“We were ready and we are always ready, right now, to receive the delegation that was set up by (UN chief) Ban Ki-moon to investigate what happened in Khan al-Assal,” Muqdad said, referring to the March 19 incident near Aleppo.More than 30 people died in Khan al-Assal incident, and reports of strong chlorine-like smell at the site quickly spread in the media.Damascus was the first to ask for the UN investigation, accusing the opposition fighters of launching a chemical weapon attack. Syrian rebel groups denied the accusations, in turn blaming government forces.The UN fact-finding team was assembled and started gathering and analyzing available information. However, the investigation has largely become stalled with “no conclusive findings,”as a group of Western nations insisted on a different, more thorough kind of inquiry going beyond the Khan al-Assal case.Such an investigation would include an inquiry into the alleged chemical weapons use in Homs in December 2012, which the Syrian opposition has blamed the government for. It also requires access to military objects the UN said Damascus was unwilling to give.The UN has also decided to exclude Russian and Chinese experts from the investigation team, with Syria protesting this decision.Russia has repeatedly urged not to delay the investigation, with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently warning nations not to “get captive to rumors” until there are any definite findings.Some Western countries, however – most notable the UK and the US – have persistently claimed that “limited but persuasive information” allegedly proves “with varying degrees of confidence” the Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces were behind the chemical weapons use. The most recent wording used by British Prime Minister David Cameron was that “chemical weapons use in Syria is very likely to have been initiated by the regime.”But so far, “no one has presented any proof for these claims,” the Russian Foreign Ministry has stated. “The intelligence agencies, including the ones of our Western partners, said that these statements lacked any detailed proof whatsoever,” Sergey Lavrov stressed, as he criticized those nations attempting to “prevent the UN Secretary General from a simple and direct answer to a simple and direct question.”‘No way Syria will allow this to happen again’Speaking of the last week’s Israeli strike, the Syrian official said that any new attack on the country’s territory would trigger an immediate military reaction.“The instruction has been made to respond immediately to any new Israeli attack without (additional) instruction from any higher leadership, and our retaliation will be strong and will be painful against Israel,” Muqdad has stressed.Referring to the claims that the strike targeted a transfer of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah militants, Muqdad said Israel “absolutely did not achieve its objective and lied when it said it was are targeting Hezbollah.”There is “no way Syria will allow this to happen again,” the Syrian official added.Israel, repeatedly warned it will intervene to prevent the weapons transfer to Hezbollah, has targeted military sites near the capital Damascus early on Friday morning and again early on Sunday morning, with at least 42 soldiers reported dead in the second strike.Russia said it is “seriously concerned” about the strikes on Damascus, calling the reports “alarming.”During US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Moscow the two states reiterated their commitment to the Syria peace plan – known as the Geneva Communiqué – and called for a follow-up meeting on the conference by the end of May. … Read More
US to start arming Syrian rebels ‘shortly’
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) remarked to CBS News on Tuesday that the US may supply weaponry to opposition fighters in Syria embattled in the bloody war against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad that has claimed more than 70,000 lives, according to recent United Nations estimates.US President Barack Obama has hinted that the US will consider using military action against the Syrian government if it can be proved that Assad deployed chemical weapons against his people during the two-year-old war, calling such a revelation a “game changer.” The US recently identified the use of chemical weapons in Syria but has yet to prove with complete certainty that Pres. Assad approved the use of chemical weapons against opposition fighters.“What we now have is evidence that chemical weapons have been used inside of Syria, but we don’t know how they were used, when they were used [or] who used them,” Obama said last week in an address from the White House. Days later, Carla Del Ponte of the UN commission investigating the alleged use of sarin gas said there are “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof” that rebels ordered the use of chemical weapons, but as recently as this week the White House said they were skeptical of that claim.”The commission has not reached any conclusive findings,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney fired back on Monday, “The fact of the matter is that we are highly skeptical that the opposition has used chemical weapons.”But as the US waits for confirmation to determine if Assad is guilty of using chemical weapons, Sen. Corker said that the White House will find other means to intervene and aid rebel soldiers.”I do think we’ll be arming the opposition shortly,” he told CBS “We’re doing a lot more there on the ground than really is known, but we do have to change the equation.”"I think you all know the moderate opposition groups that we support are not as good at fighting, they’re not as good as delivering humanitarian aid and we need to change the balance,” Corker said.”We’ve got to change the balance there and I do think we’ll be arming the rebels soon.”Just one day earlier, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-New Jersey) proposed in Washington legislation that will not just provide the Syrian opposition with arms but will also punish allies of Assad who attempt to assist against the rebels. “The Assad regime has crossed a red line that forces us to consider all options,” Menendez said in a statement. “The greatest humanitarian crisis in the world is unfolding in and around Syria, and the US must play a role in tipping the scales toward opposition groups and working to build a free Syria.”Concerns have amounted as of late, however, over what influence the introduction of direct American aid will have overseas. Speaking to CBS, Sen. Corker said one main fear is that US-supplied arms will end up in the hands of opposition fighters who are anti-Assad but also anti-American, such as the al-Qaeda aligned al-Nusra Front.”A nightmare would be al-Nusra, if you will gaining, control of Syria,” Corker said. “That’s worse than Assad being there.” … Read More
Washington kept Special Forces out of Benghazi in ‘purely political’ move – diplomat
During an interview with Republican members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Gregory Hicks said that if the US had deployed military aircraft to fly over Benghazi it may have prevented the second attack that killed two CIA security officers. Excerpts of Hicks’ interview with lawmakers were released to the press in preparation for his testimony in front of the committee Wednesday. “I think it was a terrorist attack from the get-go,” Hicks is quoted as saying. “I think everybody in the mission thought it was a terrorist attack from the beginning.” Republicans, perhaps most notably Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have maintained their accusation that the Obama administration has covered up the full story of the September 11, 2012 attack on the nation’s consulate. Hicks’ comments are expected to reignite a political debate that began just before the US presidential election in 2012 and could factor into any of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential aspirations. Despite being heavily favored to be the Democratic candidate in the next election, Clinton was secretary of state at the time of the Benghazi attack, eventually resigning because of it. Hicks complained that the State Department somehow prevented Special Forces from making the trip to Benghazi even after US intelligence indicated Stevens had been killed. “They were told not to board the flight, so they missed it,” he told the GOP interviewers. “I guess they just didn’t have the right authority from the right level.”He reiterated the claim that had US jet fighters assembled they could have thwarted a mortar attack from Libyan insurgents. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other military leaders have repeatedly stressed that the events in Benghazi happened too quickly for the military to effectively send help.“I believe the Libyans would have split. They would have been scared to death that we would have gotten a laser on them and killed them,” Hicks is quoted as saying. The GOP committee has been criticized by Democrats for seemingly examining the attack selectively, with more regard for political gain and sensationalism than for the truth. “It certainly seems so, so far,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told the Associated Press when asked. “I mean, this is not sort of a collaborative process where the committee is working directly with us and trying to establish facts that would help as we look to keep our people safe overseas in a very complex environment.” Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who will lead the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday, accused State Department leadership of trying to bury the story. “Early on in this fight these people made a critical bad decision in that they did not activate these people simply because they were afraid it would be labeled as terrorism,” he said. “It was pure politics.” In the interview snippet Hicks told investigators that on the night of the attack he spoke with Col. Keith Phillips, the consular defense attaché, who told him that the nearest fighter jets were located at Aviano Air Base in Italy. It would take two to three hours to get the planes into the air because they were low on fuel, Phillips responded, according to Hicks, and there was no aircraft or tanker to refuel them. Hicks is also expected to claim Wednesday that he was the last American to speak to Stevens before the ambassador was transported to a Libyan hospital and died after a cardiac arrest.“Greg, we’re under attack,” he claimed Stevens said. “My response is, ‘Okay,’ and I’m about to say something else and the line clicks.” … Read More
US government sites brace for ‘nuisance-level’ OpUSA hacking spree
Though it remains to be seen to what degree the Anonymous-affiliated “N4m3le55 cr3w“ group will be able to mount a widespread threat to American websites, a DHS alert obtained by prominent online security reporter Brian Krebs suggests that the government is taking the threat seriously. Already the #OpUSA campaign seems to have caused some activity on Monday, though the main event is scheduled for Tuesday May 7. Claims by a group calling itself “X-Blackerz Inc” claimed to have penetrated “100 US websites” while an anonymous user via Pastebin appeared to have posted a database of logins and passwords belonging to the Honolulu Police Department.According to Analysis Intelligence, #OpUSA is comprised of “self-proclaimed online freedom fighters” such as a collective calling itself the “ZCompany Hacking Crew.” In his own analysis, Krebs, the tech security reporter, posited that, should the May 7 action include the participation of Hamas’ Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters (which claims ties with Palestinian political party Hamas) then the disruption could be far more serious.Rodney Joffe, a senior vice president with the US security and intelligence firm Neustar believes that “all bets are off” if the Qassam Cyber Fighters join the fray, Krebs reported. The group has been held responsible for a series of high-profile breaches of US financial institutions in response to the notorious Innocence of Muslims film promoted by Koran-burning American pastor Terry Jones.Though there is widespread speculation as to the exact origins of the Qassam Cyber Fighters, since December of 2012 the group has successfully disrupted the websites of JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and the New York Stock Exchange.“I think we learned our lesson with the al-Qassam Cyber Fighters,” Joffe told Krebs via his news blog, KrebsOnSecurity. “The damage they’re capable of doing may be out of proportion with their skills, but that’s been going on for seven months and it’s been brutally damaging,” he added. An expansive declaration posted by the N4m3le55 cr3w threatens US websites with denial-of-service attacks, as well as defacement in retaliation to its military operations abroad.“On that day anonymous will start phase one of operation USA. America you have committed multiple war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and recently you have committed war crimes in your own country. We will now wipe you off the cyber map. Do not take this as a warning. You can not stop the internet hate machine from doxes, DNS attacks, defaces, redirects, ddos attacks, database leaks, and admin take overs.”A range of links appended to the #OpUSA notice send Internet users out to online tools that participants can use to try and overwhelm websites with web traffic, though analysts generally agree that only the use of a large “botnet” – or rather, an involuntary network of “zombie” computers – and other tools in use by groups such as the Qassam could present a real threat.In its notice, the DHS acknowledges the May 7 campaign but downplays the danger as largely a publicity stunt, noting that the attacks “likely will result in limited disruptions and mostly consist of nuisance-level attacks against publicly accessible webpages and possibly data exploitation. Independent of the success of the attacks, the criminal hackers likely will leverage press coverage and social media to propagate an anti-US message.”The choice of the May 7 date seems to be deliberate, as it will be one month to the day since another large hacktivist operation known as #OpIsrael. That campaign involved hacktivist groups such as AnonGhost Team and TheHackersArmy, and targeted the Israeli online government domain.The director of a Tel-Aviv-based network security firm, Ronen Kening, told KrebsOnSecurity that the #OpIsrael campaign, which resulted in several database breaches, failed due to the campaign’s inability to recruit and deploy more powerful disruption tools.“There were some Web site defacements, but OpIsrael was not successful from the attackers’ point-of-view,” said Kenig. “The main reason was the fact that the groups that initiated the attack were not able to recruit a massive botnet. Lacking that, they depended on human supporters, and those attacks from individuals were not very massive.” … Read More
The European Union and the McJihad in Syria
The red flags started going up when warnings were issued in the Netherlands about Dutch citizens going to fight in Syria. Belgium followed, then the European Police Office (Europol), the EU’s law enforcement agency that handles criminal intelligence, reported that the fighting in Syria had the potential of creating a future wave of terrorism that could threaten the European Union’s members in their EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT) for 2013. In regards to Syria, the Europol report reads: “Syria emerged as the destination of choice for foreign fighters in 2012. A number of EU nationals were arrested in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the UK related to travelling to or returning from Syria” (TE-SAT 2013:p.22).The EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, then stated that about five hundred EU citizens—especially from Britain, France, and Ireland—were inside Syria fighting alongside the anti-government forces with the objective of toppling the government in Damascus. Monsieur de Kerchove would express the same concerns as Europol about these EU citizens returning to the EU from the battlefields in Syria. His concerns would be echoed in London.Even as his government was working to legalize a transfer of British arms to anti-government forces in Syria, the British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, was warning of the threat posed to Britain from British fighters returning home from Syria. Soon afterward, Germany confirmed that German citizens were taking part in the fighting to topple the Syrian government. Earlier than this news would also come out that one Danish citizen, who was a former US prisoner in Guantanamo fighting in Syria, was killed.The McJihadThe situation is quite a paradox. Syria is now worryingly being presented as a “failing state” and “jihadist hotbed” in the EU. The irony is that EU members—alongside their counterparts in the US, Turkey, Jordon, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar—contributed to and facilitated the entire Syrian McJihad enterprise with the ultimate aim of regime change in Damascus. For more than two years the calls to jihad against Damascus have been aired across the world by the likes of Yusuf Al-Qaradawi and other pseudo-clerics and tele-evangelists in Saudi Arabia and the tyrannies of the Gulf Cooperation Council. EU officials said nothing. Additionally, organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been recruiting fighters to go to Syria, actually work freely in London and have their longtime headquarters in Britain, as do similar organizations that are eyeing Russia and Central Asia for the next phases of McJihad.From Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to Somalia, the so-called “failed states” are the handiwork of the US and this same group of countries that form the “Friends of Libya” and “Friends of the Syrian People” groups. These countries should more accurately be called “Imperialism Inc.” William Hague and company need only look in the mirror to find the culprits creating the terrorism threat in the EU.The concept of “blowback” or the unintended consequences of intelligence operations is getting old. On the one hand people from countries like Britain and France, flood into Syria as fighters against the Syrian government, while on the other hand they are scaring their own populations about these fighters with their scaremongering. In most cases the foreign fighters from the EU that entered Syria were essentially given the green light and allowed by their own respective government to go fight there. The situation was the same in Libya where American, British, Canadian, French, and Irish citizens fought to topple the Libyan Jamahiriya. One American citizen from Arizona, Eric Harroun, returning to the United States from Syria would face trial for fighting alongside Al-Nusra, but his father Darryl Harroun would let the secret out that Eric was working for the CIA in Syria.Turning Point?A turning point is on the horizon, pointing to a renewed push against the Syrian government. Richard Ottaway, a British MP from William Hague’s own British Conservative Party and the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the British House of Commons, announced that he believed that Hague’s announcement was tied to British plans to openly intervene in Syria as a means of “undermining” the foreign jihadists. In Orwellian terms, the foreign fighters are being used as a pretext to further arm the anti-government forces in Syria.It should come as no coincidence that the capitals of NATO members are announcing that the nerve gas sarin was used by the Syrian government. Announcements about the use of chemical weapons by Syria have started being made in London, Paris, Tel Aviv, and Washington, DC. Despite the fact that anti-government forces have threatened to use chemical weapons, reports about the use of chemical weapons in Syria that have been given by the Syrian government to the United Nations are being politicized with objective of blaming Damascus. In a repeat of the Libya scenario, the EU has also decided to begin buying Syrian oil from anti-government forces whereas the US has sent troops to Jordon and Israel is building infrastructure for the anti-government forces and preparing to send drones into Syria via Jordanian airspace.The foreign fighters and anti-government forces fighting in Syria have been working with the US and its allies either directly or indirectly. By now the bankruptcy of America’s so-called “War on Terror” should be obvious to most. From the get go it was not a war on terror but a “War by Terror.” Those who have been labeled as terrorists and jihadists by the US government and its allies in many cases have been America’s own foot soldiers in a slow burning imperialist war of conquest.Onwards with McJihadThe Cold War alliance between jihadists and the Western Bloc over their anti-Soviet honeymoon in Afghanistan has been rekindled. Once again jihadist fighters are being used as foot soldiers in America’s McJihad. In a call to arms Al-Qaradawi and his ilk have declared that Russia is the number one enemy of the Arabs and Muslims. Next on their enemy list is America’s nemesis Iran. This position is politically motivated, because Al-Qaradawi had forbidden any fighting in 2010 against Russia in the North Caucasus. The audience for his revised position on Russia and animosity towards Iran includes the battalions of foreign fighters in Syria. This includes members of militant groups from the North Caucuses that have entered Syria and Lebanon to actively fight against the Syrian government in America’s McJihad. The anti-government militias in Syria have already also voiced their hostilities towards Moscow and Tehran.The Telegraph in London, in what comes across as triumphant language by Jake Wallis Simons, would comment that the call to arms by Al-Qaradawi were the signals that a new alliance of interests was forming between the forces that the Arab Spring was bringing into power, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, and the West against an axis formed by Russia, Iran, and China. Simons would also point out that implicitly Israel too was a part of this new alliance against Moscow, Tehran, and Beijing. This would explain why the Israelis were caught spying on the Russian vessels in Tartus.Syria will not be the end of the line for the McJihad. If Syria falls, in one way or another through chronic instability or regime change, the foreign fighters swarming into its territory from around the world could use it as a keystone to target countries like Iran and Russia. This is what happened with Libya, which has been used as a base to shuttle weapons and fighters into Syria from North Africa. Potentially, places like the North Caucasus Federal District in Russia and Iran’s border provinces could see an influx of foreign fighters and terrorist attacks. But in the near term Lebanon will be the next line of battle if Syria should fall. … Read More
Syrian guerillas are ‘simple country folk with no clear ideology’ – captive journalist to RT
Anhar Kochneva, a Ukrainian citizen and Palestinian national, spent 153 days as a hostage in the custody of Syrian opposition guerilla fighters. She paints an altogether different picture of the rebel fighters to the one in Western media – young men in their twenties conned into fighting for the opposition by the farfetched stories of sheiks.RT: Can you describe these rebel fighters? What kind of people are they?Anhar Kochneva: The ones that held me captive were Syrians, Sunnis. There are no foreigners in that particular group. Most of them are former neighbors or relatives from a southern Homs district – Baba Amr. Their apartments and houses were destroyed a year ago, because they were fighting against the army there and, as they put it, they made a tactical decision to withdraw. The withdrawal basically meant crossing the Homs-Tartus highway, moving from its northern to its southern side. They moved into the empty houses in the village and paid some rent to the owners – $50-100. Rent is getting higher, because the demand for housing is growing, since there are more and more refugees. And it is impossible to live in summer houses. In some houses, there are over 30 refugees. Electricity is scarce; there is a schedule for when it comes on. Those who have a generator are considered very lucky. My kidnappers didn’t have a generator.RT: What kind of guerilla activities are they involved in? Are they constantly attacked by the Army?AK: The army didn’t really do anything to them. There were occasional shootings. These are just small groups in rural areas. So the army doesn’t really target their residences. They attacked the government forces and their checkpoints every once in a while, kidnapped people.RT: What is the relationship between the guerilla fighters and the locals?AK: They try to co-exist peacefully with the people who surround them and give them shelter.They are mad at the Christian community of El Quseir though. Some time ago there were reports about kidnappings of Christians [in September 2012, almost 300 Catholics, half of them women and children, were kidnapped, when they were picking apples in Rehle, on the border with Lebanon – RT]. But it was not mentioned anywhere that by doing that the rebels tried to bring back four of their friends, who were captured by the Christian community – so it was the Christians who upset the peaceful co-existence.According to many accounts, this is what happened. Four rebels were kidnapped by the Christians. I was told that these four people were kidnapped when they were not doing anything against this Christian community. They were just going about their business.In order to set their people free, opposition fighters took almost 100 Christians hostage. The guerilla fighters returned all the hostages alive, whereas their people came back in body bags, cut into pieces.They were offended by that, saying that these people didn’t harm the Christians in any way.All this happened during my first days in captivity – and they kept talking about this. I overheard some things. They are mad, because their people were brutally killed, but nobody in the West is saying anything about it. They were ordered not to kill Christians, otherwise the West would stop helping them. These cases have to be brought to light and investigated. Maybe because these four people were killed, a chance to achieve a truce was missed… Now the residents of this Christian suburb don’t go anywhere, they don’t go to Sunni villages to buy groceries.‘They believe most insane stories’ RT: Who are these people, these Syrian guerilla fighters?AK: Most of them are in their early twenties. Some have served in the army. Twenty-seven-year-olds are considered very mature. Most of them are single. Some didn’t even graduate from high school. Their parents told them, “You know the alphabet, so go work now.”They don’t have any clear ideology. They don’t really think about things, don’t discuss anything. At least, they didn’t have any such talks with me, they said right away – it’s impossible to argue with them.Their logic really suffers – and you can see that in everyday life. They believe the most insane stories, if they hear them from some religious teachers.My guard’s name was Ahmad, 27 years old, finished four grades in school. He told me that he had heard in a sermon that in 1990, Soviet scientists drilled a tunnel to the center of the Earth, saw fire there and recorded the screams of sinners in hell. He believes in that story, because it supports his worldview.I tried to argue that in 1990 this was the last thing on Russia’s mind, that there is no recording device that can work in such temperature, that spirits don’t have voices – I couldn’t convince him. Most of them have never been outside the country, and didn’t travel around Syria much either. But they remember the blessed times of low prices, somebody even managed to go to the seashore, which is not far from there. But they cannot draw connections between the current situation and their actions.They talk about how they used to go to restaurants, to cabaret.RT: Does religion play any role in their life? Do they pray?AK: They try, but not always succeed. They might fall asleep or fail to wake up. Some other excuses: “I am cold, I am hungry.” I did not see them pray together, they prayed individually. They don’t quote the Koran, don’t say Bismillah or Insha’Allah all the time. These are simple people, who were thrown into some new circumstances, but it didn’t change who they are.RT: We read all the time that mercenaries are paid “huge money”. What can you say about that?AK: They don’t consider themselves mercenaries. They are guerilla fighters, volunteers. They made a conscious decision to be part of the unit, to follow this commander, whom they respect. They are not paid salaries, they only get an allowance. My captors got $100 per month – they spent 40-50 per cent of that on cigarettes.Fighters in other units get twice as much, or even more. But those who held me didn’t mind staying on the allowance, as long as Ammar was their leader.RT: Who is this commander? What sets him apart?AK: He turned 40 recently. Before the war, he used to be a house painter in Homs. He’s single. His father was a well-known Sufi sheik who could talk to snakes. My guards knew and respected him.‘Simple provincial folk’RT: And how do these things go together – their respect for a Sufi sheik and brainwashing the public that this unrest is the Salafist doing?AK: They are neither radical Muslims nor Salafists, they are simple provincial folk that have been told by sheiks about freedom and democracy.Ammar has been in the guerilla force for over a year.RT: What made him join?AK: He saw what he thought to be a major injustice taking place. Both the opposition and the army kept firing, and innocent people kept dying in the crossfire. In his circle, the perception was that it was army’s and the regime’s fault.I asked him once, “What would you do if this civil war never happened and instead Israel attacked Syria?” He replied, “I would join the army and fight for Syria.”But there’s no going back for him now.RT: Any war ends in a truce.AK: He’s gone way too far. He is the enemy of the state. He is a leader and head of the military council of the Farouq Brigades in Homs area. He supervises attacks on checkpoints, they have partly killed and expelled all the Shia, and all the Alawites. He led the resistance to the army taking over Homs from Bab-Amr. I believe this is the man it would be worth running negotiations with – that’s of course if he chose to resort to a dialogue. He is not beyond compassion and understanding. He can let people free. During my time there, he let two Sunni fighters, professors with Homs University free.He is a very simple man, he doesn’t require much, and strives to deliver justice. He gave over his room and bed to me and slept on the floor. People often send him gifts of nice clothes and he gives them away to his fighters. He has no material ambition to get rich.RT: Did he mention what goals the guerilla forces pursue?AK: No. They thought it wouldn’t take long and hoped to get support from abroad. He believes they have been decoyed and used, as they didn’t receive the help they had been promised and now it’s obvious they are not going to receive it at all.He is not a bigot or radical – he is a civilized person with that Syrian conception that everybody has the right to have its own idea of how to follow their religion. I was forced to put on a headscarf only for the time of filming [a video about the terms of release – RT].People respect him as he is reasonable and has no material ambition to get rich.The man who kidnapped me behaves differently and people notice such things. For instance, when they [people from the 1st detachment – RT] attacked the village of al Haidaria, not only did they steal people’s belongings from the abandoned houses, but they knocked down the walls, pulled out electrical boxes, removed windows and doors, plug sockets and switchers in order to sell them all.Those who kept me hostage disapproved of that.Many told me that if I had gotten in hands to some other field commander, I would have had a far harder time.RT: The rebels’ hatred is focused on Bashar Assad – can you say why?AK: They hold him responsible for everything. They even say the carrot crop failure is his fault. It’s a trend to hate him. And they get brainwashed to believe that the majority of people think the same. They don’t want to know that the majority actually does not support them.The brainwashing techniques are quite primitive. For example, their fatigues have been manufactured in Turkey, with each set numbered, and the numbers they used exceed 11 million. But that’s nonsense. Syria doesn’t have that many men. Its entire population is 23 million people, and children account for more than a half of this number. This is the way they’re trying to support the myth that the FSA has the majority on its side. And you know what happens in those small areas they control? Many are forced to keep their real attitude secret.RT: What about Hafez Assad? Did their parents hate him, too?AK: They don’t talk about him. I never heard anything. They don’t even need that kind of logical argument.‘They plan to celebrate victory with attacks in Moscow and Chechnya’ RT: Do they hate Russia?AK: They plan to celebrate their victory by blasts in Chechnya and Moscow – these are their exact words. My guards happily assured me this will happen. It’s possible they just said it to dispirit me, and use other words with other people.RT: You said that the commander of the detachment would have joined the army if Israel had attacked Syria. What do rank-and-file guerrillas think about Israel?AK: According to some rumors, the Qataris and Saudis became regular visitors to Israel, and their visits were quite friendly. That’s why the command of the opposition ordered to be kind to Israel. As for the Palestinian people, there is another directive – they should treat them with disdain. They say that the Palestinians were selling their own land, and the Jews, on the contrary, are good people. I heard several people saying such things, and it sounds like an echo of some programs, conversations and opinions someone had instilled in them. I repeat that there is no mindset there.Speaking of the Palestinians, Kurds, coastal population and the population of the regions – they believe that they are all traitors, because they haven’t taken the side of the revolution.Turkey is not respected either – they don’t get anything essential from them, although some useful small items come from Turkey from time to time. For example, there were book series dedicated to the “Blessed Syrian Revolution” published in Turkey, and they read them. These books include quotes from the Koran and say that God welcomes the events in Syria.RT: Is hatred towards Alawites religious in character?AK: No, there’s nothing about religion, although some statements about incorrect believing did take place. But this is not the key point. They have some way stronger emotions. For example, I heard them complaining that the houses of Alawite scum were the only ones that were heated. The thing is they were offered big multi-dwelling units with heating, but they refused saying they wanted to live in their private homes.‘They don’t mess with Christians for fear of losing European support’RT: And what do they think of the Christians?AK: They are regarded as wayward, but they don’t dare mess with the Christians fearing Europe would turn away from them. Moreover, we shouldn’t forget there are a lot of Christians in Syria, as well as plenty of different communities and sects. They all live side-by-side with the Muslims and regard them as neighbors, without paying extra attention to what they believe in. RT: How do they regard the Americans?AK: They criticize them, claiming the Americans have decoyed them. The guerrillas are told that the Americans might be spies. There was an American man who had pretended to be a journalist and he had been caught before me. According to the guerrillas, he was leaking some information about locations, so he was caught and accused of espionage. I heard he was bartered – there was a grand operation.‘They are hostile towards opposition groups abroad’RT: Do they realize how the opposition can represent them abroad? Does anybody monitor and evaluate their activities?AK: They don’t like the opposition members settled in Europe, Istanbul and Moscow, and have promised to slaughter them if they come back to Syria. Regular fighters say they have been shedding blood and those people just want to get everything for free. So they are quite hostile towards the opposition that settled down abroad. RT: What arms do guerillas use?AK: Russian hand grenades, Kalashnikov guns – both Russian and Chinese. As they said themselves, they have got lots of Belgian weapons.RT: Did you see if they had money?AK: Two bundles of $8,000. And they were speaking of such sums like pocket change. They were counting money before my own eyes. What’s more, after I had already been released, I ran into a video in which Ammar was counting a huge bundle of money. It is clear they don’t keep this money to themselves – they buy weapons with it.RT: Did you see anybody get wounded?AK: Lots of wounded people. I saw about nine people bandaged and loads of murdered. There is a field hospital, but I’d rather call it a regular clinic. The chief doctor is a pharmacist, who – according to my experience – doesn’t know what is what even in terms of pharmacy. There was some wounded man delivered from Homs – he begged to be handed over to the army, as he knew he wouldn’t get proper medical treatment and would die.RT: What do the rebels think of volunteers from abroad?AK: They are at odds with Jabhat al-Nusra. There is some killing list with the names of al-Faruk Brigades’ leaders on it, and about five people have already been killed – they try to eliminate the lead figures. Moreover, there are ongoing serious wrangles among the rebels themselves. There were no foreigners in the areas I have been to. To say the least, they are not welcomed and regarded as competitors.‘People are exhausted’RT: How do people feel over there?AK: People are exhausted. Most of them have lost everything. Those who had wanted to take part in the revolution already joined – so human resources inside the country ran out. Still the Syrian people are not used to living in such conditions. They don’t leave their homes after 7pm: any noise and you may be shot.They eat pigeons and sparrows that they shoot, pluck and roast, which is clearly caused by hunger and distress, but there are some unmotivated actions taking place, too. They can shoot a dog or a little puppy kids have been playing with. I have never seen the soldiers of the regular army turning their guns on living beings.RT: Which mass media is popular?AK: They watch Al Jazeera, Orient TV – all in all about eight opposition channels. They use the internet as well. There is an information center where correspondents of Al Jazeera Mohammad Arabi and Hale dabu Saleh worked. … Read More
13 killed in Damascus bombing, reports Syrian TV
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A powerful bomb rocked Damascus on Tuesday, killing 13 people and wounding 70, Syrian state TV reported, a day after the country’s prime minister narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in the heart of the heavily protected capital.Although no one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad’s regime have increasingly targeted Damascus, the seat of his power. Tuesday’s bombing was the second in as many days in the capital, increasingly wracked by violence as Syria’s conflict enters its third year.Damascus residents said they heard a powerful explosion and saw thick, black smoke billowing from behind a group of buildings.Syrian TV said the explosion was caused by a “terrorist bombing” in the district of Marjeh, a commercial area in central Damascus. Assad’s regime refers to opposition fighters as “terrorists.”The target of the attack was not immediately clear, although the explosion took place near the Damascus Tower, a 28-floor office building. The former Interior Ministry building is nearby and was damaged in the blast.Continue Reading… … Read More
