Syrian civil war (7 Viewers)

[Azzurri7]

Things will turn pretty bad in the region I'm afraid. Turkey's 5 martyrs wont go like this, they'll prepare something for it.

The opposition in Syria in Aleppo and Damascus are regaining their positions + Assad refusing to step down before 2013 elections + rumors of some Hezbollah members being killed in Syria by the oppositions will result for something big in the next few days or weeks.

 

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[Fred]

I just hope all this bloodshed ends as soon as possible, it is so painful seeing Syrians being turned into refugees all over the place, and Syrian people inside their country being subject to such conditions on a daily basis.

 

[Azzurri7]

I just hope all this bloodshed ends as soon as possible, it is so painful seeing Syrians being turned into refugees all over the place, and Syrian people inside their country being subject to such conditions on a daily basis.

One solution to all this: The criminal stepping down.

 

[Cheesio]

One solution to all this: The criminal stepping down.

 

[RAMI-N]

The others are criminals as well.

 

[Azzurri7]

The others are criminals as well.

And that's why the President should step down Rami. Since he couldn't be any better example and since this chaos wont go back to normal unless he steps down.

Are the oppositions gonna hand down their arms and stop fighting and killing the regime if Bashar remains in Power? Doubt it.
Are the oppositions gonna hand down their arms and go for new elections if Bashar steps down? Big chance.

 

[RAMI-N]

And that's why the President should step down Rami. Since he couldn't be any better example and since this chaos wont go back to normal unless he steps down.

Are the oppositions gonna hand down their arms and stop fighting and killing the regime if Bashar remains in Power? Doubt it.
Are the oppositions gonna hand down their arms and go for new elections if Bashar steps down? Big chance.

Very debatable... But I agree this bloody situation should stop whatever the solution is.

 

[Turk_Bianconero]

Turkish Parliament passes Syria cross-border motion

The Turkish Parliament has passed a motion allowing the military to conduct cross-border raids into Syria.

Some 286 deputies cast votes in favor of the motion, while 92 voted against it.

The Turkish Parliament is debated the motion cross-border motion brought by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in a closed session.

Members of main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) have decided to vote against the motion following a group meeting in the early hours of the day, according to sources.

‘This motion will allow for a world war’

CHP member Muharrem İnce criticized the recent motion, saying it would enable the AKP to wage a world war.

"This motion has no limits," İnce said. "You can wage a world war with [the motion]."

İnce also opposed the closed nature of the session.

"Why would you hide this from the people? Will it be your children that go to war? People are not going to know why they have sent their children to war," he said.

"The border of the motion is unclear. It calls for the Armed Forces to send forces to foreign countries. Who are these countries?" İnce added.

Justice and Development Party (AKP) Group Deputy Chief Nurettin Canikli said today that everyone should choose their side in Syria incident, adding that nobody in Parliament could defend the policies of a country that attacked Turkey.

“Everyone should decide which side they will are on. Do you side with Turkey, or cruel al-Assad? Do you side with al-Assad, who bombs all people no matter what their age? We have to decide,” Canikli said. “The Syrian minister said ‘We did it and we apologize for it,' but someone else said ‘No, Syria didn't do it.’ Our job is to protect our country.”

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) members said they would defer to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). "In order to reinforce Turkey's positioning, we are in favor of defering to the government on the cross-border motion for the Turkish Armed Forces," said the head of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Devlet Bahçeli.

The main opposition Republican People’s Party's (CHP) description of the government's Syria cross-border operation mandate as a “war mandate” is to be condemned, ruling AKP Deputy Chairman Ömer Çelik has said.

“This is not a special mandate of the AK Party, this mandate is about the sovereignty rights of the Turkish Republic,” Çelik said.

Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Deputy Group Chairman Pervin Buldan said the party would say “no” to the cross-border operation mandate and criticized the closed session for the discussion of the mandate in Parliament. “If you will pick a war with Syria, you are going to send the poor children of Anatolia to the war and nobody will know about it.

The public will not be aware of what is being discussed here," Buldan said.

“Issuing a bill to authorize military operation does not mean declaring a war. It could make a deterrent effect. Issuing the bill as soon as possible would be beneficial for that. If the disturbance [Syria caused on the border] gets worse, Turkey could take action,” retired Gen. Armağan Kuloğlu said.

Speaking during a trip to Akçakale, Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Sezgin Tanrıkulu said: “This is very close to the border, so it should be evacuated. The state only granted about 300-400 Turkish Liras in financial aid for [the residents of the region] to move to safer places. These people must be protected and kept away from the conflict zone.”

“All military targets have been hit by the shells. After this point, the process is down to the reaction of the opposite side [Syria]. They have now taken the lessons that they should have taken,” AKP Ankara Deputy Yalçın Akdoğan said.

Regarding opposition criticism of the mandate text, Akdoğan said: “There is nothing saying we have to go to a war in the text. The criticism of the opposition is political. Everything is clear in the text."

AKP Deputy Group Chairman Nurettin Canikli said there was an armed attack toward Turkey undetaken by the Syrian goverment. “Everybody needs to define their side. Are you on Turkey’s side or on the side of cruel al-Assad? Are you on the side of al-Assad, who has been shelling his own people including children? You need to make a decision on this.

Nobody in the Turkish Grand Assembly can defend the policy of a country who attacked this country [Turkey]. Our duty is to defend our country,” Canikli said.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/tu...tion-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=31639&NewsCatID=338

 

[Fred]

One solution to all this: The criminal stepping down.

and preferably suffering a similar fate as Gedaffi

 

[Azzurri7]

and preferably suffering a similar fate as Gedaffi

Anything less would be shameful.

 

[Turk_Bianconero]

Assad forces use cluster bombs as opposition gains, HRW says

14 October 2012 / REUTERS, BEIRUT
Syrian government forces have dropped Russian-made cluster bombs over civilian areas in the past week as they battle to reverse opposition gains on a strategic highway, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Sunday.

The bombs were dropped from planes and helicopters, with many of the strikes taking place near the main north-south highway running through the northwestern town of Maarat al-Numan, HRW said in a report.

Opposition forces seized Maarat al-Numan from President Bashar al-Assad's troops last week, cutting the route from the capital Damascus to Aleppo, Syria's biggest city. Government forces have been trying to retake the area since then.

HRW previously reported Syrian use of cluster bombs, which have been banned by most countries, in July and August but the renewed strikes indicate the government's determination to regain strategic control in the northwest.

Cluster munitions can drop hundreds of bomblets on a wide area as an anti-personnel weapon, designed to kill as many people as possible. Human rights groups say their use in civilian-populated areas can be a war crime.

More than 100 nations have banned their use, stockpiling, transfer or sale under a convention which became international law in 2010, but Syria has not signed it, nor have Russia, China or the United States.

Bomblets that do not initially explode can litter the ground, killing and maiming civilians long after a war is over.

Towns targeted included Maarat, Tamanea, Taftanaz and al-Tah. Cluster bombs have also been used in other areas in Homs, Aleppo and Lattakia provinces as well as near Damascus, the New York-based rights group said.

“Syria's disregard for its civilian population is all too evident in its air campaign, which now apparently includes dropping these deadly cluster bombs into populated areas,” said Steve Goose, arms director at HRW.
Iran talks

Syrian government officials were not immediately available to comment on the HRW report.

Initial information about the use of the explosives came from videos posted online by opposition activists although HRW investigators said it had confirmed the incidents in interviews with resident in two towns.

It had no information on casualties. The cluster bombs were Russian-made but it was not known how or when Syria acquired them, HRW said.

Residents from Taftanaz and Tamanea - both near Maarat al-Numan - told HRW interviewers that helicopters dropped cluster munitions on or near their towns last Tuesday. One that hit Tamanea released smaller bomblets in an area between two schools, a resident was quoted as saying in the HRW report.

“The bomblets that exploded were the ones that hit the ground on the tip, we collected the ones that didn't explode, their tip didn't touch the ground,” the resident said.

People were taking away unexploded bomblets as souvenirs, a highly dangerous action as they can still explode at the slightest touch or movement. Video showed some civilians carrying the bomblets around and throwing them on the ground.

“The cluster munition strikes and unexploded ordnance they leave behind pose a huge danger to civilian populations, who often seem unaware how easily these submunitions could still explode,” Goose said.

The United Nations peace envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, was due in Tehran later on Sunday for talks with Iranian officials, Iranian media reported.

Brahimi, who took over the mediator job after former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan quit in frustration at the lack of diplomatic progress, will meet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior officials.

Shiite Iran is the main ally in the region of Assad, a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this week Brahimi would visit Syria soon to try to persuade Assad to call an immediate cease-fire.

The bloodshed has worsened markedly in the past two months although neither side has been able to gain a distinct advantage, with government forces relying heavily on air power and artillery to batter the opposition forces.

Combat has been reported nationwide but the crucial strategic battles are being fought in an arc through western Syria, where most of the population lives.

After four days of heavy fighting in the town of Azmarin on the Turkish border, the opposition appeared to have a fragile hold.

“Praise be the town is now in our hands ... We have raised two flags inside the town and the battles are over. Azmarin is completely under our control,” one resident, who did not want to be named, told Reuters by telephone from inside the town.

Number of Syrian refugees in Turkey hits 100,000 threshold

15 October 2012 / TODAY'S ZAMAN, ISTANBUL
The number of Syrian refugees in Turkey has now exceeded 100,000, a level that Turkey said could trigger actions such as the creation of a buffer zone because it would struggle to accommodate more than 100,000 refugees.

In a statement on Monday, the Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) announced that there were now 100,363 Syrians at 13 camps built in seven Turkish provinces along the border with Syria.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said in August that Turkey would not accept more than 100,000 refugees and that the creation of a buffer zone could be necessary to contain the refugee flow onto its soil.

Turkish officials describe the number as a “psychological threshold,” which does not automatically trigger measures for the creation of a buffer zone, emphasizing also the importance of international support for such a move.

Speaking to Today's Zaman, an official said the issue was not on Turkey's immediate agenda just because the number of refugees has hit 100,000, but added that this remains an option. More than 10,000 Syrians are already waiting on the other side of the border and there are fears that an army offensive in Aleppo, where clashes between the army forces and the opposition have been raging, could spark a new wave of refugees headed towards the Turkish border.

Turkey, which has taken on an increasingly leading role in international opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has called already for the United Nations to build refugee camps in a safe zone within Syria's borders. But these calls are met with caution in the West, which is wary of engaging in confrontation with the Syrian army without a UN decision authorizing military action in the civil war-battered country. Critics say creating safe zones or a buffer zone within Syria on humanitarian concerns would still require a significant military commitment because it would inevitably mean military confrontation with the Syrian army.

The foreign minister of Qatar, a country which -- like Turkey -- supports the anti-Assad opposition, renewed the call on the United Nations on Friday to support a no-fly zone to protect civilians caught in the middle of the country's escalating civil war as well as to support Syrian opposition forces by providing arms and funding.

Khalid Bin Mohammad al-Attiyah said Qatar supports the creation of a buffer or no-fly zone. "If we leave Syria further, we will aggravate the situation more and more," he said in an interview with the Associated Press.

More than 143,000 Syrians have entered Turkey since the conflict began in March 2011, while 42,777 Syrians have subsequently returned, according to AFAD data. Turkey, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on hosting the refugees, says the international community should act immediately to stop the humanitarian tragedy.

Along with the humanitarian concerns stemming from the Syrian civil war, military tensions on the Turkish-Syria border are also escalating. Turkey has reinforced its military units along the border after shelling Syrian targets in retaliation for a mortar bomb fired from the Syrian territory that killed five civilians on a border town in Turkey early this month.

On Saturday, Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said Turkey will retaliate without hesitation if its border with Syria is violated again and if it believes that its national security is in danger. "When it comes to security, Turkey's border is equal to the Norwegian border as far as NATO is concerned. The security of these borders is the security of NATO. So we believe that this solidarity will continue,” Davutoğlu said.

Earlier, Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel also vowed to respond “with greater force” if the Syrian shells continued to land on Turkish soil.

 

[Turk_Bianconero]

 

[Nzoric]

and preferably suffering a similar fate as Gedaffi

The Syrian situation is much more complex than Libya.

 

[GordoDeCentral]

they should follow lebanese model

 

[Enron]

ALAH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

 

[Azzurri7]

they should follow lebanese model

Ironically, yesterday a UN delegate member has visited Lebanon to discuss the Syrian crisis.

How things turn around sometimes.

 

[RAMI-N]

Ironically, yesterday a UN delegate member has visited Lebanon to discuss the Syrian crisis.

How things turn around sometimes.

Are you convinced with this shit?

 

[Salvo]

So Assad is a prick, but we are all unsure of who the rebels are led by. Thus they cannot be trusted?

 

[Turk_Bianconero]

Nearly 10,000 Syrian refugees cross into Turkey overnight

9 November 2012 / TODAYSZAMAN.COM WITH WIRES, İSTANBUL
As many as 9,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey overnight to flee the violence in their country, a United Nations official said Friday, citing officials in Turkey where footage showed refugees climbing through the barbed-wire fence separating the two countries.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am7hB_nZEZo&feature=player_embedded#!

UN refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards told The Associated Press that the refugees had crossed into the Turkish border province of Sanliurfa. The UN had registered 5,000 of them so far and was in the process of registering the others, he said.

"These are people fleeing fighting between the (rebel) Free Syrian Army and the government of Syria, including more than 70 wounded and two who are reported to have died," Edwards said.

A Turkish official said the Syrians were mostly escaping fighting in the town of Harem, in Syria's northern Idlib province as well as violence in the town of of Ras al-Ayn, in the northeastern province of al-Hasaka, where the rebels had wrested control from President Bashar Assad's forces. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules that bar civil servants from speaking to journalists without prior authorization.

The new arrivals would bring the number of refugees in Turkey to around 120,000.

However, the Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate (AFAD) said in a statement on Friday morning that the 20-month conflict in Syria has brought a total of 158,940 Syrian citizens to Turkey, 112,883 of whom have remained as refugees with the remaining 46,057 having returned to Syria.

These refugees are accommodated in a total of 13 tent cities and one container city built by AFAD in seven Turkish provinces along the Syrian border: Hatay, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep, Osmaniye, Adıyaman, Kilis and Kahramanmaraş. These camps are addressing the refugees' health, security, financial access, communication, social activity and educational needs. Refugees are also given three meals a day.

At least two Syrian generals and dozens of army officers and soldiers defected and fled to Turkey on Friday morning.

Ceylanpınar Mayor İsmail Aslan, told The Associated Press by telephone that the Syrian rebels on Friday took control of a security building to which regime forces had retreated, a day after the rebels took over the border crossing between Ceylanpinar and Ras al-Ayn. The regime forces shelled rebel positions on Friday morning, but the fighting had subsided by the early afternoon, he said.

Schools in Ceylanpınar were closed for a second day on Friday and residents were being told not to leave homes.

Rumors that the regime forces would launch air raids on Ras al-Ayn had precipitated the refugee influx, said another official in Ceylanpinar, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

The refugees were being taken to nearby refugee camps or were staying with Turkish relatives, he said.

The civil war in Syria has killed more than 36,000 people since an uprising against the Syrian regime began in March 2011.

 

[RAMI-N]

Four explosions, two of them were very big in Damascus district "Jaramana" (where my family lives) left 56 civilians dead and 127 wounded...

Is this the fucking revolution the world talks about?! killing innocent people?!

RIP.