UN says withdraws non-essential staff from Syria

Ynet News ^

[jhpigott]

Published: 08.17.11, 14:59 / Israel News

The United Nations has withdrawn non-essential staff from Syria where President Bashar al-Assad is seeking to crush a five-month uprising against his rule, a senior UN official said on Wednesday.

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said in a statement to Reuters that the 26 non-essential international staff members and their families had left Syria.

[jhpigott]

In light of the following, I think the UN may have been given a tip off that things may soon get dicey in Syria:

1)Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday told Bashar Assad military operations against civilians must end immediately and unconditionally, warning the Syrian president that these were Ankara's "final words". "If these operations do not stop there will be nothing left to say about the steps that would be taken," he said, without elaborating. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4109274,00.html

2)Galrahn Raymond Pritchett (Information Dissemination blog) So is the UN staff withdrawal from Syria a response to the warnings by the Turkish FM? Is Turkey signaling military action? 13 minutes ago http://twitter.com/?_twitter_noscript=1

3)Turkey secretly passed a message to Damascus last week that if it does not implement major democratic reforms, NATO may attack Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, according to Egyptian security officials speaking to WND. http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=333897#ixzz1VIZfaeSQ

4)#Syria RT @blakehounshell: hearing now that the withdrawal of UN staff was in the works even before Lattakia events. 40 minutes ago http://twitter.com/?_twitter_noscript=1

5)Turkey will discuss radical changes to its Syrian policy when its top security council meets Thursday amid Damascus’ continued refusal to heed Ankara’s demands for reform. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkey-mulls-radical-changes-in-syria-2011-08-16

[jhpigott]

ping

[boomop1]

I wish they would do it here, except evacuate everyone, then we could padlock the place and not let them back.

[Mariner]

It's likely the UN suspects regime collapse, chaos, Turkish intervention and an ongoing war against Hezbollah.

It would likely then spill over to Lebanon.

I hope we stay out of it. It's an Arab problem.

[GonzoGOP]

I honestly hope Turkey goes into Syria. The place is a combination skunk farm and hornets nets. A good blood letting between Iran/Turkey would serve the US interests well. Kind of how the Iran / Iraq war set back Iran's agenda by a decade.

The Arabs and Turks always thought they could get the US and NATO to deal with Iran, allowing them to keep their hands clean. As NATO collapses and the US runs away they are realizing that they will have to deal with the problem of Iran themselves.

[Jack Deth]

And people wonder why, like Mogadishu; there are no time shares in Syria?

Jack.

[jhpigott]

Plausible scenario. If the Assad regime goes down (along with the minority ruling Alawite sect) it will likely be replaced by somekind of Sunni backed government (Sunnis make up approx 3/4 of the population) which is not going to back Hezbollah. Hezbollah would very quickly find one of its two primary supporters gone, and there main logistal support gone. Things would very likely get screwy in Lebanon (and perhaps the Israel/Lebanon border as well) in short order.

[OB1kNOb]

Does the UN have another type of staff I don’t know about?

[Truth29]

"I honestly hope Turkey goes into Syria. The place is a combination skunk farm and hornets nets. A good blood letting between Iran/Turkey would serve the US interests well. Kind of how the Iran / Iraq war set back Iran's agenda by a decade."

Good thought; if we could get Iran and Turkey to go at it as well, so much the better.

[GonzoGOP]

Good thought; if we could get Iran and Turkey to go at it as well, so much the better.

Assad is an Iranian puppet. And Hezbollah is bought, paid for, and trained by Iran. If Turkey goes into Syria have no illusion that who they will actually be fighting is Iran.

[NonValueAdded]

LOL

[GraceG]

Non-essential, so does that mean everyone from the U.N. is leaving Syria?

[concerned about politics]

Ahhhhhhh. Obomas Arab spring. Refreshing, isn't it?
The sun is shining brighter. The people are singing. Perfume fills the air.........

[ctdonath2]

Why this, why Turkey, why now?

I have no qualms about the principle of deposing an oppressive dictatorship (and variations on that theme), but am curious about the circumstances and logistics. (Ditto Libya: no problem taking Gadfly out, but taking the initiative is ... France? and the Obama? what, am I on the Square Bizarro World or something?) What interest does Turkey have in Syria’s brutal suppression of rebellion beyond mere moral outrage? Why would they want to irritate Iran [more]? Assuming an efficient disposal of the regime, who fills the power vacuum? And, oil aside, who cares?

[Shadow44]

The Turks have the second largest army in NATO. The Syrians realize this and that if they decide to intervene that they’ll get steamrolled. Question is how Iran’s going to take it, and whether or not Turkey is willing to fight them as well.

[SunStar]

"I honestly hope Turkey goes into Syria. The place is a combination skunk farm and hornets nets. A good blood letting between Iran/Turkey would serve the US interests well. Kind of how the Iran / Iraq war set back Iran's agenda by a decade."

We have a military alliance with Turkey, so we would most likely also be going to war with Syria, but if we have to end up going anyway, it would at least be nice for Turkey to take the lead.

[jhpigott]

Turkey has long had eyes on NW Syria for various reasons. The PKK (Kurds) and water being the two primary reasons.

[left that other site]

There are, however, many timeshares in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt.

Now that the MB is in charge, I wonder what will happen to them?

That particular “Resort Destination” is NOT on my list of places I wish to vacation!

[left that other site]

When Muzzies Invade
Vacation Destinations..
No Fun Anymore.

[HerbieHoover]

Does the UN have anything other than “non-essential” staff?