Posted on 08/28/2013 7:06:18 AM PDT by kristinn
As the war drums for Syria get louder, let this thread serve as a repository for news, background, Tweets, photos, video, on-the-ground reports, etc., as was done recently with Egypt.
Here it is. I won’t be able to do more than this for a while.
Thanks kristinn ... bookmark
Thank you, Kristinn. Much appreciated.
Ping
Allow me to play the gadfly by asking what, exactly, is the “crisis” - in terms of my life - in Syria?
“The President has No Authority to Unilaterally Attack Iran, If He Does… I Will Move to Impeach.” Joe Biden
Watch video here:
Don’t worry. This has no relevance now. This was when Bush was in power.
Israel calls up reservists over Syrian threat
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3059763/posts
Thank you, kristinn.
ABC News Politics 4m
#Breaking: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says UN weapons inspectors “need 4 more days” to complete their investigations in #Syria
RT:
Wednesday, August 28
13:58 GMT: Israel’s armed forces are deploying all of their missile defenses as a precaution against possible Syrian retaliatory attacks in case Western powers carry out a strike on Syria, Israeli Army Radio reported Wednesday.
“In light of the recent occurrences in the region, the IDF is taking the necessary defense measures to safeguard the state of Israel,” Reuters reported a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as saying.
Neither did elaborate on which military deployments are taking place.
13:54 GMT: Iraq has put its security forces on high alert ahead of an expected strike on Syria, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said.
“All political and security powers in Baghdad, the provinces and all over Iraq, are being put on the highest level of alert,” Reuters reported al-Maliki as saying in a televised statement Wednesday.
13:45 GMT: Damascus has handed over proof to UN inspectors that Assad’s regime did not deploy chemical weapons, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Mikdad told reporters Wednesday.
“Syrian government forces have never used chemical weapons – such claims are just a pretext. We have proof of this, which we passed to the inspectors of the UN commission,” Al-Mikdad said.
12:08 GMT: Missile strikes against Syria could lead to chemical weapons getting into the wrong hands, said Alexander Yakovenko, Russia’s ambassador to the UK.
11:49 GMT: Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was too soon to discuss measures against Syria by the UN Security Council before the UN investigators report on the alleged chemical weapons attack.
11:17 GMT: Saudi Arabia’s armed forces have been placed on high alert amid widespread expectations that Western governments are planning to carry out a military strike against Syria in the coming days.
11:14 GMT: The French parliament is to hold an extraordinary session later Wednesday to discuss the situation in Syria, Reuters cited government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem as saying. “The president has taken the decision to summon parliament on Wednesday to assess the situation in Syria,” she said after a Cabinet meeting.
10:59 GMT: German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle urged members of the UN Security Council, including Russia, to back the UK resolution on Syria expected to be proposed later Wednesday. The resolution will condemn the chemical weapon attacks allegedly carried out by the Assad government and authorize “necessary measures” to protect civilians.
10:32 GMT: The UN’s Syria envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, said that international law is clear that a Security Council resolution is required for military action.
10:16 GMT: American and British warships deployed in the eastern Mediterranean may carry out a strike on Syria using cruise missiles as soon as in the early hours of Friday, according to Fox News quoting unknown military sources.
REUTERS:
Evidence points to use of chemical weapons by Assad forces - NATO
UK national security council unanimously backs action on Syria
Iran’s Khamenei says U.S. intervention in Syria would be disaster
U.N. experts return to Damascus hotel after visit to poison gas site
Iraq says it is on high alert for expected strike on Syria
AFP:
#BREAKING Ban says UN inspectors ‘need four days’ to finish in Syria
#UPDATE US rules out unilateral military action in Syria
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/319107-mccain-slams-obama-over-policy-toward-syria
McCain scolds White House for ‘crazy’ leaks on Syria air strikes
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3059687/posts
U.S. spies certain Assad used nerve gas ‘after intercepting phone call from panicking Syrian def...
Daily Mail ^ | August 28, 2013 | Amanda Williams and Jill Reilly
The U.S is confident that Syria was behind the deadly chemical weapons attack after intercepting a phone call from a Syrian defence chief demanding an explanation from its chemical weapon military unit for the action, according to new claims.
Just hours after the attack last Wednesday an official at the Syrian Ministry of Defense exchanged panicked phone calls with a leader of the unit, demanding answers, according to website Foreign Policy.
The phone call was intercepted by U.S spies according to the website, and is now the reason that America is confident that it was carried out by the regime.
The US and its allies are gearing up for a probable military strike against Syria that could come within days and would be the most aggressive action by Western powers in the Middle Eastern nation’s two-and-a-half-year civil war.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
55 House members say Obama needs approval from Congress in Syria strikes
By Rebecca Shabad - 08/28/13 10:25 AM ET
Fifty-five lawmakers including eight Democrats have signed a letter that says President Obama would violate the Constitution by striking Syria without first getting authorization from Congress.
“Engaging our military in Syria when no direct threat to the United States exists and without prior congressional authorization would violate the separation of powers that is clearly delineated in the Constitution,” states the letter, spearheaded by Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.).
Rigell intends to deliver the letter to the White House this afternoon and will continue to seek signatures until noon, his communications director, Kim Mosser Knapp, tells The Hill.
The Democrats who have signed the letter so far are Reps. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), Rush Holt (N.J.), Gene Green (Texas), Beto O’Rourke (Texas), Peter DeFazio (Ore.), Kurt Schrader (Ore.), William Enyart (Ill.) and Timothy Walz (Minn.).
(snip)
Thanks kristinn.
bookmark for later
Crisis? For who? I am sorry but I just don’t see Muslims killing Muslims as a reason for hand wringing in the US. I also don’t see any justification for borrowing $40 Billion from the Chinese so we can spend $100 Billion bombing more Muslims just to prove that Obama really does know what the term “Red Line” means.
latest info from around the net includes:
-Russia stepping up defenses at their Syrian base and some troops placed on “war alert”
-Jordan says “No thanks” and will sit this one out
-Isreal calls up reserves, requests for gas masks by public increases
-Former US Naval commander says “we’re not ready to fight there”
-There were some fringe reports of another use of chemical weapons in a Damascus suburb of Huhrer (spelling?) and a large explosion near the presidential palace. Also reports that several rebels more aligned with regional terrorists groups had been injured by chemical weapons contact and were now in a Lebanese hospital. Strangely, they had been evacuated from a tunnel in the suburbs of Damascus and not with all the other victims. Were they the ones that handled the rebel’s chemical weapons stash and unleashed it? Accidently exposed?
“Reuters cited government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem “
The Western governments have a collective death wish.
Is she a MB? I betcha she is an Algerian Sunni!
For what it’s worth, Debka is reporting the operation is scheduled to begin Friday night / Saturday morning.
MLK speechifying day for Obama so no action from our forces to overshadow the Teleprompter.
REUTERS:
Video from an opposition media office in the Damascus suburb of Erbin, one of the sites of last week’s alleged chemical weapons attack, shows the UN chemical weapons inspectors leaving an inspection location on Wednesday under the protection of rebels.
www.youtube.com
by Stephen Kalin 9:40 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rly5IM-zBrM&feature=youtu.be
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