High Military Alert Across Middle East Following Israeli Attack Inside Syria

Military forces in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan have raised their alert levels following an Israeli attack inside Syria on Wednesday.

The Arabic-language daily Lebanese newspaper Addiyar reports that Syria has moved troops to the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, the Lebanese Army has reinforced its southern outposts and Jordan has positioned troops on the Jordan River border with Israel, according to The Voice of Russia.

DEBKAfile reports that the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean is also on high alert. Its military sources claim that “Turkish units on the Syrian border are on high preparedness although Ankara played down the reports of the Israeli air strike in Syria, uncomfortable over the fact that the Israeli Air Force was the first external power to intervene directly in the Syrian conflict.”

DEBKAfile claims that U.S. forces stationed at the Turkish Incerlik air base, U.S. Special Forces deployed at the Jordanian Mafraq air facility and American, German and Dutch Patriot missile units on the Turkish border are also on high preparedness.

The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the attack. “If this information is confirmed, then we are dealing with unprovoked attacks on targets on the territory of a sovereign country, which blatantly violates the UN Charter and is unacceptable, no matter the motives to justify it,” the ministry said on Thursday.

Iran’s foreign minister condemned what he called Israel’s “brutal aggression” against Syria. “There is no doubt that this aggression is part of a Western and Zionist strategy to push aside the success of the Syrian people and government to return to stability and security,” Ali Akbar Salehi said in a statement.

Western media claims the attack targeted a Syrian military research center at Jamraya or a convoy of trucks headed for the Syria-Lebanon border allegedly carrying “game-changing weapons” destined for Israel’s arch-nemesis, Hezbollah. The BBC claims the convoy was transferring Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles.

Reuters portrayed the attack as “a warning by Israel to Syria and Hezbollah not to engage in the transfer of sensitive weapons,” but Dr. Ali Mohamad, editor-in-chief of the Syria Tribune news website, told RT alleged worries about chemical weapons in Syria are a pretext to destroy the al-Assad regime’s military research centers and make certain Damascus is unable to produce arms for its military or regional allies.

Mohamed said Israel is working with the CIA’s mercenaries inside the country to target and destroy Syria’s weapons capability.

Neocon media emphatically states that the Israeli attack targeted Syria’s chemical weapons. “The Syrian strike can be seen as a precursor to a strike on Iran as Israel demonstrates that it will take action if a WMD red line is crossed,” writes David Greenfield for Fontpagemag, a website published by former Marxist David Horowitz.

The attack considerably escalates tensions in the region and possibly sets the stage for direct military intervention inside Syria.

“The prevailing estimate in military and intelligence circles in Washington and NATO capitals is that the Israeli air attack on the Syrian military site near Damascus was but the opening shot for the coming round of military blows they expect to be exchanged in the near future between Israel, Syria and Hezbollah, with Iran possibly waiting in the wings for a chance to pitch in,” DEBKAfile speculates.

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
January 31, 2013

FSA Threaten To Use Chemical Weapons

A new video posted on the Internet is yet another proof that the terrorists in Syria, backed by foreign powers, have chemical weapons. The video, which was recently released on the Internet, shows gunmen holding cans containing chemicals and threatening to throw them at members of the Syrian army.

Also, recently, gunmen posted a threatening video that showed the bodies of rabbits that had died from inhaling poisonous gases.

This past December, the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Bashar Jaafari, from Damascus, expressed concern about the possible use of chemical weapons by terrorists against Syrian civilians.

Meanwhile, Washington has claimed, repeatedly, that the government of Syrian President al-Asad Basahr possesses chemical weapons and intends to use them against the gunmen.

Leaked documents from Britam Defence provided proof that Qatar suggested smuggling chemical weapons from Libya to Homs in Syria and using them to frame the Syrian Army, in addition to alluding to western preparations for a military invasion of Iran.

Documents also revealed that Qatar suggested employing Ukrainian mercenaries would be filmed pretending to be Russians captured by the so-called "Syrian Free Army" to embarrass Russia.

Dated December 24th, 2012, which is the date when certain media outlets claimed that Syria used chemical weapons in Homs, the information showed a correlation between the document and the plans that were set up.

The documents also alluded to the possibility of the appearance of Russian-speaking individuals claiming to be Russian military experts who will attempt to create problems for Damascus and Moscow, with the possibility of publishing videos depicting alleged Russian military personnel fighting alongside the Syrian Army who were captured by the terrorists, when in fact they're mercenaries of Slavic descent.

For almost two years, Syria has been submerged in anarchy caused by terrorist groups backed by foreign countries, including the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, which aim to create a pretext for foreign intervention in this Arab country and overthrow the government of President Assad.

WMD False Flag Prepared To Invade Syria

Alleged hacked emails from defense contractor Britam reveal a plan “approved by Washington” and funded by Qatar to stage a chemical weapons attack in Syria and blame it on the Assad regime, fulfilling what the Obama administration has made clear is a “red line” that would mandate US military intervention.

 Documents allegedly "hacked" belonging to UK-based defense contractor Britam (official website here) appear to show the company considering an offer from Qatar to use Libyan chemical weapons in Homs, Syria in order to frame both the Syrian and Russian governments. The plan involves using Britam's Ukrainian mercenaries and Soviet-era chemical weapon shells brought in from Libya's large, Al Qaeda-linked, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) controlled arsenals.

Email hacked from Britam Server - Open Image In Large Preview

The leaked emails, obtained by a hacker in Malaysia, feature an exchange (click here for screenshot) between Britam Defence’s Business Development Director David Goulding and the company’s founder Philip Doughty;

Phil

We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington.

We’ll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have. They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.

Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?

Kind regards
David

The fact that the plan involves delivering a CW (chemical weapon) that is “similar to those Assad should have,” clearly suggests that the idea is to stage a false flag chemical weapons attack that could be blamed on Assad by Gulf states like Qatar and NATO powers.

If the claim that such as plot was “approved by Washington” can be verified, then the Obama administration is complicit in a war crime.

According to Cyber War News, which details the process of how the emails were hacked and includes screenshots of the leaked documents, the hack also uncovered, “extremely personal information,” including copies of passports of Britam employees, some of whom appeared to be mercenaries.

A full list of all the hacked documents can be found here.

Online business profiles confirm that both David Goulding and Philip Doughty work for Britam Defence.

Last year, reports began to circulate that that US-backed rebel fighters in Syria had been given gas masks and were willing to stage a chemical weapons attack which would then be blamed on the Assad regime to grease the skids for NATO military intervention.

Soon after in August, President Barack Obama warned that the use or even transportation of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would represent a “red line” that would precipitate military intervention. French President Francois Hollande followed suit, stating that the use of such weapons “Would be a legitimate reason for direct intervention.”

At around the same time, a source told Syrian news channel Addounia that a Saudi company had fitted 1400 ambulance vehicles with anti-gas & anti-chemical filtering systems at a cost of $97,000 dollars each, in preparation for a chemical weapons attack carried out by FSA rebels using mortar rounds. A further 400 vehicles were prepared as troop carriers.

The attack would be blamed on the Syrian Army and exploited as an excuse for a military assault. A March 2012 Brookings Institution report entitled Saving Syria: Assessing Options For Regime Change outlined this very scenario – where a manufactured humanitarian crisis would be cited as justification for an attack.

Yesterday, Israel’s vice premier Silvan Shalom told reporters that if Syrian rebels obtained chemical weapons from stockpiles belonging to the Assad regime, such a development would force Israel to resort to “preventive operations,” in other words – a military strike on Syria.

In December, a shocking video emerged of Syrian rebels testing what appeared to be a form of nerve gas on rabbits, bolstering claims that the rebels had already obtained chemical weapons.

As Tony Cartalucci also highlights, “Mention of acquiring chemical weapons from Libya is particularly troubling. Libya’s arsenal had fallen into the hands of sectarian extremists with NATO assistance in 2011 in the culmination of efforts to overthrow the North African nation. Since then, Libya’s militants led by commanders of Al Qaeda’s Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) have armed sectarian extremists across the Arab World, from as far West as Mali, to as far East as Syria.”

Last month, 29 different US-backed Syrian opposition groups pledged their allegiance to Al Nusra, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group which, as the New York Times reported, “killed numerous American troops in Iraq.

Numerous reports confirm that Al Nusra is the leading front line fighting force in Syria and is commanding other rebel groups. Given their prominent role, allied with the fact that the terror group has been responsible for numerous bloody attacks in Syria, the notion that the Obama administration would approve a plot that could see chemical weapons fall into the hands of Al-Qaeda terrorists could represent a foreign policy scandal even bigger than Benghazi-Gate.

In a related story, the Syrian Electronic Army, a separate hacktivist group, continues to release hacked files and emails from numerous sensitive foreign ministry and military websites belonging to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, including emails sent between these countries.

Qatar and Israel Sitting In A Tree...

By Armine AKOPYAN (Armenia)

During the whole of the “Arab Spring” and the Syrian war in particular, the Arab press has kept the actions of the emir of Qatar, Saudi Arabia’s royal family and the leader’s of Israel and Turkey in their crosshairs. When confronted with the published facts, it is possible to believe that not a single one of these sides is acting alone, that they are united by common aims and interests and in achieving these, it is the people of the Middle East who are paying with their own blood and their own futures.

Qatari Emir Hammad Bin Khalifah alThani

With reference to Syrian information sources, the Islam Times reports on the activities of a group of foreign agents in Syria. This group is serving the interests of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Israel and Turkey and consists of 16 members who are all citizens of either Israel, Turkey, Qatar or Saudi Arabia. Foreign agents have been operating under the guise of militant terrorists and the Syrian Freedom Army and have been kidnapping and murdering Syrians as well as Palestinian scientists and experts from a variety of fields. The Syrian army recently announced that seven members of this gang had been arrested and were being questioned.

A second gang of marauders has been putting rare museum pieces from Syria onto the international black market. Naturally, all of this is being done through Turkey. Factories are also being dismantled and and shifted to the Turkish territory. Trade in human organs is being established in Turkey just as it was in Kosovo at the beginning of the 2000s. The reluctant donors are Syrian refugees without the means to keep their families in Turkish refugee camps.

The head of the Saudi Intelligence Agency, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, along with the leader of the Lebanese opposition party and member of the anti-Syrian coalition “14 March”, Samir Farid Geagea, are playing an important role in destabilising and aggravating the situation in Syria and neighbouring Lebanon. They are the ones sending armed groups of terrorists to fight with Syria and after Syria has fallen it will become the Lebanese Shi’ites turn. In addition, the Arabic online publicationIslam Times also mentions Prince Bandar bin Sultan’s other activities as Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005; he only managed to get himself appointed as head of the Saudi Intelligence Agency after organising several fatal terrorist attacks against high-ranking Syrian officials. The prince is now dreaming of making it to the royal throne in his own country and the only way he will manage this is if Syrian President Bashar Assad is assassinated.

Lebanese oppositionist Samir Geagea also has his eye on the very highest post – the presidential chair – and the only way he will be able to achieve that is by removing the Shi’ite Hezbollah.  As the publication points out, Israel and the USA have been pushing for the “mutual cooperation” of both. The only effective way to achieve if not Assad’s assassination then at least his downfall is terrorism. Al-Qaeda and its offspring “Jabhat an-Nusra” are just the kind of convenient instruments that can help interested parties overthrow any state system sooner or later. It has been reported that two “Jabhat an-Nusra” instructors have undergone Israeli training.  The plan is that in the future they will not just be fighting Hezbollah, but Lebanese Salafists as well. Among the militants are also Kurds, who are under the command of the Kurdish leader within al-Qaeda. Samir Geagea sees yet one more advantage for himself as a result of the Syrian war:  the concentration of Syrian Christian refugees in the Lebanon could lead to a political shift in religious terms and prepare his own path to the presidency.

Since 2010, Americans and Qatar have been buying up weapons from tribes in South Afghanistan. This was reported to the Iranian press by Afghan middleman Habibullah Kandahari and besides him, the Americans had also ordered weapons from seven other Afghans. Kandahari reports that he personally had provided 4,000 units over a period of six months. These included handguns and other types of firearms, for which their former owners were paid large sums of money. The Afghan middlemen handed over the purchased weapons to the Americans at Kandahar airport and were told nothing about the future fate of the weapons. So as not to cause any unnecessary curiosity or suspicion, the Americans said that the weapons were being bought to guarantee the safety of their own soldiers from the local population. According to Habibullah Kandahari, he had noted privately that the Americans had never been attacked by peaceful civilians, only armed groups. Weapons in Afghanistan were loaded onto Qatar aeroplanes and then taken through Jordan to Syria, where they ended up in the hands of terrorists. Qatar aircrafts, the same as American aircrafts, were able to land at airports in Afghanistan without difficulty and even without the knowledge of the local authorities. During one of the meetings of the National Security Council, the country’s president even ordered that the total lack of authority when it came to the Americans be looked into and clarified who should give consent for Qatar and American aircraft to land in Afghanistan without prior agreement and how this should be done. An Afghan security expert notes that in 2010, nobody had openly bought such quantities of weapons and dispatched them to Jordan, but following the first peaceful protests and demonstrations in Syria in 2011, weapons had been bought up openly.

Elections for the 19th Knesset were held in Israel on 21 January and were won by the party of the current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli politician’s pre-election campaign was paid for by the emir of Qatar. Leader of the opposition party “Kadima” and former Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ehud Olmert’s cabinet, Tzipi Livni, told journalists that it had cost approximately USD 3 million. She also added that she was very close friends with the emir’s wife.

In getting rid of Palestinian leaders and scientists it finds undesirable both in Palestine itself and in Syria, and now paying for the pre-election campaign of an Israeli politician with extremely right-wing views, Qatar is aiming to close the Palestinian question for all Arabs once and for all and place it under the watchful control of the Muslim Brotherhood, or the Egyptian government, in other words. It will also tackle the issue of Jordan in the future, if the royal regime there can be toppled and power transferred to the Brotherhood. It would mean that the Palestinian question is laid to rest forever, since in the future part of the Palestinian population would have been resettled in Jordan and part of the population in Sinai. Which, as a matter of fact, is what the USA is trying to achieve with Israel.

The Lebanese coalition “14 March” has once again shown that it is not the interests of Lebanon that are being served, or even the interests of Christians, but centres that are completely strange and alien to Lebanon. The coalition’s activities are particularly damaging against the backdrop of the Syrian war, where anti-Syrian sentiment among part of the Lebanese population is escalating to such a level that it could spill over from the political arena into armed conflict and civil war.

With regard to everything that has been said here, one is reminded of a quote by Yitzak Rabin: “I would like Gaza to sink into the sea, but that won’t happen, and a solution must be found” . It seems that the Emir of Qatar and Netanyahu have come up with the same solution. And not just for Palestine…

'Muslim Brotherhood' Propped Up by U.S. Since 2007 Under Bush

In 2007, the Wall Street Journal published an article titled, “To Check Syria, U.S. Explores Bond With Muslim Brothers.” And even then, it was noted that the Brotherhood held close links with groups the US recognizes and lists as terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Al Qaeda.

McCain and Lieberman expressing their support for FSA and Brotherhood by wearing their Flag

The report gives a disturbing foreshadowing of US support that would eventually see the Muslim Brotherhood rise as both a political and terroristic power across the Arab World, after decades of hard-fought attempts to crush the sectarian extremist organization everywhere from Tunisia to Syria, from Egypt to Libya, to Jordan, and beyond. In fact, the 2007 Wall Street Journal article specifically noted that the US partnership could “destabilize governments in Jordan and Egypt, two US allies where the Brotherhood is a growing opposition force.”

Egypt is now run by a sectarian-extremist Muslim Brotherhood dictatorship, after the US incited unrest there in 2011, while Jordan is seeing increasing unrest led by the Jordanian arm of the Brotherhood.

What is also disturbing about the 2007 report, is that it shows how allegedly “Bush-era” policies transcended the 2000-2008 administration and continued in earnest under President Obama.

The report, written by Jay Solomon, echoes similar foreshadowing of the coming violent sectarian bloodbath now engulfing Syria, found in Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh’s New Yorker piece titled, “The Redireciton: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?”

Solomon begins by stating:

On a humid afternoon in late May, about 100 supporters of Syria’s largest exile opposition group, the National Salvation Front, gathered outside Damascus’s embassy here to protest Syrian President Bashar Assad’s rule. The participants shouted anti-Assad slogans and raised banners proclaiming: “Change the Regime Now.”

Later in the article, it would be revealed that the National Salvation Front (NSF) was in contact with the US State Department and that a Washington-based consulting firm in fact assisted the NSF in organizing the rally:

In the weeks before the presidential election, the State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, which promotes regional democracy, and NSF members met to talk about publicizing Syria’s lack of democracy and low voter turnout, participants say. A Washington-based consulting firm, C&O Resources Inc., assisted the NSF in its planning for the May 26 anti-Assad rally at the Syrian embassy, providing media and political contacts. State Department officials stress they provided no financial or technical support to the protestors.

Just like the Arab Spring, what was in fact foreign-backed sedition, was peddled publicly by professional PR firms with the help of a bought-off, complicit corporate media, as a “pro-democracy” uprising.

And while the Wall Street Journal then, just as the US State Department and the Western media houses are now portraying the Syrian opposition as representing a wide range of interests across Syrian society, it was admitted then, just as it is plainly obvious now, that the sectarian extremist Muslim Brotherhood was in fact at the very center of the “uprising:”

One of the NSF’s most influential members is the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — the decades-old political movement active across the Middle East whose leaders have inspired the terrorist groups Hamas and al Qaeda. Its Syrian offshoot says it has renounced armed struggle in favor of democratic reform.

The article would describe a fractured, disorganized opposition, must like the 2011 “National Syrian Council” (NSC) and its more recent US-Qatari contrived reincarnation, the “National Coalition,” whose only common denominator and prevailing ideology was and still is the sectarian extremism practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood. Similarly, the current “National Coalition” is headed by Moaz al-Khatib who, on Qatari state-owned Al Jazeera, openly admitted his aspirations of establishing an “Islamic State” in place of Syria’s current secular society. Al-Khatib also vigorously protested the US’ listing of Al Qaeda terrorist franchisee, Al Nusra, who is openly fighting as part of Al-Khatib’s “National Coalition.”

These are the “freedom fighters” then and now, that the US has been supporting, funding, and in fact arming. The most recent accusation of the US arming known-terrorists came from retired US Army General and former Special Forces Commander, William G. Boykin, who claimed the US is not only arming terrorists in Syria, but they are doing so by running guns through the terror emirate of Benghazi, Libya.

From the pan-Arab logistical networks NATO is using to flood Syria with weapons and terrorists, to the current leadership of the so-called opposition, and with documented evidence from 2007 of a US conspiracy to prop up the Muslim Brotherhood and other known, violent extremist groups in Syria to overthrow the government, it is clear that every aspect of the US’, UK’s, NATO’s, and even the UN’s narrative regarding the conflict in Syria is an intentional fabrication. Furthermore, it indicates a much wider deception – one involving the misconception that presidential elections bring in both new leadership, and new policies. The wars engineered under Bush, are being carried out under Obama, by the same policy makers from the very same corporate-funded think-tanksthat handed Bush his agenda years ago.

With French, British, and now US troops becoming increasingly involved in Mali, allegedly fighting terrorists with direct connections to the fighters armed, funded, and given diplomatic recognition by the West in Libya, and with the conflict already spilling over the borders with Algeria, one must recognize that an agenda is being carried out contra to both the will of the people and their best interests. Identifying the corporate-financier interests involved in this agenda, and both boycotting and replacing them with local alternatives is our only recourse. Clearly – as illustrated in the case with the non-transition, continuity of agenda between “right-wing” Republican Bush and “left-wing” Democrat Obama – elections don’t count. As proven with the “Arab Spring” and the US underwritten protests of the NSF – protests don’t either.

Tony Cartalucci
Infowars.com

Syria: Brave Nation of Survivors

Pravda.ru

The official Syrian news agency, SANA, was blocked for almost two months by the western ex-imperialists in their last attempt to falsify the news about Syria, grasping at the last straw that is swimming away in the tide of events. 

Recently, SANA came online again and can be read in five languages - Arabic, English, French, Russian and Turkish - on the internet. This shows that Syria is a cultured nation, with a long tradition of knowledge and learning. Most educated Syrians are not only bi-lingual, but multi-lingual.

It is very interesting to see how different the SANA news is from those that we are bombarded with on a daily basis by the western mainstream media. "Army inflicts heavy losses upon terrorists in several areas," was the top headline of the English edition on Tuesday, the 22nd of January 2013.  

The interested reader will find a lot of details, either pleasant or unpleasant to read, depending on the side he stands on. According to SANA, the Syrian Armed Forces inflicted heavy losses upon diverse terrorist groups in Syria.  

Terrorists were chased and killed in Darya, Damascus countryside. Several of their leaders were shot: Omran Moaddamani, Sameer abo Mohammed, Ahmed with the nickname of abo Muhajed and Ghiath aka abo Kazem.  

Furthermore, the Syrian Armed Forces foiled terrorists' attempts to detonate two explosive devices weighing 40 kilos, which were planted near the Syrian Television facility. The Syrian Army also destroyed five vehicles in Palmyra, killing all of the terrorists inside. More terrorists were pursued and killed in the Homs countryside, especially in the area of Ebl, al-Haidariyeh, al-Howeida, al-Gharbiyeh and Um al-Sakher. 

Some of the terrorists had the glorious idea of dressing up, maybe because carnival time is approaching in the west. They looted houses, disguised as Syrian Army soldiers, but the Syrian Security Forces outsmarted and arrested them. All the stolen gold, money and weapons were seized.  

The Syrian Defence Minister, General Fahd Jassem al-Frej, stressed that the Syrian Arab Army will continue to pursue and kill armed terrorists in order to foil the western conspiracy against the Arab Socialist Republic of Syria and its President, Dr. Bashar Al-Assad. On an inspection tour of Syrian combat formations, the General praised the high morale of the Syrian soldiers, who are bravely confronting the rag-tag terrorist hordes .   

Meanwhile, the civilians in Syria are doing their best to carry on with their daily lives. Temporary shelter centres have been set up for displaced children. To entertain them, an event called "Holiday of Joy and Creation" took place from the 20th to 24th of January, with artistic and musical workshops. The Syrian actress, Huda al-Sha'arawi, narrated popular damascene stories. The youngsters also enjoyed watching magic box and theatrical shows.  

According to Syria's Minister of Culture, Lubana Mshaweh, the Directorate of Child Culture is making great efforts to offer a wide variety of entertainment for the children in temporary shelter centres.  

They also receive psychological support to cope with the trauma of having lost their homes and families. The needs for the temporary shelter centres are provided by charities, the civil community and humanitarian organizations. 

The Syrian Minister of Culture furthermore inaugurated a new museum in Damascus. A prominent family donated their house, which was transformed into the Museum of Heritage Revival. The family of the scholar Said al-Arfi wanted to immortalize his memory with this project.  

The house contains precious Syrian antiques and heritage pieces. The museum has been equipped with special rooms where children can read, study or take part in courses of calligraphy and wood carving. 

The famous Syrian scholar, Said al-Arfi, was born in Deir Ezzor, in 1996. He worked as Mufti in the Euphrates Valley. In 1942, he became a member of the Arab Science Academy in Damascus. Said al-Arfi is the author of several books. During the inauguration ceremony, the volume, "Quotes from the Thinking of Scholar Mohammed Said al-Arfi" was signed. 

Last, but not least, football is still being played in Syria. The Syrian football team was proud to move up eight places in the recent FIFA rankings, from the 144th to the 136th place, with 237 points. They are still very far away from the top ten, of course, but this was an important step forward for the Syrian football team after it benefited from winning the West Asian Championship. 

However, things do not look so good for the so-called "Syrian opposition," as the Lebanese media, Al Manar, reported. Their meeting in Istanbul was postponed once more, and their plans of forming a "transitional government" in Syria were thwarted again. They seem to be on the transition to nirvana, or nowhere. 

This medley of 70 heads, formed with western and Gulf backing in Qatar, is lost in power struggles. The self-anointed chief, Moaz Alkhatib, flew to Qatar to beg for more money. If the beggar comes back with empty hands, the rest of the beggars might get lost soon.  

Sic transeunt tempora. As time goes by, the "transitional council" might transit to some other place and let the brave Syrians lead their lives in peace. 

Israeli, Saudi, Turkish, Qatari Spies Operating in Syria

A large number of spying cells from Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar are operating in Syria to help the armed rebels topple the Damascus government, sources said on Sunday.

Informed sources told the Palestinian al-Manar weekly that Israeli, Saudi, Turkish and Qatari intelligence officers, backed by the US, have infiltrated into Syria via the Turkish borders, adding that each spying cell is comprised of 16 agents. 

According to the sources, the main goal of the intelligence groups is gathering intelligence, specially in the form of footage and images, from Syria's sensitive and important sites, the country's military grid and power in particular.

The spying cells have also been provided with a list of Syria's prominent scientists and experts in different fields to kidnap and assassinate them, the sources said, elaborating on the mission of the multinational espionage operations underway in Syria.

Assad’s Clear Message: Tel Aviv Will Be Turned into City of Ashes

Two years on the disintegration of Syria, the solid center of the resistance axis, and away from failing bets on the fall of the Syrian regime, the speech of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad formed a thunderbolt to some Western and Arab countries.

They simply were slapped as their hopes turned into mirage. Al-Assad succeeded in cutting the rope of bets by the knife of firmness: The talk of toppling Syria are mere dreams.
In his honest and firm speech, al-Assad derived the words from ground evidences: The significant progress, achieved by the Syrian army in its confrontation with the armed groups, caused heavy losses in their ranks, despite the fact that the Syrian media was unable to portray this image due to the modesty of its means.

France, failure and Napoleon

Pravda.Ru

There is one thing the French are not very good at, and that is fighting, unless, of course, they join their FUKUS Axis friends (France, UK, US) in some cowardly attack against a country with porous borders, such as was the case with Libya. Two hundred years after Napoleon was thrashed in Russia we see Hollande crawling in the footsteps of Sarkozy...

The American War Against The Syrian State Without Prospects

From what has came out from the tripartite meeting in Geneva between the Russians, the Americans and the international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Friday, January 11, it is clear that the refusal of the United States to recognize the failure of the universal war that they launched against Syria and its president Bashar al-Assad, is a major obstacle that prevents a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

Bashar al-Assad Appeals to the Syrian People

France and the Gulf monarchies are bent on presenting Bashar al-Assad as a bloody tyrant and on blaming him for the 60 000 victims counted by the High Commissioner on Human Rights. Flipping this rhetoric, President al-Assad delivered a speech to the nation on January 6, 2012. He emerged as the leader of a country under attack from the outside and he pronounced the eulogy of the 60,000 martyrs. Symbolizing this claim, a Syrian flag composed of faces of the victims was deployed in the background during his speech.

Turkish FSA Stealing From Syrian Factories, Giving Away To Turkey

Turk FM and Hillary Clinton

The [Syrian] Foreign and Expatriates Ministry stressed that the robbery of a thousand factories in Aleppo and their transfer to Turkey with the knowledge and facilitation of the Turkish government is considered “an illegal act that amounts to piracy”.

The Ministry’s stress came in two identical letters it addressed on Thursday to the Chairman of the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary General on the robbery of these factories and the transfer of the properties to Turkey with its government’s full knowledge.

The Ministry described the robbery and transfer as “an act of aggression” that targets the Syrians in their sources of living and economic life.

“This act indicates once again the Turkish ambitions and the sabotage role Turkey is playing in the crisis in Syria, and reveals as well its intentions towards the Syrian people,” said the letters, adding that this act also “affirms [Turkey's] false claims in caring for the Syrians’ life and the major requirements of their living.”

The Ministry slammed these practices as “immoral” as they “constitute a flagrant violation of the principles of good neighborliness and non-interference in the countries’ internal affairs”.

“[These practices] are a direct contribution in a cross-border crime and acts of piracy, which demands an international reaction that should be up to the wide scale of damage caused to the Syrian people and their economic and commercial capabilities,” the letters added.

The Ministry reaffirmed that a reaction is demanded by the Security Council that should be up to the responsibilities and the obligations it assumes in the field of combating terrorism and maintaining international security and peace.

Such a reaction is necessitated, the Ministry stressed, in light of the support given by a neighboring country like Turkey to terrorism and the providing of helping conditions for looting Syria’s resources across the border and destroying the Syrians’ capabilities and sources of living, in addition to facilitating the exploitation of these capabilities for the sake of backing terrorism inside Syria.

The Ministry demanded that the UN Security Council and the UN Secretary General “issue a clear condemnation of these acts of sabotage and terrorism and take necessary measures to hold to account their perpetrators and the regional and international countries and forces standing behind them.”

This condemnation, the letters said, is supposed to “reflect the international organization’s rejection of any additional contribution by the countries that are hostile towards Syria to further aggravate the living conditions of the Syrian people and increase their humanitarian suffering.”

The Foreign and Expatriates Ministry called for taking all legal measures against the Turkish government to compel it to give back the stolen properties to their owners and pay all compensations to the affected according to the relevant enforced rules of the international law, in addition to getting it to immediately stop repeating such practices now and in the future.

Global Research News

Bashar Assad on Political Offense - Pravda.Ru

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was met by a jubilant crowd as a winner. Living on the edge of life and death, he appealed to the people not from a bunker and his office, but the stage of the Opera Theater in Damascus. This is an exemplary act of a real leader who wants to raise his people to fight against the enemy - international terrorism.

The Syrian leader said that he was one of the people and would always be with the people. He added that titles were temporary, but the homeland was eternal. Interestingly, his speech on January 6 came after two significant events: the visit of Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad to Moscow on December 27 and a meeting of UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi with the Syrian opposition that presented a new peace plan for resolving the conflict.

The results of the Russian-Syrian meeting were not disclosed. Senior Researcher with the Institute of Eastern Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Akhmedov said that its goal was to clarify how Russia would support President Assad, whose departure is demanded by the opposition. Bahrami plan, referred to as the "agreement between Moscow and Washington," was prepared on the basis of the Geneva agreements and provides that Assad will remain in power until the end of his term, that is, until 2014. However, his powers and duties will be reduced to the protocol, and he will not be able to participate in the next election. The plan was supported by the National Coordinating Committee for Democratic Change (NCC) that is not a member of the national coalition of the opposition and the revolutionary forces of Syria that the U.S. and hundreds of countries recognized as legitimate. Yet, the plan caused harsh criticism of the warring factions.
However, its content suggests that the West no longer insists on the immediate resignation of Assad. It is also clear that the Syrian president appeared inspired, presumably with the support of Moscow and less categorical attitude of Washington. The Syrian leader talked about several important aspects.

First, the legitimate president showed that he would not surrender his position and clearly identified the enemy of the Syrian people - "associated with" al-Qaeda "terrorists" that he described as "enemies of Allah and puppets of the West": "There are those who want to divide and weaken Syria. But Syria is stronger and will remain a united country. This upsets the West."

Second, Assad said that there can be no question about any negotiations with NCC. "Syria will be talking with the master, and not the servants," the president said, and rightly noted that the events happening in Syria could not be called a revolution. "Revolutions need ideas, revolutions needs leaders. Where are the leaders?" Assad said. The President also noted that any peace initiative should help the Syrians without trying to replace their actions.

Third, the President urged the people to rally around the army and put forward his plan of gradual recovery from the crisis. According to the SANA agency, in the first phase the regional and international forces should refrain from funding and arming terrorists who have to stop criminal activities in order to create conditions for the return of Syrian refugees. Only after that the army units would cease operations, while maintaining the right to respond to aggression. Then, the current government would direct and open discussions with all sectors of the society and prepare the National Dialogue Conference that would bring together all forces interested in a peaceful resolution of the crisis. The government should convene the National Dialogue Conference to generate a national charter that would confirm the sovereignty, territorial integrity of Syria, rejection of foreign intervention and the cessation of violence, wherever it may come from. This charter would outline the political future of Syria, its constitutional and legal system, the main directions of development of the economy, the new law on political parties in parliamentary and local government elections. The Charter will be put to a referendum, followed by a formation of an extended government that can implement its provisions.

The next step would be preparation and the referendum on the new Constitution. After its approval, the general government would pass the law on elections that would serve as the basis for electing a new parliament. Under the new Constitution, the government will be formed, general conference of national reconciliation will be held, amnesty to participants of events will be granted, the destroyed infrastructure restored and compensation to the victims paid. Assad has started to act, but to implement this plan, he should move on and try to find allies in the Arab world, not only in the face of Iran, set up headquarters to coordinate counter terrorism and conduct a broader information warfare. Videos on the Internet about the atrocities of militants and, for example, captured French advisers, influence public opinion. The fact that the pro-Western opposition would reject the proposal of Assad was obvious, and it happened, but the problem is that NCC does not have its combat troops. Free Syrian Army (FSA), the An-Nusra and other Islamist organizations are not subject to it and carry on their war with very different goals.

This fragmentation is the main hope of Assad. Every war ends in negotiations or surrender. NCC, in fact, is not in the game, and the Islamists should be forced to negotiate. There are grounds for it after the successes of the army in December. In addition, there is internal Syrian opposition that wants a dialogue, and he should bet on it.

The international response to Assad's speech came as expected. British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the appeal to the people of the Syrian president "more than hypocritical". The U.S. and EU also condemned him. Sky News TV reported that after the speech of Bashar Assad "Al-Baath" university students in Homs held an anti-government demonstration. However, they took to the streets in support of this statement, denounced Sky News SANA. Syria openly supported the Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. "In line with our position and to resolve the Syrian crisis by political means, Iran supports the comprehensive plan to end the conflict in the country proposed by President Bashar al-Assad," said the Minister.

Russian Foreign Ministry has not made any statements. On December 27 the official site of the office published a text of the spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

In particular, he said: "On the development of the situation in Syria. We strictly adhere to all agreements and believe that only the Syrians are able to develop a sustainable model for their continued existence as a single and independent state, and all the foreign players should help."

What If FSA Was Started In West, Against West?

Assad speaks. The reaction from the international community in general and the General-Secretary of the UNO in particular underlines the fact that the world community of nations does not speak the same language, does not follow common values and appears more like a Tower of Babel than a community, with everyone shouting at each other and nobody being able to understand a message. Is this the message we want as our epitaph for 2013 even before the year gets under way?

Once again the world is at a crossroads and once again we have the FUKUS Axis (France, UK, US) leading the way for NATO to follow, and once again we have an Arab nation on the other "side", in this case Syria, backed by the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People's Republic of China, who for sure by now have all seen the way the wind is blowing and in which direction the train is travelling and see that their own stations are further eastwards along the line, nearer to the epicentre of energy sources or geopolitical importance which the FUKUS Axis covets.

And once again we have the FUKUS Axis and the sycophantic western press obediently following suit blaming President Bashar al-Assad either for the trouble in Syria or else for not putting a stop to it by resigning. Resigning, and allowing the western-backed terrorists to win; kindly turn Syria into a Libya-style nightmare as one more powerful counterbalance to Israel is removed before the attack on Iran, first, robbing Russia of her Mediterranean base, second and constituting a united, cohesive western flank encircling Iran to the north, south, east and west.

Let us however see things as they really are and not the cloud cuckoo land that the west would have us believe through their manipulation of fear, through lies and half-truths, demonology and misrepresentation of facts. No, President Assad has not used chemical weapons - the ones planning to use them (and who allegedly already have) are the terrorists fighting against the Syrian Government, the ones who recently hacked a Christian nun to death, who are murdering Allouites, massacring villagers, torturing men and boys to death, raping women and girls.

Thousands of Syrian security force personnel have been slaughtered by this demonic horde of thugs. And who is supporting them? Why, the West of course. Who else?

So let us suppose that the citizens of the USA, France or the UK woke up tomorrow morning with a new reality, which goes something like this... a massacre takes place in Maryland, in Bretagne or in Kent, perpetrated by some seven hundred bearded young men armed with rocket propelled grenades and machine guns, who overpower the local police and military personnel and establish what they claim to be a Caliphate, declaring themselves the enemies of the Governments in these countries. How do Obama, Hollande and Cameron react? By stepping down?

No, they react by sending in their armed forces and using their Air Forces to strafe this demonic filth, endeavouring to destroy it before it can infest any more villages or towns. And as they do so, they are criticised by a Media bought by the "other side" which all the time is arming and financing and training what they call "rebels" and "activists" and "freedom fighters", spoiling for a chance to recognise them as the "legitimate government" and then declaring that they are the official representatives of the American, French or British people. Meanwhile their ranks have swelled by several thousand as terrorists from the four corners of the Earth pour in to claim a fat reward financed by the Gulf Cooperation Council, led by Qatar and the paragon of democracy, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The average citizen in the USA, France and UK deplores what is going on, and the people side with their governments, at which the "other side" raises the stakes, sends even more sophisticated weaponry to the "rebels" who have by now started impaling young boys on metal rods as they yell "Allaaaaaaaaaaaaaahu Akhbar!", have started slicing the breasts off women who refuse to wear the veil, have started raping young girls, committing arson, torching public and private buildings, stealing, looting, torturing, kidnapping and murdering.

Obama, Hollande and Cameron fight back, while the "other side" blames them for war crimes, since some of these "freedom fighters" are kids. With machine guns and machetes, but kids. The "other side" then send in their special forces to train their pet terrorists and instruct them how to use the weaponry they have been given.

After a while, growing swathes of the population, exhausted, declare they don't care who wins power, they just want the chaos to end while the United Nations Organization blames Obama, Holland and Cameron for "not doing enough to end the bloodshed".

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the Tower of Babel we have constructed as a mainstay of western diplomatic policy in 2013. And it shall remain as our collective epitaph for future generations. For the record, Obama, Holland and Cameron and their Foreign Affairs Ministers Clinton, Fabius and Hague are the perpetrators of this evil, not the victims.

We, the citizens of the world, have a word to say, or do we not?

In War We Trust!

1899, Philippines: Through the Treaty of Paris (1898), Spain gives control of the Philippines to the United States for $20 million. The Filipino-American War begins shortly after. Known in U.S. history books as the "Philippine Insurrection", it was America's first true overseas war, lasting from 1898 to 1902. In those 3 years, as many as 70,000 Americans die, along with close to 2 million Filipinos.

U.S. soldiers during the Philippine–American war

1914, Mexico: Mexican officials detain several drunken U.S. Marines from the U.S.S. Dolphin, which is docked in the port of Tampico, Mexico, after they accidentally enter a restricted area. The Mexican government quickly releases them, and issues an apology. Regardless of the regret expressed by Mexican President Victor Huerta, U.S. Admiral Henry T. Mayo demands that Mexican troops salute an American flag as a sign of contrition. President Huerta refuses the salute; three days later, President Wilson orders American warships to Tampico Bay. Wilson insists that his anger is not directed at the Mexican people, but at Huerta, "and those who adhere to him" because he refused to salute the American flag as an official apology. By the end of 1914, U.S. Marines had seized Tampico, forced an apology from Huerta, and demanded his resignation from power. Tampico, Mexico was considered the world's largest oil port in 1901. Some of the richest oil fields were discovered within a 100-mile radius of the port between 1914-1918.

U.S. battleships steaming toward Veracruz following the Tampico Affair

1914, Europe: United States claims to be neutral as Germany, France, and Britain engage in conflict; however, U.S. banks and weapons manufacturers continue selling to France and Britain, leading to the German sinking of the ship, Lusitania, and eventual U.S. entry to World War 1.



1945, Japan: The United States becomes the first country to use atomic weapons in warfare, killing thousands of Japanese civilians in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Concluded the United States Strategic Bombing Survey of 1946, "air supremacy over Japan could have exerted sufficient pressure to bring about unconditional surrender and obviate the need for invasion. Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts, and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey's opinion that ... Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russia had not entered the war and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated."

Atomic bomb mushroom clouds over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right)

1950, Korea: Without the approval of Congress, President Harry Truman sends troops to fight in Korea, asserting an inherent right to do so as Commander-in-Chief. The Korean War ends three years later, leaving behind 33,600 American casualties, 16,000 UN-allied, 415,000 South Korean, 520,000 North Korean, and an estimated 900,000 Chinese.

U.S. Marines fighting Chinese forces, December 1950.

1953, Iran: British intelligence agencies join with the C.I.A. to overthrow the Iranian government out of fears it will nationalize oil production.

Iranian soldiers surround the parliament building in Tehran

1954, Guatemala: Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, the democratically-elected President of Guatemala, issues land reforms which threaten the interests of U.S.-based United Fruit Company. C.I.A. Director Allen Dules, along with his brother, both have stakes in the company. It heavily lobbies the U.S. government to take action. Shortly after, the C.I.A. begins training rebels, and sets up a radio station across the border led by fake rebels to instigate a revolution. Eventually, the Guatemalan President is sent into exile.

Operation PBSUCCESS: the deposed Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán (1951–54)

1961, Iraq: Abdel Karim Kassem, leader of Iraq, threatens western oil interests, causing the U.S. and Britain to begin arming Kurdish rebels in the country. In 1963, Kassem is forced out of power, put on trial, and eventually shot to death. By 1968, Saddam Hussein takes power in the country, backed by the C.I.A.

Kurdistan Democratic Party

1964, Vietnam: The USS Maddox is gathering intelligence off the coast of North Vietnam when a group of North Vietnamese torpedo boats approach the ship. The Maddox opens fire, the North Vietnamese respond with torpedoes, but they are eventually driven away. The exchange prompts the US government and news media to report that North Vietnamese torpedo boats launched an "unprovoked attack" against the Maddox while it was on a "routine patrol".

US Soldier in Vietnam war

Two days later, Captain John J. Herrick of the USS Maddox sees two "mysterious dots" on his radar screen, determines they are torpedo boats, and sends an emergency cable to headquarters in Honolulu reporting that the ship is under attack. Shortly after, Herrick sends another cable: "Freak weather effects on radar and over eager sonar men ... No actual visual sightings by Maddox. Suggest complete evaluation before any further action taken." Less than an hour later, Herrick sends a third cable, saying he is now uncertain of what had happened; however, by this time, President Johnson is already announcing a major military escalation in Vietnam.

By the end of the Vietnam War, millions of Vietnamese civilians have perished, along with more than 50,000 U.S. soldiers.

1970, Cambodia: President Richard Nixon announces that U.S. troops are invading Cambodia, the country west of Vietnam through which the North Vietnamese are allegedly supplying their troops. For more than a year prior to the announcement, the U.S. had been conducting bombing raids in the country.

30 April 1970, President Nixon announced the attack into Cambodia

1982, Iraq: U.S. backs Iraq against Iran, supplying Saddam Hussein with intelligence, diplomatic aid, and chemical weapons (which would later be used to massacre innocent people).

Victims of Iran-Iraq war

1990, Iraq: In August, U.S. fighter jets, aircraft carriers, battleships, and half a million American troops are deployed to Saudi Arabia to defend against a possible attack from Iraq. Between its own oil fields, and those of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, western governments allegedly fear Iraq could gain control over the majority of the world's oil reserves. Dick Cheney secures the U.S.-Saudi occupation agreement, ensuring there will be no set withdrawal date from Saudi Arabia, thereby allowing U.S. forces to remain.

In 1989, it was revealed in a leaked memo that C.I.A. officials were collaborating with Kuwaiti officials in an effort to take advantage of the "deteriorating" economic situation in Iraq.

F-15Es parked during Operation Desert Shield.

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein eventually annexes Kuwait, triggering the first Iraq War.

Kuwait had been part of the Ottoman Empire province of Basra, and included much of modern-day Iraq. Up until that point, Iraq had not recognized Kuwait's sovereignty, and the border between Iraq and Kuwait had never been clearly defined.

The US ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, claims that when she gave Iraq indications that the US would not oppose an invasion of Kuwait, she did not expect Iraq to take "all of Kuwait".

1999, Yugoslavia: U.S.-NATO bombs drop over the country allegedly to prevent a "massacre", though this claim is challenged. More than 2,000 civilians are killed. There are indications that basic infrastructure is deliberately targeted during this campaign. For example, a statement by Lt. Gen. Michael Short, US Air Force, quoted in the Washington Post, May 1999, reads: "If you wake up in the morning and you have no power to your house and no gas to your stove and the bridge you take to work is down and will be lying in the Danube for the next 20 years, I think you begin to ask, ‘Hey, Slobo, what’s this all about? How much more of this do we have to withstand?’ And at some point, you make the transition from applauding Serb machismo against the world to thinking what your country is going to look like if this continues."

A street in Belgrade bombed by NATO

October  2001. Afghanistan: The United States begins bombing Afghanistan. Estimates suggest that nearly 8,000 civilians will be slaughtered by U.S. attacks during the first year of the invasion (for some perspective, that's a casualty rate which is three times higher than the 9/11 attacks [3,000 deaths] in less than a year's time).

US marines in Afghanistan

October 26, 2001: The Patriot Act is signed by George W. Bush, laying the foundation for "a domestic intelligence-gathering system of unprecedented scale and technological prowess", according to The Washington Post. Warned the United States Commission on Civil Rights, the Patriot Act "risks establishing a new generation of racial profiling in which a person’s ethnicity or national origin significantly increases his or her chance of being scrutinized by local law enforcement or detained at an airport".



2003. Iraq: 250,000 U.S. forces augmented by 45,000 British troops and small contingents from Poland, Australia, and Denmark begin attacking Iraq. The invasion ultimately results in 3,000 U.S. military deaths, and, according to Wikileaks, more than 50,000 Iraqi civilian deaths.

October 2007: U.S. General Wesley Clark gives a speech to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco in which he denounces what he calls "a policy coup" engineered by neocons. Clark says that after 9/11 he was told about a Pentagon plan to attack not only Iraq, but also Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran, over the course of five years.



February 2009: President Barack Obama, in his first major military decision, authorizes the Pentagon to send an extra 17,000 troops to Afghanistan. This "surge" is supported by Bush-era neocons Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan, and Dan Senor.



December 17, 2009. Yemen: U.S. cruise missiles are fired at what officials in Washington claim are al-Qaeda training camps in Yemen, killing over 60 civilians, 28 of them children.



February 2010: Obama accelerates the Bush-era aerial drone program. An exposé in the New York Times reveals that the Obama Administration considers "all military-age males [killed] in a strike zone" to be "combatants ... unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent."



Summer 2010. Iran: The Obama Administration launches a wave of cyber attacks against Iranian nuclear facilities, attacks which are by the Pentagon's own definition an act of warfare.




August 2010. Pakistan: A U.S. drone in Pakistan kills 20 people, "with at least four women and three children among the slain". At least 13 other civilians are also reported wounded, including a number of other children. Drone strikes still continue to kill more and more civilians.

Victims of US drone strikes in Pakistan

2011. Libya: The U.S. participates in the bombing of Libya to overthrow Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi, slaughtering dozens of civilians in the process.

Destruction caused by NATO backed rebels in Libya

May 2011. Libya: Just hours before the announcement that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan, Saif al-Arab, 29, and three of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's grandchildren, all reported to be under 12, are butchered by NATO/U.S. bombs in Libya.



October 2011. Yemen: Two U.S. citizens are executed without trial by U.S. drones in Yemen: one is Anwar al-Awlaki, allegedly linked with al-Qaeda; the other U.S. citizen is Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, the 16-year-old son of Anwar.



October 2011. Uganda: Obama will deploy U.S. forces to oil-rich Uganda.




August 2012, Guatemala: Obama deploys U.S. Marines to Guatemala to "help fight the drug war".



September 2012. Libya and Yemen: Obama announces the deployment of U.S. troops to both Libya and Yemen.



September 2012. Iraq: According to the New York Times, a unit of U.S. Army Special Operations soldiers are deployed to Iraq and more U.S. soldiers may soon be on their way.




October 2012. Jordan: The U.S. sends a "task force" of more than 150 "planners and other specialists" to Jordan.


U.S. troops arrive in Turkey
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/04/world/meast/syria-civil-war/index.html