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

[Psalm 51:17]

Perhaps getting closer...

[Psalm 51:17]

In midst of Syrian war, giant Jesus statue arises
11/2/13
http://news.yahoo.com/midst-syrian-war-giant-jesus-statue-arises-124721577.html



BEIRUT (AP) — In the midst of a conflict rife with sectarianism, a giant bronze statue of Jesus has gone up on a Syrian mountain, apparently under cover of a truce among three factions in the country's civil war.

Jesus stands, arms outstretched, on the Cherubim mountain, overlooking a route pilgrims took from Constantinople to Jerusalem in ancient times. The statue is 12.3 meters (40 feet) tall and stands on a base that brings its height to 32 meters (105 feet), organizers of the project estimate.

That the statue made it to Syria and went up without incident on Oct. 14 is remarkable. The project took eight years and was set back by the civil war that followed the March 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Christians and other minorities are all targets in the conflict, and the statue's safety is by no means guaranteed. It stands among villages where some fighters, linked to al-Qaida, have little sympathy for Christians.

So why put up a giant statue of Christ in the midst of such setbacks and so much danger?

Because "Jesus would have done it," organizer Samir al-Ghadban quoted a Christian church leader as telling him.

The backers' success in overcoming the obstacles shows the complexity of civil war, where sometimes despite the atrocities the warring parties can reach short-term truces.

Al-Ghadban said that the main armed groups in the area — Syrian government forces, rebels and the local militias of Sednaya, the Christian town near the statue site — halted fire while organizers set up the statue, without providing further details.

Rebels and government forces occasionally agree to cease-fires to allow the movement of goods. They typically do not admit to having truces because that would tacitly acknowledge their enemies.

It took three days to raise the statue. Photos provided by organizers show it being hauled in two pieces by farm tractors, then lifted into place by a crane. Smaller statues of Adam and Eve stand nearby.

The project, called "I Have Come to Save the World," is run by the London-based St. Paul and St. George Foundation, which Al-Ghadban directs. It was previously named the Gavrilov Foundation, after a Russian businessman, Yuri Gavrilov.

Documents filed with Britain's Charity Commission describe it as supporting "deserving projects in the field of science and animal welfare" in England and Russia, but the commission's accounts show it spent less than 250 pounds ($400) in the last four years.

Al-Ghadban said most of the financing came from private donors, but did not supply further details.

Russians have been a driving force behind the project — not surprising given that the Kremlin is embattled Assad's chief ally, and the Orthodox churches in Russia and Syria have close ties. Al-Ghadban, who spoke to The Associated Press from Moscow, is Syrian-Russian and lives in both countries.

Al-Ghadban said he began the project in 2005, hoping the statue would be an inspiration for Syria's Christians. He said he was inspired by Rio de Janeiro's towering Christ the Redeemer statue.

He commissioned an Armenian sculptor, but progress was slow. A series of his backers died, including Valentin Varennikov, a general who participated in the 1991 coup attempt against then President Mikhail Gorbachev. He later sought President Vladimir Putin's backing for the statue project.

Varennikov died in 2009.

Another backer, Patriarch Ignatius IV, the Lebanon-based head of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East, died in 2012. He had donated the land for the statue, according to church official Bishop Ghattas Hazim.

By 2012, the statue was ready, but Syria was aflame, causing the project's biggest delay, al-Ghadban said.

Majority Sunni Muslims dominate the revolt, and jihadists make up some of the strongest fighting groups. Other Muslim groups along with the 10-percent Christian minority have stood largely with Assad's government, or remained neutral, sometimes arming themselves to keep hard-line rebels out of their communities.

Churches have been vandalized, priests abducted. Last month the extremists overran Maaloula, a Christian-majority town so old that some of its people still speak a language from Jesus' time.

On Tuesday a militant Muslim cleric, Sheik Omar al-Gharba, posted a YouTube video of himself smashing a blue-and-white statue of the Virgin Mary.

Al-Ghadban and the project's most important backer, Gavrilov, weighed canceling it.

They consulted Syria's Greek Orthodox Patriarch John Yaziji. It was he who told them "Jesus would have done it."

They began shipping the statue from Armenia to Lebanon. In August, while it was en route, Gavrilov, 49, suffered a fatal heart attack, al-Ghadban said.

Eventually the statue reached Syria.

"It was a miracle," al-Ghadban said. "Nobody who participated in this expected this to succeed."

[Mark]

Christians Buried in Mass Graves, City Destroyed in 'Biggest Christian Massacre' in Syrian Civil War

More than 30 bodies of Christian civilians have been uncovered in mass graves in the Syrian city of Sadad, which was destroyed in an attack by Islamic militants, with the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop describing the incident as "the most serious and biggest massacre" of Christians in the past two years and a half.


http://www.christianpost.com/news/christians-buried-in-mass-graves-city-destroyed-in-biggest-christian-massacre-in-syrian-civil-war-107915/

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-u-russia-see-syrian-chemical-disarmament-overrunning-132743994.html
11/8/13
Exclusive: U.S., Russia see Syrian chemical disarmament overrunning

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United States and Russia want Syria to ship its deadly chemical agents out of the country by the end of the year but expect a mid-2014 target for their final destruction to be missed, according to a draft document.

The document, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, calls for most chemical materials to be removed from the country in under eight weeks, by December 31, and for remaining chemical weapons facilities to be destroyed by the beginning of March.

Final destruction of all toxic material by the end of next year, as stated in the draft, would be six months beyond the date originally set for Syria to complete the "elimination" of all chemical weapons material. However, if that material were no longer inside Syria, governments seem unlikely to quibble.

The timetable is part of an ambitious disarmament pact with the United Nations which President Bashar al-Assad accepted after an August sarin gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus killed hundreds and almost triggered U.S. air strikes on Syria.

Washington and its allies blamed Assad, locked in a 2-1/2- year civil war, for the world's worst chemical attack in 25 years. Assad, supported by his ally Russia, accused rebels.

Weapons experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) say they have already verified the destruction of chemical production and mixing equipment at 22 of the 23 sites declared by Syrian authorities in October.

The organization now faces a more challenging second phase of operations and is negotiating with Syria a detailed destruction plan for the chemical agents and remaining facilities, which must be agreed by next Friday, under the schedule set by the U.N. Security Council in late September.

Russia and the United States, which jointly brokered the original deal for Syria to destroy its stockpile of nerve agents and other toxic munitions by the end of June 2014, presented their draft timetable to the OPCW this week.

Under it, all chemicals should be out of Syria by December 31, except for isopropanol - one of two main precursors for sarin - which should be destroyed on site by March 1. Unfilled chemical munitions should be destroyed by the end of January.

It also appears to reject a Syrian request to convert for peaceful use some of the facilities declared under its weapons program, saying any facilities which were used for purposes prohibited by the international Chemical Weapons Convention should not be approved for conversion.

DEADLINE SLIPS

The draft document calls on the OPCW and any countries which are prepared to receive the chemicals for elimination to submit a plan by mid-December setting out a destruction plan. It is still unclear where toxic material might go.

The document sets a 31 March, 2014, target for the most dangerous materials to be degraded "to chemicals not suitable for use in chemical weapons", followed by "completion of destruction not later than 30 December, 2014".

Though six months later than the target first set by Moscow and Washington for the complete elimination of all chemical weapons material and equipment, if they have indeed left Syria, any delay in the final destruction would reflect the complexity of the task, rather than the extent of Syria's cooperation.

Security Council Resolution 2118 obliges Syria to comply with a disarmament timetable laid out by the OPCW. The Hague-based agency made the end-June target for elimination "subject to" the detailed OPCW plan which is to be agreed by November 15.

Moving material out may be the hardest part of the process.

Syria's civil war has killed 100,000 people, has no single frontline and has flared up across the country, cutting off or endangering main roads and supply lines linking major cities.

On Tuesday, the Foreign Policy website reported that Syria had presented the OPCW with a request for 40 armored trucks and other equipment to help secure the road from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast and ship out the chemicals.

The plan also envisaged an advanced communications network linking Damascus to the sea, a route which has seen some of the heaviest fighting of the Syria conflict because it links Assad's capital to the mountain heartlands of his minority Alawite faith overlooking the Mediterranean.

While Assad's Western foes would be deeply reluctant to support - even indirectly - the consolidation of his military power over central Syria, they have few alternatives.

Flying dangerous shipments out of Damascus airport would be highly risky, while neighboring Lebanon would also be a hazardous transit route for the chemical cargoes.

All the dates in the draft are in brackets, suggesting final agreement has not been reached. However, another section of the document reinforces the sense that the destruction of the chemicals will take more time.

If the OPCW or a country where the chemicals have been shipped believes it will not meet the deadlines for destruction "it may submit a proposal ... to revise the target date, specifying the circumstances and proposing an alternative target date, with a view to completing the destruction as soon as possible".

[Christian40]

China Sends 1000 Marines To Syrian Coast Russia Sends More Warships

"Russian Navy spokesmen said Friday that the fleet building up in the Mediterranean can answer any development after the Smetlivy guided missile destroyer set sail for the Mediterranean. DEBKAfile: Since Wednesday, Moscow has reported six warships have been sent out to reinforce the Russian fleet on hand opposite Syria.
 
Western naval sources reported Friday that a Chinese landing craft, the Jinggangshan (photo below), with a 1,000-strong marine battalion had reached the Red Sea en route for the Mediterranean off Syria.  With a displacement of 19,000 tons, the amphibious warship is 210 meters long and 28 meters wide and can carry helicopters, armored fighting vehicles, boats and landing craft as well as nearly 1,000 soldiers, Jiangxi Daily said."

http://beforeitsnews.com/middle-east/2013/09/china-sends-1000-marines-to-syrian-coast-russia-sends-more-warships-video-2454142.html

[Kilika]

Notice the hull number on that Chinese ship? Just sayin'!

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.timesofisrael.com/1000-syrian-families-flee-fighting-for-lebanon/
Thousands of Syrians flee fighting for Lebanon

UN refugee agency reports ongoing battle between government troops, rebels in border area is driving residents abroad
11/17/13

BEIRUT (AP) – Thousands of Syrians are fleeing from border towns where a high-stakes battle is raging, walking across valleys and ridges to reach safety in neighboring Lebanon, witnesses and the UN said on Sunday.

They are packing into wedding halls and waiting for makeshift tents as they flee the steadily intensifying fighting that began on Friday, said Bassel Hojeiri, former mayor of the border town of Arsal where most of the refugees have headed. 

He estimated some 10,000 people had fled to the town, saying an influx of Syrians during the past three years of conflict in that country had caused the population to nearly double. Dana Sleiman of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees put the total number of refugee arrivals over the weekend at around 1,000 families. She counted families, not individuals.

A Syrian government offensive in the rugged Qalamoun hills, which stretch from Damascus to neighboring Lebanon, seeks to cut rebel supply lines to opposition-held enclaves around the capital.

Activists and analysts say the battle may be the final blow that dislodges rebels from the Damascus periphery, where food is running short and opposition fighters have lost a series of strongholds in recent weeks to forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The UNHCR’s Sleiman said refugees weren’t able to reach an official border crossing because of the fighting, which began on Friday. She said the families had walked some of the way to Arsal, at least 30 kilometers (20 miles) away.

Former mayor Hojeiri said the eastern Lebanese town of Arsal had a population of some 50,000, roughly divided between citizens and refugees. He said both groups were helping the new arrivals.

“Lebanese are hosting or renting out rooms to Syrians, and the Syrians are hosting Syrians. They are in the wedding halls and we are trying to get them tents as well,” he said by telephone.

Syrian refugees have overwhelmed Lebanon since their uprising began three years ago. Lebanese officials estimate there are 1.4 million Syrians in the country, including 800,000 registered refugees.

The clashes have been taking place around the towns of Qara, Rima and Nabak.

The battle has been expected for weeks as troops and opposition fighters reinforced their positions ahead of winter, when much of the area is covered with snow.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/suicide-blasts-near-iran-embassy-beirut-kill-23-103435832.html
Suicide blasts near Iran Embassy in Beirut kill 23
11/19/13

BEIRUT (AP) — Two suicide bombers detonated explosions outside the Iranian Embassy in a mainly Shiite district of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, killing 23 people, including the Iranian cultural attaché, apparently in retaliation for the Lebanese group Hezbollah's support of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The bombings appeared to be another strike in an intensifying proxy battle over Syria's civil war that is rattling its smaller neighbor Lebanon. An al-Qaida-linked Sunni extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying more would follow unless the Iranian-backed Shiite Hezbollah withdraws fighters that have helped Assad's military score key victories over Syrian rebels.

The midmorning blasts hit the upscale neighborhood of Janah, a Hezbollah stronghold, leaving bodies and pools of blood on the glass-strewn street amid burning cars. More than 140 people were wounded, officials said.

A Lebanese security official said the first suicide attacker was on a motorcycle that carried two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of explosives. He blew himself up at the large black main gate of the Iranian mission, damaging the three-story facility, the official said.

more

[Mark]

.....Six Islamist factions unite in largest Syria rebel merger

The six largest Islamist rebel factions in Syria declared a new Islamic Front on Thursday, forming the largest alliance of opposition fighters yet in the 2-1/2-year conflict. Syria's fractious rebel forces have tried many times to unify their ranks and failed. Islamist rebel commanders, in a video aired on al Jazeera, said their new union would not only seek to oust President Bashar al-Assad but establish an Islamic state.   

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/six-islamist-factions-unite-largest-syria-rebel-merger-123455495.html

[Mark]

Leading Syrian rebel groups form new Islamic Front

Seven leading Islamist rebel groups in Syria say they are joining forces. A statement posted online said Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, Suqour al-Sham, Liwa al-Tawhid, Liwa al-Haqq, Ansar al-Sham and the Kurdish Islamic Front had agreed to a "gradual merger". It said the new Islamic Front will be an "independent political, military and social formation" to topple the Assad regime and build an Islamic state.   

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25053525



YEEESSSSS!!!

[Psalm 51:17]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/30/21686393-us-to-destroy-syrias-chemicals-at-sea-weapons-watchdog-says?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=4
11/30/13
US to destroy Syria's chemicals at sea, weapons watchdog says

AMSTERDAM -- The United States has offered to destroy Syrian chemicals on a U.S. ship, the global chemical weapons watchdog said on Saturday, and is looking for a suitable Mediterranean port where processing can be carried out.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been under pressure to find an alternative plan for the destruction of Syria's poison gas arsenal after Albania backed out of hosting the work.

The OPCW said 35 firms had expressed an interest in bidding for commercial contracts by Friday's deadline for the treatment of about 800 tons of bulk industrial chemicals that are safe to destroy in commercial incinerators.

But another 500 tons of chemicals, including nerve agents, are seen as too dangerous to import into a country or process commercially, and will be treated offshore on the U.S. ship.

The OPCW said the operation would be carried out on a U.S. vessel at sea using hydrolysis, adding a naval vessel was undergoing modifications to support the operations.

"The United States has offered to contribute a destruction technology, full operational support and financing to neutralize Syria's priority chemicals," an OPCW statement said.

[Mark]

Syria's Bashar Assad implicated in war crimes, U.N. rights chief says

Syrian President Bashar Assad is implicated in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country's ongoing civil war, the United Nations' human rights chief said Monday. A U.N. panel of experts, which has been investigating abuses in Syria, has gathered a "massive" amount of evidence indicating such crimes were committed, said Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.   

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-syria-bashar-assad-war-crimes-un-20131202,0,4880586.story#axzz2mPQVjyIJ

[Mark]

Syrian Christians turning to Russia for protection

About 50,000 Syrian Christians want to apply for Russian citizenship. In a letter to the Russian Foreign Ministry, they said that they were not planning to flee Syria, but if threatened with physical elimination, they would pin their hopes on Russia as the guarantor of their survival. Analysts think that despite the difficulties their request may involve, it won’t go unheeded.

The letter reached Moscow through diplomatic channels. It says that the West-backed terrorists are prepared to go to any lengths to wipe Christians out of Syria. The authors of the letter have no intention of fleeing the “land on where Jesus walked” and promise to defend their “homeland, dignity and faith”. They see Russia as the guarantor of “peace and stability”. They are not asking for money or humanitarian aid, but just hope to obtain Russian citizenship. “We will be under the protection of Russia if we face the threat of being physically eliminated by terrorists,” the letter says.

Considering what’s going on in Syria, their wish to have Russian passports looks justified, Stanislav Tarasov, Director of the Middle East-Caucasus research center, told the Voice of Russia.

“For them, it’s a laissez-passer. No one knows what will happen to Syria. Some forecasts suggest that, with or without Assad, Syria may become a confederation, or it may split into three or four parts and cease being single state. That’s why the Syrian Christians are trying to secure Russia’s support,” he said.

About 50,000 Syrians put their signatures under the address – medics, engineers, lawyers and businessmen residing in the Kalamoun area near Damascus. The fact that so many people signed the letter throws weight behind it, but on the other hand it makes things more complicated for Russia, said Sergei Sergeichev, a senior fellow at the Institute for Middle East Studies in Moscow.

“Not that it puts us in an awkward situation, but it sort of diverts the Russian Foreign Ministry’s efforts as the ministry is obliged to react to that address", says Sergeichev. "We cannot say ‘no’ to those people. But if we say ‘yes’ and then something happens, then we will have to evacuate huge numbers of Russian citizens. And it doesn’t matter whether those are people solely with Russian citizenship or they have two passports – Russian and Syrian. If the president orders evacuation, they will have to be evacuated, which is a very complicated rescue operation.”

Syria is not the only country where Christians do not feel safe. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life research organization, Christians are persecuted and harassed in 130 countries.

Today, Christians are the most persecuted religious community. Every hour, one Christian is killed in the world. They are killed because of their faith.

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_10_16/Syrian-Christians-turning-to-Russia-for-protection-8756/

[Mark]

'With or without West': Saudi Arabia ready for unilateral action on Syria

Saudi Arabia intends to pursue an independent policy in the Arab world after the US resorted to a diplomatic solution to the Syria and Iran crises. The Saudi envoy to UK says the kingdom is ready to ensure “regional peace” without Western support.   

http://rt.com/news/saudi-arabia-syrian-policy-464/

[Mark]

Russia sends dozens of armored trucks to Syria to help transport chemical arms that are to be destroyed - @Reuters

https://twitter.com/Reuters

[Psalm 51:17]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/28/22083921-syrias-assad-sends-private-message-to-pope-francis-vatican-says?lite
12/28/13
Syria's Assad sends private message to Pope Francis, Vatican says

VATICAN CITY — Syrian President Bashar Assad has sent Pope Francis a private message, the Vatican said on Saturday, without disclosing its contents.

It was the first known time Assad has sent a direct message to the pontiff since the start of Syria's civil war in 2011. Pope Francis has made numerous appeals for an end to the conflict, the latest on Christmas Day.

Vatican sources said the message likely included the Syrian government's position ahead of peace talks due to start on January 22 under U.N. auspices in Geneva.

The Vatican, which has permanent observer status at the United Nations, also has a representative to U.N. organizations in Geneva.

The Vatican said a delegation headed by Joseph Sweid, a Syrian minister of state, held talks in the Vatican with the pope's secretary of state, Archbishop Pietro Parolin and his foreign minister, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.

"The delegation brought a message from President Assad for the Holy Father and illustrated the position of the Syrian government," a statement said.

Syria's civil war between forces loyal to Assad and mostly Sunni Muslim rebels fighting to topple him has killed more than 100,000 people since March 2011.

The Vatican is also keen to have information on the fate of Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, a Jesuit priest who supported the rebels and disappeared in July in eastern Syria.

Francis has taken a personal interest in the Syrian conflict.

In September he led a worldwide day of prayer for peace in the country and sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was hosting the G20 summit, telling world powers that any military solution in Syria would be a "futile pursuit."

Putin was opposed to U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to use air strikes to punish Assad for a chemical weapons attack which the West blamed on the Syrian government.

Assad's government denied it was responsible and the air strikes never took place following Syria's agreement to dismantle it chemical weapons.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/07/22216651-un-stops-counting-syrian-dead-as-first-chemical-weapons-removed-from-the-country?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=1
1/7/14
UN stops counting Syrian dead as first chemical weapons removed from the country

The “complex and dangerous” nature of Syria’s civil war has made it impossible to accurately update the death toll that last stood at around 100,000 people, a spokesman from the United Nations human rights office told NBC News on Tuesday.

"Gathering casualty figures in Syria has always been an exceptionally difficult exercise,” said Rupert Colville, from the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“With the situation on the ground growing ever more complex and dangerous, and without access into the country to conduct fact-finding on the ground, it has become increasingly difficult for us to source and analyze the casualty figures in order to update them,” he added.

Colville said that accurately estimating the number of casualties had always been difficult and they had relied on the cooperation and transparency on a number of non-governmental groups to help them with the figure.

He added that the number of those groups had shrunk over time and so they were not in a position to produce a report like those produced last year and he told The Associated Press that the U.N. was also unable to endorse the widely quoted figures from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, whose latest tally is more than 130,000 killed in violence in Syria since March 2011.

“If at some point, we feel that we can once again give a more accurate figure to reflect the true proportions of this continuing tragedy, we will do so, but for the time being the figure we continue to use is 'more than 100,000,'” he told NBC News. “This is by any reckoning a huge number of individuals to have lost their lives."

In a separate announcement, the U.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said that a Danish ship has set sail from the Syrian port of Lattakia with the first batch of chemical weapons to be removed from the country — a crucial milestone in the international operation to rid the Syrian regime of its arsenal by midyear.

“This movement initiates the process of transfer of chemical materials from the Syrian Arab Republic to locations outside its territory for destruction,” special coordinator Sigrid Kaag said in a statement.

Accompanied by naval escorts from Denmark, Norway and Syria it will remain at sea awaiting the arrival of additional priority chemical materials at the port, she added.

“The Joint Mission encourages the Syrian Arab Republic to continue its efforts to complete the removal of chemical materials as soon as possible in a safe and timely manner,” Kaag said.

Meanwhile, the State Department applauded the news that some chemical materials have been removed from the war-ravaged nation.

"This represents continued progress toward the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons program. Much more needs to be done. As the international community has made clear, it is the Assad regime's responsibility to transport these chemicals to Lattakia safely to facilitate their removal. We expect them to meet their obligations to do so," spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/syria-opposition-says-army-attacked-rebels-poison-gas-191204949.html
1/15/14
Syria opposition says army attacked rebels with poison gas

Beirut (AFP) - Syria's main opposition National Coalition on Wednesday accused troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad of using poison gas in an attack on the rebel-held town of Daraya near Damascus.

At least three people were killed in the attack, the group alleged in a statement.

The Coalition said the army's attack was linked to a bid by the Assad regime to ensure the opposition rejects participation in peace talks next week in Switzerland.

The group condemned "the attack that regime forces carried out against Daraya on the night of January 13".

It also called on "the international community and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate reports that Assad's regime used toxic chemical gases in its attack."

It urged that "the necessary steps must be taken" should a September UN resolution ordering the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal have been violated.

UN Security Council resolution 2118 was passed after a massive chemical weapon attack that killed hundreds in several opposition areas around Damascus in August.

Rebels and the regime exchanged blame for that attack.

Last week, the first shipment of chemical weapons materials left Latakia port under the UN resolution.

Speaking to AFP via the Internet, a member of the opposition local council's medical office in Daraya insisted there had been a poison gas attack.

One person died instantly, and two others died later, said the source.

The patients had symptoms including "nervous convulsions, choking, contraction of the iris, and frothing at the mouth," said the Daraya resident.

He also said the medical office of the local council does not have the necessary medication or equipment to adequately treat the patients.

The army has held Daraya under tight siege for more than a year. Fierce fighting rages regularly on its edges, and it suffers near daily aerial and artillery attacks.

In its statement, the Coalition said "the savagery of recent attacks (against opposition areas) show the Assad regime's real position on... a political solution" for the Syrian conflict.

It also recalled a recent aerial offensive against Aleppo in the north, which killed more than 600 people, most of them civilians, in three weeks.

The Coalition is set to hold a final meeting on January 17, to decide whether it will participate in the so-called Geneva II peace talks, scheduled to begin five days later.

A key Coalition bloc, the Syrian National Council, has threatened to withdraw from the group should there be a decision to attend the Geneva II talks.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-chemicals-removal-likely-not-completed-end-june-104413859.html
Final destruction of worst Syrian chemicals slides to end June
1/16/14

ROME (Reuters) - The removal and destruction of the most dangerous agents in Syria's chemical arsenal will likely be delayed until the end of June because of logistical and security problems, the head of the world's chemical weapons watchdog said on Thursday.

Mustard gas and the components for making Sarin and VX - known as "priority" agents - were originally to have been destroyed by the end of March.

Syria has already missed a December 31 goal to transport the most toxic substances to a port and so far has loaded only a relatively small amount of chemicals onto the Danish cargo ship Ark Futura.

Ahmet Uzumcu, head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said he was "confident" that all the chemicals could be destroyed by the end of June - the original deadline for the complete elimination of Syria's chemical weapons program and associated agents.

"As we were not able to meet the timeline for the 31st of December, from my point of view what is important is really the end of June 2014, so we will do our best to meet it," he said.

The OPCW is overseeing the destruction of the Syrian arsenal as part of an international accord brokered by Russia and the United States after poison gas attacks on the outskirts of Damascus killed hundreds, including children, last August.

Chemical weapons were likely used in five out of seven attacks investigated by U.N. experts in Syria, where a near three-year year civil war has killed more than 100,000 people.

The Syrian government and the opposition have accused each other of using chemical weapons, and both have denied it.

TRANSPORT CHALLENGE

Uzumcu said only about 16 tonnes of the total of 560 tonnes of the "primary" chemicals had so far been shifted to the Danish vessel.

Once the Danish ship has loaded all the primary agents, it will take them to the port of Gioia Tauro in southern Italy, where they will be transferred to a U.S. ship and later destroyed at sea.

Transporting the chemicals through a civil war is "quite challenging", Uzumcu said, renewing an appeal to groups that oppose Syrian President Bashar Assad's rule to cooperate.

"The biggest area of concern is clearly the safe transportation of those weapons, chemical substances, from the sites in Syria to the port of Latakia," he said.

Syrian authorities say opposition groups attacked two chemical storage sites more than a week ago, Uzumcu said, adding this had not been independently verified and there was "no evidence" that chemical agents had fallen into the hands of rebel groups.

Uzumcu said he met a Syrian delegation on Wednesday at The Hague to try to address security concerns.

"Some additional measures are being taken right now to reduce risks. We hope that we can move relatively quickly in the coming weeks," he said.

Uzumcu is in Italy to address parliament about the transfer of the primary agents.

The U.S. ship MV Cape Ray, which has been specially equipped to destroy the nerve agents, is likely to be in the Mediterranean Sea by the end of January, Uzumcu said. The chemical transfer should take no more than 48 hours, he added.

As the international coordination to rid Syria of its arsenal continues, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday that Britain would award a contract to destroy around 150 tonnes of chemicals to French firm Veolia Environnement.

The chemicals will be processed at the firm's incineration plant at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, England, the sources said.

[Christian40]

17,000 Being Starved to Death in Damascus and No One Cares

"17,000 Palestinian Refugees in the Yarmouk Camp in Damascus are being starved to death by Al Qaeda Terrorists who will not let them leave to buy food.

This has been going on for months now and the world is turning a blind eye to their plight. Instead the west are supporting the very terrorists who are using these people as human shields.

There are babies in the camp who have already died. One mother managed to escape to get some food so that she could make milk to breastfeed her baby. The terrorists prevented her returning and the baby died.

We have spoken about this horrific situation for months now and nobody seems to care about it. Stories keep emerging, saying that the people have been rescued, but this is untrue. A source with family trapped inside the camp says they will all be dead soon if they are not freed.

Look carefully Cameron, Hague, Clinton, Obama, Kerry, Hollande and Erdogan. The blood of these 17,000 people is on your hands, by supporting the evil terrorists, who are holding them."

http://friendsofsyria.co/2014/01/14/17000-being-starved-to-death-in-damascus-and-no-one-cares/

[Mark]

17,000 Being Starved to Death in Damascus and No One Cares

"17,000 Palestinian Refugees in the Yarmouk Camp in Damascus are being starved to death by Al Qaeda Terrorists who will not let them leave to buy food.

This has been going on for months now and the world is turning a blind eye to their plight. Instead the west are supporting the very terrorists who are using these people as human shields.

There are babies in the camp who have already died. One mother managed to escape to get some food so that she could make milk to breastfeed her baby. The terrorists prevented her returning and the baby died.

We have spoken about this horrific situation for months now and nobody seems to care about it. Stories keep emerging, saying that the people have been rescued, but this is untrue. A source with family trapped inside the camp says they will all be dead soon if they are not freed.

Look carefully Cameron, Hague, Clinton, Obama, Kerry, Hollande and Erdogan. The blood of these 17,000 people is on your hands, by supporting the evil terrorists, who are holding them."

http://friendsofsyria.co/2014/01/14/17000-being-starved-to-death-in-damascus-and-no-one-cares/

I really doubt the validity of this story. Especially the when Palestinian Refugees are involved.

[Christian40]

I really doubt the validity of this story. Especially the when Palestinian Refugees are involved.

i had my doubts about it too, since this is the first i heard about it

[Kilika]

"friendsofsyria.co? Starving babies? Uhm yeah...I call Arab propaganda.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/18/22350962-main-western-backed-opposition-group-agrees-to-join-syria-peace-talks?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=1
1/18/14
Main Western-backed opposition group agrees to join Syria peace talks

The Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed group battling to topple the government of Syria’s Bashar Assad, on Saturday agreed to take part in peace talks in Switzerland next week.

The group’s legal committee approved participation in the talks by a 58-14 vote.

Secretary of State John Kerry praised the decision in a statement Saturday.

"This is a courageous vote in the interests of all the Syrian people who have suffered so horribly under the brutality of the Assad regime and a civil war without end," he said.

The so-called “Geneva II”' talks, which are actually being held in Montreaux, Switzerland, under the auspices of the United Nations, were brokered by the U.S. and Russia. In the talks, SNC leaders would sit down for the first time with representatives from Assad's government since the country’s bloody civil war broke out in 2011.

The negotiations are scheduled to start Wednesday.

The SNC, which is riven with internal divisions, is Syria's main opposition group in exile. The country's centrist internal opposition group, the National Coordination Body, said Thursday it would not attend.

Kerry, in a press conference reacting to that news, faulted what he called "recent revisionism" about why the peace conference is being held after some three years of civil war in Syria in which more than 100,000 have died and millions have been uprooted.

Kerry said the talks were meant to carry out a 2012 plan calling for a political settlement under which the two sides would together agree on a transitional government.

"For anyone seeking to rewrite this history or to muddy the waters, let me state one more time what Geneva II is about," Kerry said. "It is about establishing a process essential to the formation of a transition ... governing body with full executive powers established by mutual consent."

[Psalm 51:17]

Iran to join Syria peace talks: UN chief
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/19/22361750-iran-to-join-syria-peace-talks-un-chief?lite
1/19/14

The United Nations invited Iran to join this week's international conference on the future of Syria after Tehran said it would accept a transitional government away from Syrian President Bashar Assad, Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said Sunday.

The U.S. had opposed Iran's participation as long as it rejected a 2012 international agreement in Geneva calling for a new government in Damascus.

Ban told reporters Sunday that after "intensive" discussions, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif agreed to attend the conference — called "Geneva II," even though it's actually convening in Montreux — and promised that Iran would play "a positive and constructive role."

The Geneva communique issued in 2012 called for a "Syrian-led political process leading to a transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people" — which would almost certainly freeze out Assad, Iran's close ally.

Iran had previously said it wouldn't accept any "preconditions" for its participation. But Sunday, Ban said Zarif had concurred "that the goal of the negotiations is to establish, by mutual consent, a transitional governing body with full executive powers."

"They welcome this Geneva communique," Ban said.

The U.S. State Department reacted skeptically to the development, saying Tehran's apparent acceptance of a transition government was "something Iran has never done publicly" before. It said the U.S. remained "deeply concerned about Iran's contributions to the Assad regime's brutal campaign against its own people."

As recently as Saturday, Zarif's deputy, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, told a visiting French official that this week's conference shouldn't do anything that would strengthen the hand of the militant fighters seeking Assad's overthrow, the Iranian news agency ISNA reported.

Iran's revised position came just a day after the Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed group battling Assad, agreed Saturday to take part in the peace talks — a decision U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed as a "courageous" move "in the interests of all the Syrian people who have suffered so horribly under the brutality of the Assad regime and a civil war without end."

[Kilika]

UN wants Iran involved in a conference about the future of Syria? And Iran has a say why? What business is it of Iran what goes on in Syria?

Globalists! 

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10588308/US-secretly-backs-rebels-to-fight-al-Qaeda-in-Syria.html
US secretly backs rebels to fight al Qaeda in Syria

Sources tell Telegraph that America is backing 'friendly' rebels with millions in cash and non lethal aid to take on extremists in Syria
1/21/14

The United States and Gulf countries have been secretly backing efforts by opposition rebels to destroy al-Qaeda's most extreme wing in Syria, diplomats and rebels involved in the plan have told The Telegraph.

As Western leaders publicly push the Syrian regime and the opposition to the Geneva II peace conference that begins Wednesday Washington has also been quietly supporting moves by Saudi Arabia and Qatar to give weapons and cash to rebel groups to fight al-Qaeda's Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shams (ISIS) in Syria.

One source said the US was itself handing out millions of dollars to rebel groups best equipped to take on the extremists while another confirmed America was providing non-lethal aid.

The development marks a new phase in the conflict, with international backers working directly with rebel commanders to target al-Qaeda cells, who are seen as a major threat by Western intelligence agencies.

"Everyone is offering us funding to fight them," said one commander in a rebel group affiliated to the Western-backed Supreme Military Council. "We used to have no weapons with which to fight the regime, but now the stocks are full."

more

[Mark]

"Islamist Trojan Horse? - US Could Allow Up To 30,000 Syrians To Resettle In America

In a potentially dangerous move, the Obama Administration is working to secure the resettling of thousands of Syrian refugees within the United States. While liberals applaud the move as an essential humanitarian effort, conservatives remain skeptical, and there are several valid reasons for their skepticism.

It is certainly the case that Syria’s civil war has displaced mass thousands. The Wall Street Journal reports that these mass thousands will need new countries of residence, and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is currently taking steps to ensure that this happen, issuing a statement that called on the “US and other countries to open their doors to vulnerable Syrian refugees,” and notes that “resettlement must be an integral part of the humanitarian response.”

That is all well and good, however, a balance must be struck between opening our doors and upholding the various counter-terrorism measures that have been put in place since 9/11 for the protection of this country. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Miriam Jordan outlines the current state of US plans to include the following: The stated goal of the US is to assist with the resettlement of “thousands of Syrians displaced by their country’s civil war”.

Those plans could hinge on the refugees receiving mass exemptions from laws aimed at preventing terrorists from entering the country. A U.S. official stated that some of the 30,000 especially vulnerable Syrians the United Nations hopes to resettle by the end of 2014 will be referred to the U.S. for resettlement.

Since the start of the war in 2011, more than two million Syrians have fled their country, creating the largest, most complex refugee crisis since Rwanda. About 20 countries around the world, mostly in Europe, have agreed to take 18,000 Syrians, this, according to United Nations High Commission for Refugees, which is the agency tasked with finding homes for the referrals.

For our part, the United States has not yet established how many refugees it will commit to resettle, but at a Senate hearing Tuesday, State Department Assistant Secretary Anne Richard said, “We expect to accept referrals for several thousand Syrian refugees in 2014.”

There are two competing, oppositional views on this matter. On the one hand, key proponents of refugee resettlement, represented by politicians like Sen. Dic Durbin (D., Ill.), say that the “overly broad” provisions would prevent a Syrian who gave a cigarette or a sandwich to a Free Syrian Army soldier from coming to the U.S. as a refugee, and there may well be some truth to that.

On the other hand, our post-9/11 security policies, especially those that relate to immigration are in place for a very good reason, and wholesale ignoring those laws by giving a blanket “pass” for thousands of refugees for an area with a high concentration of radical Islamists seems like an open invitation for disaster.

One would imagine that where the security of the United States is concerned, the proper course of action would be to err on the side of caution, which, in this case, would mean pursuing the course of action that is least likely to open the US to further terror attacks on our own soil.

Yes, the United States should do all it can to aid those displaced by the ravages of war, and in fact, we do just that. The fact is that the United States leads the world in refugee resettlement. In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the U.S. received 70,000 refugees from 65 countries, including more than 19,000 from Iraq. In that year, more than 1,340 Syrians already in the U.S. applied for asylum.

No one is suggesting that we stray from this course, however, it would be the worst form of folly to issue blanket exemptions to our own sensible security protocols and endanger the whole of the nation in a misguided bid to render assistance. When assistance is given, it must be given sensibly and responsibly.

Read more at http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/2014/January22/221.html#04FDUQm5iMoMyVu2.99

[Psalm 51:17]

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/23/22413297-iran-president-woos-world-elite-aiming-to-end-isolation?lite
1/23/14
Iran president woos world elite, aiming to end isolation

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made a pitch toward ending years of international isolation Thursday, claiming the spotlight at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Rouhani appeared to support American calls for free and fair elections in Syria, saying “all should accept” the results, and said Iran is ready to do business and cooperate on global issues.

“The best solution is to organize free and fair elections inside Syria,” he told delegates at forum, an annual gathering of the world's most power movers and shakers. “No outside parties or power can decide for the Syrian people and Syria as a country. We should all come together to help the people.

“Everyone should work together to create conducive conditions leading to free and fair elections and whatever will come out of this, all should accept,” he added.

Earlier this week, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rescinded an offer for Iran to attend Syria peace negotiations currently taking place in Geneva after Tehran said it didn't support the June 2012 political transition deal that is the basis for the talks.

Rouhani did not mention this in his wide-ranging speech to business leaders and politicians at the Swiss Alpine resort, but he called the recent engagement between Iran and the U.S “a major development.”

However, he called the international community’s position on Iran’s development of nuclear technology over the last decade, “illogical and incorrect.”   

“Iran, in pursuing its nuclear energy has never sought, nor seeks anything other than peaceful applications of this technology and will not accept any obstacles on the way of its scientific progress,” he said.

“Intensifying sanctions,” he added in the speech that was also published on his official English language twitter feed, “will have no results except direct and indirect costs for all parties.”

An opening for solving this crisis now exists that will create a comprehensive arrangement rather than a temporary one, he insisted.

Iran also hoped to open up trade negotiations with both their near neighbors and Europe, he said.

[Mark]

US Congress secretly approves weapons flow to 'moderate' Syrian rebels

Light arms supplied by the United States are flowing to "moderate" Syrian rebel factions in the south of the country and US funding for months of further deliveries has been approved by Congress, according US and European security officials. The weapons, most of which are moving to non-Islamist Syrian rebels via Jordan, include a variety of small arms, as well as some more powerful weapons, such as anti-tank rockets.   

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/US-Congress-secretly-approves-weapons-flow-to-moderate-Syrian-rebels-339558