Livestream out of Syria

Kerry and McCain’s favorite Syria ‘expert’ fired for faking credentials

A prominent pro-Syrian intervention expert, cited by both Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sec. of State John Kerry, lied about her academic credentials and failed to disclose her ties to rebel groups in the embattled republic. According to Buzzfeed, the Institute for the Study of War, a non-partisan Washington think tank, fired Elizabeth O’Bagy on Tuesday after finding out she lied about earning a Ph.D. from Georgetown, University in Washington.
On Wednesday, the Institute for the Study of War website said, “The Institute for the Study of War has learned and confirmed that, contrary to her representations, Ms. Elizabeth O’Bagy does not in fact have a Ph.D. degree from Georgetown University. ISW has accordingly terminated Ms. O’Bagy’s employment, effective immediately.”

O’Bagy wrote to Buzzfeed’s Susannah George via email, “I was just fired from ISW and I’m no longer legally allowed to discuss my employment with them or affiliate it any way.”
An op-ed piece by O’Bagy published in the Wall Street Journal drew fire over O’Bagy’s failure to disclose her ties to rebel groups in Syria. In the Journal piece, she wrote that she has spent “hundreds of hours” in Syria in the company of various rebel factions arrayed against Pres. Bashar al-Assad.

“Contrary to many media accounts, the war in Syria is not being waged entirely, or even predominantly, by dangerous Islamists and al Qaeda die-hards,” O’Bagy asserted.
Sen. McCain read a portion of her op-ed piece aloud on the Senate floor to advocate for U.S. intervention. Sec. of State Kerry called her argument in the piece “very interesting” and urged members of Congress to read it.
After the article was published on Aug. 30, it came to light that she is affiliated with the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a lobbying group that facilitates contract negotiations involving the U.S. and British governments and other agencies which provide aid to Syrian rebels. The Task Force is still in the process of being certified a 501(c)3 nonprofit by the Internal Revenue Service.
Mouaz Moustafa, the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, praised O’Bagy’s work to Buzzfeed, saying, “Elizabeth is one of the best experts on Syria and her field work inside Syria along with her extensive networks on the ground makes her one of few people that can help inform policy makers on the reality on the ground.”
O’Bagy insisted that her work as a journalist is independent of her financial affiliations in the region.
“My research is completely separate” she said to George in a pre-firing interview. “Every journalist and every researcher goes into the conflict with their own background and their own ideas.”
UPDATE: O’Bagy received a Master of Arts in Arab Studies from Georgetown University, according to Politico. She said she also submitted and defended a dissertation, but was still waiting to receive a Ph.D. from the university.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/...ls/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

lulz
 
Danny1982 said:
Syria: nearly half rebel fighters are jihadists or hardline Islamists, says IHS Jane's report

Nearly half the rebel fighters in Syria are now aligned to jihadist or hardline Islamist groups according to a new analysis of factions in the country's civil war.

Opposition forces battling Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria now number around 100,000 fighters, but after more than two years of fighting they are fragmented into as many as 1,000 bands.

The new study by IHS Jane's, a defence consultancy, estimates there are around 10,000 jihadists - who would include foreign fighters - fighting for powerful factions linked to al-Qaeda..

Another 30,000 to 35,000 are hardline Islamists who share much of the outlook of the jihadists, but are focused purely on the Syrian war rather than a wider international struggle.

There are also at least a further 30,000 moderates belonging to groups that have an Islamic character, meaning only a small minority of the rebels are linked to secular or purely nationalist groups.
Click to expand...

How did the American government propose to weaken the Assad regime while preventing the majority Islamic or al-Qaeda linked groups being the ultimate beneficiaries?

It would have been a good trick. And all from 20,000 feet.
 
Syria rebels 'don't recognise coalition'
Updated: 14:52, Wednesday September 25, 2013

Key Syrian Islamist rebel groups say they do not recognise any foreign-based opposition group including the National Coalition.

'The National Coalition and the proposed government under (recently chosen) Ahmad Tomeh does not represent us, nor do we recognise it,' 13 of Syria's most powerful Islamist rebel groups said on Tuesday.

The groups include members of the main rebel Free Syrian Army and more radical Islamists.

Among the signatories are Liwa al-Tawhid, the main rebel force in the northern province of Aleppo, and the jihadist Al-Nusra Front.

The radical but non-jihadist Ahrar al-Sham also signed on, as did the 19th Division, a significant, but relatively new, addition to the mainstream FSA.

In their joint statement, they also called for Islamic law to be applied.

http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=909274
 
Looks like Assad manage to launch a massive Sarin attack on his own population and get away with it. Nice.
 
Raoul said:
Looks like Assad manage to launch a massive Sarin attack on his own population and get away with it. Nice.
Click to expand...

Or, looks like the rebels launched a massive sarin attack to frame Assad but failed to achieve the desired outcome.
 
Mihajlovic said:
Or, looks like the rebels launched a massive sarin attack to frame Assad but failed to achieve the desired outcome.
Click to expand...

Even more impressive, they launched it from an Assad controlled district with sophisticated missiles, and into a rebel district.
 
Raoul said:
Even more impressive, they launched it from an Assad controlled district with sophisticated missiles, and into a rebel district.
Click to expand...

Without anything been confirmed its a little premature to make such presumptions. For now let's just celebrate the fact the warmongers didn't get their way again.
 
Raoul said:
Even more impressive, they launched it from an Assad controlled district with sophisticated missiles, and into a rebel district.
Click to expand...
They did launch rockets from Hezbollah areas towards Israel a few weeks ago too didn't they?

EDIT: Of course this is assuming that the rockets were indeed launched from areas controlled by the government in the first place..
 
Nuttiness from Michele Bachmann:

“President Obama waived a ban on arming terrorists in order to allow weapons to go to the Syrian opposition. Your listeners, US taxpayers, are now paying to give arms to terrorists including Al Qaeda. … This happened and as of today the United States is willingly, knowingly, intentionally sending arms to terrorists, now what this says to me, I’m a believer in Jesus Christ, as I look at the End Times scripture, this says to me that the leaf is on the fig tree and we are to understand the signs of the times, which is your ministry, we are to understand where we are in God’s end times history. … Rather than seeing this as a negative, we need to rejoice, Maranatha Come Lord Jesus, His day is at hand,”
 
OK, it's real then. Wow. How can someone like that walk through a door without bumping her head?
 
Syria rebels executed civilians, says Human Rights Watch

Rebel forces in Syria killed as many as 190 civilians and seized more than 200 hostages during a military offensive in August, Human Rights Watch says.
...
The report names 190 civilians killed by the rebels, including at least 57 women, 18 children and 14 elderly men. The total number of dead is likely higher because many residents remained missing and bodies were buried in mass graves, it adds.
Opposition sources say the women and children taken hostage in the attack are still being held. Relatives said many appeared in the background of a video published online.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24486627
 
A group of Syrian clerics have issued a ruling - or fatwa - allowing people living in besieged suburbs of Damascus to eat meat that is normally forbidden.
In a video, the Muslim clerics said people could eat cats, dogs and donkeys to stave off hunger.
The fatwa comes amid reports of starvation in the besieged, rebel-held Damascus suburb of Muadhamiya.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-24532793
 
Is anyone following up on whats happening regarding abu bakr al quraishi? He qualifies to become the Islamic caliph and, as people from within the ISIS are claiming, he has renamed the state of ash-shaam and iraq to 'the state of the islamic caliphate'. Basically, the caliphate is back. Leaders of tribal groups have pledged allegiance to him already with knowledge and intention of him becoming the caliph. Its very interesting.
 
What good does it do for him to declare himself the Caliph if he is in control of nothing in terms of territory? Who's going to listen to him?
 
terrorists re-branding themselves is nothing new, at the end of the day they're still terrorists.
 
Sir Matt said:
What good does it do for him to declare himself the Caliph if he is in control of nothing in terms of territory? Who's going to listen to him?
Click to expand...
He controls a small bit of land which is getting larger in parts of syria and Iraq. You know if he calls out of muslims to pledge allegiance to him then thousands will go over there meaning the 'Islamic state' will grow and grow and grow. A Caliphate would change the world, maybe not overnight, but over time and maybe not a large period of time either.

VidaRed said:
terrorists re-branding themselves is nothing new, at the end of the day they're still terrorists.
Click to expand...
He isn't 're-branding' himself bro, lol its not wwe. He is doing something which Muslims worldwide have been dying for. Its a very serious subject is the caliphate.
 
To be honest, it sounds like the ISIS are holding off from announcing him as Caliph partially due to the reason Sir Matt suggested above. They don't want Muslims world wide to get the wrong impression, a golden age of Islam will not form overnight and anyone who thinks a Caliphate wont come from Jihad is stupid. These people are 'terrorizing' and fighting for land for a reason and the Caliphate is that reason. If we take this subject lightly then we might regret it in 5, 10, 15 or 20 years down the line when they are in control of a lot of land. A few people from within the ISIS have reported of the incidents however they have been told to stop reporting anything new until an official announcement is made. It can either fall now or live very long and theres so much of these who pop up like ants that I think it could only get stronger. Here is a video which shows a bit about the ISIS.

 
Relevated said:
He controls a small bit of land which is getting larger in parts of syria and Iraq. You know if he calls out of muslims to pledge allegiance to him then thousands will go over there meaning the 'Islamic state' will grow and grow and grow. A Caliphate would change the world, maybe not overnight, but over time and maybe not a large period of time either.


He isn't 're-branding' himself bro, lol its not wwe. He is doing something which Muslims worldwide have been dying for. Its a very serious subject is the caliphate.
Click to expand...


I suppose it wouldn't do if he happened to be blown up by a drone if he was the Caliph, eh? Will many Muslims join up to fight/terrorize the rest of the world in the name of some crazy old fool in a cave somewhere? Only a fairly small number did so for Osama. Crowning himself won't make people want to jump on his bandwagon.

Also, there are people breeding cattle hoping to have a red heifer that will allow the construction of the Third Temple(on the Temple Mount, where they may be another somewhat important religious building with a golden dome) by the Jews and lead to the Second Coming. Lots of people want to bring about the end of the world through their religious beliefs. It doesn't mean they should be taken seriously.
 
Relevated said:
He isn't 're-branding' himself bro, lol its not wwe. He is doing something which Muslims worldwide have been dying for. Its a very serious subject is the caliphate.
Click to expand...

I dont think one muslim from the caf would become a follower of this loony. The terrorists are indulging in brainwashing and propaganda. These scum will be wiped out if your govt wasn't helping them currently.
 
Relevated said:
To be honest, it sounds like the ISIS are holding off from announcing him as Caliph partially due to the reason Sir Matt suggested above. They don't want Muslims world wide to get the wrong impression, a golden age of Islam will not form overnight and anyone who thinks a Caliphate wont come from Jihad is stupid. These people are 'terrorizing' and fighting for land for a reason and the Caliphate is that reason. If we take this subject lightly then we might regret it in 5, 10, 15 or 20 years down the line when they are in control of a lot of land. A few people from within the ISIS have reported of the incidents however they have been told to stop reporting anything new until an official announcement is made. It can either fall now or live very long and theres so much of these who pop up like ants that I think it could only get stronger. Here is a video which shows a bit about the ISIS.

Click to expand...


Why is the west taking there side then ? If they had the backing of majority of muslims around the world they wouldn't need the backing of the west to start a caliphate. At the end of the day these are terrorist groups who are being used as pawns by the west and saudis in a bigger geopolitical setting.
 
Relevated, are you actually being serious with this stuff? The caliphate isn't basically back at all (and never will be back) and no-one in large numbers is going to go follow this loony and his slivers of land, whether he declares himself Caliph or not.

The trend across both the Islamic and Arab worlds in the recent past is breaking up, not coming together. At this time of particularly heightened sectarianism, there isn't going to be any caliphate.

And most Muslims worldwide couldn't give a crap about the Caliphate, hence the above. Like most people around the world, if they have a relatively decent life, they'll stay quiet and continue living their life, pretty apathetic to who is ruling them.
 
A while ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (which is pro-rebels), has published their documented data about the deaths so far in Syria..

According to their report, a total of more than 120,000 people have been killed in the conflict (as of the end of last month), and those deaths were as follows:
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has documented 120,296 casualties since the beginning of the Syrian uprising in 18/3/2011, from the first protestor shot and killed in Der'a, up till 30/10/2013.

The dead include:
42,945 civilians (including 6,365 children and 4,269 women).
18,122 rebel fighters.
2,202 defected soldiers and officers.
29,954 regular soldiers.
2,772 unidentified casualties (documented with pictures and footages).
5,375 non-Syrian and unidentified rebels (most of whom are non-Syrians).
18,678 combatants from the Popular Committees, National Defence Forces, Shabiha, and pro regime informers.
187 fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah.
61 non-Syrian pro-regime Shi'ite militiamen.
Click to expand...
http://syriahr.com/en/index.php?option=com_news&nid=1064&Itemid=2&task=displaynews#.UoJMVZQafeM

So, at least, more than 5,000 foreign fighters have been killed during the conflict, so far. That's not the total number of foreign fighters in Syria, that's just the number of those who died! About third the total number of Syrian fighters who died in the conflict!

I think it's now pretty safe to say that we're talking about tens of thousands of foreign fighters inside Syria...

Also, it looks like more than half of those 120,000 are actually pro-Assad..
 
africanspur said:
Relevated, are you actually being serious with this stuff? The caliphate isn't basically back at all (and never will be back) and no-one in large numbers is going to go follow this loony and his slivers of land, whether he declares himself Caliph or not.

The trend across both the Islamic and Arab worlds in the recent past is breaking up, not coming together. At this time of particularly heightened sectarianism, there isn't going to be any caliphate.

And most Muslims worldwide couldn't give a crap about the Caliphate, hence the above. Like most people around the world, if they have a relatively decent life, they'll stay quiet and continue living their life, pretty apathetic to who is ruling them.
Click to expand...
Why do you think this? No one in large numbers might follow this guy but trust me, I can bet that tons of Muslims would go over their pledge allegiance to him.
You can take every Muslim country who is in a mess and the majority of Muslims from those countries would chase after this Caliph. Muslims are influenced from the battle of Badr in which the Muslim army were small in number but defeated a larger army and they often use this example in todays society.

I am not saying I support him but people see the Caliphate as the only option out of this mess, do you think Muslims are happy to see their Muslims brothers and sisters being murdered and raped? You would back your family in any circumstance and especially if its related to religion because religion carries that much authority. Muslims do take this very very seriously, but you're right, most Muslims in the west probably wouldn't but there is billions of Muslims in the entire world.


Sir Matt said:
Will many Muslims join up to fight/terrorize the rest of the world in the name of some crazy old fool in a cave somewhere? Only a fairly small number did so for Osama. Crowning himself won't make people want to jump on his bandwagon.
Click to expand...
Osama didn't fit the criteria as he wasn't Quraishi and, in my opinion, I do believe Muslims across the world would go pledge allegiance to him. I can end in turmoil, with a drone as you said, or it could be huge. Time would tell. Muslims are really inspired by a caliphate though, I can tell you that much.

VidaRed said:
Why is the west taking there side then ? If they had the backing of majority of muslims around the world they wouldn't need the backing of the west to start a caliphate. At the end of the day these are terrorist groups who are being used as pawns by the west and saudis in a bigger geopolitical setting.
Click to expand...
My government? Who would that be, do you know where im from? And yes you're right, these terrorists (i hate that word) are very clever in the way they try to bring fighters to them. They are very very smart.
 
There are however a number of scholars in Islam who discourage going to Syria to fight but what Im finding recently is that those scholars are being refuted in their claims.
 
I hope MI5 don't arrest me ffs, Im not a terrorist and don't support these terrorists however I just find it interesting.
 
Relevated said:
Why do you think this? No one in large numbers might follow this guy but trust me, I can bet that tons of Muslims would go over their pledge allegiance to him.
You can take every Muslim country who is in a mess and the majority of Muslims from those countries would chase after this Caliph. Muslims are influenced from the battle of Badr in which the Muslim army were small in number but defeated a larger army and they often use this example in todays society.

I am not saying I support him but people see the Caliphate as the only option out of this mess, do you think Muslims are happy to see their Muslims brothers and sisters being murdered and raped? You would back your family in any circumstance and especially if its related to religion because religion carries that much authority. Muslims do take this very very seriously, but you're right, most Muslims in the west probably wouldn't but there is billions of Muslims in the entire world.
Click to expand...


I think this because as I said, most Muslims aren't interested in going over to Syria and leaving their lives to die. The majority of Muslims from Muslim countries did not go and fight in Bosnia or Chechnya or Afghanistan or Iraq or Palestine or Afghanistan again or Egypt. Because like I said, most Muslims are not some warrior class just chomping at the bit to fight. They're people with family to look after, feed, educate etc. Just like the other 6 billion people in the world.

I'm not saying that theoretically large numbers of Muslims wouldn't be happy living under a Caliphate. They wouldn't necessarily fight against it. But they are not going to fight for it. Like I said, the trend is for small differences in sects, tribes or ethnicities across the Islamic world at the moment leading to splits in countries. How many countries with Islamic majorities have split in the last 100 years? And how many have joined together? The history of Islam is hardly littered with Islamic caliphate unity either.

They're not though. But just like most people, they get sad and unfortunately move on and get on with their lives. You think most Egyptians or Iraqis are flaying themselves over the situation in Syria? Indonesians? Or are they getting on with the grind of their own lives? I'm sure in theory they'd love to do more and if you talk to them, some of them will probably make grandoise statements about intervening/ fighting etc which they'll never go through.

Plus, if even despite all this, a caliphate does somehow start to spring up, there are exactly none of the world powers who would be happy with that, either West or East and it would not be allowed to happen. It would never get to that though.
 
africanspur said:
I think this because as I said, most Muslims aren't interested in going over to Syria and leaving their lives to die. The majority of Muslims from Muslim countries did not go and fight in Bosnia or Chechnya or Afghanistan or Iraq or Palestine or Afghanistan again or Egypt. Because like I said, most Muslims are not some warrior class just chomping at the bit to fight. They're people with family to look after, feed, educate etc. Just like the other 6 billion people in the world.

I'm not saying that theoretically large numbers of Muslims wouldn't be happy living under a Caliphate. They wouldn't necessarily fight against it. But they are not going to fight for it. Like I said, the trend is for small differences in sects, tribes or ethnicities across the Islamic world at the moment leading to splits in countries. How many countries with Islamic majorities have split in the last 100 years? And how many have joined together? The history of Islam is hardly littered with Islamic caliphate unity either.

They're not though. But just like most people, they get sad and unfortunately move on and get on with their lives. You think most Egyptians or Iraqis are flaying themselves over the situation in Syria? Indonesians? Or are they getting on with the grind of their own lives? I'm sure in theory they'd love to do more and if you talk to them, some of them will probably make grandoise statements about intervening/ fighting etc which they'll never go through.

Plus, if even despite all this, a caliphate does somehow start to spring up, there are exactly none of the world powers who would be happy with that, either West or East and it would not be allowed to happen. It would never get to that though.
Click to expand...
I cant say I disagree with any of that because they are all fair points.
 
Syrian "rebels" are the true terrorists. Also a "jihadist" who is financed by USA, France, and (indirectly) zionists is not a jihadist. As a muslim, I thank god the war that everybody wanted didn't happen in a country where christians, jews, and muslims lived in harmony for centuries.
 
He he...harmony...and it's them Zionists again responsible (albeit indirectly!) for Muslims killing each other.
 
holyland red said:
He he...harmony...and it's them Zionists again responsible (albeit indirectly!) for Muslims killing each other.
Click to expand...

Every now and then the israeli air force does bomb army installations within syria in a bid to help the terrorists. It is in israels interest that neither side wins and that they keep on fighting each other while weakening syria further. Afterall syria does help hezbollah so israel has its motivations.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.