Cyprus-Forum.com

[kimon07]

Obama Warned on Syrian Intel

September 6, 2013

Exclusive: Despite the Obama administration’s supposedly “high confidence” regarding Syrian government guilt over the Aug. 21 chemical attack near Damascus, a dozen former U.S. military and intelligence officials are telling President Obama that they are picking up information that undercuts the Official Story.

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

SUBJECT: Is Syria a Trap?

Precedence: IMMEDIATE

We regret to inform you that some of our former co-workers are telling us, categorically, that contrary to the claims of your administration, the most reliable intelligence shows that Bashar al-Assad was NOT responsible for the chemical incident that killed and injured Syrian civilians on August 21, and that British intelligence officials also know this. In writing this brief report, we choose to assume that you have not been fully informed because your advisers decided to afford you the opportunity for what is commonly known as “plausible denial.”

Read it all here:
http://consortiumnews.com/2013/09/06/ob ... ian-intel/

[Robin Hood]

What gives this article credibility is the signatories:
For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

Thomas Drake, Senior Executive, NSA (former)

Philip Giraldi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.)

Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC, Iraq & Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan

Larry Johnson, CIA & State Department (ret.)

W. Patrick Lang, Senior Executive and Defense Intelligence Officer, DIA (ret.)

David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council (ret.)

Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst (ret.)

Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Middle East (ret.)

Todd Pierce, US Army Judge Advocate General (ret.)

Sam Provance, former Sgt., US Army, Iraq

Coleen Rowley, Division Council & Special Agent, FBI (ret.)

Ann Wright, Col., US Army (ret); Foreign Service Officer (ret.)

[Cap]

So what's up with Syrian jets invading Cypriot airspace?
Taunting the RAF?

[yialousa1971]

Jihaddists re-take historic Syrian Christian village as stand-off continues
Published time: September 08, 2013 11:13




Islamist Nusra Front forces have re-captured Syria’s oldest Christian community from government troops in a night of fighting. The small village of Maaloula, once a peaceful spiritual place, became a battlefield on Wednesday.

The rebels captured the symbolically important village after forcing out government troops, who had previously pushed the insurgents to the mountainous outskirts of the village, reports AFP citing local sources.

"The rebels are inside Maaloula, all of Maaloula. The government troops have pulled out of Maaloula," a resident told the agency by phone.

The London-based pro-rebel Syrian Observatory for Human Rights group reported that the opposition received reinforcements, which helped them take control. The battle left at least 17 rebels dead and more than 100 wounded, the Observatory said. There were no immediate casualty reports from the government forces.

RT’s crew traveled to the site only to find themselves in a crossfire between government forces and rebels.

“It’s hard to believe that what used to be one of the most significant shrines of the Christian community all over the world is a battlefield now,” Maria Finoshina reported from outside the village.

“We’ve entered Maaloula village with the army, but just a few minutes later we were told to get back,” she says, as intensive shooting could be heard in the background.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and its allies first attacked Maaloula, which is located just north of Damascus, on Wednesday. The village is considered a symbol of Christianity in Syria, with many inhabitants there speaking Aramaic, an ancient language spoken by Jesus Christ. There were reports of Islamist attacks on Christian churches after the initial advance.

Government forces managed to re-take the village on Friday. But the difficult mountainous landscape of the area negated the army’s weapons advantage, offering rebels plenty of vantage points and places to hide from airstrikes.

Maaloula, which has some 2,000 residents, is on a UNESCO list of proposed world heritage sites. Before this week it had been mostly untouched by the two-year-long Syrian conflict, which has left an estimated 100,000 people dead and forced more than two million to become refugees.
http://rt.com/news/syria-christian-vill ... ndoff-570/

[yialousa1971]

Syria sends jets to taunt Cyprus

TENSIONS soared when two RAF Typhoon jets were scrambled after reports that Syrian ground attack fighters had entered Cypriot airspace.

The incursion, later dubbed a “goad-and-probe” sortie, happened within days of six Typhoon fighters, the UK’s newest interceptor jets, arriving at RAF Atrokiri, Britain’s military base in Cyprus, in readiness for any attack by Syrian forces.

The scare also led to Turkey scrambling two F-16 fighters from its base in Incirlik after radar detected “suspicious flights” over Northern Cyprus’s eastern coast.

Last night the Ministry of Defence confirmed the deployment of two Typhoons after the unidentified fighter jets, thought to be Russian-made Sukhoi Su-24s, were spotted but said they did not leave international airspace before flying away.

However, Cypriot newspapers cited reports by local air traffic control sources that the Syrian air force jets had been observed flying over the city of Famagusta.

Last night one senior RAF source said: “As the delivery of six Typhoons would suggest, Atrokiri is on high readiness in case of any Syrian incursion.

“It seems that this incident may have been a case of a goad-and-probe sortie by a Syrian air force acting more brazenly than ever after recent inaction by the West.”

While all British activities within Syria were suspended after Parliament failed to support David Cameron’s vote for intervention, the UK is still involved in “non-kinetic” operations.

These are focused on electronic counter measures, monitoring Syrian air force movements and communication intercepts gathered at the British top-secret “Pluto” signals base on Mount Olympus.

More than 600 Royal Marines from 30 and 42 Commando units will arrive in Aqaba, Jordan, next week for planned war-games, kitted out with chemical warfare equipment.

Their numbers will include signallers from the Y Troop unit, mobile cyber war specialists attached to 3 Commando. Foreign Secretary William Hague was last night expected to meet resistance as he urged EU involvement at a meeting of European foreign ministers and US Secretary of State John Kerry in Vilnius, Lithuania.

On Friday French President Francois Hollande indicated for the first time that he would wait for a UN report before committing France to military action.

Monday’s sortie happened just two days after US President Obama announced that he would seek a vote in Congress before launching any unilateral US military strike against Syria.

Despite support in the Senate, indications last night remained strong that Mr Obama was heading for a defeat in the House of Representatives.

Many, mostly Republican, districts in key states have already declared that they will oppose any resolution for military intervention in a vote expected to take place in the next few days.

Wisconsin congressman Jim Sensenbrenner summed up the mood when he told the Sunday Express: “President Obama set a red line for action in Syria and is now in denial.

“The actions by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his regime are reprehensible but Congress did not set a red line for military action in Syria, President Obama did.

“His plan for military force will not help the Syrian people or promote the freedom or security of the United States.”

All so-called “votes of conscience” in Congress are free and without pressure from whips. However, the substance of any resolution is likely to be considerably watered down by amendments imposed by both sides of the House.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/427 ... unt-Cyprus

[Robin Hood]

Not conclusive evidence unless they can produce the original communication but it does suggest that the attack the US are using as an excuse for military action against Assad may actually have been the result of mishandling by the rebels of Saudi supplied CW’s.

According to the doctored report, the chemical attack was carried out by the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armored Division of the Syrian Army, an elite unit commanded by Maher al-Assad, the president’s brother.

However, the original communication intercepted by Unit 8200 between a major in command of the rocket troops assigned to the 155th Brigade of the 4th Armored Division, and the general staff, shows just the opposite.

The general staff officer asked the major if he was responsible for the chemical weapons attack. From the tone of the conversation, it was clear that “the Syrian general staff were out of their minds with panic that an unauthorized strike had been launched by the 155th Brigade in express defiance of their instructions,” the former officers say.

According to the transcript of the original Unit 8200 report, the major “hotly denied firing any of his missiles” and invited the general staff to come and verify that all his weapons were present.

The report contains a note at the end that the major was interrogated by Syrian intelligence for three days, then returned to command of his unit. “All of his weapons were accounted for,” the report stated.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article36155.htm

[Get Real!]

The US has little credibility left: Syria won't change that

Obama's argument for intervention is a hollow one: America's use of chemical weapons in Falluja makes that clear

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... al-weapons

[Tim Drayton]

Iran and Russia are said to be working on a counter-plan involving a staged transition to democracy leading to elections in which Assad will not stand.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east ... m-1.545890

[Kikapu]

The US and others can manufacture, as many faulty evidence as they want regarding use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, but one thing they will not be able to explain or manufacture, is motive. Why would Syria use CW now, specially when they have the upper hand against the rebels? Let the US and others explain the motive for using CW by Assad, otherwise the whole case falls apart, because in solving any crime, one needs to solve motive also.

[Tim Drayton]

Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, is proposing a deal whereby in return for avoiding a military strike, Syria will place all of its chemical weapons under the control of the international community.
http://rt.com/news/lavrov-syria-chemica ... dover-615/