Posted on 12/04/2011 7:20:34 PM PST by gandalftb
Dubai: Syria faced new sanctions after missing an Arab League deadline yesterday to allow observers to monitor the uprising.
A senior Qatari official was quoted as saying that Syria had asked for "new clarifications and further amendments to be made to the protocol which was proposed" to cover the deployment of the observer mission. But the Arab ministers had "refused."
Yesterday's deadline was announced in Doha by Qatari Prime Minister Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Al Thani, who also warned against the internationalisation of the Syrian crisis if Damascus did not heed the Arab call.
(Excerpt) Read more at gulfnews.com ...
The "internationalisation" Shaikh Hamad warned against is a coming "no-fly zone" over Syria. The details are being worked out with Turkey in the lead. Travel by 19 top Syrian leaders is now banned, all flights cut in half, an Arab arms embargo and assets frozen. Syria responded with a new 30% tax on goods from Turkey.
Syria logically (for them) rejects the "observer mission" because Syrian security wouldn't accompany them, hence the complaints of sovereignty. Syria is well aware that the observers would be packed with MI-6 and French intelligence officers, coordinating and trying to meet and evaluate the Syrian opposition leaders.
The Syrian opposition is now financed by the House of Saud, with weapons and 600+ Libyan fighters from Libya (accompanied by a sigh of relief), organized by the Muslim Brotherhood, and headquartered in Iskenderun, Turkey.
There are many Syrian deserters heading there also.
Meanwhile the US and NATO are providing the intel and logistical support.
Oh, by the way, the Russians are having a fit because they are selling and installing a $300 million dollar coastal defense system to Syria and don't want an arms embargo. They stand to lose big time if Syria tips over as the Russian naval base at Tartus, Syria does all the maintenance and refit for their Black Sea Fleet. Russia needs years and lots of money to build their proposed base on Cyprus.
Powerful forces are moving. Everyone in the region is involved from the Kurds to Iran to Israel to Egypt to every Gulf region country. The final resolution of the Assad-Hezbollah-Iran cabal is at hand and it will be noisy and it will be next year.
ping
How many Hezbollah and Iranian Guards are headed to Syria?
Your lips to God's ears.
Of course, if EU and U.S. decide that all are lost on their economic front, they could go along with this.
Iran is certainly offering all help possible. Ayatollah Khamanei just issued a fatwa requiring Iranians to buy from Syria first. The Iranians, Syria's only ally, will be greatly affected by the travel embargo as they have to cross either Iraq or Turkey to get there.
Iran flat doesn’t have the naval and air assets to go against the entire Gulf Cooperation Council and our military assets.
We have a huge military presence in Bahrain and Kuwait and Iran would lose much more than they would ever gain.
Remember, their Bushehr reactor and their only gasoline distillery are a one hour mission time from being smoking craters along with all their export terminals.
There is a covert, proxy war going on in Iran now that has their shaky dual-government on the ropes now.
Thanks gandalftb.
BTW, there is one more player on board.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh finally officially acknowledged that 100 Syrian military and police deserters have taken refuge there in the kingdom during the uprising. It was the first official public confirmation that Jordan hosts Syrian defectors.
It has been known that deserters have going to Jordan for the last eight months at the rate of 50-80 a month.
Our ties with Jordan intelligence are a matter of record and it takes little thought to consider the value and future use of these deserters in the newly created Free Syrian Army.
An interesting turn of events. Where is the French aircraft carrier just now? Is it off Syria? Looks like a Turko-Franco-Anglo force might be getting ready to pull a Libyan style revolt in Syria soon. Where is Obama and the USA? He’s on vacation? Where is Hillary Clinton? Is she in Europe working on her next war? Where is the Russian carrier just now? Where is the US carriers? This could go bad really fast—its going to take a skilled (and bloody) hand to pull this off.
NATO strikes Syria, Iran backs Syria and strikes US fleet in gulf. US counter attacks, China steps in along with North Korea and Pakistan — We have WW III. Russia might side with us this time.
I don't know about PROXY but it's certainly covert.
Somebody keeps blowing up all the Iranian sh!t and nobody knows who, or how.
The Iranians are very nervous and jumping at every sound. I'm guessing they've been on FULL alert for at least a month.
Syria needs to be taken out to clear the road to Iran and to make Israel safe when Iran is taken out.
The US moved a carrier group close to Syria. The Israelis are also likely to participate in a war against Syria, marking a historic first for a joint Arab-US-Israeli operation.
However, any operation against Syria may forstall US troops leaving Iraq, as the Iraqi government may ask US forces to stay a little longer to protect the northwestern Iraqi border.
“Where is the French aircraft carrier just now?”
The French carrier Charles de Gaulle (R91) arrived at its home port of Toulon, France on 28 September for a major refit. After 1300+ sorties over Libya, she needs lots of work. We won’t be seeing her for at least 3-4+ months.
We are working Syria hard behind the scenes to avoid the mistakes of Libya and get the opposition forces fully operational.
Syria has the potential for a significant regional war if we aren’t ready for a no-fly zone, which we are not. Hilary is likely staying up late on this conflict. The Arabs, through the Gulf Cooperation Council are taking the lead and are the front men for now.
The Admiral Kuznetsov hasn’t even left the Barents Sea and has many stops along the way, they won’t be anywhere near until the end of the year.
The USS Bush is in the Med, just finishing an 8 day liberty in Marseilles, they needed to fix sewer/plumbing problems also while there.
Doesn’t look like a no-fly zone until next year.
“Syria needs to be taken out to clear the road to Iran “
Agreed, clearly this all apart of the march to Iran. Syria has to be neutralized and that would largely solve the Hezbollah and Palestinian issues.
“The Israelis are also likely to participate in a war against Syria”
The House of Saud couldn’t be seen to be in any collusion with Israel. I think the Israelis sit this one out and reap the benefits of the Assads gone and Iran’s direct influence greatly curtailed.
Iran is building a natural gas pipeline across Iraq and Syria, certainly, new Syrian Sunni and Kurd rulers would think differently and hear the cash register ringing a little more clearly.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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How many Arab League nations can dance on the head of a pin?
More likely than air time to target of any attack on an Iranian refinery in retaliation for its attempts to harm the flow of oil would be ship or submarine launched missiles, IMHO.
The Syrian leadership is Alawi -- a heretical branch of Islam reviled by Sunnis. They keep the majority Sunnis in check and protect the 10-20% of the Syrian population who are Christians
If Assad falls, the Christians get massacred and a Sunni jihadi group comes to power, like in Egypt
THAT would be worse for Israel
And the Palestinian problem is Hamas -- Sunni, more than Hiz-b-allah -- Shia.
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