Mon. 27 June. 2011
SKY NEWS
Ø Extremists 'Infiltrate Syrian Protests' ……………………….1
WORLD NEWS
Ø Aussie Syrians rally for Assad………………………………4
HURRIYET
Ø Syria chides Turkey amid ongoing unrest…………………...6
Ø Syria at the crossroads……………………………………….9
FINANCIAL TIMES
Ø Assad opponents plan strategy meeting……………………11
GUARDIAN
Ø Syrian authorities give go-ahead to opposition meeting..….13
DAILY TELEGRAPH
Ø 'Comical Sally' returns to defend Syria……………….……16
BLOOMBERG
Ø Russia’s Envoy to Meet Syrian Human Rights Activists…..17
JERUSALEM POST
Ø Following the strong horse………………………………....18
WASHINGTON POST
Ø Rethinking ‘the long war’ on terrorism…………………….22
Ø An opening for the West to bring about Assad’s downfall...24
NYTIMES
Ø Turkey Loses Patience Over Syria………………………....27
Ø My Syria, Awake Again After 40 Years…………..……….31
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Extremists 'Infiltrate Syrian Protests'
Armed Islamic militants have infiltrated Syria's legitimate pro-democracy movement, a government spokesman has told Sky News.
Jeremy Thompson, in Damascus,
Sky News,
27 June 2011,
Faisal Almikdad, vice foreign minister, said "extremists" were responsible for hundreds of deaths in the northern town of Jisr al Shughour.
He said they had killed 123 security personnel in the town, and 300 in total, and injured 3,000 more.
A military spokesman has told Sky's Robert Nisbet that the aim of the gangs is to create an Islamic caliphate in Syria and overthrow the government.
Mr Almikdad said: "We have said repeatedly we shall accept peaceful demonstrations... but when these demonstrations are manipulated by people who are well-armed and then use these demonstrations to kill others, then there is a problem."
He denied claims the government was responsible for killing hundreds of protesters.
Mr Almikdad's appraisal of the death count is a revised figure after we were earlier told 1,300 military and security personnel had been killed.
A confusing information war appears to be developing because by coincidence, opposition figures say some 1,300 protesters have died.
Army Major General Riad Haddad said his forces had been issued with orders not to shoot on sight and so they had become "sitting ducks" faced with armed gangs.
In contrast, the opposition consistently claim it is the protesters who are dying at the hands of the military.
A Syrian government spokeswoman she had "no accurate figure" for the number of protesters killed.
This is the first time the military have made any public statement since the protests began more than 100 days ago, and the first time they have announced any casualty figures.
Sky's Middle East Correspondent Dominic Waghorn told me he was surprised we had not seen more footage on Syrian state TV of military funerals, if the number of dead was really this high.
What is clear is that the authorities here are putting out a robust narrative that the violence is being caused by armed gangs of "terrorists" roving the country intent on exploiting and inflaming the peaceful protests of those who are campaigning for political change.
There were funerals in Damascus on Saturday for the latest victims of the violence, reportedly local citizens killed in clashes with the military.
Meanwhile, some of the 12,500 Syrians who escaped to Turkey to flee weeks of violence have now started the uncertain journey home.
Around 750 refugees have arrived back in Jisr al Shughour, Syrian government sources said.
Thousands of people, fearing a massacre, fled the town after tanks rolled in following claims by the Syrian authorities that 120 security personnel were killed by armed gangs.
However, eye-witnesses had disputed the claim and blamed the Syrian military for raping and killing local residents
Crispian Wilson, political officer at the British Embassy in Ankara, is among several British officials who are assessing the security and refugee situation at the Turkish border.
In a blog, he says: "The Syrian government said that they were conducting an operation against 'insurgents' and 'terrorists' in Jisr al Shughour. But those I met in the camps met told me a very different story
"They told of sons shot down by security forces while attending funerals; government hospitals where those injured in protests went in for treatment and were never seen again; women raped and humiliated, homes destroyed.
"They showed newly dressed wounds and harrowing mobile phone pictures of those killed. Everyone had a story to tell. All were tragic, and everyone knew who was to blame: the Syrian government."
What must be worrying for the government is that the demonstrations against President Assad’s regime have now reached the suburbs of the capital itself.
Sky News has asked to film the protests, but as yet our government supervisors say they are unwilling to do so for "safety reasons".
Further video evidence has emerged which apparently shows violent tactics being used to suppress anti-government protests in the city of Homs.
The footage, which has not been independently verified, shows security forces in the city retreating after an onslaught from unarmed protesters.
Waghorn said: "This violence seems to have led to an exodus of Syrians from this region into Lebanon, around 1,000.
"Some have gunshot wounds and tales of atrocities carried out allegedly by the Syrian security forces."
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Aussie Syrians rally for Assad
Lisa Ziberpriver,
World News,
27 June 2011
Australian Syrians have expressed vehement support for President Bashar al-Assad, slamming accusations that he is killing anti-regime protesters as media lies.
"We are here to support the president of Syria, President Bashar al-Assad ... he is the best president," Rosa Najem said.
"People believe that he is a dictator for many reasons, really," Ms Najem - who helped organise the rally - told SBS.
"People believe he is killing his people and that they must vote for him, but I lived in Syria and my family did go and vote, so it's not what people are saying it is," she said.
Rally organisers said 25,000 people turned out in Sydney's inner west on Sunday, while a spokesman for Marrickville police who was at the event estimated the turnout at 500.
RALLIES 'NOT REPORTED'
A Syrian flag perhaps 50 metres long snaked through Marrickville's Gough Whitlam park, to the beating of drums and chants in Arabic of 'Syria, Allah and Bashar."
The flag mirrored that used in a similar protest outside Damascus earlier this month.
Mr Ghazal said around 9.5 million people (or almost half the population of Syria) had attended the rally, whereas news agencies quoted that 'thousands' had demonstrated.
Al-Assad modernised Syria and brought democracy to the country, attendees at the Sydney rally said. The fight against anti-regime protesters was 'a fight for the country,' they said.
Around 500 Syrian soldiers have died in the fight against armed protesters, they said. News agencies put that figure at 341, last week, with 1,310 protesters reported dead.
"They (the soldiers) died fighting for their country," Amanda Ahmad, 17, told SBS.
Organiser Abraham Ghazal said the rally was aimed at overturning misconceptions that Australian Syrians do not support the president, slamming the media for failing to report on a huge pro-Assad rally in Damascus last week.
AUSTRALIAN ALLEGIANCE
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd wanted Australians to believe that the Syrian community did not support al-Assad, said Mariam Mohamad, another rally attendee.
"But here we are, there are thousands of us - millions like us," she said.
Mr Ghazal added that news agencies including Al Jazeera had frequently been 'caught out' fabricating videos of violence that had actually taken place in Jordan, Lebanon or Turkey, and distributing them as events in Syria.
SBS has not verified Mr Ghazal's claims.
Mr Ghazal said Australian media was intent on portraying al-Assad in a negative light due to Australia's allegiance to the US.
"The Syrian political role in the region is not appreciated by the Americans and their allies," he said.
"They want them to pull out of the Palestinian involvement," he added.
America's involvement in Iraq was another reason to pressure al-Assad to step down, Mr Ghazal said.
More than six million Iraqis had fled Iraq for Syria due to US military activities there, he said.
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Syria chides Turkey amid ongoing unrest
Sevil Kucukkosum,
Hurriyet,
26 June 2011,
The Syrian ambassador to Turkey has called on the Turkish government to take action against what the Syrians call terrorists crossing the border and smuggling weapons across the Turkish-Syrian border.
The Syrian ambassador to Turkey has called on the Turkish government to take action against what the Syrians call terrorists crossing the border and smuggling weapons across the Turkish-Syrian border.
“We have an anti-terrorism agreement that has been signed between Syria and Turkey. This agreement provides the transfer of terrorists and armed people from one country to another. We have handed dozens of [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] PKK terrorists in recent months and years as part of agreement. So if there are any members of armed members of the Muslim Brotherhood or any other terrorist organizations, we expect our Turkish friends to [hand them to us],” Nidal Kabalan, the Syrian ambassador to Turkey, told Hürriyet Daily News on Sunday. Kabalan, whose earlier remarks caused problems between the two countries, will leave his position in coming months.
Turkey and Syria came to the brink of war in late 1990s due to latter’s indifference to Turkey’s call to stop its support to the PKK. Hafez al-Assad, the late president of Syria and father of current ruler Bashar al-Assad, had long ignored Turkey’s call to arrest the PKK leader Abdullah ?calan who was living in a villa in Damascus. Syrian authorities refused to hand ?calan even though the PKK’s chief’s address was given to Syrian official in early 1990s. Relations between the two countries have been normalizing since 1999 but one decade later, Syria has now begun to ask Turkey to take measures against alleged terrorists who are crossing the border. There are more than 11,000 Syrians being protected by Turkey in its borders.
Kabalan said Syria provided Turkey with evidence including confessions, arms caches, video tapes about “terrorists” who crossed into Turkey. Syria had a strong believe that some members of the “dozens armed gangs have openly or discreetly infiltrated into the waves of refugees” and have crossed the border into Turkey, a Syrian official told the Daily News. Therefore, Damascus is expecting Turkey to hand over those “armed gangs.”
However, his accusations were denied by Turkish officials who said all measures have been taken to stop illegal filtrations from the border.
The ambassador said that some of those “members of terrorists organizations committed mass murders, buried people in mass graves in Jisr al-Shughour,” had infiltrated into camps in Hatay or somewhere else in Turkey.
“We have over 900 km of borders with Turkey. As I understand even from some of our Turkish friends that some parts of border are not completely under control,” Kabalan said adding that did not implicate that Turkey was happy with that.
The cooperation was continuing in exchange information and data about “gang arms or smuggling of weaponry, sophisticated telecommunication systems which have been seized in Jisr al-Shughour and elsewhere which have been used by the terrorists,” Syrian ambassador stated.
Kabalan also said some arms were smuggled through Turkish border into Syria, which they also provided evidences to Turkish officials asking to take measures against.
“We are happy with way of Turkish seriousness and speed on security measures,” he said.
However, Syrian ambassador expressed disappointment on a Syrian parliamentary delegation, who wanted to cross Turkish border and visit camps on Saturday to “deliver a message of solidarity”, but they were not allowed.
“They returned after waiting 2.5 hours, when they were told that the computer system was down. We got the OK from the ministry to get in, but they decided to go back because they could not actually go to the camps or near the camps,” he said.
Kabalan noted that there was a delegation of Kuwaiti deputies at the same day which were allowed to go the camps. “Kuwaiti delegation is allowed, Angelina Jolie is allowed to the camps. But Syrian MPs are not allowed. It was important because the MPs were with some local religious figures. They did not want to create tension. It’s double standard,” Kabalan stated.
Syrian ambassador said no Syrian delegation was allowed to the camps, neither from Red Crescent or civil groups. “I discussed it with foreign ministry whether we can let a humanitarian or parliament groups. They said it’s impossible to go in camps now. Because, they are afraid of tension.”
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Syria at the crossroads
Murat Yetkin,
Hurriyet,
Sunday, June 26, 2011
It was 1993, a notorious year for Turkey’s recent history when the new president Süleyman Demirel paid one of his first visits abroad to Syria.
It was 1993, a notorious year for Turkey’s recent history when the new president Süleyman Demirel paid one of his first visits abroad to Syria.
The main reason for the visit was to convince Syria’s then-president Hafez al-Assad to expel
Abdullah ?calan and the top members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, who were carrying out bloody attacks in Turkey after infiltrating the country through the common border.
Demirel had told the journalists an anecdote at his press conference in Damascus right after his long talk with father Assad. He had told Assad that harboring ?calan and letting him use the border passes, meant supporting him in carrying out murders and sabotages in Turkey.
When Assad denied any knowledge of ?calan’s presence in Syria, Demirel made a move very rare in diplomacy. He produced a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and gave it to Assad. The Damascus address and telephone numbers of ?calan – provided by the Turkish intelligence - was written on it. “We can call him right now, if you want,” Demirel told his Syrian counterpart, who in return silently looked at the paper, folded it and put it in his jacket pocket, without saying a word. This journalist remembers, like other colleagues in the room, how the face of the then Syrian Foreign Minister Faruk al-Shara’s turned white as Demirel was told the story to the media.
Syria did nothing, but continued to give support to the PKK, as a part of the Baathist foreign policy: Damascus did not have a strong economy, an organized army or a pluralist democracy, so the only foreign policy asset – other than strong links with Iran, which provided leverage in Lebanon - was to harbor armed organizations from all countries in the region in order not to give them a break.