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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian FM calls Turkey a ‘sponsor of terrorism’ in address to UN
2020-09-29
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] Whoa! When was the last time you agreed with Walid Moallem?
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Moallem: Syria Will Take Part in non-Binding UN Talks
2015-10-03
[ALMANAR.LB] Syria will take part in UN talks aimed at launching formal negotiations on ending its four-year war but will not be bound by their outcome, Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Friday.

Moallem told the UN General Assembly that he understood the talks, proposed by UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, to be "mainly to exchange ideas" and non-binding.

"I would like to announce here that Syria agrees to participate in the four brainstorming committees of experts proposed by the special envoy Staffan de Mistura," said Muallem.

De Mistura traveled to Syria last month to win Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
's support for the new plan, the latest bid by the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
 to lay the groundwork for peace after two failed attempt
Curses! Foiled again!
s.

The four working groups will tackle safety and protection, political and legal affairs, the military and counter-terrorism, and reconstruction.

The foreign minister made clear that fighting the so-called 'Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
 of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who most be killed...
 group was the government's immediate focus and declared that the "Syrian army is capable of cleansing the country of those terrorists."

"Syria cannot implement any democratic political measures related to elections, a constitution or the like, while terrorism is striking at home," he said.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria 'welcomes' proposal to hand over control of chemical weapons
2013-09-10
[CNN] A new possibility for a diplomatic solution in Syria surfaced unexpectedly Monday as the war-torn country said it supported a proposal to hand over control of its chemical weapons.

But a key question loomed: Is that a viable option or simply a stall tactic as Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's
Terror of Aleppo ...
 government tries to stave off U.S. military action?

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem told news hounds in Moscow that his nation "welcomes" a proposal by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during talks on Monday: put Syria's chemical weapons under international control to avert a U.S. military response over an alleged poison gas attack last month.

"I declare that the Syrian Arab Republic welcomes Russia's initiative, on the basis that the Syrian leadership cares about the lives of our citizens and the security in our country," Moallem said. "We are also confident in the wisdom of the Russian government, which is trying to prevent an American aggression against our people."

The comments came after Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
 discussed a similar scenario, though the State Department stressed later Monday that Syrian President Bashir al-Assad could not be trusted to relinquish his country's chemical stockpiles.

White House front man Jay Carney said the "credible threat" of a U.S. military attack on Syria led to the Russian proposal, but he said any such plan would require close evaluation and that Washington remained "highly skeptical" of the Syrian regime.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
BREAKING: Russian Ultimatum To Assad: Give Up Chemical Arsenal -- Or Face US Attack Alone
2013-09-09
One almost feels sorry for Secretary of State Kerry, so neatly is he being hoisted with his own petard. But then, he was pronounced The Second Smartest Man In The Room upon his nomination, as you'll recall, a neater damning with faint praise of which does not exist.
[Debka] In an unexpected turn of events along the road to a US military strike on Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday afternoon, Sept. 9 that he had urged Syria to hand over its nuclear arsenal to international control if that would stop an American attack. Moscow had lost no time in picking up the gauntlet thrown down by US Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
 in London a short time before.

Asked if there were steps the Syrian president could take to avert an American-led attack, Kerry replied: "Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week -- turn it over, all of it, without delay and allow the full and total accounting."

The B.O. regime had in this way given Bashir al-Assad a week to turn in his chemical weapons to an international team that would no doubt be put together by the US, Russia and the United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, who arrived in Moscow earlier Monday, was informed that the Kremlin expected a positive and expeditious answer from President Assad. Within the hour, he came back with a welcome for the Russian "proposal" to place his country's chemical weapons under international control. But he said nothing about letting the arsenal be moved out of the country and destroyed , as both Lavrov and Kerry specified.

Sunday, debkafile reported that a secret US proposal had been presented to Assad and that negotiations were in progress on a deal for a way out of the crisis generated by the chemical attack east of Damascus on Aug. 21. The transfer of Syria's entire chemical stockpile to international control was a part of that proposition.

Our military sources add that Assad was in no position to flatly rebuff the Russian ultimatum; only to try and maneuver and haggle to buy time. If Moscow stops the air corridor lifting military supplies to Damascus, the Syrian army will quickly run out of ordnance for fighting the rebels.
Normally we recommend anything coming from Debka be heavily salted, as a matter of principle. Normally, however, we do not see The Times of Israel and USA Today coming out with substantially the same story simultaneously. Also Der Spiegel, for those who prefer the German perspective on the matter.
This is a brilliant counter by Vlad. A week? It'll take a week just to get the U.N. inspectors to agree on airplane flights. It'll be three months to get them to 'inspect' everything and six months minimum before any of the weapons, assuming they are found, to be shipped out or destroyed. Assad can play the same game Saddam played with hiding the weapons; if not the weapons themselves then at least the machinery and facilities to make the weapons. Oh that? That's a pesticide factory for our farmers. Prove us wrong.

Brilliant. Kerry is a fool.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Debka: Assad trusts Obama to tie Israel's hands against major reprisal
2013-08-28

There is little logic in the Netanyahu government's public assurances that the Syrian ruler Bashar Assad would not risk a major showdown with Israel for fear of an IDF response powerful enough to overthrow his regime. This argument fails to take into account the calculus in Washington: President Barack Obama would not countenance, at least in the initial stage, an Israeli military strike on a scale greater than the limited operation he is contemplating for his own armed forces in the wake of the Syrian government's chemical weapons attack on Damascus last Wednesday, Aug. 21. Israel would therefore not be allowed to endanger Assad's rule.
Israel doesn't want to endanger Assad's rule, fully realizing as they do what would replace him.
Assad's Russian advisers are no doubt briefing him on this Israel-Syrian equation.

According to military sources, Israeli strategists prefer to believe that Syria will choose Jordan for a conventional missile strike in reprisal for a US attack - rather than go for Israel.

This assumption was refuted by the words of Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem Tuesday, Aug. 27, at a press conference he held in response to US allegations of his government's responsibility for using chemical weapons in East Damascus.

Accusing the US Secretary of State John Kerry of telling lies and fabricating evidence against his government, Moallem insisted it had not used chemical weapons or delayed permission for the UN team to launch its investigation under guaranteed security in government-controlled sites. That team only arrived Saturday, Aug. 23, and was not ready for its mission before Monday, Moallem insisted.
Possibly all true. It could have been Al Qaeda creating an incident, whether deliberately or accidentally -- there have been rumblings that they made off with contents of captured warehouses for quite some time.
He went on to question US objectives in seeking to attack Syria, and answered his own question by saying: "Anything that happens in this area is in Israel's interest. Such aggression will first of all benefit Israel, secondly, the military efforts of Al Nusra, al Qaeda's armed group in Syria. "So the Americans would be serving Israel first and Al Qaeda second."
Yeah, yeah. It's always those damned juices.
As for Jordan, Moallem stressed Syria's friendly and neighborly ties with the Hashemite kingdom. "We have no thought of acting against Jordan," he said, and advised Amman not to let itself be persuaded to give up its friendship with Damascus.

When Moallem said Tuesday that Syria would defend itself in the case of a US strike "using all available means," he felt safe in including Syrian allies in this category.

Those allies are evidently resolved not to stand by idly if Syria is attacked.
Much more likely that Hizb'allah will attack Americans or Israelis out in the great big world than that Assad will trigger open war with Israel -- they're already out there and ready to rock.
The nature of their promised assistance to Bashar Assad was no doubt conveyed to Barack Obama's intermediaries, UN Deputy Secretary Jeffrey Feltman and Oman's Sultan Qaboos, Monday, when they met Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani Monday, to promote the US president's bid for an understanding on Syria --
Cargo Cult diplomacy.
So the US president must by now know how many players will jump in and where, in consequence of an American attack on Syria. This means that Washington may find it impossible to keep the operation within the predetermined confines desired by the US president.

Jerusalem as well as Washington realizes how widely the fallout may spread, but Israeli leaders are keeping this prospect under their hats to avoid public panic.
Most everyone in Israel has figured it out, which is why there's a run on gas masks over there, and construction on the various security fences continues apace.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian regime seals restive town; mutineers remain
2011-06-12
[Arab News] Syrian soldiers and coppers who deserted rather than fire on protesters in a restive northern city remained behind to fight against an expected all-out government assault, a resident said. Troops loyal to the regime came under sniper fire Saturday as they approached.

Tanks and thousands of forces sealed the roads leading to the mostly deserted town of Jisr Al-Shughour in response to what the government claims were attacks by "gangs" that killed more than 120 officers and security personnel last week. Refugees reaching Turkey said the chaos erupted as government forces and police mutinied and joined the local population.

President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
 is struggling to crush a nearly three-month uprising against his family's 40-year rule.

Human rights groups say more than 1,300 people have died in the government crackdown.

Syrian troops backed by tanks, helicopters and heavy armor have been operating in the area for several days, and it was not clear why the army was delaying an assault.

Journalists invited to accompany troops to the north, including an AP news hound, came under fire about a mile outside Jisr Al-Shughour, and the government blamed snipers stationed in nearby hills. No casualties were reported.

Residents and activists reported heavy gunfire in the Qarqouz village, about 4 miles (7 kilometers) from Jisr Al-Shughour, after the army and security forces stormed in, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The rare invitation on an organized trip apparently reflects a new government effort to counter criticism and prove the existence of armed gangs. The government has denied a mutiny.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem called on the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
 to help his country fight "terrorist groups." In an interview he gave to the Syrianow website, Moallem said he had sent an urgent message to the UN chief warning that any Security Council resolution targeting Syria would be considered "intervention in his country's internal affairs." On Friday, a UN front man said Assad was avoiding UN

Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon's calls.

Authorities said they have made some arrests and killed and maimed many of the gunnies around Jisr Al-Shughour, a city of about 40,000 that has been largely abandoned by residents afraid of a coming government attack.

About 80 percent of the population has decamped, with more than 4,000 Syrians taking sanctuary across the nearby Turkish frontier.

Jamil Saeb, an activist from the town who was reached by phone, suggested the army was afraid to take on the people who stayed behind because Jisr Al-Shughour is "known to be exceptionally fierce." He said several army deserters and officers were still there and have vowed to protect unarmed residents.

Jisr Al-Shughour and the province of Idlib have a history of animosity toward the regime, which until recently has maintained tight control over its people. The town's Moslem Brüderbund population rose up against Assad's father, the late president Hafez Assad, in the late 1970s. It came under heavy government bombardment in 1980, with a reported 70 people killed. Residents say the numbers were much higher.

The events proved a prelude to a 1982 three-week bombing campaign against the city of Hama that crushed a Sunni uprising there, killing 10,000 to 25,000 people, according to Amnesia Amnesty International estimates.

"They (regime) have a grudge against Jisr Al-Shughour since the 80s," Saeb said.

"We hope we will not have to take up weapons," he added, saying remaining residents were so far insisting on "peaceful resistance." Saeb spoke using a Turkish mobile phone from a town only few miles from the border.

Confirming information out of Syria is difficult.

Communications are cut in areas where the uprising is strongest, including Jisr Al-Shughour. Syrians who speak openly face retribution from the regime, and foreign journalists have been expelled.

Undaunted by the continuing and brutal crackdown, protests extended to every major city Friday, and activists said 36 people were killed when security forces opened fire during demonstrations across the country. The dead included 20 from the northern Idlib province, home to Jisr Al-Shughour.

Twenty-five miles (40 kilometers) to the southeast in the town of Maaret Al-Numan, thousands of protesters overwhelmed security forces and torched the courthouse and cop shoppe. The army responded with tank shells, a Syrian opposition figure told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named by telephone, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
, fearing retribution.

Syrian TV appeared to confirm at least part of the report, saying gunnies opened fire on cop shoppes, causing casualties among security officials.

Backed by helicopters and tanks, the troops responsible for most of Friday's violence were believed to be from an elite division commanded by Assad's younger brother, Maher.

The decision to mobilize his unit against the most serious threats to the Assad regime could be a sign of concern about the loyalty of regular conscripts.

Syria's brutal crackdown has angered the leader of neighboring Turkey, who accused the Assad regime of "savagery." A Turkish official at Altinozu on the Turkish side of the border said capacity was near full at the camp there and newcomers would be taken to a third camp at Boynuyogun.

Workers on Saturday were putting the final touches to the camp there, welding fences around the camp and laying power lines.

"We don't expect the inflow to end rapidly. The news we are hearing is that there are more people waiting to get in on the other side," said UNHCR front man Metin Corabatir.

In the Turkish border town of Yayladagi, authorities set up four field hospitals, each with a 10-bed capacity, for emergency cases, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.

Most of the nearly 50 Syrians, who were maimed in festivities in Jisr Al-Shughour or elsewhere recently, were being treated at the state hospital in the Turkish city of Hatay.

One of them, who only identified himself with his first name, Ahmad, told an News Agency that Dare Not be Named news hound at his hospital bed on Saturday that he was hit by three bullets during a protest in Jisr Al-Shughour last Saturday.

He was speaking with difficulty since one of the bullets hit him in the neck.

"The snipers suddenly started firing onto us from three buildings," Ferah, a Turkish relative, quoted him as saying in Arabic. "I was hit in the neck and chest first but a third bullet found my right arm when I raised it while on the ground." "Allah gave me another life," Ahmad said.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel-PA peace talks could begin Sunday
2010-03-04
Indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority may begin as early as Sunday, Haaretz had learned. U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell will land in Israel on Saturday night, and the American administration is hoping the sides will declare the beginning of indirect talks the following morning, ahead of the arrival of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Monday.

The foreign ministers of the Arab League announced in Cairo Wednesday they were supporting the American initiative for indirect negotiations, qualifying their support with a four-month deadline. They said no progress will be possible without a complete settlement freeze.

The announcement came after heavy American, Egyptian, Jordanian and Saudi pressure was put on the Palestinians and on other members of the League. The pressure also resulted in the Palestinians' withdrawing a much tougher and reserved statement about the negotiations than the one eventually released. The Arab League decision was not unanimous and was strongly contested by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, who went as far as to interrupt when Amr Moussa, the secretary general of the Arab League, was reading out the statement, to say the decision on entering negotiations rested ultimately with the PA.

The foreign ministers set a four-month deadline for the first phase of indirect negotiations after which the Arab League will assess the progress of the talks and decide whether to offer further support.

The foreign ministers said their decision was a last effort to promote peace through negotiations and was meant to allow the American administration an opportunity to facilitate the process. "Despite the lack of conviction in the seriousness of the Israeli side, the committee sees that it would give the indirect talks the chance as a last attempt and to facilitate the U.S. role," the statement read.

Moussa stressed that even indirect negotiations are doomed to failure if Israeli measures such as settlement construction continue. He warned that if indirect talks fail to yield results, the Arabs will call for an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting to address the Arab-Israeli conflict and would ask Washington not to use its veto.

The Americans proposed the indirect talks as a way to allow the process to move forward without PA President Mahmoud Abbas' losing face by being seen as giving up on his demand for a complete settlement freeze. Abbas had also sought the Arab League's support to preempt Palestinian criticism of the move.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Wednesday in Gaza that he calls on the Arab League to review its decision.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented Wednesday in a Knesset speech that "it seems the conditions for proximity talks are ripening." He said: "All said and done, the world understands that this government is striving for negotiations. It has made some difficult steps to further these negotiations. It said things and did things," he said.

The prime minister also slammed the Palestinians for refusing "without justification and no reason whatsoever to reenter negotiations."

Netanyahu said: "I've said before that although you normally need two to tango, in this case you might need three. These negotiations may require some going back and forth, but Israel is not and never was an obstacle to negotiations."

American Vice President Joe Biden is expected to arrive here on Monday, and the American administration is keen to have the announcement of indirect negotiations before he lands, so he can congratulate the sides and present the talks as an American achievement.

Special envoy Mitchell will mediate the talks, which will be the first formal negotiations after a 15-month hiatus, since before Netanyahu took office. These will also be the first Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to take place under the Obama administration.

Negotiations have been at a standstill as Abbas refused to enter talks so long as any construction takes place in any settlement, including East Jerusalem.

At this stage, negotiations will focus on border issues, with the hope that if these can be resolved, the issue of settlement construction will be next on the agenda, followed by the core issues of the status of Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
A devastating war between Israel & Hezbollah is on the horizon
2010-02-09
While the war of words is escalating around the clock between Israel on the one side and Hezbollah and Syria on the other, analysts in the Middle East and Europe strongly believe that war is inevitable and will break out within a few months.
Certainly Israeli arms stockpiling seems to indicate their concerns, as does Hizb'allah and Syrian bombast. Not to mention reports of Shiite villagers leaving the area.
In this scary context, senior Lebanese sources told the Saudi daily Al-Okaz that Hezbollah has announced emergency readiness in all areas of the country where it operates.
Thus admitting the division of Lebanon into Lesser Lebanon and Hizb'allahstan. No doubt the IDF strategists and PM Netanyahu have some ideas what to do about that.
Don't count on Israel to honor that division. I certainly wouldn't in their shoes. Lebanon admitted the Hezbies into their government. They have cabinet seats. That means Lebanon is responsible for whatever the the Hezbies do, and the Lebanese government and other factions need to be made aware of that in no uncertain terms.
Senior figures of the organization were asked to exercise greater caution in their movements amid fears they would be targeted by Israel.
*Ring, ring* "Hello?"
"Israel calling. Do you have Prince Albert in a can?"
Hezbollah's leaders are bragging that they are capable of defeating, humiliating and destroying Israel's war machine.
Even more so than last time. No doubt Iran has promised to rebuild damaged homes like last time, too, and just look at how shiny the rubble is now!
Meanwhile, the verbal sparring between Jerusalem and Damascus continued over the weekend, even if in lower tones. The official Syrian newspaper Tishrin said in an editorial that "the threats from Israel make it clear that it intends to initiate a new war whose limits are unknown." The editorial added that "death and destruction may occur if Israel responds to the logic of some of its leaders, in whose veins flows crime. Damascus is ready for any path that Israel chooses, whether it is peace or war."
Damascus is ready for unlimited war? Seriously?
The editorial's author is the newspaper's editor-in-chief, who wrote that the "logic of war and threats is the dominant logic in Israel. Talk of peace is chatter void of substance that is mere media propaganda. There is no real political decision for peace in the Zionist entity, despite promises of this, on the basis of restoring rights to their rightful owners."
Since the Zionists are the rightful owners by international law, that statement has null value.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem last week threatened that an Israeli attack against Syria would be total war. His Israeli counterpart, Avigdor Lieberman, warned that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family would not remain in power as a result of the next war.

In a report written by Hamid Ghoriafi, Middle East analyst and journalist, that was published today by the Kuwaiti Daily Al-Seyassah, Ghoriafi drew a very dim picture for the whole situation and predicted a very devastating imminent war that will be according to the Israelis the last one with on their northern borders. Below are some excerpts from this report:

*Reliable European intelligence reports in London unveiled on Monday an extensive secretive Israeli ongoing operation to evacuate hundreds of families living in the Galilee settlements adjacent to the border with Lebanon to safer locations inside Israel, especially west Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and surrounding areas. These families are transported by trucks and buses and priority is given to families with many children, the elderly and the physically disabled. The evacuees' houses are put under the control of the Northern Military Command for reasons not yet known. "

*A German report that was recently distributed to those concerned in the European Union capitals revealed that there is a serious Israeli military intention to reoccupy the former border strip inside Lebanon with a distance of 5 to 6 kilometers. This strip was known as the "security zone" before the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000. Initially it was established in the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and occupation of her capital in 1982. The aim was to create a semi-demilitarized zone along the area of Lebanese Christian and some Shiite villages that are scattered near the Israeli border in a bid to safeguard the Jewish settlements from shelling and infiltration.

*The same intelligence report quoted Israeli Defense Ministry sources saying that their military engineers have finished putting designs for building two military airports inside the Lebanese "new security zone", which will stretch temporally up to the Litani River in the early stages of the war. This area has been under the control of the UNIFIL troops since 2006. Israel expects that the UNIFIL troops will withdraw in case the war breaks out. The first airport will be built on the middle and eastern region boundaries towards Shabaa Farms, Mount Hermon; and the second in the western sector region towards the coastal town of Naqoura.

All technical and logistic equipments required for the erection of these two airports are already in locations situated behind the front lines of the Israeli army that is extensively present on the northern border. Analysts say that this kind of preparations gives the impression that Israel is definitely planning for a long-term occupation to the south Litani area. The Israeli occupation accordingly will not endonce the coming military operations cease."
If true, the correct terminology would be conquest, not occupation, with the possibility of a Gaza-style border fence going up on the Litani side of the security zone. Perhaps the Egyptians can build it for them, once they finish building the fence on their section of the Gaza border.
*The report quoted the Israeli defense sources saying that the war will actually begin in the northern region of the Litani Rriver and all though the Bekaa Valley and eastern Lebanese mountainous areas that separate Syria and Lebanon because the presence of Hezbollah in the south of the Litani is no longer as heavy as it was in 2006. The UNIFIL troops took control of this region after the 2006 war. The report disclosed that the backbone of the coming Israeli war will be based on two plans:

The first plan is for extensive jet plane aerial bombardment of Hezbollah's scattered military weaponry caches and missile bases with phosphorus and cluster bombs,
Trying to implicate war crimes (phosphorus bombs, really?) here...
replicating the kind of devastation the southern suburbs of Beirut (Hezbollah's ministate) suffered during the 2006 war.

The second plan is to execute for the first time, air-landing operations behind Hezbollah's lines after weakening and destroying its bases in the south, Bekaa Valley and Beirut.

These two plans in contrast to the 2006 war aim to practically occupy many Lebanese areas and locations as was the situation in the 1982 invasion led by Ariel Sharon, who occupied Beirut and its surrounding mountainous and coastal areas.

*British sources claimed that another European intelligence report prepared by the UNIFIL French contingent in southern Lebanon revealed that the Israeli army command has made ready another SOS war scenario to deal with Syrian and the Palestinian troops who might cross from Syria and enter the Bekaa Valley equipped with advanced anti-aircraft missiles to hunt the Israeli jets. The scenario speaks about Israeli war inside Syria in a bid to completely destroy these troops. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem last week threatened that an Israeli attack against Syria would lead to total war.
And what, pray tell, does Mr. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem think total war is? I'd bet a great deal of money that in this context it does not mean that the entire Arab world sends armies to attack Israel,no matter what might be said at embassy cocktail parties.
The report said that 60% of the Israeli air force has already been put on full alert and is well prepared for action on the first day of the coming war in an extensive attack on the Lebanese. Israel is planning to fulfill all its objectives and finish the war within a few weeks. The remaining 40% of the Israeli air force will be ready to join in swiftly and effectively if the Syrian army gets involved.

The same French report added that Israel is determined to make this war the last one on her northern borders. The Jewish military command will not spare any advanced and destructive kind of weaponry that is stored in its caches. Hezbollah will not be the only target within the Shiite regions that are under its control, but also the Lebanese army, all Lebanese institutions and infrastructure. Israel is well convinced that Hezbollah is in full control of the Lebanese government and accordingly its army will not spare the country's infrastructure as was the situation in the 2006 war. Israel is planning to end Hezbollah the same way it ended the PLO in the 1982-1983 war.
That would certainly make for interesting conversations, including the White House.
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hizbullah: We have no links to ship
2009-11-06
Hizbullah on Thursday issued its first response to Israel's seizure of a cargo ship loaded with hundreds of tons of weaponry sent to the terror group from Iran.

The Lebanese Shi'ite organization issued a statement saying that it "categorically denies" any connection to the weapons "that the Zionist enemy claims to have confiscated from the ship."
"Lies! All lies!"
On Wednesday, Israel announced that the Francop, a large cargo vessel, contained dozens of containers holding several hundred tons of weapons concealed in crates marked "parts for bulldozers."

Hizbullah also condemned "Israeli pirates operating in international waters."

Israeli Navy Seals captured the Francop some 100 nautical miles west of Israel's northern shores.

Hizbullah's statement echoed a statement made by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, who denied late Wednesday that the cargo ship was carrying weapons from Iran, and implicitly called the Israeli naval forces "pirates."

"Unfortunately there are official pirates disrupting the movement of goods between Iran and Syria," he told reporters on a visit to Teheran. "I stress, the ship was not carrying Iranian arms bound for Syria, nor was it carrying material for manufacturing weapons in Syria. It was carrying [commercial] goods from Syria to Iran."

Lebanese MP Michel Aoun, who in 2006 became aligned with Hizbullah, remarked later on Wednesday that Lebanon would get its arms from China if not from Iran, adding that such weapons would be better suited to the "liberation of Palestine" than to the internal Lebanese conflict.
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Iraq
Iraq's stability is in Syria's interest- Assad
2009-08-31
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that it is in Syria's interest that Iraq enjoys improved security and stability, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said today. This came during his meeting with the EU high representative for common foreign and security policy, Javier Solana. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem attended the meeting.

"Syria has a direct interest in establishing security and stability in Iraq and achieving reconciliation among all constituents of the Iraqi people," the news agency quoted Assad as saying.
His lips had to be flapping on the floor ...
Iraqi-Syrian relations have seen a heated tension following accusations that Syria is harboring groups believed to be behind the recent suicide blasts that killed and wounded scores of people in the capital Baghdad.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Miliband urges Arab Peace Plan approval
2009-07-27
[Jerusalem Post Middle East] The Arab peace initiative presents the best opportunity to address Israel's doubts about its acceptance in the region, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told his Syrian counterpart on Friday.
I suspect Israel hasn't any doubts about its acceptance in the region.
In talks with visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem at the Foreign Office, Miliband said US President Barack Obama's approach to the conflict presented a "historic opportunity" for peace between Israel and Palestinians and the wider Arab world.
Whenever I hear the phrase "historic opportunity" I think of Woody, the used car salesman who thought he'd sell Mr. Wife that Chevy whose colour that brought out my eyes.
"I believe we have a genuinely historic opportunity, but also a historic responsibility because of the new approach that's been taken by the Obama administration since January, an approach which I think is wholly welcome, which is fully engaged and which is clear and consistent. President Obama has defined peace between Israel and the Arab world as being in the American national interest, a very significant statement, and I repeat today that it is in the British interest as well," Miliband told Moallem.

Speaking after the meeting, Miliband said: "We discussed today the important issue of how new direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are triggered by a freeze on settlements, an issue which has rightly assumed prominence.
No prominence, however, to the issue of cessation of Palestinian attacks on Israeli settlements, because that's not an issue to anyone accept the Israelis, and they don't count in these negotiations. What ever happened to the philosemitic Britons like Winston Churchill?
"But we've also discussed the need to address the grave doubts that exist, and fears that exist among many Israelis about whether or not they will be accepted in the region. And it's because of that fear amongst, other reasons, that I think the Arab peace initiative has particular significance and importance. With Senator George Mitchell going to Damascus tomorrow, it's been a particularly good time to have talks with Foreign Minister Moallem."

The foreign secretary spoke of the strengthening relations between Syria and the US, as reflected in the visit on Saturday by Mitchell, special envoy to the Middle East for the Obama administration, saying it represented great potential for the region as well as for imposing serious responsibilities on all parties.

Miliband also said that Syria was is in a "unique position to influence Iranian policy choices." The Islamic republic now had an opportunity to take its place in the community of nations, the foreign secretary said. "My belief is that the potential for Iran to assume an appropriate place in the international system will never be more clearly articulated than it has been at the moment. There will never be a better opportunity for Iran to assume an appropriate place in the community of nations, and I think that it's very, very important that we make clear to the Iranian authorities the significance of this moment and the significance of the policy choices that the new government [in Teheran] makes, because there is a very clear offer on the table in respect of its nuclear but also wider regional perspectives, and I think it's very important that there are no illusions about the importance of the decisions they now affect," he said.

Friday's meeting focused on bilateral relations. Miliband expressed delight with the improving ties. "The really excellent discussions that we've had today, I think, are testimony to the growing depth and breadth to the relationship between the UK and Syria," he said. "We've reviewed bilateral relations which I think are deepening on the economic and cultural front as well as on the political and diplomatic front."
"See? We are still important."
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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria praises AhmadinejadŽs UN speech
2009-04-24
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Iranian President Mahmoud AhmadinejadŽs speech at a UN conference on racism had widespread Arab support even if it stirred a Western walkout over his anti-Israeli stand, Syria said on Wednesday. ŽŽA large proportion of public opinion in the Arab world supports the words of the Iranian president,ŽŽ Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said.
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