Target Syria NWO's next acquisition The Middle East- WW III - Muslim Civil War

[Mark]

Well, it's almost 1:50pm(central time), any announcement yet?

Kerry is talking now talking about the YOUTUBE vids that were posted a day before the attack.

[Mark]

Kerry: Chemical weapons were used in Syria; administration has additional evidence of chemical weapons attacks - @AP

probably the same evidence that the UN has right? Bush had evidence also. Lets see what did Kerry call evidence that people manufactured to push an agenda.... hmmm.. something like swiftboating?

[Mark]

Kerry: Chemical Weapons 'Undeniable'

Secretary of State John Kerry says the use of chemical weapons in Syria is "undeniable" and that the U.S. is considering how to respond:

"What we saw in Syria last week should shock the conscience of the world," said Kerry. "It defies any code of morality. Let me be clear: The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity. By any standard, it is inexcusable. And despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured, it is undeniable."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-4ytokDz8U&feature=player_embedded

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/kerry-chemical-weapons-undeniable_750237.html

[Mark]

Competing claims on chemical weapons use in Syria

As Western powers try to verify claims that the Syrian government used chemical weapons this week in a northeastern suburb of Damascus, the Syrian government is accusing rebel forces of doing the same.
 
State-run television reported Saturday that Syrian armed forces had surrounded Jobar, the opposition-held district on the edge of Damascus that saw some of the 1,300 reported dead in Wednesday's early morning attack. Several of the soldiers were "suffocating" from exposure to gases as they entered the city, according to state TV.
 
"It is believed that the terrorists have used chemical weapons in the area," Syrian TV reporting, citing anonymous source. The government uses the term "terrorists" to describe rebel forces. John McCain's buddies
 
It showed video of a room containing gas masks and gas canisters that the Army said were discovered in a storage facility in Jobar. CNN could not independently confirm the veracity of the claims or the authenticity of the video.
 
Opposition leaders deny involvement in the attack, which they say killed hundreds near the capital.
 
The competing claims surfaced as a White House official told CNN that President Barack Obama was meeting with his national security team to discuss the alleged chemical weapons attack
 
"Once we ascertain the facts, the president will make an informed decision about how to respond," the official said on condition of anonymity. "We have a range of options available, and we are going to act very deliberately so that we're making decisions consistent with our national interest as well as our assessment of what can advance our objectives in Syria."
 
In an exclusive interview with CNN that aired Friday, Obama said the United States and United Nations inspectors were gathering information on the attack, but that preliminary signs pointed to a "big event of grave concern."
 
"It is very troublesome," he said. "That starts getting to some core national interests that the United States has, both in terms of us making sure that weapons of mass destruction are not proliferating, as well as needing to protect our allies, our bases in the region."
 
The Syrian government has steadfastly denied its forces used chemical weapons outside Damascus or elsewhere.
 
"We said it from the first moment and, here, we assure again that we have never used chemical weapons (around Jobar) or any other region in any form whatsoever -- ... liquid, gas or whatever," Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said Saturday in an interview with a private Lebanese channel.
 
Al-Zoubi went on to say that, on the contrary, his government is "quite certain that (the rebels) are the ones using chemical weapons."
 
The opposition, though, has a Rebel different view. Syrian National Coalition Secretary-General Badr Jamous said Friday that rockets -- some with chemical warheads and others conventional weapons -- had been fired into a heavily populated civilian area.
 
Most of the more than 1,300 reported dead were killed by chemical weapons, said Khaled al-Saleh, a spokesman for the umbrella opposition group.
 
Al-Saleh said that medical teams in the affected area had administered 25,000 shots of atropine -- a medication used to treat people exposed to the nerve gas sarin -- after the attack.
 
Video showed rows of bodies without apparent injury, as well as people suffering convulsions or apparently struggling to breathe.
 
CNN could not verify where or when the videos were recorded, and could not confirm the number of casualties.
 
Adding weight to the assertions that chemical weapons were used was a statement Saturday by Medecins Sans Frontieres, also known as Doctors Without Borders.
 
Three hospitals -- all supported by the international organization -- in Syria's Damascus governorate reported having received some 3,600 patients displaying neurotoxic symptoms last Wednesday morning, the statement said.
 
Of them, 355 reportedly died, it said.
 
"Medical staff working in these facilities provided detailed information to MSF doctors regarding large numbers of patients arriving with symptoms including convulsions, excess saliva, pinpoint pupils, blurred vision and respiratory distress," said Dr. Bart Janssens, MSF director of operations.
 
Patients were treated using atropine.
 
"MSF can neither scientifically confirm the cause of these symptoms nor establish who is responsible for the attack," said Janssens. "However, the reported symptoms of the patients, in addition to the epidemiological pattern of the events --- characterized by the massive influx of patients in a short period of time, the origin of the patients, and the contamination of medical and first aid workers --strongly indicate mass exposure to a neurotoxic agent."
 
How will the world respond?
 
On Saturday, world leaders weighed their options.
 
A Downing Street spokesperson said UK Prime Minister David Cameron -- who also talked with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper -- spoke Saturday to Obama.
 
"They reiterated that significant use of chemical weapons would merit a serious response from the international community and both have tasked officials to examine all the options," the spokesperson said.
 
The White House issued a statement on the same conversation, saying the two leaders agreed to "consult closely regarding this incident, as well as possible responses by the international community to the use of chemical weapons."
 
If the claims that Syria used chemical weapons prove true, a speedy response will be needed to prevent another such attack, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.
 
Hagel's comments Friday came after a senior Defense Department official told CNN that military planners have updated Syrian target lists.
 
And it was disclosed that a fourth U.S. ship armed with cruise missiles has arrived in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
 
Hagel addressed the issue aboard a military plane headed to Malaysia.
 
"We will determine at some point here very shortly what did happen," he said, according to a transcript posted on the Defense Department's website.
 
"If, in fact, this was a deliberate use and attack by the Syrian government on its own people using chemical weapons, there may be another attack coming," Hagel said. "A very quick assessment of what happened and whatever appropriate response should be made."
 
Hagel said the American military provided Obama "with options for all contingencies, and that requires positioning our forces, positioning our assets to be able to carry out different options, whatever options the president might choose."
 
He did not specify what those options might include.
 
Hagel predicted other nations would lend their support if the investigation finds that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against its people.
 
"This is an international community issue; it violates every standard of international behavior," he said. "That said, the United States has never given up its own sovereign right to protect its own interests."
 
The president has said he does not anticipate using ground forces in Syria. Other military options could include airstrikes by fighter jets or cruise missiles.
 
The Navy destroyer USS Ramage has arrived in the region, a defense official said late Friday. It was intended to replace the USS Mahan, but the Mahan will remain temporarily along with the USS Gravelly and USS Barry. All four are equipped with cruise missiles.
 
The president has authorized a limited amount of military hardware for the rebels in addition to logistical and humanitarian assistance.
 
A senior Defense Department official told CNN that options for direct military action include targeting al-Assad's capability to deliver chemical weapons.
 
Target lists could include government buildings and military installations, the official said, but the military must have flexible plans to target forces and equipment which "continue to move."
 
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, an advocate for a more forceful U.S. response to the Syrian conflict, has suggested that American air power could take out runways and planes used by al-Assad's forces that he said are "dominating the battlefields and the towns and the cities."
 
McCain also has advocated giving rebels anti-aircraft and anti-missile weapons to establish a no fly zone. But administration officials have cautioned that some Syrian rebel factions have ties to al Qaeda terrorists.
 
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said this week in a letter to a member of Congress that arming rebels requires "choosing one among many sides."
 
"It is my belief that the side we choose must be ready to promote their interests and ours when the balance shifts in their favor," Dempsey wrote. "Today, they are not."
 
Also Saturday, a top U.N. official arrived in Damascus to press the government to cooperate in the investigation into its alleged use of chemical weapons.
 
Angela Kane, the United Nations high representative for disarmament affairs, has been instructed by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to push the government to cooperate with the U.N. team already on the ground.
 
U.N. inspectors want to reach the site of the alleged chemical weapons attack quickly in order to gather evidence while it is still fresh. Opposition leaders say the reported attack killed more than 1,300 people in a Damascus suburb.
 
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Saturday the inspectors should be granted immediate access to the site "if the Syrian regime has nothing to hide."
 
"All the information available to us converge to say that there has been a chemical massacre in Syria, near Damascus, and to indicate that it is the regime of Bashar al-Assad who is at the origin," Fabius told reporters after meeting with Palestinian officials in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
 
Earlier, British Foreign Secretary William Hague suggested the delay in granting access was suspicious.
 
"This is not something that a humane or civilized world can ignore," Hague said. Our priority is to make sure the world knows the facts of what has happened, and that means the U.N. team that is in Damascus, only 20 minutes away, being able to get there and to investigate."
 
Rapid access is critical, since any evidence would deteriorate "over a matter of days," Hague said.
 
The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/24/world/meast/syria-civil-war/index.html

[Psalm 51:17]

Bush/Cheney use the same propaganda to invade Iraq.

Kerry helps his Skull and Bones alum Bush Jr to get re-elected in 2004.

John McCain is helping the rebels in Syria now.

McCain helped Obama get elected in 2008.

Kerry is currently the Secretary of State.

There's nothing new under the sun...

[Kilika]

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, an advocate for a more forceful U.S. response to the Syrian conflict,

The same McCain that said, "Bomb, bomb, Iran" in some sick joke play on words of a Beach Boys song? 

[Mark]

He said the evidence was “undeniable” that the Syrian regime had used chemical agents and then destroyed the evidence.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/26/20192545-kerry-accuses-syrian-regime-of-using-chemical-agents-destroying-evidence

What kind of new world order double speak is that? Guess that fits in with We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it and it depends on what the meaning of is is

Seriously? Are we are going to fall for this kind of stuff again? Undeniable evidence!! BUT they destroyed the evidence? that means NO evidence. Come on people.

[Psalm 51:17]

The same McCain that said, "Bomb, bomb, Iran" in some sick joke play on words of a Beach Boys song? 

I remember getting familiar with him at the turn of the century - one minute(around the 2000 election and shortly afterwards) he acted like he was warming up to the Democrats, then a couple of years later when Bush/Cheney wanted to invade Iraq, he warmed to this almost immediately, and then to admit he would accept being John Kerry's running mate in 2004 when asked.

And I believe he also was one of the "critics" of sex and violence in the media during the Clinton years.

Yeah, this guy is one slick snake.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/08/26/israel-syria-chemical-attacks/2699443/
8/26/13
Israelis ready gas masks amid Syrian fears

JERUSALEM – Israelis are streaming into distribution centers for gas masks to prepare for possible attacks from outside the country amid allegations that Syria used chemical weapons against rebels.

At the Hadar mall in southern Jerusalem, parents and children took time out for their school-supply shopping to pick up government-issued gas protection: plastic tents for infants, astronaut-type masks for children and full-fledged gas masks for teens and adults.

Every few minutes a new family arrived at the distribution center, which featured a simple desk where two black masks were displayed for training purposes. Above it, a large video screen provided step-by-step instructions on how to operate the various equipment.

The center said more people have been arriving in recent days to request the masks.

IN SYRIA : Snipers fire on U.N. inspection team

"I believe in God, but at the same time I believe we should be prepared for anything," said Rachel Asayag, a West Bank resident, struggling to carry home five boxes – for herself, her husband and three kids. "You do what you need to do."

Israel provides a gas mask to every Israeli, from newborns to the elderly.

Moriah Orenstein, a mother of three, said she had come to the mall to swap her family's tents and masks "because the kids have grown and what fit them then doesn't fit them now."

Orenstein said being prepared "makes us feel better. God forbid we should need them."

Israelis questioned say they hope the United States will try to destroy Syria's chemical weapons arsenal after the alleged chemical weapons attack last week. Doctors Without Borders, a humanitarian group based in France, said the attack killed more than 350 Syrian civilians.

Syrian President Basher Assad and Syrian rebels blame each other for the deaths.

Assad is believed to be in possession of massive quantities of chemical weapons and agents, according to the United Nations. On Monday, Assad allowed members of a U.N. team to inspect the site of the attack in Damascus.

Israeli officials are concerned about the chemical weapons getting into the hands of anti-Israel terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon and fought two wars against Israel.

"The time has come to make a joint effort to take out all the chemical weapons from Syria," Israeli President Shimon Peres said. "They cannot remain there, whether in the hands of Assad or the hands of other people."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country is ready for any eventuality but did not elaborate.

"Our finger is a responsible finger, and if necessary it can be on the trigger," he said. "We will always know to protect our citizens."

Oren Sher, who mans a lottery kiosk in the mall, said he'd read media reports linking an American military strike against Syria with a Syrian retaliation against Israel.

"I'm really not afraid, and I haven't had a gas mask since the army," he said. "I'm following the news but when it comes to action against Syria, I'm neutral."

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/26/syria-warplanes-cyprus-tensions-damascus
8/26/13
Syria crisis: warplanes spotted in Cyprus as tensions rise in Damascus

Signs of advanced readiness at likely hub of air campaign as UN inspection team comes under fire near site of alleged chemical attack

Warplanes and military transporters have begun arriving at Britain's Akrotiri airbase on Cyprus, less than 100 miles from the Syrian coast, in a sign of increasing preparations for a military strike against the Assad regime in Syria.

Two commercial pilots who regularly fly from Larnaca on Monday told the Guardian that they had seen C-130 transport planes from their cockpit windows as well as small formations of fighter jets on their radar screens, which they believe had flown from Europe.

Residents near the British airfield, a sovereign base since 1960, also say activity there has been much higher than normal over the past 48 hours.

If an order to attack targets in Syria is given, Cyprus is likely to be a hub of the air campaign. The arrival of warplanes suggests that advanced readiness – at the very least – has been ordered by Whitehall as David Cameron, Barack Obama and European leaders step up their rhetoric against Bashar al-Assad, whose armed forces they accuse of carrying out the chemical weapons attack last Wednesday that killed many hundreds in eastern Damascus.

The standoff between Syria and the west intensified when a UN inspection team came under sniper fire as it approached the site of the suspected chemical weapons attack.

A spokesman for the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said the vehicle was "deliberately shot at multiple times" by unidentified snipers while travelling in the buffer zone between rebel and government-controlled territory.

After replacing the vehicle, the team returned to the area, where they met and took samples from victims of the apparent poisoning. The attack on the inspectors came shortly after Ban said there could be "no impunity" for the use of chemical weapons, saying the international community owed it to the families of the victims to take action in Syria.

Speaking in Seoul, Ban said the UN inspection could not be delayed. "Every hour counts," he said. "We have all seen the horrifying images on our television screens and through social media. Clearly this was a major and terrible incident."

A Syrian doctor who runs a makeshift medical clinic in the Mouadamiya district of west Ghouta in Damascus, where the chemical weapons attack is said to have taken place, spoke to the Guardian by Skype after meeting the inspection team.

"The UN inspection committee was supposed to come at 10am today," Dr Abu Akram said. "The route between the Four Seasons Hotel [where the inspectors were staying] and Mouadamiya is only 15 minutes. But UN convoy was targeted by gunfire and when they are arrived we could see bullet traces on their cars. They arrived at 2pm."

He said there had been doctors with the UN team, who took blood and urine samples, as well as strands of hair, from the victims in the hospital. They also recorded statements on from the victims on video.

"They visited the hospital and talked to more than 20 victims," he said. "They were supposed to stay for six hours but they stayed for an hour and a half only."

Akram said he then accompanied the team to the site where a chemical rocket had fallen, where they collected samples from the soil and animals. "They took a chicken [but] they refused to take the chemical rocket," Akram said, speculating that the Syrian regime had refused permission for the team to take military hardware.

After an a hour and a half, the inspectors received an order from the Syrians to leave immediately, he said. "The security forces told the committee if they do not leave now, they cannot guarantee their security. They could not visit the main six sites where the chemical rockets had fallen and lots of people were killed," he added.

Akram said his clinic had received about 2,000 victims of the gas attack, about 500 of them in a critical condition. "Eighty people were pronounced dead at the hospital and I now have 20 victims in intensive care, he said."

The UN team spoke to his patients and asked them where they had been when the rockets landed. "Most of the people were civilians, sleeping at their homes," he said. "The committee did not visit any house in the district. We asked them if they could supply us with medical aid but they said that they do not have the authority to do so."

The US, Britain and their allies are likely to wait until the UN team has compiled its report and left Syria before carrying out any air strikes against the government. If the strikes go ahead, they are expected to focus on the strongest sinews of the Assad regime's power.

Hitting stockpiles of chemical weapons could appear more proportionate but that would bring with it the risk of dispersing neurotoxins over a wide area, potentially causing even more harm than Wednesday's gas attack.

For that reason, military experts think that if the western allies do decide to strike, they will aim to deliver a punishment and a deterrent against any further chemical weapons use.

To do so, they will probably concentrate their fire on the regime's greatest strength – the elite units on which it relies militarily and which are most tied to its chemical weapons programme.

Foremost among these is the 4th armoured division, an overwhelmingly Alawite formation headed by the president's brother, Maher al-Assad. It has its headquarters in the Mazzeh military complex in the southern suburbs of Damascus.

Another likely target is the regime's Republican Guard, another Allawite diehard unit, which is deployed around the presidential palace and in the Qasioun military complex to the north of the Syrian capital.

Much will depend on whether the chosen option is a strictly limited strike with a handful of cruise missiles, intended as demonstration of intent, or a more complex, further-reaching campaign involving waves of stealth bombers.

That would involve a huge amount of ordnance being targeted at Syria's substantial air defences, which include multiple arrays of Russian-made missiles. Such a campaign would dramatically increase the risk of causing casualties among civilians and perhaps even Russian advisers, who western intelligence officials say are present in Syria helping the regime's troops train on and maintain the anti-aircraft missiles.

Both options have shortcomings. The more limited version could be rejected by the regime's friends and foes as "pin-prick strikes" with political rather than military significance. The longer, more complex option threatens to drag the US, Britain and their allies into a more open-ended conflict that would help Assad to define his role as a bulwark of resistance against western imperialism.

[Christian40]

Bush/Cheney use the same propaganda to invade Iraq.

Kerry helps his Skull and Bones alum Bush Jr to get re-elected in 2004.

John McCain is helping the rebels in Syria now.

McCain helped Obama get elected in 2008.

Kerry is currently the Secretary of State.

There's nothing new under the sun...

[Christian40]

"UK and US military chiefs are drawing up a list of targets for precision-guided bombs and missiles to strike at the heart of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime. Defence correspondent Ian Drury looks at the options.

WHAT TARGETS WOULD THE COALITION HIT?

The favored option among top brass is for limited Western action using ‘stand-off’ weapons from long distance to disrupt Assad’s ability to carry out chemical attacks and damage his military machine.

Intelligence on targets would come from pilotless drones patrolling the skies above Syria and special forces on the ground.

Military analysts believe an attack could last between 24 and 48 hours and would target key regime installations.

These would include Syria’s integrated air defence system, command and control bunkers, communications hubs, government buildings, missile sites and Assad’s air force.

The dictator’s use of air power has been a huge advantage for the regime, and eliminating or weakening it would tilt the odds toward the rebels.

Other military options are airstrikes on Syrian units believed to be responsible for chemical attacks. Reports last week claimed the chemical weapons were fired by the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armoured Division of the Syrian Army.

This division, which has a military base in a mountain range west of Damascus is under the command of the president’s brother, Maher Assad.

WHAT BASES WOULD BE USED?

US-led strikes would be launched from warships or submarines patrolling in the eastern Mediterranean or Persian Gulf, or from combat aircraft that can fire missiles from hundreds of miles away.

A US Navy battlegroup including four destroyers is already in the eastern Mediterranean and has moved closer to Syria in preparation for action.

They are armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles capable of hitting a target from up to 1,200 miles away. Around 124 of the 18ft-long, £300,000 warheads were fired by US and British forces against Colonel Gaddafi’s forces during the Libyan war.

The US Air Force could also send B-2 stealth bombers to pound Assad’s military installations. Based in Missouri, they can cover the entire world with just one refuelling.

The most expensive aircraft ever – at a cost of £600million each – they are almost invisible to radar and can carry 40,000lbs of bombs.

As well as having F-16 fighter jets and refuelling aircraft based at airfields in the Middle East, the US also has defensive Patriot missile batteries positioned in Jordan, which neighbours Syria.

WHAT FIREPOWER  CAN BRITAIN OFFER?

Despite multi-billion-pound cuts to the defence budge that have seen top brass axe fast jets, warships, spy planes and 30,000 troops, the armed forces can still contribute to an assault on Syria.
The Royal Navy could fire Tomahawk missiles from its nuclear-powered Trafalgar-class submarines – one of which is constantly on patrol in the Middle East.

The subs carry a giant payload of the super-accurate missiles.

Heavily-armed RAF Tornados could in theory fly from RAF Marham in Norfolk to attack targets in Syria – a 4,200 mile round trip – or be deployed to Cyprus to launch bombing raids from there.

Carrying precision-guided Storm Shadow missiles, the air crews could devastate enemy defenses including radar stations, anti-aircraft batteries and supply lines."

http://www.trunews.com/daniels-biblical-king-of-the-north-nato-prophecy-could-be-fulfilled-in-days-and-lets-not-forget-isaiah-171-too/

[Mark]

Britain drawing up contingency plans for military action over alleged chemical attack in Syria - Downing Street http://t.co/X4M6WVMoCH - @BBCBreaking

Syria, Iran issue first explicit warning to Israel if US attacks

‘We have strategic weapons and we’re capable of responding,’ says official in Damscus; Russia: West has no proof of chemical attack

A senior Syrian official on Monday issued a first direct warning that if attacked, his country would retaliate against Israel. Khalaf Muftah, a senior Baath Party official who used to serve as Syria’s assistant information minister, said in a radio interview that Damascus would consider Israel “behind the [Western] aggression and [it] will therefore come under fire.”

“We have strategic weapons and we’re capable of responding,” he said. “Normally the strategic weapons are aimed at Israel.”

Muftah concluded with a warning that “If the US or Israel make the mistake of taking advantage of the chemical issue… the region will go up in flames… that will affect security not only in the region but across the world.”

more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/syria-iran-issue-explicit-warning-to-israel-if-us-attacks/

[Mark]

After Syria chemical allegations, Obama considering limited military strike

President Obama is weighing a military strike against Syria that would be of limited scope and duration, designed to serve as punishment for Syria’s use of chemical weapons and as a deterrent, while keeping the United States out of deeper involvement in that country’s civil war, according to senior administration officials.

The timing of such an attack, which would probably last no more than two days and involve sea-launched cruise missiles — or, possibly, long-range bombers — striking military targets not directly related to Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, would be dependent on three factors: completion of an intelligence report assessing Syrian government culpability in last week’s alleged chemical attack; ongoing consultation with allies and Congress; and determination of a justification under international law.

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/kerry-obama-determined-to-hold-syria-accountable-for-using-chemical-weapons/2013/08/26/599450c2-0e70-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_story.html?hpid=z1

[Mark]

Syria crisis: Russia and China step up warning over strike

Russia and China have stepped up their warnings against military intervention in Syria, with Moscow saying any such action would have "catastrophic consequences" for the region.

The US and its allies are considering launching strikes on Syria in response to deadly attacks last week.

The US said there was "undeniable" proof of a chemical attack, on Monday.

UN chemical weapons inspectors are due to start a second day of investigations in the suburbs of Damascus.

The UN team came under sniper fire as they tried to visit an area west of the city on Monday.

A spokesman for UK Prime Minister David Cameron says the UK is making contingency plans for military action in Syria.

Mr Cameron has cut short his holiday and returned to London to deal with the Syrian crisis.

rest: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23845800

[Kilika]

They threatened that over Iraq, then over Iran, and now Syria.

And we do business with Russia why?

They oppose the US all the time, siding with "terrorist states".

And we care what Communist China says why?

[Mark]

Syria accuses Kerry of lying, disregarding UN

Thats actually really easy to do, you see Kerry LIES almost everytime he opens his mouth

Syria on Tuesday said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was lying when he stated there was "undeniable" evidence of a large-scale chemical attack likely launched by Damascus, accusing him of disregarding the work of U.N. investigators.

On Monday, Kerry used tough language to refer to an alleged poison gas attack in Damascus last week, saying that an "international norm cannot be violated without consequences."

The remarks were the clearest justification yet for U.S. military action in Syria, which, if President Barack Obama decides to order, most likely would involve sea-launched cruise missile attacks on Syrian military targets.

Support for some sort of international military response was likely to grow if it is confirmed that Assad's regime was responsible for the Aug. 21 attack in the Damascus suburbs that activists say killed hundreds of people. The group Doctors Without Borders put the death toll at 355.

Obama has not decided how to respond to the purported use of deadly gases in the attack, but appeared to be moving ahead even as a United Nations team already on the ground in Syria collected evidence from the attack.

The Syrian statement published Monday on the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency, which acts as a government mouthpiece, said Kerry's insistence on "jumping over" the work of U.N. experts in Syria shows that the U.S. has deliberate intentions to exploit events.

It said Kerry has also "fabricated" evidence by accusing the Syrian government of non-cooperation with the U.N. delegation and of delaying their arrival to the sites that were allegedly attacked by chemical weapons.

The U.N. team traveled Monday to the western Damascus suburb Moadamiyeh, one of the areas affected by the purported chemical attack, where they collected samples and testimony after a treacherous journey through government and rebel-held territory. Their convoy was hit by snipers but members of the team were unharmed.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he had instructed U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane in Damascus "to register a strong complaint" with both the Syrian government and opposition representatives for the convoy attack.

U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said the team plans to go out again Tuesday to do more sampling, and activists said the team was expected in the eastern suburbs of Zamalka and Ein Tarma.

An Associated Press photographer outside the team's hotel in Damascus said he saw Kane and Swedish chemical weapons expert Ake Sellstrom leave the hotel heading to an undisclosed location, while the remaining inspectors stayed behind.

http://news.yahoo.com/syria-accuses-kerry-lying-disregarding-un-090217526.html

[Mark]

Syria crisis: Foreign minister denies chemical attacks

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said he rejects "utterly and completely" that Syrian government forces used chemical weapons.

He was speaking in Damascus after the US said there was "undeniable" proof of a chemical attack.

Mr Muallem said UN weapons inspectors had been unable to go to a second site because they were stopped by rebels.

The US and its allies are considering launching strikes on Syria in response to deadly attacks last week.

Mr Muallem told a news conference that if a military act was carried out against Syria, the pretext of chemical weapons would be false, baseless and groundless.

"They said the Syrian forces were the ones who carried out his attack. I deny this utterly and completely to [US Secretary of State John] Kerry," he said.

"There is no country in the world that uses a weapon of ultimate destruction against its own people."

The Syrian foreign minister also insisted the government was honouring all the pledges it made to the UN over access and protection for the inspectors.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23850274#TWEET869476

[Mark]

Syria says it will defend itself against attack

Syria's foreign minister said Tuesday his country would defend itself using "all means available" in case of a U.S. strike, denying categorically his government was behind an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus and challenging Washington to present proof backing up its accusations.

REST: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_SYRIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Wonder if that includes a nuclear bomb that goes off in Damascus as soon as the first US Cruise Missile hits? wouldnt that shake things up and really put the US on the spot....   

[Psalm 51:17]

Looks like there's a good chance that we'll see the destruction of Damascus before the rapture of the church.

If this is the case, we'll see how the modern-day, 501c3 church responds.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/27/20209022-military-strikes-on-syria-as-early-as-thursday-us-officials-say?lite
8/27/13
Military strikes on Syria 'as early as Thursday,' US officials say

Missile strikes against Syria could be launched “as early as Thursday,” senior U.S. officials said Tuesday as the White House intensified its push toward an international response to the suspected use of chemical weapons.

The “three days” of strikes would be limited in scope, and aimed at sending a message to Syria's President Bashar Assad rather than degrading his military capabilities, U.S. officials told NBC News.

News on the possible timescale for military action followed another round of telephone diplomacy by President Barack Obama and his administration.

Obama held discussions with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and French President Francois Hollande on Monday, while Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in addition to political leaders in Britain, France, Jordan Turkey, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

British Prime Minister David Cameron recalled his country's Parliament from vacation on Tuesday and said lawmakers would vote Thursday on a proposal for action.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told the BBC that the U.S. military was" ready to go" with any action ordered by the White House.

A U.N. team of inspectors, which is in Syria seeking evidence of Assad's use of chemical weapons, isn't scheduled to leave the country until Sunday.

The U.S. officials reiterated that any military action would not aim to kill Assad and would be limited because the goal would be to respond to the use of chemical weapons. Command and control bunkers, airfields and artillery would be targeted.

Kerry used unusually forceful language in a statement to reporters Monday, saying images that have emerged a suspected poison gas attackon Wednesday — of entire families' being killed without shedding a drop of blood, of bodies' contorting in spasms — "shock the conscience of the world."

He said there was "undeniable" evidence that Syria’s government had used chemical weapons to kill its own people, adding that “there must be accountability” for what he termed a  moral obscenity.”

He spoke hours after the U.N. team was deliberately targeted by sniper fire.

"Our sense of basic humanity is offended not only by this cowardly crime but also by the cynical attempt to cover it up," Kerry said.

The rebel Free Syria Army’s top general, Salim Idris, said Tuesday that air strikes were needed to stop Assad from launching more chemical attacks.

“If there is no action, we are afraid that in the coming days, not coming weeks, Bashar will use chemical weapons and chemical materials against very wide areas and, I’m afraid, to kill maybe 20,000 or 30,000 more people,” he told NBC News’ Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel.

Some U.S. allies, most notably Britain, have signaled that a quick, limited military strike on Syria could take place without U.N. Security Council approval. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that such a move would be "a very grave violation of international law."

China also said an attack on Syria would be “dangerous and irresponsible.”

“It is imperative that the United States and like-minded countries refrain from hasty armed invention and let the U.N. play its due part in determining how to act,” the state-run Xinhua news agency said Tuesday.

Separately, the U.S. postponed a previously-planned meeting with a Russian delegation scheduled for this week at The Hague. The meeting had been due to discuss a possible international peace conference on Syria.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said the postponement was “regrettable,” according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, North Korea tried to export gas masks to Syria but they were seized in Turkey along with arms and ammunition, a Japanese daily newspaper reported on Tuesday.

A Libya-registered vessel, identified as Al En Ti Sar, left North Korea for Syria earlier this year with the consignment, the Sankei Shimbun said quoting unnamed sources from the U.S. military, Japanese and South Korean intelligence.

The vessel searched in April by Turkish authorities, who had been tipped off by the U.S. Officials seized 1,400 rifles and pistols and some 30,000 bullets as well as gas masks apparently for chemical protection, the newspaper said.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4422611,00.html
Report: Russian ship and Syrian senior officials flee

Syrian opposition sources say ship left Latakia port, families of top regime members escape to Lebanon. Syrian information minister: If attacked, we'll defend ourselves
8/27/13

Syrian opposition elements claimed on Monday that a Russian navy ship, which has docked for a long time in the vicinity of the Latakia port, has left its harbor.

In addition, it was reported by opposition sources that thousands of family members of top official and figures in the Syria regime escaped to Lebanon and to Latakia. These reports were not confirmed by other sources.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi told the Hezbollah 's al-Manar network that "Syria has been under pressure since 2003," while the American invasion of Iraq was underway.

He added that the top officers from around the globe who met in Amman "are party to the aggression against Syira, through sanctions and allowing gunmen enter Syria, and on the question of armament."

The Syrian minister said that "these countries felt that all they have done until now was unsuccessful so they decided to attack Syria."

According to him, Syria will respond to any Western military attack. "If we'll be attacked we'll have no choice but to defend ourselves, and this is not a situation who hope for as it would just exact a cost from everyone.

"This war has no legitimacy, since the chemical weapons excuse is faulty and since there's a UN inspection team, which has started to do its job – ascertain whether or not there was use of chemical weapons, and if so, who used them."

The minister added that "the West has no proof the Syria has used chemical weapons. If the US has such proof they should present it."

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.timesofisrael.com/assad-regime-chiefs-families-fleeing-ahead-of-feared-us-strike/
Families of Syrian brass ‘fleeing’ ahead of feared US strike

Exit of regime chiefs’ relatives under way via Latakia Airport, Israeli TV reports; US said likely to warn Israel before attack on Assad
8/26/13

The families of senior figures in the Assad regime were fleeing Syria on Monday night, ahead of an anticipated US-led strike against regime targets, Israeli television reported.

“The families of some of the heads of the regime” were flying out of Latakia Airport in the west of the country, Channel 2 News said. The airport happens to be named after President Bashar Assad’s late older brother, Bassel, who had been slated to take over as president from their father, Hafez Assad, but was killed in a car accident in 1994.

Israeli media Monday night assessed that the likelihood of a US-led strike on Assad regime targets was all but certain in the wake of an alleged chemical weapons attack last Wednesday in which the regime killed hundreds of civilians outside Damascus. The Channel 2 report said that the US was believed likely to give Israel advance warning of any such strike, to enable Jerusalem to prepare for any repercussions.

The same TV station had reported on Saturday that the chemical shells last Wednesday were fired by the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Army, a division under the command of another of the Syrian president’s brothers, Maher Assad.

A senior Syrian official on Monday issued a first direct warning that if attacked, his country would retaliate against Israel. Khalaf Muftah, a senior Baath Party official, said in a radio interview that Damascus would consider Israel “behind the [Western] aggression and [it] will therefore come under fire.

“We have strategic weapons and we’re capable of responding,” he said. “Normally the strategic weapons are aimed at Israel.”

His words were echoed by Iranian officials. ”No military attack will be waged against Syria,” said Hossein Sheikholeslam, a member of Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly. “Yet, if such an incident takes place, which is impossible, the Zionist regime will be the first victim of a military attack on Syria.”

Nonetheless, Israeli military sources reiterated on Monday night their estimation that it was “highly unlikely” that Syria would directly strike at Israel in response to outside military intervention, since this would prompt an Israeli response that would “break the tie” between Assad and the rebel forces seeking to oust him.

Israel is concerned, however, that Syria might try to retaliate for a US-led attack via terror groups in south Lebanon or internationally, the sources said.

“Our hand is always on the pulse,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, condemning the alleged Assad regime use of chemical weapons, and threats from Syria to attack Israel. “Our finger is a responsible one and if needed, is on the trigger. We will always know how to protect our citizens and our country against those who come to injure us or try to attack us.”

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/10266957/Saudis-offer-Russia-secret-oil-deal-if-it-drops-Syria.html
Saudis offer Russia secret oil deal if it drops Syria

Saudi Arabia has secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia’s gas contracts, if the Kremlin backs away from the Assad regime in Syria.
8/27/13

The revelations come amid high tension in the Middle East, with US, British, and French warship poised for missile strikes in Syria. Iran has threatened to retaliate.

The strategic jitters pushed Brent crude prices to a five-month high of $112 a barrel. “We are only one incident away from a serious oil spike. The market is a lot tighter than people think,” said Chris Skrebowski, editor of Petroleum Review.

Leaked transcripts of a closed-door meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan shed an extraordinary light on the hard-nosed Realpolitik of the two sides.

Prince Bandar, head of Saudi intelligence, allegedly confronted the Kremlin with a mix of inducements and threats in a bid to break the deadlock over Syria. “Let us examine how to put together a unified Russian-Saudi strategy on the subject of oil. The aim is to agree on the price of oil and production quantities that keep the price stable in global oil markets,” he said at the four-hour meeting with Mr Putin. They met at Mr Putin’s dacha outside Moscow three weeks ago.

“We understand Russia’s great interest in the oil and gas in the Mediterranean from Israel to Cyprus. And we understand the importance of the Russian gas pipeline to Europe. We are not interested in competing with that. We can cooperate in this area,” he said, purporting to speak with the full backing of the US.

more

[Psalm 51:17]

8/26/13
U.S. Cruise Missiles Preparing to Strike Syria without Congressional Approval

The U.S. military is now moving cruise missiles into position for a possible strike against Syrian government forces, reports CBS News Saturday.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel says that this will give the President the position to move quickly if he decides to use a cruise missile strike against Syrian government forces. Sec. Hagel goes on to say that this is not an attempt to topple the Syrian government but to send a message to President Bashar al Assad that the use of chemical weapons will not be tolerated.  Hagel went on to tell reporters that U.S. commanders have prepared a range of “options” for President Obama if he chooses to proceed with military strikes against Damascus.

That statement comes on the heels of the United Nations now investigating claims that chemical weapons were used in several battles between al Assad forces and rebel forces in Syria. Among the chemicals reportedly used, sarin gas.  Reuters has reported that the nerve gas attack killed hundreds this week.  The Assad regime has placed the blame on al Qaeda fighters who call themselves rebels.  At this point, it is unclear who was behind the use of chemical weapons.   It is important to note that the “who” and “what” behind these chemical weapons has not been established.

Of course now the big question not being asked by the media, “where is the military authorization for any action against Syria?”  Once again we face the serious issue of whether or not the President has the authority to unilaterally declare military action against another nation.  The power to declare war does not belong to the President… any President.

At this point, however, it is not even the President who should be called out for attempting to act unilaterally against another nation. It is Congress that is once again standing by and doing nothing more than abdicating its responsibility. The Congress of the United States, and the Congress alone who holds the authority to declare war. Once again Congress will say nothing as this action is taken and merely react later.

The issue we face at this moment is actually bigger than the President himself acting without Constitutional authority. Congress is often called the “do-nothing Congress” and the term here certainly applies. It is the Congress that has not only the responsibility but the duty to act as the commander of U.S. forces in the Mediterranean orders Navy warships to move closer to Syria to be ready for that possible cruise missile strike. Congress has a responsibility and duty to decide if the United States will declare war against Syria. Clearly, the Syrian government has done nothing that requires the U.S. military to act to protect U.S. interests.

As I have told you the problem in Syria is dire. The situation there is much more complicated than the national media is letting on. And so far there is absolutely no indication of who is using chemical weapons the Assad regime or al-Qaeda back fighters affectionately called “rebel forces” by our media.


Read more: http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/08/u-s-cruise-missiles-preparing-strike-syria-without-congressional-approval/#ixzz2dBWLziRO

[Mark]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/10266957/Saudis-offer-Russia-secret-oil-deal-if-it-drops-Syria.html
Saudis offer Russia secret oil deal if it drops Syria

Saudi Arabia has secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia’s gas contracts, if the Kremlin backs away from the Assad regime in Syria.
8/27/13

The revelations come amid high tension in the Middle East, with US, British, and French warship poised for missile strikes in Syria. Iran has threatened to retaliate.

The strategic jitters pushed Brent crude prices to a five-month high of $112 a barrel. “We are only one incident away from a serious oil spike. The market is a lot tighter than people think,” said Chris Skrebowski, editor of Petroleum Review.

Leaked transcripts of a closed-door meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan shed an extraordinary light on the hard-nosed Realpolitik of the two sides.

Prince Bandar, head of Saudi intelligence, allegedly confronted the Kremlin with a mix of inducements and threats in a bid to break the deadlock over Syria. “Let us examine how to put together a unified Russian-Saudi strategy on the subject of oil. The aim is to agree on the price of oil and production quantities that keep the price stable in global oil markets,” he said at the four-hour meeting with Mr Putin. They met at Mr Putin’s dacha outside Moscow three weeks ago.

“We understand Russia’s great interest in the oil and gas in the Mediterranean from Israel to Cyprus. And we understand the importance of the Russian gas pipeline to Europe. We are not interested in competing with that. We can cooperate in this area,” he said, purporting to speak with the full backing of the US.

more

 

WHAT IS THIS?

Russia has more oil than the whole middle east combined.

[Mark]

U.N. team in Syria delays chemical weapons inspection

A United Nations chemical weapons team in Syria postponed a second day of inspections Tuesday for security reasons as the country's foreign minister challenged the West to produce evidence that his government was behind last week’s alleged chemical attacks outside Damascus.


The U.N. team decided to put off inspections Tuesday “in order to improve preparedness and safety for the team,” the world body said in a statement. The U.N. is hopeful of resuming inspections Wednesday, an official said.
 
On Monday, the U.N. experts visited one district southwest of Damascus reportedly struck in last Wednesday's alleged toxic bombardment. Sniper volleys damaged one of the team's vehicles, though no one was hurt and the team was able to collect samples, interview witnesses and carry on with its mission, the U.N. said

The government and the rebels exchanged blame for the sniper incident.
 
The U.N. reiterated calls for “all sides in the conflict to give safe passage and access” to the team. The inspectors must travel from the relative safety of central Damascus to outlying districts that are under rebel control or heavily contested between opposition and government forces.
 
Each side in the conflict has vowed publicly to cooperate with the U.N. mission.
 
The U.N. is conducting its inquiry amid reports that the United States and its allies may be preparing for a military strike on Syria in response to last week’s alleged attack. U.S. officials have given no indication they would wait for the results of the team's investigation on the ground in Syria.
 
Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem repeated the government’s denial of any involvement in last week’s alleged chemical attack, which according to the opposition left hundreds of civilians dead.
 
“We are all hearing the drums of war being beaten around us,” Moallem said at a news conference in the Syrian capital. “I dare them to produce any single piece of evidence” that Syria unleashed chemical weapons, Moallem said.
 
U.S. officials have asserted that there is “little doubt” that Syria was behind the attack but have not made any evidence public.
 
“Syria is not an easy target,” Moallem warned. “We have the means to defend ourselves, and we will surprise the other side with our means.”
 
Any foreign attack on Syria, the foreign minister charged, would benefit Israel and Al Qaeda.
 
Israel, which borders Syria, is a traditional adversary of Damascus, though the boundary line between two nations along the Golan Heights has been mostly quiet for decades. Several Al Qaeda-linked Islamist factions are among the most powerful rebel groups fighting to overthrow the secular government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
 
Syria and Russia, a major ally of Assad, have accused the opposition of having carried out last week’s alleged toxic strike in a bid to instigate international intervention. The opposition has denied the charges and said the government was behind the assault.

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-syria-inspections-delay-20130827,0,4088589.story

[Mark]

U.S. postpones meeting with Russia about Syria

wooops or thats not a very good sign Bullwinkle

The U.S. has put off a meeting that had been scheduled for Wednesday in The Hague between senior diplomats from the United States and Russia as Washington mulls its response to what it says was a chemical weapons attack by the regime of President Bashar Assad, a senior State department official tells CBS News.
 
"Given our ongoing consultations about the appropriate response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria on August 21, we have decided to postpone Under Secretary (Wendy) Sherman and (U.S. Ambassador to Syria) Ambassador (Robert) Ford's meeting with a Russian delegation," the source said.
 
The meeting was to have taken up plans for an international peace conference aimed at ending Syria's civil war.
 
"We will work with our Russian counterparts to reschedule the meeting," the official continued. "As we've long made clear - and as the events of August 21 reinforce - it is imperative that we reach a comprehensive and durable political solution to the crisis in Syria. The United States remains fully invested in that process. We will continue working with Russia and other international partners to move towards a transition based on the framework laid out in the Geneva Communique."
 
Russia regrets the postponement, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Tuesday, according to the Reuters news service. Gatilov made clear on Twitter that the U.S. decided unilaterally to postpone the meeting, Reuters says.

Earlier on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said there is "undeniable" evidence of a large-scale chemical weapons attack in Syria, with intelligence strongly pointing to Assad's government and, "This international norm cannot be violated without consequences." Kerry called the use of such weapons a "moral obscenity."
 
Kerry's tough language marked the clearest justification yet for U.S. military action in Syria, which, if President Barack Obama decides to do so, most likely would involve sea-launched cruise missile attacks on Syrian military targets.
 
Speaking to reporters at the State Department, Kerry was harshly critical of chemical warfare.
.
"By any standard, it is inexcusable and - despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured - it is undeniable," said Kerry, the highest-ranking U.S. official to confirm the attack in the Damascus suburbs that activists say killed hundreds of people.
 
Mr. Obama was still deciding how to respond to the use of deadly gases, officials said. The White House said last year that type of warfare would cross a "red line." But the U.S., along with allies in Europe, appeared to be laying the groundwork for the most aggressive response since Syria's civil war began more than two years ago.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57600192/source-u.s-postpones-meeting-with-russia-about-syria/

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/polls-open-jordan-municipal-election-054953643.html
Low turnout in Jordan vote amid anger over Syria war impact
8/27/13

Jordan's municipal elections drew a poor turnout Tuesday with the impact of a huge refugee influx from neighbouring Syria on a struggling economy stoking voter resentment and apathy.

"After eight hours of voting, the turnout was 21 percent, and 500,000 people voted," Ahed Ziadat, a spokesman for the municipal affairs ministry, told a news conference.

"The turnout was low this year compared to 2007. Some institutions, like the armed forces and security forces, did not vote."

In local polls in 2007, more than 50 percent of the registered electorate took part.

Polls opened on Tuesday at 7:00 am (0400 GMT) and officially closed at 5:00 pm (14000 GMT).

In Amman, however, voting was extended by two hours, and polling stations also closed one hour late in several other regions.

Under the law, electoral officials in each governorate can independently extend voting hours if the need arises.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition party, boycotted the polls, charging that, despite repeated promises since the Arab Spring of 2011, there is no real readiness for change.

"Anyone who boycotts the polls affects the turnout and contributes to electing weak candidates," Ziadat said.

With few candidates of the leftist or nationalist opposition standing, tribal figures, who are the traditional bedrock of the monarchy, are set to sweep the elections.

"Jordan held parliamentary elections in January and today people are voting in municipal elections. It is an achievement for democracy and reform in this turbulent region," Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur told reporters after he voted in his northwestern hometown of Salt.

But the election has been overshadowed by anger among Jordanians over the impact of more than 500,000 Syrian refugees on their lives and country, with its population of just 6.8 million.

Officials say the influx has placed a huge burden on already overstretched water and power supplies as well as housing and education.

Also, the government has announced a raft of austerity measures as it battles to reduce a $2 billion deficit this year and rein in a foreign debt that now exceeds $23 billion.

Last month, it doubled taxes on cellphones and mobile telephone contracts, and it also plans to raise the price of electricity by 15 percent.

"We are suffering from the large number of Syrian refugees. We have additional water and electricity problems as well as obstacles in finding jobs," said Odai Khendi, before voting in the northern city of Ramtah, home to a large community of Syrian refugees.

"I am voting today to help improve our situation. Our demands for help are not political."

Khitam Rodan, from the city of Mafraq, which is hosting tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in the north, agreed.

"Our situation is disastrous. We need a solution," she said.

The desert Zaatari refugee camp, home to more than 150,000 Syrians, is located 10 kilometres (six miles) east of Mafraq.

In the mainly Christian city of Fuheis, west of Amman, supporters of candidates offered Arabic coffee to voters amid normal traffic and a low-key security presence.

"I know the country is going through difficult times, but I want to vote and choose the right person to help the city," Widad Issa, 85, told AFP after her grandson helped her vote in Fuheis.

Some 3.7 million Jordanians were registered to vote in the elections, to select 100 mayors and 970 municipal councillors from about 3,000 candidates in 94 municipalities.

The electoral law reserves 297 municipal council seats for women.

Around 50,000 policemen were deployed across the kingdom on election day "to prevent any violations and ensure a smooth process", according to police chief Talal Kofahi.

The government had announced that about 1.25 million members of the armed forces, security services, people living abroad, and more than 40,000 election employees would not take part in the vote.

[Mark]

Pentagon Sees Syrian Military, Not Chemical Sites, as Target

President Obama is considering a range of limited military actions against Syria that are designed to “deter and degrade” the ability of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to launch chemical weapons, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

Although no final decisions have been made, it is likely that the attacks would not be focused on chemical weapons storage sites, even though the Obama administration says the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian military is the trigger for the planned attack. They said any effort to target chemical sites risks an environmental and humanitarian disaster and could open up the sites to raids by militants.

Instead, the American assault would be aimed at military units thought to have carried out chemical attacks, the rockets and artillery that have launched the attacks and the headquarters overseeing the effort, the officials said.

One key question facing Mr. Obama and his advisers is whether such a limited attack would compel a change in tactics of the Assad regime — which has killed tens of thousands of civilians with conventional weapons — or weaken Mr. Assad to the point that he would seek a negotiated settlement to Syria’s civil war.

An American official familiar with the military planning said that the initial target list has fewer than 50 sites, including air bases where Syria’s Russian-made attack helicopters are deployed. The list includes command and control locations as well as a variety of conventional military targets, official said. Like several other military officials contacted for this report, the official agreed to discuss planning options only on condition of anonymity.

Planners said that although suspected chemical weapons depots are seductive targets, they are too risky.

“That is a hairy business,” the official said. “Our interest is in keeping the chemical weapons secured. You hit a bunker that holds chemical weapons and all of a sudden you have chemical weapons loose.”

Even within the limited mission envisioned for now by the Obama administration, there are some American officials who are urging expanding the target list to include at least military units commanded by Assad family members and loyalists and even presidential compounds.

Officials anticipated that a first round of attacks would be followed by a pause to assess the damage and the regime’s response before a potential second wave of strikes would be ordered. With few human intelligence assets on the ground, the inspection of targets after the strike would be conducted by satellite or surveillance aircraft capable of flying above the range of Syria’s highly regarded integrated air-defense system.

Officials also cautioned that arguments for a more limited strike included the fear that the refugee flow to American allies Turkey and Jordan — where the influx already is causing political concern — would increase. And there are worries that Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants might step up terrorism around the region in retaliation.

Voices across the administration urging no action have all but silenced. But, at the other extreme of military options, a sustained air campaign designed to decapitate the leadership and allow rebels to topple the regime, also has been rejected.

The Air Force maintains a vast fleet of fighter jets and long-range bombers in Europe and the Middle East that are capable of striking Syria, but a range of officials said that, for now, the strike plans were focusing solely on sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and that there was no intention of putting up strike aircraft, which require a large cast of supporting aircraft, including refueling tankers, combat search-and-rescue craft and early warning or electronic jamming planes.

The Navy has traditionally kept two destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean but quietly increased that number to three over recent months. By accelerating the arrival of one replacement and delaying the return of another, the Navy now has four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers within striking range of Syria: the Mahan, Barry, Gravely and Ramage.

Each carries about two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles, a low-flying, highly accurate weapon that can be launched from safe distances of up to about 1,000 miles and was used to open the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya

Attack submarines also carrying Tomahawks are assumed to be on station in the Mediterranean as well.

But Tomahawk missile strikes, while politically and psychologically significant, can have a starkly limited tactical effect. The weapons are largely fuel-and-guidance systems and carry relatively small high-explosive warheads. One conventional version contains about 260 pounds of explosives, the other carries about 370 pounds. This is less than the explosive power of a single 1,000 pound air-dropped bomb.

The weapons also present certain technical risks. Naval officers and attack planners concede that the missiles are not entirely controllable for elevation near the target, and when they fly slightly high carry the risk of blast effect to structures and people behind or near the targets.

Planners also have difficulty timing the strikes — which fly from different release points and fly different routes by GPS way points — so they arrive at their targets simultaneously, which means that the first strikes can alert troops at follow-up targets that attacks are imminent. Thus they are much more effectives against fixed targets, like buildings or infrastructure than against military units or commanders.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/28/world/middleeast/obama-syria-strike.html?ref=world

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/27/us-laying-groundwork-for-military-strike-on-syria/
8/27/13
US laying groundwork for military strike on Syria

The Obama administration on Tuesday was set to build the public case for a military strike on Syria by releasing documents on last week's alleged chemical weapons attack -- with one senior Defense official telling Fox News that a U.S. strike is "not a matter of if, but when." 

One day after Secretary of State John Kerry declared that the evidence of a chemical weapons attack last week in Syria in "undeniable," the White House was expected to release intelligence backing up that claim. A source close to the White House told Fox News that the documents will probably be released on Tuesday.

Kerry and others have said the U.S. and its allies must respond, if for no other reason than to deter governments around the world from using chemical weapons in the future. Opposition and human rights groups in Syria have said the attack last week killed hundreds, though estimates of the death toll fluctuate widely.

In Washington, few in the administration doubt that military action will occur. U.S. military sources tell Fox News that the planned military operation would include cruise missiles and possible long-range stealth bombers but will not target Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles.

"There is no way to 'surgically strike' Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles" without boots on the ground, a source said.

Meanwhile, NBC News reports that missile strikes could be launched as early as Thursday.

Senior U.S. Defense officials tell Fox News that military assets are in position and could strike at any moment, once President Obama gives the order.

The administration, though, has decided to work through NATO; an emergency session in Brussels has been called for Wednesday. Any military action is unlikely to take place before that meeting.

Also, British Prime Minister David Cameron has scheduled a vote for Thursday in the British Parliament, calling them back from recess. It is also unlikely that any military strike would occur before that vote, as the Obama administration wants to have British support.

U.S. officials tell Fox News that no strike is likely while U.N. inspectors are still on the ground in Damascus, either.