Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Rebels (Terrorist threat from rebel support (How Iran Gains From Assad…

- - - - Muhammad al-Qatta, 15-Year-Old Boy, Reportedly
        Executed By Syrian Rebel Group For Blasphemy-Hunter Stuart A 15-year-old boy was reportedly shot in front of his family by Syrian rebels because he used the prophet Muhammad’s
        name in an offensive manner.
        Coffee vender Muhammad al-Qatta was abducted by rebels in the Syrian city of Aleppo Saturday night and was later
        returned alive with torture marks, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based group with observers in
        Aleppo.
        The gunmen then shot the boy in the head and in the neck with an automatic rifle in front of a crowd that included
        Qatta’s mother and father, the monitoring group added. Before shooting him, the rebels reportedly announced that
        cursing the prophet is a terrible vice and that others who did so would be similarly punished.
        According to the organization, rebels targeted the boy because he had said he wouldn’t lend money to someone “even if
        [Muhammad] comes back to life.” The saying — or at least a variation of it — is a common phrase used by Syrians, Al
        Jazeera notes. :check:
        
        Reports of Funeral, Police Shootings raise tensions in Syria-Rima Maktabi An unnamed official told the official Syrian Arab News Agency over
        the weekend that an unknown "armed group" on rooftops shot at
        protesters and security forces. Activists said they believe the people
        on the rooftops were snipers from security forces. importance: they were shooting at both sides. this lends credence to the Death Squad theory that destablizers have been moved in to kill anything and everything to force dissension and further flame hatred against Assad
  - - - Of course, Syrian Islamists are no friends of the United States — merely the enemies of one of its enemies. Indeed, their long-term aspirations are
        arguably more reprehensible than those of the mullahs in Tehran — Shiites, after all, aren’t obsessed with converting others their faith. Syrians have also
        been prominent in the leadership of al Qaeda, easily recognizable by the surname al-Suri in their noms de guerre: Notable examples include Abu Musab
        al-Suri, a major al Qaeda ideologue; Ghazawan al-Suri, the leader of al Qaeda in Mosul captured in 2007; Abu Zaid al-Suri, a deputy leader of al Qaeda in
        the Iraqi town of Rawah, captured in 2006; Abu Layla al-Suri, the leader of al Qaeda in Diyala, killed in 2008.
        For the foreseeable future, however, Iran constitutes a far greater and more immediate threat to U.S. national interests. Whatever misfortunes Sunni
        Islamists may visit upon the Syrian people, any government they form will be strategically preferable to the Assad regime, for three reasons: A new
        government in Damascus will find continuing the alliance with Tehran unthinkable, it won’t have to distract Syrians from its minority status with foreign
        policy adventurism like the ancien régime, and it will be flush with petrodollars from Arab Gulf states (relatively) friendly to Washington.
        So long as Syrian jihadis are committed to fighting Iran and its Arab proxies, we should quietly root for them — while keeping our distance from a conflict
        that is going to get very ugly before the smoke clears. There will be plenty of time to tame the beast after Iran’s regional hegemonic ambitions have gone
        down in flames. :check:
  - - - The most prominent emerging homegrown groups include Ahrar al-Sham and Sukur al-Sham, which field
        various chapters in Idlib and elsewhere. Jibhat al-Nusra, an organization that has claimed several suicide bombings,
        is considered weak on the ground, the experts said.
        Ahrar al-Sham in particular enjoys the support of Sheik Adnan al-Arour, a Sunni Muslim media star in exile,
        who blasts Shiites and Alawites on his television show and on what appears to be his authentic Twitter account. “We
        buy weapons from the donations and savings of the Wahhabi children,” said one recent Twitter posting, referring to
        the Islamic sect prominent in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, “and not from the Americans like the Shiites of Iraq did.”
- - - - The Pentagon's Cold Feet on Syria-Max Boot March 2012 What about the fractured nature of the Syrian opposition? That's a real concern — but one that could be
        alleviated by the provision of training and aid. U.S. personnel could play a critical role by using our largess to
        buttress the more moderate elements of the opposition while shutting out factions affiliated with extremist
        groups that receive support from Gulf Arabs.
        
        Toppling Syria's Assad-Max Boot June 2012 First, we should become more closely involved in organizing the Syrian resistance by providing it with
        communications gear, intelligence and other nonlethal assistance. As CIA and special operations officers
        develop closer ties with the rebels, they will develop the contacts necessary to funnel weapons into the right
        hands and to avoid arming jihadist extremists
        
        How to Weaken the Assad Regime-Frederic Hof (CFR) I think so. Regardless of the extent of whatever operation would take place after congressional authorization,
        the United States really does need to step up its game here, particularly with the opposition. You read in the
        press that to the extent we are providing arms and training, it is covert in nature. It just seems to me that if
        we are going to get serious about this in terms of the quantities of things that will be required to help a
        respectable military force be constituted, this is a mission that I think would have to be turned over to the
        Department of Defense and be done openly. And it may well be that some of what I understand to be legal
        reservations that have caused this to be done differently may go away if we are actually having cruise missiles
        impacting on Syrian territory.
        
        What Should US Policy Be in Syria?-Max boot, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Brian Fishman (CFR), Ed Husain, Andrew Tabler (Not CFR but has authored 11 articles in Foreign Affairs making him very involved int he CFR community
        Ed Husain-Instead, U.S. allies Turkey, France, Britain, and the Gulf countries should lead efforts to oust Assad and
        build a new Syria. Their reluctance for greater involvement, however, is the surest warning for the United
        States to stay one removed from Syria.
        Washington should continue to help the Syrian opposition by nonlethal
        means: aid, training, better
        communications devices, political recognition, facilitation, and strategic guidance. But the opposition's
        triumph over Assad must be theirs alone for the sake of their credibility in the next battle: rebuilding Syria
        
        Joe Lieberman (CFR) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiTf0XKSA50
  - - - In addition to being trained and organized like a conventional military, the new force must be equipped like one. Washington would need to provide the new army with heavy weapons, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery, and surface-to-air missiles -- vital tools for eliminating the regime's current advantage in firepower. The new army would also need logistical support, communications equipment, transport, and medical gear to mount sustained offensive and defensive operations against the regime.
        
        Once the new army gained ground, the opposition's leaders could formally declare themselves to represent a new provisional government. The United States and its allies could then extend diplomatic recognition to the movement, allowing the U.S. Department of Defense to take over the tasks of training and advising the new force -- which would now be the official military arm of Syria's legitimate new rulers.
  - - - So and
        the Saudis have been able to get weapons with our vetting to the Free Syrian Army, and they
        haven't fallen into the hands of Al Qaida or AlNusra.
        So, I have it
        has to be some proof to me, one that
        they're getting weapons in and two, the right kind of weapons.
        They need antiarmor.
        They've got to have antiarmor.
        AK47s
        don't fight well against tanks. And that armor
        is a big part of Bashar's capability. And they've got to have antiair
        weapons as well.
        MODERATOR: And that's what they tell you when you're on the ground, that they are being bombarded
        from the air. Is that a danger to provide even the Free Syrian Army, even if you were to accept that it's a
        disciplined, cohesive force, not the bad guys, isn't that a danger to start as we did in Afghanistan?
        MCCAIN: I think there is no good options. And I think there is a danger. But I would point out that the air control
        of the air in that terrain and climate is critical not only for air attacks, but moving troops and
        equipment around Syria because they don't control certain areas. And they ship the
        plane modes full of weapons that fly from Iran and from Russia into Damascus every single day, tons of military equipment that
        are being flown in.
        And meanwhile we're trying to, in very devious ways, to get some of this equipment to them. When you look
        at the disparity on the battlefield, the lack of the
        total superiority of weapons that Bashar has, it's
        surprising that the Free Syrian Army has done as well as they are.
        And in case you missed it, there's now conflict between the Free Syrian Army and AlNusra
        and Al Qaida.
        And if this thing ended the right way we would have to give weapons and assistance to the Free Syrian Army
        because this AlNusra
        and Al Qaida grows every single day.
        
        And by the way, the majority of the Free Syrian Army officers are defectors from the Syrian Army. And I've
        met with them. And their training and their indoctrination is to murder, torture so that they can intimidate
        the population. That's their training.
        Now you'll hear it's all on the front page of the New York Times some execution of some prisoners by the Free
        Syrian Army. And it's horrible and unacceptable. But it also is an indication of how horrible war is.
        In the war I fought we had a terrible thing that happened. It was called the Mei Lai Massacre. And it's
        unacceptable, and it's a stain on and a blot on the honor of the United States military forever. But these
        things do happen.
        There's a difference between these acts of violence and cruelty and barbaric behavior that are sparked by this
        anger. But there's something else to have a doctrine and indoctrination of your troops, as Bashar has, to
        torture, rape and murder. And that is a huge difference that I just wanted to point out, and another reason
        why we should be helping the Free Syrian Army a lot more than we are.
        
        John McCain on U.S. Syria Policy According to the Washington Post, the first U.S. weapons
        only reached the opposition earlier this month. And they reportedly only reached a very small number of people. It's long past time to launch a significant train and equipment training
        program for moderate Syrian
        forces, and the Defense Department is best suited to lead this expanded mission.
        
        Syria is Iraq-Thomas L. Friedman (CFR) Since it is highly unlikely that an armed, feared and trusted midwife will dare enter the fray in Syria, the rebels on the
        ground there will have to do it themselves. Given Syria’s fractured society, that will not be easy — unless there is a
        surprise. A surprise would be the disparate Syrian opposition groups congealing into a united political front — maybe
        with the help of U.S., Turkish and Saudi intelligence of􀃤cers on the ground — and this new front reaching out to
        moderate Alawites and Christians who supported the Assads out of fear and agreeing to build a new order together
        that protects majority and minority rights.