UN Finally Admits Syria is a Holy War, Not a Rebellion

the UN is only admitting that it is a holy war probably because the Shia have more pull then the Sunni in the UN. that isn't necessarily a great thing... but it explains a few things

(Daniel Greenfield) It’s a sad commentary on our current corrupt leadership that these days the UN tends to admit the truth about a conflict, as they did in Libya and now Syria, before Obama does.

Fighters from around the world have filtered into Syria to join a civil war that has split along sectarian lines, increasingly pitting the ruling Alawite community against the majority Sunni Muslims, U.N. human rights investigators said on Thursday.
The deepened sectarian divisions in Syria may diminish prospects for any post-conflict reconciliation even if President Bashar al-Assad is toppled. And the influx of foreign fighters raises the risk of the war spilling into neighboring countries, riven by the same sectarian fault lines that cut through Syria.
“As battles between government forces and anti-government armed groups approach the end of their second year, the conflict has become overtly sectarian in nature,” the investigators led by Brazilian expert Paulo Pinheiro said in an updated report.

note: Brazil's aliance with Iran in recent news. Brazil ignores Iran's sanctions

Most of the “foreign fighters” slipping into Syria to join rebel groups, or fight independently alongside them, are Sunnis from other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, the U.N. investigators found, reporting on their findings after their latest interviews conducted in the region.
“They come from all over, Europe and America, and especially the neighbouring countries,” said Abuzayd, adding that names from 29 states had been recorded so far.
It said the Lebanese Shi’ite Hezbollah had confirmed that group members were in Syria fighting on behalf of Assad.

So this is now a straight up Sunni vs Shiite conflict. It’s a religious holy war, not a rebellion against a dictator. This is what I have been saying all along and the UN’s own human rights apparatus confirms it. But the mainstream media will avoid really reporting this or considering the implications as Obama’s plans for war in Syria move forward.

Investigators also said human rights violations were being committed on all sides of the conflict and members of government and anti-government groups alike would be listed for possible referral to the International Criminal Court.

Right, good luck indicting a bunch of Turkish and Qatari funded terrorists, backed by Obama Inc’s air power.

U.S. Confirms Assad Fired Scuds at Rebels

A damaged area is pictured after a car bomb in Qatana, near Damascus

Reuters

The Syrian regime has fired Scud missiles at rebel forces trying to oust Bashar al-Assad, a U.S. official has admitted, according to AFP.
"Scuds landed within Syria," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A report in The New York Times on Wednesday indicated that Syrian forces loyal to Assad have fired Scud missiles at rebel fighters in recent days.
The move represents a significant escalation in the fighting, which has already killed more than 40,000 civilians in a nearly two-year-old conflict and suggests increased desperation on the part of the Assad government.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, according to AFP, that "we're seeing missiles employed now" but she refused to divulge intelligence on what type of missile.
However, the U.S. official speaking later said he could confirm the New York Times story that the regime was unleashing Scuds.
There was no word of any casualties caused by the Soviet-era weapons, famously fired into Israel by Iraq's Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War in 1991.
The unguided, short-range ballistic Scud missiles, depending on the type employed, have a range of 200 kilometers or more.
Putting further pressure on the Assad regime on Wednesday, Arab and Western states recognized the opposition National Coalition as the sole representative of Syrians.
The declaration, issued at a "Friends of Syria" meeting in Morocco, coincided with battlefield gains by jihadists fighting Assad's forces and a rapidly deteriorating refugee situation as winter sets in.
"Today, full recognition is given to the National Coalition as the sole representative of the Syrian people," Moroccan Foreign Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani told a news conference after the meeting his government hosted in Marrakesh, according to AFP.
The talks on the 21-month-old conflict brought together representatives from 114 countries, including about 60 ministers, the Syrian opposition and international organizations.
They came just a day after U.S. President Barack Obama endorsed the National Coalition, following a similar move by the European Union.
Under pressure to unite, the opposition agreed on November 11 to establish the coalition and group the various rebel forces under a supreme military council.
But jihadist rebels in Aleppo, a key front line in northern Syria, rejected the agreement, saying they want an Islamic state.
Among them is the Al-Nusra Front, which the United States blacklisted on Tuesday as a terrorist organization, citing links to Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Meanwhile on Thursday, a top Russian official asserted that Assad's days are numbered, an unusual statement coming from one of Assad's long time allies.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s top envoy for Syria, said that recent events in Syria show that the government's grip on the fighting is slipping and that the rebels stand a real chance of defeating Assad.

via israelnationalnews.com

This is rich: Russia accuses US of preventing Security Council action on Gaza

This is truly rich. Russian UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin is accusing the United States of preventing UN Security Council action on Gaza.

The Security Council held heated closed-door negotiations on a possible statement, but diplomats said a sticking point was that the text did not mention Hamas missile attacks on Israel. Israel said it was these attacks that prompted its major offensive against Gaza.

Council members were consulting with their capitals on the draft statement, which needs to be approved by consensus, but several diplomats said it was unlikely an agreement would be reached by a Tuesday morning deadline.

Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said that if the council could not agree, he would put a resolution - a stronger move by the council than a statement - to a vote on Tuesday to call for an end to the violence and show support for regional and international efforts to broker peace.

"One member of the Security Council, I'm sure you can guess which, indicated ... they will not be prepared to go along with any reaction of the Security Council," Churkin said earlier in a thinly veiled reference to the United States.

"Somehow, allegedly, that could hurt the current efforts carried out by Egypt and the region," he said.

A resolution is passed when it receives nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the five permanent council members - Russia, China, Britain, the United States and France. Some diplomats said a vote on the Russian resolution would likely be tight and could force a veto by the United States.
...
Council diplomats, who did not want to be identified, said the United States' UN delegation had been instructed by Washington not to engage in consultations on a statement by the Security Council.

France, Germany and Britain submitted amendments to the draft Security Council statement earlier, diplomats said, but Churkin said too many changes had been proposed.

"Unfortunately it looked like a little bit of a filibustering attempt. Maybe I am mistaken, maybe it's just a laid-back attitude in a situation where we cannot afford procrastination," Churkin told reporters after consultations.

One council diplomat described the filibustering accusation as "utter nonsense."

Hey Ambassador Churkin, how many Syrians have been killed since the start of this operation (hint: many more Syrians than 'Palestinians' have been killed) and why has your country been blocking Security Council action against Bashar al-Assad for months? At the very least, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander!

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

Is China ‘buying’ Egypt from the US?

The US is suddenly competing for influence over its most stalwart ally in the Middle East.
Erin Cunningham, GLOBAL POST
CAIRO, Egypt — The United States is suddenly competing for influence over its most stalwart ally in the Middle East.
Newly elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, charting a fresh course for the country both at home and abroad, chose Beijing for his first official visit outside the Middle East and Africa last week. He traveled with a battalion of businessmen and shored up unprecedented financial and political support from Chinese leader, Hu Jintao, including large-scale investments in infrastructure.
Following the high-profile, three-day visit, the Obama administration intensified efforts to relieve Egypt’s debt, including throwing its weight behind a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

As Morsi recalibrates Egypt’s foreign policy — seeking “balance,” his advisers have said, and reaching out to US foes — he is attempting to relieve Egypt’s crippled economy, which has failed to rebound from its post-uprising slump.
China is now in a unique position to usurp the United States in the role of Egypt’s benefactor.
“Our relations with China will increase, because our new government has some doubts about the West,” said Mohamed Kadry Said, military analyst at the Cairo-based Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
Indeed, for 30 years the US openly supported the dictatorial regime of former President Hosni Mubarak, which for decades persecuted the Muslim Brotherhood group to which Morsi belongs.
In November 2010, an opinion poll released by the Pew Research Center showed 52 percent of Egyptians held a favorable view of China, while just 17 percent of Egyptians held a favorable view of the United States.
Unfazed by political instability or concerns for human rights — unlike the United States, which still holds some reservations of the Morsi government — China has the money, the power, the will and the weaponry to rival American influence in Egypt.
“We are looking to China as a strong power not only in Asia, but also in Africa,” Said said, referring to China’s billions in trade and investment on the continent. “And this relationship will force the US to focus more carefully on what is happening in Egypt.”
The US remains Egypt’s largest donor, with both economic and military aid topping $1.3 billion. But China, long a bystander in the Middle East, is making inroads into both the economic and security sectors at a rapid pace.
In addition to signing on to build a power station, a water desalination plant and a high-speed train line between Cairo and Egypt’s second city, Alexandria — all last week — China has roughly $500 million in previous investments in Egypt.
Those investments were made during the Mubarak era, which embarked on trade ties with China but kept relations to a minimum under US financial and military patronage.
When Egypt’s popular revolt in 2011 and subsequent political turmoil spooked other investors, Chinese companies stayed behind, investing in affordable goods like clothes and cheap electronics.
With nearly 85 million people, Egypt is a lucrative consumer market for cheap Chinese goods. And in 2011, Chinese commodities exports to Egypt hit $7.28 billion, beating out US exports to Egypt at $6.18 billion, according to United Nations trade data.
“Chinese investment has catered to consumption [in Egypt], the one thing that remained resilient throughout the revolution and aftermath,” said an Egyptian economist who wished to remain anonymous.
As the US economy struggles to recover, and Europe — Egypt’s premier trading partner — faces its own economic crisis, China is flush with cash and a resilient export sector.
Egypt lacks the vast energy resources that have spurred mammoth Chinese investment elsewhere in the continent, including in Libya and Angola. But analysts say in addition to its profitable consumption market, Egypt offers China access — and leverage — to other nearby countries.
Fresh Chinese contributions to Egypt’s economy, which sits at the heart of the Arab world, will likely buy political goodwill in the region, where support for China is waning for its backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
China can also use Egypt’s Suez Canal to sail warships in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, where it also holds investments, challenging the preferential, expedited treatment US warships now receive when traversing the channel.
According to a study by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, China sold more weapons to Egypt than Sudan and Zimbabwe — its traditional clients — combined, from 1989 to 2008, making Egypt China’s biggest weapons market in Africa.
The study says US military assistance to Egypt frees up cash for Egypt’s government to purchase additional Chinese arms. And some analysts are worried that increased Chinese presence in Egypt, coupled with a Morsi government less loyal to the United States, will give China access to American military technology.
According to a 2009 US diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, US officials were already concerned about Egypt’s Arms Export Control Act violations, stating they had “more violations than any country in the world.” The cable said a Chinese military official visited an Egyptian aircraft base in 2009, where F-16 fighter jets provided by the United States are held.
“The military aspect of our relationship [with China] is very strong,” said Said, the military analyst.
“Egypt is a key for any country who wants to reach Africa, or the Middle East or Europe,” he said. “A country like China can depend on a country like Egypt.”

via israpundit.com

Syrian Rebels Responsible for Houla Massacre

(EYE)(NRO) It was, in the words of U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan, the “tipping point” in the Syria conflict: a savage massacre of over 90 people, predominantly women and children, for which the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad was immediately blamed by virtually the entirety of the Western media. Within days of the first reports of the Houla massacre, the U.S., France, Great Britain, Germany, and several other Western countries announced that they were expelling Syria’s ambassadors in protest.
But according to a new report in Germany’s leading daily, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), the Houla massacre was in fact committed by anti-Assad Sunni militants, and the bulk of the victims were member of the Alawi and Shia minorities, which have been largely supportive of Assad. For its account of the massacre, the report cites opponents of Assad, who, however, declined to have their names appear in print out of fear of reprisals from armed opposition groups.
According to the article’s sources, the massacre occurred after rebel forces attacked three army-controlled roadblocks outside of Houla. The roadblocks had been set up to protect nearby Alawi majority villages from attacks by Sunni militias. The rebel attacks provoked a call for reinforcements by the besieged army units. Syrian army and rebel forces are reported to have engaged in battle for some 90 minutes, during which time “dozens of soldiers and rebels” were killed.
“According to eyewitness accounts,” the FAZ report continues,

the massacre occurred during this time. Those killed were almost exclusively from families belonging to Houla’s Alawi and Shia minorities. Over 90% of Houla’s population are Sunnis. Several dozen members of a family were slaughtered, which had converted from Sunni to Shia Islam. Members of the Shomaliya, an Alawi family, were also killed, as was the family of a Sunni member of the Syrian parliament who is regarded as a collaborator. Immediately following the massacre, the perpetrators are supposed to have filmed their victims and then presented them as Sunni victims in videos posted on the internet.

The FAZ report echoes eyewitness accounts collected from refugees from the Houla region by members of the Monastery of St. James in Qara, Syria. According to monastery sources cited by the Dutch Middle East expert Martin Janssen, armed rebels murdered “entire Alawi families” in the village of Taldo in the Houla region.
Already at the beginning of April, Mother Agnès-Mariam de la Croix of the St. James Monastery warned of rebel atrocities’ being repackaged in both Arab and Western media accounts as regime atrocities. She cited the case of a massacre in the Khalidiya neighborhood in Homs. According to an account published in French on the monastery’s website, rebels gathered Christian and Alawi hostages in a building in Khalidiya and blew up the building with dynamite. They then attributed the crime to the regular Syrian army. “Even though this act has been attributed to regular army forces . . . , the evidence and testimony are irrefutable: It was an operation undertaken by armed groups affiliated with the opposition,” Mother Agnès-Mariam wrote.

sit back make popcorn

Barbara Walters Apologizes For Attempting To Get Assad Aide An Internship At CNN, Place At Columbia

Updated: (Syrian aide to Basher al-Assad defends her relationship with Barbara Walters) News report here.

Barbara Walters has apologized after newly released emails showed her attempting to get a close aide to Syrian president Bashar al-Asaad an internship at CNN and a place at Columbia University.

Asaad, whose bloody crackdown on his citizens has made him something of a pariah, granted Walters an exclusive interview in December. On Thursday, the Daily Telegraph reported that Walters stayed in close contact with Sheherazad Jaafari, the daughter of Syria's ambassador to the United Nations and a close aide to Assad, after the interview was over.
Jaafari was a regular presence in emails obtained by the Guardian in March. "This man is loved by his people," she said in one email.
Syrian opposition forces — perhaps the same ones who gave the Guardian the earlier documents — passed on a new cache of files to the Telegraph. They showed Walters calling Jaafari "dear girl" and writing to Piers Morgan and his producer about her. "I wrote to Piers Morgan and his producer to say how terrific you are and attached your résumé," she wrote. On Tuesday, a CNN spokesperson told The Huffington Post's Michael Calderone that the network received the letter, but did not speak with Jaafari or offer her an internship.
Walters also contacted a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism to plug Jaafari's bona fides. (Jaafari was not admitted, though the professor, who is also the father of Piers Morgan's producer, assured Walters she would be given "special attention.")
Contacted by the Telegraph, Walters admitted that, even though she refused to get Jaafari a job at ABC News, her actions "created a conflict and I regret that."

CORRECTION: Walters contacted CNN about an internship for Jaafari, not a job as the article originally stated.

via huffingtonpost.com

...at least Barbara Walters apologized. You won't see the rest of the media doing the same.

Haaretz exclusive: Organizer of Gaza flotilla sought assistance from Assad's office

(haaretz) The organizer of one of the flotillas to the Gaza Strip sought assistance from the office of Syrian President Bashar Assad, requesting it facilitates their departure from the Syrian port at Latakia.

Ths request came to light through the disclosure of emailed correspondence between former British MP George Galloway, who heads an organization called Viva Palestina, and Bouthaina Shaaban, who serves as media adviser to Assad.
What do you think about the leaked emails from Assad's media adviser's account? Follow Haaretz.com on Facebook and share your views.
The correspondence, which was obtained by Haaretz, was leaked following an attack by the hacker group Anonymous.
Galloway, who is identified with the extreme left in Britain, served as a member of the British parliament until May 2010. A former member of the Labour Party, he was thrown out in 2003 in the wake of his attacks against party chairman and then-prime minister Tony Blair, and his opposition to the war in Iraq.
Galloway has for many years carried on close contacts with dictators and extremist elements in the Arab world. In the late 1990s, he was closely linked with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, the Assad regime in Syria, Hamas in Gaza and the Iranian regime.
In July 2011, at a time when Assad was perpetrating massacres of his own people, Galloway was interviewed on Hezbollah's al-Manar network, where he heaped praises on the Syrian president. "Bashar Assad wants reform and change, to realize the aspirations of his people," he said in the interview, which was quoted in the official Syrian news agency Sana. "They are trying to pressure Syria and President Assad because of the good things that he did, such as supporting Palestinian and Lebanese resistance and rejecting to surrender to Israel."
In January 2009, Galloway founded the Viva Palestina organization, which began to organize aid flotillas to the Gaza Strip. The Shin Bet security service describes the organization as being "pro-Hamas" and assesses that Viva Palestina activists are involved in the transfer of funds to Hamas.
Galloway is considered persona non grata in several countries. In March 2009, Canada refused to permit his entry, stating that his organization was aiding Hamas in several ways, including the transfer of funds. In January 2010, Galloway was deported from Egypt following a visit he made to the Gaza Strip in the course of which members of his organization clashed with Egyptian soldiers at the Rafah border crossing, leading to the death of an Egyptian policeman. Egypt has since then refused to permit his entry into Gaza from its own territory.
On August 11, 2010, Galloway wrote to Bashar Assad's media adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban, who is considered to be one of the closest aides to the Syrian president. In an email message that bore the subject heading "IMPORTANT - private and confidential," Galloway asked Shaaban for Syrian help in organizing the aid flotilla to Gaza.
"I am writing once again to ask for Syria's co-operation although I do not doubt it for one moment. Syria is as I have often said is the last castle of Arab dignity," Galloway noted. "This convoy sets out simulataneously [sic] on September 18th 2010 from London, from Casablanca and from the Gulf. The London and Gulf columns of vehicles would like to converge on Latakia and sail from there to Al Arish."
Galloway listed the organizations that would be taking part in the flotilla, including IHH, the Turkish group that organized the flotilla to Gaza in May 2010. "It is intended that the vehicles and passengers should sail to Al Arish on board the Mavi Marmara, which as you know is owned by IHH," he wrote. "If His Excellency the President Bashar al Asad and his government can accept this proposal in principle perhaps you could nominate partner organisation(s) and individuals with whom my colleagues could liaise about the practical details?"
Galloway informed Shaaban that the two members of Viva Palestina responsible for the flotilla were Kevin Ovenden and Zaher Birawi. The Shin Bet charges that Birawi is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. He lives in England, where he engages in intensive anti-Israeli activity. Birawi has been linked to the organizing of past convoys and flotillas to the Gaza Strip. Ovendon is a far-left British activist who was aboard the Mavi Marmara in the May 2010 flotilla to Gaza.
Three days later, Shaaban sent an emailed response to Galloway in which she expressed enthusiasm for the idea. "God bless your amazing efforts and I will be honored to be part and parcel of it and to be the catalyst for my country too," she wrote. "You will find me happy to put my time and energy to help with this most important cause of the Twenty First Century."
Galloway responded in another email, in which he wrote, "I knew that I could rely on you and the last Arab country in this historic endeavour. Can I respectfully request that you task officials in Damascus and Latakia to make contact with my comrades in advance of your arrival back to Syria?"
The flotilla ultimately sailed from Latakia on October 18, 2010 and arrived in Al Arish three days later, and from there continued in a land-based convoy comprising dozens of vehicles and hundreds of activists to the Gaza Strip. The entry into Gaza by Galloway and 16 others was denied by the Egyptian security services, although the convoy itself was permitted to enter following talks between the Egyptian and Syrian governments.
The following is the original correspondence between George Galloway and Bouthaina Shaaban:

From: b.shaaban@mopa.gov.sy
Sent: Sun 15/08/10 6:30 PM
To: buthainak1@hotmail.co.uk
Fwd: VivaPalestina5 convoy to Gaza
Your Excellency dear Ambassador and honourable lady Dr Shaaban,
Assalam o Aleukum.
Thank you for your beautiful reply. I knew that I could rely on you and the last Arab country in this historic endeavour.
Given the shortness of the time (we leave London Casablanca Doha on September 18th, and these three columns joined by big contingents from Turkey Jordan and Lebanon hope to sail from Latakia aboard the Mavi Marmara between October 5-7th) can I respectfully request that you task officials in Damascus and and Latakia to make contact with my comrades in advance of your arrival back to Syria?
I remind you they are Kevin Ovenden kevin.ovenden@gmail.com and Dr Zaher Birawi zkb2002@hotmail.com
This would be very helpful to us.
I hope you are enjoying your travels and have a safe journey back to Damascus.
With all my good wishes,
Yours fraternally
George Galloway
VivaPalestinaArabia
From: b.shaaban@mopa.gov.sy
Sent: Sat 14/08/10 12:05 PM
To: office@georgegalloway.com
Re: IMPORTANT - private and confidential
Dear George
Thank you very much for your email which I was delighted to receive. God bless your amazing efforts and I will be honored to be part and parcel of it and to be the catalyst for my country too. I am now abroad for about 10 days and expected to be back in Syria on August 24. If we can touch base then and get further details about what is really required and from whom in more details you will find me happy to put my time and energy to help with this most important cause of the Twenty Firtst Century. I hope you are following my writings in Counter Punch. Take care and God bless you and your efforts.
As ever
Bouthaina
On Wed 11/08/10 3:05 PM , Ayesha Bajwa <office@georgegalloway.com> wrote:
Your Excellency Dr Bouthaina Shaaban
Special Advisor to President Bashar al Asad
President of the Syrian Arab Republic
Damascus
By e-mail
Your Excellency, dear Dr Shaaban
I hope this letter finds you well. Please be assured of my warmest fraternal greetings always. I am writing on behalf of Viva Palestina whose world-wide family of solidarity organisiations and registered charities will soon be setting out for beseiged Gaza again with our fifth convoy of aid. You will recall the outstanding assistance
afforded us in Syria on previous occasions over the last period. I am writing once again to ask for Syria's co-operation although I do not doubt it for one moment. Syria is as I have often said is the last castle of Arab dignity. My only regret is to have to ask for your help again.
This convoy sets out simulataneously on September 18th 2010 from London, from Casablanca and from the Gulf. The London and Gulf columns of vehicles would like to converge on Latakia and sail from there to Al Arish. The Casablanca column hopes to join us in Al Arish and we hope all three columns - hundreds of vehicles strong – will enter Gaza through Rafah without hinderance.
The aid on board the vehicles will be 50% medical equipment and 50% educational, construction and other aid.
The organisers of the convoy are Viva Palestina UK, Viva Palestina USA, Viva Palestina Arabia, Viva Palestina Malaysia, Viva Palestina Ireland, the Turkish NGO IHH,the International Committee to break the Seige on Gaza, Kia Ora - the Viva Palestina sister organisation in New Zealand, Viva Palestina Australia, Viva Palestina South Africa, Viva Palestina Spain, Viva Palestina Italia, and Viva Palestina France.
It is intended that the vehicles and passengers should sail to Al Arish on board the Mavi Marmara, which as you know is owned by IHH.
If His Excellency the President Bashar al Asad and his government can accept this proposal in principle perhaps you could nominate partner organisation(s) and individuals with whom my colleagues could liaise about the practical details? The liaison from our side would be Mr Kevin Ovenden and Mr Zaher Birawi of Viva Palestina UK (as we believe 2 is enough).
In any case please convey my respect and my admiration to His Excellency the President.
With all good wishes
George Galloway

Syria: Bashar al-Assad email reveals mystery near-naked woman

Mystery surrounds a photograph of an near-naked woman posing provocatively that was sent to Bashar al-Assad's personal email account.

The photograph, inset, was sent to Bashar al-Assad on December 11 last year(telegraph.co.uk)The undated picture shows the woman, clad only in white lingerie, pressing herself against a wall as her clothes lie discarded in a heap at her feet. It was discovered among thousands of emails from the personal accounts of the Syrian president and his wife after their passwords were smuggled out of Damascus by opposition groups. The photograph was sent to Mr Assad on December 11 last year by a woman who is not his wife. The email contains no words and it is not known who the woman in the photograph is. On the day Mr Assad received the photograph, his troops opened fire on a number of funeral processions in Syria, killing at least 12 people. Mr Assad's personal account contains dozens of emails from a Yahoo account where the sender offers advice and passes on messages from people outside Syria. While the emails deal largely with affairs of state they have a relaxed and often joking tone. Members of the Syrian opposition believe the woman may also have a second email address under a false name which she used to send Mr Assad more intimate messages. This account appears to have been set up on December 1 last year and as an apparent test an email was sent to Mr Assad's address saying simply "hi". Around 18 minutes later he replied "Hi and a half". Over several weeks, the exchange becomes more flirtatious as they swapped romantic music by the popular Lebanese singer Fairuz and at one point he appears to send her a gift certificate. On January 17, Mr Assad received an email from the second account with a single Arabic character meaning "I love you" and on January 25 another email contains only an x, the popular sign for a kiss. While there is no direct evidence of a sexual relationship, the revelation could prove highly damaging for Mr Assad, who has sought to present a united front with his British-born wife, Asma al-Assad, in the face of growing international isolation. There is evidence in the emails that the Assads began to cling even closer together as the fighting grew fiercer in Syria. On December 28, she wrote to him: "If we are strong together, we will overcome this together...I love you..." He replied: "i'm not worry about this, and i have no doubt." The Daily Telegraph tried to contact Mr Assad's correspondent using the email addresses found in Mr Assad's inbox but received no reply. The undated picture shows the woman, clad only in white lingerie, pressing herself against a wall as her clothes lie discarded in a heap at her feet. It was discovered among thousands of emails from the personal accounts of the Syrian president and his wife after their passwords were smuggled out of Damascus by opposition groups. The photograph was sent to Mr Assad on December 11 last year by a woman who is not his wife. The email contains no words and it is not known who the woman in the photograph is. On the day Mr Assad received the photograph, his troops opened fire on a number of funeral processions in Syria, killing at least 12 people. Mr Assad's personal account contains dozens of emails from a Yahoo account where the sender offers advice and passes on messages from people outside Syria. While the emails deal largely with affairs of state they have a relaxed and often joking tone. Members of the Syrian opposition believe the woman may also have a second email address under a false name which she used to send Mr Assad more intimate messages. This account appears to have been set up on December 1 last year and as an apparent test an email was sent to Mr Assad's address saying simply "hi". Around 18 minutes later he replied "Hi and a half". Over several weeks, the exchange becomes more flirtatious as they swapped romantic music by the popular Lebanese singer Fairuz and at one point he appears to send her a gift certificate. On January 17, Mr Assad received an email from the second account with a single Arabic character meaning "I love you" and on January 25 another email contains only an x, the popular sign for a kiss. While there is no direct evidence of a sexual relationship, the revelation could prove highly damaging for Mr Assad, who has sought to present a united front with his British-born wife, Asma al-Assad, in the face of growing international isolation. There is evidence in the emails that the Assads began to cling even closer together as the fighting grew fiercer in Syria. On December 28, she wrote to him: "If we are strong together, we will overcome this together...I love you..." He replied: "i'm not worry about this, and i have no doubt." The Daily Telegraph tried to contact Mr Assad's correspondent using the email addresses found in Mr Assad's inbox but received no reply.

barf

Portman and Hollywood turn coats against Assad

(JPOST/ By REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson) Frustrated by the failure of diplomats to end the killings in Syria, activists are betting stars such as Natalie Portman and the Internet can be more effective. Celebrities rallied on Thursday, the first anniversary of the conflict, in support of a message to Syrian President Bashar Assad and the United Nations: Stop One Year of Bloodshed. Actresses Susan Sarandon and Portman penned hand-written notes which campaigners posted on Facebook.

If these celebrities were serious they would apologize for their public relations recently for the Assad regime. They would start out fresh and call out the abuses of power in Jordan and other Arab nations. They would question why Kerry, Pelosi in a stupid looking burqa and most recently Dennis J. Kucinich were sent to Syria as diplomats when they were warned. They did it to spit in the face of those of us who knew better. They did it for political gain and the blood of Syrians suffer because of their arrogant actions

Annan ends Syria visit with no clear progress

Russia and China are kind of right here. We should not get involved. This is not our war.

(Reuters) U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has ended talks with President Bashar al-Assad and left Syria with little sign of progress on halting the country's growing political bloodshed. "I am optimistic for several reasons," Annan said in Damascus on Sunday. "The situation is so bad and so dangerous that all of us cannot afford to fail." There was no clear response from Assad to Annan's "concrete proposals" for a ceasefire, dialogue and humanitarian aid. Assad told Annan opposition "terrorists" were blocking any political solution. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in New York on Monday when the U.N. Security Council holds a special meeting on Arab revolts. Russia, long an ally of Syria, and China have blocked attempts to pass a Security Council resolution condemning Damascus for its attempts to crush a year-old rebellion by force, in which thousands have died. Moscow and Beijing want any international blame for the violence to be apportioned more evenly. China's Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Ming said in Riyadh on Sunday both Syrian sides should stop fighting and aid should be sent to strife-torn areas - but he also warned other states not to use aid to "interfere". Saudi Arabia and Qatar have taken a hawkish line against the Syrian government. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Feisal on Sunday repeated calls for the Syrian opposition to be provided with weapons. This was the only way to end the conflict without foreign intervention, he said. "The regime in Syria is committing a massacre of its own citizens," he added, after talks with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle in Riyadh. "We cannot accept the completely unreasonable continuation of the atrocities being perpetrated by the Assad regime against its own people," Westerwelle said. The United Nations says Assad's forces have killed more than 7,500 people in their crackdown on protesters and insurgents. Authorities say rebels have killed 2,000 soldiers. Annan's mission coincided with a Syrian military offensive against opposition strongholds in the northwest. Activists said at least four people were killed in the town of Idlib on Sunday after troops and tanks moved in a day earlier. Three soldiers and a civilian were also killed in fighting in the village of Janoudiya in Idlib province on Sunday morning, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. State news agency SANA said "terrorists" shot dead a former boxing champion, Ghiath Tayfour, in the city of Aleppo and also killed a leading Baath Party member in Homs province. Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are both ruled by autocrats and espouse a strict version of Sunni Islam, are improbable champions of democracy in Syria. Riyadh has an interest in seeing Assad fall because this could weaken its Shi'ite regional rival Iran, which has been allied with Syria since 1980. The exiled opposition Syrian National Council ruled out talks while Assad is in power. "Negotiations can never take place between the victim and torturer: Assad and his entourage must step down as a condition before starting any serious negotiations," it said. (Andrew Roche and Dominc Evans)

Relevance? UNESCO vote today will keep Syria on human rights committee at View from Geneva

Despite bid by US & UK to expel Assad regime, UNESCO waters down draft resolution; Syria to keep seat on UNESCO board and rights panel

GENEVA, March 7 (UN WATCH) – Despite vigorous efforts led by the US and Britain, a resolution on Syria to be adopted today by the UN’s education, science and culture agency will keep the Assad regime on its human rights committee, revealed UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights monitoring organization, which exclusively obtained a copy of the draft. Click here for draft resolution.
“That UNESCO will keep President Bashar al-Assad on its human rights committee — at the same time as the regime mercilessly murders its own people — is a moral outrage,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights group.
“Today’s appalling decision calls into question the credibility of UNESCO as an agency dedicated to human rights, and casts a shadow upon the reputation of the UN as a whole.”
After UNESCO elected Syria to its human rights committee in November, UN Watch led a campaign of 55 parliamentarians, human rights and religious groups calling on the agency to reverse its decision. In response, the US and Britain initiated today’s debate at UNESCO.
“While today’s text rightly condemns Syria, the promised call to oust the regime from UNESCO’s human rights panel has been completely excised. We’re left with words, but no teeth. By maintaining Assad in a position of global influence on human rights, UNESCO today is sending absolutely the wrong message. It an unconscionable insult to the suffering people of Syria,” said Neuer.
Today’s vote is expected around 4:30 pm Paris time. The weakened resolution is expected to pass with numbers similar to last week’s vote, when Russia tried but failed to remove the Syria discussion from the agenda.(MORE)

uh... this is an issue? is anyone shocked?

More Hamas/Fatah Marriage woes

(Hamas ditches Assad, backs Syrian revolt | Fair Weather Friends Back the Winning Horse) Hezbollah loses Syria, gains Iraq, Obama and his Muslim Brotherhood get Syria... and the Jews get five rockets. @IDFSpokesperson: During the night a total of 5 rockets were launched from Gaza at southern Israel

(EOZ)From AFP:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his rival Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal on Thursday postponed talks on forming a unified government, a Fatah official said, in a further delay to ending an almost five-year rift.
The official with the Abbas-led party said the talks were postponed “because Hamas continues to prevent the election committee from registering voters in Gaza,” the Islamist-ruled Palestinian territory.
He added that Hamas, which has been split internally on agreeing the unity government with the secular Fatah, has “not yet informed Abbas of its formal approval to end internal disputes on forming the government.”

Reuters reports it this way:

Hamas has set new terms for implementing a reconciliation deal with President Mahmoud Abbas's rival Fatah group, an official said on Thursday.
Abbas and Khalid Mashaal, Hamas's political chief in exile, agreed in Qatar earlier this month to form a unity government led by the Western-backed president.
But in a rift with the Islamist group's leadership outside the Gaza Strip, officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave swiftly criticized the accord, particularly its call for Abbas to serve as prime minister as well as president.
At an internal meeting chaired by Mashaal in Cairo on Wednesday, Hamas officials united behind new demands, said a Palestinian official involved in the talks. The terms seemed certain to be rejected by Abbas.
"Hamas demanded to keep the key ministries in the new government, including the ministry of interior," said the official. "It also demanded no change in the structure of security services in the Gaza Strip."
The interior ministry oversees the Hamas-run security services, and Palestinian political analyst Samir Awad said the new terms proved the group "was not prepared to abandon control of Gaza", territory it seized from Fatah in fighting in 2007.
Abbas has been seeking a unity government staffed by independents and technocrats to ensure it would not be boycotted by the West, which donates essential funds to his Palestinian Authority and refuses to deal with Hamas.
Other demands that emerged from the Cairo meeting included naming a Gaza-based deputy to Abbas and making his appointment as prime minister conditional on a vote of confidence in the Palestinian parliament.

Meanwhile, Hamas is again accusing Fatah of arresting its members in the West Bank - the one basic issue that was supposed to be resolved since May.
They are also squabbling over the Gaza power plant issue, as Hamas has bypassed the PA in order to try to secure a deal with Egypt to get a supply of cheap diesel, with Haniyeh effectively acting as if he is the head of government - after supposedly agreeing to Abbas being prime minister.
They agree on one thing, though: stopping any chance of a "Palestinian spring" against their respective leaders. They'll plan meeting after meeting and photo-ops galore for the next decade to try to fool their people that they actually care about them rather than their own hold on power, which is what prompted this whole "unity" farce to begin with.

Hamas ditches Assad, backs Syrian revolt | Fair Weather Friends Back the Winning Horse

(Reuters)

Shi'ite Hezbollah still supports the Assad family, from the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam, which has maintained authoritarian rule over Syria's Sunni majority for four decades but now may have its back to the wall.

Leaders of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas turned publicly against their long-time ally President Bashar al-Assad of Syria on Friday, endorsing the revolt aimed at overthrowing his dynastic rule.
The policy shift deprives Assad of one of his few remaining Sunni Muslim supporters in the Arab world and deepens his international isolation. It was announced in Hamas speeches at Friday prayers in Cairo and a rally in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas went public after nearly a year of equivocating as Assad's army, largely led by fellow members of the president's Alawite sect, has crushed mainly Sunni protesters and rebels.
In a Middle East split along sectarian lines between Shi'ite and Sunni Islam, the public abandonment of Assad casts immediate questions over Hamas's future ties with its principal backer Iran, which has stuck by its ally Assad, as well as with Iran's fellow Shi'ite allies in Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.
"I salute all the nations of the Arab Spring and I salute the heroic people of Syria who are striving for freedom, democracy and reform," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, visiting Egypt from the Gaza Strip, told thousands of Friday worshippers at Cairo's al-Azhar mosque. more

This is what the Arabs did during WWII with the Nazis. Most of them were allied with Hitler till it became clear he was a loser. Our CIA then covered all those Nazi henchmen up and gave them states.

Free Syrian Army shows video of alleged Iranian fighters abducted in Homs

@Criticalanalyst

(AlArabiya) A group of Syria’s opposition “Free Army” has released a video showing what it was said were seven Iranians, including five members of the Revolutionary Guards, captured in the city of Homs.

The video showed travel documents of the captives, some of whom appeared to be speaking Farsi.
“I am Sajjad Amirian, a member the Revolutionary Guards of the Iranian armed forces. I am a member of the team in charge of cracking down on protesters in Syria and we receive our orders directly from the security division of the Syrian air force in Homs,” one of the captives said.
“I urge Mr. Khamenei to work on securing our release and return to our homes,” he added.

The armed Syrian opposition group, which called itself the “al-Farouq brigade of the Free Syrian Army,” also released a statement calling for Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamanei to “acknowledge in explicit and unambiguous words the existence of elements of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Syria in order to help the Assad’s regime in its crackdown on the Syrian people.”

The group also urged Khamanei to withdraw all Revolutionary Guard fighters from Syria, pledging that that it would then release all captive Iranian fighters.
The group said five of those abducted were military men working with the Syrian air force intelligence and two showed “civilian status” as employees in a power plant in Homs.
It added that all the seven captives entered Syria during the uprising and passports of the five military men did not contain visas, adding that it would soon release the two Iranians with civilian status.
Syrian opposition groups have previously accused Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah group of assisting forces of President Bashar al-Assad in their bloody crackdown on protesters.
The Syrian Revolutionary Coordination Union reported on Jan. 17 that a group of Hezbollah fighters had hit civilian protesters near Damascus with Russian-origin BM-21Grad rockets.
“The attack was coordinated with the forces of President Bashar Assad,” the Syrian opposition group said.
A source from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) told Al Arabiya on Jan. 16 that the “Iranian government has not yet interfered in situation in Syria,” but stressed that Tehran was committed to a joint defense treaty with Damascus.
“We and our brethren in Iraq and Lebanon are protecting Syria,” the source explained in a clear reference to Nouri al-Malikil’s government and Hezbollah, both allies of Iran.
Despite reports stating that so far the situation in Syria is “stable,” the IRGC, the source pointed out, is still worried of a division or a coup in the Syrian army.
According to American officials who believe the IRGC is taking part in the fight against Syrian opposition, Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of IRGC al-Quds Force, which specializes in operations outside Iran, was in Damascus this month.
Gen. Suleimani’s visit, they argued proved that Iran’s support for the Syrian regime includes the provision of arms and military equipment.
They added that they are sure Suleimani met with the most senior officials in the Syrian regime, including president Bashar al-Assad.
The joint defense treaty between Syria and Iran was signed in June 2006 by a former Syrian defense minister, Hassan Turkmani, and his Iranian counterpart, Mustafa Mohamed Najjar, in Tehran.

Israel 'preparing to absorb Syrian refugees'

(aljazeera.com) Assad's government has cracked down hard on Syrians demanding regime change since March [Reuters]

Israel is preparing to receive Syrian Alawite refugees on the occupied Golan Heights if the Bashar al-Assad government collapses, Israel's army chief of staff has said.

They spent a century persecuting and declaring violence on Jews and the Jews are ready to save their lives by allowing the clans associated with a terrorist state to come to Israel... and yet Israel won't build in it's own Capital?

Assad's Forces Kill 12 as Arab League Monitors Look on

(EYE) BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian security forces, undaunted by the presence of Arab League observers, have killed at least 12 protesters as hundreds of thousands demonstrated against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, opposition activists said.
Five members of the security forces were also killed in a shooting in the city of Homs, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday.
Assad, 46, has signed up to an Arab League plan for a verifiable withdrawal of his troops and heavy weaponry from towns and cities, where they have been trying to crush protests that have raged since March.
But the presence of Arab League monitors in hotspots across Syria since Monday has, if anything, energised the protesters, while provoking scepticism in Western countries.
Demonstrators determined to show the scale of their movement to the monitors threw rocks at security forces in the Damascus suburb of Douma, where troops tear-gassed the chanting crowds.
Five people were shot dead in the city of Hama and five in the city of Deraa as crowds braved army and police, the Observatory reported, adding that at least two dozen people had been injured in Douma. More...

Syrian exiles: Clinton told dissidents to lay down their arms

(Carl) ...The interview included this shocker in the middle.

A few weeks ago, Amar met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He presented to her, among other things, information about soldiers who defected and plan to launch a guerilla fight against the army. “To my surprise, she asked that the defectors lay down their arms,” he says. “That’s an odd request. Why didn’t they ask the rebels in Libya to lay down their arms? How can they do it if at any moment they can be fired at and murdered? It’s impractical.”

Iran recently cut its financial aid to Hezbollah by 25% due to international sanctions

(h/t @ChallahHuAkbar / YNet) According to the article, which was based on information obtained by French intelligence agencies, the civil uprising against President Bashar Assad in Syria has significantly reduced the flow of money to the Lebanese terror group.

Moreover, the report said, Iran has recently cut its financial aid to Hezbollah by 25% due in part o the international sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

Nasrallah during recent public appearance (Photo: AFP)

Le Figaro said the financial crisis has led some Hezbollah terrorists to deal drugs in north Lebanon. Just last week US prosecutors indicted a Lebanese national who they said led a massive international drug smuggling ring with links to Hezbollah.

The US Treasury and the FBI have banned American organizations from donating to Hezbollah, which is designated under US law as a terrorist organization.

Last month Nasrallah claimed Hezbollah had unraveled a web of CIA informants and officers in Iran and Lebanon. According to Le Figaro's report, the network caused significant damage to the Shiite group.

Hezbollah's financial woes are also the result of corruption, the report said. According to Le Figaro, the terror group's investment manager had embezzled close to $1.6 billion.

The report said that during a speech in Beirut two weeks ago Nasrallah chastised the organization's female members for becoming, as he put it, too "bourgeois" and spending too much of the organization's money. Le Figaro said this was yet another indication of Hezbollah's dire financial situation.
The French daily claimed that the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 was planned by top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, without Nasrallah's knowledge

The crisis of the Assad regime in Syria has already reduced Hezbollah's power #Syria #Hezbollah #Lebanon #Assad

Council on Foreign Relations is trying to spin the leadership of Lebanon as trustworthy. this is bullshit. we should not give arms to Lebanon again. They are not to be trusted. bullshit follows...

Council on Foreign Relations seems to want to push the idea that Jumblatt is reformed.
This is bullshit. This guy is Assad's ally...
and is trying to stay in power. Here is Jumblatt pictured with his daughter.

March 16, 1977: 

h/t (@ChallahHuAkbar) by Elliott Abrams

On July 2, the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah had this to say about the UN’s Special tribunal on Lebanon, which is investigating the murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri:

the tribunal is part of the war against us, because we are leading a confrontation against Israel….The most dangerous goal of this tribunal is to create strife, a civil war in Lebanon, or especially a division between the Sunni and Shiite in Lebanon.

He has also said the Tribunal is “trying to destroy the human and social fabric of Lebanon,”  and called on all Lebanese to boycott it:

I call on every official and every citizen in Lebanon to boycott those investigators and not to cooperate with them … because all that is being offered to them reaches the Israelis. Continuing cooperation with those encourages more violations of the country and helps with the aggression against the resistance.

In January of this year, “Mr Nasrallah told a TV audience that Lebanese judges, funding and obligations to the tribunal must be removed.” Now something has changed. Today’s press in Lebanon reports that:

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Thursday said the party will not trigger a crisis over the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon despite its continued opposition to the move. ‘In a bid to preserve political stability and to keep the government intact while reaffirming our opposition [to the court] … We don’t accept the funding but we will not create a problem, Nasrallah said during a televised speech.

What happened to those fiery words of yesteryear? Simple: the Syrian uprising. Nasrallah and Hezbollah will be among the great losers if the Assad regime is toppled, along with Iran and of course the Assad clan itself. Without Syrian support and the use of Syria for storage and delivery of weaponry from Iran, Hezbollah will be weaker.
We can also see this in the maneuvering of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, once a Syrian ally. As recently as January the headlines were “Lebanon Druze leader Walid Jumblatt sides with Hezbollah in crisis.”
As one report summarized, “Just a year ago, Jumblatt was Syria’s most vocal critic, a man who dared, long before others, to call for the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose father most likely ordered the assassination of Jumblatt’s dad during Lebanon’s civil war. Then, last January, Jumblatt did a spectacular about face, siding with the Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah against his former West-leaning allies.”
But by October, “Walid Jumblatt severely criticized the Syrian regime during a concert that he hosted for his friends in the city of Jbeil. Jumblatt reportedly picked up the microphone and addressed his guests by saying: “Unfortunately, we are now enjoying music while the Syrian people are revolting against oppression and tyranny.” And Jumblatt has now applauded the funding of the Tribunal, which is another step away from Syria and Hezbollah.
When the Hezbollah leader, who has repeatedly plunged Lebanon in to crisis and into war, now has to say “we will not create a problem,” tectonic plates are moving in the Middle East. Without understating Hezbollah’s strength and viciousness, the crisis of the Assad regime in Syria has already reduced its power. Assad’s fall will reduce it more. This is yet another reason why the United States should be doing all we can to bring Assad down, the sooner the better.

via blogs.cfr.org

This is news. Jumblatt changed sides this week. don't believe what CFR says. The reason CFR wants to picture Jumblatt as reformed so fast is because like the Democrats, CFR wants to give arms to the lebanese soldiers (which is like giving it directly to Hezbollah). The CFR post here is a lie. The game plan is that if America doesn't give the arms then the Russians will.

Kamal Jumblatt, 60, leader of Lebanon’s Druze community, a member of the Lebanese Parliament and a Socialist-nationalist supporter of Palestinians, is assassinated by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party — which Jumblatt had legalized as interior minister some years earlier. Jumblatt was also the founder of the Progressive Socialist Party. He was the leader of the Palestinian-Muslim alliance in the Lebanese civil war, opposing Christian militias. His was assassinated likely by orders of Syria’s president, Hafez el-Assad, who briefly feared that a Palestinian-Muslim alliance in Lebanon would tip the balance of power too much in their favor in the civil war. Jumblatt is succeeded by his son, Walid. 

UPDATE - UN: Syrian troops killed, "sexually tortured" children, "shot indiscriminately at unarmed protesters"

Add caption

(h/t eye) There could be a Nobel Peace Prize in Bashar Assad's future. Think Yasser Arafat.

GENEVA (CBS/AP) - A U.N. probe has found that Syrian troops killed hundreds of children and committed other "crimes against humanity" since the government crackdown began in March.
A panel of independent experts says at least 256 children were killed by government forces as of early November, with some boys sexually tortured and a 2-year-old girl shot to death just to prevent her from growing up to be a demonstrator.
The panel's report to the U.N. Human Rights Council says government forces have used excessive force to "shot indiscriminately at unarmed protesters" while snipers targeted others in the upper body and head.
Their report, released Monday, said Syrian security forces along with militias were given "shoot to kill" orders to crush demonstrations.
More...

...or at the very least a visit from Angelina Jolie and some of her Hollywood pals. Maybe Oliver Stone will make a movie... Springtime for Assad.

(UK Guardian) Syrian security forces have committed "crimes against humanity" since widespread anti-government protests began in March, according to a damning UN report (pdf) that will add to the mounting pressure on the president, Bashar al-Assad.
It said that least 256 children had been killed by government forces.

no wait... bring back Angelina Jolie and the U.N. to kiss his ass again... just for the entertainment value... then be sure to condemn Israel for defending it's citizens from Syrian supported rocket fire from Gaza. come on... let's do the hypocrisy again.