THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: UK PM Signals Syrian Intervention. 400 US Troops Deploy to Turkey with 2 Patriot Batteries. Russia Preps to Evac Citizens

Photographer In Syria Describes The Moment He 'Felt The Horror Of This War As Never Before'

Read more: [link to www.businessinsider.com]

MOSCOW — The outlook for Syria’s embattled president darkened considerably on Thursday when his most powerful foreign ally, Russia, acknowledged that he was losing the struggle against an increasingly coordinated insurgency and for the first time said it was making contingency plans to evacuate its citizens from the country, the Kremlin’s last beachhead in the Middle East.

[link to www.nytimes.com]

US deploys troops near Syria border

Moscow has backtracked on comments made by a top diplomat admitting that Syrian rebels might defeat its long-time ally Damascus even as Washington ordered 400 troops to near the border with Turkey.

A foreign ministry spokesman on Friday insisted that Moscow's controversial support for President Bashar al-Assad's regime was unchanged and that Thursday's remarks by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov did not reflect official policy.

But Washington swiftly welcomed Bogdanov's remarks and announced its troop deployment as US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta flew to an air base in southeastern Turkey not far from the frontier where the rebels have rear bases.

[link to www.skynews.com.au]

Forget the Grand Prix or the Daytona 500, the real race right now is the race to Damascus. The racers include Syrian rebels in pickup trucks with mounted machine guns and homemade tanks, toting weapons and equipment supplied and paid for by Qatar and Turkey, and more covertly by the British and French intelligence services. Racing along with them are carloads of international diplomats urging their governments to give the Islamist militias more money and more weapons.

Everyone is on the road to Damascus in this amazing race. Christian refugees from Aleppo, Alawites packing in behind the tanks of the Syrian army and Iraqi militias that used to plant IEDs in front of American Humvees, who have found new work blowing up churches and taking over Syrian bases.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah’s militias out of Lebanon are shooting at Al Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood militias from across the Middle East and even Europe. Imagine the Crips and the Bloods, armed to the teeth by every country from Mexico to China, fighting over the ruins of California cities, and you get some idea of the glorious Syrian civil war being fought by the Brave Syrian People in a conflict that will determine once and for all who will be ethnically cleansing who this year.

[link to frontpagemag.com]

And so it begins... (Always wanted to say that just waited for the right time :P )

I would like to see Cameron and Hague intervening in Syria, just so long as they do it in person and on the ground.

VIDEO: Russian journo tours destroyed rebel base with Syrian army in Damascus. Bodies everywhere. Very gruesome

Al-Assad losing control but showing no signs of leaving

The Syrian president's control is crumbling at an accelerating pace but the latest assessment by U.S. intelligence finds few indications Bashar al-Assad is willing to step down, according to U.S. officials.

While Obama administration officials have said during the nearly two-year conflict that it appears al-Assad is weakened, the descriptions provided to CNN by U.S. officials familiar with the latest intelligence suggest the Syrian leader's problems have accelerated internally as the opposition continues to capture more territory.

"It's at its lowest point yet," said one senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of the latest assessments. U.S. intelligence believes the decline has accelerated in recent weeks. "The trend is moving more rapidly than it has in the past."

The officials agreed to talk on the condition their names not be used because they were not authorized to discuss the information with the media.

[link to security.blogs.cnn.com]

Some kind of protests in Syria, but I don't know where or what they are saying. Anyone speak Arabic?

[link to bambuser.com]

'Intelligence analysts said the orders to prepare the [chemical] weapons were issued about two weeks ago'

[link to www.washingtonpost.com]

Oh... lovely.

CNN) -- The United States gave the go-ahead Friday to deploy Patriot anti-ballistic missiles to Turkey along with enough troops to operate them as the heavily embattled government in neighboring Syria again vehemently denied firing ballistic missiles at rebels
[link to www.cnn.com]

U.S. Military Contractors To Dispose Of Syrian Chemical Weapons

American-funded military contractors are allegedly in Syria assisting with chemical weapons disposal.

[link to www.fastcompany.com]

“Et tu, Brute?”

Take it to the bank.

US Defense Minister Panetta visited Incirlik base in Turkey on his way back from Afghanistan

Sounds like USA/NATO etc are getting closer to using chemical weapons and blaming Assad

[link to www.washingtonpost.com]

The United States authorized on Friday the deployment of 400 troops to man two Patriot missile-defense batteries along Turkey’s border with Syria

Germany and the Netherlands have already agreed to provide two batteries of the U.S.-built defense systems and send up to 400 German and 360 Dutch troops to man them, bringing the total number of Patriot batteries slated for Turkey to six.

***** and suggest pin

Much thanks for pin!

Unless they're used though it's pretty meaningless, and the media trying to spin something out of it imho.

Last Edited by Lime Flavoured Redux on 12/14/2012 09:10 AM

Also, the thread title reminds me of this song:

CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE STORY.

"a separatist group lead by Khaled Al-Asad seizes power in a "small but oil-rich" country in the Middle East through a coup d'état. Al-Asad is ruthless and has extreme anti-Western views. Afterwards, the United States invades the country. In the afternoon of the second day of invasion, a platoon of USMC 1st Force Recon is sent to capture Al-Asad. The platoon attacks a TV station in which Al-Asad was thought to be broadcasting live and then engages in urban combat in an unnamed city south of the capital. In the meantime, the British Special Air Service (SAS) conducts two important operations, one on a ship in the Bering Strait and one in Russia. Intelligence gathered from the two missions indicates that Al-Asad may be in possession of a Russian nuclear device.

In evening of the third day, the U.S. launches a full-scale assault on Al-Asad's presidential palace in spite of the SAS warning about the nuclear device. As U.S. Navy SEALs invade the palace, the Marines engage Al-Asad's ground forces. The assault, however, ends in catastrophe when the nuclear device suddenly detonates, wiping out most of the city along with everyone in it."

IT ENDS IN A NUKE.

AL ASAD? COMMON WERE NOT THAT STUPID

Are we?

WTF? What the hell? When did we strike a deal to help Assad?

Oh nevermind. I see this is along the lines of Fast and Furious.

Morning DB & Éireann !

I wonder if Assad will make it through the end of this years in power...

After 2 years? I'll be surprised at any outcome at this point.

oops... and Goede Morgen :D



Last Edited by Éireann on 12/14/2012 09:29 AM

Thread: JUST IN: Israeli FM Awigdor Lieberman demises

Yeah, you're right, Assad has been a thorn in TPTB's backs for a long time now !

They are desperate to get rid of him to pave the road to Iran !