மாவீரர் நினைவு 2012

ஈரானுக்கெதிரான யுத்த ஒத்திகையே காசா போர்! - நியூயோர்க் ரைம்ஸ்

Military Analysis NYT

For Israel, Gaza Conflict Is Test for an Iran Confrontation

Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

An Israeli missile is launched from a battery. Officials said their antimissile system shot down 88 percent of all assigned targets.

By DAVID E. SANGER and THOM SHANKER

Published: November 22, 2012

WASHINGTON — The conflict that ended, for now, in a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel seemed like the latest episode in a periodic showdown. But there was a second, strategic agenda unfolding, according to American and Israeli officials: The exchange was something of a practice run for any future armed confrontation with Iran, featuring improved rockets that can reach Jerusalem and new antimissile systems to counter them.

It is Iran, of course, that most preoccupies Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Obama. While disagreeing on tactics, both have made it clear that time is short, probably measured in months, to resolve the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.

And one key to their war-gaming has been cutting off Iran’s ability to slip next-generation missiles into the Gaza Strip or Lebanon, where they could be launched by Iran’s surrogates, Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, during any crisis over sanctions or an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Michael B. Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States and a military historian, likened the insertion of Iranian missiles into Gaza to the Cuban missile crisis.

“In the Cuban missile crisis, the U.S. was not confronting Cuba, but rather the Soviet Union,” Mr. Oren said Wednesday, as the cease-fire was declared. “In Operation Pillar of Defense,” the name the Israel Defense Force gave the Gaza operation, “Israel was not confronting Gaza, but Iran.”

It is an imprecise analogy. What the Soviet Union was slipping into Cuba 50 years ago was a nuclear arsenal. In Gaza, the rockets and parts that came from Iran were conventional, and, as the Israelis learned, still have significant accuracy problems. But from one point of view, Israel was using the Gaza battle to learn the capabilities of Hamas and Islamic Jihad — the group that has the closest ties to Iran — as well as to disrupt those links.

Indeed, the first strike in the eight-day conflict between Hamas and Israel arguably took place nearly a month before the fighting began — in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, as another mysterious explosion in the shadow war with Iran.

A factory said to be producing light arms blew up in spectacular fashion on Oct. 22, and within two days the Sudanese charged that it had been hit by four Israeli warplanes that easily penetrated the country’s airspace. Israelis will not talk about it. But Israeli and American officials maintain that Sudan has long been a prime transit point for smuggling Iranian Fajr rockets, the kind that Hamas launched against Tel Aviv and Jerusalem over recent days.

The missile defense campaign that ensued over Israeli territory is being described as the most intense yet in real combat anywhere — and as having the potential to change warfare in the same way that novel applications of air power in the Spanish Civil War shaped combat in the skies ever since.
Of course, a conflict with Iran, if a last-ditch effort to restart negotiations fails, would look different than what has just occurred. Just weeks before the outbreak in Gaza, the United States and European and Persian Gulf Arab allies were practicing at sea, working on clearing mines that might be dropped in shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz.

But in the Israeli and American contingency planning, Israel would face three tiers of threat in a conflict with Iran: the short-range missiles that have been lobbed in this campaign, medium-range rockets fielded by Hezbollah in Lebanon and long-range missiles from Iran.

The last of those three could include the Shahab-3, the missile Israeli and American intelligence believe could someday be fitted with a nuclear weapon if Iran ever succeeded in developing one and — the harder task — shrinking it to fit a warhead.

A United States Army air defense officer said that the American and Israeli militaries were “absolutely learning a lot” from this campaign that may contribute to a more effective “integration of all those tiered systems into a layered approach.”

The goal, and the challenge, is to link short-, medium- and long-range missile defense radar systems and interceptors against the different types of threats that may emerge in the next conflict.

Even so, a historic battle of missile versus missile defense has played out in the skies over Israel, with Israeli officials saying their Iron Dome system shot down 350 incoming rockets — 88 percent of all targets assigned to the missile defense interceptors. Israeli officials declined to specify the number of interceptors on hand to reload their missile-defense batteries.

Before the conflict began, Hamas was estimated to have amassed an arsenal of 10,000 to 12,000 rockets. Israeli officials say their pre-emptive strikes on Hamas rocket depots severely reduced the arsenal of missiles, both those provided by Iran and some built in Gaza on a Syrian design.

But Israeli military officials emphasize that most of the approximately 1,500 rockets fired by Hamas in this conflict were on trajectories toward unpopulated areas. The radar tracking systems of Iron Dome are intended to quickly discriminate between those that are hurtling toward a populated area and strays not worth expending a costly interceptor to knock down.

“This discrimination is a very important part of all missile defense systems,” said the United States Army expert, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe current military assessments. “You want to ensure that you’re going to engage a target missile that is heading toward a defended footprint, like a populated area. This clearly has been a validation of the Iron Dome system’s capability.”

The officer and other experts said that Iran also was certain to be studying the apparent inability of the rockets it supplied to Hamas to effectively strike targets in Israel, and could be expected to re-examine the design of that weapon for improvements.

Israel currently fields five Iron Dome missile defense batteries, each costing about $50 million, and wants to more than double the number of batteries. In the past two fiscal years, the United States has given about $275 million in financial assistance to the Iron Dome program. Replacement interceptors cost tens of thousands of dollars each.

Just three weeks ago, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited an Iron Dome site as a guest of his Israeli counterpart during the largest American-Israeli joint military exercise ever. For the three-week exercise, called Austere Challenge, American military personnel operated Patriot land-based missile defense batteries on temporary deployment to Israel as well as Aegis missile defense ships, which carry tracking radars and interceptors.

Despite its performance during the current crisis, though, Iron Dome has its limits.

It is specifically designed to counter only short-range rockets, those capable of reaching targets at a distance of no more than 50 miles. Israel is developing a medium-range missile defense system, called David’s Sling, which was tested in computer simulations during the recent American-Israeli exercise, and has fielded a long-range system called Arrow. “Nobody has really had to manage this kind of a battle before,” said Jeffrey White, a defense fellow for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “There are lots of rockets coming in all over half the country, and there are all different kinds of rockets being fired.”

A version of this military analysis appeared in print on November 23, 2012, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Gaza Conflict As Trial Run.

Israel Is Dropping Leaflets Telling Gazans To Evacuate Their Homes And Gather In 'City Center'

Israel Is Dropping Leaflets Telling Gazans To Evacuate Their Homes And Gather In 'City Center'

Geoffrey Ingersoll and Robert Johnson|Nov. 20, 2012, 9:32 AM|1,881|10
Anderson Cooper

Reports from Gaza have Israel dropping leaflets advising residents to evacuate their homes and, using specific roads, make their way to Gaza City Center, BBC reports.

This in the wake of last night's advisement that anyone leaving their home would be targeted.

The leaflets this evening, though, advise the opposite:

"For your own safety, you are required to immediately evacuate your homes and move toward Gaza City centre." 

The leaflets come on the eve of mainstream media reportage that seems to point at an imminent ceasefire — specifically CNN, which reported that Egypt said Israel will halt aggression within hours.

Egypt, the largest of the Arab states, has been a major player in peace negotiations.

காசாப் போர் வாரம் ஒன்று! பாலஸ்தீனப் பொதுமக்கள் படுகொலை நூறு!!

The deaths of 11 Palestinian civilians - nine from one family - in an air strike on Sunday - drew more international calls for an end to six days of hostilities

International pressure mounts for Gaza truce
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams
GAZA/JERUSALEM | Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:16am EST

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel bombed dozens of suspected militant sites in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Monday and Palestinians kept up their cross-border rocket fire as international pressure for a truce intensified.

Twelve Palestinian civilians and four fighters were killed in the air strikes, bringing the Gaza death toll since fighting began on Wednesday to 90, more than half of them non-combatants, local officials said. Three Israeli civilians have been killed.

After an overnight lull, militants in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip fired 12 rockets at southern Israel in the span of 10 minutes, causing no casualties, police said. One landed near a school, but it was closed at the time.

The deaths of 11 Palestinian civilians - nine from one family - in an air strike on Sunday - drew more international calls for an end to six days of hostilities and could test Western support for an offensive Israel billed as self-defedefensence after years of cross-border rocket attacks.

Israel's military did not immediately comment on a report in the liberal Haaretz newspaper that it had mistakenly fired on the Dalu family home, where the dead spanned four generations, while trying to kill a Hamas rocketry chief.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was due to arrive in Cairo to weigh in on ceasefire efforts led by Egypt, which borders both Israel and Gaza and whose Muslim Brotherhood-rooted government has been hosting leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a smaller armed faction in the Palestinian enclave.

Israeli media said a delegation from Israel had also been to Cairo for the truce talks. A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government declined comment on the matter.
Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi, speaking in Brussels ahead of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers, said: "I believe there are the conditions to quickly reach a ceasefire in the next few hours."

He said that from his conversations with members of the Israeli government, he understood "there is no interest at all" to invade the Gaza Strip.

"Exactly the opposite is true," Terzi said. "Obviously, this Israeli self-restraint should rely on a guarantee that the launches of rockets should end."

China on Monday urged both sides to halt the violence, while U.S. President Barack Obama said at the weekend it would be "preferable" if Israel did not mount a ground invasion of Gaza.

The Gaza flare-up, and Israel's repeated signaling that it could soon escalate from the aerial campaign to a ground sweep of the cramped and impoverished territory, have stoked the worries of world powers watching an already combustible region.

In the absence of any prospect of permanent peace between Israel and Hamas and other Islamist factions, mediated deals for each to hold fire unilaterally have been the only formula for stemming bloodshed in the past. But both sides now placed the onus on the other.

Izzat Risheq, aide to Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, wrote on Facebook that Hamas would enter a truce only after Israel "stops its aggression, ends its policy of targeted assassinations and lifts the blockade of Gaza".

Listing Israel's terms, Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon wrote on Twitter: "If there is quiet in the south and no rockets and missiles are fired at Israel's citizens, nor terrorist attacks engineered from the Gaza Strip, we will not attack."

Yaalon also said Israel wanted an end to Gaza guerrilla activity in the neighboring Egyptian Sinai, a desert peninsula where lawlessness has spread during Cairo's political crises.

AIR STRIKES

Israel bombed some 80 sites in Gaza overnight, the military said, adding in a statement that targets included "underground rocket launching sites, terror tunnels and training bases" as well as "buildings owned by senior terrorist operatives".

Netanyahu has said he had assured world leaders that Israel was doing its utmost to avoid causing civilian casualties in Gaza. At least 22 of the Gaza fatalities have been children, medical officials said.

China, which has cultivated good ties with Israel, said on Monday it was extremely concerned about the Israeli military operations in Gaza.

"We condemn the over-use of force causing deaths and injuries amongst innocent ordinary people," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing in Beijing.
Before leaving for Cairo, Ban urged Israel and the Palestinians to cooperate with all Egyptian-led efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire.

In scenes recalling Israel's 2008-2009 winter invasion of Gaza, tanks, artillery and infantry have massed in field encampments along the sandy, fenced-off border and military convoys moved on roads in the area.

Israel has also authorized the call-up of 75,000 military reservists, so far mobilizing around half that number.

A big, bloody rocket strike might be enough for Netanyahu to give a green light for a ground offensive, despite the political risks of heavy casualties before a January election he is favored to win.
But while 84 percent of Israelis supported the Gaza assault, according to a Haaretz poll, only 30 percent wanted an invasion. Nineteen percent wanted their government to work on securing a truce soon.

Israel's declared goal is to deplete Gaza arsenals and force Hamas to stop rocket fire that has bedeviled Israeli border towns for years.

The rockets now have greater range, becoming a strategic weapon for Gaza's otherwise massively outgunned militants. Several projectiles have targeted Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. None hit the two cities and some of the rockets were shot down by Israel's Iron Dome interceptor system.
As a precaution against the rocket interceptions endangering nearby Ben-Gurion International Airport, civil aviation authorities said on Monday new flight paths were being used.
There was no indication takeoffs and landings at Ben-Gurion had been affected.

SWORN ENEMIES

Hamas and other groups in Gaza are sworn enemies of the Jewish state which they refuse to recognize and seek to eradicate, claiming all Israeli territory as rightfully theirs.

Hamas won legislative elections in the Palestinian Territories in 2006 but a year later, after the collapse of a unity government under President Mahmoud Abbas the Islamist group seized control of Gaza in a brief and bloody civil war with forces loyal to Abbas.

Abbas then dismissed the Hamas government led by the group's leader Ismail Haniyeh but he refuses to recognize Abbas' authority and runs Gazan affairs.

While it is denounced as a terrorist organization in the West, Hamas enjoys widespread support in the Arab world, where Islamist parties are on the rise.

U.S.-backed Abbas and Fatah hold sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank from their seat of government in the town of Ramallah. The Palestinians seek to establish an independent state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.
 

Israel hits Hamas buildings, shoots down Tel Aviv-bound rocket

Israel hits Hamas buildings, shoots down Tel Aviv-bound rocket
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Jeffrey Heller
GAZA/JERUSALEM | Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:14pm GMT

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas government buildings in Gaza, and the "Iron Dome" defence system shot down a Tel Aviv-bound rocket on Saturday as Israel geared up for a possible ground invasion.

Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip, said Israeli missiles wrecked the office building of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh - where he had met on Friday with the Egyptian prime minister - and struck a police headquarters.

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Along the Tel Aviv beachfront, volleyball games came to an abrupt halt and people crouched as sirens sounded. Two interceptor rockets streaked into the sky. A flash and an explosion followed as Iron Dome, deployed only hours earlier near the city, destroyed the incoming projectile in mid-air.
With Israeli tanks and artillery positioned along the Gaza border and no end in sight to hostilities now in their fourth day, Tunisia's foreign minister travelled to the enclave in a show of Arab solidarity.
In Cairo, a presidential source said Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi would hold four-way talks with the Qatari emir, the prime minister of Turkey and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal in the Egyptian capital on Saturday to discuss the Gaza crisis.

Egypt has been working to reinstate calm between Israel and Hamas after an informal ceasefire brokered by Cairo unravelled over the past few weeks. Meshaal, who lives in exile, has already held a round of talks with Egyptian security officials.

Officials in Gaza said 43 Palestinians, nearly half of them civilians including eight children, had been killed since Israel began its air strikes. Three Israeli civilians were killed by a rocket on Thursday.
Israel unleashed its massive air campaign on Wednesday with the declared goal of deterring Hamas from launching rockets that have plagued its southern communities for years.

The Israeli army said it had zeroed in on a number of government buildings during the night, including Haniyeh's office, the Hamas Interior Ministry and a police compound.
Taher al-Nono, a spokesman for the Hamas government, held a news conference near the rubble of the prime minister's office and pledged: "We will declare victory from here."
Hamas's armed wing claimed responsibility for Saturday's rocket attack on Tel Aviv, the third against the city since Wednesday. It said it fired an Iranian-designed Fajr-5 at the coastal metropolis, some 70 km (43 miles) north of Gaza.

"Well that wasn't such a big deal," said one woman, who had watched the interception while clinging for protection to the trunk of a baby palm tree on a traffic island.

In the Israeli Mediterranean port of Ashdod, a rocket ripped into several balconies. Police said five people were hurt.

Among those killed in airstrikes on Gaza on Saturday were at least four suspected militants riding on motorcycles.

Israel's operation has drawn Western support for what U.S. and European leaders have called Israel's right to self-defence, along with appeals to avoid civilian casualties.

Hamas, shunned by the West over its refusal to recognise Israel, says its cross-border attacks have come in response to Israeli strikes against Palestinian fighters in Gaza.

At a late night session on Friday, Israeli cabinet ministers decided to more than double the current reserve troop quota set for the Gaza offensive to 75,000, political sources said, in a signal Israel was edging closer to an invasion.

Around 16,000 reservists have already been called up.

Asked by reporters whether a ground operation was possible, Major-General Tal Russo, commander of the Israeli forces on the Gaza frontier, said: "Definitely."

"We have a plan ... it will take time. We need to have patience. It won't be a day or two," he added.
A possible move into the densely populated Gaza Strip and the risk of major casualties it brings would be a significant gamble for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, favourite to win a January national election.

Hamas fighters are no match for the Israeli military. The last Gaza war, involving a three-week long Israeli air blitz and ground invasion over the New Year period of 2008-09, killed over 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Thirteen Israelis died.

But the Gaza conflagration has stirred the pot of a Middle East already boiling from two years of Arab revolution and a civil war in Syria that threatens to spread beyond its borders.

"Israel should understand that many things have changed and that lots of water has run in the Arab river," Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdesslem said as he surveyed the wreckage from a bomb-blast site in central Gaza.

One major change has been the election of an Islamist government in Cairo that is allied with Hamas, potentially narrowing Israel's manoeuvering room in confronting the Palestinian group. Israel and Egypt made peace in 1979.

"DE-ESCALATION"

Netanyahu spoke late on Friday with U.S. President Barack Obama for the second time since the offensive began, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

"(Netanyahu) expressed his deep appreciation for the U.S. position that Israel has a right to defend itself and thanked him for American aid in purchasing Iron Dome batteries," the statement added.
The two leaders have had a testy relationship and have been at odds over how to curb Iran's nuclear programme.

A White House official said on Saturday Obama called Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to discuss how the two countries could help bring an end to the Gaza conflict.

Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security adviser, told reporters that Washington "wants the same thing as the Israelis want", an end to rocket attacks from Gaza. He said the United States is emphasising diplomacy and "de-escalation".

In Berlin, a spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had spoken to Netanyahu and Egypt's Mursi, stressing to the Israeli leader that Israel had a right to self-defence and that a ceasefire must be agreed as soon as possible to avoid more bloodshed.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to visit Israel and Egypt next week to push for an end to the fighting in Gaza, U.N. diplomats said on Friday.

The Israeli military said 492 rockets fired from Gaza have hit Israel since the operation began. Iron Dome intercepted another 245.

In Jerusalem, targeted by a Palestinian rocket on Friday for the first time in 42 years, there was little outward sign on the Jewish Sabbath that the attack had any impact on the usually placid pace of life in the holy city.

Some families in Gaza have abandoned their homes - some of them damaged and others situated near potential Israeli targets - and packed into the houses of friends and relatives.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams and Douglas Hamilton in Tel Aviv, Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem, Jeff Mason aboard Air Force One, Writing by Jeffrey Heller; editing by Crispian Balmer)

ஒபாமாவின் இரண்டாம் ஆட்சிக்காலத்தின் இலக்கு ஈரானே!

Israel Issues Emergency Call Up Of Reservists For Gaza Ground Campaign

The operation, called “Pillar of Defense”, has been launched by the Israel military.

Many of the buildings in downtown Gaza City are on fire after being attacked by Israeli warplanes, RT’s Arabic correspondent Saed Swerky reports on Twitter.

The IDF says all options are on the table in Gaza, including a ground operation

Israel has started emergency call up of reservists, while saying they are preparing for a ground
invasion of Gaza, RT`s Tom Barton reports from Israel. The strikes caused extensive damage to
the long-range missile capabilities and underground weapons storage facilities, the IDF said on
Twitter.
 
The Gaza Education Ministry has announced a suspension of study at Gaza schools and
universities due to heavy fire by Israel.

Big explosion occurred near home of Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, Al Arabiya reported. The
death toll from the strikes has risen to nine with some 20 wounded, the Red Cross says.

Jabari was traveling in his vehicle in Gaza City when his car was struck, AP reports, citing
witnesses. Reports say Jabari, his son and three other people were killed in the strike.

An Israeli strike also targeted Raad Atar, another senior Hamas military wing commander, but he
survived, Israeli Ynet reports.

The assassination has “opened the gates of hell,” the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed
wing of Hamas, were quoted by AFP as saying. The militants vowed to ”continue the path of
resistance.”

The IDF stated on its website that it has launched a “widespread campaign on terror sites and
operatives in the Gaza Strip” and Jabari was its first target.  He’s the highest ranking Hamas
official to be killed since 2009, when Israel conducted ground offensive against Gaza.

“The purpose of this operation was to severely impair the command and control chain of the
Hamas leadership, as well as its terrorist infrastructure. This was a surgical operation in
cooperation with the Israeli Security Agency, that was implemented on the basis of concrete
intelligence and using advanced capabilities,” the statement said.

The crackdown follows the recent escalation of violence in the region. The conflict broke out
last week when Palestinian militants attacked at an Israeli military jeep.

Israel responded with retaliatory attacks, to which the Gaza Strip replied with heavy rocket fire at
southern Israel.

Jabari is the most senior Hamas official to be killed since Operation Cast Lead in Gaza four
years ago. He is believed to be behind the notorious abduction and detention of Israeli soldier
Gilad Shalit, who was held hostage for more than four years until being released last year as part
of a hostage swap deal.

US blames Hamas for Gaza violence

அமெரிக்க ஏகாதிபத்தியமே,சியோனிச இஸ்ரேலே காசா மீதான போரை நிறுத்து!

 

 

 

US blames Hamas for Gaza violence
Posted: 16 November 2012 0136 hrs

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday blamed Hamas for the explosion of violence in
Gaza after salvoes of rockets were fired into Israel in retaliation for the killing of the group's
military chief.

"We strongly condemn the barrage of rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, and we regret the death
and injury of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians caused by the ensuing violence," White
House spokesman Jay Carney said.

"There's no justification for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist organizations are
employing against the people of Israel," he added, saying it "does nothing to help the
Palestinians."

He called on Hamas leaders to stop "these cowardly acts immediately to allow the situation to
de-escalate."

Carney's statement, given to reporters aboard Air Force One as President Barack Obama traveled
to New York, followed a telephone conversation the night before between Obama and Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During that conversation, Obama called on his counterpart in Israel to "make every effort to
avoid civilian casualties," while stressing Israel's right to defend itself from Hamas' attacks, the
White House said.

The two leaders agreed that Hamas needed to stop attacks on Israel to allow the situation to de-
escalate, the statement said, putting the blame for the outbreak of violence squarely in the hands
of the Islamist movement.

Seven Palestinians and three Israelis were killed in a wave of unrelenting cross-border fighting
on Thursday as the Jewish state pressed a vast air offensive on Gaza.

Operation Pillar of Defence, Israel's biggest military campaign against Gaza in nearly four years,
began on Wednesday with the targeted killing of top Hamas commander Ahmed Jaabari, which
triggered a major flare-up in and around the tiny Palestinian enclave which is home to 1.6
million Palestinians.
- AFP/fa

CPC congress concludes, new central committee elected

 

Xi Jinping was elected general secretary of the Communist

Party of China (CPC) Central Committee at the first plenary session of the 18th CPC Central

Committee on Thursday morning.(15-11-2012)

CPC congress concludes, new central committee elected
(Xinhua)12:35, November 14, 2012   BEIJING, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) --

The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded here Wednesday morning, after a new CPC Central Committee and a new Central Commission for Discipline Inspection were elected.Delegates to the congress also passed resolutions on the report of the 17th CPC Central Committee, the work report of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and an
amendment to the CPC Constitution.

"The congress elected a new central committee of the Party and replaced older leaders with
younger ones," Hu Jintao said in a closing address to 2,307 delegates and specially invited
delegates at the closing session in the Great Hall of People in central Beijing.
======================================================

சீன நிலைமைகளுக்குப் பொருந்திய  மார்க்சிய லெனினிய-மாஓ சிந்தனை வழி நடக்கும்  கம்யூனிஸ்ட் கட்சி  என்ற பேரில், தலைமை அதிகாரத்தைக் கைப்பற்றியிருக்கும் நவீன சீன ஆளும் கும்பலின் புதிய தலைமுறைத் (கலாச்சாரப்புரட்சியில் தண்டிக்கப்பட்ட தந்தையரின் புதல்வர்கள்!) திரிபுவாத சீனா,மக்கள் விரோத சீனாவே!ஏகாதிபத்திய அணி சீனாவே! சோசலிஸ தேசிய ஜனநாயக புரட்சிகர இயக்கங்களுக்கு எதிரான சீனாவே!ஈழத்துக்கு எதிரான சீனாவே!!
=======================================================

"We are convinced that all the decisions and plans adopted and all the achievements made at the congress, which are of major current and far-reaching historical significance, will play an important role in guiding the all-around development of the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the great new undertaking of Party building," he said.

Jiang Zemin, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He
Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang were present at the closing session, which was presided over by
Hu.

The five-yearly congress, which opened on Nov. 8, was held at the decisive stage of completing
the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects.

Karzai in India to woo investment in Afghanistan

 

ரசிய சமூக ஏகாதிபத்திய வீழ்ச்சிக்குப் பிந்திய அமெரிக்க  தலைமையிலான ஒற்றைத்துருவ உலக ஒழுங்கமைப்பில், பிராந்திய விரிவாதிக்க இந்திய அரசு அமெரிக்காவின் யுத்ததந்திரக் கூட்டாளியாகியுள்ளது.இந்நிலையில் இருந்து அமெரிக்க உலக மறு பங்கீட்டு ஆக்கிரமிப்பு யுத்தங்களுக்கும், இராணுவ ஆட்சிக் கவிழ்ப்புகளுக்கும் ஆதரவளித்து வருகின்றது.மறு பங்கீடு செய்யப்பட்ட சந்தைகளில் முதலீட்டுப் பங்காளியாகிவருகின்றது.ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் இதற்கு ஒரு உதாரணமாகும்.

=======================================================

Karzai in India to woo investment in Afghanistan

NIRMALA GEORGE, Associated Press

Updated 9:24 a.m., Monday, November 12, 2012

 

NEW DELHI (AP) — Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged Indian companies on Monday to

invest in his country, and India's leader said economic development in the war-torn nation would

contribute to stability in the region.

"Investment opportunities are better today in Afghanistan, a country that is more confident of its

future," Karzai told reporters after meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Karzai's five-day visit is viewed as a bid to shore up security in the faction-ridden region before

the planned departure of most NATO troops from Afghanistan in 2014.

India has invested more than $2 billion in Afghan infrastructure, including highways and

hospitals and rural electricity projects. New Delhi is hoping to gain some influence in the

country after 2014, when Afghan forces become responsible for the entire country's security.

"India has been a generous front-line partner in Afghanistan's rebuilding and reconstruction

efforts," Karzai said.

Singh said his talks with Karzai covered bilateral relations and regional security.

"I reiterated to President Karzai our belief that Afghanistan's regional economic integration will

contribute to the overall prosperity and stability in the region," Singh told reporters.

The two countries signed four agreements, including ones on mining and development of small

enterprises.

Karzai, who arrived in India over the weekend, said one of his priorities during the visit is to

urge Indian companies to invest in his country.

"Indian businessmen need not shy away. The Chinese came five to six years before you and they

have already got two or three major contracts," Karzai told business leaders in Mumbai on

Sunday.

He said Afghanistan would lay out a "red carpet" welcome for Indian businesses. "You should

come in large numbers," Karzai said.

The two leaders also reviewed a strategic partnership agreement that the countries signed last

year, Indian officials said.

India is helping the Afghan government rebuild its police forces, judiciary and diplomatic

services. Small batches of Afghan soldiers are undergoing training at military schools in India.

"India is involved in capacity building in various fields including the security sector," said Yash

Sinha, a top official in the Ministry of External Affairs. He refused to say how many Afghan

soldiers had been trained in India.

India and Afghanistan are careful that their cooperation is not viewed as a threat by Pakistan,

which lies sandwiched between them.

The governments of India and Afghanistan share a distrust of Pakistan. Afghanistan says Pakistan

contributes to Afghan instability by offering a safe haven to Taliban insurgents. India accuses

Pakistan of harboring and nurturing terrorists who have carried out attacks in India.

Karzai, who earned his college degree in India, has visited New Delhi more than a half dozen

times in the past few years, most recently in October 2011.

சிரியாவில் அமெரிக்க நவீன காலனியாதிக்க பொம்மை அரசு/அரசாங்கம்

 

 

சிரியாவில் உருவாகும் அமெரிக்க நவீன காலனியாதிக்க பொம்மை அரசு/அரசாங்கம்

==================================================

Syria's opposition groups strike unity deal against Assad
By Rania El Gamal and Regan Doherty | Reuters – 4 hrs ago.. .

DOHA (Reuters) - Syria's fractious opposition finally put aside fierce arguments to rally behind a new leader within a new coalition that its Western and Arab backers hope can topple Bashar al-Assad and take over the country.

After days of wrangling in Qatar under constant cajoling by exasperated Arab, U.S. and other officials, representatives of groups including rebel fighters, veteran dissidents and ethnic and religious minorities agreed on Sunday to join a new assembly that can form a government-in-exile. They unanimously elected reformist Damascus cleric Mouaz al-Khatib as its president.

Khatib, a soft-spoken preacher who was once imam of the ancient Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, immediately called on soldiers to quit the Syrian army and on all sects to unite.

"We demand freedom for every Sunni, Alawi, Ismaili (Shi'ite), Christian, Druze, Assyrian ... and rights for all parts of the harmonious Syrian people," he told reporters.

It remains to be seen whether the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces can overcome the mutual suspicions and in-fighting that have weakened the 20-month-old drive to end four decades of rule by President Assad's family.

But for allies who see it emulating Libya's Transitional National Council, the deal was welcome on a day when Israel fired a missile after a Syrian mortar bomb hit the Golan Heights and Assad's air force strafed along Turkey's border.

"We will strive from now on to have this new body recognised completely by all parties ... as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people," said Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim of Qatar, an important supporter of the rebels.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu said there was "no excuse any more" for foreign governments not to support an opposition whose internal divisions had given many pause.

The United States had also strongly promoted the plan for the Doha meeting to unite the various factions and, notably, subsume the previously ineffectual Syrian National Council into a wider body that would be more inclusive of minorities from a country of great ethnic and religious diversity.

France, a vocal backer of the rebels and which once ruled Syria, hailed the deal. "France will work with its partners to secure international recognition of this new entity as the representative of the aspirations of the Syrian people," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement in which he called the Assad government "the criminal regime in Damascus".

STALEMATE

Twenty months after street demonstrations inspired by the Arab Spring drew a military response from Assad, his enemies hope a more cohesive opposition can break a stalemate in the civil war and win more military and diplomatic support from allies who have been wary of the influence of anti-Western militants, some of them linked to al Qaeda.

While there has been renewed talk in Turkey and elsewhere of providing some sort of no-fly zones or other protection for refugees and the lightly armed rebels facing Assad's air force, Western governments have shown little appetite for new military ventures in such a complex Arab state.

And Russia and China, which have blocked previous moves against Assad in the United Nations Security Council, are unlikely swiftly to alter positions which call for dialogue with Assad and view opposition groups as being in thrall to the West.

Regional power Iran, in whose Shi'ite brand of Islam Assad's Alawite minority has its religious roots, remains firmly behind the president in a conflict which pits him against majority Sunni Muslims supported by Iran's Sunni Arab adversaries.

OPPOSITION

After long arguments over whether and how to form the new opposition assembly, the speed with which a consensus emerged within hours to ensure that Khatib stood unopposed for the post of president was notable and may encourage its supporters.

His deputies will be Riad Seif, a veteran dissident who had proposed the U.S.-backed initiative to set up an umbrella group uniting groups inside and outside Syria, and Suhair al-Atassi, one of the relatively few women with a leading role. Delegates said a third deputy may yet be named from among ethnic Kurds.

Businessman Mustafa Sabbagh was elected general secretary.

Khatib, 50, was jailed several times for criticising Assad. He finally fled into exile this year.

"This is a serious step against the regime and a serious step towards freedom," Syrian National Council leader George Sabra said of Khatib, who has long promoted a liberal Islam tolerant of Syria's Christian, Alawite and other minorities.

Critics of the SNC had said it was too much influenced by the Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and too little open to minorities, including Alawites, some 10 percent of the population who fear a backlash if Assad is overthrown after a war that has taken on increasingly sectarian characteristics.

SNC member Wael Merza said all Assad's opponents were now welcome. "We are open to all the real opposition powers that have weight, influence and the same aims as the Coalition to bring down the regime and establish a democratic Syria."

In a sign of the wider sectarian confrontation across the Middle East, three people were killed on Sunday in the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon in fighting between Sunni Islamists and the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shi'ite movement Hezbollah.

In the Golan Heights, Israeli troops fired a guided missile into Syria on Sunday in a potent "warning shot" after mortar fire from fighting between Syrian troops and rebels hit the Israeli-occupied territory for the second time in four days.

Israel Radio said it was the first direct engagement of the Syrian military on the Golan since the war of 1973. There was no immediate comment from the 1,000-strong United Nations force which patrols the area, and no reaction from Syria.

In other violence, Assad's troops bombarded the Ras al-Ain area on the border with Turkey, days after the town fell to rebels during an advance that has sent thousands of refugees fleeing for safety.

Increasingly critical of the failure of world powers to halt the war, Turkey is in discussions with its NATO allies over the possible deployment of Patriot surface-to-air missiles to defend against any spillover of violence. The move could also be a step towards enforcing a no-fly zone within Syria.

More than 38,000 people have been killed and many tens of thousands more displaced in the violence since March last year.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Hammond in Doha, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman and Brian Love in Paris; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Stephen Powell)

Suspect implies Sri Lankan involvement in Parithi murder - le Parisien

Suspect implies Sri Lankan involvement in Parithi murder - le Parisien 

Tamil Guardian 13 November 2012  
   
 Two men, both aged 33, were held in custody on Monday night in connection with the murder of French TCC leader Nadarajah Mathinthiran.

The two suspects, both described as of ‘Sri Lankan’ nationality, were arrested on Sunday morning in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges and La Chapelle.

A source close to the case is reported to have said that searches of the suspects’ homes did not provide evidence for their involvement in the killing.

Both suspects deny their involvement in the murder of Mathinthiran alias Parithi who was shot in the back with three 9mm bullets as he left TCC’s Paris office.

Accord to French newspaper le Parisien, one of the two suspects has made some confessions to the homicide investigators in charge of the issue, who said:

“This man claimed to have been contacted by a relative of the Sri Lankan Ambassador in France who offered him a reward of 50,000 Euros (49000 GBP) and a Sri Lankan passport in exchange for the execution. All these factors are being verified.”

Mathinthiran’s daughter Saarrah also implied the Sri Lankan government’s responsibility in the murder, saying:

“There are chances that it was the Sri Lankan government... [because] the two hooded men knew full well how to shoot.”

Saarrah also said that her father had not recently mentioned any threats, adding “he was very secretive about his community life.”

An altar draped in red and orange has been put up, with Mathinthiran’s picture and candles, in a small square in the twentieth arrondissement near the site of the murder.

Hamas military chief killed in Israeli attack

Hamas military chief killed in Israeli attack

Ahmad Jabari, the head of Hamas's military wing, has been assassinated in an Israeli air strike on Gaza.

 

Last Modified: 14 Nov 2012 15:0

Senior Hamas military commander Ahmed al-Jabari was killed in an Israeli air strike on a car in Gaza City, medics have said.

"The martyr is Ahmed al-Jabari and his bodyguard was injured," Ayman Sahabani, a doctor at Shifa hospital in Gaza City, said.

A Hamas security source also confirmed Jabari's death, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israel's Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency and the military also confirmed the operation.

"During a joint operation of the General Security Service (Shin Bet) and the IDF (army) today, Ahmed Jabari, the senior commander of the military wing of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, was targeted," a statement from the Shin Bet said.

"In the past hour, the IDF targeted Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas's military wing, in the Gaza Strip," the military added in a statement, saying Jabari "was a senior Hamas operative... directly responsible for executing terror attacks."

"The purpose of this operation was to severely impair the command and control chain of the Hamas leadership, as well as its terrorist infrastructure."

Military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said the strike was the start of an operation targeting armed groups in Gaza following multiple rocket attacks on southern Israel.

"The IDF started an operation against terror organisations in Gaza due to the ongoing attacks against Israeli civilians," she said on her Twitter account.

Head of military wing

Jabari is said to have been the head of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He coordinated much of Hamas' military capability, its military strategy, and the transformation of the military wing.

He also led the final negotiations in Cairo that concluded the prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel in 2011.

The killing of Jabari sparked furious protests in Gaza City, with hundreds of members of Hamas and its armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, chanting for revenge inside Shifa hospital.

Outside, armed men fired weapons into the air, and mosques throughout the city called prayers to mourn the commander's death.

Airstrikes

Palestinian security sources and medics confirmed a total of four air strikes across Gaza during the late afternoon, two in Gaza City, one of which killed Jabari, one in northern Gaza, and a fourth in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

Wednesday's attack comes after several days worth of Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip, leaving at least seven Palestinians dead and several more wounded.

Al Jazeera's Nadim Baba, reporting from the attack site, said, “This is a residential area, and people have rushed to the site as soon as they heard the news.”

Al Jazeera’s Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut, Lebanon, said Jabari had been a target for Israel for a long time.

"This is a big loss for Hamas, and a success for Israel, who have been after him for a while." she said.

“We will see an escalation for sure within the immediate future.”

“People in Gaza know him. He was considered very smart, very shrewd, considered to be a hero because he had managed until now to escape numerous assassination attempts by Israel.”

“People will be bracing for more violence, not just against Hamas but against the civilians too.”

Israel defiant

Defence Minister Ehud Barak warned on Tuesday that a flare-up in violence with Gaza was "not over," after Palestinian fighters fired two more rockets and Israel carried out air strikes throughout the previous night.

Barak, meeting Israeli military chiefs, said the current round of confrontations was ongoing, adding that Israel would decide how and when to respond to the rocket fire.

"It is certainly not over and we will decide how and when to act if necessary," he said in remarks communicated by his office.

"We intend to reinforce the deterrence, and strengthen it, so that we are able to operate along the length of the border fence in a way that will ensure the security of all our soldiers who are serving around the Gaza Strip," he said.

"At this time... it is preferable to act [in a timely fashion] rather than just talk."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told community leaders in southern Israel that he would decide when to retaliate.

"Anyone who thinks that he can harm the daily lives of southern residents and not pay a heavy price for it is mistaken," a statement from his office quoted him as saying during a meeting in the city of Beersheba.

"I am responsible for choosing the right time for exacting the most heavy price and that's how it will be."

On Monday night, Israeli planes struck three sites in Gaza, which the military identified as a weapons facility and two rocket launch sites.

And the following morning, the army said fighters fired two rockets into Israel, causing no injuries, with local media reporting one of them was a longer-range Grad rocket, which landed near the coastal town of Ashdod.

In Gaza, medics said 20-year-old Mohammed Ziad, a member of Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, died Tuesday of wounds he sustained on Saturday, after the flare-up began when fighters fired at an Israeli army jeep.

That attack injured four soldiers and prompted a quick escalation in violence, with Israel carrying out air strikes and shelling that killed six other Palestinians and injured more than 30.

Gaza fighters fired 123 rockets into southern Israel, lightly injuring four people.

Despite Barak's comments, and a series of bellicose statements from Israeli politicians on Monday, other officials sounded a more cautious tone on Tuesday.

"I don't think it will be necessary to enter the Gaza Strip," former military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin told Israel's army  radio.

"The army has at its disposal a series of measures that it has not yet used, it can raise the level of its response without resorting to a ground operation."

Source: Al Jazeera

PFLP: Abbas’ statements on the right of return and resistance are unacceptable

''Palestinian people will continue to insist on their right of return and self-determination and a democratic Palestine on all of the land of Palestine''. PFLP

PFLP: Abbas’ statements on the right of return and resistance are unacceptable
Posted: 03 Nov 2012 05:04 AM PDT

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine stated its complete rejection of the statements of PA President Mahmoud Abbas in an interview with Israeli television and demanded that the Executive Committee and Central Council of the PLO act immediately to address these statements.

Comrade Dr. Rabah Muhanna, member of the political bureau of the PFLP, said that these statements contradict the PLO’s own positions and the fundamental principles of the Palestinian people, including the right of return, self-determination, the independent state, the right of our people to exercise all forms of resistance against the occupation to achieve our national goals. He noted that Abu Mazen is not entitled to liquidate these constants, nor is anyone else, noting that these remarks apparently seek to propitiate and beg before the US and Israel seeking to be given something. Dr. Muhanna said that the Palestinian people will continue to insist on their right of return and self-determination and a democratic Palestine on all of the land of Palestine.

Comrade Khalida Jarrar, also a member of the Political Bureau, joined in the strong condemnation, saying that these statements seek to undermine a sacred and inalienable right and cross a red line, and that the right to return cannot be undermined by any person. It is not a personal opinion of this or that person. Jarrar also denounced his claims that he would not allow the outbreak of a third intifada, noting that no one can restrain the anger of the resistance of the Palestinian people or the inevitability of a new uprising so long as the occupation and its aggressive policies continue to exist.

Jarrar said that the resistance in all of its forms has been and continues to be the path of the Palestinian people in the struggle against the occupation in order to gain their rights, and said that no matter how long it takes our people will achieve freedom, return and self-determination and will return to their hometowns from which they were forced in 1948.

Syrian tanks in Golan Heights buffer zone, says Israel

Latest update: 03/11/2012 
Syrian tanks in Golan Heights buffer zone, says Israel

Israel’s military lodged a complaint with the United Nations on Saturday after three Syrian tanks allegedly entered the demilitarised zone in the Golan Heights which separates the two countries, just a few kilometres from an Israeli military post.

By News Wires (text)

Three Syrian tanks entered the demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights on Saturday, prompting Israel to complain to U.N. peacekeepers, a military spokesman said. The foray would be the first such violation in 40 years and hikes concerns that violence from Syria’s civil war could heat up a long-quiet frontier.

Israel’s relatively low-key response of turning to the U.N. suggested it did not see the Syrian armor as an immediate threat.

But the entry marks the most serious spillover of Syria’s turmoil at the frontier to date. Misfired Syrian shells have exploded inside Israel on several occasions and a tourist site was temporary shut after armed Syrians were spotted nearby recently.

The three tanks entered the DMZ on Saturday and Israel lodged a complaint with the peacekeepers, an Israeli military spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military protocol. She did not elaborate on what the tanks were doing.

The Israeli news site Ynet said the tanks and two armored personnel carriers drove a few kilometers (miles) away from Israeli military positions.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. It later annexed the strategic territory overlooking northern Israel in a move that is not recognized internationally. Before 1967, Syria used the highlands to shell Israeli villages and farms.

The DMZ, which is about 7 kilometers (3.5 miles) at its widest and 200 meters (yards) at its narrowest, was created after the 1973 war in which Syria tried to retake the plateau.

Marco Carminjani, an official with the U.N. body supervising the zone, said he could not immediately confirm the entry of the tanks. But if the report is true, he said, it would be a violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement between Syria and Israel. He said it would be the first such move in the zone since the accord.

There was no immediate comment from Syria.

Israel and Syria have been bitter enemies for decades and have fought several wars but the border has been mostly quiet for years.

There is concern in Israel that if the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad is toppled, the country could fall into the hands of Islamic extremists or descend into sectarian warfare, destabilizing the region.

Israeli officials have also expressed concern that the frontier region could turn into a lawless area like Egypt’s Sinai desert, where Islamic militants have gained strength since the ouster last year of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

சிரியாவிலும் யுத்தக் குற்றமாம்! இழைத்தது REBELS ஆம்!

கோசோவோ தனிநாட்டில் சட்டம் ஒழுங்கை நிலைநாட்டத் தவறிய ஈரோப்பியன் ஜூனியன்!

Auditors: EU wastes billions, Kosovo lawless
Source: B92

LUXEMBOURG -- The EU has spent EUR 700mn to establish the rule of law and reduce
corruption in Kosovo but results are poor, the European Court of Auditors says in a report.

 It says in the report, which was released on Tuesday, that EULEX is not efficient enough despite
the funding.

“Staff delegated to go to Kosovo is often not trained well enough and their participation in the
mission is often too short. The EU takes the part of the responsibility because it should provide
greater support,” reads the report.

During the period 1999-2007, Kosovo received EUR 3.5bn in donor assistance, two thirds of

which came from the European Commission and EU Member States.

Between 2007 and 2011, EU assistance to rule of law through the IPA and EULEX totaled
approximately EUR 0.7bn, reads the report.

EULEX’s mandate will last until 2014 and there is a total of 2,250 people working for the
mission. Its annual budget is about EUR 111mn. The European Court of Auditors has assessed
the mission’s success as “modest”.

According to the report, one of the main problems in the functioning of EULEX is a lack of
coordination between the EU and the U.S., unqualified EU staff and poor work of Kosovo’s
anti-corruption institutions.

“Kosovo’s authorities accord insufficient priority to the rule of law and the EU support should
be more effective,” said Gijs de Vries, the ECA member responsible for the report.

Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February 2008 but this step was not
followed by universal recognition of Kosovo. Five EU member states, Cyprus, Greece,
Romania, Slovakia and Spain, have not recognized Kosovo’s independence which has led the EU
to adopt what is termed a “status neutral” position, the European Court of Auditors stressed.

Many parts of Kosovo are still lawless since EULEX has failed to tackle the crime, especially in
the north.

“Kosovo’s judiciary still is not isolated enough from the political influence and police are still
not capable of tackling serious financial crime,” reads the report.

De Vries said that the EU needed to “formulate stricter priorities” for Kosovo.

“This is an important report and we will take into account everything that is written in it,” said
EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule’s Spokesman Peter Stano.

The European Court of Auditors’ report comes after criticism of German Defense Minister
Thomas de Maiziere who said that “EULEX needs a new beginning”.

“EULEX is on the wrong track. We need a new beginning, new people, new structure, new name
and a new mandate. We have to resolve this at the highest level in the EU,” he said in October.

சிரியாவில் அமெரிக்கப் பொம்மலாட்டம்!

“We’ve made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition. They can be part of a larger opposition, but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice that needs to be heard. So our efforts are very focused on that.”
 

“We have recommended names and organizations that we believe should be included in any leadership structure,” 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

U.S. Seeks a New Opposition in Syria
TIME By Jay Newton-Small Nov. 01, 20124

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday announced the U.S. would be shifting allegiances in Syria after nearly two years of trying to empower the Paris-based Syrian National Council made up of mostly Syrians in exile.

“This cannot be an opposition represented by people who have many good attributes but have in many instances not been inside Syria for 20, 30 or 40 years,” Clinton told reporters on a trip to Croatia. “There has to be a representation of those who are on the front lines fighting and dying today to obtain their freedom. And there needs to be an opposition leadership structure that is dedicated to representing and protecting all Syrians.”

Clinton said the U.S. would be looking to cobble together a new opposition with members drawn from two groups working within Syria to bring down the regime of President Bashar Assad, as well as expatriate leaders. She said the SNC will still represent up to a third of the new council, which will have about 35 to 50 members and will include in addition to the SNC, Malah’s Syrian Patriotic Group, Kiyali’s National Bloc, and possibly the new “People’s Committee” from both inside and out of Syria. That council will be formed in Doha, Qatar, early next week.  “We have recommended names and organizations that we believe should be included in any leadership structure,” she said. “We’ve made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition. They can be part of a larger opposition, but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice that needs to be heard. So our efforts are very focused on that.”
The move is a major shift in U.S. policy in Syria, which up until this week had focused on unifying the SNC and other external opposition groups. Even in that, the U.S. struggled to force the SNC to agree to work with the remnants of Assad’s regime after his potential departure, and to address differing priorities amongst Syria’s ethnic sects: Alawites, Christians, Sunnis, Druze, Kurds and Shias. A meeting in Cairo over the summer included fistfights and thrown furniture.

The change reflects the growing chasm between those inside Syria waging the civil war and those outside, who will eventually finance its rebuilding.  “It’s a good move because it favors the internal opposition – they are the ones actively taking down Assad,” says Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “We’ve been talking to Tansiqiyat  — LCCs — inside, and now we are working directly with local and revolutionary councils. SNC plays a role but not lead.”

But one problem, Tabler says, is that the U.S. is still not engaging with armed groups. “This is important because the revolution turned armed a long time ago,” Tabler says. “We need influence and leverage with them to help make our plans stick.” The U.S. has been leery to provide arms to the opposition given what happened in Libya. After the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, many of those arms and Gaddafi’s caches ended up in the hands of terrorist groups. There is also concern that given Assad’s bloody massacres of Sunnis – Syria is 70% Sunni while Assad is Alawite, a group representing only 11% of Syrians – arms given to Sunni groups would be used in revenge ethnic killings. They also so far have refused to support the Saudi and French backed network of Revolutionary Councils.

The new entity, pushed by U.S. Ambassador-in-exile Robert Ford, also doesn’t go far enough to include a broader range of political groups on the ground. “Whatever the outcome of the meeting, its still going to be a largely exiled opposition force — even with supposed inside representation — and there will inevitably be a disconnect between this organization and the organic protest movement,” says Elizabeth O’Bagy, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. “ I can already think of a number of very important and influential leaders, both rebel and political, who have been left out. Thus, there is already an element of the US “picking” the leaders, rather than letting the Syrians do it themselves.” A top down approach to managing a revolution, however well intentioned, is rarely successful.

Indeed, many feel that Clinton’s reorganization is too little too late. “The opposition Secretary Clinton is trying to unify has become largely irrelevant, even infusing it with elements from inside may not be sufficient,” says Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian exile who is active in the opposition in Washington. “Syria’s current fragmentation necessitates working with local groups, that is, the rebels and whatever political forces are coalescing around them.”

In announcing it the way she did, Clinton also alienated one of the few friends the U.S. has amongst the Syrian opposition, the SNC, which announced it would hold its own meeting just prior to the Doha gathering as a snub to the U.S. “The SNC will fight for its survival, many opportunists will fight for inclusion, seeing a window in Clinton’s announcement,” Abdulhamid says. “It’s going to be a free for all and a freakshow in Doha. The U.S. should have worked on this quietly.”

And all of this could be for naught. With the U.S. elections less than a week away, whatever group expected to be announced in Doha next Wednesday could be short-lived should Republican Mitt Romney win the presidency. Romney has said he would do more to empower and potentially arm groups fighting on the ground in Syria, focusing more attention on those groups than the non-armed political ones gathering in Doha. Finally, none of these moves are likely to stem the violence in Syria, which has already claimed 36,000 lives since March 2011.