By Eva Bartlett
“The Syrian Arab Arab Army (SAA), backed by the National Defense Forces (NDF) and the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA), have liberated the strategic city of ‘Adra in the Rif Dimashq Governate from Jabhat Al-Islamiyya and Jaysh Al-Islam militants. Scores of militants were killed, as the SAA pressed enemy positions in ‘Adra Al-Jadeeda (New ‘Adra) and ‘Adra Al-Bilad, paving the wave for Syrian commandos to reclaim the captured city almost 10 months later. According to a military source, 118 militants were killed during the whole operation that lasted one week.
Nearly 150 civilians from the city of ‘Adra were liberated by the Syrian Arab Army from their captors, Jaysh Al-Islam, yesterday morning. The civilians were reportedly in good health and in good spirits after 10 months of captivity; many shared their jubilant moments with their liberators, who later hoisted the Syrian Arab Republic flag over the Industrial Quarter. … civilians notified the SAA that their captors carried out executions for sectarian and intimidation purposes. A mass grave was found with the bodies of 8 men.”
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Sons Of Malcolm: VENEZUELAN PRES: ‘THERE SHOULD BE AN ALLIANCE FOR PEACE WITH SYRIAN GOVT WHO HAS BEEN FIGHTING TERRORISM':
“Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday called for a “re-founding” of the United Nations, during his first speech to the annual General Assembly of world leaders in New York. Maduro also spoke up in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime, and criticized U.S.-led efforts to combat terrorism.
The Venezuelan leader’s comments come amid increased cooperation among Latin American countries, and is seen as a bid to win Venezuela a seat at the U.N. Security Council next year. Venezuela’s claim for the seat has reportedly faced hurdles because of the country’s questionable human rights record. However, the U.S., which had blocked Venezuela’s quest in 2006, has reportedly said that it will not try to block it this time.
“It’s President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government which have stopped the terrorists,” Maduro said, according to the Wall Street Journal, adding: “Instead of bombing and bombing, we must make an alliance for peace.“
Maduro accused Western nations of violating the world body’s original charter, Agence France-Presse, or AFP, reported, and demanded that the U.N. power structure should begin to reflect the recent changes to regional alliances around the world, according to Associated Press or AP.
…Maduro’s comments, and his criticism of the West for demanding that Assad step down, echoed anti-Western sentiments expressed by his predecessor and former President Hugo Chavez, who, in 2006, had called former U.S. President George W. Bush the “devil.”
“Only an alliance that respects these nations’ sovereignty and the assistance of their governments, people and armed forces will truly defeat Islamic terrorism as well as all of the terrorist forces that have emerged like a Frankenstein, a monster nursed by the West itself,” Maduro said, according to AFP, referring to the airstrikes being conducted by the U.S., and its Arab and European allies, in Iraq and Syria….“
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Iran’s Zarif on why Tehran won’t team up with U.S. on Islamic State group:
“U.S. efforts to garner regional support for fighting Islamic State militants, including an all-out effort this week by Secretary of State John Kerry, has hit a roadblock in Iran. It’s partly because the leadership isn’t convinced the U.S. government “was serious,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the PBS NewsHour’s chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner on Friday.
When Warner asked why Iranian President Hassan Rouhani rebuffed overtures from the Obama administration to cooperate, Zarif said, “Because we were not convinced that the United States government was serious.”***
Mahdi Nazemroaya: The March to War: Fighting ISIL is a Smokescreen for US Mobilization against Syria, Iran:
*excerpts
“…While the US has assured its citizens and the world that troops will not be sent on the ground, this is very unlikely. In the first instance, it is unlikely because boots on the ground are needed to monitor and select targets. Moreover, Washington sees the campaign against the ISIL fighters as something that will take years. This is doublespeak. What is being described is a permanent military deployment or, in the case of Iraq, redeployment. This force could eventually morph into a broader assault force threatening Syria, Iran, and Lebanon.
Before the US-led bombings in Syria started there were unverified reports being circulated that Washington had started a dialogue with Damascus through Russian and Iraqi channels to discuss military coordination and the Pentagon bombing campaign in Syria. There was something very off though. Agents of confusion were at work in an attempt to legitimize the bombardment of the Syrian Arab Republic.
The claims of US-Syrian cooperation via Russian and Iraqi channels are part of a sinister series of misinformation and disinformation. Before the claims about US cooperation with Syria, similar claims were being made about US-Iranian cooperation in Iraq.
…Khamenei additionally made it clear that he categorically ruled out any cooperation with Washington on the issue. «On this issue, we will not cooperate with America particularly because their hands are dirty,» he publicly confirmed while explaining that Washington had ill intentions and nefarious designs in Iraq and Syria.
Like Russia, Iran has been supporting Syria and Iraq against ISIL. Also like Moscow, Tehran is committed to fighting it, but will not join Washington’s anti-ISIL coalition.
…in Washington’s eyes Nouri Al-Malaki’s federal government in Baghdad had to be removed for refusing to join the US siege against the Syrians, being aligned to Iran, selling oil to the Chinese, and buying weapons from the Russian Federation. Iraq’s decision to be part of an Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline also undermined the objectives of the US and its allies to control the flow of energy in the Middle East and to obstruct Eurasian integration. [1]
…Like Syria, Al-Malaki government’s cardinal sins were tied to blocking the pathway to Tehran. Firstly, the Iraqi government evicted the Pentagon from Iraq at the end of 2011, which removed US troops stationed directly on Iran’s western border. Secondly, the Iraqi federal government was working to expel anti-government Iranian militants from Iraq and to close Camp Ashraf, which could be used in a war or regime change operations against Iran.
Ashraf was a base for the military wing of the Iraqi-based Mujahidin-e-Khalq (MEK/MOK/MKO). The MEK is an anti-government Iranian organization that is bent on regime change in Tehran. It has even openly endorsed US-led attacks on Iran and Syria.
Although the US government itself considers the MEK a terrorist organization, Washington began to deepen its ties with the MEK when it and its staunch British allies invaded Iraq. Disingenuously and ironically, the US and Britain used Saddam Hussein’s support for the MEK to justify labeling Iraq as a state-sponsor of terrorism and to also justify the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq. Since then the US has been has been nurturing the MEK.
Since 2003, the US has been has been funding the MEK. Washington has been protecting the MEK, because it wants to keep them on a leash as either leverage against Tehran or to have the option of one day installing the MEK into power in Tehran as part of a regime change operation against Iran. The MEK has literally become incorporated into the Pentagon and CIA toolboxes against Tehran. Even when the US transferred control of Camp Ashraf to Baghdad, the Pentagon kept forces inside the MEK camp.
Eventually the MEK forces would mostly be relocated in 2012 to the former US base known as Camp Liberty. Camp Liberty is now called by an Arabic name, Camp Hurriya.
The Istanbul bureau chief of the Christian Science Monitor, Scott Peterson described how US officials began to really put their weight behind the MEK during the start of the Arab Spring in 2011. This is tied to Washington’s regime change dreams. Peterson wrote that US officials «rarely mention the MEK’s violent and anti-American past, and portray the group not as terrorists but as freedom fighters with ‘values just like us,’ as democrats-in-waiting ready to serve as a vanguard of regime change in Iran.» [3]
…Six hundred parliamentarians and politicians from mostly NATO countries were flown in for a large MEK gathering in the Parisian northeastern suburb of Villepinte that called for regime change in Iran on June 27, 2014. Warmongers and morally bankrupt figures like former US senator Joseph Lieberman, Israeli mouthpiece and apologist Alan Dershowhitz, former Bush II official and Fox News pundit John Bolton, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, and French former minister and United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNIMIK) chief Bernard Kouchner all met the MEK to promote regime change and war. According to the MEK, over 80, 000 people attended the regime change rally. Supporters of the insurgencies in Iraq and Syria were also present at the Villepinte gathering calling for regime change in Iraq, Syria, and Iran.
The irony is that the money for the event most probably came from the US government itself. US allies probably contributed too. This money has gone to the MEK’s lobbying initiatives with the US Congress and US Department of State, which in effect is recycling US funding. People like Rudy Giuliani — probably one of the most hated mayors in the history of New York City until he took advantage of the tragic events of 9/11 — are now effectively lobbyists for the MEK. …
Giuliani has been speaking at MEK events at least as far back as 2010. In 2011, he publicly pushed for regime change in Tehran and Damascus at a MEK gathering. «How about we follow an Arab Spring with a Persian Summer?» he rhetorically declared. [5] Giuliani’s next sentence revealed just how much of a scion of US foreign policy the initiative to support the MEK truly is: «We need regime change in Iran, more than we do in Egypt or Libya, and just as we need it in Syria.» [6]
…Large delegations from the US, France, Spain, Canada, and Albania were present.
…Not only regime change was talked about, but the cross-border crisis in Iraq and Syria was a major subject. Fox News gave the event special coverage.…
The bombing campaign that the US has started in Syria is illegal and a violation of the UN Charter. This is why the Pentagon took the step of claiming that the US-led bombing campaign was prompted by the threat of an «imminent» attack that was being planned against the territory of the US. This allegation was made to give legal cover to the bombardment of Syrian territory through a warped argument under Article 51 of the UN Charter that allows a UN member to legally attack another country if an imminent attack by the said country is about to take place on the UN member.
Barack Obama and the US government have done their best to confuse and blur reality through a series of different steps they have taken to claim legitimacy for violating international law by bombing Syria without the authorization of Damascus. Although US Ambassador Samantha Powers informed Syria’s permanent representative to the UN that US-led attacks would be launched on Al-Raqqa Governate, informing Bashar Al-Jaafari through a formal unilateral notification does not amount to being given the legal consent of Syria.
The US-led attacks on Syria do not have the backing of the UN Security Council either. The US government, however, has tried to spin the September 19, 2014, meeting of the UN Security Council that John Kerry chaired as a sign that the UN Security Council and international community are backing its bombing campaign.
Nor is it a coincidence that just when the US assembled its multinational coalition to fight the ISIL and its pseudo-caliphate, that John Kerry conveniently mentions that Syria has violated the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). While admitting that Syria did not use any material prohibited by the CWC, Kerry told US legislators that Damascus had breached its commitments to the CWC on September 18, 2014. In other words, Washington intends to go after Syria and pursue regime change in Damascus. If this does not make it clear, then the fact that the US will use Saudi Arabia to train more anti-government forces should. [7]
…What the US envisions is a long-term bombing campaign, which also threatens Lebanon and Iran. According to Ali Khamenei, the US wants to bomb both Iraq and Syria using ISIL as a smokescreen on the basis of the model in Pakistan. …
While the US has been pretending to fight the same terrorist and death squads that it has created, the Chinese and their partners have been busy working to integrate Eurasia. America’s «Global War on Terror» has been paralleled with the rebuilding of the Silk Road. This is the real story and motivation for Washington’s insistence to fight and remobilize in the Middle East. It is also the reason why the US has been pushing Ukraine to confront Russia and the EU to sanction the Russian Federation.
America wants to disrupt the reemerging Silk Road and its expanding trade network. While Kerry has been busy frightening audiences about the ISIL and its atrocities, the Chinese have been busy sweeping the map by making deals across Asia and the Indian Ocean. This is part of the westward march of the Chinese dragon.
Parallel to Kerry’s travels, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Sri Lanka and went to the Maldives. Sri Lanka is already part of China’s Maritime Silk Road project. The Maldivians are newer entries; agreements have been reached to include the island-nation into the Maritime Silk Road network and infrastructure that China is busy constructing to expand maritime trade between East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Nor is it a coincidence that two Chinese destroyers docked at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in the Persian Gulf to conduct joint drills with Iranian warships in the Persian Gulf.
Parallel to east-west trade, a north-south trade and transport network is being developed. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was in Kazakhstan recently where he and his Kazakhstani counterpart, President Nursultan Nazarbayev, confirmed that trade was due to see manifold increases. The completion of the Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway, which will create a north-south transit route, is being awaited. Cooperation between Tehran and the Eurasian Union was also discussed by the two presidents. On the other western side of the Caspian Sea, a parallel north-south corridor running from Russia to Iran through the Republic of Azerbaijan has been in the works.
…Moscow has already launched the construction of its mega natural gas Yakutia–Khabarovsk–Vladivostok pipeline (also known as the Power of Siberia pipeline) to deliver gas to China while BRICS partner South Africa has signed a historic deal on nuclear energy with Rosatom.
Moscow’s influence on the world stage is very clear. Its influence has been on the rise in the Middle East and Latin America. Even in NATO-garrisoned Afghanistan, Russian influence is on the rise. The Russian government has recently compiled a list of over one hundred old Soviet construction projects that it would like to recuperate.
An alternative to US and EU sanctions is beginning to emerge in Eurasia. Aside from the oil-for-goods deal that Tehran and Moscow signed, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak announced that Iran and Russia had made several new agreements worth seventy billion euro. Sanctions will soon merely isolate the US and the EU. The Iranians have also announced that they are working with their Chinese and Russian partners to overcome the US and EU sanctions regime.
…When it comes down to it, the US is not concerned about fighting the ISIL, which has been serving Washington’s interests in the Middle East. America’s main concern is about preserving its crumbling empire and preventing Eurasian integration.”
***
Latakia, Syria. Sept. 27, 2014. By Lilly Martin:
“Most days Amal sits near the window and looks out at the street. She smokes too many cigarettes and drinks too many cups of coffee, but what else is there for her to do? She is past middle age, retired and has time to sit and think about those happy days gone by before the Syrian revolution began in March 2011. Now, she has to deal with a severally handicapped adult son, who is also severely mentally ill.
She and her husband lived modest lives, both working as civil servants. Now, both are retired on a fixed income, and with the Syrian war driving up prices their income is barely covering the basics.
They thought they were so fortunate to find a safe, clean and responsible mental facility for their young adult son who suffers from severe mental illness. They paid for the best care they could afford for their dear son. The hospital they placed him at was Ibn Khaldun mental hospital in East Aleppo. The staff was professional and caring. Up until then, Aleppo had never participated in the revolution in, and so they were not worried for their son. They felt he was safe and well cared for.
During the period of December 23 to 25, 2012 there were battles in the area the hospital was located in. The battles were between the Free Syrian Army, backed and sponsored by USA, and the Syrian Arab Army, the national Armed forces. Just after this period, the Free Syrian Army attacked and entered and occupied the Ibn Khaldun hospital. Male staff were killed, or injured. Female staff were raped, killed, or injured. The FSA kidnapped 250 mental patients. Some were released, some killed, and some tortured. Amal’s son was kidnapped. The Free Syrian Army kidnapped him for the purpose of ransom. Maybe President Barak Obama had not sent them enough money? Or, perhaps the middle man, in this case the officials in Turkey, had taken too much for their share? Instead of fighting for freedom and democracy, as Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, would have you believe, the FSA were out raping, torturing and killing to make some quick cash on the side. Rebels and criminals: 2 for the price of one.
Amal’s husband got the first phone call. The FSA asked for millions of Syrian lira to be paid. He explained it would take time to arraign that great of an amount, and to please call back. They called back and arranged the ransom drop. But, what followed was silence in the house. The phone never rang. The parents were losing hope, they feared the worst. They faced nights and days of sleepless anxiety. Finally, the phone rang. But, it was not the FSA, it was a man asking about their names, and said he had found their son, and he was alive. They found him sitting naked in the snow, in the coldest days of Aleppo’s winter weather. His feet had severe frost bite from walking in the snow barefoot. He was treated at a hospital and it was determined that his feet had to be amputated because of the frost bite. He had endured unspeakable torture at the hands of the US supported and sponsored Free Syrian Army.
He is safe at home, with his parents now. He cannot walk. Not only is his mind crippled, but now his beautiful young adult body is forever crippled as well. His parents are joyous because he is alive and with them, but they are so sad that there could be Syrian men so sick, so evil that they would torture an innocent mental patient, who posed no harm to them. They could have left him in the hospital after the battle. What is the military strategy of kidnapping mentally ill people? How does that create a better Syria?
What if this same thing happened in any city in United States of America? What would American mothers and father have to say about this? What would the mental health facilities and associations have to say about this? Why would America participate and support the targeting, raping, torturing and killing of innocent mental patients in Syria? How does that fit into the plan to create a new Syria, modeled after Washington, DC?
Every: uniform, bullet, weapon and vehicle that the FSA use is from the American taxpayer. In fact, America is now in the process of sending even more money, weapons and training to this very same Free Syrian Army, who is fighting for Radical Islamic ideology, and are bound and determined to remove the current Syrian government, so they can form an Islamic State in Syria, with Sharia as the only constitution needed.”
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian 
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
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