Tuesday 11 February 2014
Thursday 5 September 2013
Sunday 1 September 2013
How do you investigate CW attack in a foreign country in the midst of a civil war?
How do you investigate CW attack in a foreign country in the midst of a civil war?
This is how (article excerpts):
Satellite Imagery
On Aug. 21, regime forces were observed making further preparations for a chemical attack, “including through the utilization of gas masks,” according to the intelligence summary. Soon afterward, satellites and other surveillance aircraft picked up the flashes of rockets and artillery shells being fired from government positions toward rebel-held and contested villages east and south of the city. The first reports of a gas attack appeared on social-media sites soon after the projectiles landed.
....
Three days before the rockets fell outside Damascus, a team of Syrian specialists gathered in the northern suburb of Adra for a task that U.S. officials say had become routine in the third year of the country’s civil conflict: filling warheads with deadly chemicals to kill Syrian rebels. The preparations, as described by U.S. intelligence analysts, continued from Aug. 18 until just after midnight on Aug. 21, when the projectiles were loaded into rocket launchers behind the government’s defensive lines. Then, at 2:30 a.m., a half-dozen densely populated neighborhoods were jolted awake by a series of explosions, followed by an oozing blanket of suffocating gas.
Motive for Chemical Weapons
The document proposes a possible motive for the attack — a desperate effort to push back rebels from several areas in the capital’s densely packed eastern suburbs — and also suggests that the high civilian death toll surprised and panicked senior Syrian officials, who called off the attack and then tried to cover it up.
...........
Echoing the findings of a British intelligence assessment a day earlier, the report links the Assad government to “multiple” chemical weapons attacks in the past year, including a small-scale attack in the same part of the Damascus area that was struck Aug. 21.
It suggested that a relatively controlled use of chemicals had in recent months become part of the normal military strategy whenever government forces were unable to push back rebel offensives or break through defensive fortifications.
“The Syrian regime has used chemical weapons over the last year primarily to gain the upper hand or break a stalemate in areas where it had struggled to seize and hold strategically valuable territory,” it says. “We assess that the regime’s frustration with its inability to secure large portions of Damascus may have contributed to its decision to use chemical weapons on Aug. 21.”
Indeed, in the week before the attack, government troops had been repeatedly frustrated in their efforts to dislodge rebels from dozens of villages east of Damascus, despite the use of aircraft, helicopters and heavy artillery barrages. The fighting appeared to have stalled when, on Aug. 18, U.S. intelligence agencies observed a team of chemical weapons specialists being activated in Adra, a northern suburb “near an area that the regime uses to mix chemical weapons, including sarin,” the document states. The ordnance team was attached to Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, a military-run institute linked to Syria’s chemical and nuclear weapons programs.
Who's To Blame?
While unusually detailed, the assessment does not include photographs, recordings or other hard evidence to support its claims. Nor does it offer proof to back up the administration’s assertion that top-ranking Syrian officials — possibly including President Bashar al-Assad — were complicit in the attack.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nearly-1500-killed-in-syrian-chemical-weapons-attack-us-says/2013/08/30/b2864662-1196-11e3-85b6-d27422650fd5_story_1.html
The Phone Call Evidence:
The U.S is confident that Syria was behind the deadly chemical weapons attack after intercepting a phone call from a Syrian defence chief demanding an explanation from its chemical weapon military unit for the action, according to new claims.
Just hours after the attack last Wednesday an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defense exchanged panicked phone calls with a leader of the unit, demanding answers, according to website Foreign Policy. The phone call was intercepted by U.S spies according to the website, and is now the reason that America is confident that it was carried out by the regime.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2403778/Syria-crisis-U-S-spies-certain-Assad-used-nerve-gas-intercepting-defence-chief.html
Proof that chemicals been used before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6CZtF6pGvQ&feature=youtu.be (at minute 4 see Syrian official flag in bottom right corner)
This is how (article excerpts):
Satellite Imagery
On Aug. 21, regime forces were observed making further preparations for a chemical attack, “including through the utilization of gas masks,” according to the intelligence summary. Soon afterward, satellites and other surveillance aircraft picked up the flashes of rockets and artillery shells being fired from government positions toward rebel-held and contested villages east and south of the city. The first reports of a gas attack appeared on social-media sites soon after the projectiles landed.
....
Three days before the rockets fell outside Damascus, a team of Syrian specialists gathered in the northern suburb of Adra for a task that U.S. officials say had become routine in the third year of the country’s civil conflict: filling warheads with deadly chemicals to kill Syrian rebels. The preparations, as described by U.S. intelligence analysts, continued from Aug. 18 until just after midnight on Aug. 21, when the projectiles were loaded into rocket launchers behind the government’s defensive lines. Then, at 2:30 a.m., a half-dozen densely populated neighborhoods were jolted awake by a series of explosions, followed by an oozing blanket of suffocating gas.
Motive for Chemical Weapons
The document proposes a possible motive for the attack — a desperate effort to push back rebels from several areas in the capital’s densely packed eastern suburbs — and also suggests that the high civilian death toll surprised and panicked senior Syrian officials, who called off the attack and then tried to cover it up.
...........
Echoing the findings of a British intelligence assessment a day earlier, the report links the Assad government to “multiple” chemical weapons attacks in the past year, including a small-scale attack in the same part of the Damascus area that was struck Aug. 21.
It suggested that a relatively controlled use of chemicals had in recent months become part of the normal military strategy whenever government forces were unable to push back rebel offensives or break through defensive fortifications.
“The Syrian regime has used chemical weapons over the last year primarily to gain the upper hand or break a stalemate in areas where it had struggled to seize and hold strategically valuable territory,” it says. “We assess that the regime’s frustration with its inability to secure large portions of Damascus may have contributed to its decision to use chemical weapons on Aug. 21.”
Indeed, in the week before the attack, government troops had been repeatedly frustrated in their efforts to dislodge rebels from dozens of villages east of Damascus, despite the use of aircraft, helicopters and heavy artillery barrages. The fighting appeared to have stalled when, on Aug. 18, U.S. intelligence agencies observed a team of chemical weapons specialists being activated in Adra, a northern suburb “near an area that the regime uses to mix chemical weapons, including sarin,” the document states. The ordnance team was attached to Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center, a military-run institute linked to Syria’s chemical and nuclear weapons programs.
Who's To Blame?
While unusually detailed, the assessment does not include photographs, recordings or other hard evidence to support its claims. Nor does it offer proof to back up the administration’s assertion that top-ranking Syrian officials — possibly including President Bashar al-Assad — were complicit in the attack.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nearly-1500-killed-in-syrian-chemical-weapons-attack-us-says/2013/08/30/b2864662-1196-11e3-85b6-d27422650fd5_story_1.html
The Phone Call Evidence:
The U.S is confident that Syria was behind the deadly chemical weapons attack after intercepting a phone call from a Syrian defence chief demanding an explanation from its chemical weapon military unit for the action, according to new claims.
Just hours after the attack last Wednesday an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defense exchanged panicked phone calls with a leader of the unit, demanding answers, according to website Foreign Policy. The phone call was intercepted by U.S spies according to the website, and is now the reason that America is confident that it was carried out by the regime.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2403778/Syria-crisis-U-S-spies-certain-Assad-used-nerve-gas-intercepting-defence-chief.html
Proof that chemicals been used before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6CZtF6pGvQ&feature=youtu.be (at minute 4 see Syrian official flag in bottom right corner)
Tuesday 20 August 2013
What is your solution
Syria has been in a turmoil (revolution, chaos, conspiracy…call
it what you like) Close to 3 years now. Many errors were made, plenty of
accusations and judgments passed around, and plenty of confusion from all
sides.
Everyone (from either side) has been bashing the opposite
side/view. ¾ of Syrians (inside or abroad) are now political analysts (the
other ¼ either dead, disappeared or displaced); this is (most likely) due to
the fact that free political life with no strings attached to the regime were
none existence. People of Syria are now less scared to talk about politics and discuss
the regimes’ mistakes and corruptions; which in itself is a good thing. However
constructive criticism is what needed. Pointing out faults is not enough,
passing blame and pointing fingers will not resolve issues, and most certainly
blaming of a sect/ethnic group for all of our problems is out right stupid.
I hear so much criticism but not enough solutions. We need solutions
that will involve Syria; all of Syria and its people from all different ethnic
backgrounds. Such solutions can NOT involve more bloodshed nor will it
tolerate imposing ones views (shariaa law) onto others. Syria requires
solutions that are coming from the heart of its people, all of its people with
no exceptions regardless of their ethnic or religious background. These
Solution needs to guarantee basic equal rights to all. [Muslim (Sunni, Shiite,
Alawaite, Druze, Ismailis..etc) Christians (catholic, protestant, orthodox..etc)
, Arabs, Kurds, Circassians, Turkmen, Assyrian..etc].
Any decent human, with a bit of logic can tell you what basic rights are. The important thing to do is to eradicate the extremist element that exists within each group/ethnicity. Moreover; a reconciliation dialogue needs to be launched; in order to help grieving families overcome the revenge sentiment, and make sure that we do not repeat past errors/mistakes.
Any decent human, with a bit of logic can tell you what basic rights are. The important thing to do is to eradicate the extremist element that exists within each group/ethnicity. Moreover; a reconciliation dialogue needs to be launched; in order to help grieving families overcome the revenge sentiment, and make sure that we do not repeat past errors/mistakes.
Now; that we know what we need to heal Syria; I want to
know; can anyone (pro regime or pro opposition) provide detailed plans for
national reconciliation program? Does anyone have a plan to revive the economy?
Or a plan for government employees’ efficiency increase? Does anyone have a
detailed plan to restore agriculture sector? Does anyone have a plan to develop
a dependable industrial sector? Or at
least does anyone have a plan to relief Damascus traffic!?
Does anyone have a
plan for anything at all?!?! Other than planning to destroy the country and
chase its citizens away???
Does any one have a plan to stop this bloodshed.....other
than shedding more blood?????
Monday 25 March 2013
Monday 18 March 2013
Wednesday 2 January 2013
Tuesday 13 November 2012
Syria in Ruins
Al-Khalidieh-Homs
Derbies in Aleppo
Aleppo
Bustan al-Basha
Karm al-Jabel
Karm al-Jabel-2
Mazeh - Area 86
Ariha-Idlib
3Erbeen-Damascus
Aleppo
Aleppo
Bab 3amro - Homs
Bab Sbaa3-Homs
HOMS
Juret-al-Shay7ah-Homs
Salaheddin-neighborhood-Aleppo
Salaheddin-neighborhood-Aleppo
Yabroud-near-Damascus
Dier-Al-Zour
Taftanaz-Idlib
Sources:
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/category/syria/
Tuesday 24 April 2012
كافور
كافور قد جنّ الزّمان و إليك آل الصولجان
كافور جمّع حول عرشك كلّ من حقدوا و هانوا
أشبعت بالخطب الجياع فكل هادرة خوان
كافور قد عنت الوجوه فكيف لا يعنو البيان ؟
حشدت لطلعتك الجموع فهوّن الخبر العيان
هتفوا فبين شفاههم و قلوبهم حرب عوان
عضّت ظهورهم السياط فكلّ سوط أفعوان
الرّاكعون ، السّاجدون عنوا لك و المناهل و الجنان
القاطفون كرومهم و لك السلافة و الدنان
الحاضنون شقاءهم و لك المتارف و اللّيان
الظامئون و يومهم شرس الهواجر إضحيان
المالكون قبورهم لمّا عصفت بهم فحانوا
و دماؤهم لك و البنون فما الأباطح و الرّعان
و لك العبادة لا لغيرك و التشهّد و الأذان
كافور أنت خلقتهم كونوا _ هتفت بهم _ فكانوا
و الظلم من طبع الجبان و كلّ طاغية جبان
الضارعات إلى السماء و لا تجاب و لا تعان
كالأمهات الثّاكلات فعزّ شم ... و احتضان
و أد الهجير بناتهنّ فكل روض صحصحان
بين السماء و بينها ثدي الأمومة و اللبان
نسيت أمومتها السماء فما يلمّ بها حنان
كافور طاغية و في بعض المشاهد بهلوان
من أنت ؟ لا المجد الأصيل و لا شمائله اللّدان
لا العبقرية فيك مشرقة و لا الخلق الحسان
لا الفكر مؤتنف العطور و لا البيان و لا الجنان
لا السرّ عندك أريحي المكرمات و لا العلان
من أنت ؟ .. إن ذكر العظام ورنّح الدّنيا افتنان
من أنت ؟ .. لولا صوبة الطّغيان ، أنت إذن فلان
كافور عرشك للفناء و ربّما آن الأوان
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