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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria Opposition's Khatib Proposes Assad 'Safe Exit'

2013-05-24

[An Nahar] Syria's outgoing opposition chief published an initiative for his war-torn country on Thursday that would grant Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... a safe exit, and urged dissident factions to adopt his plan. Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib published his initiative on Facebook, as the main National Coalition he headed until March gathered in Istanbul to choose a new leader and discuss a U.S.-Russian peace initiative dubbed Geneva 2. Under Khatib's initiative, Assad would have 20 days from Thursday to give "his acceptance of a peaceful transition of authority". After accepting, Assad would have one month to hand over power to either Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi or Vice President Faruq al-Sharaa, who would then govern Syria for a transitional period of 100 days. As part of the transition Khatib envisages, Assad would "leave the country along with five hundred people whom he will select, along with their families and children, to any other country that may choose to host them". This is the first time one of Syria's opposition chiefs has made an offer of political immunity to Assad and key members of his regime. Khatib's proposal is an effort to pull Syria "out from the catastrophe that has struck our nation", said the former Omayyad mosque imam and controversial opposition figure on Facebook. It is also "a practical response to the need of a political settlement ensuring a peaceful transition of authority", Khatib added. "This initiative is a product of Syria and its goal is Syria," he said. While calling on dissident groups to adopt the initiative "as a way out from the catastrophe that has struck our nation", Khatib also said the international community should "oversee it and ensure that it is implemented". This would be accompanied by the release of all political prisoners in Syria, Khatib wrote.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Opposition divided on dialogue

2013-02-08

[FRANCE24] It also came as an offer by opposition leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib for peace talks with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's The Scourge of Hama... regime suffered setbacks, with Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... ignoring it and a key opposing faction flatly rejecting the initiative. The surprise gesture by Khatib, head of the opposition National Coalition, was welcomed by the United States and the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... , and was expected to receive the backing of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). International Syria mediator Lakhdar Brahimi welcomed the "positive" offer but warned it was not enough for a political solution. Asked if he could see an end in sight to Syria's bloodshed -- which according to UN figures has killed over 60,000 people in nearly two years -- the UN-Arab League envoy told the French daily La Croix: "Not for the moment." Assad himself has yet to comment on the offer by Khatib, who stepped up the pressure to engage in talks by setting the regime a deadline of Sunday for the release of all women held in Syrian prisons. "The demand that the women are released means that if there is one single woman still in prison in Syria on Sunday, I consider that the regime has rejected my initiative," Khatib told BBC Arabic. The Syrian National Council, the main component of the Coalition, has rejected the possibility of any talks, saying it is committed to ousting Assad's regime, rejecting dialogue with it, and protecting the revolution. But Khatib, who last week called on Assad to agree to let Vice President Faruq al-Sharaa open peace talks with his coalition, appealed for the opposition to "declare our willingness to negotiate" the regime's departure. Addressing an OIC summit in Cairo, Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi called on opposition factions "to coordinate with this coalition and support their efforts for a unified approach... for democracy". Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad, who al-Assad counts as one of his last allies, became the first Iranian president to attend the meeting since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Assad Inner Circle Takes Hard Line in Syria Conflict

2012-12-28

[An Nahar] The Syrian vice president's criticism of leader Bashir al-Assad has highlighted the cracks in the regime's highest ranks, pitting supporters of compromise against the president's hardline inner circle. Assad's closest aides believe the regime should keep fighting and that they can still win a war against rebels which has left more than 44,000 dead in almost two years. "Power has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of just a few people in Assad's clan, which has grown autistic and seems to have chosen to just keep going," Gay Paree-based expert Karim Bitar told AFP. Assad's circle includes his brother Maher, 44, who heads the army's elite Fourth Division and his wife Asma, an analyst told AFP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. The group also includes Assad's notorious businessmen uncle Mohammed Makhluf, 80, cousin Rami Makhluf, 43, and Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... security chief, Hazem Makhluf, 41. Like Assad, all are members of the minority Alawite community, except his wife, who is a Sunni Moslem. Presidential affairs minister since 2009, Mansur Azzam, 52, and former al-Jazeera journalist Luna al-Shibl are also close to Assad. Both are members of the Druze community. Alawite Hussam Sukkar, a security advisor to the president, is also key, as are two Sunni veterans: National Security director Ali Mamluk and Political Security chief Rostom Ghazali. "This is the group that takes the decisions," the analyst said. "Bashar, who runs the show, only listens to people who owe him, for the most part, for their rise." But several high-level officials, members of the state apparatus and part of the army command, understand -- like Vice President Faruq al-Sharaa -- "that neither the rebels nor the army can secure an all-out victory," said Bitar. "As such, they are hoping for a negotiated solution, which would prevent them all being swept away should Assad fall,." In an interview published in a pro-Damascus Lebanese daily, Sharaa, who for 22 years served as foreign minister, said he favors a negotiated solution to the conflict, rather than the president's strategy of crushing the revolt militarily. Assad "does not hide his desire to press on militarily until the final victory (and he believes that) after this, political dialogue will actually still be possible," Sharaa told Beirut-based al-Akhbar. Experts say that out of those who share Sharaa's views, two women stand out. One of them is Buthaina Shaaban, a 59-year-old Alawite who was close to Assad's father Hafez, and worked as his translator before becoming minister of expatriate affairs. In 2008, Shaaban became Bashir al-Assad's advisor. The other is Najah al-Attar, a 79-year-old Sunni, who was minister of culture from 1976 to 2000, and was then appointed vice president along with Sharaa in 2006. "It seems this group has been totally excluded from decision-making, because they think the war should end with no winner or loser," said a former minister who took a distance from the regime when the revolt broke out in March 2011. Assad's clique, the minister added on condition of anonymity, "treats them like cowards." The journalist who interviewed the vice president for al-Akhbar said "Sharaa is not in the decision-making circle, and communicates infrequently with the president." On Sunday, Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi played down Sharaa's assessment. "It is one opinion among 23 million opinions in Syria, which is a state led by institutions and leaders who will give the final opinion," he said. After 50 years in power, differences have emerged even among Alawites, as young members of this offshoot of Shiite Islam are killed daily in battle.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Nephews of Syria vice president arrested: NGO

2012-12-21

[Al Ahram] Two nephews of Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Sharaa have been tossed in the slammer Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! along with five of their friends over their support for political change, a monitoring group said on Thursday. "University professor Zaydun Zohbi, 38, and his brother Suhaib, who are nephews of Faruq al-Sharaa, and five of their friends, activists in favour of peaceful change in Syria, were arrested at a cafe on December 15 by members of the military intelligence," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory, which depends on a large network of activists and doctors across Syria for its information, demanded their "immediate" release and that of "all civilian and military prisoners". The arrests come after the vice president said in comments published on Monday that he favours a negotiated solution to Syria's bloody uprising, a position at odds with Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... Sharaa, the most prominent Sunni Mohammedan official in the Alawite minority dominated regime of Assad, also told the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar that a clear winner was unlikely to emerge from the conflict. The Centre for Documentation of Violations in Syria, which is close to the opposition, says there are nearly 35,000 people held in jails across the war-torn country by the Assad regime. Sharaa, 74, has served the regime for decades, both under Assad and his father and predecessor Hafez, but has been seen in public only a few times since the uprising erupted in March 2011.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Top Syrian Islamic Official Urges Talks

2012-12-20

[An Nahar] Syria's top Islamic authority appealed to the opposition to seek "regime change through dialogue, not by force," the SANA state news agency said on Wednesday. "Members of the foreign-based opposition will ultimately be forced to sit at the negotiating table," Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Hassun Badreddin was quoted as saying. The Sunni Mohammedan holy man called on the opposition to "take the initiative," and urged armed gunnies "to throw down their weapons. Regime change does not come by force, but through dialogue," SANA quoted him as saying. Hassun is close to the regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Horror of Homs... , who belongs to the Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. His comments were published two days after a pro-Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... Lebanese newspaper ran an interview with Vice President Faruq al-Sharaa saying that he favors a negotiated solution to Syria's 21-month conflict. "No opposition can end the battle militarily, just as the security forces and army cannot achieve a decisive conclusion," said Sharaa, calling for a "historic settlement" between the warring parties and backed by key regional countries and U.N. Security Council member states.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Ahmadinejad Calls for Ceasefire, Dialogue in Syria

2012-10-19

[An Nahar] Iran's diminutive President Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad has urged a ceasefire in Syria and called for internal dialogue to resolve the crisis, but rejects a Turkish proposal to replace Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... , Kuwait's press reported Thursday. "The continuity of the fighting and the killing of innocent and unarmed Syrian citizens ... is unacceptable. A ceasefire must be achieved and then a dialogue started," said Ahmadinejad, cited by the daily Al-Anbaa newspaper. "The solution must be Syrian made by the Syrian people," he said during a visit this week to Kuwait, where he attended the Asia Cooperation Dialogue Summit. Ahmadinejad rejected a Turkish proposal made earlier this month that Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara replace the embattled Assad during a transition phase in Syria. "This means we are imposing a foreign solution on the Syrians. The solution must be Syrian and not imposed from outside and the Syrian people should decide through elections," the Iranian leader said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria Denies Sacking of Ambassador to Lebanon

2012-09-25

[An Nahar] Syria's Ministry of Information on Monday denied the sacking of the country's ambassador to Leb and said a previous email announcement was a result of hacking, state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? reported. "The email account of the ministry was hacked in order to publish inaccurate information" about the reported dismissal of the Syrian Ambassador to Leb Ali Abdul Karim Ali, the ministry said in a statement carried by state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe? The ministry said it "denounces this piracy" and confirmed that "Ambassador Ali is still in his post in Leb, and the announcement of his dismissal is baseless." Syrian official news agency SANA also said on Monday that its Facebook page had been hacked. "As part of an aggressive campaign against our national media, hostile parties have hacked the SANA Facebook page," the agency said, adding that it had no links with the contents of the page, which it was working to deactivate. In late August, SANA said a fake email was sent on its behalf announcing the dismissal of Vice President Faruq al-Shara.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syrian Forces Kill 17; Huge Protests in Homs

2011-12-17

[VOA News] Activists say Syrian security forces killed at least 17 people on Friday as more than 200,000 protesters rallied against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... government. Activists say most of the deaths took place in the flashpoint Homs region, where a huge crowd gathered to voice opposition to the Arab League's ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... decision to postpone an emergency meeting on Syria that was set for Saturday. News organizations say the league postponed the foreign ministers' meeting to give Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... more time to avoid sanctions by agreeing to a plan that could end the unrest. The Syrian government countered the activists' account saying there were no deaths or "human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... injuries" on Friday. The state-run SANA news agency also said a pro-government rally took place in a western region. Russia's Interfax news agency said Friday that a Syrian official, Vice President Faruq al-Shara, has been invited to Moscow for talks with Kremlin officials. On Thursday, Russia proposed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would condemn both the Syrian government and the opposition for violence linked to anti-government protests. The U.N. estimates that some 5,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in February. Syria's U.N. ambassador has rejected that figure as "incredible." In another development Friday, the United Nation's refugee agency [UNHCR] said more than 4,000 Syrians fleeing the government crackdown have poured into Leb. The agency said several hundred Syrians had crossed into the neighboring country within the past week.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria opens reforms 'dialogue' but opposition supporters stay away

2011-07-11

[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Syria opened a "national dialogue" on Sunday that it hailed as a step towards multi-party democracy after five decades of Baath party rule, but its credibility was undermined by an opposition boycott. The foreign ministry, meanwhile, called in the French and US ambassadors today to deliver a "strong protest" over their visit to the flashpoint city of Hama last week, the state news agency SANA said. Some 200 delegates taking part in the dialogue, including independent MPs and members of the Baath party, in power since 1963, observed a minute's silence in memory of the "deaders" before the playing of the national anthem. But opposition figures boycotted the meeting in protest at the government's continued deadly crackdown on unprecedented protests against President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad's One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... rule that erupted in mid-March. "We are going to hold a comprehensive national dialogue during which we will announce Syria's transition towards a multi-party democratic state in which everyone will be equal and able to participate in the building of the nation's future," Vice President Faruq al-Shara said in his opening address. Shara said that within a week the interior ministry would implement a government decision to "remove all obstacles to any citizen returning to Syria or travelling abroad. "Circumstances have prevented the full implementation of several laws promulgated recently, including that ending the state of emergency," in force for five decades, the vice president said.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syria condemns US sanctions on Assad

2011-05-20

[Al Jazeera] Syria has condemned the imposition of sanctions on its president by the United States as being "part of a regional scheme, aimed primarily at serving Israel's interests", state media reports. The Syrian government said that the sanctions "have not and will not" affect any of its decisions, nor would it affect Syria's stand on regional and international politics, the SANA news agency reported on Thursday. The United States imposed sanctions a day earlier on Bashir al-Assad, the Syrian president, and six bigwigs, citing alleged human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... abuses committed during a government crackdown on pro-democracy protests across the country. Syria has termed the move an attempt to "prolong the crisis in Syria" on the part of the United States. "The US measures are part of a series of sanctions imposed by successive US administrations against the Syrian people as part of a regional scheme, aimed primarily at serving Israel's interests," SANA said. The White House announced the sanctions on Wednesday, a day before Barack B.O. Obama, the US president, was to deliver a major speech on the uprisings throughout the Arab world. The sanctions are part of "an effort to increase pressure on the government of Syria to end its violence against its people and begin transitioning to a democratic system", a US official told the AFP news agency on the condition of anonymity. In a letter to congressional leaders, Obama said he issued the new sanctions order as a response to the Syrian government's "continuous escalation of violence against the people of Syria". Obama cited "attacks on protesters, arrests and harassment of protesters and political activists, and repression of democratic change, overseen and executed by numerous elements of the Syrian government". The sanctions will freeze any assets Assad and the six Syrian government officials have in US jurisdiction and make it illegal for Americans to do business with them. The six officials are: vice-president Faruq al-Shara, prime minister Adel Safar, interior minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar, defence minister Ali Habib Mahmud, military intelligence chief Abdul Fatah Qudsiya and director of the political security directorate, Mohammed Dib Zaitoun. Syrian rights activists say at least 700 civilians have been killed in two months of festivities between government forces and protesters seeking an end to his 11-year rule.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Arab League chief satisfied after talks with Assad

2008-01-20

Arab League chief Amr Mussa said after talks Saturday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad he was satisfied and moving step by step toward mediating a solution to Lebanon's political crisis. "The discussions were important. I am satisfied," Mussa told reporters. "We are advancing step by step," said Mussa, who arrived Friday in Syria from neighboring Lebanon, which has been without a president since November 23. Syria has been accused by the United States and its allies of blocking the election of a new president, and Damascus has leveled similar charges against the United States. MPs from Lebanon's Western-backed ruling coalition and the opposition are due to meet again on Monday to try to elect a president, after 12 previous parliamentary sessions were postponed. "I am neither pessimistic nor optimistic," said Mussa, who also met Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara and had dinner Friday with Foreign Minister Walid Moallem and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jaber al-Thani. Mussa has been trying to win support for a three-point Arab plan calling for the election of Lebanese army chief General Michel Sleiman as president, a national unity government in which no one party has veto power and the adoption of a new electoral law. Although the ruling coalition has backed the plan, the opposition insists that it be granted a third of the seats in a new government so it can have veto power. Syria's state news agency said Mussa and Assad discussed ""contacts set up in Beirut to resolve the standing problems between the (feuding Lebanese) parties."" Mussa said on Friday that he had made progress in negotiations between the factions although he was still far from a solution. "We have taken measures that I hope will result in defusing the crisis," Mussa said, following marathon talks. Meanwhile, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah criticized on Saturday Arab leaders who have been pushing the league's plan to end the crisis, saying they should refrain from giving lessons about democracy. "I find it strange that Arab leaders speak about ... democracy when their own regimes know nothing about it," Nasrallah said at a Beirut rally, while reiterating that his group supported the Arab League plan.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Saudis in Syrian diplomatic spat

2007-08-18

Saudi Arabia has strongly criticised claims from Syria that it has lost influence in the Middle East. The Muslim kingdom branded criticism by Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara earlier this week "lies and fallacies". In a speech in the Syrian capital of Damascus, Mr Shara said Saudi foreign policy was "virtually paralysed". But an unnamed source quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency said the Syrian remarks did not come from a "rational or prudent person". Mr Shara said the collapse of a Palestinian unity deal brokered by Saudi officials in the holy city of Mecca showed the kingdom's influence was on the wane. He also criticised Saudi Arabia for not attending a meeting on Iraqi security hosted by Syria earlier this month. But a Saudi official told the official press agency: "The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has followed with great surprise the distasteful statements recently made by ... (Mr Shara), which included numerous lies and fallacies aimed at harming us. "Talk about the paralysis of the kingdom's Arab and Islamic role does not come from a rational and prudent person, as this role is well known to everyone. "Perhaps Mr Shara had a slip of the tongue and meant by paralysis the policy he speaks for." Correspondents say Saudi Arabia and Syria remain at odds over many issues in the Middle East, including relations with Iran and the political crisis in Lebanon. The BBC's Magdi Abdelhadi says the unusually strong Saudi statement reflects growing frustration with the regime in Damascus.

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