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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.

FarsNews
“The army men and the National Defense Forces (NDF), tipped off by the intelligence agents, surrounded the group of the ISIL terrorists carrying suicide-belts and arrested them,” the sources said, adding, “The suicide attackers were mostly between 16-20 age and even one of them was at the age of 13.”

“Three of the suicide bombers exploded their explosives but none of the army men was injured in the blasts,” the sources said.

Earlier reports said that the Syrian Army troops and NDF, who captured al-Rasafeh energy-rich region earlier today, hit ISIL’s positions around the region’s oil and power facilities and captured them after hours of heavy clashes.

The Syrian government forces won the battle against the ISIL in al-Rasafeh triangle and captured oil pumping station and power station in this region.

The Syrian soldiers and NDF moved towards al-Rasafeh crossroad from Ithriya-Raqqa road.

The Syrian army men have cut off the ISIL communication lines in this region and are now hunting the remaining pockets of the Takfiri militants near al-Rasafeh.

Source: Greanville Post
How speedily the lies of the “international community” in general and those of the US and UK in particular about the Syrian situation are unraveling since the participation of Russia.

Take UK Prime Minister David Cameron. On 24th September last year he addressed the United Nations, committing British aircraft to targeting IS/ISIL/ISIS in Iraq adding unequivocally that there would be no similar action in Syria and absolutely no “boots on the ground.”(1)

Referring to Iraq he added that the West should not be frozen by “past mistakes.” If Iraq is a “mistake” Heaven alone knows what a catastrophe would look like.

Cameron of course was being economical with the truth. In 2013 Parliament voted not to be involved in Syria, making Cameron the first Prime Minister in 200 years to lose a Parliamentary war vote. It would anyway have been another illegal action, since they had not been invited by the Syrian President or government and had no UN mandate. However, in July this year it transpired that pilots of Britain’s Air Force have been “embedded” with US and Canadian Air Squadrons and been involved in flying: “intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike missions …” according to the Ministry of Defence. (2)

On 7th September Cameron also announced that a British drone strike in Syria had killed two UK citizens fighting with ISIS. What an irony, the UK has enjoined wiping out entire nations having accused their leaders of “killing their own people”, terrorists or not, now Cameron kills his “own people” in what Michael Clarke, Director General of London’s hawkish Royal United Services Institute has called a “targeted assassination.”

Those killed were : “… targeted in an area that the UK does not currently regard, legally, as an operational theatre of war for UK forces”, Clarke commented, adding: “The government insisted that, unlike CIA drones, they were never used for targeted assassinations in territories where we were not militarily engaged.” (3) Another government lie pinned.

As for “no boots on the ground”, another seemingly whopping untruth. As Stephen Lendman has written (4): “On 2nd August The Sunday Express revealed: ‘SAS dress as ISIS fighters in undercover war on jihadis’ side expanding that:

“ ‘More than 120 members belonging to the elite regiment are currently in the war-torn country’ covertly ‘dressed in black and flying ISIS flags’ engaged in what is called Operation Shader – attacking Syrian targets on the pretext of combatting ISIS.”

A mirror image of Basra, Iraq, exactly ten years ago, September 2005, when British Special Forces, dressed in Arab clothing, were arrested by Iraqi police in an explosive laden car. Had the car detonated, “Iraqi insurgents” would, of course, have been blamed. The British military demolished the police station in order to free the would-be bombers. (5) How many were not caught and “insurgency” for which Iraqis were blamed, killed, tortured, was actually “made in Britain” and the US, as Syria now?

In August it was reported that SAS troops in Syria “dressed in US uniforms, joined US special forces” in the assassination of alleged ISIS financier Abu Sayyaf and the kidnapping of his wife (Independent, 10th August.) It appears the British government only ever acts with, or at US behest, whilst sidelining it’s own Parliament.

Moreover: “Around 800 Royal Marines and 4,000 US counterparts were on standby to intervene on short notice if ordered”, wrote Lendman.

No wonder the Russians are being castigated for targeting the “wrong” kind of terrorists. In addition to being non-discriminatory and regarding a terrorist as simply that, they might also take the black flag waving SAS soldiers in fancy dress as terrorists. A “tangled web”, indeed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is anything but selective about the head chopping, culture erasing monsters besieging Syria – CIA trained or not – stating last week: “If it looks like a terrorist, if it acts like a terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist, if it fights like a terrorist, it’s a terrorist, right?” (6)

In a response which stunningly illuminated Washington’s selective stance towards terrorism US Secretary of State, John Kerry stated: “What is important is Russia has to not be engaged in any activities against anybody but ISIL”, he said: “That’s clear. We have made that very clear.” Breathtaking, it is for the Syrian government to specify the parameters.

The US and UK of course are both bombing and supporting insurgents entirely illegally in Syria, having no UN mandate and no request from the country’s governing body. Did Kerry even blush when Lavrov remarked – over the unspoken questions as to whether Russia would extend it’s air coverage to terrorist groups in Iraq – that they had no such plans: “We are polite people, we don’t come if not invited”, he said.

Vladimir Putin had said: “We have … an invitation and we intend to fight against terrorist organizations and them only”, possibly referring to allegations that the US has been targeting Syrian government sites and military personnel.

Russia’s diplomatic envoys were reasonably polite to the US too. Before embarking on air strikes, according to US State Department spokesman John Kirby: “A Russian official in Baghdad this morning informed US Embassy personnel that Russian military aircraft would begin flying anti-ISIL missions today over Syria.

“He further requested that US aircraft avoid Syrian airspace during these missions.” Russia had, in effect given the US one hour’s notice to leave Syria.

The US speedily responded with a report of Russian attacks causing civilian casualties. Sadly it transpired that at the time of the reported attacks, Russian ‘planes had not yet left the ground.

By 2nd October, it seems panic has set in amongst the “US led coalition” which: “ … released a joint statement calling on Moscow to immediately cease attacks on the Syrian opposition and to focus on fighting ISIS.” (Guardian 2nd October 2015.)

The statement was issued by France, Turkey, the United States, Germany, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Britain.

However the US cat had already escaped from the Pentagon bag and made it’s way to no less than the Wall Street Journal which, the previous day had a header: “Russian Airstrike in Syria Targeted CIA-Backed Rebels, U.S. Officials Say.

“One area hit was location primarily held by rebels receiving funding, arms, training from CIA and allies.” Oooops.

Michel Chossudovsky has succinctly unraveled (7) the unholy morass of the various groups coupling his piece with the WSJ story:

“Affiliated to Al Qaeda, Al Nusra is a US sponsored ”jihadist” terrorist organization which has been responsible for countless atrocities. Since 2012, AQI and Al Nusra — both supported by US intelligence– have been working hand in glove in various terrorist undertakings within Syria.

“In recent developments, the Syrian government has identified its own priority areas for the Russian counter-terrorism air campaign, which consists essentially in targeting Al Nusra. Al Nusra is described as the terrorist arm of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

“While Washington has categorized Al Nusra as a terrorist organization (early 2012), it nonetheless provides support to both Al Nusra and it’s so-called ‘moderate rebels’ in the form of weapons, training, logistical support, recruitment, etc. This support is channeled by America’s Persian Gulf allies, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia as well as through Turkey and Israel.

“Ironically, The UN Security Council in a May 2012 decision ‘blacklisted Syria’s al-Nusra Front as an alias of al-Qaeda in Iraq’, namely the ISIL …”

At the Russian intervention, US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power took to Twitter, stating: “We call on Russia to immediately cease attacks on Syrian opposition and civilians.” Such action, she warned: “will only fuel more extremism and radicalization.” Chutzpah outdone – until 2003 and the US-UK blitzkrieg there were no US sponsored organ eating, dismembering lunatics. Syria and Iraq were of the most secular countries in the region.

Syria, from lies, to heartbreak, to cultural destruction has become a microcosm of the demented, ridiculous “war on terror.” The lies and subterfuge to justify the horror have become more desperate but only the most obtuse can avoid noticing that terrorists R US.

NOTES

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/iraq-crisis-david-cameron-recalls-parliament-for-debate-on-airstrikes-on-isis-9754029.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33562420
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/07/drone-british-citizens-syria-uk-david-cameron
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2015/08/06/uk-special-forces-fighting-assad-in-syri
http://www.globalresearch.ca/british-undercover-soldiers-caught-driving-booby-trapped-car/972
http://www.mail.com/int/news/us/3858296-russia-defends-military-action-syria.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/obama-accuses-russia-of-going-after-americas-good-guy-terrorists/5479099

Felicity Arbuthnot is an award-winning journalist specialising in social and environmental issues with special knowledge of Iraq, a country which she has visited thirty times since the 1991 Gulf war. Iraq, she describes as: ‘sliding from the impossible, to the apocalyptic.’

Source:Press TV
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem says the Damascus government would ask for the deployment of Russian military forces to the crisis-hit country in case the ongoing foreign-sponsored militancy takes a turn for the worse.

“There is no joint fighting on the ground with Russian troops, but if we felt such a need, we would study it and demand,” Muallem told state-run Syrian television network on Thursday.

“So far the Syrian army is able (on its own) and what we need frankly is more of the ammunition and qualitative weapons to face the type of qualitative weapons of these terrorist groups,” he added.

Russian military support is so far restricted to arms supplies and training on new weapons from Russia, Muallem said, adding that his country’s relations with Moscow are strategic.

The remarks came on the same day that a Syrian military source, requesting not to be identified, said the Syrian army has recently started using new types of Russian-built air and ground weapons.

“The weapons are highly effective and very accurate, and hit targets precisely. We can say they are all types of weapons – be it air or ground,” Reuters quoted the source as saying, adding that Syrian army forces have received training in the use of the weapons in recent months, and are now deploying them.

On Wednesday, Syria’s Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari said Russia should be able to carry out airstrikes against Daesh in Syria, similar to the US air raids against purported Daesh positions.

“Why are the Americans fighting ISIL (Daesh) with their fighter jets and the Russians should be forbidden from that?” Ja’afari said, adding, “Does it make sense? It doesn’t make sense.”

On September 14, Syria’s Ambassador to Russia Riad Haddad dismissed as a “lie” Western allegations that Russian soldiers are fighting alongside their Syrian counterparts.

“Any talk about presence of Russian troops in Syria is a lie propagated by Western countries and the United States,” he said in an interview with Russian-language Rossiya-24 news network.

Haddad noted that Russian munitions are being supplied to the Syrian military “under the agreements that were signed” between the two countries “rather long ago.”

Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said her country “primarily” supports “Syria in its struggle against” Daesh Takfiri militants in a bid “to avert a total catastrophe in the region.”

Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied speculations that Moscow is engaged in a military buildup in Syria as suggested by the US and NATO. However, he added that Russia would continue to send military equipment to the Syrian government and humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people.

Lavrov has said military experts would inevitably accompany the arms consignments to Syria in order to train Syrian soldiers on how to use them.

The conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011, has reportedly claimed about 250,000 lives up until now.

The violence has also forced four million Syrians to take refuge in neighboring countries, including Jordan and Lebanon. More than 7.2 million others have been displaced within Syria, according to the United Nations.