It is the strategic crossroads town of al-Qusayr, and its environs, which whoever controls, can block supplies and reinforcements to and from Damascus and locations north and east.  For those seeking the ouster of Syria’s government, including NATO countries led by Washington,  were their “allies”  to lose  control of al-Qusayr it would mean the cutting off of supplies from along the Lebanese border, from which most of the local opposition’s weapons flow and fighters have been smuggled over the past 26 months. If the Assad regime forces regain control of the city, Washington believes they will move north and conquer current opposition positions in Homs and Rastan, both areas being dependent on support from Lebanon and al-Qusayr. Some analysts are saying this morning, with perhaps a bit of hyperbole that as al-Qusayr goes so goes Syria and the National Lebanese Resistance, led by Hezbollah.

If government forces can retake the city it will  put an end to the  Saudi-Qatari green light, in exchange for controlling al-Qusayr, of the setting up a Salafist emirate in the area which would constitute a threat to the nearly two dozen Shia Lebanese inhabited villages of the Hermel region. If the Syrian army re-takes al-Qusayr, it would also avoid the likelihood of a full-fledged sectarian war on both sides of the border.

Meeting with a few self-proclaimed al Nusra Front militiaman last week, in Homs, one who spoke excellent British English they had plenty to say  to this observer about current events in al Qusayr to which they planned to return the next day to fight enemies “by all means Allah gives us”.  One added, when asked if they had confronted Hezbollah: “Of course but Hezbollah can’t defeat us. Eventually they will withdraw from Syria on orders from Tehran.  But first enshallah we will bleed Hezbollah with thousands of cut throats”, he boasted raucously as nearby kids  cheered and gave V for victory signs, smiles, giggles and cackling all around.

Such Jihadist rants are music to more than a few US congressional and White House ears these days, as once more in this region,  a major US-Israeli carefully calibrated regime change project,  appears to be falling short.

This week, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted overwhelmingly to arm elements of the Syrian opposition with a recommendation to “provide defense articles, defense services, and military training” directly to the opposition throughout Syria, who naturally, will “have been properly and fully vetted and share common values and interests with the United States”.  History teaches that the vetting part would not happen if the scheme is implemented, despite only a few in Congress objecting.

Perhaps lacking some of his father Ron Paul’s insights into US hegemonic plans for this region, Senator Rand Paul did object to the measure and he fumed at his colleagues: ”This is an important moment. You will be funding, today, the allies of al Qaeda. It’s an irony you cannot overcome.”

According to the Hill Rag weekly, veteran war-hawks Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham, flashed a knowing smile but gave no rebuttal, perhaps realizing that Senator Paul is a bit untutored on the reality of current Obama Administration policy in Syria generally, and for al-Qusayr, in particular.

Contrary to the shock and anger expressed by Senator Paul, American policy in Syria is  to de facto  assist allies of al Qaeda including the US  “Terrorist-listed”  Al-Nusra Front as well as anti-Iran, anti-Shia and anti-Hezbollah groups gathering near al-Qusayr. These groups currently include, but not limited to,   Ahl al-Athr Brigade, Ahrar al-Sham,  Basha’ir al-Nasr Brigades, Commandos Brigades, Fajr al-Islam Brigades, Independent Farouq Brigades, Khalid bin al-Waleed Brigade, Liwa al-Haq, Liwa al-Sadiq, Al-Nour Brigade, Al-Qusayr Brigade, Suqur al-Fatah, Al-Wadi Brigades, Al-Waleed Brigades and the 77^th Brigade among the scores  of other Jihadist cells currently operating in, near, or rushing to, al-Qusayr.

Their victory according to US Senate sources would be a severe blow and  challenge to Iran’s rising influence in the region and Iran’s  leadership of the increasing regional and global resistance to the Zionist occupiers of Palestine in favor of the full right to return of every ethnically cleansed Palestinian refugee.

While Congress was considering what else to do to help the “rebels”, on 5/22/13,  no fewer than 11 so-called “World powers” foreign ministers, including Turkey and Jordan, met in Amman to condem,  with straight faces, even, tongues in cheek, the “flagrant intervention” in Syria by Hezbollah and Iranian fighters.”  They urged their immediate withdrawal from the war-torn country. In a joint statement, the “Friends of Syria” group called “for the immediate withdrawal of Hezbollah and Iranian fighters, and other regime allied foreign fighters from Syrian territory.”

Not one peep of course, about the Salafist-Jihadist-Takfuri fighters from more than 30 countries now ravaging Syria’s population. The truth of the matter is that the governments represented by their foreign ministers this week in Amman, will follow the US lead which means they will assist, despite some cautionary public words, virtually any ally of al-Qaeda whose fighting in Syria may be seen as weakening the Assad government and its supporters in Iran and Lebanon.

According to one long-term Congressional aid to a prominent Democratic Senator from the West Coast, while the Amman gathering described Hezbollah’s armed presence in Syria as “a threat to regional stability”, the White House could not be more pleased that Hezbollah is in al-Qusayr.”  When pressed via email for elaboration, the Middle East specialist offered the view that the White House agrees with Israel that al-Qusayr may become Hezbollah’s Dien Bein Phu and the Syrian conflict could well turn into Iran’s “Vietnam”. ..Quite a few folks around here (Capitol Hill) think al-Qusayr will remove Hezbollah from the list of current threats to Israel.  And the longer they keep themselves bogged down in quick-sand over there the better for Washington and Tel Aviv. Hopefully they will remain in al-Qusayr for a long hot summer and gut their ranks in South Lebanon via battle field attrition and Israel can make its move and administer a coup de grace.”

The staffer followed up with another email with only one short sentence and a smiley face:

“Of course the White House and its concrete wall-solid ally might be wrong!”

The dangers for Hezbollah are obvious – that it may be drawn ever deeper into a bottomless pit of conflict in Syria that could leave it severely depleted and prey to a hoped for death-blow from Israel.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and other party officials have dismissed that possibility.

(Source / 24.05.2013)

Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib published his initiative on Facebook, as the main National Coalition he headed until March gathered in Istanbul to choose a new leader and discuss a US-Russian peace initiative dubbed Geneva 2.

Under Khatib’s initiative, Assad would have 20 days from Thursday to give “his acceptance of a peaceful transition of authority”.

After accepting, Assad would have one month to hand over power to either Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi or Vice President Faruq al-Sharaa, who would then govern Syria for a transitional period of 100 days.

As part of the transition Khatib envisages, Assad would “leave the country along with five hundred people whom he will select, along with their families and children, to any other country that may choose to host them”.

This is the first time one of Syria’s opposition chiefs has made an offer of political immunity to Assad and key members of his regime.

Khatib’s proposal is an effort to pull Syria “out from the catastrophe that has struck our nation”, said the former Omayyad mosque imam and controversial opposition figure on Facebook.

It is also “a practical response to the need of a political settlement ensuring a peaceful transition of authority”, Khatib added.

“This initiative is a product of Syria and its goal is Syria,” he said.

While calling on dissident groups to adopt the initiative “as a way out from the catastrophe that has struck our nation”, Khatib also said the international community should “oversee it and ensure that it is implemented”.

This would be accompanied by the release of all political prisoners in Syria, Khatib wrote.

The initiative gives Assad a month to “completely hand over authority”, and stipulates that while parliament should be dissolved, all of its powers should be handed to Assad’s replacement.

Over the same 100-day period, an interim government would “restructure the security and military” apparatus in Syria, said Khatib.

He also suggested that the UN should appoint an international mediator to oversee the transition.

At the end of the 100 days, the responsibilities of the current government would pass to the transitional government, formed with international guarantees, which would “be responsible for the preparation and the re-building of the new Syria,” Khatib said.

Khaled Saleh, spokesman for the opposition coalition, said it was a “personal initiative” that would be “submitted at the coalition meeting and maybe discussed”.

“There have to be two, credible delegations to negotiate,” Eliasson told reporters in Geneva, the planned venue of the talks.

“We’re working very hard for a meeting as soon as possible. We’re in contact with the parties, and with the Security Council members, that are involved. But we hope very much that the meeting will take place, and soon,” he said.

Amid growing speculation that the talks could be held from June 10, Eliasson declined to be drawn on potential dates but confirmed that the target was still next month.

“It’s being worked out progressively now with the parties and we will have to wait for those consultations before we can conclude exactly how the conference will take place,” he said.

Last Friday, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Russia agreed that a peace conference should be held as soon as possible, even as Security Council member Moscow defied growing global pressure over its arms supplies to the Damascus regime.

The talks are meant to include both the fiercest rebels and members of the regime — a problem given some opposition members’ refusal to recognize President Bashar Assad as a negotiating partner.

The main aim, Eliasson underlined, is to try to implement a peace plan drawn up on June 30 last year at a Geneva conference involving Western powers, Russia and China, Turkey, and the Arab League.

That plan’s measures include a ceasefire and a shift to a transitional government in Syria.

US President Barack Obama said last week that he will continue to press for Assad to leave power even if this is no longer a precondition of the Geneva talks.

The goal of holding talks was agreed during a May 7 visit to Moscow by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Despite bitter splits over Syria, it is seen as a joint peace push by the two Cold War-era rivals, 26 months into the bloody Syria conflict which has claimed over 90,000 lives.

“The situation is desperate,” UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado told reporters in Geneva.

Her comments came as the battle for Qusayr, in central Homs province, raged for a third day after President Bashar Assad’s forces and allies launched an offensive to reclaim the town more than a year after rebels seized it.

UNICEF believes that between 12,000 and 20,000 civilians remain trapped in the town that used to count some 30,000 inhabitants, Mercado said.

“What are the most urgent needs? Protection,” she said, pointing out that those who remain “need to be protected from the bombardment, from the fighting that’s going on in the city right now.”

Mercado said that most of the civilians stuck in Qusayr were believed to be women and children, as were those who had managed to flee.

She said it remained unclear where the men who used to live in the city were.

UNICEF did not have any staff in the city, but was along with other organizations helping around “500 families made up of women, children and elderly” who had fled from Qusayr and nearby villages in recent days to Hasiaa, near Homs.

“They are joining an additional 1,144 families who had previously fled Qusayr, where fighting has flared over the past month,” she said, pointing out that for those who have left the city, there were also “just enormous needs right now.”

“Many of the families left at night with little or no possessions,” she said, adding that UNICEF and others were providing them with clothing, water and sanitation.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based watchdog, has said some 25,000 civilians were still trapped in Qusayr, and described the rebel response to the assault on the city as “fierce.”

According to the Observatory, Hezbollah fighters from neighboring Lebanon are leading the attacks on the ground while Assad’s warplanes carry out air strikes.

Assad and Hezbollah have made reclaiming Qusayr, which lies between the Syrian city of Homs and Tripoli in northern Lebanon, a priority in its fight to turn the tide against the two-year insurgency.

 The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) held Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah personally responsible for the situation in the Syrian border town of Qusayr, as sectarian tension was on the rise in neighboring Lebanon.

“We announced that Hassan Nasrallah will be held personally responsible for the current situation because he in person is meeting with all of [his fighters] before they head to Qusayr,” FSA spokesperson Louay Almokdad told Al Arabiya English. “We are today calling Nasrallah a killer of the Syrian people.”

Clashes between forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – along with Lebanese ally Hezbollah – and the rebels raged into a second day Monday in the strategic town of Qusayr, which is between Damascus and the coast.

“It has reached the audacity and extent of criminal behavior that Nasrallah met with 1,200 of his fighters in the southern suburbs [of Beirut] before they headed to [Syria],” the FSA spokesperson said, adding the Hezbollah chief has distributed “tokens of motivation on which Shiite slogans – Yatharat al-Hussein – were written to each of his fighters.”

“We are certain these are fighters of Hassan Nasrallah. They are no longer Hezbollah, they are fighters of Hassan Nasrallah and [Iran’s supreme leader] Ali Khamanei.”

However, the FSA spokesperson also said that, along with Hezbollah, were fighters from other Lebanese groups, including the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and the Baath Party.

The Syrian rebels have repeatedly warned that they will hit Hezbollah targets on Lebanese territory if the latter does not withdraw from Syria and have called on the Lebanese government to put a stop to Hezbollah intervention.

The Lebanese government: a state of paralysis

However, according to Imad Salamey – a professor of International Affairs at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, the Lebanese government cannot do anything to stop the powerful Party of God.

“The Lebanese government has been and continues to be in a state of paralysis, which mostly works in Hezbollah’s interest,” Salamey told Al Arabiya English on Monday. “The government cannot stop Hezbollah, and the [Lebanese] army stopping Hezbollah from intervening in Syria will definitely not be the case.”

“Hezbollah is being dragged further into the Syrian conflict, and it is not going to end in Qusayr,” he said, adding that the movement “was dragging Lebanon into a civil war.”

“[Hezbollah’s] involvement in the Syrian issue, no matter what the pretext, will only drag Lebanon into the conflict because the Lebanese are divided [on the issue].”

At least three people were killed and 40 injured in two days of fighting in Lebanon’s northern city of Tripoli, where an Alawite minority lives. Lebanese Sunnis mostly sympathize with the revolt against the government of Bashar al-Assad, whose minority Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

A YouTube video uploaded on Monday purportedly showed the body of a Hezbollah fighter killed in the Syrian town of Qusayr.

The Lebanese Shiite party member was killed during an attempt to infiltrate the city along with regime troops backed by other Hezbollah members, Syrian rebels said.

He had a tattoo of a Shiite religious icon on his right arm, and wore a name tag that, according to rebels, said he was a Hezbollah member.

At least 40 Hezbollah fighters were killed in Qusayr late on Sunday, following clashes between Syrian rebels and regime forces that attempted to enter the town earlier in the day, sources told Al Arabiya on Monday.

Tens of Hezbollah members were wounded during the fight, and were taken to hospitals in Beirut, sources added.

(Source / 20.05.2013)

An opposition leader, rights activist and long-time dissident in Syria’s rebel-held city of Raqa has been abducted, a watchdog said on Monday.

“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has learnt of the abduction by an armed group of lawyer, human rights activist and head of Raqa city’s (opposition) local council Abdullah al-Khalil,” the Britain-based group said.

It condemned the kidnapping and demanded “his immediate release”.

Khalil was abducted as he left the local council’s headquarters in Raqa on Sunday morning, added the watchdog, which relies on a broad network of activists, doctors and lawyers for its reports.

Syrian regime troops have not been inside the city since March this year, when Raqa became the first and only provincial capital to fall to rebels since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad broke out more than two years ago.

The local council led by Khalil has worked with rebel groups and campaigned for the return of civilian life, despite frequent aerial bombing by Assad loyalists.

Khalil has been abducted before, telling Human Rights Watch researchers last month that he was held by security forces less than two months into the anti-Assad uprising.

He was transferred to 17 different security branches while in detention, HRW said.

Rights groups say tens of thousands of people are missing or in detention in Syria.

An activist in Raqa blamed radical Islamists who refused to withdraw from the city’s residential areas for Khalil’s kidnapping.

Khalil, also known as Abu Sara, “has been kidnapped just days before new local council elections. I think the only way he will get released is if some kind of deal is struck”, said the activist who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.

“People used to like Ahrar al-Sham and Al-Nusra Front (powerful rebel groups). Now they’re just stealing the country from us,” said the activist, adding that several other local personalities and non-jihadist rebel leaders had been kidnapped or killed in the area in recent weeks.

The activist said that in Raqa, even within jihadists’ ranks there is division.

“The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria is becoming more powerful than al-Nusra Front in some areas,” he said.

He said the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria had tried to bring the jihadist al-Nusra Front under its full control, but could not.

“Now they are two groups, competing against each other for influence,” said the activist, who is well-informed on political developments in rebel-held areas.

(Source / 20.05.2013)

Around 20 Hezbollah fighters have been reportedly killed in the Syrian town of Qusayr late on Sunday, sources told Al Arabiya, following clashes between Syrian rebels and regime forces who attempted to enter the town earlier in the day.

Sources also told Al Arabiya that tens of Hezbollah members were wounded during the fight and had been taken to hospitals in Beirut, Lebanon for treatment.

Meanwhile, sources said that Hezbollah official Fady al-Jazzar was reportedly among those killed. Al-Jazzar is considered to be a high ranking Hezbollah officer and was imprisoned in Israel until he returned to Lebanon in a prisoner-exchange deal.

News on his death came after contact was lost with the group that was under his command, Al Arabiya said.

Hezbollah denies taking part in Syria’s two-year conflict – which has killed at least 80,000 people, according to the U.N. However, the group – an ally of the Syrian regime – has held regular funerals of Hezbollah fighters, who – it said – were killed serving their “jihadi duties.”

Earlier in the day, Syrian State TV reported that Syrian troops had entered the center of the rebel stronghold of Qusayr, seizing the town’s main square and its municipality building.

However, Hadi Abdullah, a Syrian activist speaking from Qusayr, denied to Al Arabiya that the town had fallen into the hands of regime forces. The activist added that with support from Hezbollah militias, the Syrian regime is heavily shelling Qusayr, leveling civilian homes.

Syrian activists told Al Arabiya that regime airstrikes and heavy shelling of the strategic town, near the Lebanese border killed at least 58 people and left hundreds wounded, including opposition fighters.

Qusayr is home to about 20,000 residents and has been besieged for weeks by government troops.

Earlier in May, spokesperson of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) Louay Almokdad told Al Arabiya that Hezbollah was using artillery shells containing fatal Mustard Gas in the area.

The town is strategically important because it links Damascus with the coast, where regime loyalists are concentrated.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, also reported intense bombardment of Qusayr.

(Source / 19.05.2013)