Thread: What is happening between Syria and Turkey?

Syria hit an F-4 aircraft, due to it passed to Syria border between 8 and 15 milles, for few minutes. Aircraft fall down to Mediterranian.
I am aganist to my goverment for Syria stratedy. Europe and USA force Turkey to enter Syria to occupy on the other hand Russia and China is aganist for such a occupation.

Sure in Syria there is a dictatorship by Esat familiy and Syria is garden of Russia. However in Syria many people support Esad family...
On the other hand while in the wrold more bloddy countries and dictators why USA and Europe is so sensitive on Syria? Why Turkey participate in such a scenario.

All event to destroy Russia-China-Syria-Iran block in the area. And USA and EU want to use Turkey on this target, Turkey have nothing to win from this war except to have more enemy in the area.

Russia says its much ado `bout nothin'...

Russia Shoots Down Turkey-Syria War Rhetoric
June 26, 2012 : Russia said Tuesday that Syria's shooting down of a Turkish F4 Phantom jet is not a provocation of war.

Turkey viewed incident as "a clear and imminent threat," and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that because of the "heinous act" the "rules of engagement of the Turkish Armed Forces have changed," but Moscow is urging him to keep a cool head.

"We believe it is important that the incident is not viewed as a provocation or an intentional action, and that it does not lead to destabilizing the situation," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. "The escalation of political propaganda -- including on the international level -- is especially dangerous when there are efforts under way to mobilize all influential outside players" in a peace process.

Turkey, furious over Syria shooting at a second plane on Monday, warned that it would consider a "proportionate" response, "within the framework of international law." Ankara is expected to push NATO to invoke Article 5 of its founding charter for the second time ever during an emergency meeting on Tuesday, which would pave the way for a coalition response.

http://ca.ibtimes.com/articles/35661...rkey-plane.htm

150 Dead, TV Station Stormed In Syria...

Blast hits Damascus, Turkey sends troops to border
Thu Jun 28, 2012 - Rebel forces attacked Syria's main court in central Damascus on Thursday, state television said, while Turkey deployed troops and anti-aircraft rocket launchers to the Syrian border, building pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.

A loud explosion echoed through the streets and a column of black smoke rose over Damascus, an Assad stronghold that until the last few days had seemed largely beyond the reach of rebels. State television described it as a "terrorist" blast. Dozens of wrecked and burning cars were strewn over a car park used by lawyers and judges. The state news agency SANA said three people had been wounded by a bomb hidden in one of the cars. The fighting coincided with a Turkish military buildup on its border with Syria and a growing sense of urgency in Western- and Arab-backed diplomatic efforts to promote the idea of a unity government to end 16 months of bloodshed.

But Assad himself dismissed the idea of any outside solution to Syria's crisis. "We will not accept any non-Syrian, non-national model, whether it comes from big countries or friendly countries. No one knows how to solve Syria's problems as well as we do," Assad told the state television channel of Syria's ally Iran. He said Turkey's official stance belied the Turkish people's "positive view" of Syria.

A first substantial convoy of about 30 Turkish military vehicles, including trucks loaded with anti-aircraft missile batteries dispatched from the coastal town of Iskenderun, headed towards the Syrian border 50 km (30 miles) away. A Turkish official who declined to be named said he did not know how many troops or vehicles were being moved but they were being stationed in the Yayladagi, Altinozu and Reyhanli border areas. A general in the rebel Free Syria Army said on Friday that Syrian government forces had amassed around 170 tanks north of the city Aleppo, near the Turkish border, but there was no independent confirmation of the report.

General Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the Higher Military Council, an association of senior officers who defected from Assad's forces, said the tanks had assembled at the Infantry School near the village of Musalmieh northeast of the city of Aleppo, 30 kms (19 miles) from the Turkish border. "The tanks are now at the Infantry School. They're either preparing to move to the border to counter the Turkish deployment or attack the rebellious (Syrian) towns and villages in and around the border zone north of Aleppo," Sheikh told Reuters by telephone from the border. Last Friday Syria shot down a Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan responded by ordering his troops to treat any Syrian military element approaching the border as a military target. This could cover Syrian forces pursuing rebels towards the border, or patrolling helicopters or warplanes. Syria said at the weekend that it had killed several "terrorists" infiltrating from Turkey.

TURKISH CONVOYS

Like abandoning a sinking ship...

High-ranking general defects from Syrian military
Fri July 6, 2012 : U.S. official says if Manaf Tlas joined Syria's insurgency, it would be "significant"; Tlas was perhaps the most senior Sunni in Bashar al-Assad's regime, scholar says; Tlas was disgusted with the killing of Sunnis, a Western official says; The Tlas family knows "how the place is wired," a Syria expert says

A key member of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's "inner circle" has defected, Western officials said, a stunning blow to the embattled regime. He is Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlas, a Republican Guard military commander, the son of a former defense minister and possibly the most senior Sunni in a power structure dominated by the Alawite minority. "He's an inside confidant of Assad. So it counts that even an insider thinks it's time to go," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby said the "crack in the inner circle" is "significant" because of Tlas' position and ties with the Assad family. "We don't believe this defection should be taken lightly," he said.

Syria has been engulfed in nearly 16 months of unrest resulting in thousands of deaths. The defection comes as government assaults against protesters led to a nationwide uprising. Tlas has been estranged from the regime over the killing of Sunnis, the official said. His father, former Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas, and the rest of his family are in Paris, the official said. Reports of Tlas' defection first surfaced Thursday. Western officials are saying he is on his way to Paris. It is not known whether he has joined the opposition. But a U.S. official who is not authorized to speak on the record said if Tlas joins the insurgency, it would be "significant."

Andrew Tabler, Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said it's "by far the biggest defection." "This is a good-sized step in the right direction," he said The Tlas family knows "how the place is wired." Rafif Jouejati, spokeswoman for the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria, called the development "quite significant." "It signals that the domino effect of defections is speeding up as longtime regime supporters and collaborators realize that Assad's ship is sinking fast. Expect more defections in the coming days as the regime accelerates its scorched-earth policy in a desperate attempt to destroy as much as possible before falling apart," she told CNN.

Jeffrey White, a defense fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, called the development "raises questions about the cohesions of his brigade and division." White recently wrote an essay describing the mounting pressures on the Syrian military, including the growing opposition clout and defections. He told CNN on Friday that the "defection process is accelerating somewhat and that we are getting more reports of higher-ranking officers leaving." Tlas had been "the commander of an important regime protection unit, a component of the Republican Guard Division, whose main responsibility in the current conflict has been the defense of Damascus," White said.

MORE

turkey is only brave against civilian kurds and pkk , here they shot your plane killing its 2 pilots , oh well do something about it

Assad gov't. runnin' outta time...

Clinton: With more defections, Syrian regime's 'days are numbered'
July 8th, 2012 - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Sunday that "the days are numbered" for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

"There is no doubt that the opposition is getting more effective in their defense of themselves and in going on the offense against the Syrian military and the Syrian government's militias," Clinton said during a press conference in Tokyo on Sunday.

And with a recent increase in defections from the al-Assad regime, "the sand is running out of the hourglass," Clinton said.

"The sooner there can be an end to the violence and a beginning of a political transition process, not only will fewer people die, but there's a chance to save the Syrian state from a catastrophic assault that would be very dangerous not only to Syria but to the region," she said.

Source

Analysis: Syria options dwindling
July 7th, 2012 - When the Friends of Syria group began meeting this year, first in Tunis and again in Istanbul, there was a sense of possibility. Perhaps the group would endorse military action against Syria. Maybe they would recognize the Syrian National Council as the legitimate opposition group.

Six months in, the allure has worn off. At their third meeting in Paris, there were no expectations any decisions would be made, except for who would host the next meeting. Calls were made for tougher sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, even though most countries which had any business with Syria have already imposed tough measures to no avail. The group did endorse a transition plan hatched last week in Geneva. The document endorses a Syrian-led transition as part of the peace plan designed by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. The fact that the plan, which provides for an interim government, has no relation to the current reality on the ground or that it had no input from either the Syrian regime or the opposition - the two parties which would have to implement it - didn't seem to be nearly as important as the fact that Russia and China went along with it.

In lieu of an agenda, there was plenty of blame in Paris to heap on Russia and China. Offering her harshest rebuke of Moscow and Beijing to date, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on each leader present at the meeting to demand that Russia and China "get off the sidelines." "I don't believe Russia and China believe they are paying any price at all, nothing at all for standing up on behalf of the Assad regime," Clinton said. The longer the conflict drags on, the tougher Clinton's rhetoric on Russia becomes.

By placing the blame squarely on Russia and China, Clinton and others are able to delude themselves that diplomatic efforts can end the conflict with the main goal of getting Assad out. But in their heart of hearts they know even the most detailed roadmap of a post-Assad Syria has no hope of changing the military balance on the ground enough so that the Syrian military, Assad's inner circle, and Moscow see Assad as a sinking ship and abandon him.

Diplomats in New York are already at work on a new U.N. Security Council resolution endorsing the Annan plan and imposing sanctions on the regime if it fails to implement it. The resolution would be under Chapter 7, which has the implied threat of military action. But this, too, is a mirage. Privately, U.S. and other western officials recognize they are spinning their wheels. They know there is no chance the Assad regime would implement the Annan plan without a credible military threat and they also know that the appetite for international military action is, well, nonexistent.

Since the conflict in Syria began, the international community has had many excuses for inaction: the lack of a credible opposition, Russian intransigence and the fear of further militarizing the conflict. The need to give Annan's peace plan time to work was just the latest justification. Riad Seif, a prominent businessman and former member of parliament who recently left Syria and is now a member of the opposition, gave voice to what many Syrians are feeling about the futility of the "Friends of Syria" exercise when he asked the group to make its friendship actually mean something. "After so many conferences, we fail to see how we have so many friends and people are dying every day," he told the group during a fiery address. "Help us put an end to this massacre."

Analysis: Syria options dwindling – CNN Security Clearance - CNN.com Blogs

Another defection, Russia sends in its Navy...

Syrian Ambassador to Iraq Defects; Joins Rebels
July 11, 2012 - Syria's ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf Fares, has defected and says he has joined the revolution.

In a statement broadcast on the Arabic-language television network Al-Jazeera, Fares announced he is resigning from the ruling Ba'ath Party. He said the government has used it as a tool to oppress the Syrian people and their aspirations to freedom and dignity. He urged members of the military to join him, saying there is no honor in killing one's own people. It was not made clear where Fares was speaking.

He is the highest-ranking Syrian official to flee Bashar al-Assad's government since the deadly rebel uprising began 16 months ago. In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney called this a sign that support for Mr. Assad is crumbling both inside his own government and internationally.

Earlier, United Nations envoy Kofi Annan said that in his talks this week with President Assad, the Syrian leader proposed a negotiator who would represent him in talks with the opposition. Mr. Annan did not reveal a name.

Mr. Annan also said Iran and Iraq told him they would use their influence to push the Syrian opposition into talks. Carney said the United States is not excluding anyone from participating in talks about Syria's future, but he doubts Iran could play a constructive role.

Source

See also:

Russian Warships Steam to Syria
July 11, 2012
MOSCOW — Two Russian Navy ships entered the eastern Mediterranean Wednesday, steaming toward a Russian Navy base at Tartus, Syria. The ships are advance units of a flotilla of 11 warships - one destroyer, five amphibious landing ships, two patrol frigates, two rescue tugs, and one tanker. Several ships carry units of Russian Marines.

It is to be the largest display of Russian naval power in the Mediterranean since the collapse of the Soviet Union two decades ago. And in case the world misses the message, Russia television is broadcasting images of warship after warship steaming out of bases in the Arctic, Baltic and Black seas.

'Sending the message'

In Moscow, Yevgeny Michenko, director of the International Institute for Policies Expertise, says the Kremlin is sending the message that it does not want to see in Syria the kind of Western-led regime change that took place last year in Libya. “Russia has a crystal clear position," he said in an interview. "It means that Russia does not want to support changes of the Syrian president, and Russia doesn't support any kind of military operation like it was in Libya.”

At a military air show near London, Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, a deputy director of Russia’s Military-Technical Cooperation Service, told reporters that the Russian ships could be used to prevent a Western blockade of Syria. He said that Russia will fulfill existing contracts to deliver to Syria refurbished helicopters, new air defense systems and spare parts for weapons. He said that no Russian military specialists are now in Syria helping Syria’s army.

But two weeks ago, when Syrian forces used Russian-made missiles to shoot down a Turkish fighter jet, Russian military sources in Moscow gave reporters highly detailed information on the jet’s flight path over the eastern Mediterranean. Other analysts say Russia’s amphibious ships could be used to evacuate the large numbers of Russian civilians who live in Syria.

Power broker

Another massacre in Syria...

Opposition: Civilians Massacred in Syrian Village
July 12, 2012 - Syrian opposition activists say government forces have massacred more than 150 people, mostly civilians, inside a village in Hama province.

The activists and witnesses say troops shelled the village of Treimsa with tanks and helicopters before storming the area. A rebel leader put the death toll at more than 200. State-run Syrian media say troops battled an armed group in the area and, as in previous mass killings, blamed the massacre on those it calls terrorists.

Thursday's reported massacre comes as the United Nations Security Council debates imposing tough new sanctions on the Syrian government if it keeps attacking the opposition and civilians with heavy weapons. The Western-backed resolution also leaves the door open to possible military intervention. But Russia is threatening to veto the resolution. It wants to simply extend the mandate of the U.N. observer mission in Syria for another three months.

Moscow has been one of Syria's closest allies and has vetoed previous U.N. action. The Syrian ambassador to Iraq, Nawaf Fares, who has defected to join the opposition, is urging Syrian soldiers to join him. He says there is no honor in killing one's own people. Fares is the highest-ranking Syrian official to switch sides since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began 16 months ago.

Source

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Over 200 massacred in Syrian government forces attack: activists
12 July`12 - More than 200 Syrians, mostly civilians, were massacred in a village in the rebellious Hama region when it was bombarded by helicopter gunships and tanks and then stormed by militiamen, opposition activists said.

If confirmed, it would be the worst single incident of violence in 16 months of conflict in which rebels are fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad and diplomacy to halt the bloodshed has been stymied by jostling between world powers. The Revolution Leadership Council of Hama told Reuters the Sunni Muslim village of Taramseh was subjected on Thursday to a barrage of heavy weapons fire before pro-government Alawite militiamen swept in and killed victims one by one. "More than 220 people fell today in Taramseh. They died from bombardment by tanks and helicopters, artillery shelling and summary executions," the regional opposition group said in a statement on Thursday evening.

Syrian state television said three security personnel had been killed in fighting in Taramseh and it accused "armed terrorist groups" of committing a massacre there. Fadi Sameh, an opposition activist from Taramseh, said he had left the town before the reported killing spree but was in touch with residents. "It appears that Alawite militiamen from surrounding villages descended on Taramseh after its rebel defenders pulled out, and started killing the people. Whole houses have been destroyed and burned from the shelling. "Every family in the town seems to have members killed. We have names of men, women and children from countless families," he said, adding many of the bodies were taken to a local mosque.

Ahmed, another local activist, told Reuters: "So far, we have 20 victims recorded with names and 60 bodies at a mosque. There are more bodies in the fields, bodies in the rivers and in houses ... People were trying to flee from the time the shelling started and whole families were killed trying to escape." The reports could not be independently confirmed. Syrian authorities severely limit access for independent journalists.

Seventy-eight people were shot or stabbed dead or burned alive in the village of Mazraat al-Qubeir, a Sunni hamlet, by fighters of Assad's Alawite sect on June 6, and 108 men, women and children were massacred in the town of Houla on May 25. Most of Assad's political and military establishment are minority Alawites, who form a branch of Shi'ite Islam. The revolt and the fighters behind it, and the street protesters who launched the revolt in March 2011, are mostly Sunni Muslims. While the insurgents have been unable to match the Syrian army's firepower, they have established footholds in towns, cities and villages across Syria, often prompting Assad's forces to respond fiercely with helicopter gunships and artillery.

DEFECTING AMBASSADOR CONDEMNS ASSAD

Syria's defected ambassador blasts Assad...

Defected Syrian envoy lashes out at Assad
14 July`12 — Nawaf Fares, who this week defected as Syria's ambassador to Iraq, on Saturday accused President Bashar al-Assad of allowing Al-Qaeda to use Syria as a springboard for attacks in his former host country.

Fares, the latest high-level official to abandon Assad, in an interview on Al-Jazeera television also accused Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of taking a stance toward Syria that was "contradictory" to the truth. Majority Shiite Muslim Iraq had repeatedly accused Damascus of letting Sunni insurgents and arms transit through Syria to carry out attacks inside the country, especially during the brutal sectarian conflict that erupted after US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

But since the uprising broke out last year against Assad -- who belongs to the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam -- Iraq's Shiite-led government has called for non-interference in Syria and has opposed arming Syrian rebels. "I personally reproach the (Iraqi) prime minister on his stance, which is contradictory to the truth," Fares said. "He knows very well what Bashar al-Assad had done to him and to all of Iraq and to Shiites specifically," Fares said, adding that Assad has "killed thousands" by opening "the doors for Al-Qaeda" militants to carry out bombings across Iraq.

Baghdad's stance was similar to that of Syria's other Shiite ally, Iran, which Fares accused of "putting pressure" on Maliki's government. "Iran must not support a tyrant and dictator who is killing his own people, regardless of its interests," Fares told Al-Jazeera in Qatar, to which he travelled after quitting his post. Western countries and the Syrian opposition accuse Iran of providing military support to the regime in Syria, where activists say more than 17,000 people have been killed since March 2011. Tehran denies the charge.

When asked about UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's bid to get Iran's support for his tattered peace plan, Fares said: "Iran is part of the problem. How could it be part of the solution?" "The Syrian revolt will win despite Iran and all countries backing the tyrant," whom Fares described as "Syria's former president who is now a criminal and a killer." Fares, the first Syrian ambassador to defect to the opposition, was widely seen as a regime hardliner and his decision, announced on Al-Jazeera on Wednesday, was surprising.

Source

Originally Posted by haydar

Syria hit an F-4 aircraft, due to it passed to Syria border between 8 and 15 milles, for few minutes. Aircraft fall down to Mediterranian.
I am aganist to my goverment for Syria stratedy. Europe and USA force Turkey to enter Syria to occupy on the other hand Russia and China is aganist for such a occupation.

Sure in Syria there is a dictatorship by Esat familiy and Syria is garden of Russia. However in Syria many people support Esad family...
On the other hand while in the wrold more bloddy countries and dictators why USA and Europe is so sensitive on Syria? Why Turkey participate in such a scenario.

All event to destroy Russia-China-Syria-Iran block in the area. And USA and EU want to use Turkey on this target, Turkey have nothing to win from this war except to have more enemy in the area.

Originally Posted by haydar

Syria hit an F-4 aircraft, due to it passed to Syria border between 8 and 15 milles, for few minutes. Aircraft fall down to Mediterranian.
I am aganist to my goverment for Syria stratedy. Europe and USA force Turkey to enter Syria to occupy on the other hand Russia and China is aganist for such a occupation.

Sure in Syria there is a dictatorship by Esat familiy and Syria is garden of Russia. However in Syria many people support Esad family...
On the other hand while in the wrold more bloddy countries and dictators why USA and Europe is so sensitive on Syria? Why Turkey participate in such a scenario.

All event to destroy Russia-China-Syria-Iran block in the area. And USA and EU want to use Turkey on this target, Turkey have nothing to win from this war except to have more enemy in the area.

I was thinking that with the fall of Sarkozy in France , Hollande will be enough intelligent to stop the bull(*)(*)(*)(*) done in syria , alas no this stupid is going on the same tracks as Sarkozy

Honestly I am fed up that Hollande go on those stupidities in Syria , I am quite angry that we french back up those stupid quataries and saoudians mercenaries allied with the Cia Al Quaeda fanatics flighted from Lybia , Bosnia , Georgia and Kosovo , what the hell are we doing like sheet in Syria us so called western democrats !