Pressure Builds for Full-Scale War on Syria

By: Stephen Lendmen

Source: Global Research

http://www.globalresearch.ca/pressure-builds-for-full-scale-war-on-syria/

Rhetoric hides intent. Turkey wants safe zones, and perhaps a no-fly zone. Britain and France both said no options are ruled out, including a no-fly zone. Ahead of US November elections, Washington is more low key, but not entirely.

Obama stresses he’s open to all options. On September 27, Hillary Clinton met openly with Assad opponents at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel. She did also privately with so-called Friends of Syria.

She announced millions of dollars more aid. She claimed it’s mostly for humanitarian purposes. America does nothing that way. Everything it does has ulterior motives.

Washington will also supply more communication equipment. It “includ(es) satellite-linked computers, telephones, and cameras, as well as training for” opposition elements and supporters, she said.

She expressed frustration about lack of more aggressive Security Council action. She suggested Washington may bypass the body, saying:

“It is no secret that our attempts to move forward at the UN Security Council have been blocked repeatedly, but the United States is not waiting.” She said it before. She left little doubt what she means. Obama’s UN address was also belligerent against Iran and Syria.

Expect military intervention ahead against both countries. It’s longstanding policy. Post-November 6 elections, it’s coming. All independent governments are vulnerable.

Syria and Iran top Washington’s target list. NATO countries and regional allies are pressured to go along. Some need no prodding. Israel urges it. Britain willingly partnered with America’s imperial agenda for decades.

It’s always ready to go to war if asked. It has a belligerent reputation to uphold. David Owen once served as foreign secretary. On September 27, he headlined a London Telegraphop-ed “Only a no-fly zone brokered with Russia can bring peace.”

Establishing a no-fly zone or safe havens in Syrian territory assures war. Washington’s war on Libya proved what Owen and other observers understand well.

Effectively he advocated belligerent intervention. He quoted Prime Minister David Cameron in New York saying: “The blood of these young (Syrian) children is a terrible stain on the reputation of the United Nations.”

He avoided explaining US and UK involvement. Their bloodstained hands are too obvious to ignore. He was silent on Western aggression on Syria. His government is directly responsible for lost lives.

He pointed fingers the wrong way. He blamed Security Council members with veto power. He wants Russia and China to yield to US/UK/French rage for war on Syria.

He wrongfully called conflict there civil. There’s nothing civil about it. Syria was invaded. Mercenary death squads were recruited from regional countries. They’re given safe havens in bordering countries.

Washington, Britain, France, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and perhaps other imperial allies have been arming, funding, training, and directing them. They’re responsible for thousands of deaths. Assad’s doing his best to restore peace. He faces stiff headwinds.

Owen said he “was one of the first to argue for a no-fly zone over Libya.” He knew full well what would follow. He wants it repeated for Syria. “NATO is the only organization” able to enforce no-fly zone protection, he added.

He wants Russia pressured to go along. His notion of restoring peace is first wage war. Hasn’t he paid attention to what’s happening in Libya? At age 74, perhaps he’s prematurely senile.

More likely, he wants another country ravaged and dominated by Western powers. He’s comfortable perhaps with tens or hundreds of thousands more deaths to make it possible.

In 2011, The New York Times promoted war on Libya. It backs intervention now against Assad. It practically mocked the cold-blooded murder o Press TV correspondent Maya Naser.

A Western-recruited death squad sniper assassinated him. He was doing his job. He was alone and live on air at the time. He was vulnerable from where he reported.

The Times claimed he was embedded with Syrian forces. None were close by when he died. Press TV’s Damascus Bureau Chief Hosein Mortada was attacked and injured at the same time.

Both were covering twin Damascus blasts and ensuing fighting. Heroically, they put their lives on the line daily doing it.

Press TV News Room Director Hamid Reza Emadi said:

“We hold Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who provide militants weapons to kill civilians, military personnel and journalists, responsible for killing Maya.

“Press TV will pursue the matter of the murder of Maya and would not let those who killed the correspondent feel like they can kill the media people and get away with it.”

Last February, The Times claimed its Syrian correspondent, Anthony Shadid, died from asthma complications. It seemed far-fetched at the time. Death by drowning is more likely. perhaps cover-up was Times policy.

Shadid’s cousin Ed Shadid said he told his wife: “If anything happens to me, I want the world to know that The New York Times killed me.” By that he meant he didn’t want to go and got little support while there.

That aside, Times executive editor, Jill Abramson, praised him, saying:

“Anthony died as he lived – determined to bear witness to the transformation sweeping the Middle East and to testify to the suffering of people caught between government oppression and opposition forces.”

On the one hand, Abramson lied both about Shadid and what’s ongoing regionally. On the other, Shadid was praised in contrast to how Maya Naser was mocked.

Most important is what’s been ongoing in Syria since March 2011, where it’s likely heading, and how consistently The Times misreports.

Russia’s been out in front trying to restore calm and peace. On September 28, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addressed the UN General Assembly. He reiterated comments he made earlier. The way to end conflict is to adhere to last June’s Geneva Agreement, he said.

“We proposed to adopt a resolution in the UN Security Council that would endorse the Geneva communique as the basis for negotiations at the beginning of the transitional period, but this proposal had been blocked.”

“Those who oppose the implementation of the Geneva communique in fact push Syria even deeper into the abyss of bloody sectarian strife.”

“Extremist organizations including al-Qaeda have become more active in Syria – they perpetrate terrorist attacks against innocent civilians and civil infrastructure.”

He also condemned any unilateral sanctions “imposed by a state or a group of states sidestepping the United Nations to advance their political goals.”

Without naming names, he left little doubt he blamed Washington and key NATO allies for ongoing Syrian conflict.

On September 28, China’s Xinhua New Agencyheadlined “Outside Meddling in Syria Threat to Whole World Order: Russian Official,” saying:

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said:

“The attempts to look for ways out of the crisis in Syria outside the U.N. Security Council would have very destructive and dangerous consequences for Syria itself, for the Middle East region and, eventually, for the current world order as a whole.”

“Implementation of the Libyan model, supporting only one side in this confrontation is a way to nowhere.”

He also warned about worrisome regional “deep changes.” They’ll cause serious repercussions elsewhere for a long time, he added.

On September 28, Russia’s Foreign Ministry SpokeswomanMaria Khodynskaya-Golenishcheva called “inadmissible clauses” in the UN Human Rights Council’s (HRC) Syrian resolution unacceptable, saying:

“One can’t agree with the unilateral conclusions concerning the tragedy in El-Houleh as well as with the fact that these murders are similar to other such incidents in Syria.”

She added that other powers supported and encouraged Syrian violence. She left little doubt which ones she meant. It’s no secret.

It’s also well-known the HRC provided cover for Washington’s war on Syria since last year. Its reports are shameless and one-sided. They have no credibility whatever.

On September 28, it extended the mandates of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Syria, saying:

On September 24, its resolution A/HRC/21/L.32 addressed human rights in Syria. It was adopted 41 – 3. Russia, China and Cuba voted no. India, Uganda, and the Philippines abstained.

Supportive countries will have to explain why they supported bald-faced lies. It’s not first time and won’t be the last.

HRC “condemn(ed) in the strongest terms the massacre of the village of Al-Houla near Homs, where the forces of the Government of Syria and members of the Shabbiha were found by the Commission of Inquiry to be the perpetrators of outrageous and heinous crimes….”

HRC and voting countries know Assad had nothing to do with it. Eyewitnesses blamed death squad killers. HRC lied saying otherwise. Doing so support imperial lawlessness.

It called on all parties to cease violence. Mercenaries are entirely responsible. Well-known facts are suppressed. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay defiled her mandate.

Instead of responsibly “strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights,” she spurned them in deference to Western interests.

HRC’s so-called COI is an imperial body established to lie. It suppresses truth and full disclosure. It consistently points fingers the wrong way. Its reports ignore credible eye-witness testimonies. Clear evidence is consistently left out.

Washington said it was proud to co-sponsor the resolution. No doubt it’s gratified by ravaging one country after another and the millions of deaths it caused.

HRC systematically avoids condemnation. Instead it welcomes a rogue state member in good standing. How many more millions of corpses will it tolerate?

America’s responsible for more global violence, deaths and destruction than the rest of the world combined. Perhaps HRC can explain why this goes entirely whiewashed and unnoticed.

Perhaps one day a real HRC will replace the sham one now in place. Perhaps truth and full disclosure will have a chance it’s been denied for so long.

Syria commented on HRC’s latest act of shame, saying:

“(S)peaking as the concerned country, (Syria) condemned the presentation of the draft resolution because it made libelous statements and because the Human Rights Council was based on fundamental principles of dialogue and cooperation, and those were the ways to promote human rights.”

“This draft resolution did not reflect the reality in Syria; on the contrary, it was based on accusations and fictitious reports, such as on the Al-Houla massacre, which the Government had condemned in the strongest terms.”

“The Commission of Inquiry had not visited Syria, had not arrived to definite conclusions concerning the massacres and had not taken into account the results of the Ad Hoc Committee established by Syria to investigate the crimes.”

“The seven co-sponsors had ignored aspects of the Commission of Inquiry’s report on the barbaric acts committed by armed groups in Syria.”

“Moreover, the Commission of Inquiry had highlighted the adverse impact of sanctions on Syria, and those were also not included in this draft resolution.”

“Some of the co-sponsors forgot that they did not have the right to give advice because they were directly involved in killing the Syrian people and could not call on others to respect human rights before they respected them at home.”

“Syria rejected the draft resolution and urged all countries that sincerely wished to help the Syrian people to vote against.”

Imperial countries, supportive bodies, and go-along media never say they’re sorry. Hegemons ravage humanity for wealth, privilege, and dominance. Supporters back what they should condemn.

Millions everywhere suffer horrifically. They’re on their own to survive and change things. Hopefully they’ll try before it’s too late.
------------------------
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net

His new book is titled “How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized Banking, Government Collusion and Class War”
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

 

Read More

Western Powers Double Down on Syria’s Destruction

 

By: Shamus Cooke

Source: Global Research

http://www.globalresearch.ca/western-powers-double-down-on-syrias-destruction/

“The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those, who in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.” – Dante

The world watches as a nation is torn, slow motion, at the seams. Money and geopolitics has caused a feeding frenzy of western nations biting and tearing at Syria, all hoping to profit from the regime’s destruction.

Toward this effort, England, France, and the United States announced increased support to the “rebels” of Syria. The Obama administration promised $45 million more in funding for aid that has now totaled $175 million (is it any wonder there are budget problems inside the U.S.?).

And although much of the U.S. aid is designated as “humanitarian,” this money will directly help the military mission by bolstering the prestige of opposition groups, who will use the U.S. aid to gain adherents by being able to feed and house refugees fleeing the destruction (assuming that not all of this money will simply be used to buy guns).

Of course there is no accounting of the amount of money and arms the CIA is funneling into the country. But even The NewYork Times has admitted the CIA’s involvement; in June it wrote:

“A small number of C.I.A. officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey, helping allies decide which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms to fight the Syrian government, according to American officials and Arab intelligence officers…the weapons, including automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, ammunition and some antitank weapons, are being funneled mostly across the Turkish border by way of a shadowy network of intermediaries including Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood and paid for by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the officials said.”

There you have the Syrian opposition in a nutshell: groups of mercenaries funded by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United States and France, and the Muslim Brotherhood inside Syria. All of these groups have their own self-interest in toppling the Syrian government, while destroying the country and its people in the process.

Saudi Arabia has used the Muslim Brotherhood as a key tool in its foreign policy for decades, funding the organization in countries all over the Middle East and North Africa. When Saudi Arabia beckons, the Muslim Brotherhood and associated groups can be used to destabilize “unfriendly” regimes in the name of “jihad” — officially declared by clerics who work in tandem with the Saudi Arabian government to recruit fighters for the effort. This is why there are “terrorist” groups now fighting to overthrow the Syrian government, including Al Qaeda — itself born from the purse strings of Saudi Arabia, like the Taliban (there is an excellent chapter about this dynamic in Vijay Prashad’s book, the Darker Nations).

It is very revealing that, after the U.S. has spent hundreds of millions of dollars and large amounts of weaponry has been trafficked into the country, the Syrian government still controls the vast majority of the country. This is because the majority of people inside Syria do not support the so-called Syrian Opposition. If this were the case, the Syrian government would have long since been overthrown. The revolutionaries of Egypt and Tunisia did not need any outside help in toppling their government, nor large amounts of money or weaponry.

Therefore, the steady destruction of Syria will continue until it reaches a Libya-like crescendo: a “no fly zone” will be the goal of the western powers, with the motive of toppling the regime.

But like in Libya, a no fly zone equals total war. Syria has advanced Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, which must be destroyed to enforce such a no fly zone. Syria also has fighter jets that must be destroyed. Additional ground support must be destroyed. And like Libya, once the bombs start dropping, the mission quickly changes from a “no fly zone” to “regime change,” i.e., war.

But Syria has a much more powerful army than Libya, requiring that the U.S. military become directly involved in the war, as opposed to outsourcing the conflict to England and France as they did in Libya. Only the U.S. military and its subordinate allies have the required weapons to deal with Syria’s Russian-made weaponry.

But the American people hate war, and thus the U.S. government must introduce the Syrian war slowly, through non-stop anti-Syria media coverage, in the hopes that opinion polls shift enough to allow direct military intervention, as opposed to the current indirect type.

What do the people of Syria really want? The NewYork Times revealed that, inside Syria, a group of twenty opposition groups recently met in Syria’s capital to demand that Syria’s democratic transition happen peacefully, in effect denouncing the armed rebels who are being funded by foreign nations.

The international implications of this war have already begun to manifest. Neighboring countries are experiencing stress and destabilization by the flood of refugees from Syria. The Kurds in Syria may soon call for independence, which will incite further violence from Turkey. Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, and Iran will work doubly hard to re-enforce the Syrian government as western powers do the opposite.

Ethnic and religious tensions are being stoked in all neighboring countries, which has already led to violence and will be used by politicians in those countries for political aims, leading to more violence. It’s also possible if an official war is declared against Syria, other powers will use the chaos as a shield to pursue their own interests —Israel for example, may opportunistically bomb Iran. Whatever the course of events, the emerging war in Syria has the potential not only to turn the Middle East into dust, but to drag larger powers like Russia — an ally of Syria — into conflict with the United States.

All working people in the United States have a duty to denounce this U.S.-made humanitarian tragedy and the future threat of war.

Shamus Cook is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org) He can be reached at shamuscooke@gmail.com

Notes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/world/middleeast/cia-said-to-aid-in-steering-arms-to-syrian-rebels.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/24/world/middleeast/in-damascus-assad-foes-seek-his-peaceful-ouster.html

 

Read More

France Seeks “No-Fly Zone” over Syria

 

By: Tony Cartalucci

Original Source: Land Destroyer
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.ca/2012/09/nato-terrorists-bomb-school-in-syria.html

Source: Global Research

http://www.globalresearch.ca/pretext-to-wage-a-humanitarian-war-france-seeks-no-fly-zone-over-syria/

France seeks no-fly zone over Syria to repeat the Al Qaeda Benghazi-blowback.

As NATO desperately attempts to coverup a botched false flag operation in Benghazi, Libya which left a high ranking US diplomat dead, France has urged a repeat performance in Syria. That is, arming and providing air support for the very terrorist battalions now operating in Syria that have ravaged and overrun Libya, leaving it a perpetually wrecked, destabilized terrorist epicenter.

The announcement made by French President Francois Hollande came on the heels of a deadly terrorist bombing in Damascus targeting a school rebels senselessly claim was being used by Syrian security forces. Western propagandists are now calling the school a “security building.”

Reuters reported in their article, “Syrian rebels bomb security building in Damascus:”

Protection for “liberated” areas would require no-fly zones enforced by foreign aircraft, which could stop deadly air raids by Assad’s forces on populated areas. But there is little chance of securing a Security Council mandate for such action given the continuing opposition of veto-wielding members Russia and China.

Before quoting Hollande who said:

“How long can we accept the paralysis at the U.N.?”

To answer Mr. Hollande’s question, one might look toward Libya where an identical campaign of violent subversion based on similar lies regarding the “protection of civilians,” was carried out by NATO and proxy terrorist organizations who were in fact listed by the UN itself as affiliates of the notorious global terror network Al Qaeda. The NATO-led, UN mandated evisceration of Libya put power into the hands of genocidal, racist terror battalions who literally scoured entire cities of their inhabitants either massacring, imprisoning, or exiling them all beyond Libya’s borders

Image: Libyan Mahdi al-Harati of the US State Department, United Nations, and the UK Home Office (page 5, .pdf)-listed terrorist organization, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), addressing fellow terrorists in Syria. Harati is now commanding a Libyan brigade operating inside of Syria attempting to destroy the Syrian government and subjugate the Syrian population. Traditionally, this is known as “foreign invasion.”

It should be clear then, to Mr. Hollande, that the UN is not in fact “paralyzed” but that the member nations that constitute the Security Council and the General Assembly are increasingly aware of and opposed to the duplicitous and untenable nature of NATO’s wars of conquest, merely dressed up as humanitarian intervention.

As France Pushes for A Libya Repeat, Media & Politicians Desperately Attempt to Rewrite Narrative

As international condemnation grew, recognizing that NATO, led by the US, UK, and France were essentially funding, arming, training, and handing an entire nation over to Al Qaeda affiliates, these terror battalions were directed to attack US diplomatic missions across the Arab World (and here).

One attack in Benghazi, Libya, left the US consulate ablaze, unexpectedly trapping US Ambassador Christopher Stevens who succumbed to smoke inhalation. Despite the attacks, and the subsequent media circus and staged rallies to depict Libya’s client regime as “disbanding” terrorist militias, the fact remains that vast terrorist networks stretching from Libya to Syriaare still fully armed, funded, and covertly backed by the very corporate-financier interests that sold the last decade of “War on Terror” to the West.

In addition to a myriad of staged events to portray a divide between the West and its terrorist proxies, there are also sophomoric and desperate attempts throughout the corporate-media to rewrite the Syrian narrative as public awareness grows, and support for Western destabilization under the guise of “humanitarian causes” collapses.

One such attempt was published in the Washington Post in a piece titled, “Among Assad’s opponents, moderation reigns,” where David Pollock of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy attempts to argue that Syria’s “opposition” is overwhelmingly moderate, with sectarian extremists being an exception to the rule, based on a poll conducted by the International Republication Institute.

However, Pollock’s think-tank, the Washington Institute, is in fact a Wall Street pro-war think-tank, lined by notorious warmongering frauds and Neo-Cons including Richard Perle, Max Kampelman, US Ambassador to Israel Samuel Lewis, accused war criminal Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and James Woolsey, all signatories of the now infamous Project for a New American Century (PNAC), and all signatories of numerous letters calling for war with both Libya and Syria.

The International Republican Institute (IRI) is in fact funded by the US State Department and is chaired by Senator John McCain, who had shaken hands with the very terrorists responsible for the US consulate attack that left Ambassador Stevens dead in Benghazi, Libya. McCain has also traveled to the Turkish-Syrian border to provide these same terrorists with support. The IRI itself had played an instrumental role in engineering the allegedly “spontaneous” “Arab Spring,” training and organizing activists years before unrest took to the Arab World’s streets.

Image: Senator John McCain (with the now deceased US Ambassador John Christopher Stevens on the right with blue tie) in the terrorist rat nest of Benghazi after marshaling cash, weapons, and political support for militants tied directly to Al Qaeda. McCain’s insistence that the terrorists he helped arm and install into power were “not Al Qaeda” runs contra to the US Army’s own reports which state that Benghazi’s terror brigades officially merged with Al Qaeda in 2007. McCain’s “Libyan patriots” have now killed US Ambassador Stevens with weapons most likely procured with cash and logistic networks set up by NATO last year, part of a supranational terror campaign that includes violently subverting Syria – a campaign McCain also supports.

Clearly the “poll” which was conducted over “Skype” by IRI with “activists” inside Syria was produced for public perception only to cook up numbers that would allow Pollock, CNN and others to conclude, “all in all, the data show that most Syrian opposition activists are far from being Islamic fanatics or extremists,” as well as “the argument that providing this help might result in trading Assad’s hostile secular dictatorship for a hostile Islamic one does not square with these facts.”

The idea is to maintain the narrative that the US is backing “freedom fighters” not terrorists, and it is an idea perpetuated by the very pro-war advocates behind the Libyan disaster and the Arab World unrest in the first place.

We can expect calls for arming and defending terrorist proxies in Syria to continue while the corporate-media continues its attempt to portray what is literally Al Qaeda operating in Syria with NATO backing as instead, “pro-democracy” “freedom fighters” in desperate need of Western assistance. Conversely, we must continue to expose the corporate-financiernarrative as the lies they are, while resolving to undermine the very source of their unwarranted influence which allows them to meddle globally in the first place.

 

Read More

Hillary Clinton, Turkish leaders to consider no-fly zones for Syria

Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (R) shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before their meeting in Istanbul.(REUTERS / Handout)

Source: Russia Today

http://www.rt.com/news/clinton-turkey-syria-damascus-aleppo-437/

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu are considering implementing no-fly zones for Syria after holding Saturday talks in Istanbul.

­According to Reuters, Clinton said that Ankara and Washington need to plan ways to assist the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad – including possibly implementing a no-fly zone.

During an interview with reporters, Clinton indicated the no-fly zone was a possible option, but said the issue needed “greater in-depth analysis.”

It wouldn’t be the first time the US used its power to aid opposition forces. The same tactic was used to help Libyan rebels overthrow Muammar Gaddafi last year.

Until now, the US has been reluctant to take on a military role in Syria. But if the Libyan situation repeats itself, US military intervention could be a real possibility in the near future – only serving to escalate Syria’s 17-month-old conflict.

During the meeting, Clinton also said a working group will be set up in Turkey to respond to the Syrian crisis, according to AP.

The group would increase the involvement of the intelligence services and militaries of both the US and Turkey.

“We have been closely coordinating over the course of this conflict, but now we need to get into the real details of such operational planning. It needs to be across both of our governments,” Clinton said.

Clinton is also scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul – both of whom support the Syrian opposition movement.

The US is aiming to lay groundwork for democratic transition in Syria.

The meeting comes as reports of violence were taking place in Damascus.

Earlier on Saturday, Syrian state TV reported that gunmen abducted three Syrian journalists and their driver, who work for a pro-government TV station, while covering violence in a suburb of Damascus.

According to Middle Eastern history and politics Professor Jeremy Salt, the opposition has little hope of winning the conflict without the help of its Western allies.

“As of now, Damascus has mostly been cleared of rebels. Aleppo on its way to being cleared. We can see that the army has a strategy here. It cleared out the Salah al-Din district within two days, and now it’s working its way through other suburbs. So unless the rebels get more support in terms of heavy weaponry, they are very much fighting on the back foot. So that’s why Hillary Clinton is in Istanbul. To ask the basic question, ‘What’s next?’” Salt told RT.

Meanwhile, opposition fighters are still struggling to gain control of Aleppo – a key battle city.

Rebels in Aleppo say they are preparing a counterattack against government forces, after heavy bombardment forced them to withdraw from the south-west district of Salah al-Din on Thursday.

Aleppo is the cause of serious concern for Western countries, Foreign Affairs Analyst Richard Heydarian told RT.

“The West is smelling blood right now because of the recent events, including the fleeing of the prime minister. What the Clinton administration [sic] is trying to do right now is try to coordinate some sort of military approach with Turkey and possibly also with the help of Israel and other Atab countries because they feel the opposition has a chance to retain its stronghold in Aleppo,” Heydarian said.

Turkey, however, has its own motivations for taking part in the meeting. The country is dealing with a growing humanitarian crisis of its own, as it struggles to support 50,000 Syrian refugees who have fled into the country.

Clinton has announced an extra US$5.5 million in help for displaced Syrians in Turkey.

“Turkey has two sides to this. On the one hand, it is very much concerned with the tragedy and a lot of Syrians flowing in – it is one of the biggest recipients of refugees from Syria. On the other hand – it is a possible rise of Kurdish insurgency – and there is coordination between Kurds in Syria and Iran. Turkey fears Kurds could launch its own independence campaign against Turkey,” Heydarian said.

Read More

Turkish demonstrators condemn Clinton visit to Istanbul

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/11/255696/turkish-protesters-condemn-clinton-visit/

Turkish demonstrators have marched to the US Embassy in Turkey to condemn a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Istanbul.

Police used batons to disperse the demonstrators outside the embassy in the capital, Ankara.

Clinton arrived in Turkey on Saturday for talks with Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on the situation in Syria.

Washington and Ankara repeated calls for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

The US secretary of state and the Turkish foreign minister held a joint press conference in Istanbul on Saturday.

Clinton said Washington will "hasten the end of… the Assad regime," adding the US is worried about the presence of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Syria along the Turkish border.

"We share Turkey's determination that Syria must not become a haven for PKK terrorists whether now or after the departure of the Assad regime," she said.

The Turkish foreign minister stated that in his meeting with the US secretary of state the two sides discussed the ways of assisting the opposition inside Syria.

"We need to take joint efforts to prevent a power vacuum from being formed," Davutoglu said.

The anti-Syria Western regimes have been calling for the Syrian president to step down.

On June 3, President Assad Syria is "facing a war from abroad" and that the nation is "facing attempts to weaken Syria and breach its sovereignty."

Read More