Syrian Civil War Update: Rebels Again Attack Assad's Security Compounds

Despite a relentless pounding from Syrian military and loyalist militias, the rebel forces continue to more than hold their own against a better equipped force. The rebels have once again attacked security compounds in Aleppo and also along the border with Iraq:

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday that one of the assaults in Aleppo sparked a firefight that killed and wounded a number of government troops. It gave no figures.

Last month, rebel forces took control of parts of Syria's commercial hub, sparking fierce fighting there.

Also Friday, the monitoring group said government troops and rebels were locked in battle north of the capital, Damascus, and in Albu Kamal, on the Iraqi border. Internet video appeared to show fighting in Homs, Daraa and Damascus.

The fighting continues to inflict casualties on civilians and the war of words over Assad's backers continues as well. Egyptian leader Mohamed Morsi again attacked Iran over its support for the Assad regime during the meeting for nonaligned nations taking place in Tehran. Iran subsequently attacked Morsi for his calls for the nonaligned nations to act to bring the civil war to an end. Iranian officials have remained steadfast in their support of Assad.

Part of that reason could be that Assad thinks that he's winning. Despite Assad losing control of significant portions of the country, he thinks his military has the upper hand against the rebel forces. That could be due in part to delusions of grandeur, his military leaders telling Assad what he wants to hear rather than what the situation on the ground really is, or that he believes that the crackdown is working to rid himself of the rebel threat via a meatgrinder.

Turkey is calling for a safe haven, which seems to be a step towards establishing a no-fly zone to protect Syrians from the onslaught of air attacks.

UN Secretary General called on Assad to stop using heavy weapons against civilian populations. The call will go unheeded, as Assad has repeatedly shown that his only interest is preserving his power, not human rights or arranging some form of power-sharing with the opposition.

France is looking at ways of funneling aid to those parts of Syria that are controlled by the rebel forces.

Northern Syria in Open Revolt Against Assad's Regime

Since the beginning of the year, the situation in Syria has gone from bad to worse. The death count has accelerated as defections from Assad's security forces have meant that opposition groups are now brimming with former soldiers and are fighting back against Assad's loyalists with sufficient firepower to inflict significant casualties.

Northern Syria is in open revolt against Assad's regime. That's one of the first signs that Assad's losing control over the country and if the opposition forces can consolidate and hold on to the territorial gains, they could gain international recognition in a fashion similar to that when the Libyans deposed Mumar Khadafi. Assad's forces are increasingly stretched thin, which means that areas in the far north of the country are operating semi-autonomously:

Government troops were stretched thin in their effort to control all fronts in the volatile country, while violence raged in the grass-roots anti-government uprising. The revolt has now entered its 12th month and the U.N. General Assembly prepared to take up a symbolic resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad's brutal crackdown.

Syrian forces shelled the flashpoint city of Homs for a 13th straight day, targeting the opposition stronghold neighborhoods of Baba Amr, Inshaat and Khalidiya, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist group.

About 50 people were injured Thursday in the heavy sustained bombardment that commenced around 5 a.m., CNN correspondent Arwa Damon reported from Homs.

In Idlib province in the northwest, people appear to be preparing for the possibility of a military offensive.

"What is astounding here is that the countryside in northern Syria, much of it is in open revolt. This is a rebellion of farmers, of carpenters and of high school teachers," said CNN correspondent Ivan Watson, reporting from the region.
"It does appear that villages and towns in northern Syria have been, basically, out of government control for several months now -- except when government forces have tried to conduct deadly incursions into these towns that are temporary at best."

In southwestern Syria, al-Assad's forces reportedly stormed the village of Sahm al-Golan searching for military defectors who have joined the rebel army or local militias, according to a member of the opposition in the town who asked to be identified only as Abu Issam out of fear of government reprisal. Syrian forces shelled the town and used tanks when it began its assault Wednesday, forcing many residents to flee toward the Jordanian border, Abu Issam said early Thursday.

Syrian forces are again attacking the city of Daraa, which is where the protests first took hold.

China, which continues to thwart action at the United Nations Security Council, has sent an envoy to Damascus, but unless the Chinese government stops blocking action at the United Nations, the diplomatic efforts to force Assad to stop murdering his countrymen will founder. China, along with Russia, oppose military action to stop Assad and believe that the draft resolutions circulating at the Security Council would open the door to military action along the lines of the NATO mission over Libya.

The situation is so bad that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is warning that Assad's regime may be engaging in crimes against humanity. Things have to be pretty dire for the Secretary General to make that kind of statement.

Israel Dealing With the Aftermath of the Palestinian Incursions

Israel has filed a protest with the United Nations Security Council over yesterday's border incursion/invasion by Palestinian protesters in the hopes of overwhelming Israel's security and causing a major headache for Israel. The protesters succeeded in getting Israel to open fire on the protesters, and nearly a dozen were killed while trying to infiltrate Israel's sovereign borders, particularly along the Syrian and Lebanese borders.



Those killed will be treated as martyrs for the ultimate goal of Israel's destruction.

These were not spontaneous protests, but organized with the intention of bringing the focus back on Israel, rather than the odious regimes that encircle Israel. Leave it to the UN Secretary General to ignore the fact that the Syrian regime is busy killing its own and used the Israeli Independence Day to export the violence to Israel:

"The secretary-general is deeply concerned that a significant number of people have been killed or injured," Ban's office said in a statement. "He calls on all concerned to show restraint and refrain from provocations so as to prevent escalation of tensions and ensure civilians are not killed or injured.”

Noting that the border breach originated from the Syrian side, Ban said he was “acutely conscious of the unsustainable status quo in the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is only thrown into sharper relief by the profound political changes now under way in the region.”

He added that there is an "urgent need for a just, lasting and comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace."

There can be no peace with Israel when Israel's enemies refuse to accept Israel's very existence. That's what yesterday's protests were about; they weren't demanding a 2-state solution whatsoever. The protests are meant to spur a change to the status quo as perceived by the Arab regimes- eliminate Israel and the problems and turmoil in the region disappears.

The problem isn't Israel, but with the regimes that spread this nonsense with frightening regularity. The regimes that spread turmoil, unrest, and export terror are those like Syria and Iran, whose proxies in Hamas and Hizbullah cause violence, upset delicate political compromises in places like Lebanon. Then there are regimes that are autocratic and whose regimes are built not on democratic principles and inclusiveness but which use violence and repression to remain in power. That, in turn, creates radicalization and still more violence.

The status quo has to change for the Arab regimes throughout the region that use Israel as a foil every time things get tough for those regimes domestically. They set up proxy armies to attack Israel; use the Palestinians as a crutch; and callously disregard human rights whenever it suits them, but gin up controversies with Israel at a moment's notice.

Moreover, it's rather rich that the Lebanese and Syrians are complaining about Israel's use of force to defend its borders all while Syria's Bashar al Assad continues the violent crackdown against opposition protesters - detaining more than 10,000 people and killing nearly 1,000. Syrian army forces have repeatedly opened fire on civilians, and Syrians are fleeing to Lebanon to avoid the violence:



Hizbullah's Hassan Nasrallah once again predicts that Israel will be destroyed and overwhelmed; he further predicts a day when Palestinian right of return will be fulfilled. That's not a call for a 2-state solution by any stretch; and that view is shared by Iran (which has been busy cracking down against its own opposition leaders for more than a year now).

Palestinian leaders and Arab regimes throughout the Middle East have used the "right of return" as a wedge to keep the Palestinian people segregated within their own countries - keeping them in squalid "refugee" camps, which continue existing decades after they were originally set up. It's little wonder then that some Israelis think it time that the charade of the right of return be excised from the peace process talks.

Whirling Durban II Insanity

Just when you think that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's rants can't get worse, he and his contingent comes along and manages to top his performance earlier in the day at the Durban II conference on racism.

His fellow Iranian stooges call Elie Wiesel, a Nobel prize winner and survivor of the Nazi Holocaust during World War II, a Zion-Nazi. (ed: corrected reference to member of Ahmadinejad's entourage; thanks to Occasional Reader at LGF).



These are the people with whom Israel is supposed to make peace? Ahmadinejad and Iran have no interest in peace with Israel. They seek Israel's destruction and repeatedly call for Israel's destruction. Iran backs both Hizbullah and Hamas in their efforts to attack Israel on a regular basis. Iran backs Syria, which also seeks Israel's destruction. Iran's efforts destabilize the region and cause conflict with Israel, which inures to Iran's spreading influence in the region.

Yet, the US and the West want to push Israel to make concession after concession with the Palestinian Authority, whose leader Mahmoud Abbas, is an avowed Holocaust denier and who also seeks nothing less than Israel's destruction although he and his followers have a longer term outlook as compared to Hamas, who can't help themselves but attack Israelis at every opportunity and who are restocking and regrouping for the next battle.

The UN is busy trying to spin damage control on the whole conference, even as more countries withdraw from the conference and even the host country of Switzerland is taking heat for their leader's meeting with Ahmadinejad. There's being neutral and then there's taking sides with silent assent. Switzerland, through its actions, sided with Ahmadinejad. That's just evil.

What's truly sickening is that yesterday's speech by Ahmadinejad was apparently toned down, with Ahmadinejad taking out the worst bits at the request of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. Ahmadinejad apparently wanted to go full tilt on the Holocaust denial on the very day that the world engages in Holocaust Remembrance Day.

What we got yesterday was Moon's best efforts? Moon should have told Ahmadinejad to take a hike and dump him as the keynote speaker.

Instead, Ahmadinejad once again exposed the UN and this conference as a mockery and waste of time.

UPDATE:
It's curious that photos of Elie Wiesel's demonstration against Iran's very presence at the conference do not refer to the Zion-Nazi slurs against Wiesel. Apparently the photographers and editors didn't think this noteworthy?