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Syrian strongman Bashar Assad said in a weekend interview to an Argentinean newspaper that Israel is assisting the rebels fighting to topple his regime. “Israel is directly supporting the terrorist groups in two ways,” he said. “Firstly it gives them logistical support, and it also tells them what sites to attack and how to attack them." Assad also told the Clarin newspaper said that rebels had attacked a radar station instrumental to Syria’s antiaircraft defenses against Israel, but gave no further details. The reporter asked Assad if he had any “self-criticisms." He replied: “It’s illogical to carry out self-criticism before...

Meeting in Rome with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Secretary of State John Kerry announced Thursday that the United States would provide an additional $100 million in humanitarian assistance for refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria, bringing the total amount of aid to $510 million. Kerry also said that he is working to bring all parties together to create a transitional government and that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would not be part of that government. Jordan, which is being inundated by a wave of Syrian refugees, will receive nearly $43 million, which will support United Nations humanitarian programs in the...

A commander in the Syrian opposition said on Sunday that President Bashar al-Assad's regime has been defeated, but accused Israel of collaborating to keep Assad in power, the Turkish daily Today’s Zaman reports. The commander, Abdulkader Saleh of the al-Tawhid Brigade, said the Assad regime does not have the strength to carry on its battle against opposition fighters, adding that Iran and Hizbullah are the forces behind the protracted war. “Iran and Hizbullah are the ones who are continuing the war in Syria,” Saleh was quoted as having told the Cihan news agency, adding that the war is between the...

The United States will "shortly" begin arming Syrian rebels, looking to boost moderate factions over al Qaida-affiliated extremists whose rise would be a national security "nightmare," the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told CBS News on Tuesday.

Testimony from victims of the Syrian conflict suggests rebels have used the nerve agent sarin, according to a leading United Nations investigator. Carla del Ponte told Swiss TV there were "strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof". However, she said her panel had not yet seen evidence of government forces using chemical weapons. Syria has recently come under growing Western pressure over the alleged use of such weapons. Ms del Ponte, who serves on the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, said in an interview with Swiss-Italian TV: "Our investigators have been in neighbouring countries interviewing victims,...

(Reuters) - U.N. human rights investigators have gathered testimony from casualties of Syria's civil war and medical staff indicating that rebel forces have used the nerve agent sarin, one of the lead investigators said on Sunday. The United Nations independent commission of inquiry on Syria has not yet seen evidence of government forces having used chemical weapons, which are banned under international law, said commission member Carla Del Ponte.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz estimates that after Bashar Assad's fall, Syria rebels will fight each other and also fight Israel. Speaking on IDF Radio, Gantz described the scenario for what he called "Round B" of fighting in Syria. "You can see that the rebels in Syria are fighting the army and the Assad regime," he said, "but it is clear that there will be another war there. It could be between themselves, but also could be turned against us. I have the impression that we will see both." .....

TEL AVIV – The U.S. in recent weeks aided in the transfer of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, or man-portable air-defense systems, to the Syrian rebels, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials. The arming of Syrian rebels is considered highly controversial. A major issue is the inclusion of jihadists, including al-Qaida, among the ranks of the Free Syrian Army and other Syrian opposition groups. The Middle Eastern security officials speaking to WND said the latest U.S.-facilitated weapons transfers signify the most advanced deliveries yet to the Syrian rebels. The officials said the deliveries included man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS, which are...

It is one of the most shocking images from the Syrian war. An eight-year-old boy draws deeply on a cigarette, the small fingers of his other hand clutching a an AK-47 rifle that balances awkwardly against his chest.

With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders. The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and...

No, they don't say it quite like that. But after years of hypocrisy, the Obama administration has admitted that while it declined to arm Syrian rebels directly for fear that weapons would end up in the hands of al-Qaeda forces, it has been quietly vetting and training anti-Assad forces while others provided weapons all around. Now the training is out in the open, and Secretary of State Kerry has pledged $60 million in "non-lethal aid" to the rebels. (Plus $250 million to Egypt, while Israel may take a hit of $150 million from sequestration -- makes you wonder.) American assistance...

Eric Harroun is an Arizona native who rioted with rebels in Cairo and fought in Syria for Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al Nusra. **SNIP** Harroun's descent into Islamic fanaticism seems to have begun sometime after his discharge from the military. With seemingly no way to pursue his lifelong dream of being a soldier, he fell in with two Iraqi brothers, Maadh and Hayder Ibrahim, who he met while attending Pima Community College in Tucson, and began to identify himself as a Muslim, according to people who know him.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Americans are training Syrian anti-government fighters in Jordan, the German weekly Der Spiegel said on Sunday, quoting what it said were participants and organizers. Spiegel said it was not clear whether the Americans worked for private firms or were from the army but said some wore uniforms. The training focused on use of anti-tank weaponry. Some 200 men have already received such training over the past three months and there are plans in the future to provide training for a total 1,200 members of the "Free Syrian Army" in two camps in the south and the east...

The UN has confirmed that 20 peacekeepers have been captured near the Golan heights by armed Syrian rebel fighters who call themselves the "Martyrs of Yarmouk" brigade. "The UN observers were on a regular supply mission and were stopped near Observation Post 58, which had sustained damage and was evacuated this past weekend following heavy combat in close proximity, at Al Jamlah," the United Nations said in a statement. The UN has since sent a team in to assist with the resolving the situation. The brigade seized the soldiers who were stationed in the buffer zone between Israel and Syria...

Syria's opposition fighters have been gaining strength and becoming more organised while government forces seem to be slowly withdrawing under the pressure. Last week, opposition fighters said they took control of the al-Jarrah military air base in Aleppo province. It was the latest in a string of military air bases to be captured by anti-government fighters. And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the rebels have, for the first time, seized a fleet of air force planes that includes MiG fighters. The capture of the airfield happened a day after fighters seized the country's largest hydro-electric dam, located in...

Well, well, well, so Obama has embarked on his third war in little more than two years. You've got to admit that "flexibility" is his middle name. Or at least one of his middle names: Barack Barry Hussein "Flexibility" Soetoro Obama, Jr. Those are the names we know so far, but The Donald thinks there might be more. Whodda thunk? Here we are barely into the first week of what started out as a "No-Fly Zone" and it is now turning out to be Air Al Qaida. Ten years ago, AQ had a mere four civilian airplanes to crash into...

REPORT: Assad Has Left Syria For A Warship In The Mediterranean Robert JohnsonJanuary 13, 2013 Russian warship sent to Mediterranean in July After nearly two years of conflict and 117,000 displaced Syrians UPI reports Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family have left the country and live aboard a warship manned with Russian security. UPI cites an Al-Watan report claiming Assad's family are somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea and that the semi-deposed president travels back to the country by helicopter for meetings and receptions. From UPI: When he flies to his embattled country, the president lands at undisclosed locations and...

Syrian rebel groups have freed 48 Iranians captured last year in exchange for prisoners held by Syrian security services, according to Iran's state-run Press TV. The report did not specify the number of prisoners freed by the government, but said the group included Turks. Earlier on Wednesday, the Turkish humanitarian aid agency IHH said that the Syrian government would free 2,130 prisoners in exchange for the Iranians. Bulent Yildirim, the head of IHH, was in Damascus to help negotiate the deal. Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency said the deal was brokered by Turkey and Qatar. The Iranians were captured in...

A wave of biker gangs from the US, Canada and Australia arriving in Europe has raised fears of deadly turf battle like the Nordic biker wars of the 1990s, European police agency Europol warned on Friday. Gangs such as the Comancheros and Rebels from Australia, Rock Machine from Canada and the Mongols and Vagos from the US were moving into Europe. ... The gangs were seeking out particularly a dangerous hard core of recruits in their bid to seize territory to traffic drugs, weapons and people... The gangs "have a propensity to use extreme forms of violence", including with Kalashnikov...

Neither side in the conflict in Syria can win using military methods, the country’s vice president has admitted. In an interview with the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which will be published Monday and of which excerpts were released on Sunday, Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa said that “with every passing day, the military and political solutions get further away.” “The way events are heading will lead to an uncomfortable place where things will definitely go from bad to worse,” he told the newspaper. Al-Sharaa added, “We must be in the position of defending Syria’s existence. We are not in a battle...

NGOs are urging Syrian rebels to release a Ukrainian journalist, Anhar Kochneva, who is set to be executed Thursday. Meanwhile the group behind the kidnapping warned it would now target all Russians, Ukrainians and Iranians on Syrian soil. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), ARTICLE 19, the International Press Institute and Reporters Without Borders issued a joint statement expressing deep concern about Kochneva’s life and urging the leadership of the Free Syrian Army and of the Syrian Opposition Coalition to ensure that the journalist is safe and set free. The groups also called on the French, British and US governments,...

Russia will not allow a repetition of the Libyan scenario in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday. “We’ll not allow the Libyan experience to be reproduced in Syria. Unfortunately our Western partners have departed from the Geneva accords and are seeking the departure of [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad,” Lavrov said, adding Russia was not clinging to any individual leaders in Syria. Russia and China vetoed a Western-backed UN resolution on Syria on July 19 over fears that it would lead to foreign military intervention in the Middle East country. The resolution was tied to Chapter 7 of...

US Officials Say Syrian Bombs Are Loaded With Chemical Weapons Michael KelleyDecember 5, 2012 Unnamed U.S. officials tell NBC News that the Syrian military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin nerve gas into aerial bombs. The report comes hours after French weekly magazine Le Point reported that NATO special forces are preparing to enter Syria to secure its chemical weapons stockpiles.On Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the U.S. is "certainly planning to take action" if new evidence showed that Bashar al-Assad's regime intended to use its stash of chemical weapons internally or cross-border. Sarin gas, a...

Syria's fractured opposition forces, which have spent nearly 20 months trying to topple the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, declared independence this week from Damascus – and from each other. The powerful radical Islamist rebel factions on Monday declared an independent Islamic state in the city of Aleppo, the country's northern commercial hub. The announcement came in a video statement posted on the Internet that denounced the new opposition Syrian National Coalition as a foreign creation. "We are the representatives of the fighting formations in Aleppo and we declare our rejection of the conspiratorial project, the so-called national alliance,” said...

KINSHASA (Reuters) - United Nations attack helicopters hit rebel positions in eastern Congo on Saturday after insurgents gained ground in heavy fighting with government troops, the U.N. said. The clashes to the south of the town Kibumba mean the rebels have advanced to within 30 km (18 miles) of Goma, the closest they have been to North Kivu's provincial capital since a rebellion exploded in the eastern provinces eight months ago. North Kivu governor Julien Paluku said the army retreated to the southern outskirts of the town after M23 rebels - a group of soldiers who mutinied in April -...

From Former Navy Seal Benjamin Smith "THERE IS SOMETHING GOING ON IN JORDAN, ISREAL AND SYRIA...... If you heard something, Say Something. On the Jodanian border and Gaza Strip I heard that rebels from Syria took a couple villiges and there is IDF trying to secure them..... Its on their borders.... Where is the news? If you know anything ...Say it, so the rest of us can piece it together as well. Its Important that we do."

The United States on Tuesday recognized the newly formed coalition of Syrian rebel groups as the “legitimate representative” of the Syrian people. Speaking to reporters, State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner told reporters that as far as the U.S. was concerned, the rebel coalition group “does reflect the Syrian people... that diverse group of Syrian people. We now have a structure in place that can prepare for a political transition, but... we're looking for it to still establish the types of technical committees that will allow us to make sure our assistance gets to the right places.” With that, Toner...

A senior Russian general has said Syrian rebels now have anti-aircraft weapons, including US-made Stingers. Gen Nikolai Makarov was quoted by the Interfax news service as saying the origin of the surface-to-air missiles should be "cleared up". Russia is the biggest supplier of arms to its Syrian government ally. Aerial bombardment of rebel-held towns continued on Wednesday, as the UN's Syria envoy prepared to brief the Security Council on ceasefire efforts. Lakhdar Brahimi has been trying to arrange a ceasefire between rebels and government forces over the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, which begins on Friday. Weapon supplies "We have...

Hizbullah's rockets were meant to be used against Israel. Instead, it appears they are now being fired at Arabs. Syrian opposition forces say Hizbullah has been firing hundreds of rockets into Syria on a daily basis, and is a full participant in the Syrian civil war. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Syrian opposition Local Coordination Committee-member, Mohamed al-Homsi, accused Hizbullah of “intervening in the fighting alongside the Syrian regime with all of its power,” adding “Hizbullah is firing its rockets – the same rockets that it claims are to fight Israel – into Syrian territory to kill Syrian people.” Al-Homsi, who...

A video reportedly shot by an amateur in the Syrian city of Idlib Wednesday shows a crippled Syrian military helicopter spiraling down before it explodes in flames. Syrian rebels say they shot down the helicopter, according to The Telegraph. The rebels reportedly have acquired heavy weapons in recent weeks, The Telegraph reported, pushing the Syrian air force to attack rebel-held zones from higher altitudes. Syria's divided rebels have agreed to set up a joint leadership to oversee their battle to overthrow President Bashar Assad, two insurgent sources said Tuesday as fighting raged in cities across the country. Rebels hope...

American media outlets report that weapons shipments to opposition forces in Syria are falling into the hands of radical Islamists instead of their intended recipients. Writing for The New York Times, journalist David Sanger has revealed a classified U.S. government report that said arms shipments to Syrian rebels from Saudi Arabia and Qatar are reaching Muslim extremists – including those linked to Al Qaeda. Sanger quoted a U.S. official who said that the groups receiving the aid "are exactly the ones we don't want to have it." A second issue is the nature of the U.S. government's role in this...

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said Sunday that his government has reached a preliminary peace agreement with the nation's largest Muslim rebel group in a major breakthrough toward ending a decades-long insurgency in the country's south. snip... The accord calls for the establishment of a 15-member "Transition Commission" that would thresh out the details of the preliminary agreement and draft a law creating the new Muslim autonomous region in about two years. The rebels would undertake a "graduated program" to decommission their armed guerrilla units "so that they are put beyond use," the agreement said, without specifying a timetable.

US Secretary of State Clinton on Friday pledged $45 million in new aid to the Syrian opposition and its allies, as they seek to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Clinton announced that the Obama administration would provide the political opposition with $15 million in non-lethal aid and $30 million in humanitarian support, according to the Associated Press. To date, the US has provided more than $130 million in humanitarian aid and $45 million in non-lethal aid, the AP noted. Clinton made the announcement at a meeting of the Friends of Syria. Nine activists who have worked with pro-opposition local coordination...

There have been explosions at a school in the south of the Syrian capital, Damascus, causing casualties, activists and state media say. Two rebel groups said the building, near a branch of Military Intelligence, was being used as a base by a pro-government militia and security forces. They said it had been almost completely destroyed, killing several officers. But officials told state TV it was just a school for the children of military families and the damage had been minor. Meanwhile, mortars apparently fired during fighting between soldiers and rebel forces to the south also fell in the Israeli-occupied Golan...

Anderson Cooper admits that CNN found slain American ambassador's journal inside U.S. consulate in Libya and 'secretly' used it in reporting (full Title).•CNN found Ambassador Christopher Stevens' personal journal on the floor at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi •Journal consisted of seven handwritten pages in a hard-bound book •Network says it notified Stevens' family at once and handed over the journal CNN host Anderson Cooper admitted on Friday that the network had come across the late Ambassador Christopher Stevens' personal journal and used parts of it in its reporting without disclosing the source. On Wednesday on his show Anderson Cooper...

Rebels fighting to oust Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday announced plans to reform and stem the proliferation of militias, as they came under artillery and aerial attack on multiple fronts. Forces loyal to the embattled president again trained their heavy weapons on second city Aleppo, where the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 30 people, including seven children, were killed on Wednesday. The Observatory said fighter jets bombed zones controlled by the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the northern city while ground troops simultaneously unleashed a barrage of shells. Aleppo has been the target of a five-week-old government...

BEiRUT – Syrian fighters said they destroyed five helicopters in a raid on a military airport between the northern cities of Aleppo and Idlib Wednesday, while state television said the attack was repelled. Abu Mossab, a rebel who said he took part in the attack, said via Skype that rebels shelled Taftanaz military airport with two tanks captured from the army and destroyed five helicopters. “We destroyed five helicopters as well as buildings in the airport,” Abu Mossab said, although the facility remained in army hands after the raid in which the rebels lost two men before pulling back. “The...

Syrian rebels have acquired shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, NBC News reported late Tuesday night. According to the report, Free Syrian Army rebels claim they now have nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles smuggled from Turkey. The exact type of missile was not mentioned in the report. Such a weapon, however, would offer a significant defense against helicopter gunships that Syrian government forces have deployed against rebel strongholds such as Aleppo, where intense fighting has raged for nearly two weeks.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rebels fighting to depose Syrian president Bashar al Assad have for the first time acquired a small supply of surface-to-air missiles, according to a news report that a Western official did not dispute. NBC News reported Tuesday night that the rebel Free Syrian Army had obtained nearly two dozen of the weapons, which were delivered to them via neighboring Turkey, whose moderate Islamist government has been demanding Assad's departure with increasing vehemence. Indications are that the U.S. government, which has said it opposes arming the rebels, is not responsible for the delivery of the missiles. But some...

"The soldiers fled like rats," says a grinning rebel after he and his fellow fighters captured Anadan checkpoint from the Syrian army, giving them strategic access to Aleppo where they are battling a fierce loyalist offensive. "Bashar don't go, we will catch you," jokes another rebel, sitting on crates of ammunition in the back of a truck where the Islamist flag -- black with white lettering -- flutters. The jubilant rebels celebrate their victory with gunfire, while some retrieve weapons and ammunition left behind by the retreating Syrian troops after 10 hours of fierce fighting during the night. The ground...

Syrian opposition leaders fear President Obama's re-election campaign has taken precedence over their country’s humanitarian crisis, according to a delegation that visited Washington, D.C., last week. Representatives from the Syrian National Council, Syria’s largest rebel alliance, and Kurdish opposition leaders met members of Congress and the State Department, but say they hit a "wall" at the White House. Read more: http://times247.com/articles/13white-house-wall-repels-Syrian-rebel-leaders8#ixzz1yx57iBaI

We already know the rebels have a serious Sunni Islamist bent to the point where al-Qaeda’s al-Nusrah Front is carrying out some of the most sophisticated attacks using suicide bombers. On the other hand we are already passively aiding the shipment of weapons from the Gulf Arab states, mainly Saudi Arabia, to the rebels. (Telegraph) — Syrian rebels have held meetings with senior US government officials in Washington as pressure mounts on the US to authorise a shipment of heavy weapons, including surface-to-air missiles to combat the Assad regime, the Daily Telegraph has learned. A senior Free Syrian Army representative...

Alex Thomson says crew was led to 'free-fire zone' as deaths would discredit Bashar al-Assad's regimeThe chief correspondent of Channel 4 News has claimed that Syrian rebels deliberately tried to get him and his crew killed by gunfire from government forces in a bid to discredit the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Alex Thomson alleged a small group from the Free Syrian Army deliberately guided the vehicle in which he and his Channel 4 News colleagues were travelling into what he described as a "free-fire zone" on a blocked road near the city of al-Qusayr, because "dead journos are bad for...

As the Syria creeps into total anarchy, rebels also insist that Israel will remain an enemy after the anticipated fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad. President Barack Obama told the G-8 Summit Saturday that Assad must leave. Regardless of whether he continues in power or is replaced, Israel is destined to remain an enemy state. Syrian opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun told a Saudi Arabian newspaper Saturday that Israel is "the main enemy of the Syrian revolution,” and he accused Jerusalem of being Assad’s “strongest ally.” .....

Turkish intelligence agencies are claiming that Israeli Heron unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) spied for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Turkish daily Today’s Zaman reported. According to the report, the Turkish intelligence agencies prepared a report after two Israeli Herons were detected in Turkey’s Hatay and Adana provinces roughly two months ago. The report says the Herons were collecting intelligence on Turkish military units in order to aid PKK operations in those regions. The report asserts that the PKK’s training camps in northern Syria, near Turkey’s Hatay border “where Turkish military border posts are relatively weak” were established in those...

A report from Syria Monday night said that soldiers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad had opened fire on between 60 and 70 soldiers who attempted to leave the country in order to join opposition forces. Human rights groups in contact with Syrian rebels said that forces had killed over 30 people earlier in the day. The revelations on the murder of the soldiers came after Syria signed a deal to allow Arab League observers into the country. The observers would ensure that soldiers do not attack civilians, and that civilian protests do not erupt into violence.

Former Libyan revolutionaries still hold about 7,000 people, and some reportedly have been subjected to torture and ill treatment, according to a UN report circulated Monday. The report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, made public before a Security Council briefing about Libya on Monday afternoon, says that many of the inmates have no access to due process in the absence of a functioning police and judiciary. It also says that sub-Saharan Africans, in come cases accused or suspected of being mercenaries hired by Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, constitute a large number of those held. “While the (National Transitional Council) has taken...

The U.N. envoy to Libya reports that weapons depots in that country remain unguarded and large amounts of weaponry have gone missing, including thousands of shoulder-fired missiles. At least two sites contain chemical weapons and nuclear material, including approximately 7,000 drums of uranium. Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro says terrorist groups have expressed interest in obtaining the missiles, which “could pose a threat to civil aviation.” The Daily Telegraph reports that Libyan rebel leader Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi has admitted that a significant number of the Libyan rebels consisted of al-Qaeda fighters, many of whom fought U.S. troops in Iraq and...