Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 10:40 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Marla English aka Marilyn Blanchard in "Voodoo Woman (1957)" aka Vicki Craig in "Three Bad Sisters (1956)" aka Audrey Barton in "Runaway Daughters (1956)" aka Patty Winters in "Shield for Murder (1954)" aka Andrea Talbott in "The She-Creature (1956)" aka Lynn Novak in "A Strange Adventure (1956)" aka Wild Willow in "Flesh and the Spur (1957)" aka Zara in "Desert Sands (1955)" aka Sami in "Hell's Horizon (1955)" (age 78)
By popular request, I've added a Facebook "Like" function to each article. Having it drags the load time for the main page, so I might take it off and just leave it on individual article pages. Let me know what you think and if there are any problems.
[Iran Press TV] A series of bomb kabooms have left at least 13 people, including a child, dead in Afghanistan's southern city of Kandahar, Afghan officials say.
Two blasts occurred at a central intersection in Kandahar on Tuesday evening.
The blasts killed five civilians, among them a child, and three coppers, said provincial front man Faisal Ahmad. More than 10 other people were maimed in the two bombings.
Another kaboom in Kandahar on Tuesday morning claimed the lives of four civilians and one policeman.
The killing of Afghan civilians by blasts and US-led foreign forces has prompted anti-US demonstrations in the country. The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the pretext of combating terrorism and toppling the Taliban regime.
However, some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go... insecurity continues to rise across Afghanistan despite the presence of thousands of US-led foreign forces in the country.
Washington has turned to negotiations with Talibs after ten years of the waging war on Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[An Nahar] Armed festivities erupted in the center of the Libyan capital Tripoli on Tuesday, killing two, as gunnies traded anti-aircraft and heavy machinegun fire, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wine tasting, Vince was about to start tasting his third quart... Al-Arabiya television reported that six people were killed in the fighting.
Clashes broke out at a building used as intelligence headquarters by the former regime of slain strongman Muammar Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later... , which was surrounded by former rebel fighters who toppled him last year.
Massoud al-Khadar, a member of a local militia, told Agence La Belle France Presse: "Two of our (fighters) were killed in the festivities which began this morning."
He said the violence started when a rival militia from Misrata attacked his group based near the former intelligence building.
Ex-rebels who remain organized in militia brigades are visible in many parts of the Libyan capital, and some have taken control of former government buildings, using them as headquarters.
But witnesses near the scene told AFP earlier that forces linked to the new government's interior ministry may have tried to retake the intelligence building on Tuesday, provoking a clash with the militia group that is currently occupying it.
While those reports could not be independently verified, the interior ministry declined to comment when contacted by AFP, saying only that it would comment on the festivities later Tuesday.
AFP sources said faceless myrmidons had blocked traffic from reaching the building, even as two ambulances tried to access the area of unrest, with witnesses reporting a number of injuries.
Many gunnies could also be seen circulating in the area and the situation remained chaotic, according to AFP news hounds on the scene.
A vehicle belonging to a former rebel group based in the area and equipped with a microphone and loudspeakers was touring the neighborhood's streets, urging residents who are not armed to leave.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
[Emirates 24/7] Five Yemeni soldiers and a girl were killed on Tuesday in festivities with alleged Al-Qaeda gunnies on the outskirts of the restive southern city of Zinjibar, military and local officials said.
The five soldiers, including an officer, were killed in fighting with members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Partisans of Sharia, the military source said.
A local official claimed that nine members of the Islamist group were killed Tuesday in bombing by the army that targeted a house in which they were hiding, in the suburbs of Zinjibar.
AFP could not verify the toll with medical sources.
The local official said a girl, aged 16, was killed in the bombing.
Zinjibar is the capital of the southern Abyan province, a stronghold of Al-Qaeda, and has been the scene of frequent fighting between troops and Islamist beturbanned goons since May.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
Three North Koreans who attempted to cross the border were shot to death over the weekend, a North Korean human rights group said Monday.
Do Hee-yoon, head of the CitizensĀ Coalition for the Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees in South Korea, said, ĀThree North Korean men crossing the Yalu River to China were shot dead by North Korean border guards at 5 p.m. Saturday,Ā adding he heard the news from a source in Changbai, China.
The killings occurred a day after North Korea`s new leader Suet Face Kim Jong Un was appointed supreme commander of the armed forces Friday. Pyongyang has reportedly tightened border controls and increased surveillance over those trying to escape since Kim Jong IlĀs death.
Wouldn't do for anyone to run out on Pudgy's coronation. Shows a certain..lack of respect...
Saturday`s deaths were the first killings of border-crossing defectors under the Kim Jong Un government.
But won't be the last...
ĀThe border guards shot three 40-something men crossing the frozen Yalu river when it got dark, and they took away the dead bodies,Ā Do said, adding, ĀPeople were waiting for the defectors on the Chinese side but there was nothing they could do.Ā
The upstream of the Yalu River in Hyesan of North Korea`s Ryanggang Province is a route preferred by defectors because of its narrow width.
The incident could serve as a harbinger of stricter border control in North Korea.
ĀIt has become tougher to call North Koreans in the border region with a cellphone since the end of last year,Ā a source from the North said. ĀPyongyang has increased jamming to disrupt cellphone use as part of its tighter control.Ā
Unlike the past that families have tried to escape North Korea together, the three men`s try to escape reflects the North`s stricter border control given that women and children are physically weaker than men.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
[Dawn] Pakistain police on Tuesday charged three Iranian border guards with the murder of a Pak man rubbed out on Sunday in a cross-border attack in the country's southwest.
The three guards were held late Sunday in southwestern Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province along the Iranian border after they allegedly crossed the frontier and shot at a car, killing a Pak national.
Police said they had charged the Iranians following a written complaint from the father of the victim.
"We have registered a murder case against the three Iranians and will present them in court," said Abdul Malik, officer in charge of the Mazan Sar Mashkail area, where the three were tossed in the clink.
A brother of the victim was also maimed by gunshots in the incident, police said.
The Iranians reached the area in Washuk district, three kilometres (two miles) inside Pakistain, where they opened fire on a vehicle they were chasing, according to officials in the cut-thoat-hit province.
Mazan Sar Mashkail is around 600 kilometres (370 miles) southwest of Quetta, Balochistan's main town, which borders Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province.
Pak officials said the Iranian guards were trying to take both Pak nationals back into Iran.
Malik said the three Iranians were in the custody of Pakistain paramilitary Frontier Corps and a request has been sent to hand them over to police.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
It's always the last one committing a foul that gets caught. Were those Iranians acting under orders or where they showing "initiative"? E.g., did a drug deal go bad?
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
01/04/2012 16:04 Comments ||
Top||
#2
How do we know that the coppers weren't called in as a result of The Dreaded Iranian Drone of Death and the cross-border fire was directed by siad Drone.......
happened once according to some, it could happen again.
[Dawn] Two people were killed and 24 were maimed in a blast which took place outside an internet cafe located at the University Road in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, DawnNews reported.
The internet cafe was situated in the basement of the Azam Tower building at University Road.
According to sources, the bomb was planted on a cycle of violence parked outside the cafe.
Rescue officials shifted the injured to the Khyber Teaching Hospital, hospital sources said.
The bomb disposal squad said that five kilograms of explosives were used in the blast.
Moreover, windows of the several offices and shops situated in the area were broken as a result of the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[Dawn] Four people, including a Khasadar force official, were killed in a remote-controlled blast in the northwestern tribal region of Khyber on Tuesday, DawnNews reported.
Five people were also injured in the blast that took place at the Bacha Khan Chawk located in Landi Kotal.
According to sources in the political administration, a vehicle of the Khasadar force was targeted by a remote-controlled bomb which resulted in the casualties.
Moreover, two cars were destroyed and shops situated in the area were also damaged in the kaboom.
Security forces reached the site of the incident and cordoned off the area. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami
[Dawn] All jihadi groups, in consultation with Islamic Emirate Afghanistan (shadow Taliban government in Afghanistan), have decided to set up a committee to set aside differences in their ranks and step up support for war against western forces in Afghanistan.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Taliban Shura held at an unspecified place on Monday. A statement issued in the form of a pamphlet to the media in Wazoo after the meeting said: "All Mujahideen --local and foreigners --are informed that all jihadi forces, in consultation with Islamic Emirate Afghanistan, have unanimously decided to form a five-member commission. It will be known as Shura-i-Murakbah."
The committee comprises Maulvi Azmatullah, Maulvi Noor Saeed, Maulvi Saeedullah, Maulvi Sadar Hayat and Hafeez Amir Hamza.
According to sources, Azmatullah (Taliban capo in Barwan) represents the Waliur Rehman group, Noor Saeed (Taliban capo in Barwan) the Hakeemullah Mehsud group, Saeedullah (from Afghanistan) the Haqqani group, Sadar Hayat (from North Waziristan) the Maulvi Gul Bahadar group and Amir Hamza (from Ahmedzai Wazir tribe) the Mulla Nazir group in Wana subdivision of South Waziristan.
Spokesman for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistain Ihsanullah Ihsan confirmed that the meeting had been held and the statement dated Dec 31 was issued after approval by Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Omar ... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality... The sources said the committee had been formed to resolve differences among various cut-thoat factions, regroup them and investigate killings on spying charges and excesses, if any, committed by the Taliban against local people.
"All Mujahideen, local and foreigners, are informed that they should desist from killing and kidnapping for ransom innocent people and cooperate with this committee in curbing crimes. If any Mujahid is found involved in unjustified killings, crimes and other illegal activities he will be answerable to Shura-i-Murakbah and will be punished in accordance with the Shariah law," the statement says.
The sources said the high command of Pak and Afghan Taliban had been trying for two months to reach an agreement on uniting different factions. The first meeting in this regard was held on Nov 27 in Azam Warsak near Wana.
It was attended by Waliur Rehman Mehsud, Hakeemullah Mehsud, Mulla Nazir, Abu Yehya Al Libi and Abdur Rehman Al Saudi of Al Qaeda and Sirajuddin Haqqani of the Haqqani network.
The second meeting was held on Dec 11 in Dattakhel area ... which is owned and operated by Hafiz Gul Behadur... of North Waziristan. It was attended by Sabiullah Mujahid, Maulvi Sangeen and Maulvi Ashfaq from Afghanistan, Yehya Al Libi and Abdur Rehman Al Saudi of Al Qaeda, Hafiz Gul Bahadar and Maulvi Sadiq Noor from North Waziristan and Hakeemullah Mehsud, Waliur Rehman and Mulla Nazir from South Waziristan.
Talking to Dawn on phone from an unspecified place, TTP front man Ihsanullah said the Mujahideen groups had reposed their confidence in the leadership of Mullah Muhammad Omar and recognised him as the leader of Afghanistan.
He said the TTP would send its fighters to Afghanistan after March for waging jihad against "US-led infidel forces".
The front man denied a media report that the Taliban would not attack Pak security forces. "It was a misleading and incorrect report."
He said the meeting had decided that bully boyz would target the Americans and their allies in Pakistain as well as Afghanistan.
Ihsanullah said the Taliban would also take Dire RevengeĀ of what he called humiliation by security forces of tribal women, men and Mujahideen in the ongoing operation in Khyber agency.
It may be recalled that a rift occurred among Taliban groups when Mulla Nazir expelled Uzbek and Masud bully boyz from Wana subdivision after striking a deal with the government during the operation Rahe Nijat.
However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... Gul Bahadar and Maulvi Sadiq did not oppose the shifting of Mujahideen from South to North Waziristan.
AP adds: "For God's sake, forget all your differences and give us fighters to boost the battle against America in Afghanistan," senior Al Qaeda commander Abu Yehya Al Libi told Pak fighters at the meeting, according to a cut-thoat who attended it.
Yes, that will make everyone involved feel confident in the outcome.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > TTP SAYS NO RELENTING ON [suicide + general] ATTACKS ON PAKISTANI FORCES.
The Talibs claim to had agreed only to not target innocent civilians, etc. as per request of Mullah Omar, but did NOT agree to stop any suicide operations or its ideo, armed fight agz Pak security forces, TTP WILL CONTINUE AS USUAL ITS OPERATIONS INSIDE PAKISTAN.
[Iran Press TV] Israeli police have set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock four people on suspicion of their involvement in the killing of French chemist Elie Lalouz, a Tel Aviv court has revealed.
The suspects - two female escorts and their male friends - were taken into police custody in Tel Aviv last week following a police investigation, which revealed the involvement of the suspects in the crime.
The women reportedly confessed to the killing, saying that they drugged the 70-year-old chemistry expert and stabbed him to death in his Dizengoff Street apartment. They then put a plastic bag over his head and set his body on fire to cover up the evidence of the crime.
Police found the remains of Lalouz's body after neighbors called to report a strong smell of smoke.
Police also alleged that the two women's partners were also involved in the murder. All four suspects have Ukrainian nationality and are living illegally in Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#4
An group of Persian-loving Qaeda wannabes had claimed credit as a hit in revenge for something or other. I'm guessing it actually wasn't them, unless they pimp on the side.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 10:31 Comments ||
Top||
[Dawn] Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... monitors could hardly have confronted more tragic evidence of the bloodshed convulsing Syria than the corpse of a five-year-old boy laid out on a rug in a mosque in the city of Homs.
"His name is Ahmed Mohammed al-Rai," a man tells the two monitors. "Look at this. This happened despite the presence of the vaporous Arab League."
A mourner then pulls back the white shroud to show a bloodied bandage and a bullet hole in the boy's back. The scene was captured on an activist's mobile phone, posted on Youtube.
The deployment of dozens of Arab League peace monitors to Syria was the first international intervention on the ground in nine months of ferociously repressed protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... 's government.
But if it initially raised hopes among the opposition, the prospects of them bringing an immediate end to the violence were soon shown to be dim.
Three days into the mission, a harassed-looking monitor told a restless crowd in a mosque in the Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... suburb of Douma: "Our goal is to observe...it is not to remove the president, our aim to is return Syria to peace and security."
Footage of the incident was broadcast by al-Jazeera.
The crackdown by government forces appears to have gone on unabated since the first monitor teams arrived in Syria, with about 139 anti-government protesters killed across the country, by a Rooters count.
Syrian protesters, opposition leaders and foreign commentators are now questioning the worth of the monitors' mission, some suggesting it will merely provide a cover for further repression. The appointment of a general from Sudan, a country with a dire human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. record, to lead it has also cast doubt on its integrity.
What it can realistically do to force the Assad government to ease the crackdown and negotiate with the opposition -- and what it can do if he refuses -- is unclear.
A blow was dealt to the peace mission on Sunday, when an Arab League advisory panel said it should give up in light of the unrelenting bloodshed.
"This is giving the Syrian regime an Arab cover for continuing its inhumane actions under the eyes and ears of the Arab League," chairman Ali al-Salem al-Dekbas said in Cairo.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Emirates 24/7] French President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... demanded Syria's Bashar Al Assad step down for overseeing "disgusting" massacres against his own people, as an Arab observer mission came in for more flak on Tuesday.
The mission has been mired in controversy since a first team of observers arrived on December 26, with activists accusing Assad's regime of keeping the monitors on a short leash as it presses on with a lethal crackdown on dissent.
Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... chief Nabil Al Arabi, in his first remarks since the observers were deployed, defended the mission, saying it had secured the release of political prisoners and the withdrawal of tanks from cities.
However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... "there are still snipers and gunfire. There must be a total halt to the gunfire," he told news hounds on Monday.
The issue would be raised with Assad's government "because the aim is to stop the shooting and protect civilians," Arabi said, adding "it is difficult to say who is firing on whom."
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Tuesday that he was "sceptical" about the progress of the vaporous Arab League's operation.
"The conditions under which this observer mission is operating should be clarified," Juppe said, questioning whether the observers really had free access to information.
President Sarkozy also weighed in on Tuesday, saying Syrians should be allowed "to freely choose their own destiny" after facing what he denounced as brutal persecution that inspires "disgust and revulsion."
Sarkozy demanded the regime give the observers space to work, and called on the international community to "face up to its responsibilities" by imposing the "toughest sanctions" to force Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... to grant humanitarian access.
The Arab League mission has also been criticised by Syrian activists and opposition figures over the choice of a former top Sudanese military commander, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa Al Dabi, to head its observer operation.
Dabi is a controversial figure because he served under Sudan's President Omar Al Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... for alleged war crimes.
On Sunday, the Arab Parliament, an advisory body of the 22-member Arab League, intensified the pressure saying the monitors should be immediately withdrawn having failed to halt the government's crackdown.
"We are seeing an increase in violence, more people are being killed including children... and all this in the presence of Arab League monitors, which has angered the Arab people," said the body's speaker, Salem Al Diqbassi.
He urged Arabi to "immediately pull out the Arab observers, considering the continued killing of innocent civilians by the Syrian regime."
In his response, the League chief said Diqbassi's comments were an "important statement."
Arab foreign ministers could meet as early as next week to review a report expected to be submitted later this week by the mission's chief and to consider Diqbassi's remarks, Arabi said.
But he stressed the League would not back down from the mission and would be sending more observers soon.
"We have 70 observers in six cities who carried out 26 missions (so far). Thirty more monitors will join them within days," said Arabi.
Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said on Tuesday that the Arab League mission would evaluate the situation in Syria "in a more credible manner."
Medelci blamed "contradictory sources of information" for divisions within the Arab mission, referring to a weekend dispute when Dabi rejected a reported call by one of the observers for the immediate removal of snipers.
"The Arab observer team will be enhanced soon. We will have a more credible assessment of the situation," Medelci told French public radio.
"We want a real ceasefire so that the Arab League reaches out to all Syrians, so they can talk together," the Algerian minister said. "We hope these efforts will intensify."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[15 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] The White House on Tuesday condemned the Syrian regime's unrelenting violence against protesters, saying it was "past time" for the U.N. Security Council to take actions against Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... White House front man Jay Carney said Syria had failed to comply with standards set by Arab observers monitoring the situation, adding that "as sniper fire, torture, and murder in Syria continue, it is clear that the requirements of the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... protocol have not been met."
"Somebody ought to do something," he added. That's their famous leading from behind thingy.
He added that the moment had arrived for the international community to take measures against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... and his government.
"We believe it's past time for the Security Council to act," Carney said.
"We want to see the international community stand together united in support of the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," he said.
"We're working with our international partners to increase the pressure on the Assad regime to cease the completely unacceptable violence that it's been perpetrating on its own citizens."
Democracy activists have denounced the vaporous Arab League observer mission as "unprofessional," after the bloc's chief admitted snipers were still active in the country despite their presence.
The mission has been mired in controversy since the first observers arrived on December 26, with activists accusing Syria's regime of keeping the monitors on a short leash as it presses on with its lethal crackdown on dissent.
After weeks of stalling, Syria agreed last month to allow the deployment of observers as part of an Arab roadmap calling for the withdrawal of the military from cities and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees.
Despite the presence of the monitors, violence continued on the ground, with the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, saying another 11 people were killed in various parts of the country on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
#1
Was that "an expression of concern" or a "strongly worded memo?"
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
01/04/2012 11:15 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Expression of Deep Concern with Underlayment of Earnestness and Slightly-Masked Exasperation.
[An Nahar] Arab foreign ministers working on the Syrian crisis will meet in Cairo on Saturday to discuss the first report by an observer mission in Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... , the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... said on Tuesday, as fresh violence killed 10 civilians and 18 regime troops, according to activists and a rights watchdog.
"The Arab League committee on Syria will meet Saturday at the vaporous Arab League headquarters," Assistant Secretary General Ahmed Ben Hilli told news hounds.
"The meeting will discuss a preliminary report by the head of the observer mission in Syria, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, over the most important aspects collected by the team on the ground," Ben Hilli said.
The monitors are in Damascus as part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria, which calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees.
The mission has already been the focus of controversy since a first team of 50 observers arrived on December 26, with activists saying the authorities are continuing to press a brutal crackdown on dissent despite the presence of the monitors.
And the Arab Parliament, an advisory body to the League, has even called for the observer mission to be withdrawn because of the relentless violence.
But Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi has defended the mission saying it had secured the release of political prisoners and the withdrawal of tanks from cities.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, Odius Sepulcher called for war against the Visigoths... the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces rubbed out four civilians in the flashpoint central province of Homs, four in the central province of Hama and two in the countryside around Damascus.
For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces killed three civilians in Homs, even as state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported observers were in the Homs region.
The group also reported two more civilian deaths in Hama, and said 18 members of the security services died during festivities with army deserters in the southern city of Daraa.
According to the U.N.'s latest estimates given in December, more than 5,000 people have been killed in the Assad regime's crackdown on dissent since mid-March.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Al Ahram] The commander of Syrian armed rebels said on Tuesday he was dissatisfied with Arab monitors' progress in halting a military crackdown on protests and threatened to wait only a few days before escalating operations with a new style of attack.
"If we feel they (the monitors) are still not serious in a few days, or at most within a week, we will take a decision which will surprise the regime and the whole world," the head of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Colonel Riad al-Asaad, told Rooters.
Army defectors and armed rebels, loosely organised under the FSA umbrella, have began assaults on Syrian state forces in the past months, killing hundreds of soldiers in operations they said are meant to defend the uprising's peaceful protests against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... .
Asaad told Rooters last week he had ordered a halt to attacks on security forces to give the monitors a chance to operate and "prove that it is the regime that is the criminal". The president says his forces are fighting against foreign-backed "armed terrorists" that have killed 2,000 of his men.
The colonel, speaking by telephone from his safe haven in southern Turkey, said that the monitors' presence in Syria last week had not stemmed the bloodshed.
A Rooters tally based on activist reports shows that at least 129 people were killed in the team's first week. Other activist groups put the toll as high as 390.
"What is most likely now is that we will start a huge escalation of our operations," Asaad said.
He said it would not be an outright declaration of war, but "it will be a transformative shift in terms of the fighting and we hope the Syrian people will stand behind it".
The Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... began its one-month mission to Syria last week to check whether Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... was implementing a deal to withdraw troops from cities, speak to the opposition and release tens of thousands people believed to be jugged since the uprising against the president began in March.
The secretary-general of the vaporous Arab League, Nabil Elaraby, told journalists on Monday that tanks had been withdrawn but that snipers and gunfire continued to be a problem. He said the mission needed more time to work.
Asaad asked: "For how long? Since they entered we had many more deaders. Is it in the Syrian people's interest to allow the massacre to continue?"
The colonel also rejected the monitors' assessment that tanks had been withdrawn or that Damascus had shown any willingness to cooperate with the Arab initiative, arguing that tanks were still present on the perimeters of flashpoint cities.
"The regime hasn't stopped shooting and killing, they haven't released all the prisoners ... the first order was to send soldiers back to their barracks, not to surround the cities from outside," he said.
The Arab League said it had secured the release of 3,484 prisoners last week. Before the monitors' arrival, human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... group Avaaz estimated that up to 37,000 were in detention.
Asaad said he spoke to one monitor in Deraa but said the mission had yet to respond to his complaints, such as the 1,500 army defectors the FSA believes to be jugged.
Despite Asaad saying the FSA had ordered a temporary halt on attacks, at least nine state soldiers have been killed in three attacks, underscoring scepticism that army officers steering the FSA from Turkey are in full control.
Asaad said those operations had all been in self defence.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/04/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Iran Press TV] A series of bomb 
[Emirates 24/7] Five Yemeni soldiers and a girl were killed on Tuesday in 
[Dawn] Two people were killed and 24 
[Dawn] Four people, including a Khasadar force official, were killed in a remote-controlled blast in the northwestern tribal region of Khyber on Tuesday, DawnNews reported.
Wazoo
[Iran Press TV] Israeli police have 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Emirates 24/7] French President 
International Criminal Court
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] Arab foreign ministers working on the Syrian crisis will meet in Cairo on Saturday to discuss the first report by an observer mission in 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
