Detail. The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has described the ongoing unrest in Syria as the West’s “proxy war” against Damascus aimed at serving Israel’s interests. “The reality of developments in Syria is a proxy war against the Syrian government by certain governments led by the US and some other powers aimed at serving the interests of the Zionist regime [of Israel] and harming the [anti-Israeli] resistance [front] in the region,” said Ayatollah Khamenei at a Friday meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who has attended the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Meanwhile, the Syrian people have been compromised as the victims of this plot and this situation should stop immediately, the Leader added. The Leader noted that the NAM should take the initative by becoming politically involved in the Syrian crisis and put an end to the existing situation. Detail. The final resolution of the 16th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has been adopted unanimously. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad read out the resolution, which included over seven-hundred clauses, in the final session of the summit on Friday night. The final communiqué expressed support for Iran’s nuclear energy program, rejected the United States’ unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic, and called for greater efforts to support the Palestinian cause. The need to combat Islamophobia and racism throughout the world as well as global nuclear disarmament were some of the other key issues mentioned in the document.
In the closing ceremony, President Ahmadinejad hailed the resolution as “effective and historic” and expressed his gratitude to all of the participants of the summit, which he said had a very important message for the entire world. The draft resolution had been drawn up and approved during the NAM meetings of senior officials and foreign ministers. (Saving...) Ban Ki-moon defends Iran visit, says pushed for change. Non-aligned movement or just unaligned? It was supposed to be a day of great fanfare and grand statements in Tehran.
Instead, within minutes of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit opening, controversy surfaced as Al Jazeera's camera shot two empty seats during the Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi's handover speech of the chairmanship to Iran. The seats belonged to the Syrian delegation. In an apparent show of disgust at the tough words Morsi had used, they had left before he had finished speaking. The language was blunt, Morsi spoke with clear and calm ferocity. "We express our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost legitimacy," he said. "Strategic" and "political" necessity - keywords deliberately chosen. Unlikely consensus Egypt's own revolution means that men like Morsi understand what it is like to fight for freedom.
Iran is taking over the chair of the movement. But Morsi and others would like to see Assad gone and a new government forged in the country. Mission accomplished for Big Oil? In 2011, after nearly nine years of war and occupation, US troops finally left Iraq. In their place, Big Oil is now present in force and the country’s oil output, crippled for decades, is growing again. Iraq recently reclaimed the number two position in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), overtaking oil-sanctioned Iran. Now, there's talk of a new world petroleum glut. So is this finally mission accomplished? Well, not exactly. Here, as a start, is a little scorecard of what’s gone on in Iraq since Big Oil arrived two and a half years ago: corruption’s skyrocketed; two Western oil companies are being investigated for either giving or receiving bribes; the Iraqi government is paying oil companies a per-barrel fee according to wildly unrealistic production targets they've set, whether or not they deliver that number of barrels; contractors are heavily over-charging for drilling wells, which the companies don’t mind since the Iraqi government picks up the tab.
M.guardian.co.uk. Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi announces 'full solidarity' with the Syrian revolution, calling for 'active interference' Photograph: Reuters Egypt's president Mohamed Morsi has said that the "oppressive" Syrian regime had lost all legitimacy, in a blistering speech in Tehran that provoked the Syrian delegation to storm out and amounted to a stunning rebuke to his Iranian hosts. During the first visit by an Egyptian leader to Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Morsi said the world had an "ethical duty" to support Syria's rebels. "Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost legitimacy is ... a political and strategic necessity," he said. "We all have to announce our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria. Morsi's comments to a meeting of the 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran amounted to a verbal handgrenade tossed at Iran's shocked leadership.
Detail. Fierce clashes have intensified between the Syrian Army and armed groups, on a day in which the insurgents suffered heavy losses. On Friday, Syrian troops attacked insurgent positions across the country, Press TV reported. Syrian government troops killed a number of armed men in the suburbs of the cities of Aleppo and Lattakia. They also destroyed an armed group's base near Aleppo. Several armed men died in fighting with government troops on the outskirts of Lattakia, which is the main port of Syria. The Syrian Army also launched attacks on armed groups in Damascus and the nearby cities of Darayya and Duma, killing a number of insurgents.
Syrian security forces also killed many anti-government insurgents in the western governorate of Homs in the cities of Talbiseh and al-Qusayr. Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Syria crisis: Arab League calls emergency talks. 11 August 2012Last updated at 21:21 ET As the fighting goes on, the UN and Arab League are debating how best to engage with Syria Arab League foreign ministers have postponed a meeting in Saudi Arabia to debate the crisis in Syria.
The ministers had been due to discuss a new envoy to Syria to replace Kofi Annan, who resigned earlier this month. The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the US and Turkey are working together on detailed plans to support the Syrian opposition. Fighting has continued in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the second city of Aleppo. Speaking on a visit to Istanbul, Mrs Clinton said both the US and Turkey were making preparations to respond to the possible collapse of President Bashar al-Assad's government, the use of chemical weapons and increases in the number of cross-border refugees. UN mission His replacement had been due to top the agenda for foreign ministers who had been due to gather on Sunday in the Saudi city of Jeddah. 'Sparking panic' Fegyveres összetűzések a szír-jordán határon. Fegyveres összetűzések a szír-jordán határon Harcok robbantak ki péntek este jordániai és szíriai katonák között a két ország határánál – közölte egy szíriai ellenzéki, aki szemtanúja volt az összecsapásoknak.
A határon történt katonai összecsapás tényét jordán források is megerősítették, szíriai részről nem kommentálták az információikat. A szemtanúk szerint a szíriai hadsereg kezdte a tüzelést, többször átlőttek a határon Jordániába. A Reuters hírügynökséget tájékoztató szíriai ellenzéki szerint páncélozott katonai járműveket is bevetettek a szembenállók. Az első hírek szerint a fegyveres összetűzésnek jordániai áldozata nincs. A harcok a Tel Sihab-Turra térségében robbantak ki, miután szíriai menekültek megpróbáltak átkelni a határon. A mostani volt az első olyan katonai incidens, ami a szíriai válság kirobbanása óta más országot is érintett.
Syria crisis: Hillary Clinton set for talks in Turkey. 11 August 2012Last updated at 17:31 ET Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met Syrian refugees in Istanbul US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said a working group will be set up with Turkey to plan a joint response to the Syrian crisis. She said after talks in Istanbul that she had discussed with Turkey's foreign minister how best to support opposition to President Bashar al-Assad's rule. The US, she said, was also increasing aid for Syrian refugees. Numbers of civilians fleeing violence in Syria have surged, according to the United Nations. Turkey, like all of Syria's neighbours, is dealing with a growing humanitarian crisis as thousands of refugees flood across the border. Rebels in the northern city of Aleppo say they are preparing a counter-attack after withdrawing from the strategic south-west district of Salah al-Din under heavy bombardment. Turkey is currently supporting more than 50,000 Syrian refugees, with more arriving every day.
Chemical weapons fear. Crime Wave Engulfs Syria as Its Cities Reel From War. From Dara’a, near the Jordanian border, to Homs, Damascus and here in ’s commercial capital — the fighting has essentially collapsed much of the civilian state. Even in neighborhoods where skirmishes are rare, residents say thieves prey on the weak, and police stations no longer function because the officers have fled. Kidnapping, rare before, is now rampant, as a man named Hur discovered here last month. He simply wanted to drive home. The man shoving a pistol into his back had other plans. “Keep walking,” the gunman told Hur, 40, a successful businessman, as they approached his car. Hur said he initially thought he was being arrested by government agents.
“They asked my family to ransom me with 15 million Syrian pounds,” Hur said of the abductors’ demand for about $200,000. Rebel leaders have been trying to fill the void. But as bloody ground battles rage throughout the city, rebel control is limited. Aleppo’s slide toward something resembling anarchy began months ago. Egyiptom katonákat küldött a Sínai-félszigetre. Syria: U.N. says no one will win (+video)
Syrian forces have pushed rebels back from a strategic district of Aleppo, but skirmishes continued in the city and the United Nations said the conflict engulfing Syria would have no winner. Skip to next paragraph Subscribe Today to the Monitor Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS ofThe Christian Science MonitorWeekly Digital Edition Syria named a new prime minister following a slew of defections brought on by the Assad's brutal crackdown. Diplomats told Reuters that veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi could be named next week to replace the U.N.
-Arab League Syria envoy Kofi Annan, who resigned in frustration at the international deadlock on how to end the violence. But they warned their could be last-minute changes if a key government had concerns or the candidate had second thoughts. Wael al-Halki, from the southern province of Deraa where the revolt began, replaces Riyad Hijab, who had spent only two months in the job before making a dramatic escape across the border to Jordan.
Syria: rebel stronghold in Aleppo falls to Assad's forces. Syrian rebels pull back in Aleppo district. Detail. Syrian security forces have clashed with foreign-sponsored insurgents in several areas of the northwestern city of Aleppo, Press TV reports. Fighting is underway in the central areas of Hanano and Seif al-Dowla and the northeastern neighborhood of Sakhour in Aleppo. On Sunday, the Syrian army also began a major operation to clear the southwestern neighborhood of Salahuddin of the insurgents. In the southwestern city of Dara’a, about 114 kilometers (70 miles) south of the capital, Damascus, the security forces killed a number of insurgents on the same day.
Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil in Syria that began in March 2011. On August 4, the Syrian army carried out an operation in the western province of Hama, killing dozens of insurgents in the town of al-Rastan, about 184 kilometers (114 miles) north of Damascus. Detail. Iraq’s oil flow to Turkey has been interrupted after a blast hit an oil pipeline in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin, authorities say. The overnight blast hit the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline in Mardin Province close to Turkey's border with Syria, AFP quoted an unnamed energy ministry official as saying on Monday.
The incident is believed to be an act of sabotage by the rebel Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). Firefighters have now put out the fire. Turkish authorities say repairs are expected to take up to 10 days. The pipeline has been attacked several times in the past with the separatist PKK claiming responsibility for some of them. The pipeline has also been repeatedly attacked by insurgents inside Iraq since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003. Detail. A prominent political analyst says Arab media are in cahoots with Western intelligence services to trigger tensions in the Arab world and more specifically Syria for the moment. In an interview on Press TV, Kevin Barrett of the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance from Wisconsin singled out Qatari Al-Jazeera network. He said: “We know that a couple of members of Aljazeera resigned earlier this year because what they saw as biased reporting on Syria.” “So, Aljazeera has been in bed with the Western intelligence services, for at least the past decade and that should not surprise us since the nation of Qatar is basically one big US military base,” Barrett said.
“[The mainstream Arab media] want to destroy all of these Middle Eastern states, break them into much smaller pieces that could never be a threat to Israel,” he said. “They have been working to smash the Arab countries into pieces. Detail. The Syrian army has arrested a group of Turkish and Saudi officers in Syria’s northwestern city of Aleppo, the state TV says. The officers were arrested on Monday amid ongoing clashes between government troops and foreign-sponsored insurgents in the city.
The UK newspaper Guardian reported on June 22 that the Saudi regime would pay the salary of the members of the terrorist Free Syrian Army to encourage “mass defections from the military and… pressure” the Damascus government. On June 21, the New York Times reported that a group of CIA officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey and that the agents are helping the anti-Syria governments decide which gangs inside the Arab country will receive arms to fight the Syrian government. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Turkish Cumhuriyet daily in an interview in early July that Turkey “has supplied all logistic support to the terrorists who have killed our people.”
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