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.

Syrian Civil War Update: Even Bread Lines Aren't Safe From Assad's Attacks

Bashar al Assad is feeling the heat on all fronts. His security forces and loyalist goons can't stop the rebel forces from gaining and holding territory despite having a monopoly on air power and artillery. His backers remain at Iran, Russia, and China, and that may not be enough to keep him in power.

Egypt's new President Mohamad Morsi has called for an intervention in Syria and told Iran that it's thwarting a peaceful transition of power in Syria by backing Assad. Morsi called out Iran on Iran's home turf during a meeting of the non-aligned nations.

It's not surprising that Assad's diplomats walked out during Morsi's meeting. They have few friends among diplomats across the globe, and Morsi's criticism came on Syria's primary backer's doorstep.

Assad's regime keeps trying to play down the slow but steady stream of defectors, but the fact is that support for Assad within his regime isn't what it once was. The civil war rages on, the death toll mounts, and there is disillusionment with how Assad has handled everything - namely preserving power for himself at the expense of more than 20,000 lives across the country. The number of refugees is continuing to rise because the violence continues through the heart of Syria's urban areas. Those refugees are a problem not only for Syria, but the countries where they are seeking refuge. That is likely to inflame tensions and could potentially spur those countries, including Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, to take action - closing down the border, military action against Syria, or demanding that the UN take more resolute action than weak worded resolutions that are teethless because Russia and China are blocking anything more constructive.

But most of all, his incessant attacks on civilians will take its toll. You cannot murder dozens of people by carrying out airstrikes against people queued up in lines for bread without all Syrians taking notice.

Dozens were killed when airstrikes over a period of days hit multiple breadlines in Aleppo.

Syrian jets and artillery have struck at least 10 bakeries in Aleppo in the last three weeks, killing dozens of people as they waited in line to buy bread, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday, accusing the military of targeting civilians.

The U.S.-based group said the attacks were either aimed at or were done without care to avoid the hundreds of civilians forced to queue outside a dwindling number of bakeries in Syria's biggest city, a front line in the civil war.

"The attacks are at least recklessly indiscriminate and the pattern and number of attacks suggest that government forces have been targeting civilians," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

"Both reckless indiscriminate attacks and deliberately targeting civilians are war crimes."

One attack on August 16 killed around 60 people and wounded more than 70, said HRW, which sent a researcher to the embattled city.

Food shortages in Aleppo - a focal point of the 17-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad - have forced many bakeries to close, meaning huge queues for the food staple outside the remaining shops.

"Day after day, Aleppo residents line up to get bread for their families, and instead get shrapnel piercing their bodies from government bombs and shells," said Ole Solvang, the HRW researcher who visited Aleppo.

That's a textbook example of war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by the Assad regime. Assad's forces targeted civilian populations and fired indiscriminately on civilian populations. Assad must be held to account for his atrocities.

War Crimes Abound As Syrian Civil War Drags On

It should come as no surprise that war crimes are an ongoing feature of the Syrian civil war. Whether it's the Syrian military operating at the behest of Bashar al-Assad bombarding civilian areas or his loyalist militias engaging in massacres, or rebel forces murdering captured government officials by throwing them off rooftops, war crimes are an ongoing concern and worry for Syrians and the human rights groups tracking such actions.

The only difference between the sides is the scope of the war crimes and human rights violations; the rebels have done it to a lesser degree than Assad's goon squads:

Syrian government forces and allied shabbiha militia have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and torture in what appears to be state-directed policy, UN human rights investigators said on Wednesday.

Syrian rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad have also committed war crimes but these "did not reach the gravity, frequency and scale" of those carried out by the army and security forces, they said.

"The commission found reasonable grounds to believe that government forces and the shabbiha had committed the crimes against humanity of murder and of torture, war crimes and gross violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including unlawful killing, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, sexual violence, indiscriminate attack, pillaging and destruction of property," said the 102-page report by the independent investigators led by Paulo Pinheiro.

Both government forces and armed insurgents had violated rights of children during the 17-month-old conflict, it said.

Airstrikes continue to take their toll on the Syrian people.

Meanwhile, the violence continues to spill over into Lebanon while Israel, Iraq, and Turkey are all warily watching the situation. The violence in Lebanon includes a series of abductions as retaliation for relatives being captured or killed inside Syria.

At the same time, the Pentagon is warning that Iran is training militias to fight in support of Assad inside Syria.

Sitting alongside Panetta at a Pentagon news conference Tuesday, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the militia, which is generally made up of Syrian Shiite forces, is being used to take the pressure off the Syrian regime forces.

“Any army would be taxed with that kind of pace,” Dempsey said. “They are having resupply problems, they are having morale problems, they are having the kind of wear and tear that would come of being in a fight for as long as they have.”

Dempsey also said that it appears Syrian rebels were able to shoot down a Syrian warplane but said he has seen no indication that they are armed with heavy weapons or surface-to-air missiles, at least not yet.

He says the MiG fighter could have been shot down with small arms fire. Syria has blamed the crash on a technical malfunction, but Dempsey said the cause “didn’t appear to be mechanical.”

The Syrian civil war has aspects of a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar among others. Iran, both directly and indirectly, is supporting Assad's regime while Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar are supporting the rebel forces hoping to topple Assad's regime. Russia is also trying to stave off NATO or UN military action to bring the conflict to a close, which has the effect of supporting Assad and his odious regime. That compares with France and the US, which are leading efforts to bring sanctions and other actions to bear against Assad. The other actions include covert support for the rebel forces, including communications gear and logistical support at the US base at Incerlik in Turkey.

More Defections as Casualties Climb Across Syria

The butchers' bill continues rising courtesy of Bashar al-Assad's security forces as they attempt to rebuff rebel forces in Aleppo and other parts of Syria. The security forces aren't exactly distinguishing themselves in anything other than running up a body count.

There have been an increasing number of defections, including another general among those seeking refuge in Turkey today. The rebel forces are trying to maintain support among the civilian population, but with a renewed military offensive, they are unavoidably putting them all in harm's way. The rebels continue to hold on to territory and Assad cannot allow that to continue.

Rebel headquarters in the north-east of Aleppo were bombed again this morning. The building has been attacked three times now. One bomb missed the building, hit a nearby house, killed 10 people. Another this morning hit a hospital, killed another 10. A third hit a wedding hall and no one was injured. Two bombs did hit their target inside the headquarters, but neither exploded. Nonetheless it was time for the rebels to move on. They had lost the patience of neighbours who weren’t too happy about their neighbourhood being relentless targeted by jets above. They’ve move but there has been more bombing in areas they’ve moved to. So there has been no let up in this siege.

Aleppo was strafed by Syrian air force planes and bombarded by artillery to the point that UN observers were forced to leave the city for fear for their own safety. They had that option; Syrians are between a rock and hard place. They could stay and try to ride out the fighting, but they could face being killed by fire coming from either the rebels or the military. Or, they could attempt to make a run for one of border countries, in which case they could get hit on the way or face an uncertain future as to when they could return. It's a humanitarian nightmare, and it's not going to improve anytime soon.

Aleppo has apparently been surrounded by Syrian forces, and it's likely to result in still higher casualties across the city. It appears that Assad's forces are content with aerial bombardment and artillery strikes rather than a ground offensive thus far.

Assad made his first television appearance today, when he appeared in a video alongside an Iranian diplomat.

Even as the fighting rages on, the US and others are already contemplating a post-Assad Syria. They are looking at how to avoid the very messy situations in Libya or Iraq, though I doubt anyone can prevent a sectarian conflict as Sunnis seek retribution against the Alawites and Assad loyalists who have run Syria for more than 40 years. Syria has been a police state where you would be disappeared if your loyalty was questioned. There will be demands for accountability among those involved in the Syrian security apparatus.

Meanwhile, the cyberwar between loyalists and rebel forces has spread to sites including Reuters.

On Sunday, it was a hijacked Reuters twitter feed trying to create the impression of a rebel collapse in Aleppo. On Monday, it was another account purporting to be a Russian diplomat announcing the death in Damascus of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

As the situation on the ground becomes ever more bloody, both sides in Syria are also waging what seems to be an intensifying conflict in cyberspace, often attempting to use misinformation and rumor to tilt the war in reality.

On Friday, Reuters was forced to temporarily shut down its system for posting blogs on www.Reuters.com after the appearance of a series of unauthorized, and inaccurate, reports citing opposition military reverses in Syria.

On Sunday, the company took similar action to suspend the @ReutersTech twitter account after it appeared to have been seized, renamed and used to send a series of false tweets apparently designed to undermine the rebel Free Syrian Army. Both incidents remain under investigation.

The attacks were not the first time a major media or other organization had been targeted apparently by supporters of Assad. Some - including the defacement of a Harvard University website last year to post a picture of Assad in military uniform -- have been claimed by the "Syrian Electronic Army".

Expect a whole lot more of this as Assad's forces attempt to counter all the negative press coming from their ongoing attacks against the rebel forces, while the rebels attempt to counter that with their own propaganda.

Aleppo Bracing For Assad's Forces

Syria is in a state of civil war and has been for some time. Rebel forces have captured territories outside of the major cities and provinces of Hama and Homs as Assad's gaze has focused on retaking those areas. It's left outlying provinces to their own devices. They're running things without Assad's government goons in sight:

As the Syrian state recedes, the people in this village and villages around it are filling in the blanks with their own institutions and, for better or for worse, their own ideas about how a country should be run.

The rebels started taking control of these villages and towns a few months back, as the Syrian army focused on holding major cities.

The first thing the rebels do is take over the post office or the police station and set up shop as the local authority.

Each village or town has something different to offer the rebels. In Qurqanya, it's a school that during the summer break can be used as a kind of media center, with a few laptops and an Internet connection.

In the next town over, it's a hospital.

The head doctor says he might treat dozens of injured rebel fighters from all around this region in a single day. Places that treat rebels used to be totally underground — makeshift MASH units set up in people's houses.

In many parts of Syria, it's still like this. But more and more the rebels are coming out into the open and asserting their control.

While the fighting has receded from those areas, it's intensifying in and around Aleppo as Bashar al Assad's forces prepare to overwhelm the rebel forces in the sprawling city with artillery, airstrikes, and an armored assaults.

Civilians caught in the crossfire are attempting to get out of the way, but face hazards at every step of the way with gunfire erupting at every turn.

“We fear the government’s retaliation — may God help us,” said Ahmad, a resident of the southeastern Salaheddiin neighborhood, one of the first areas overrun with insurgents over the weekend. So many poured in from the countryside that they sometimes ended up fighting each other for control of individual streets, residents said.

People streamed out of the neighborhoods where the rebel soldiers claimed control, figuring they would be pounded by government forces, following the same pattern in one Syrian city after another during the course of the 17-month-old uprising. But some men stayed behind to protect their property from looters.

Tanks and troops normally deployed in nearby Idlib province began to lumber eastward toward Aleppo after suhur, the morning meal that comes before sunrise during the monthlong Ramadan holiday, fighters and activists said.

One column of an estimated 23 armored vehicles carrying soldiers and ammunition out of Jebel az-Zawiya, a rebel stronghold in southern Idlib, was attacked by local fighters, according to a local activist in Turkey who said he was in touch with the insurgents. Roughly a third of the vehicles were destroyed but the rest moved on toward Aleppo, he said.

Assad's prospects may be slightly improved on the battlefield, but his diplomatic contacts are getting hammered hard.

Turkey has cut trade ties with Syria in closing its border. At the same time, two more Syrian diplomats have defected:

Turkey sealed its border with Syria to trucks on Wednesday, effectively cutting off a trade relationship once worth almost $3 billion with the embattled nation, as regime forces fought to evict rebels from the country's largest city.

Two more Syrian diplomats, the envoy to Cyprus and her husband, the former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, have also defected, according to the opposition Syrian National Council, in the latest sign of fraying support for the regime among its own elites. The announcement follows the televised appearance Tuesday night of a defected regime general calling for a new Syria.

Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said deteriorating security was behind the closure of a border through which Turkey once exported food and construction materials to the entire Middle East, though the volume of traffic had dropped 87 percent since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011.

Concerns Mounting Over Possible Balkanization of Syria

Syria remains in the throes of a civil war, and there are reports indicating that Assad may be trying to carve out an Alawite sector of the country, essentially engaging in ethnic cleansing so that the Alawite minority can retain control over some geographical portion of Syria. They point to an increasing trend of sectarian attacks.

I don't think Assad's thinking about retaining just part of Syria. He's looking to crush the rebellion and retain control of all Syrian territory.

A far more worrisome possibility, particularly for Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Iraq is that Assad falls and the power vacuum results in a jihadi safe haven from which attacks could be launched at all of Syria's neighbors.

Israeli officials believe it's just a matter of time before Assad falls, but they're concerned about the possibility of a failed state on its border and the potential influx of Iranian and Hizbullah influence:

The regime of Bashar Assad in Syria will not overcome the uprising against it, although it might survive for anywhere between another two months and a little more than two years, Military Intelligence Chief Major General Aviv Kochavi told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday.

Kochavi said that the Golan Heights region could turn into a theater of anti-Israel operations, similar to the Sinai Peninsula region, due the growing presence of global Jihadists in Syria.

Kochavi showed the committee satellite photographs of Syrian artillery batteries firing indiscriminately into urban populated areas. Kochavi said that the Syrian military is acting in a "brutal" manner, indicating the Syrian military's despair over the fact that it can't find an effective way to suppress the riots.

Kochavi said that the clashes in Syria are worsening on a daily basis, with 500 to 700 people being killed every week, and that the country is experiencing an accelerated process of Iraqization.

The chances of a war between Israel and Syria are low, even as a last resort for Assad, Kochavi said. Assad has moved many of his forces from the Golan region to Damascus because he is not concerned about a conflict with Israel.

Kochavi said that Iran and Hezbollah are preparing for the day after Assad's fall from power.

I've repeatedly noted that Assad has no problem engaging in war crimes, and Israeli officials note that is precisely what Assad is engaging in with indiscriminate shelling of civilians. Assad and his loyalists are engaged in a fight for their survival, and it means eliminating their enemies in the process.

Assad's fight is increasingly hitting closer and closer to home. The fighting isn't confined to the provinces of Hama or Homs; they're in his backyard. The fighting is now in Damascus suburbs.

Violence is continuing to spread across Syria and in the capital Damascus as rebels - now better-equipped and more organised - confront the army and government-backed militia.

The rebel Free Syrian Army said it had launched Operation Damascus Volcano, and has called for an escalation of attacks on regime targets and the blocking of main roads all around the country.

One of the biggest and most organised opposition groups, the Muslim Brotherhood, has called on all Syrians to join what it called a decisive battle.

Witnesses say the government's military deployment in Damascus is the biggest since protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule began in March last year.

There have also been video showing roads being blocked in and around Damascus as well as firebombing of vehicles ostensibly occupied by regime loyalists. The increased disruptions of life in Damascus is starting to take a toll there, but that only adds to the overall uptick in number of refugees flowing into neighboring Turkey and the numbers are increasing.

Diplomacy Falls Apart As Syrian Civil War Continues

Hundreds of people have been killed in the past week as the Syrian military loyal to Bashar al-Assad continues its assault against rebel strongholds across the country, which brings the overall tally to more than 16,500. Nearly 70% of the total are civilians. There's even video showing a funeral procession coming under attack, though no one knows who was behind a deadly bombing in Damascus. Victims were buried in a mass grave.

That follows a series of brazen attacks against the government's facilities in and around Damascus that showed just how vulnerable the regime's power has become.

Today, there are reports that Assad's resorted to using helicopters to bombard rebel strongholds. It was those helicopter raids, particularly close to the border with Turkey that sent the Turkish air force to scramble fighter jets towards the border on three separate occasions in the past 24 hours.

Turkey scrambled six F-16 fighter jets in three separate incidents responding to Syrian military helicopters approaching the border on Sunday, its armed forces command said on Monday.

It was the second time in as many days Turkish jets were launched in response to Syrian helicopters flying near the border and comes after a Turkish reconnaissance plane was shot down by Syria late last month.

The jets took off from Incirlik air base in southern Turkey after Syrian helicopters were spotted flying south of the Turkish province of Hatay, the chief of general staff said on the military's website.

Two helicopters had come within 2.5 miles and one had come within 2 miles of the border, it said. Two of the helicopters were MI-8 type aircraft and one was an MI-17, all Russian-built transport helicopters.

On Sunday, Turkey said it had scrambled six F-16s near its border with Syria after similar transport helicopters were spotted flying either within 4 miles of the border or "close" to the border.

Turkey has repeatedly warned Syria that force will be met with force if Syria sends troops or aircraft towards the border following Syria shooting down a Turkey F-4 jet over the Mediterranean Sea.

Syria continues mucking around along its border with Lebanon as well. The Chinese, via the United Nations, are calling on Syria to stop messing around with the border with Lebanon following a series of incursions by the Syrian military to go after the rebel forces in the border region.

Russia has once again sided with Assad to thwart any kind of diplomatic solution, though rebel groups are opposed to allowing Assad to participate in any kind of transitional government since that would likely mean that Assad would be able to game the system to his favor and remain in power.

Syria Shoots Down Turkish Fighter Jet Over Syrian Waters

Syria apparently shot down a Turkish F-4 fighter jet over the Mediterranean Sea earlier today.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters at a news conference covered by NBC News he could not say whether the plane had crashed or been shot down.

He said he had no word on the fate of the plane's two airmen.

"The chief of general staff has made the necessary statement about the missing plane. I am not saying it was brought down at the point it fell. It is not possible to say this without knowing the exact facts," Erdogan told a news conference.

Turkish ships and helicopters were searching for the airmen in cooperation with Syrian vessels, Erdogan said.

He said he wasn't aware of any Syrian claims of responsibility for bringing down the plane or of earlier reports that Syrian authorities had apologized.

Earlier, Lebanon's Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar television station said that Syrian air defenses shot down a Turkish military aircraft, quoting Syrian security sources.

This has the potential for being the rationale for getting NATO involved in the Syrian civil war.

I fully expect Syria to claim that this was an accident/misunderstanding/failure to communicate, etc., while Turkey might try to minimize the severity of the incident as well, since they're generally on talking terms with Assad.

However, there have been several incidents since the uprising began that saw Syrian forces fire on or into Turkey and the Turkish government has increasingly grown tired of the violence in Syria and the strain on humanitarian resources near the border with Syria from the flow of refugees.

Turkey Readies Indictments of Israelis Over Gaza Flotilla

Turkey continues pressing ahead with a potential indictment of top Israeli military leaders over the Gaza flotilla that had nothing to do with humanitarian aid and everything to do with seeking a violent confrontation with Israel.

Turkish newspapers are noting that Ankara's prosecutor is preparing a 144-page document that accuses top Israeli officers, including former army chief Gabi Ashkenazi, of ordering intentional killing, wounding of Turkish nationals on Mavi Marmara; charges still need to be approved by Istanbul district prosecutor.

According to the Turkish daily Sabah, Ankara's chief prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya is due to file a 144-page indictment targeting Ashkenazi, former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin, former Israel Navy chief Eliezer Maron, and former head of Israel Air force's intelligence wing Avishai Levy over the raid on the Mavi Marmara, which resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish nationals.

The report indicated that Turkey intended to charge the former officials for ordering IDF troops to intentionally kill, wound, and abduct Turkish activists, as well as encourage their torture and loot their belongings.

Turkey issued warrants against all four former Israeli officers, and they could be arrested on arrival in Turkey, the report added.

Israel's raid of the Gaza-bound flotilla proved a watershed moment in Israel-Turkey relations, with the once staunch allies trading blame over responsibility for the incident.

Turkey has insisted that Israel apologize for the raid and its consequences, as well as pay reparations to the families of those killed; Israel has, thus far, refused to do so.

Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara as part of Israel's right to conduct a blockade of Gaza and were met with violence, including individuals carrying knives who assaulted the commandos. It was once those commandos were threatened that they responded with deadly force. Evidence shows that the people on board the Mavi Marmara, including those from the group IHH, had every intention of creating a violent confrontation. That will likely be ignored by the Turkish officials pushing this indictment.

Other ships in the flotilla were raided but no confrontations occurred on them.

The whole purpose of the flotilla was meant to confront Israel over its ongoing sea blockade of Gaza to prevent Hamas from being supplied with weapons and personnel.

That's despite the fact that the UN found that Israel was legally within its rights to enforce the blockade and that its actions were within Israel's legal rights. It hasn't stopped Turkey's leaders from pandering to the Islamists by pushing for indictments and straining its relations with Israel.

Assad's Assaults Upon Syrian Opposition Continues

Bashar al Assad's forces continue their brutalization of the Syrian people and are now focusing their efforts on the area around Idlib in Northern Syria. That comes on the heels of multiple reports that Assad's forces have mined the border with Turkey to thwart refugees from crossing into Turkey to escape the violence. The UN has updated its tally of those who have been killed or displaced by the fighting:

UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is in Turkey and has met Syrian opposition figures during his peace mission. He says he expects Damascus to reply on Tuesday to his proposals on the crisis.

Meanwhile, the UN says 230,000 Syrians have fled their homes in the past year.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says 30,000 have fled abroad while 200,000 are displaced within Syria.

The UN says more than 8,000 people - many of them women and children - have been killed since the anti-government protests erupted.

First Hand View From Ground In Syria of Assad's Atrocities

A doctor who is among the founders of the group Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), Dr. Jacques Bérès, managed to get himself smuggled into Syria so that he could help those suffering from Bashar al Assad's assault on those opposed to his regime.

He's treated hundreds of patients in the short time he's been in Syria, and his report is a sad commentary on the ongoing deprivations by the Assad regime. Far from specifically targeting terrorists or rebel forces, Assad's forces indiscriminately fire on civilians causing all manner of grievous injury and death to women and children.

His journey into Syria began in early February when he crossed the Lebanese border with the help of smugglers, carrying luggage filled with medical equipment. He then traveled by car and motorbike to Al Qusayr, another besieged city that is part of Homs Province, where he worked for a few days with a Syrian doctor. When he finally made it to Homs, he spent about two weeks there.

In Homs, he was forced to move once — “I sensed that the building had become a target for government forces” — and conditions were far from ideal. “The place was so crowded that we had to walk between the stretchers,” Dr. Bérès said in an interview late last month in his Paris apartment, just days after returning.

“I treated all kinds of wounds, from heavy mortars, shots from long-range sniper rifles, high-velocity rounds, shrapnel,” he said. His makeshift hospital was only a few minutes from Baba Amr, the neighborhood that saw some of the heaviest shelling and fighting.

One day, he said, 11 people died in his hospital, some before he could even begin to treat them. “Some of them had brain damage and arrived already dead,” Dr. Bérès said. “Others were so severely injured that they could not be saved.”

Many of his patients were minors, he said. At least 400 children have died since the beginning of the uprising, according to Unicef.

He was clearly affected by the death of a teenage boy, “who had pale skin, handsome features, a slightly mischievous look and a cap on his head which made him look like Gavroche in Victor Hugo’s ‘Misérables.’ ” The boy, Dr. Bérès said, “had almost been cut into two.”

Dr. Bérès left Syria before the government began its all-out assault on Homs in late February. “I was sad,” he told the French radio network RTL after his return to Paris. “I saw useless suffering, cruelty, meanness, the suffering of children, of families.”

But those who worked with him described Dr. Bérès as a remarkable man, and praised his composure and quiet energy in the face of suffering and death.

As an aside, this is one of the reasons that I've repeatedly donated to MSF/DWB over the past couple of years - they manage to do amazing things under incredible circumstances and at great risk to themselves and those they help.

The ongoing atrocities in Syria increase the butcher's bill for Assad, and there's still little movement on the diplomatic front to bring more pressure to bear against Assad.



Assad's security forces have mined the border with Turkey to prevent the rebel groups from reinforcing their forces from across the border and to limit refugees from crossing to safety.

Assad's Security Forces Continue Assault on Homs as Body Count Rises

The world looks on all while Bashar al-Assad continues killing those opposed to his regime and instilling fear in those who might rise against him. The brutal assault ongoing in Homs is indicative that Assad is carrying out his own version of the Hama rules, and that he has no intention of giving up power under any circumstances. He says just enough to the international media and diplomats to claim that he's engaging in reforms but for terrorists and external forces carrying out attacks against his legitimate security forces.

Yet, there are repeated indications that Assad isn't going after terrorists or deserters alone. He's carrying out attacks against civilians throughout the country, and the body count shows it. So too do the videos that show armored personnel carriers and other armored vehicles firing heavy weapons in close quarters with civilian populations:



Turkey, which has spoken out against the violence in Syria for the past several months, now appears to be taking a much more aggressive role in lining up diplomatic efforts. They're calling for a broad-based coalition to stop Assad's deadly crackdown:

Syria’s violence is heading toward an “intolerable point,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, as he called for an international coalition to stop President Bashar al-Assad’s deadly crackdown.

“Very clear and decisive statements need to be delivered to the Syrian regime,” Davutoglu said today in Ankara before leaving for the U.S., where he will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Syria can’t be left to solve its problems alone and “we are determined to establish a broad international consensus,” he said.

Turkey’s initiative follows Russia and China’s Feb. 4 veto of a United Nations resolution supported by the Arab League, European Union and the U.S. aimed at ending the violence, which has led to 5,400 deaths since March. The veto gives the impression the deaths will “go unanswered” by the world and it would be “naïve” to expect change from Assad, Davutoglu said.

Turkey is looking to establish the “most broad-based” coalition, which should include members of the UN Security Council, Organization of the Islamic Conference, and Arab states, Davutoglu said.

While this can be viewed as Turkey's emergence as a major regional player filling the vacuum left by Egypt internal problems following Mubarak being deposed, it's also a justifiable and correct position. Assad is murdering opponents to his regime and is an impediment to regional stability and peace. UPDATE: According to human rights groups, nearly 7,000 people have been killed through January 23, 2012.

According to the Syrian Association for Human Rights, the number of protesters killed in Syria until 23 January 2012 has risen to 6,729, including 456 children and 316 women, as well as 742 among military ranks who refused to kill civilians. Reports indicate that 4,553 were killed with bullets; 817 with shrapnel; 715 for refusing to open fire; 414 from torture; 95 by artillery attacks; 66 of injuries; 11 because of lack of medical supplies; 11 from burns; nine were ran over by tanks; seven after inhaling tear gas; six by power outages at neo-natal units; five were ran over by cars; four by knife stabbings; three by nail bombs; two from bomb shrapnel; and two had their throats slit.

That's significantly higher than tallies kept by the United Nations, but it does seem to coincide with the general rise in violence since the beginning of 2012.

As Syrian Massacres Continues, Assad Reassures Russians He's Interested In Peace

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has indicated to the Russian Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that he's committed to an end to the violence.

Syrian President Bashar Assad assured Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that he is "completely committed" to seeking an end to violence by both side, Russian news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying on Tuesday.

Lavrov also said that Assad, 11 months into a revolt against his rule, stated he was ready to seek dialogue with all political groups.

According to the Russian foreign minister, Assad added that he is ready to accept an expanded Arab League mission in his violence-torn country and schedule a constitutional referendum.

Of course, Assad has no interest in stepping down or ending the violence in any way other than completely crushing those opposed to him, so these statements are laughable on their face. This is all about getting more time in which Assad could crush the opposition.

All the while, the Russians and Chinese continue thwarting action at the United Nations, and even the Turkish government is getting antsy over the situation. After all, Turkey has a long border with Syria, and there's the potential for a spillover effect where refugees cross into Turkey or opposition groups seek shelter among Turkish sympathizers leading to military confrontations.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was expected to travel to the United States on Wednesday for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Clinton said on Sunday the United States would work with other nations to try to tighten sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and deny it arms in the absence of a U.N. resolution.

U.S. officials have said they were now gauging the prospects for a group of like-minded countries to coordinate support for Syria's political opposition, a move that could bypass Russian and Chinese resistance to anti-Assad measures.

Such an undertaking might be modeled loosely after the contact group that oversaw international assistance to rebels that overthrew Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi last year.

Even as the diplomatic corps continues their actions, Assad's security forces continue shelling the City of Homs and the casualties are piling up.

Turkey's Turning Hypocrisy Into Art Form

Turkey's recent diplomatic outbursts against Israel have once again been exposed as nothing but hypocrisy. The Turkish government slams Israel at every opportunity since the Mavi Marmara incident, and claims that the Israelis are engaging in terror actions or war crimes, yet Turkey has no problem going after the PKK with military forces inside Iraq - a sovereign country.

No one raises a voice about that.

Now comes word that the Turkish government is hosting groups that are hoping to continue the insurgency against Syria's Bashar al Assad's intolerable and evil regime.

Once one of Syria’s closest allies, Turkey is hosting an armed opposition group waging an insurgency against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, providing shelter to the commander and dozens of members of the group, the Free Syrian Army, and allowing them to orchestrate attacks across the border from inside a camp guarded by the Turkish military.

The support for the insurgents comes amid a broader Turkish campaign to undermine Mr. Assad’s government. Turkey is expected to impose sanctions soon on Syria, and it has deepened its support for an umbrella political opposition group known as the Syrian National Council, which announced its formation in Istanbul. But its harboring of leaders in the Free Syrian Army, a militia composed of defectors from the Syrian armed forces, may be its most striking challenge so far to Damascus.

On Wednesday, the group, living in a heavily guarded refugee camp in Turkey, claimed responsibility for killing nine Syrian soldiers, including one uniformed officer, in an attack in restive central Syria.

Turkish officials describe their relationship with the group’s commander, Col. Riad al-As’aad, and the 60 to 70 members living in the “officers’ camp” as purely humanitarian. Turkey’s primary concern, the officials said, is for the physical safety of defectors. When asked specifically about allowing the group to organize military operations while under the protection of Turkey, a Foreign Ministry official said that their only concern was humanitarian protection and that they could not stop them from expressing their views.

“At the time all of these people escaped from Syria, we did not know who was who, it was not written on their heads ‘I am a soldier’ or ‘I am an opposition member,’ ” said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in keeping with diplomatic protocol. “We are providing these people with temporary residence on humanitarian grounds, and that will continue.”

At the moment, the group is too small to pose any real challenge to Mr. Assad’s government. But its Turkish support underlines how combustible, and resilient, Syria’s uprising has proven. The country sits at the intersection of influences in the region — with Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Israel — and Turkey’s involvement will be closely watched by Syria’s friends and foes.

Turkey is engaging in activities it claims Israel is doing, and no one in the UN or elsewhere bats an eye. Funny how that works.

So, what is Turkey's ultimate goal here? They're looking to expand their influence in the Middle East and beating back Iran's influence in the Levant (which includes Lebanon and Syria). They want to be a counter to the Egyptian and Saudis as well.

And they'll look to demonize Israel at any opportunity, even if they engage in the same exact kinds of actions they accuse Israel of doing.

Israeli Humanitarian Aid Reaches Turkey; Turkish Government Unmoved

After the machinations of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan to ingratiate himself with the Islamists and set about pushing a confrontation with Israel over its blockade of Gaza that led to the Mavi Marmara incident, Turkey has continued on its demands for apologies and reparations for Israel's actions.

Israel refuses to give an apology over the incident, and under international law it has no reason to do so. It was justified to engage in the blockade to prevent the terror group Hamas from being resupplied by sea, and terrorists on board the Mavi Marmara assaulted the boarding Israeli forces who had to use deadly force in self-defense.

One would think then that Israel would then do nothing when a deadly earthquake struck Turkey, with a death toll that is now well over 500.

You would be wrong.

Israel has sent humanitarian aid and offered search and rescue services. This is what Israel does. Israel will send humanitarian aid all over the world, including to other Arab countries in times of need, and gets nothing but scorn and derision from those countries' regimes in return.

The Israeli plane brought seven prefabricated houses and other supplies, NTV television reported said. The plane was redirected to Ankara because the airport near Van, the hardest-hit area, was too small.

Eight other countries were expected to deliver mobile homes and blankets during the day, news reports said.

The Foreign Ministry emphasized Turkey’s appreciation for the Israeli assistance but reiterated that humanitarian gestures during a natural disaster would not affect strained relations.

Turkey is demanding an official Israeli apology and compensation for the relatives of eight Turks and an American citizen of Turkish descent who were killed when Israeli commandos intercepted a Turkish aid flotilla attempting to break the blockade of Gaza last year.

As desperation grew in the affected areas, TV news reports on Wednesday showed chaotic scenes of people grabbing supplies from relief trucks, and an official with the Turkish Red Crescent put the number of trucks that had been ransacked at 17, the Anatolian Agency reported.

More than 50 countries offered assistance almost immediately after the earthquake; the government initially declined the offers, saying it had sufficient resources. But as the needs for tents and other supplies have become more clear, the government has begun reaching out for foreign aid.

Turkey has accepted the humanitarian aid, which includes prefabricated buildings, which are critical since the affected region around Van has been hit with a snowstorm and cold weather. It's miserable conditions to say the least, and Israel's assistance will be greatly appreciated by those who get the aid.

Yet, Turkey's government says that this does nothing to change its stance towards Israel.

Because that's what hypocritical governments and people do.

Turkey Invades Iraq Again To Go After Kurdish Terror Groups, World Shrugs Shoulders

This isn't an unusual situation. Turkey has repeatedly invaded sovereign Iraqi territory to go after Kurdish terror groups that ignore the Turkey-Iraq border and use northern Iraq as a safe haven from Turkey efforts to stamp out Kurdish autonomy in its own territory.

The PKK is believed to have killed 24 Turkish soldiers, and the Turkish government is threatening massive retaliation.

Turkey launched air and ground assaults on Kurdish militants in Iraq on Wednesday, vowing to take "great revenge" after 24 Turkish soldiers were killed in one of the deadliest Kurdish attacks in decades.

Security officials said about 100 fighters from the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, mounted simultaneous attacks on seven remote army outposts in Cukurca and Yuksekova districts of Hakkari province, on the rugged southeastern border with Iraq.

The PKK, which has bases in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, did not immediately claim responsibility. But the fighting, in which Turkey said it killed 15 Kurdish militants after the initial assault, threatened wider instability at a time of upheaval in nearby Syria and for U.S. forces in Iraq.

Turkish security sources said commandos pushed up to 8 km (5 miles) into Iraq in pursuit of Kurdish fighters and warplanes struck targets around a guerrilla camp on the Zap river in the autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan.

"No one should forget this. Those that inflict this pain on us will endure far greater pain," Turkish President Abdullah Gul told reporters in Istanbul.

"Those that think they will weaken our state with these attacks or think they will bring our state into line, they will see that the revenge for these attacks will be very great and they will endure it many times over."

Twenty-four soldiers were killed and 18 wounded in the attacks, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said at a televised news conference in which he said wide-ranging operations, including hot pursuit missions, had been launched.

These repeated incursions have continued to increase a body count, but the world doesn't even bother with shrugging its shoulders over this situation. It involves two sovereign nations and a nationalist group that seeks its own country on portions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. The Turkey-Iraq border is all too frequently crossed by Turkey to go after the Kurdish group, PKK.

The fighting has left more than 40,000 dead on both sides of the border, and Kurds make up about 20% of Turkey's population. The PKK has modified its demands over the years and now seeks more reforms and greater liberties and more rights, but the Turkish government has rebuffed such efforts.

Yet the hypocrisy over the silence on the Turkish actions is multiplied by the fact that Turkey and other countries will wail and holler when Israel goes after Palestinian terrorists in Gaza or disputed territories on the West Bank. The two situations could not be more alike in general principle (both Kurdish and Palestinians groups seek statehood on part or all of territory of a sovereign nation and both engage in terror attacks to further their agendas), but the diplomatic response could not be more different.

Whereas the Turkish government is rarely rebuked in public, let alone by the United Nations, the Israeli government is continually put on the defensive at the United Nations for a fraction of the grievances committed by the Turkish governments over the decades. It's a double standard that continues to this day.

Tit For Tat Continues Between Turkey and Israel

Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan continues courting Islamists and anti-Israel supporters throughout the Middle East with his statements calling on the UN to impose sanctions against Israel for its role in the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident and its general position towards the Palestinians.

Speaking to Time magazine, Erdogan criticized the UN for leveling sanctions on Iran and Sudan, while avoiding implementing trade measures against Israel - a move, Erdogan said, could have helped solved the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Erdogan was not optimistic about the Quartet efforts, saying that if it was truly interested in improving Israeli-Palestinian relations, it would pushed for imposing sanctions on Israel.

"Until today, the UN Security Council has issued more than 89 resolutions on prospective sanctions related to Israel, but they've never been executed. When it's Iran in question, you impose sanctions. What happens with Israel then?" he asked.

The Turkish prime minister made "a call out to humanity", saying that the Palestinians cannot be left to struggle any longer and countries that do not recognize their demands for statehood "will never be able to settle their accounts with history."

It's rather cynical and hypocritical of Turkey to claim that sanctions should be imposed against Israel for Israel's self-defense as a sovereign nation when Turkey engages in the same kind of actions against the Kurds. Moreover, Turkey has repeatedly invaded Northern Iraq to attack Kurdish groups that it believes are supporting the PKK. Its repeated human rights violations are legion and yet the UN takes no action against Turkey.

If there was a call out to humanity, sanctions would have been dropped on Turkey and Syria years ago for their despicable treatment of Kurds who are the forgotten people of the Middle East - and whose land claims span across Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.

Fact is that Iran and Syria's sanctions are well deserved - openly firing on crowds of peaceful protesters for months on end in Syria for instance. The violent crackdown by the Iranian regime against all opposition shows a level of violence that is simply not present in Israel. Israel's actions have been to defend itself against incessant terror attacks and the persistent threat of attacks.

But for the Palestinians failing to accept a true 2-state solution, Israel would not have needed the kinds of security measures that led to the flotilla incident. They would not have needed to enforce a blockade to prevent shipments of weapons and terrorists into Gaza. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist and condones such attacks on Israel, but that's somehow's Israel's fault in Erdogan's distorted worldview.

Palestinians Continue Push Towards Declaring Statehood At United Nations

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to declare Palestinian statehood at the United Nations this week, and it's yet another effort to undermine Israeli sovereignty in the process.

We'd just have to ignore all the pronouncements made by Palestinian leaders in the past several weeks to believe that this is about creating a Palestinian state.

Palestinian officials have stated that they want to create a Jew-free Palestine, something that no regime or country has sought to do since Nazi Germany. This is something that would otherwise be considered ethnic cleansing and subject to all manner of hue and outcry from human rights groups around the world, but they have largely remained silent.

Palestinian officials have stated that they do not want to permit Palestinians living outside the West Bank or Gaza the right of return to the Palestinian state and will not resettle refugees living in the dozens of refugee camps scattered throughout the Middle East; they would rather keep these people living in squalor rather than build a productive state.

Mr. Abbas’s plan, made public in a television address, follows months of failed American and European efforts to restart Palestinian negotiations with Israel. Some fear that Mr. Abbas’s move will raise expectations among his people, with nothing changing for them on the ground. Combined with alarmed reactions from Israeli settlers, violent showdowns could erupt.

But the Palestinians say that after decades of occupation and about 20 years of failed talks with an increasingly hawkish Israel, it is time for a new approach in which the borders of a Palestinian state are first recognized globally and then two states, Israel and Palestine, negotiate final details.

The decision to apply for membership through the Council signals a double defeat for the United States. Washington not only failed to dissuade the Palestinians from a unilateral bid for statehood, but also fell short of its goal of confining the application to the United Nations General Assembly, where Obama administration officials believe a vote in favor of statehood would be more symbolic and less divisive.

The Obama administration has vowed to use its veto at the Council to prevent full recognition of Palestine. But it is eager to avoid doing so because that action would likely leave the United States isolated on the issue, weakening its standing with Arab nations at a politically delicate moment.

“We need to have full membership at the U.N.,” Mr. Abbas said in the speech from his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, which was broadcast live on Al Jazeera and other outlets. “We need a state, a seat at the United Nations.”

He added, “We are going to the Security Council,” as Palestinian dignitaries gave him rousing applause and a standing ovation. Mr. Abbas called it “our decision, which we have conveyed to everyone.”

The borders Mr. Abbas seeks are those of 1967, meaning East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza would be included. More than 500,000 Israelis have settled beyond those lines.

These statements show that Israel lacks a partner in a peace process, and it's little wonder then that Israel has grown more hawkish since the Oslo process began near 20 years ago. What began with so much promise has turned into a nightmare because the Palestinian leaders have been exposed for what they are - they seek a one-state solution that ultimately wants Israel's destruction and all their actions are in furtherance of that goal.

Israel withdrew from Gaza unilaterally, and Palestinians promptly launched a terror war that continues to this day with rockets, missiles, and mortars - precisely because the initial suicide bombing campaign was thwarted with the construction of a security fence. Palestinians complain that the fence thwarts economic activity, but for the terrorism, indoctrination and support for terror activities, Israel would not have had a need to build the fence, maintain a security cordon off Gaza's coast to prevent terrorists from being resupplied, and the economic conditions for Palestinians would be greatly improved.

For the most part, Hamas has been silent about Fatah's Abbas and Palestinian Authority statements, but it has announced that the UN bid is empty of content because it doesn't sufficiently deal with the Palestinian right of return to Israel. That's right folks, Hamas, which is part of the Palestinian government and which controls Gaza, doesn't think that Abbas and the PLO/Fatah are going far enough in their delegitimization efforts. They want the whole kit and kaboodle.

Hamas has never recognized Israel's right to exist, and it refuses to accept any deal that recognizes Israel alongside a Palestinian state.

So, with all that in mind, what is the United States to do with the ongoing situation. Pundits in the US think that Obama has to take a strong stand so as to retain the Jewish vote (and they point to the outcome of the NY-09 House race as proof). But no matter the outcome of the 2012 elections, the UN situation the Palestinian Authority is putting President Obama in the hot seat on how to deal with a major policy crisis. Wording a resolution that somehow raises the status of the Palestinian mission to the UN to something less than a state but more than an observer is a likely outcome.

The Palestinians have done nothing to warrant any kind of support here; they have engaged in terrorism for years on end and have not been a partner in peace. Israel's sovereignty and right to exist are inalienable rights, and yet the Palestinians are busy undermining Israel at every opportunity and with no regard for human rights - Palestinian or Israel.

A peace process requires two partners interested in a peaceful outcome, but the Palestinians refuse to accept any outcome where Israel exists.

Moreover, do the Palestinians really understand what having a state is all about. It's going to put terror attacks on par with acts of war and enables Israel to formally declare war against the Palestinians should they engage in the kinds of rocket battles that have been fought since 2007.


The world's leaders repeatedly chastise Israel when it defends itself from terrorists, but barely shrugs its shoulders when countries like Turkey invade Iraq and kill Kurdish groups that Turkey claims are terrorists or harboring terrorists.

The world's diplomats have no interest in the facts; they are far more interested in their legacy and appearance of signed documents. That's why the Palestinians continue to be advancing their agenda despite an ongoing disregard for the sovereignty of Israel.

This is the quandary facing Israel and the US.

Turkey Expels Israeli Ambassador After UN Report Finds Flotilla Raid Legal

The United Nations somehow managed to conclude that Israel's actions as a sovereign nation to defend itself was legal (which isn't a given when it comes to the United Nations) but still somehow managed to fault Israel for its use of force when its boarding party used force to defend itself from terrorists on board one of the boats in the flotilla seeking to break the blockade around Gaza.

The report, expected to be released Friday, also found that when Israeli commandos boarded the main ship, they faced “organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers” and were therefore required to use force for their own protection. But the report called the force “excessive and unreasonable,” saying that the loss of life was unacceptable and that the Israeli military’s later treatment of passengers was abusive.

The 105-page report, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, was completed months ago. But its publication was delayed several times as Turkey and Israel sought to reconcile their deteriorating relationship and perhaps avoid making the report public. In reactions from both governments included in the report, as well as in interviews, each objected to its conclusions. Both said they believed that the report, which was intended to help mend relations, would instead make reconciliation harder.

Turkey is particularly upset by the conclusion that Israel’s naval blockade is in keeping with international law and that its forces have the right to stop Gaza-bound ships in international waters, which is what happened in the 2010 episode. That conclusion oversteps the mandate of the four-member panel appointed by the United Nations secretary general and is at odds with other United Nations decisions, Turkey argued.

The report noted that the panel did not have the power to compel testimony or demand documents, but instead had to rely on information provided by Israel and Turkey. Therefore, its conclusions cannot be considered definitive in either fact or law.

The Foreign Ministries in Turkey and Israel declined to comment publicly on the report, saying they preferred to wait for its official release. No one was available to comment in the office of the United Nations spokesman.

Israel considers the report to be a rare vindication for it in the United Nations. A United Nations Security Council statement at the time assailed the loss of life, and Israel faced widespread international condemnation. It thought that by offering to negotiate an agreement with Turkey that would stop the report’s publication, Turkish officials might soften their position.

The fact that the United Nations had to issue a report about a sovereign nation's inalienable right to defend itself shows the farcical nature of the Arab-Israeli conflict and how the United Nations has gotten wrapped up into knots over the ongoing conflict to the point that any action taken by Israel is instantly criticized and only later does a potential vindication come.

It should have been self-evident that Israel had the right to stop the blockade and to protect itself. Deaths resulting from the stop should be on the IHH, not Israel. But the report lays blame on Israel for not giving sufficient warnings and using too much force (as though the terrorists on board were not willing to use deadly force themselves - as viewed in the videos and photos taken before and during the raid).

For that, Turkey has decided to send Israel's ambassador packing.

Never mind that Turkey has no problem invading a sovereign nation - Iraq - in the ongoing hunt of Kurdish terrorists and has caused tens of thousands of casualties over the years and not once has the United Nations sought to issue a report or criticize the cross-border raids.

Israel was completely within its rights to board and search the Turkish flotilla that was organized by an extremist group, the IHH. It's another one of those but-for situations.

But for Palestinian terrorism, Israel would not have needed to impose a blockade, let alone carry out a raid to thwart pro-terrorist sympathizers from running the blockade to Israel's security detriment.

It was not unreasonable for the Israelis to carry out the raid, and members of the IHH aboard the Mavi Marmara were armed and were seeking to induce a conflict. They were more than willing to use deadly force against the Israeli commandos, and therefore Israel's actions were fully justified. Once the terrorists aboard the ship attacked the commandos, the Israeli commandos were justified in their use of force.

That is borne out in the harsh criticism of the IHH and its reckless disregard for safety. In other words, the UN considered the IHH flotilla a stunt and that Israel was justified to carry out the search.

Yet, Turkey's government is whipping up the Islamists and anti-Israel sentiment over the raid and would rather see its relations with Israel falter rather than admit that its own actions were in poor judgment. The diplomatic expulsion is meant for domestic consumption in Turkey, and it shows that the Islamists in Turkey are increasingly taking control over the political process there, which will be detrimental to Turkey's future economic and sociopolitical development.

Despite Protestations to the Contrary, Assad's Crackdowns Continue

Once again, media reports indicate that Bashar al Assad has ended the crackdown on protesters who seek Assad's removal from power. He keeps claiming that the crackdown is over even as the body count rises.

Welcome to the distorted worldview of Bashar Assad, who has no problem lying to the world media, just as he lies to his own people in a bid to remain in power for as long as he sustains a breath. He's said a few times that the crackdown has ended, even as his security forces crack skulls and murder people who have the audacity to protest Assad's regime and call for him to step down.

Eight people were killed in the latest bit after the crackdown supposedly ended. And the UN is now taking claims that Assad's regime is engaging in war crimes a bit more seriously.



Even as Turkey is moving away from backing Assad's regime, here comes Russia to thwart any more serious measures. They want more time to be given, even though all Assad has done since the protests began was murder anyone opposing his regime and used the crackdowns in various cities as an example of what happens when you stand up to his regime.