They will bomb a town next door, and they don’t bomb Raqqa, the city that ISIS has taken control of. and furthermore, this Western diplomat alleged, ISIS is financing itself through oil revenues out of oil wells that essentially the regime is allowing them to have control over and operate." assad is taking a very dangerous risk. Consider how the American government's support of the taliban and other terrorist groups during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan turned out. When assad falls the terrorist he has allowed in will prolong the civil war and the suffering of the Syrian people. This video report is from Montreux, Switzerland during the failed peace talks, and is followed by reports on the al q terrorist in Syria from Aljazeera English and NPR...
Published on Jan 23, 2014
Though open talks took a break for a
day, U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi met separately with
the Syrian government's delegation and the opposition, ahead of a
planned, mediated meeting between the two sides. Hari Sreenivasan gets
an update from chief foreign correspondent Margaret Warner, reporting
from Geneva.
http://youtu.be/ee0Hpl9H9KQ
GWEN IFILL:
As the Syrian peace talks in Switzerland took a break today to move
from Montreux to Geneva, the supporting drama continued with more heated
rhetoric from the opposition and from government representatives.
And, as Hari Sreenivasan reports, some are wondering whether the two sides will even keep their plans to meet tomorrow.
HARI SREENIVASAN: U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met separately today with the Syrian government’s delegation and the opposition in the wake of yesterday’s tense formal opening session.
QUESTION: Are you confident of being able to …
LAKHDAR BRAHIMI, U.N. Envoy to Syria: I’m not speaking.
HARI SREENIVASAN: He declined to comment on his conversations or about prospects for face-to-face talks that the two sides are supposed to hold tomorrow.
Ahmad Al-Jarba, head of the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition, reiterated again today that Syrian President Bashar-al Assad must go.
AHMAD AL-JARBA, president, Syrian National Council (through translator): It’s clear to us and to you that the regime is dead. I think that the world is convinced today that Assad is not staying and will not stay in power.
HARI SREENIVASAN: The Syrian government has repeatedly pushed back at that idea. And, today, the country’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said the Assad government’s priority is to focus on fighting terrorism in Syria, not to discuss peace. And he dismissed the Syrian National Coalition as not representative of the opposition.
Indeed, many of the civilian opposition groups refused to come, and none of the fighting forces, secular or Islamist, sent representatives. Instead, they have been fighting among themselves. Today, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri released an audio message urging the Islamists to unite.
Meanwhile, the president of Iran called for elections to decide Syria’s future. Hassan Rouhani addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, after his country was barred from yesterday’s peace talks.
PRESIDENT HASSAN ROUHANI, Iran (through translator): We must pave the wave for the opposition and the government to sit at the table of negotiations and dialogue. The best solution is a free election in Syria. We must all respect whatever the people vote for.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Iran’s support has helped President Assad’s forces make important military gains in recent months. Perhaps with that in mind, Secretary of State John Kerry said today it’s obvious that, for now, Assad is not ready to step down.
Chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner is in Geneva.
So, Margaret, given all that happened yesterday, are these two sides likely to meet face-to-face tomorrow?
MARGARET WARNER: They are, Hari, and we have been told that, today, Brahimi had meetings — that is Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. special envoy — with both sides, and they have agreed on an M.O. for tomorrow.
They will meet at the Palais des Nations right here and they will start in the same room. And Brahimi will propose to them what he is thinking of. They will speak through each person’s, each side’s representative to Brahimi, not to one another. Great care has been taken to make sure that nothing explodes, you don’t have a situation like yesterday.
Then, once that’s happened, they will each retire to different rooms. And from then, the question is, will that then amount to turning to shuttle diplomacy, with Brahimi going from room to room, or will they return and again in this very structured way exchange ideas through Brahimi?
HARI SREENIVASAN: Even though they are in the same room, they are going to speak through Brahimi.
How much did what happened yesterday and how much could it impact the rest of this conversation?
MARGARET WARNER: Well, interestingly, Hari, the opposition, which had to really be pressured to even come here by the West and its backers, comes out of the meeting in Montreux, with a little bit of wind in its sails.
And the belief is among apparently Syrians in Syria and certainly among many of the world powers that Jarba, the leader of the Syrian opposition, who is really a neophyte to the international stage, did better than Foreign Minister Moallem, just in terms of style.
That is, as we discussed yesterday, Foreign Minister Moallem was very histrionic, very aggressive in his language, very sort of bloody and violent in his terminology, and never talked about the future that they see, and that Jarba, while he also had a litany of grievances, did actually speak to the Syrian people about the kind of inclusive Syria he hoped to see.
So, that said, the Western backers of the opposition have said to him, all right, you don’t represent all of the Syrian people, as you well know. Now is the time to try to capitalize on this little bit of a boost you have given yourself by not rising to the bait of Moallem’s comments yesterday and try to expand your circle.
HARI SREENIVASAN: What about that reservation that we have talked about that not all the people who are fighting on the ground in the opposition are actually represented in the room?
MARGARET WARNER: In fact, none of those really fighting on the ground are even in the room.
And that has to do with a lot of the complicated politics of the fighting forces at the moment, where, as we have explained — as you explained in the setup, they’re fighting a two-front war. So they have no fighting forces here. Some of the civilian groups declined to come. And so that is an Achilles’ heel for the Syrian opposition coalition, absolutely.
And this is why it is very, very important not to prove — for them not to prove the Syrian government right, and to actually be able to in a month or two claim to speak for a broader representation of the Syrian — all the factions that are contending there.
HARI SREENIVASAN: What about if the foreign minister of Syria says this is only to talk about fighting terrorism, not about Bashar al-Assad stepping down? What if that is the limit of what he wants to talk about?
MARGARET WARNER: Well, you are right. He has repeated that again today.
And, of course, the substantive answer is what Secretary Kerry said yesterday, that the only reason there are all these foreign jihadis in there is because Assad’s brutality has created this chaotic situation.
Today, however, a new argument was being made. And the opposition has made this before, but this time, we heard it from seasoned Western diplomats, who said, actually, that the Assad regime is in cahoots with the al-Qaida-linked groups. And their proof is that in areas that ISIS, as it’s called, these al-Qaida-linked groups control, the regime doesn’t bomb.
They will bomb a town next door, and they don’t bomb Raqqa, the city that ISIS has taken control of. and furthermore, this Western diplomat alleged, ISIS is financing itself through oil revenues out of oil wells that essentially the regime is allowing them to have control over and operate.
So, if that is demonstrated to be true, essentially, what they’re saying is, you want to talk about terrorism, let’s talk about terrorism. And the charge is that the Assad government is deliberately encouraging these al-Qaida foreign fighters, some of whom used to get have, you know, in Syria long ago during the occupation of Iraq, that they’re using that to demonstrate to the West that, in fact, the choice is what this diplomat called the big lie: It’s Assad or al-Qaida.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Margaret Warner joining us from Geneva, thanks so much.
MARGARET WARNER: Thank you, Hari
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world-jan-june14-syria-01-23/
And, as Hari Sreenivasan reports, some are wondering whether the two sides will even keep their plans to meet tomorrow.
HARI SREENIVASAN: U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met separately today with the Syrian government’s delegation and the opposition in the wake of yesterday’s tense formal opening session.
QUESTION: Are you confident of being able to …
LAKHDAR BRAHIMI, U.N. Envoy to Syria: I’m not speaking.
HARI SREENIVASAN: He declined to comment on his conversations or about prospects for face-to-face talks that the two sides are supposed to hold tomorrow.
Ahmad Al-Jarba, head of the Western-backed Syrian National Coalition, reiterated again today that Syrian President Bashar-al Assad must go.
AHMAD AL-JARBA, president, Syrian National Council (through translator): It’s clear to us and to you that the regime is dead. I think that the world is convinced today that Assad is not staying and will not stay in power.
HARI SREENIVASAN: The Syrian government has repeatedly pushed back at that idea. And, today, the country’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, said the Assad government’s priority is to focus on fighting terrorism in Syria, not to discuss peace. And he dismissed the Syrian National Coalition as not representative of the opposition.
Indeed, many of the civilian opposition groups refused to come, and none of the fighting forces, secular or Islamist, sent representatives. Instead, they have been fighting among themselves. Today, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri released an audio message urging the Islamists to unite.
Meanwhile, the president of Iran called for elections to decide Syria’s future. Hassan Rouhani addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, after his country was barred from yesterday’s peace talks.
PRESIDENT HASSAN ROUHANI, Iran (through translator): We must pave the wave for the opposition and the government to sit at the table of negotiations and dialogue. The best solution is a free election in Syria. We must all respect whatever the people vote for.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Iran’s support has helped President Assad’s forces make important military gains in recent months. Perhaps with that in mind, Secretary of State John Kerry said today it’s obvious that, for now, Assad is not ready to step down.
Chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner is in Geneva.
So, Margaret, given all that happened yesterday, are these two sides likely to meet face-to-face tomorrow?
MARGARET WARNER: They are, Hari, and we have been told that, today, Brahimi had meetings — that is Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. special envoy — with both sides, and they have agreed on an M.O. for tomorrow.
They will meet at the Palais des Nations right here and they will start in the same room. And Brahimi will propose to them what he is thinking of. They will speak through each person’s, each side’s representative to Brahimi, not to one another. Great care has been taken to make sure that nothing explodes, you don’t have a situation like yesterday.
Then, once that’s happened, they will each retire to different rooms. And from then, the question is, will that then amount to turning to shuttle diplomacy, with Brahimi going from room to room, or will they return and again in this very structured way exchange ideas through Brahimi?
HARI SREENIVASAN: Even though they are in the same room, they are going to speak through Brahimi.
How much did what happened yesterday and how much could it impact the rest of this conversation?
MARGARET WARNER: Well, interestingly, Hari, the opposition, which had to really be pressured to even come here by the West and its backers, comes out of the meeting in Montreux, with a little bit of wind in its sails.
And the belief is among apparently Syrians in Syria and certainly among many of the world powers that Jarba, the leader of the Syrian opposition, who is really a neophyte to the international stage, did better than Foreign Minister Moallem, just in terms of style.
That is, as we discussed yesterday, Foreign Minister Moallem was very histrionic, very aggressive in his language, very sort of bloody and violent in his terminology, and never talked about the future that they see, and that Jarba, while he also had a litany of grievances, did actually speak to the Syrian people about the kind of inclusive Syria he hoped to see.
So, that said, the Western backers of the opposition have said to him, all right, you don’t represent all of the Syrian people, as you well know. Now is the time to try to capitalize on this little bit of a boost you have given yourself by not rising to the bait of Moallem’s comments yesterday and try to expand your circle.
HARI SREENIVASAN: What about that reservation that we have talked about that not all the people who are fighting on the ground in the opposition are actually represented in the room?
MARGARET WARNER: In fact, none of those really fighting on the ground are even in the room.
And that has to do with a lot of the complicated politics of the fighting forces at the moment, where, as we have explained — as you explained in the setup, they’re fighting a two-front war. So they have no fighting forces here. Some of the civilian groups declined to come. And so that is an Achilles’ heel for the Syrian opposition coalition, absolutely.
And this is why it is very, very important not to prove — for them not to prove the Syrian government right, and to actually be able to in a month or two claim to speak for a broader representation of the Syrian — all the factions that are contending there.
HARI SREENIVASAN: What about if the foreign minister of Syria says this is only to talk about fighting terrorism, not about Bashar al-Assad stepping down? What if that is the limit of what he wants to talk about?
MARGARET WARNER: Well, you are right. He has repeated that again today.
And, of course, the substantive answer is what Secretary Kerry said yesterday, that the only reason there are all these foreign jihadis in there is because Assad’s brutality has created this chaotic situation.
Today, however, a new argument was being made. And the opposition has made this before, but this time, we heard it from seasoned Western diplomats, who said, actually, that the Assad regime is in cahoots with the al-Qaida-linked groups. And their proof is that in areas that ISIS, as it’s called, these al-Qaida-linked groups control, the regime doesn’t bomb.
They will bomb a town next door, and they don’t bomb Raqqa, the city that ISIS has taken control of. and furthermore, this Western diplomat alleged, ISIS is financing itself through oil revenues out of oil wells that essentially the regime is allowing them to have control over and operate.
So, if that is demonstrated to be true, essentially, what they’re saying is, you want to talk about terrorism, let’s talk about terrorism. And the charge is that the Assad government is deliberately encouraging these al-Qaida foreign fighters, some of whom used to get have, you know, in Syria long ago during the occupation of Iraq, that they’re using that to demonstrate to the West that, in fact, the choice is what this diplomat called the big lie: It’s Assad or al-Qaida.
HARI SREENIVASAN: Margaret Warner joining us from Geneva, thanks so much.
MARGARET WARNER: Thank you, Hari
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/world-jan-june14-syria-01-23/
More than 1,000 Syrians flee al-Qaeda-linked group as they mow down children and behead prisoners in cold blood.
Isabel Hunter
Last updated: 21 Jan 2014 15:31
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Syrian who fled Jarabulus found refuge across the border in Karkamis, Turkey [Isabel Hunter/Al Jazeera]
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| Karkamis, Turkey
- Al-Qaeda fighters have struck a bloody blow in scenes of medieval
violence in Syria's northern border-town of Jarabulus. Fighting came to a
head on January 17, between rebel groups Liwa al-Tawhid Brigade and the
al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the
town, when reinforcements arrived from Raqqa and reclaimed the city in a
brutal four-hour battle. By nightfall, at least 10 men had been beheaded, their heads mounted on spikes, and more than 1,000 refugees fled the 3kms across the border to Turkey. It's a shocking turn of events for residents and Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters alike, who just a week ago believed they were hours away from expelling the al-Qaeda group from their city altogether after surrounding the last 40 fighters in the city's cultural centre. But when an ISIL car bomb killed 33 people - all women and children - the FSA brigade called for backup. Instead, what arrived was a 70-car ISIL convoy from Raqqa, an ISIL stronghold 160kms to the south-east. Fighters say half of the militants wore their usual black uniform and half wore camouflage like the FSA, and were uncharacteristically clean-shaven. The disguised fighters tied white bands around their arms to distinguish themselves from the real FSA. Beheadings More than 100 men were taken from their homes and escorted to the main square for what turned into a bloodbath. Muhammad Jader, 22, and his uncle Ali, 35, were among those arrested. "They lined us up against the wall," Jader told Al Jazeera, "and the emir told them not to waste bullets. Suddenly they grabbed one guy and pinned him down on his stomach. Then one man from ISIL put his knee on his back, shouted 'Allahu Akbar' and cut off his head with a knife."  One was beheaded because they found cigarettes in his pocket. Approximately 40 men were mowed down by a spray of automatic gunfire in a show of reckless and wanton violence. The surviving men were then questioned about their connections to the FSA - even giving the rebels a glass of water earned the person a death sentence. Shocked and shaking, the two men could barely believe they had survived, but despite being released, they knew they were still being hunted, so they made a break for the border. Six of the beheaded were from the Jader family, one of the first to rise up against ISIL in the city. Contrary to initial reports, the men were not leaders of the battalion, but were targeted for their family ties. They have been identified as Hussein Jader, 18; Ahmad Jader, 20, a soldier who had defected from Bashar al-Assad's army; Murat Kirkez Jader, 25; Amar Jader, 40; Ibrahim Jader, 55; and Abdo Jader, 60. In addition to the Jader family, the Jubanat clan was also targeted in the revenge killing. Ali told Al Jazeera that 12 women and children, including a two-year-old, were found slaughtered in their house. Neighbours say ISIL came for the men but massacred the family in their absence. Al-Qaeda's extreme tactics goes a long way to explain how they have reclaimed much of the territory in northern Syria. Despite being fewer in number than the opposing rebel factions, their use of terror and increasing use of attacks on civilians is winning out. Now controlling the entirety of Jarabulus, ISIL has called upon international NGOs previously active in the area to restart their operations. However since the violence began, streams of civilians have crossed the border into Turkey. Aid organisations say more than 1,000 people have arrived in the past few days, with many more fleeing to neighbouring towns in Syria. 'They killed everyone' Most of the refugees are from the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps that surround Jarabulus.
In a small, makeshift community centre across the border in Karkamis, approximately 250 men, women and children await help. Women and children sleep in the cramped, sparse but warm space, while the men stay outside in the street and all share just two toilets. Mohammed Sulaiby carried his 75-year-old mother, Suad, on his back from Jarabulus because she is too weak to walk. A diabetic, Suad hasn't had insulin for days - her blood sugar level has reached dangerous levels, her son said. "People don't have money and it's expensive here," he told Al Jazeera. "We've been here for three days and no one has helped us. The children are sick and everyone is hungry." A spokeswoman from AFAD, Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Committee, said it is the responsibility of the refugees to register themselves with the organisation. She said, "We are dealing with the problem, but they need to apply to us. Karkamis Camp may be full, but then we can bus them to other camps." But this does little for 20-year-old Wafa Turkmani, who is a mother of one, four months pregnant, and has no idea where to go next. Like many of the families who have crossed the border, all she wants is to get into a Turkish government camp, but said she has been told to fend for herself. "We went to Nizip at first," she said, "but the Turkish official there said we had to come back to Karkamis. He told us we had two options - either go back to Syria, or stay with relatives or friends in Turkey because the camp is full." "We are here alone with no food and no money, and why would we go back to Jarabulus? They killed everyone and put their heads on spikes. We're terrified." |
Syrian Activists Say Al-Qaida Stole Their Revolution
8 min 51 sec
In the last three years, rebels fighting President Bashar Assad
have taken control of swaths of northern Syria. In some areas, local
councils were set up. Activists hoped for a freer future. But renegade
jihadists, linked to al-Qaida, have stormed into these "liberated areas"
and attacked activists who launched the uprising against Assad's
regime.
http://www.npr.org/2014/02/07/272932734/syrian-activists-say-al-qaida-stole-their-revolution
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