats over the river Orontes, that runs along the border.

Footage from Anadolu showed three young children scrambling down a river bank on the Syrian side before being taken across to Turkey on a makeshift raft strapped to an inner tube. The children said they were fleeing fighting in Azmarin.

Private NTV television reported that explosions and automatic weapon fire could be heard in Turkey's Hatay province, coming from Azmarin. It said rebels were clashing with some 500 Syrian government soldiers, and that at least 100 rebels had been injured, some of whom had been brought to Turkey for treatment.

Some 99,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have sought refuge in Turkey since the start of the conflict.

http://blogs.reuters.com/fullfocus/2...-of-syria/#a=1

A river out of Syria

Scores of Syrian civilians, many of them women with screaming children, are crossing Orontes, a narrow river marking the border with Turkey, to flee the fighting in Azmarin and surrounding villages. Residents on the other side of the river, from the Turkish village of Hacipasa, help pull them across in small metal boats.

Check out the photos, warning some are bloody.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8990U220121010

In shifting Syria conflict, Assad assumes command of forces

The picture is deceptively normal. Posted on the Facebook page of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, it shows the first lady Asma, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, accompanying her daughter and three sons on their first day back at school.

Two of the boys wear camouflage shorts with khaki t-shirts and caps, in keeping with the spirit of a ruler under siege. Yet when she dropped off Hafez, the eldest, named after his strongman grandfather, only one other child had arrived in class because of rebel attacks in Damascus that morning.

More than 18 months into the battle for Syria, an estimated 30,000 people are dead and the country is disintegrating.

The rebels are outgunned by the government but can still strike at will, and Assad has assumed personal command of his forces, still convinced he can prevail militarily.

Recent visitors say the 47-year-old president has taken over day-to-day leadership. They speak of a self-confident, combative president convinced he will ultimately win the conflict through military means.

"He is no longer a president who depends on his team and directs through his aides. This is a fundamental change in Assad's thinking," said a pro-Syrian Lebanese politician with close ties to Assad. "Now he is involved in directing the battle."

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153

about 5 hours ago
Turkey's military will respond with greater force if shelling from Syria continues to hit its territory, its chief of staff said on Wednesday, as clashes between the Syrian army and rebels intensified along the border.

Several mortar bombs landed outside the Syrian border town of Azmarin early on Wednesday and heavy machinegun fire could be heard from the Turkish side.

Plumes of smoke rose into the sky and cries of "God is greatest" rang out between the bursts of gunfire, a Reuters witness said. Turkey's armed forces have bolstered their presence along the 900km border and have been responding in kind over the past week to gunfire and shelling coming across from northern Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad's forces have been battling rebels who control swathes of territory.

"We responded but if it continues we will respond with greater force," state television TRT quoted Turkey's Chief of Staff, General Necdet Ozel, as saying.

about 2 hours ago
Syrian opposition fighters have said that they are creating a buffer zone on the Turkish border - a safe haven for the thousands of people trying to escape the bitter fighting in their country. Several rebel groups joined forces to drive government troops out of the area, but they are demanding that NATO intervenes to defend the buffer zone against airstrikes.

Al Jazeera's Anita Mcnaught reports from the town of Bdama.

about 2 hours ago
Syrian opposition fighters have said that they are close to capturing a strategic city in Idlib province. The rebels say that they are also making another push for the country's biggest city, Aleppo. Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra has this exclusive report.

https://twitter.com/javierespinosa2

SOHR: Damascus sends reinforcements to Maarat al-Numan, including helicopters, to try to recover the city that they lost yesterday
2:57 AM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Large convoy composed of 50 vehicles full of soldiers and 10 tanks and many BMPs and covered with air support headed twds MaaratAlNouman. The convoy headed towards MaaratAlNouman is passing through Khan Sheikhoon now...it should be arriving at the city soon.
4:05 AM

The FSA in KhanSheikhoon are attacking the convoy that is headed towards MaaratAlNouman
4:16 AM

I LOVE how every FSA group in idlib is working together on this!!!!!!!! MaaratAlNouman KhanSheikhoon JabalAlzawiyah Kafranbil
4:17 AM

The FSA in MaaratAlNouman began a huge attack against Wadi Aldayf military base and Alhamdiyeh checkpoint while under TNT barrel shelling. Intense clashes INSIDE both wadi aldayf and Alhamdiyeh checkpoints in MaaratAlNouman. The FSA now controls parts of both strongholds.
4:26 AM

Missile lands on the Large Omawi Mosque in #MaaratAlNouman which is the 3rd oldest mosque in Syria.
4:27 AM

https://twitter.com/Mou2amara

UNREAL - Jet targets homes and drops barrels of TNT over Atarib Aleppo, huge plume of smoke and debris http://youtu.be/YzTyVPOZq58
10:39 AM

https://twitter.com/DamascusTribune

Residents in Daraya city in Damascus suburbs discovered today 17 body in an old well
10:52 AM

[visionary]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19896313

Latakia: Bashar al-Assad's political stronghold

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...ies?CMP=twt_gu

Arms supplies to Syrian rebels dry up amid rivalries and divisions

In the battle for northern Syria the most important front is far from Aleppo. It is across the border in the southern Turkish town of Antakya. Here rebels, who now move around with increasing ease, are engaged in daily bids for patronage with those who keep the insurgency running.

Over the past year, and especially since May, when weapons started to arrive, Bashar al-Assad's enemies have met their benefactors in Antakya's backstreets, coffee shops and hotel lobbies and made a case as to why they should receive help.

The rivalries of Arab and Gulf politics, divisions between the west and Russia, fear of Syria's bloody crisis spreading beyond the country's borders to drag in Iran or Lebanon all make supplying arms to the rebels a sensitive and murky issue.

Now, it seems, the supply is drying up. On Aleppo's frontlines, there is still no sign of the heavy weapons for which the rebels have pleaded. Ammunition is running low. "They are giving us enough to keep this fight going, but not enough to win it," complained Abu Furat, a commander. "I'm sure that's not going to change until after the American elections. I'm not sure everyone can survive until then."

The US, always jittery about backing the uprising, is opposed to calls by Saudi Arabia and Qatar to supply rebel groups with equipment needed to combat aircraft and tanks – an issue raised by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday. Jordan and Turkey appear to share Washington's concerns. Confirmation on Wednesday that the US had sent a military mission to Jordan to help build a headquarters on the border with Syria and to improve Jordan's military capabilities underlines worries about possible spillover.

"It's about indirect intervention," said Mustafa Alani of the Saudi-financed Gulf Research Centre in Abu Dhabi. "The money is there, arms can be supplied. But the Jordanians and the Turks are hesitant. Turkey is allowing some weapons in but there are a lot of restrictions. People are waiting for a shift after the US election."

Another growing problem is a lack of co-ordination between Qatar and the Saudis – the likely subject of Wednesday's talks in Doha between the Emir and the Saudi intelligence chief, Prince Bandar. King Abdullah is said to be growing impatient with the difficulties of the Syrian crisis. According to Syrian opposition activists, the Saudis now sponsor only rebel groups which are at odds with those backed by Qatar and Turkey, which are often linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

"The Qataris are much more proactive than the Saudis," said one well-placed Arab source. "The Saudis are not interested in democracy, they just want to be rid of Bashar. They would be happy with a Yemeni solution that gets rid of the president and leaves the regime intact."

Intelligence chiefs from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and France reportedly met in Turkey in early September along with the CIA director general, David Petraeus. But they apparently failed to reach agreement on a co-ordinated strategy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...-bombs-troops/

Mitt Romney: Syria involvement doesn’t mean bombs, troops

“My own view is in a place like Syria for instance we should, through our partners in the region, work to identify dissidents within Syria that are reasonable and responsible people, try and coalesce, them bring them together,” the GOP presidential candidate said in response to a question during a town hall meeting here with factory workers.

“We should play an active role. That doesn’t mean sending in troops or dropping bombs,” he added. “But it does mean actively participating in a place like Syria to assure that Assad goes and that a reasonable and responsible government follows.”

https://twitter.com/WashingtonPoint

“@OguzArikboga: A Syrian passenger plane in Turkish airspace forced(escorted by F-16's) to land at Esenboğa, Ankara airport
1:12 PM

Acc the latest, the Syrian passenger plane that landed by F-16 forcefully was Damascus-Moscow flight: two messages w/a stone?
1:15 PM

https://twitter.com/RedHack_EN

Breaking- Turkish Civilian Aviation Authority has sent an urgent message to all national airline companies to leave Syrian air space
1:15 PM

https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov

A civilian Damascus-bound Syrian plane from Moscow, suspected of carrying arms, was forces to land in Ankara by Turkish F-16 jets.
1:31 PM

https://twitter.com/Reuters

Turkey bans Turkish civilian planes from flying into Syrian airspace due to insecurity - State TV
2:02 PM

https://twitter.com/RajaAlthaibani

Lack of support/intervention may force desperate Syrians to turn to others 4 support ie extremist groups outside Syria. What r ur thoughts?
2:14 PM

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...17848338242310

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The number of martyrs in Syria has risen to 164 so far, including women and children: 70 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs (including 20 who were found in Deir Asafeir, 17 who were found in Daraya farms, 7 who were field-executed in Jesrein, and three bodies found in Zamalka bridge), 25 in Idlib, 20 in Aleppo, 12 in Homs, 14 in Raqqa, 10 in Deir Ezzor, 7 in Daraa (including 4 who were found in Eastern Gharia, and 1 who was martyred in Damascus Suburbs), 5 in Hama, and 1 in Lattakia
1:53 PM

[visionary]

TURKEY

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19905247

Syrian passenger plane forced to land in Turkey

The plane, which was travelling from Moscow, was intercepted on intelligence that it was carrying "non-civilian cargo", Turkey's foreign minister said.

He added that Turkey was determined to stop any transfer of weapons to the Syrian government through its airspace.

Turkey has made clear its support for the rebels in Syria's civil conflict.

The plane, which is reported to be carrying 35 passengers, was escorted by Turkish jets to the capital's Esenboga airport for security checks, Turkish news agencies reported.

The passengers have been escorted off the aircraft while the cargo is searched.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told state-run television that Ankara had received information that the plane could be carrying "certain equipment in breach of civil aviation rules".

Meanwhile, the Turkish authorities have declared Syrian airspace to be unsafe and are preventing Turkish aircraft from flying over the country, the foreign ministry said.

https://twitter.com/WashingtonPoint

Breaking: so far 10 radio/ walkie-talkie, communication tools found in the landed plane
3:22 PM

https://twitter.com/fatihartun

Breaking News: Conversations tape record between Turkish air tower and Syrian civilian plane was relaesed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqXCM357JLw …
3:23 PM

https://twitter.com/influxTR

According to first reports; military communication devices found in Syrian plane force to land in Ankara. More to come soon
3:29 PM

https://twitter.com/MahirZeynalov

Turkey seizes military communication equipments in Syria-bound civilian plane and sends the plane to Damascus with passengers.
4:01 PM

Turkish inspectors also found parts that could be used in missiles in the Syria-bound plane intercepted by Turkey.
4:02 PM

https://twitter.com/KadirUstun

300 kg of military materials were seized, purchaser appears to be Syrian Defense Ministry via @nuhyilmaz
4:19 PM

SYRIA

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

MaaratAlNouman is almost completely destroyed. 10s upon 10s of martyrs there and in KhanSheikhoon.
2:37 PM

[aerial bombardment] Like never before. There are no regime elements on the inside now so its raining TNT barrels. And the FSA in Khan Sheikhoon attempted to stop a large convoy headed towards Almaara from Hama...At least 22 martyrs there from TNT shelling also.
2:41 PM

it was attacked by khan sheikhoon fsa...hasn't reached MaaratAlNouman yet. They took down 2 other checkpts outside the city.
2:43 PM

Kafranbil evening protest celebrating the liberation of MaaratAlNouman https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...d&v=wiR3bIDLPE
The Kafranbil posters about MaaratAlNouman and the battle to liberate it. http://fb.me/zZkFGetb Idlib
2:48 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

A large convoy headed from Hama to MaaratAlNouman composed of at least 50 vehicles filled with regime entities and tanks and BMPs and air support protecting the convoy.

The convoy stopped before KhanSheikhoon and all the checkpoints there and the warplanes began shelling the city to strike fear in the people and prevent them from attacking the convoy.
The FSA however still attacked it destroying many vehicles and killing many soldiers. The battle with the convoy is still ongoing.

Also, 2 checkpoints were destroyed. One of them between KhanSheikhoon and MaaratAlNouman. The result of the shelling on KhanSheikhoon left at least 24 confirmed martyrs and 10s of injured.

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Entire neighborhood in MaaratAlNouman is now flat on the ground. One shell left a 12 meter wide crater. https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=N9tH_RnIjj4
3:49 PM

BREAKING The FSA now controls a large part of Wadi Aldayf. Many of the soldiers there escaped to the Alhamdiyeh checkpoint MaaratAlNouman
3:53 PM

Watching your city being reduced to rubble is painful
4:04 PM

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/Turk4Syria

Turkish TV: boxes confiscated from Syrian planes say "Syrian Ministry of Defence" as recipient.
6:13 PM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters have destroyed a military checkpoint (al-sarmik) between ma`arrat al-nu`man & khan shaykhun
4:22 PM

resistance fighters attacked 3 buses carrying assad troops & thugs near al-mutahallaq al-janobi. +40 were killed & injured
4:43 PM

resistance fighters seized tanks in al-za`ainiyah http://youtu.be/hCUm6-h_mOg
4:58 PM

resistance fighters say they seized many tanks & killed & arrested many assad troops in wadi al-dayf (ma`arrat al-nu`man).
5:56 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

FSA commander in MaaratAlNouman confirms the FSA has 40 tanks now and are using all 40 in the attack on Wadi Aldayf.
6:06 PM

its not completely liberated...yet. regime elements still there.
6:34 PM

MaaratAlNouman now being shelled all the way from Ariha since the checkpoints surrounding it are almost all gone.
6:32 PM

Wadi Aldayf has been liberated! 100s of Assad soldiers killed and captured!!!
6:46 PM

People in Kafranbil MaaratAlNouman Haish Kafroma all celebrating the liberation of Wadi Aldayf.
6:47 PM

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

hamdiyeh is still standing for now...they'll move on to it now.

JisrAlshughoor 's regime army left several checkpts and are all gathering and forming one large checkpoint to attack the FSA.
6:55 PM

http://www.lccsyria.org/10327

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The LCC managed to documented 197 martyrs by the end of Wednesday including 10 children and 8 women, 77 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs (including 20 who were found in Deir Asafeir, 17 who were found in Daraya farms, 7 who were field-executed in Jesrein, and three bodies found in Zamalka bridge); 35 in Aleppo; 25 in Idlib; 15 in Homs; 14 in Raqqa; 13 in Daraa (including 4 who were found in Eastern Gharia); 10 in Deir Ezzor; 6 in Hama, and 1 in Lattakia

(the numbers add up to 196 though, so that's what I'll mark it as for now)

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
33,432 people killed so far in Syria

[twa]

not a great fit,but illustrates the wilful blindness that enables regimes

Inaugural Winners of the Walter Duranty Prize for Journalistic Mendacity:

http://view.s4.exacttarget.com/?j=fe...7573620d7a7111

First Place: Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Magazine, and Joan Juliet Buck, Author
"For their stunning achievements in exemplifying the spirit of Walter Duranty, for their combined use of gumshoe reporting, headline packaging, impeccable timing and fearless dismissal of facts to produce Vogue's 2011 cover story, "Asma al-Assad: A Rose in the Desert."

[visionary]

First Place: Anna Wintour, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Magazine, and Joan Juliet Buck, Author
"For their stunning achievements in exemplifying the spirit of Walter Duranty, for their combined use of gumshoe reporting, headline packaging, impeccable timing and fearless dismissal of facts to produce Vogue's 2011 cover story, "Asma al-Assad: A Rose in the Desert."

They got a lot of heat over that. The lady who wrote it apologized for it a few times later on, lol.
Yeah, there's always some people out there willing to say some nice stuff about these guys.
Although to be fair, early on even most Syrians hoped the Assad's would see the need for reform.


http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8991CN20121010

Rebels say halt Syrian army attempt to retake town

Rebels halted on Wednesday a Syrian army push to retake a strategic town on the main highway to Turkey, one day after it was captured by opposition fighters, activists said.

At least 30 rebels and scores of government forces were killed in the fighting near Maarat al-Numaan, 350 km (220 miles) north of Damascus, they said.

"The (Syrian army) column was composed of hundreds of tanks and vehicles. It was stopped at a heavy cost," Abu Musab Taha, a rebel commander in the area told Reuters.

Turkish armed forces have bolstered their presence along the 900-km (560-mile) border and have been responding over the past week to gunfire and shelling coming across from northern Syria, where government forces have been battling rebels who control swathes of territory.

Anas Othman, a resident of Maarat al-Numaan, said the town "is being destroyed" by air strikes and army artillery.

Mohammad Kanaan, an opposition activist from the region, said that 100 fighters and civilians have been killed in Maarat al-Numaan over the last week.

He said security forces had executed 50 army defectors there.

Maarat al-Numaan, a Roman era city famous for a mosaics museum and the grave of Abu Ala al-Maari, an 11th century blind Arab poet, is 75 km south of Aleppo, Syria's business hub.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/liveblog/topic/syria-153

about 9 hours ago
The official line coming out of the Turkish foreign ministry does not confirm that they confiscated either weapons or communications devices from the passenger jet intercepted yesterday. Officials say they are still studying the items, describing them as "inconsistent material".

about 8 hours ago
An unidentified "Russian arms export source" says there were no weapons or military equipment aboard the Syrian plane held in Turkey, according to Reuters - quoting the Moscow-based Interfax news agency. No doubt we'll be getting more reports on the plane's cargo over the course of the day - stay tuned...

about 6 hours ago
Syria has stopped buying electricity from Turkey, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz has revealed.

Our correspondent adds that, while Turkey has been supplying electricity to some regions in Syria's north, Assad's administration has been frequently cutting power to rebellious areas.

about 3 hours ago
Reuters is reporting that residents of Azmarin, a Turkish town on the border with Syria, are evacuating their homes amid a "military assault" by Syrian forces. More details to follow.

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters destroyed 3 military tanks in rankus (north of damascus)
3:58 AM

resistance fighters have destroyed 2 military checkpoints near the town of haysh (idlib)
4:31 AM

resistance fighters have destroyed 2 military tanks & killed assad troops in deirezzor
5:00 AM

resistance fighters have destroyed a tank & killed assad troops near tal al-zarazir in aleppo city
5:40 AM

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

resistance fighters have liberated the airforce defense base in dayr ful (east of al-rastan, homs) & seized weapons
7:57 AM

resistance fighters destroyed a tank & a small truck & killed assad troops on al-ramousah motorway (aleppo)
9:09 AM

resistance fighters have damaged 4 tanks & armored vehicles near al-amiriyah neighborhood in aleppo city
10:45 AM

resistance fighters have destroyed a t72 tank near saraqib (idlib)
10:47 AM

resistance fighters confirm they control all al-khalidiyah neighborhood in homs city. many assad troops were killed
10:54 AM

https://twitter.com/WashingtonPoint

Breaking: Turkish PM Erdogan re plane interception: says whatever the passengers needed in the plane, food, medicine etc they were offered
11:20 AM

Breaking: Turkish PM Erdogan re plane interception: unfortunately these kind of materials found, confiscated and being processed currently
11:21 AM

Breaking: Turkish PM Erdogan re plane interception: imp point is, you can't never carry military materials w/civilian planes..this illegal
11:23 AM

Turkish PM Erdogan:this plane unfortunately was carrying military equipments from Russian military manufacturer to Syrian defense ministry
11:24 AM

https://twitter.com/BreakingNews

Turkish prime minister says intercepted plane was carrying military gear, ammunition to Syria - @AP
11:37 AM

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

defection of major nizar jum`ah & other officers http://youtu.be/iZydQqq3zAs
12:03 PM

resistance fighters killed assad troops & seized 2 military tanks near ain isa in al-raqqah
12:06 PM

resistance fighters have destroyed a military checkpoint (zayzun) near jisr al-shughour. 4 troops have defected
12:12 PM

defection of military officers & troops from regiment 46 (aleppo countryside) http://youtu.be/3PiBerV2-Sk
12:46 PM

resistance fighters have re-liberated the town of darkush (idlib)
12:55 PM

https://twitter.com/mpoppel

REU: LARGE BOMB EXPLOSION HEARD NEAR ARMY AND SECURITY COMPOUNDS WEST OF UMMAYAD SQUARE IN CENTRAL DAMASCUS -ACTIVISTS
1:59 PM

https://twitter.com/THE_47th

Syrian Media Center: Explosion rocks mid Damascus, near Omayyad Sq. Omayyad is by Army HQ & State TV.
1:57 PM

FYI: Here's a map of Omayyad Sq. (site of explosion just now). Big red circle is Army HQ, bombed 3 weeks ago. pic.twitter.com/TRl2U5QU
2:09 PM

BREAKING: Explosion targeted Military Justice HQ in Jamareq Sq (our version of JAG in the US). It is in Jamareq Sq 500m away from Umayyad.
2:24 PM

Assad Sec Forces are now sealing of midtown Damascus, all roads leading in & out of Umayyad & Jamarek Squares. The nerves of our capital.
2:26 PM

BREAKING | FSA launches a simultaneous attack on State Security HQ in Aleppo. Source: LCC.
2:32 PM

https://twitter.com/AcrossTheBay

Nasrallah makes a clown of himself contorting to explain how Hezbollah fighters in Syria are Lebanese living in villages inside Syria and he simply cannot stop these Hezbollah members from fighting in their villages inside Syria if they so choose.
2:10 PM

https://twitter.com/THE_47th

B.S: Scores killed in Qusair MT @DavidKenner: Nasrallah: Until now, our fighters hvnt fought in Syria. We dunno what'll happen in the future
2:03 PM

Just ask Homsies, specifically the people of Qusair: how many bodies of Hizbollah fighters have they sent back to Dahyi, Lebanon.
2:18 PM

Unlike Israel, many of our defected officers were on great terms with Hizbollah leadership, knowing exactly how they operate & their ranks.
2:28 PM

https://twitter.com/NMSyria

BREAKING: The FSA is storming the Political Security Branch in Aleppo.
2:31 PM

https://twitter.com/ZeinakhodrAljaz

US : We strongly support Turkey decision to inspect Syria plane; we concerned by any effort to supply military equipment to Assad regime
2:38 PM

[visionary]

https://csis.org/publication/syria-u...arch-equalizer

Syria, U.S. Power Projection, and the Search for an “Equalizer

Very interesting article.
Talks about positives/negatives of giving weapons to rebels and ways to lessen chances of possible negative consequences.

https://twitter.com/SyrianSmurf

Intense battles ongoing on the highway between KhanSheikhoon and MaaratAlNouman as the convoy passes through and shells at everything.
4:36 AM

The FSA just took down the 3rd checkpt between KhanSheikhoon and MaaratAlNouman...Altanoor checkpt. 10s of Assad soldiers killed.
6:26 AM

90% of the residents of MaaratAlNouman have left the city due to the intensity of the shelling..Some of my relatives are refusing to leave.
9:49 AM

FSA liberated the Sahyan checkpt in Sahyan, KhanSheikhoon. Later the convoy [that is/was] headed to MaaratAlNouman atckd and burned all the homes down [in Sahyan]
4:37 PM

During the clashes at Wadi Aldayf, a regime helicopter kept hovering and the FSA fired at it..after a while it dropped barrels that did not explode. The FSA went to see them and discovered they were barrels of food being dropped for the soldiers stuck inside. Obviously, the FSA kept the food...lol

https://twitter.com/rozalinachomsky

the armed resistance groups in the southern countryside of hama have joined ahfad al-rasul brigade. ahfad al-rasoul brigade has declared responsibility for the attack on the military judiciary building in damascus
3:18 PM

resistance fighters killed a major & arrested a sergeant near al-tabqa [in Raqqa province] airport http://youtu.be/Y-nkBBzJNiw
4:50 PM

resistance fighters have besieged the artillery base in ain isa (al-raqqah)
4:51 PM

resistance fighters confirm they killed brigadier general qaddour al-assad in damascus city. (he was killed by the last explosion)
4:57 PM

resistance fighters have entered the airforce defense base near the town of naqqarin (east of aleppo). clashes continue
5:34 PM

https://twitter.com/THE_47th

The US Gov has no clue on who's who in Syria, not one bit. No idea.
4:28 PM

US thought it had "good Pal Intel", but Hamas won. Had some good Leb intel, but Hizbollah leads now.. Afghanistan…etc u know how it is
4:35 PM

I have an 18 year old cousin in Mahatta, Homs who has a better grasp on how things work out in Syria than the the State Dept's Syria Desk. and this is why Fred Hoff resigned. (google Frederick Hoff).
4:36 PM

But I have good news now: the U.S hs sent aftr a few gd Syrians who know how to fix our problems, finally..ppl they refused 2 meet earlier.
4:40 PM

https://twitter.com/THE_47th

Expect major blows to Assad Army next week.
4:45 PM

Western journalists: if you have been given a pass through the the Syrian Gov, please leave the country at once.
5:08 PM

@stephenstarr no man.. Just a precautionary measure .. All I hear is that **** will be hitting the fan soon
5:17 PM

[twa]

yeah, sure looks like Turkey is going proactive, and Assad can't ignore it.

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/op...ria.html?_r=1&

The Right Way for Turkey to Intervene in Syria

TURKEY was the first country to take direct military action against the government of Bashar al-Assad since Syria’s uprising began in the spring of 2011. And tensions are escalating further: earlier this week, the Turkish government sent 25 F-16 fighters to an air base near the border with Syria and on Wednesday it forced a Syrian passenger plane to land in the Turkish capital, Ankara, where suspected military aid shipments were taken off the plane.

The cost of intervention in Syria may be high now, but the price will only increase for all nations if civilian massacres continue unabated. Currently, Syria looks eerily similar to Bosnia in the early 1990s. When the world did not act to end the slaughter of Muslims there, jihadists moved in to join the fight, and they sought to convince the otherwise staunchly secular-minded Bosnian Muslims that the world had abandoned them and that they were better off with jihadists. In Bosnia, the international community intervened before it was too late. If Syria radicalizes, becoming a jihadist safe haven, it could become a Sisyphean task to normalize it. Afghanistan is a case in point.

https://twitter.com/WashingtonPoint

Turkey digs trenches by Syrian border, moves 15 more F16 jets(total 55) near border+60 new tanks, totals 250 alongside http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/21678501.asp …
8:39 PM

Biden: "it will be a regional war" -- it's already becoming Sir!
10:08 PM

You know what: Biden would never win over Syria.. What his administration doing -- thanks to many genius advisers, is disaster
10:11 PM

Biden: We are on the same page with allies on Syria: huh? you havent hear Turkey then
10:13 PM

https://twitter.com/PJCrowley

If the logic of R2P does not apply to Syria, then the administration should not have used it to justify intervention in Libya.
10:11 PM

Seems like there's been a bunch of former Obama and Clinton administration folks unhappy with our policy on Syria.

Who can blame them? It's been a catastrophe so far.
One good thing, we seem to be getting more involved and actually trying to understand the situation as it develops instead of trying to dictate how everything should be.
We still seem to be pissing off our allies on the issue though and reports of us making them cut off what small supplies of weapons they have been giving are disturbing.
The extremists have their own sources of weaponry and explosive materials, although we've isolated, abandoned, angered, and made the Syrian people desperate enough that bombings, resentment, and sectarianism seems to be growing by the day, not to mention the death toll.


http://www.lccsyria.org/10331

Local Coordination Committees in Syria

The LCC managed to document 210 martyrs with the end of Thursday including 10 children and 6 women; 47 martyrs were reported in Idlib; 44 in Damascus and its Suburbs (among them 3 field-executed in Tadamon); 37 in Deir Ezzor including 21 who were field-excuted; 24 in Daraa; 20 in Homs; 20 in Aleppo; 8 in Tartous; 7 in Hama; 2 in Raqqa; and 1 in Hasakah

http://www.extremeskins.com/showthre...=1#post9046975
33,642 people killed so far in Syria