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Victory closer, divisions deepen in Syria opposition
Reuters ^ | Sunday, August 05, 2012 | Yara Bayoumy

Posted on 08/05/2012 2:01:27 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

...The head of the Syrian National Council (SNC), a long-established opposition umbrella group, said talks would be held within weeks to form a transitional government.

The next day the Free Syria Army, a loosely coordinated group of insurgents fighting Assad's forces, floated a separate proposal that called for the establishment of a higher defence council bringing together military and civilian figures.

And the day after that, a group of exiled Syrian activists who left the SNC announced a new opposition alliance that also aimed to form a transitional government.

It is neither news nor a surprise that Syria's opposition is divided. Assad's opponents include Islamists and secularists, Kurds and Arabs, Sunni Muslims and members of religious minorities, defected army officers and the political activists they once hunted, exiles abroad and fighters on the ground.

The Istanbul-based SNC in particular has come under fire for being out of touch with the fighting in Syria itself. Colonel Riad al-Asaad, nominal head of the Free Syria Army, said it was made up of opportunists who want "to ride over our revolution and trade with the blood of our martyrs".

Haitham al-Maleh, a former judge, broke away from the SNC to launch the "Council for the Syrian Revolution".

"I don't differ with the Syrian National Council over their vision, but over their tactics. I'm different in that I'm working on the ground, and they're just theorising," he told Reuters.

Burhan Ghalioun, the SNC's former leader, said news of the SNC's plans to form a transitional government had created "a competitive dynamic" among those who want a role.

(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Russia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: russia; syria; turkey; waronterror

1 posted on 08/05/2012 2:01:38 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

It’s backdraft from the Lebanon mess, which Syria helped author by backing the PLO coup attempt in Jordan — the PLO fled before the Jordanian army, and landed in Lebanon, which they worked hard to destabilize, and allied with the Syrian invaders.


2 posted on 08/05/2012 2:04:34 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv
"... divisions deepen"

Oh dear. Don't tell me all the massacres have "lead to increased polarization." What will the NYT say?

3 posted on 08/05/2012 2:09:56 PM PDT by Steely Tom (If the Constitution can be a living document, I guess a corporation can be a person.)
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To: SunkenCiv
"I don't differ with the Syrian National Council over their vision..."

"SNC to launch the "Council for the Syrian Revolution"...

Need to reconcile this with the National Syrian Revolutionary Council. I personally think that the United Front of Revolutionary Syrians might have an edge here, but the Peoples Front of National Syrians is an upcomer and growing.

4 posted on 08/05/2012 2:33:05 PM PDT by C210N ("ask not what the candidate can do for you, ask what you can do for the candidate" (Breitbart, 2012))
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To: SunkenCiv
.The head of the Syrian National Council (SNC)

Not to be confused with The National Council of Syria (NCS).....SPLITTERS!

5 posted on 08/05/2012 2:36:00 PM PDT by dfwgator (FUJR (not you, Jim))
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To: C210N

What about the Popular Front, Reg?

Oh, he’s over there.

SPLITTER!


6 posted on 08/05/2012 2:37:13 PM PDT by dfwgator (FUJR (not you, Jim))
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To: SunkenCiv
Probably not the right time to voice any concerns for the historical nature of Aleppo, in the midst of such carnage. However the Citadel built 2 Centuries BC I believe may be coming under assault by FSA. At least according to Algezeera.

Supposedly, FSA will or is utilizing snipers in and effort to drive Assad's forces out. If this doesn't work? Suspect a full assault will occur. The Citadel is the highest ground in Aleppo, and thus of great military import.

7 posted on 08/05/2012 2:57:19 PM PDT by donozark (Follow the cigar smoke, find the fat man there.)
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To: dfwgator

Did you mention the National Populist Front
.
Splitter?


8 posted on 08/05/2012 2:58:10 PM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (ABO 2012)
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To: C210N

Listen. If you wanted to join the S.N.C., you’d have to really hate the Assads.

I do!

Oh, yeah? How much?

A lot!

Right. You’re in. Listen. The only people we hate more than the Assads are the f’ing National Council of Syria.


9 posted on 08/05/2012 3:03:26 PM PDT by dfwgator (FUJR (not you, Jim))
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To: Steely Tom

/bingo


10 posted on 08/05/2012 3:19:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: C210N; dfwgator; EQAndyBuzz

:’) Yeah, heh heh...


11 posted on 08/05/2012 3:19:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: donozark

Thanks donozark.


12 posted on 08/05/2012 3:19:26 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Ten years of a continuous operation of plans - of U.S. neoconservative and “new world/one world” types - getting approval for U.S. official support from within and without the U.S. government, allied with the Saudis, funding mostly from the U.S. (including U.S. foundations) and Saudis - is what opportunistically kicked this thing off - from outside Syria - deciding that they could take advantage of the “Arab Spring” to make it all look like a mere spontaneous and majority desired uprising [what was new or changed about conditions in Syria at the time? - nothing], while whether the Saudis’ lackeys - U.S. policy makers - realized it or not, better minds in the region KNEW that the timing of the “kick off” was not for operational victory of the “uprising” but to create the base of martyrs from which the legitimacy of and participation in the opposition could be built.

It was a given to those who understood Assad and understood both Syria and Lebanon that Assad WOULD react as violently as he could to ANY major threat, and if you were not prepared to actually counter that (if you were not to expect outside direct military support) then you were prepared to die.

Obama is getting away with pretending to the Arab street and the world’s sheeple that unlike Iraq HIS hands are clean, with regard to all the civilian deaths in Syria - but only because the work of who we are involved with, and the facts of how closely we are working, is all behind the scenes and American forces are not “doing the killing” - the killing that was inevitable with the timing of the outside-generated initiation of the opposition plans.

Meanwhile, just like Iraq, any victory is not going to be “ours”, as the final composition of any new government WILL NOT be aligned as closely with our interests as they will be against them. That’s the ONLY THING that is sure.

The whole thing will, when the history of it is completely opened, be seen as a stinking mess created by a premature birth, induced from outside the womb by foreign policy doctors who decided it was time. It’s not Americas’ finest hour.


13 posted on 08/05/2012 4:04:50 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: Wuli

Thanks for the regurgitation of a string of ridiculous conspiracy theory buzzwords.


14 posted on 08/05/2012 4:08:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

From some of the footage I’ve watched coming out of Aleppo, it appears the people that remain in the area know who their benefactors are. Sadly, they know who the murders of women and children are also. If it was up to people still living and fighting for their existence would they want a government of laws or men? I honestly don’t know because I can’t read the Farsi or Arabic that is with the feeds. Nor the comments regarding such videos.


15 posted on 08/05/2012 5:06:16 PM PDT by Kudsman (Chickens arenÂ’t gay. They are stupid. Too stupid to know what they are doing most of the time. Libe)
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To: SunkenCiv

There has been enough reporting and leaks, small as they both were, to identify that nothing I said was “theoretical”.

The program for “regime change” in Syria, began in 2001 while G.W. Bush was President, continued past his departure and continues today, ran money and help through persons in and out of the U.S. government through the State Department, ran money and U.S. support together with money and work of organizations outside the U.S. government - U.S. foundations like the Ford Foundation - and coordinated with similar operations being run by the Saudis, and added and coordinated CIA support with everyone involved. For a decade.

But a fully well represented and well organized opposition had not been obtained in Syria when the “Arab Spring” developed. But persons outside Syria - where all the major opposition organization leaders were at the time - decided it was time to push against Assad anyway. Its what the big backers wanted.

What has happened was inevitable due to the timing in the face of conditions in Syria - even though the timing is what the big backers from outside Syria called for.

It’s possible that a G.W. Bush might have ended the pretense that we are not involved after Assad’s first major massacre. Then again, he may have continued the “clean hands” public pretense that Obama is doing,


16 posted on 08/05/2012 5:49:26 PM PDT by Wuli
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