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[Gomer Pyle]

A few articles on this unfolding crisis....

Russia: NATO close to military steps in Syria for beachhead to attack Iran



After Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned Assad he faced a "sad fate" if he failed to introduce reforms, Moscow's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin accused the Western alliance of planning a military campaign against Syria to help overthrow the Assad regime "with the long-reaching goal of preparing a beachhead for an attack on Iran."

In an interview published by Izvestia Friday, Aug. 5, the knowledgeable and high-placed Rogozin added: "This statement means that the planning [of the military campaign] is well underway. It could be a logical conclusion of those military and propaganda operations, which have been carried out by certain Western countries against North Africa."

Thursday, as the Syrian military crackdown in Hama reached a new level of ferocity with public executions in the town square, the Russian president warned Assad: "We are watching how the situation is developing. It's changing and our approach is changing as well."

debkafile's Moscow sources note that the Rogozin added Yemen to his remarks on NATO: He said he agreed with the opinion that Syria and later Yemen could be NATO's last steps on the way to launching an attack on Iran.


"The noose around Iran is tightening," he said. "Military planning against Iran is underway. And we are certainly concerned about an escalation of a large-scale war in this huge region."

The Russian envoy made a point of citing NATO – never once mentioning the United States in his remarks. However, they were definitely meant to clarify to Washington that Moscow is fully updated on the next American military steps in the Middle East and Persian Gulf.

debkafile's military sources add: The Libyan campaign taught NATO that without US military strength, alliance members were incapable of defeating even a small army on the scale of Muammar Qaddafi's six brigades, much less muster the ground, air and sea forces for striking Syria and Iran. The only power with the requisite military strength is the United States, which was therefore the unspoken address of Rogozin's warning.

Russian diplomats have repeatedly cautioned Tehran that it incurs the danger of American attack on its nuclear facilities. Now Syria has been included. Rogozin remarked that having "learned the Libyan lesson, Russia will continue to oppose a forcible resolution of the situation in Syria."


http://www.debka.com/article/21183/


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Syria: Dmitry Medvedev warns Bashar al-Assad to prepare for 'sad fate'



The warning from Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, came as the United States accused the Syrian regime of killing more than 2,000 people.

In his toughest comments on Syria to date, Mr Medvedev said that time was running out for Mr Assad to halt a crackdown against his people, hinting that the Kremlin, a traditional ally, may support tough action against Damascus in the United Nations if bloodshed continues.

“People are dying there (in Syria) in large numbers, and that is causing us huge concern,” said Mr Medvedev.

“Assad needs to urgently launch reforms, make peace with the opposition, restore civil order and create a modern state. If he cannot do that, a sad fate awaits him, and we will also be forced to ultimately take some decisions on Syria.”

Security forces opened fire on protesters yesterday, the first Friday of Ramadan, killing at least 14, as tens of thousands poured into the streets, defying a military siege of Hama, where tanks shelled residential districts around dawn. The six-day-old assault on Hama has killed at least 100 people, according to activists.



Protests spread from the capital, Damascus, to the southern province of Daraa and to Deir al-Zour in the east. Demonstrations were reported in Homs in the centre and in Qamishli, near the Turkish border.

“Hama, we are with you until death,” a crowd marching through Damascus’s central neighbourhood of Midan shouted, clapping their hands as they chanted, “We don’t want you Bashar” and “Bashar Leave,” according to videos posted online.

The violence followed a robust statement from Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, on Thursday. She reiterated that Mr Assad had lost all legitimacy. “To date the government is responsible for the deaths of more than 2,000 people of all ages,” she said.

But although Mr Medvedev’s position seemed to be moving closer to that of Washington, he appeared willing to give the Syrian president more time to defuse the crisis. Unlike Mrs Clinton, he also appeared willing to believe that Mr Assad was not personally responsible for many of the deaths there, claiming that the Syrian leader had not given “harsh orders to destroy the opposition” of the kind issued by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.

Yet signs that Moscow’s opposition to action against Syria in the United Nations is waning will alarm Damascus. Russia has been one of Syria’s closest allies since the Soviet era and Mr Assad is counting on Russia and China to keep blocking UN action.



http://www.telegraph...r-sad-fate.html



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US and Russia issue warning for Syria's Bashar al-Assad


The United States and Russia had harsh words for embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday, a day after the UN Security Council condemned his deadly crackdown on anti-regime demonstrators.




Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whose country has so far stonewalled firmer UN action, hinted at a possible change of heart, while the White House bluntly said Syria would be "better off" without Assad.

With its sharp rhetoric, Washington also stepped up the pressure, imposing sanctions on a businessman close to the Syrian president.

Meanwhile, witnesses and activists said security forces killed at least 37 people on Wednesday, 30 of them as tanks shelled the flashpoint protest hub of Hama.

A Hama resident, who managed to escape the city, said in Nicosia that "the bodies of 30 people who were killed during shelling by the army have been buried in several public parks."

The witness, who declined to be identified for security reasons, said scores of people were being treated in hospitals for injuries and that fires had broken out in several buildings.



"Tanks are deployed throughout the city, particularly in Assi Square and outside the citadel," he said about landmarks in the city centre.

The witness said the army had used "bombs that break up into fragments when they explode," possibly meaning cluster bombs, on Wednesday and that Hama echoed with the intermittent sound of machine-gun fire on Thursday.

"Conditions are very difficult in the city. Communications, electricity and water are cut and there are food shortages," he said.

As the crackdown continue, Assad decreed a new law authorising the creation of political parties alongside the ruling Baath party, which has been in power since 1963 with the constitutional status of "the leader of state and society."

Political pluralism has been at the forefront of demands by pro-reform dissidents who since March 15 have been taking to the streets across Syria almost daily to call for greater freedoms.

"Citizens of the Syrian Arab Republic have the right to establish political parties and join them in accordance with this law," state news agency SANA said.

But activists and analysts dismissed the law as a ploy and said constitutional change alone can pave the way to democracy.

"The regime is not serious about transforming the country from a dominant party into democracy and pluralism. Instead, it is trying to carry out some cosmetic work to improve its image," said prominent human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni.

In Brussels, Baroness Ashton, the EU foreign policy chief, said the multiparty reform offer is "in principle a step in the right direction, but only if they are genuinely put into effect."

The new law is the latest attempt by Assad's regime to appease protesters after the president, in April, issued orders lifting five decades of draconian emergency rule and abolishing the feared state security courts.

Assad's latest concession came after the UN Security Council condemned the crackdown and said those responsible should be held accountable – in its first pronouncement on Syria since the protests began.

Unable to agree on a formal resolution, the council settled on a non-binding statement condemning "the widespread violations of human rights and the use of force against civilians by the Syrian authorities."

Western powers had hoped for stronger action but were rebuffed by veto-wielding members Russia and China, who feared doing so would pave the way for another military intervention like the one in Libya.

But Mr Medvedev spoke forcefully about the situation on Thursday and called on Assad to "carry out urgent reforms" warning that otherwise "a sad fate awaits him and in the end we will have to take some decisions."

"We are watching the way the situation develops. As it changes, some of our perspectives also change," Medvedev said.

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Jay Carney said "Assad is on his way out.

"It is very safe to say that Syria will be a much better place without President Assad."


http://www.telegraph...r-al-Assad.html





'NATO planning military attack on Iran'



Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin says the NATO is planning a military strike against the Islamic Republic to overthrow the Iranian government.



Rogozin said in an interview with Russia's Izvestia daily newspaper published on Friday that the NATO was pursuing a long-reaching goal of preparing an attack on Iran, adding that the alliance intends to change governments whose views do not coincide with those of the West.

"The noose around Iran is tightening. Military planning against Iran is underway. And we are certainly concerned about an escalation of a large-scale war in this huge region," Rogozin added.

The Russian envoy further pointed out that Syria and later Yemen could be NATO's last steps on the way to launch an attack on Iran.

This comes as there are speculations that Israel is preparing for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities to divert attention from Palestinian efforts to join the United Nations.

Last month, former CIA agent Robert Baer said he is almost certain that such an attack has been scheduled for September ahead of a UN vote on recognizing a Palestinian state.



http://www.presstv.i...ail/192596.html

[cousin it]

The Russians are idiots in the world of politics-they still think like Stalin-Molotov. Why do we need Syria for a beach head??? We don't; we have two beach heads on both the west and east side of Iran. Too, Syria has never been in the US sphere, but France might like a go at it.