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Unlike Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry, Hillary Clinton has been smart enough not to allow her picture to be taken with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad - at least as far as I could find. So I had to go with the montage above. But Clinton is apparently no less disposed to keeping the dictator in power than are Pelosi and Kerry (and President Obama for that matter). YNet has published a lengthy interview with two Syrian dissidents who have found temporary asylum in the United States. The two are still considered to be in danger - as are their families...

As'ad AbuKahlil—a political science professor at California State University, Stanislaus—spoke last month at a day-long "teach-in" at the University of California, Berkeley titled, "Building Solidarity with the Arab Spring." It consisted of a number of "workshop sessions" at the Valley Life Sciences Building, followed by a "plenary session" at the Multicultural Center, and was co-sponsored by the Arab Resource Organizing Committee, the Berkeley Muslim Students Association PAC, the International Socialist Organization, and the Syrian American Council. AbuKhalil's workshop on "The U.S. and the Arab Uprising" was held in a tiny, hot, windowless room filled with students wearing hijabs and keffiyehs....

Damascus, 1 Dec. (AKI) - Dozens of officials from North Korea and Iran have conducted meetings with representatives of the Syrian government in Damascus to help president Bashar al-Assad obtain weapons following the implementation of sanctions by members of the Arab League and other countries. The meetings have been taking place in recent days, and were attended by experts in the production of rockets, according to Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah, citing unnamed intelligence sources. "The Syrian regime is afraid of losing power so is asking help from these two allies to put in place whatever means are necessary, even if it...

Russian warships are due to arrive at Syrian territorial waters, a Syrian news agency said on Thursday, indicating that the move represented a clear message to the West that Moscow would resist any foreign intervention in the country's civil unrest.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A judge will decide whether a Virginia man accused of spying on U.S. citizens for Syria will remain jailed while he awaits trial.

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian forces shot dead 20 protesters on Friday despite a pledge by President Bashar al-Assad that a crackdown was over, activists said as thousands marched across Syria, spurred on by U.S. and European calls for him to step down. Most of the violence was in the southern province of Deraa where the uprising against Assad erupted in March, triggering a harsh response in which U.N. investigators say Syrian forces may have committed crimes against humanity.

BEIRUT (AP) — Two Syrian rights groups say government forces have killed at least 52 people in the latest phase of their crackdown on dissent and the toll for the day could rise to 69.

AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian security forces shot dead at least 20 protesters on Friday as hundreds of thousands of people staged the biggest protests so far against President Bashar al-Assad, witnesses and rights groups said. Assad, facing the greatest challenge to 40 years of Baath Party rule, has sought to crush demonstrations that broke out in March. But although rights groups say some 1,400 civilians have been killed, the protests have grown. "These are the biggest demonstrations so far. It is a clear challenge to the authorities, especially when we see all these numbers coming out from Damascus for the...

I have just been forward what appear to be Syrian state documents leaked by the governor of al-Qunaitera, in south-west Syria, which suggest that the regime fully orchestrated the “Nakba Day” raids of Palestinian refugees into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on May 15. The document (below) which bears the Syrian Republic emblem, is dated May 14, 2011 and describes an “urgent meeting” of Major General Asef Shawkat, the Deputy Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces, and the chiefs of security and military intelligence branches in the province in Al-Qunaitera, which is located at the Syrian-Israeli border. The memorandum outlines

Syrian soldiers are killing other Syrian soldiers in the northern part of the country, according to a source who spoke with Israel National News Monday night on condition of anonymity. The source said the soldiers being massacred were being pursued by their fellow security officers because they had broken ranks and tried to escape to Turkey. "These are the soldiers who were seeking asylum across the border," the source said. "They were running away, and so the other soldiers surrounded them and slaughtered them." Syrian state television reported Monday that 120 security officers have been slaughtered in the town of...

Protestors for hire? Demonstrators along the Syria-Israel border were paid thousands of dollars by President Bashar Assad's regime to take part in Sunday's riots, Syrian opposition activists charge. Israeli officials later reinforced the claims, accusing the Syrian regime of encouraging protests along the northern border. Sunday’s riots were an attempt "to divert attention away from the massacre in Syria,” one official charged. "The Syrians will be held accountable for these events.” (Snip) Opposition activists noted that such tactics were previously used by Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein when the Ba'ath Party leader offered a $25,000 reward to the families of Palestinians

Syrian and Lebanese Arabs have scrapped plans to march on Israel’s borders Sunday as “Naksa Day” begins to fizzle out. Actions by Lebanon and Israel to declare areas near the northern border to be closed military zones, along with an American warning that the planned march might be a “provocation,” contributed to the decision to cancel the planned assault. The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority has stated its intentions, but without support from foreign Arabs, a demonstration for several million foreign Arabs to immigrate to Israel might be seen as a public relations bommerang. A cornerstone of the Saudi Arabia 2002 Initiative,...

A video from Syria shows the testimony of a soldier who said Assad’s forces shot at him when he defected after refusing to kill unarmed civilians in the Damascus area. Meanwhile, Syrian secret police and soldiers have arrested 1,000 people in the past two days and have surrounded the city of Banyas.

Footage of Masyaf shows missile shaped items; IAEA urges Syria to let inspectors visit reactor that IAF destroyed in 2007. A compound in western Syria with buildings and hundreds of missile-shaped items has been identified as functionally related to a nuclear reactor Israel destroyed northeast of Damascus in 2007. Satellite footage of the site in Masyaf was obtained by the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security and shows a compound built in a ravine and surrounded by what appears to be a line of trenches. While there are no security measures visible in the commercial satellite imagery, ISIS said...

12, 2008 EXCLUSIVE: Who is Mohammed Al-Churbaji?:; Islamic Terrorist "Mr. Mom" Mohammed Al-Churbaji, Dad of Obama Fundraiser Worked for Azzam, Bin Laden * How hard it is to get rid of known terrorists in our midst and how easy it is for a deported Al-Qaeda terrorist to return to America; * How corrupt U.S. embassy officials get away with re-admitting terrorists into the U.S.; * How easily terrorists and their families gain acceptance by our society, including the Barack Obama Presidential campaign; * How America's universities are not tools of moderation for Muslim foreigners, but breeding grounds for terrorist fraternization...

Police in Hamburg shut down the notorious al-Quds mosque, renamed the Taiba mosque in 2008, led by German-Syrian national and voluntary imam Mamoun Darkazanli. Darkazanli (a.k.a. Abu Ilyas al-Suri) has been a suspected al-Qaeda operative, primarily as a financier and logistician, in the European Union for close to two decades. Long active in al-Qaeda circles, Darkazanli first surfaced on the radar of Western intelligence agencies when he purportedly helped procure a cargo ship named “Jennifer” for Osama bin Laden as early as 1993 (Hamburger Abendblatt, October 16, 2004). Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt (BKA- Federal Criminal Police Office) admitted that it had been...

Women at Love Field 'acting suspiciously' Dallas police and federal terrorism officials are investigating two women, both dressed in camouflage pants under their traditional Muslim robes and scarves, who were seen conducting what appeared to be surveillance and acting suspiciously at Dallas Love Field. One of the women, Kimberly "Asma" Al-Homsi, 42, of Arlington, who is on probation for a 2005 Garland road rage incident involving a fake grenade, is said to have long-range assault rifle and explosives training, according to a Dallas police intelligence bulletin issued March 5. "I'm a trained sniper and proud of it," Ms. Al-Homsi said...

SNIPPET: "The Department of Defense announced the transfer of two Guantanamo detainees today. Abdul Aziz Naji, a native of Algeria, was repatriated to his home country. Abd-al-Nisr Mohammed Khantumani, a Syrian, was resettled in Cape Verde, an island republic approximately 300 miles off the west coast of Africa." SNIPPET: "US military officials at Gitmo alleged that Abdul Aziz Naji (whose internment serial number at Gitmo was 744) was a member of Laskar-e-Taiba (LET), a Pakistani-based terrorist organization closely linked to al Qaeda. A senior intelligence official contacted by the Long War Journal explained that not only was Naji a member...

SNIPPET: "Germany agreed to accept two Guantanamo detainees last week. In justifying the decision, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere explained: “The United States has asked us to take three people who were cleared for release. We decided to take in two who we were almost certain would pose no threat to society. With the third we weren't sure.”" SNIPPET: "But in this case the press has reported the identity of the two detainees in question. The German newspaper Bild has named them: Ayman al Shurafa, a 34-year-old citizen of Saudi Arabia, and Mahmud Salim al Ali, a 35-year-old Syrian....

SNIPPET: "The federal prosecutor's office said in a statement that the accused, identified only as Hussam S., had been detained Sunday in the western German town of Montabaur."The accused is strongly suspected of working to recruit members or supporters for Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb and the Islamic Jihad Union," the statement said." SNIPPET: "Hussam M. is believed to have used Internet forums and blogs belonging to the German section of the "Global Islamic Media Front" and the "Al-Ansar Media Battalion" since 2007 to attract militants to the various Al-Qaeda groups. And since February 2009, he allegedly...

Syria was said to have halted military exercises amid a troop epidemic. The Syrian opposition has asserted that President Bashar Assad ordered the suspension of military training. Assad was said to have issued the order in mid-June 2010 amid an epidemic of diarrhea at army camps. The Syrian military, said to have come under increasing domination by Iran, has not acknowledged the training suspension.

Hizbullah terrorists are running weapons to Lebanon from secret arms depots in Syria where the terrorists have been accorded their own living quarters, arms storage site and a fleet of trucks, according to the London Times, which claims to HIzbullah is allowed to operate this site freely. have been shown satellite images of one of the compounds. It is said to be situated near the town of Adra, northeast of Damascus. The Times quoted a security source, who said, "HIzbullah is allowed to operate this site freely. They often move the arms in bad weather when Israeli satellites are unable...

Note: The following text is a quote: Holy Land Foundation Representative Arrested United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced today that Mohamad Mustapha Ali Masfaka, a 47-year-old native of Syria, was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection when he attempted to enter the United States from Canada via the Ambassador Bridge. Mr. Masfaka made his initial appearance in federal court in Detroit on an Indictment charging him with Attempted Naturalization Fraud, False Statements, and Perjury. Joining in the announcement was Brian Moskowitz, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Investigations for Ohio and Michigan...

The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — SNIPPET: "Khaled Nawaya, a flight instructor, was arrested by Canada Border Services agents when they found $800,000 in gold coins and other currency in his car and pockets on Oct. 6, as he crossed into Surrey, B.C., near Vancouver." SNIPPET: "He'd been living in the U.S. since he was 17 and had gained approval for permanent residency in Canada. Besides the gold, Canadian agents found a ring bearing the insignia of Hezbollah, which has been listed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government since 2002. They also seized 9/11 conspiracy theory-themed DVDs and a...

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has demanded an urgent and immediate visit to suspected nuclear sites in Syria, Channel 10 cited foreign media reports on Monday night. According to the report, IAEA inspectors discovered enriched uranium in three sites besides Dir Azur, where IAF jets destroyed an alleged reactor in September 2007.

"The liquid bomb plot 'terror banker' still walking free in London as Yard chief accuses U.S. of rushing investigation" By DAILY MAIL REPORTER Last updated at 2:26 PM on 08th September 2009 SNIPPET: "And it also emerged today that a suspected key figure in the plot is still at large in Britain despite being pinpointed as an Al Qaeda financier with links both to the airline plan and the 21/7 bombers." SNIPPET: "Intelligence sources in the UK have indicated it was surveillance of Mohammed Al Ghabra, 29, who first led them to the airline plotters. He is suspected of being...

Ancient faith of their Middle East fathers Guardian Weekly reader Catherine Ann Lombard writes on a visit to Mor Ephrem, the Syrian Orthodox Monastery at the far eastern border of the Netherlands and meets 45 boys who are learning to read and chant in kthobonoyo, the litur gical language that only about 300 people in the world speak today Tuesday September 1st 2009 The morning is hot and sticky, but I have promised Dayrayto Shmuni to help in the monastery kitchen and put on my long-sleeved T-shirt. How the nun manages during the summer months in her long black habit...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - Plans to close Guantanamo are not sitting well with the Sept. 11 victims' relatives who sat stunned while two alleged terrorists declared they were proud of their role in the plot.

Imad Mustafa, the Syrian envoy to the US, said Monday that the Obama administration had lifted the ban imposed on exporting goods to the Syrian Aviation Industry, the Kuwait News Agency reported. Speaking on Syrian national television, Mustafa revealed that the US had also lifted the ban on exporting IT products, whether they were hardware or software, adding that US President Barack Obama was considering lifting more such restrictions.

The Italian police have arrested two men suspected of planning an attack on the Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris. They are also suspected of planning other attacks in France and Great Britain. The two are thought to play a leading role in the al-Qaeda network.

In a dramatic development, four generals jailed since 2005 for alleged involvement in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri were on Wednesday released from the nation's Roumieh Prison. The release has emboldened Hezbollah, which has consistently supported the generals, and perhaps angered Rafik's son Saad al-Hariri and his supporters, who lobbied strongly for the generals' arrest in 2005. The release, which comes 40 days ahead of parliamentary elections, is a strong campaign boost for Hezbollah. It has consistently claimed innocence in al-Hariri's murder, and that the officials were arrested for political reasons - their links to then-president...

SNIPPET: "In recent days Egypt has been disclosing details about uncovering a major Hezbollah espionage ring on its soil. AP cites a cabinet minister saying 25 of its 49 members have been arrested so far. The arrests began back in November, but the disclosures have started only now. The leader of the espionage ring—who is among those detained—was a Hezbollah agent named Sami Shehab, and the group he recruited included Lebanese, Syrians, Sudanese, and Palestinians along with 12 Egyptian Shiites. Not surprisingly, they planned attacks on Israeli vacationers in the Sinai, apparently as revenge for the February 2008 killing of...

Monzer al-Kassar, 63, a longtime resident of Spain known as the "Prince of Marbella" for his lifestyle in the glitzy seaside town, was sentenced after being convicted in November of agreeing to sell millions of dollars of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Syrian Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan is veiled as he walks in procession at his installation Mass at Our Lady of the Annunciation Syrian Catholic Church in Beirut, Lebanon, Feb. 15. He is immediately followed by Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington. (CNS) BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS) -- Amid cheers and ululation, the former head of the Syrian Catholic diocese in the U.S. and Canada was installed as patriarch of the Syrian Catholic Church. Saying that he will "serve, not for personal interests, but to win Christ," Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan was installed Feb. 15 at a...

We need your help in locating these four fugitives. Click on their names or photographs to see their wanted posters. It has been 10 years since a group known as “The Family” torched a ski resort in Vail, Colorado, causing $26 million in damage and drawing international attention to eco-terrorists—those who break the law in the name of the environment and animal rights. Since that time, we’ve joined our federal, local, and state law enforcement partners in establishing Operation Backfire to bring these criminals to justice. Our efforts have been successful, but four individuals under indictment remain at large. At...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has formally accepted the election of a new head of the Syrian Catholic Church. Bishop Joseph Younan, 64, who was appointed to head the Newark-based Syrian-rite diocese in the United States and Canada in 1995, was elected as the new patriarch of Antioch in a synod held in Rome Jan. 18-20. He took the name Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan. As is customary for the patriarchs of the Eastern churches in union with Rome, the newly elected head of the church requested communion with the pope, who granted it with a congratulatory letter,...

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "A Federal Court judge ruled Friday that the final terrorism suspect being held in Canada on a national security certificate be released. Justice Richard Mosley ruled Hassan Almrei, who has been in custody since October 2001, can no longer justifiably be detained." SNIPPET: "Almrei, a Syrian, came to Canada in 1999 as a refugee claimant. He was arrested in Toronto in 2001 after the Canadian Security Intelligence Service alleged he was part of a Sunni extremist network. He initially denied the allegations against him, but later explained he had taken part in paramilitary activities in Afghanistan...

(IsraelNN.com) United Nations investigators have found traces of uranium contamination at the site of an Israeli air strike in Syria, diplomats told Reuters and German media sources on Monday. The report is the first sign of a “smoking gun” proving that Syria was in fact building a secret nuclear reactor on the site, as Israel and the United States have insisted. The diplomats said the traces of uranium were first found in June. What has been found so far is not conclusive evidence of nuclear activity, but “raises questions,” they said. Officials in the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)...

Most politicians try to keep their financial backers un-indicted until after the election. But Obama’s biggest early sponsor, dual U.S.-Syrian citizen Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko, is already indicted by a federal grand jury. Now he is going to trial in a Chicago federal court. Rezko, along with co-defendants Ali Ata and Abdelhamid Chaib, face federal grand jury charges presented in October 2006 by the U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald. The case centers on allegations of fraud between 2000 and 2004 in the sale of 17 Papa Johns’ Pizza parlors in Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee. The case may begin with...

BUENOS AIRES — A prosecutor sought the arrest of former President Carlos Menem on Thursday, accusing him of covering up the involvement of a Syrian-Argentine businessman in the bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people. Prosecutor Alberto Nisman also requested the arrests of five others, including Menem's brother, Munir. In his petition to Judge Ariel Lijo, the prosecutor claimed that Menem and his aides tried to cover up the possible involvement of Alberto Jacinto Kanoore Edul in the 1994 car-bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association. Eighty-five people were killed and about 200 injured. Argentina's Clarin newspaper...

TEL AVIV – Israel arrested a suspected Syrian militant operating on Israeli soil accused of preparing attacks against the Jewish state, WND has learned. The militant was arrested July 29, weeks before Israel's Sept. 6 air raid on a remote site in Syria that has been described by independent analysts and some U.S. politicians as a potential Syrian nuclear reactor. Security officials would not say whether the arrest was tied to the air strike. According to security sources, his activities were known to Israeli intelligence agencies for at least one year prior to his arrest

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Syrian man convicted of giving a false tip to a New York City anti-terrorism hotline, leading to five innocent men being investigated on suspicion of terrorism, was sentenced on Wednesday to six months in prison. Rimon Alkatri, 35, was convicted in November of calling a hotline to offer a tip about five fellow Syrians whom he accused of planning a suicide attack on New York City subways over the July 4 holiday weekend. City officials dispatched dozens of police, conducted round-the-clock surveillance and sought help from Israeli law enforcement, prosecutors told a jury at the...

Beirut - In the old days, many Lebanese used to associate Syrians with either dusty soldiers or wretched men coming for cheap labor. This is why the sight of spiffy young Syrian men and women in our Starbucks coffees browsing the web can seem odd to some (Except for Hamra residents who are used to seeing Syrian AUB students) As Mark Mackinnon writes in the Globe and Mail, many young cyber dissidents are settling in Beirut where "they feel free to express their opinions and continue their political activism." "It’s a safe place for us as Syrians. All the other...

JERUSALEM - Israel on Tuesday eased a strict news blackout on an airstrike in Syria last month, allowing the first publication of reports it struck an unspecified "military target" deep inside Syrian territory. Israel's military censor had imposed a total blackout on coverage of the Sept. 6 airstrike. But Tuesday, the office allowed preliminary details to be published after Syria's president, Bashar Assad, confirmed the airstrike in a televised interview. "Israeli air force planes attacked a military target deep inside Syria on Sept. 6, the military censor allowed for publication today," Israel's Army Radio reported. The headline on the Web...

Kuwaiti newspaper says Turkish intelligence provided Israel with information on targets Air Force allegedly attacked last week without Turkish government's authorization. Turkish intelligence provided Israel with information on the Syrian targets allegedly attacked by the Air Force last week without the Turkish government's authorization, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jareeda reported Thursday. Al-Jareeda quoted several sources as saying that Israel and senior Turkish military personnel coordinated Israel's invasion of Turkish airspace during the operation to send a message to the ruling Justice and Development party, or AKP. Senior military officials in Turkey, most of whom are secular, oppose the Islamist party's platform. According...

MINNEAPOLIS -- A woman was arrested after attempting to board a flight en route to Syria with more than $24,000 in cash hidden in her clothes, officials said Tuesday. Amneh Ahmad Abbas, 49, a Syrian citizen who lives in New Orleans, was charged Monday with trying to evade currency reporting requirements, the U.S. Attorney's office said. She was ordered held without bail. The U.S. Attorney's office declined to comment on whether Abbas, who has permanent resident status in the United States, is suspected of involvement in terrorist activity. However, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was taking part in the...

(IsraelNN.com) Syria sees the next war with Israel as involving missile attacks on civilian infrastructure and front-line guerilla warfare, an anonymous senior official in the Syrian Ministry of Defense told Defense News Weekly, in an interview appearing Monday. Syria prefers to avoid a direct, "classic" confrontation with Israel, he said. Instead, the next war will involve Katyusha rocket and ballistic missiles that will target strategic points in Israel, especially civilian infrastructure. The official said that the war will not be limited to a single strike, but will be protracted in nature. "This will be a war of attrition, which the...

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain has arrested flamboyant Syrian-born arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar on U.S. charges of terrorism, Spain's National Police said on Friday. Al-Kassar has been charged by a Federal Court for the Southern District of New York with conspiring to kill Americans, supply terrorists, obtain anti-aircraft missiles and launder money, the police said. A long-time Spanish resident known as the "Prince of Marbella" for his opulent lifestyle, al-Kassar was arrested at Madrid airport and will appear before a judge in the capital later on Friday. Under Spanish law, the United States will have 40 days to provide documents in...

Syrian liberal author Nidhal Na'isa began his career in journalism as a teenager, at the government dailies Al-Thawra and Syria Times,(1) but today he is a vocal opponent of the Arab regimes and the pan-Arab ideology, as well as of Islamism and Islamist terrorism. He has written that due to the Islamist "tsunami," the Middle East could be declared an "intellectual disaster zone"; that if one were to try to sell pan-Arab identity to "the bushmen and the cannibals" they wouldn't buy it; and that the pan-Arab media is "a harbinger of ill, pain, and destruction." In contrast, he praises...

A Syrian court has sentenced a leading dissident to 12 years in prison on charges of undermining national security. The judge said he had encouraged foreign countries to attack Syria. Kamal Labwani was arrested in 2005 after he returned to Damascus from a visit to Europe and the United States, where he met with White House officials. Mr Labwani is founder of the Liberal Democratic Union, which works to promote democracy in Syria. Last month, human rights activists reported that he was being held underground in the dark and his health was deteriorating rapidly. The United States has appealed to...