RT:
Monday, September 2
10:21 GMT: Hezbollah has promised to retaliate by firing surface-to-surface missiles at Israel if it decides to partake in the strike against Damascus.
“Hizbullah is controlling 8,000 kilometers in Reef Homs and will not hesitate to participate in an attack by firing surface-to-surface missiles from Syria,” said a source from a joint operation run by Hezbollah and the forces of President Assad, as reported by the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper.
10:00 GMT: The war in Syria has displaced 7 million Syrians, or almost one-third of the population, the head of the UN refugee agency, Tarik Kurdi, says. Two million children are among those directly affected by the war. Kurdi stressed that UN assistance has been a “drop in the sea of humanitarian need” and that the funding gap is “very, very wide.”
09:49 GMT: Syria’s army is on high alert and will “remain so until terrorism is completely eradicated,” a security official in Damascus said Monday.
09:25 GMT: Foreign Minister Lavrov met with his South-African counterpart to discuss a range of issues including Syria, on which he said that “The framework for [the Geneva peace talks on Syria] was in place”, but that partners who side with the US strike are less interested in bringing the rebels to the negotiating table than they are in creating a “controlled chaos”. He added that this puts the peace talks in danger, and finally, that a strike would only allow extremism to flourish, instead of creating a stable transition that everyone seems to desire.
08:15 GMT: The US has briefed China about evidence on the use of chemical weapons in Syria, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, said during a daily news briefing on Monday. Hong did not say what China thought of the evidence, but reiterated that China opposes the use of chemical weapons by any side, adding that Beijing supported the independent, objective investigation by the UN experts.
07:39 GMT: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that a ‘regime of secrecy’ by the West is unacceptable with regard to Syria and evidence of the use of chemical weapons there.
“If there truly is top secret information available, the veil should be lifted. This is a question of war and peace. To continue this game of secrecy is simply inappropriate,” Lavrov said during an address to the students of the Moscow State University of International Relations.
Lavrov has called the information provided to Russia by the US ‘inconclusive’.
“We were shown some sketches, but there was nothing concrete, no geographical coordinates or details... and no proof the test was done by professionals... there were no comments anywhere regarding the experts’ doubt about the footage circulating all over the internet,” Lavrov said.
He added that “what our American, British and French partners have shown us before - as well as now - does not convince us at all. There are no supporting facts, there is only repetitive talk in the vein of ‘we know for sure.’ And when we ask for further clarification, we receive the following response: ‘You are aware that this is classified information, therefore we cannot show it to you.’ So there are still no facts.”
http://news.sky.com/story/1136057/syria-russia-warns-us-against-military-strike
Syria: Russia Warns US Against Military Strike
Russia says military action could torpedo peace talks, as it sends a spy ship to the Mediterranean
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/09/20139210817661149.html
Syria asks UN to stop ‘any aggression’
Appeal made to world body’s chief as Russia says it is unconvinced by chemical-attack evidence presented by US.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23928871
French MPs to see ‘evidence’ of Syria chemical weapons
French PM Jean-Marc Ayrault will present France’s evidence that chemical weapons were used in Syria, when he meets parliamentary leaders on Monday.
The dossier is said to show that Syria has stockpiled more than 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents, including sarin.
French President Francois Hollande, like US President Barack Obama, wants punitive military action against Syria.
But there is growing pressure for a parliamentary vote on the issue, to be in line with the US and also Britain.
Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad has told the BBC that any such military action would amount to “support for al-Qaeda and its affiliates”.
He also said that armed groups backed by America - not Syrian troops - had used chemical weapons.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/09/02/Obama-seeks-Syria-support-from-former-foe-McCain
(AP) Obama seeks Syria support from former foe McCain
By BRADLEY KLAPPER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama is inviting former foe Sen. John McCain to the White House, hoping one of Congress’ most intractable foreign policy hawks will help sell the idea of a U.S. military intervention in Syria to a nation deeply scarred by more than a decade of war.
Having announced over the weekend that he’ll seek congressional approval for military strikes against the Assad regime, the Obama administration is now trying to rally support among Americans and their congressman and senators.
Monday’s meeting with McCain is meant to address concerns of those who feel Obama isn’t doing enough to punish Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government for an attack in the Damascus suburbs last month that the U.S. says included sarin gas and killed at least 1,429 civilians, more than 400 of whom were children. On the other side of the spectrum, some Republican and Democratic lawmakers don’t want to see military action at all.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3061526/posts
WH confident on winning Hill support on Syria but uses ‘flood the zone’ to get votes
Fox News.com ^ | Sep. 2, 2013 | Fox News
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3061484/posts
U.S. secretly backed Syrian opposition groups, cables released by WikiLeaks show [Old but relevant]
The Washington Post ^ | 4/17/2011 | Craig Whitlock
http://rt.com/news/nato-syria-evidence-role-317/
NATO’s secretary-general has stated that it is for “individual allies to decide how they will respond” to the Syrian crisis, adding he does not foresee the bloc’s further role except in deploying Patriot missiles to Turkey.
“I don’t foresee any further NATO role,” Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a press conference on Monday. However, he said the bloc still conducts “closed consultations between allies.”
DETAILS TO FOLLOW
‘Never say never’ on second Commons Syria vote, says Foreign Office minister
David Cameron could hold a second vote on the crisis in Syria if the “circumstances” in the war-torn country change, a Foreign Office minister has indicated.