Hands Off Syria, Sydney, strongly condemns the US/UK/France Coalition bombing against Syria.

This war of aggression against Damascus occurred in the early hours of Saturday 14.04.2018 morning, Syrian time, and lasted almost two hours to punish the Syrian people for refusing to submit to regime change.

Hundreds of US missiles rained in the densely populated ancient city, many of its residents internally displaced civilians who sought refuge following the destruction of their homes by Western backed terrorists.

The people of Syria have endured seven years of a proxy war, a dirty war perpetrated by mercenary terrorists from all around the world funded, trained and armed by the US/NATO/Israel & Gulf monarchies.

Among those terrorists groups are Daesh/ISIS, al-Nusra, al-Qaeda in Syria, FSA, Jaish al-Islam and many more which have perpetrated grand scale destruction, torture and vile acts against the people of Syria.

The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and allies have been liberating towns and cities which had been held hostage to Daesh and other terrorist groups.

In the last couple of weeks the SAA liberated all of East Ghouta, a town near Damascus, which saw the freedom of 400,000 civilians who had been kept hostage by terrorists for six years.

The US/UK/France bombing of Syria was unilateral, illegal under international law and a war crime.

The OPCW was given no time to investigate an alleged chemical attack which took place in Douma, and was blamed on the Syrian Government and used as an excuse to carry out the criminal bombing. This is a clear indication that these US/UK/France had no interest in the investigation and its outcome.

This criminal attack is a blatant Imperial aggression, a cowardly act which only demonstrates how vile these Western powers are, attacking a small nation which has suffered seven years a proxy dirty war and has endured many more years of sanctions.

Hands Off Syria joins the call by the Syrian-Australian Community for a protest/Vigil commencing at 6pm this coming Thursday 19 April 2018 in Martin Place, Sydney, outside the US Consulate.

By Shaza/Manal
Source: SANA
Damascus – People’s Assembly strongly condemned the US-British-French tripartite aggression on Syria, confirming it violates the international legitimacy principles, international law and UN Charter.

In a statement on Saturday, the People’s Assembly demanded the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Union of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Member States’ councils, and all the parliamentary, regional and international organizations to shoulder their ethical and legal responsibilities by condemning the aggression which will only fuel the world’s conflicts and threatens international peace and security.

The Assembly considered that unjustified aggression on a sovereign state and a founding member of the United Nations is an attempt to foil the work of Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in Douma city in Eastern Ghouta.

The People’s Assembly hailed the steadfastness of the Syrian people who took to the streets in various provinces since Saturday dawn to denounce the aggression, also saluting the heroes of the Syrian Arab Army who proved their ability to down hostile missiles.

The People’s Assembly reaffirmed that these attacks will only boost the determination of the Syrian people and army in defending Syria’s sovereignty and national dignity.

Source: NEO

Lately we’ve been witnessing an ever increasing number of reports and non-conspiratorial facts that expose an alliance that exists between Western liberals and jihadists. It’s hardly a secret that in Libya NATO fought a war on behalf of al-Qaeda and other radical groups to topple the legitimate government of what used to be the most prosperous and stable African state. Countries like Britain even used their intelligence services to help bring latent jihadists, some of whom were under police surveillance, in a bid to topple the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Even today such states as the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium are not just sponsoring radical militants across the Middle East and arming them, they are effectively providing close air support to radical forces in Syria, while helping the Saudis to aid the Wahhabist cause in Yemen.

A prominent alternative media source The Duran would note:

ISIS and al-Qaeda want to destroy secular, progressive, modern Arab governments whether Ba’athist, Nasserist or in the case of Libya one based on the Third International Theory–western leaders want the same. Jihadists believe it is their duty to replace secular governments with theocracy–western leaders back them up. Countries like secular France, Israel, Germany the US and UK don’t like to talk about the fact that Libya was a secular state with mass literacy, women’s rights, protections and safety for black people and high living standards.

Western government have been providing all sorts of assistance to radical terrorists right under our noses, acting on the pretext that they are assisting non-existent moderate rebels groups. In reality certain detachment of ISIS would pretend to be member of the so-called opposition forces in the morning, only to butcher civilians by hundreds in the evening. It comes as no surprise that recently the Salon magazine would publish a detailed report of the crimes against humanity committed by the so-called ‘moderate rebels’ in Syria, since there’s a long list of those being committed on the daily basis.

The efforts undertaken by governments, special services, civil society institutions of the Western world to support those so-called ‘moderate forces’ will inevitably lead to the continuation of the string of terrorist attacks in Western states, leading to the ever growing hatred that most Europeans have recently experienced towards Muslims.

The divide between various social and religious groups across the EU will become even deeper with every new terrorist attack. This development will transform those Muslims who have nothing in common with radical militants into outcasts, that are going to be unwelcome in most any European state. This will make the attempts to radicalize those groups that are being routinely taken by ISIS into a pretty simple task.

This means that after some time the Islamic State will become capable of enlisting enough outcasts to create a rouge army in the EU. The question is where will this army launch a jihad against the infidels in the Middle East or in Europe itself?

The ideas voiced by certain individual experts about the need to put an end to the exodus of Muslims from the conflict zones in the Middle East and North Africa look delusional at best. Judge for yourself, no European state will agree to invest massive financial resources in the rebuilding the destroyed economies of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, in a bid to create more or less decent living conditions for local residents that are fleeing their home towns in search for a better life in Europe.

Therefore, the ongoing fighting in those regions will only lead to an increase in the level of radicalization among local young people, who forced into exile and deprived of the decent and humane treatment that any individual is entitled to get.

The programs aimed at the de-radicalization introduced by a number of EU countries, in fact, are not only falling short of the expected effect, but just fail. This is especially true of the program of de-radicalization of French youth, that was adopted last May. Its failure is being manifested by the reports of two members of the French Senate: Esther Benbassa and Catherine Troendlé. Those ladies drafted a document that goes under the title of “Désendoctrinement, désensbrigadement et réinsertion des djihadistes en France et en Europe.” In short, this report subjects the attempts create centers of to deradicalization taken by the French government to an extensive amount of criticism, since local authorities have not simply failed to achieve their stated goals, but compromised the very idea of creating such centers.

Therefore, it is only logical that an ever increasing number of experts in various countries of the world has come to grips with the fact that the military defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq will not put an end to the string of terrorist attacks in Europe. That is why the problem of radicalization is, above all, the problem of European societies, and it must be solved in Europe. The Die Presse, for instance, seems convinced that it’s the only hope the EU has to put an end to the problem of terrorism.

For Germany, the defeats that the Islamic State is suffering in Syria is major security risk, since the more pressure is exerted on jihadists, the higher the threat of terrorist attacks in Western Europe, notes Christoph Wanner, a correspondent for the German TV channel N24.

That is why today the European political forces, just like their colleagues from across the ocean, must take decisive efforts in a bid put an end to radicalization of local Muslim communities and counter the spread of ISIS’ poisonous ideology.

Grete Mautner is an independent researcher and journalist from Germany, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”

By Finian Cunningham
Source: Strategic Culture
Hysteria and histrionics at the United Nations Security Council from the three permanent members, the United States, Britain and France, was tantamount to a signed confession. Ironically, one can imagine how the wording of such a «confession» would go: We the intensely vexed members are hereby displaying our boorish displeasure that the terror proxies we covertly sponsor in Syria for regime change are being thrashed.

Such was the tawdry display of undiplomatic conduct by the US, Britain and France, with officials from these countries inveighing against Russia with unsubstantiated, sensationalist accusations of committing war crimes. The intemperance was then followed by tantrums and walk-outs from the Security Council meeting – a meeting that these three members had originally convened.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later lambasted the imperious attitude from the Western trio as an «unacceptable» breach of diplomatic protocol.

During the weekend, the US, Britain and France claimed that Russia was a «partner» with its Syria ally in perpetrating war crimes over the breakdown of the ceasefire that had been declared on September 12.

As usual, it was the American UN ambassador Samantha Power who excelled in the hysteria and histrionics. «What Russia is doing is not counter-terrorism. It is barbarism», declared Power with shrill, puffed up vitriol.

The US official even hinted that she would like to henceforth have Russia sanctioned from Security Council membership. «Russia holds a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. This is a privilege and a responsibility. Yet in Syria and in Aleppo, Russia is abusing this historic privilege».

That’s breath-taking delusional hubris coming from an official of a country that is currently bombing seven countries (Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen) and which has destroyed dozens more over the past decades with millions of civilian deaths.

The British ambassador Mathew Rycroft chipped into the Russia bashing by adding that «the Security Council needs to be ready to fulfill our responsibilities». He blamed Russia for unleashing «hell on Aleppo».

The concerted American, British and French rhetorical offensive against Russia suggests that these three powers are striving for an unprecedented objective. Perhaps, by delegitimizing Russia through a media process of criminalizing, the Western states are intending to over-ride the Security Council’s veto in order to give themselves a mandate for a large-scale military intervention in Syria – under the well-worn guise of «protecting human rights».

Incredibly, the US, British and French – together with the Western news media – continue to blame Russia for an attack on a UN aid convoy in Aleppo last week. Britain’s Foreign Minister Boris Johnson told the BBC that Russia «may have committed a war crime». This allegation is made despite the paucity of any supporting evidence to impute Russia or Syrian forces.

Both Russia and Syria have refuted any involvement in the deadly sabotage, and even the UN aid agencies and Syrian Arab Red Crescent have declined to blame Russia or Syrian forces.

Indeed, the evidence is more indicative of some kind of false flag propaganda incident carried out by the foreign-backed anti-government militants. Suspiciously, the video of the aid convoy attack, which forms the basis of subsequent Western claims, was supplied by the dubious White Helmets, also known as the Syrian Civil Defense. This group works closely with the Al Qaeda-linked Aleppo Media Center and has been involved in fabricating atrocities with which to smear the Assad government forces. Tellingly, the White Helmet «volunteer» who was filmed commenting in the aftermath of the aid convoy attack last week has since been identified by Syrian patriots as an armed militant in one of the al Qaeda-affiliated terror brigades.

We are thus left to deduce that Western allegations of «war crimes» against Russia are not only false; they are terrorist-sourced fabrications that are a being peddled by Western governments and news media in a desperate attempt to slander Russia.

The escalation of Western media claims demonstrates a full-court psychological operation to rail-road the narrative of Syria and Russia being villainous and illegitimate. The preponderance of Western media reports on the renewed fighting around the northern city of Aleppo invariably attribute their source of information as «according to activists». These «activists» could be the White Helmet propaganda artists or the terrorist groups themselves. But Western media and governments are citing these unverified sources for their figures on «civilian deaths» and «banned munitions» allegedly being used by Syrian and Russian air forces. This is taking Western collusion with terrorists to a whole new level.

The recent broadside at the UN from the US, Britain and France is indicative of a coordinated political effort by these powers to hobble Russia’s otherwise successful military intervention in Syria. Not only has Russia’s intervention succeeded militarily in defeating the West’s covert regime-change war by wiping out the terrorist proxies; Russia’s involvement in Syria has succeeded in the international media war by exposing the true culpability of the Western powers in inflicting their dirty war on Syria.

With astounding arrogance, this Western trio is pounding Syria illegally with warplanes over the past two years and have documented covert links to the illegally armed insurgents. In a recent TV interview on France 24 (September 25), Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also confirmed that special forces from the US, Britain and France were operating in northern Syria, purportedly to assist «moderate rebels» to fight against the al Qaeda-type terror groups. This all amounts to a gross violation of Syrian sovereignty by the NATO powers and warrants a legal prosecution for foreign aggression.

The Western media offensive against Russia also comes within a week of American and British warplanes massacring over 62 Syrian army troops at the airbase near Deir ez-Zor, which led to the ceasefire’s collapse two days later.

Yet the West has managed to blackout that war crime after quickly shoving it down the memory hole as an «accident».

American ambassador Samantha Power was incandescent when Russia called for a Security Council emergency meeting over the Deir ez-Zor atrocity on September 17. She disparaged Russian concerns as a «cynical stunt».

As if to avenge Russian audacity to shame the Americans, the US and its Western allies countered with their own «emergency» meeting alleging Moscow’s «war crimes» the following week. But, as noted, the only «evidence» that the West presents is hearsay from anonymous «activists» who are most probably acting as propaganda conduits for terrorist groups.

Syrian ambassador Bashar al Jaafari reminded the UN Security Council that it was his country’s legal and constitutional prerogative to defend the Syrian nation and defeat illegally armed militants on its territory.

Rather than giving the Syrian representative a modicum of respect, the American, British and French officials stormed out of the Security Council meeting – just as American ambassador Power had done the week before when Russia’s Vitaly Churkin was addressing media about the Deir ez-Zor massacre.

Following the latest ceasefire charade in which Western-sponsored «moderate rebels» were conspicuously indistinguishable from terror groups, Syria, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah have every right to launch a renewed offensive to finally bring an end to this foreign-fueled covert war for regime change. The gloves are off. They need to be.

And as the foreign proxy army of terrorist brigades gets wiped out in their last stand at Aleppo, the Western masterminds behind the covert war are becoming increasingly desperate.

The desperation at seeing the regime-change project being lost in Syria could trigger all-out war between NATO powers and Syria’s allies, including Russia. This is a very real danger especially with Turkey, the US, Britain and France expanding military operations in northern Syria.

One thing is for sure though. Washington and its accomplices will step up the media hysteria and defamation against Syria and Russia. Expect more histrionic tantrums at the UN and a barrage of «humanitarian tragedies» – from the three permanent members of the Security Council who brought us the hell of Syria’s catastrophe in the first place.

Global Research
By Michelle Chossudovsky
Air Strikes against Civilians in North of Aleppo

In the immediate wake of the 14th of July Nice Terror Attack which resulted in more than 84 dead, France’s President Francois Hollande intimated in an official address (without evidence) that the attacks had been conducted by the Islamic State based in Northern Syria. He immediately ordered the French Air Force to intensify the bombing campaign allegedly against the ISIS in Northern Syria.

“We will strengthen our actions in Syria and Iraq, we will continue to strike those who attack us”, said Hollande in a national address, intimating that France had been attacked by a foreign power.

In a subsequent address, Francois Hollande said: ¨France is filled with sadness by this new tragedy…. France as a whole is under the threat of Islamic terrorism…We have to demonstrate absolute vigilance and show determination that is unfailing.”

At 10pm on the 14th of July he wrote on his Twitter that France was “bereaved and afflicted” but stronger than “the [ISIS] fanatics that want to strike her today,”

In a bitter irony, France’s Interior Minister –who oversees police operations throughout the country– confirmed that ISIS was not behind the Bastille Day Terror attack:

The French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has said there is no evidence linking Isis to the Bastille Day attacks in Nice, despite the terror group claiming responsibility. … Mr Cazeneuve said investigators have so far not established any links between Bouhlel and a specific terrorist network. (Independent, July 18, 2016)

Yet this did not prevent Francois Hollande from launching the air raids allegedly against the Islamic State.

François, tu es un criminel

Francois Hollande –casually ignoring the advice of his own government– went ahead and ordered an escalation of the bombing campaign, resulting in a massacre of more than 140 innocent Syrians, mainly women and children.

But these bombs were never intended for the ISIS.

WHY? Because France provides money and weapons to the ISIS alongside its coalition partners.

These bombs were directed against the Syrian people using the Bastille Day terror attack as a pretext and a justification to kill innocent Syrian women and children.

President Hollande says he is “filled with sadness by this new tragedy” [Nice attack], yet does that justify an act of retribution against Syria in which more than 140 civilians were killed. And that order to kill emanates from the Elysée Palace.

“An eye for eye”: Lex talionis and the Hamurabbi Code.

The Syrian Government’s Response in relation to President Hollande’s criminal undertaking.

Damascus has submitted the matter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and to the President of the UN Security Council Ambassador Koro Bessho of Japan, pointing to the fact that:

“French warplanes, working within the so-called “international coalition” led by the US, perpetrated an unjust massacre on the territories of Syria near the Syrian-Turkish borders, targeting Toukhan al-Kubra village to the north of Manbij, killing families in complete and demolishing houses there.”

The French unjust aggression claimed the lives of more than 120 civilians, most of them are children, women and elderly, in addition to tens of wounded citizens, the majority of them are also children and women as reports say that the fate of scores of other civilians who still under debris are unknown too,”

The letters went on to say that the French aggression comes after one day of a US aggression carried out by US warplanes on Monday which perpetrated a similar bloody massacre by bombarding Syrian city of Manbij, claiming the lives of more than 20 civilians and injuring tens others.

The government of Syrian Arab republic condemns, with the strongest terms, the two bloody massacres perpetrated by the French and US warplanes and those affiliated to the so-called international coalition which send their missiles and bombs to the civilians instead of directing them to the terrorist gangs… Syria also affirms that those who want to combat terrorism seriously should coordinate with the Syrian government and army,” the Ministry said.

It went on to say that the US, French, Turkish, Saudi Arabian, British and Qatari continued support to the terrorist organizations that they name “moderate groups, like Jabhat al-Nusra, Jaish al-Fatah, Jaish al-Islam, Liwa al-Tawhid and other terrorist organizations affiliated to the ISIS and al-Qaeda is a clear evidence that these states are colluding and cooperating with the terrorist groups, and an indication to their non-seriousness in combating terrorism. (SANA, July 19, 2016

Syria’s Foreign Ministry called upon the UN and the international community to: “condemn this massacre perpetrated by France” The Syrian government demands

that UN Security Council [envisage] … taking punitive measures against states and regimes that support and fund terrorism, particularly those regimes in Riyadh, Doha, Ankara and Paris and prevent them from supporting terrorism and obliging them to abide by and implement UN relevant resolutions No. 2170, 2178, 2199 and 2253.” (ibid)

Inspire to Change
Syria is demanding the UN take action after it says French war planes killed more than 120 civilians during airstrikes on Tuesday near the Turkish-Syrian border. The deaths came just a day after US air assaults killed a further 20 people in Manbij.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry sent letters to the UN secretary general and to the president of the UN Security Council, which at present is Japan.

Damascus wants the organization to look into atrocities committed by France, which is a member of the US-led international coalition, after it targeted the village of Toukhan Al-Kubra, located near the Turkish-Syrian border and the city of Manbij.

The mass death toll in Toukhan Al-Kubra came just a day after US war planes killed around 20 people, mainly women and children, while many more were injured in and around the city of Manbij, the Foreign Ministry states.
“The government of the Syrian Arab Republic condemns, with the strongest terms, the two bloody massacres perpetrated by the French and US warplanes and those affiliated to the so-called international coalition which send their missiles and bombs to the civilians instead of directing them to the terrorist gangs… Syria also affirms that those who want to combat terrorism seriously should coordinate with the Syrian government and army,” the ministry added.

In the letter, the Syrian Foreign Ministry added that it condemns the continued support by the US, France, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Qatar to terrorist organizations such as Al-Nusra Front and Jaish Al-Islam, despite these groups having clear links to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Qaeda.

The human rights watchdog Amnesty International also hit out at the US-led coalition, saying that it needs to do more to prevent the deaths of civilians.

“Anyone responsible for violations of international humanitarian law must be brought to justice and victims and their families should receive full reparation,” Amnesty’s interim Middle East director Magdalena Mughrabi said, as cited by Reuters.

A spokesman for the US Department of Defense says that it is aware of the loss of civilian life in Syria.

“We are aware of reports alleging civilian casualties near Manbij, Syria, recently. As with any allegation we receive, we will review any information we have about the incident,” Matthew Allen said in a statement.

“We take all measures during the targeting process to avoid or minimize civilian casualties or collateral damage and to comply with the principles of the Law of Armed Conflict,” he added.

The US-led coalition has been providing air support to the rebel group the Syrian Arab Coalition, which is involved in heavy fighting around the city of Manbij, currently under the control of Islamic State.

The terrorist group has been in control of the city since it seized large swathes of Syria and Iraq in the summer of 2014.

In an interview with NBC News last week, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that the US is not interested in defeating terrorists in Syria as it really wants “to control and use them.”

“The reality is telling that, since the beginning of the American airstrikes, terrorism has been expanding and prevailing,” he told the channel, specifying that “during the American and alliance airstrikes, ISIS was expanding and taking over new areas in Syria.”

“It’s about being serious, having the will. The United States doesn’t have the will to defeat the terrorists. It had the will to control them and to use them as a card, like they did in Afghanistan. That will reflect on the military aspect of the issue,”Assad said.