Syria inafuatia baada ya Libya

Syria inafuatia baada ya Libya


  • View GalleryA Free Syrian Army member aims his weapon after hearing shooting in Aleppo July 29, 2012. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT CIVIL UNREST MILITARY)






  • Syrian rebel fighters pose for …



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing U.S. support for rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, sources familiar with the matter said.
Obama's order, approved earlier this year and known as an intelligence "finding," broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad.

This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad's armed opponents - a shift that intensified following last month's failure of the U.N. Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government.

The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some U.S. allies do just that.
But U.S. and European officials have said that there have been noticeable improvements in the coherence and effectiveness of Syrian rebel

groups in the past few weeks. That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials, who previously characterized Assad's opponents as a disorganized, almost chaotic, rabble.
Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined.

The full extent of clandestine support that agencies like the CIA might be providing also is unclear.
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment.
'NERVE CENTER'

A U.S. government source acknowledged that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.

Last week, Reuters reported that, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey had established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct vital military and communications support to Assad's opponents.

This "nerve center" is in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 60 miles from the Syrian border, which is also home to Incirlik, a U.S. air base where U.S. military and intelligence agencies maintain a substantial presence.

Turkey's moderate Islamist government has been demanding Assad's departure with growing vehemence. Turkish authorities are said by current and former U.S. government officials to be increasingly involved in providing Syrian rebels with training and possibly equipment.

European government sources said wealthy families in Saudi Arabia and Qatar were providing significant financing to the rebels. Senior officials of the Saudi and Qatari governments have publicly called for Assad's departure.
On Tuesday, NBC News reported that the Free Syrian Army had obtained nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles, weapons that could be

used against Assad's helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Syrian government armed forces have employed such air power more extensively in recent days.

NBC said the shoulder-fired missiles, also known as MANPADs, had been delivered to the rebels via Turkey.
On Wednesday, however, Bassam al-Dada, a political adviser to the Free Syrian Army, denied the NBC report, telling the Arabic-language TV

network Al-Arabiya that the group had "not obtained any such weapons at all." U.S. government sources said they could not confirm the MANPADs deliveries, but could not rule them out either.

Current and former U.S. and European officials previously said that weapons supplies, which were being organized and financed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were largely limited to guns and a limited number of anti-tank weapons, such as bazookas.
Indications are that U.S. agencies have not been involved in providing weapons to Assad's opponents. In order to do so, Obama would have

to approve a supplement, known as a "memorandum of notification, to his initial broad intelligence finding.
Further such memoranda would have to be signed by Obama to authorize other specific clandestine operations to support Syrian rebels.
Reuters first reported last week that the White House had crafted a directive authorizing greater U.S. covert assistance to Syrian rebels. It was unclear at that time whether Obama had signed it.

OVERT SUPPORT

Separately from the president's secret order, the Obama administration has stated publicly that it is providing some backing for Assad's opponents.

The State Department said on Wednesday the U.S. government had set aside a total of $25 million for "non-lethal" assistance to the Syrian opposition. A U.S. official said that was mostly for communications equipment, including encrypted radios.

The State Department also says the United States has set aside $64 million in humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people, including contributions to the World Food Program, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other aid agencies.

Also on Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury confirmed it had granted authorization to the Syrian Support Group, Washington representative of one of the most active rebel factions, the Free Syrian Army, to conduct financial transactions on the rebel group's behalf. The authorization

was first reported on Friday by Al-Monitor, a Middle East news and commentary website.
Last year, when rebels began organizing themselves to challenge the rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Obama also signed an initial "finding" broadly authorizing secret U.S. backing for them. But the president moved cautiously in authorizing specific measures to support them.

Some U.S. lawmakers, such as Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have criticized Obama for moving too slowly to assist the rebels and have suggested the U.S. government become directly involved in arming Assad's opponents.

Other lawmakers have suggested caution, saying too little is known about the many rebel groups.
Recent news reports from the region have suggested that the influence and numbers of Islamist militants, some of them connected to al Qaeda or its affiliates, have been growing among Assad's opponents.

U.S. and European officials say that, so far, intelligence agencies do not believe the militants' role in the anti-Assad opposition is dominant.
While U.S. and allied government experts believe that the Syrian rebels have been making some progress against Assad's forces lately, most

believe the conflict is nowhere near resolution, and could go on for years.
(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Warren Strobel and Peter Cooney)
Obama authorizes secret support for Syrian rebels - Yahoo! News



 
Link Syria's Assad praises troops, keeps out of public eye | Reuters

Kwenye hizi ripoti za BBC, Al jazeerah, Reuters kila unyama wanaofanya Rebels wanaishia kusema:In both cases, the content of the footage could not immediately be verified.

Lakini wanapopewa video/picha na opposition activists au rebels huwa wepesi kumtupia lawama Assad na majeshi ya Syria kuwa wanaua wananchi wasio na hatia. Lakini baada ya propaganda hizi ukweli hujitokeza baadae kuwa FSA ndio wanaofanya mauaji na kuchukua video na picha na kuuaminisha ulimwengu kuwa ni serikali ya Assad inayohusika na vitendo hivyo.
 
Kofi Annan is quitting as UN - Arab league peace envoy for Syria, as the civil war in the country spirals further out of the control.

The UN Secretary General Ban Kin-Moon announced " with deep regret " the resigination of Mr Annan who was named to the post on February 23.

Mr Annan's resignation will be effective as of August 31

Source : Sky News
 
Kofi simuamini kabisa, ujanja aliotumia kwa Saddam kama umegonga mwamba Al Assad, baada ya Warusi kumuwekea 'tight marking'.
 

  • View GalleryIn this citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN, taken on Wednesday, …
  • A Syrian man holds a sign beside …




UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Security Council will most likely not renew the mandate of the U.N. observer mission in Syria later this month, which would require it to pull out of the conflict-torn country, France's envoy to the United Nations said on Thursday.

"I think the mission will disappear on the 19th of August," French Ambassador Gerard Araud, president of the Security Council this month, told reporters. The mandate of the U.N. mission in Syria, known as UNSMIS, expires on that date.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin criticized Araud for declaring UNSMIS effectively dead and made clear Moscow would "strongly urge the secretary-general (Ban Ki-moon) to continue with the monitoring component" of UNSMIS after August 19.

In order for the monitors to remain in Syria after August 19, the council would have to adopt a new resolution to that effect. Araud made clear it was difficult to imagine the council reaching agreement to do so.

Ban is expected to deliver a report next week to the 15-nation council with recommendations regarding the future of UNSMIS.
Given international mediator Kofi Annan's decision to step down at the end of the month, which was announced earlier on Thursday, U.N.

diplomats said the prospects for securing a diplomatic solution and a truce that could be monitored by UNSMIS were not good.
The U.N. Security Council extended the three-month mandate of the U.N. observer mission in Syria for another 30 days last month. It will decide in a few weeks whether to extend it again.

Araud said the situation on the ground in Syria would have to improve significantly in order for the council to reach an agreement that would keep UNSMIS in place.

Some Western diplomats say they are loath to keep the mission in Syria given that there is no truce for the observers to monitor and neither side in the conflict appears to want a diplomatic solution to the crisis. The United States, they said, was most eager to end the mission's mandate.

The European Union humanitarian affairs commissioner, Kristalina Georgieva, said on Wednesday that UNSMIS' presence had been beneficial for aid delivery.

DIVISIONS 'AS GREAT AS EVER'

Araud described the Security Council as "irreconcilably deadlocked" on the issue of Syria because two of the five permanent veto-wielding members were too far apart in their views for the council to reach an agreement. He did not name the two states, but it was clear he meant Russia and the United States.

Russia, along with China, has vetoed three resolutions on Syria that would have condemned the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and threatened it with possible sanctions.
"The divisions are as great as ever," Araud said. "We can predict a clash."
"The Security Council is deadlocked," he added. "Three vetoes enable us to say that."

The United States and Britain suggested it was Russia and China that undermined Annan's peace efforts by vetoing attempts to pressure Assad to halt his 17-month crackdown against an increasingly militarized opposition determined to oust him. Assad's ally Russia said it was the Western powers that undermined Annan.

UNSMIS' 300 unarmed observers, whose role had been to monitor a failed April 12 ceasefire in Syria brokered by Annan, suspended most activities on June 16 because of increased risk from rising violence. Half of the monitors have already pulled out, but diplomats said there were over 72 civilian staff working on a political solution and monitoring rights problems.
(Editing by Peter Cooney)
​Plug likely to be pulled on U.N. observers in Syria: France - Yahoo! News

 
US President Barack Obama has signed a covert order authorising support for Syrian rebels, US media report.
The Obama administration has said publicly it is offering support to the rebels, including $25m (£16m) of "non-lethal" assistance.
The state department aid mostly funds the supply of communications equipment such as encrypted radios.
But it is not clear what type of support is authorised by the secret order, known as an intelligence finding, which was reported by Reuters news agency.
A US Senate panel on Wednesday heard foreign policy experts urge the Obama administration to consider arming Syrian rebels.
Some US lawmakers, such as Republican Senator John McCain, have criticised Mr Obama, arguing the US should become directly involved in arming Mr Assad's opponents.
Reuters also reports that the US is collaborating with a secret command centre operating near the Syrian border, set up by Turkey and its allies.
And the US Department of the Treasury approved a licence last week allowing th

BBC
 
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