Obama Looking To Bomb Both Iraq and Syria
Really "working" at it, too!
"Aid halted as truce in Syria collapses; Relief agencies fear malnutrition in Damascus" by Albert Aji | Associated Press, March 04, 2014
DAMASCUS —The United Nations ‘‘remains deeply concerned about the desperate humanitarian situation in Yarmouk, and the fact that increasing tensions and resort to armed force have disrupted its efforts to alleviate the desperate plight of civilians,’’ UN spokesman in Damascus Chris Gunness said Monday.
Activists estimate that over 100 people have died of hunger or hunger-related illnesses since a blockade began nearly a year ago, preventing food and medical aid from entering Yarmouk.
The halt in the food distribution in Yarmouk also underscores problems that bedevil a Feb. 22 UN Security Council resolution that called on warring parties to facilitate food and aid deliveries to Syrians in need....
The latest clashes in Yarmouk sparked concerns for future aid deliveries....
The truce, which took months to negotiate, collapsed after rebel gunmen returned to Yarmouk on Sunday, according to activists. The rebels had withdrawn from the area about a month ago as part of the truce, replaced by a patrol of Palestinian gunmen, keeping out both rebels and fighters loyal to President Bashar Assad.
The rebels accused pro-Assad fighters of violating the truce, said Abu Akram. An activist group, ‘‘Palestinians of Syria,’’ voiced similar accusations.
On Saturday, the rebels said Assad loyalists were sneaking weapons into Yarmouk under the guise of the joint patrols, delaying food distribution, and arresting young men waiting for UN food parcels.
‘‘Reconciliation efforts have, in my opinion, reached a deadlock,’’ said Anwar Raja, the spokesman for the pro-Assad Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — General Command.
Forces loyal to Assad initially began blockading the camp to force out rebel gunmen.
Since the uprising began three years ago against Assad’s rule, blockades have played a key role in government efforts to crush rebels in their enclaves and strongholds.....
Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet on Monday called for the withdrawal of all foreign fighters from Syria, demanding they face international justice if they committed war crimes there.
After they spent so much time and money supplying them?
Riyadh is concerned that Saudi militants in Syria could turn their weapons on the kingdom, and last month Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah decreed it a crime for Saudi nationals to fight in foreign conflicts. The move was largely aimed at curbing extremist Saudis fighting alongside Syrian rebels.
CRAP!
--more--"
A photo from the Palestinian refugee-dominated district of Yarmouk, where malnutrition is rife, in my Zionist war daily? That's rich.
A photo from the Palestinian refugee-dominated district of Yarmouk, where malnutrition is rife, in my Zionist war daily? That's rich.
"UN says 5.5 million Syrian children affected by war; Malnutrition, lack of schools, violence cited" by Ryan Lucas | Associated Press, March 12, 2014
BEIRUT — The conflict, which enters its fourth year this month, has unleashed massive suffering across all segments of Syrian society, but the impact on children has been especially acute, according to a new report by UNICEF. Malnutrition and illness have stunted their growth; a lack of learning opportunities has derailed their education; and the bloody trauma of war has left deep psychological scars.
‘‘After three years of conflict and turmoil, Syria is now one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a child,’’ the agency said. ‘‘In their thousands, children have lost lives and limbs, along with virtually every aspect of their childhood. They have lost classrooms and teachers, brothers and sisters, friends, caregivers, homes, and stability.’’
‘‘Millions of young people risk becoming, in effect, a lost generation,’’ UNICEF said.
Since the conflict began, thousands of videos and photographs of bloodied babies, lifeless children, and bombed out schools in Syria have provided stark images of the war’s impact on children. But in many ways, figures provide perhaps the clearest indication of how sweeping an effect the conflict has on their lives....
Can we wage war on them yet? Oh, wait, that will only add to that scenario there so no, let's not.
Syria’s conflict began in March 2011 with largely peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad. Facing a brutal government crackdown, protesters eventually took up arms, and the country descended into a civil war that has killed more than 140,000 people so far.
CRAP revision!
Two rounds of peace talks in Switzerland early this year between Assad’s government and Syria’s main Western-backed political opposition group broke up without making any progress, and there are no immediate plans for another session.
Related: Geneva All About Regime Change
That's why it failed as intended.
--more--"
"Syrian conflict marks third year amid offensive; Government forces advance in key rebel town" by Bassem Mroue and Diaa Hadid | Associated Press March 16, 2014
BEIRUT — Syrian troops advanced in a major rebel-held town near the Lebanese border amid heavy bombardment from warplanes, artillery, and tanks as the country’s bloody conflict marked its third anniversary Saturday....
The conflict, which began amid Arab Spring protests across the region, started off as protests that turned into an armed insurgency and eventually became a full-blown civil war....
In Beirut, international aid agencies said that every statistic tracking the lives of Syrian children has worsened as the conflict grinds on, warning that an entire generation is at risk.
Suggesting how badly Syria has unraveled, UNICEF executive director Anthony Lake said an estimated 2.3 million children last year were in need of shelter, food, health care, education, or psychological help for the trauma they suffered. That number has nearly doubled to 5.5 million children this year, he said.
‘‘Every one of those numbers has a face. Every one of those numbers is a child who has lost a future, or whose future is at risk,’’ said Lake, who called Saturday ‘‘a sad and infuriating anniversary.’’
The aid groups said little has been done despite a UN Security Council resolution last month calling on Syria’s warring sides to allow aid deliveries.
‘‘I think we have to be honest. The situation in Syria is getting worse, not better, and it hasn’t got better since the security council resolution,’’ said Justin Forsyth of Save the Children. ‘‘In terms of on the ground, changing lives, saving children, we are not even close to getting impact.’’
On Saturday, Syrian state television said troops advanced in the town of Yabroud, near Syria’s border with Lebanon, and now control of much of the area between the two countries.
Related: Syrian army captures strategic border town
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Syrian air force conducted at least 15 air raids on the town as heavy clashes raged on the town’s outskirts. It said at least five opposition fighters were killed fighting government forces backed by Hezbollah members.
Yabroud is the last major rebel-held town in the mountainous Qalamoun region, where Assad’s forces have been waging an offensive for months to try to sever rebel supply lines across the porous border.
Hezbollah officials say many of the car bombs that exploded in the group’s strongholds in Lebanon over the past months were made in Yabroud. Hezbollah openly joined Syria’s civil war last year, fighting along Assad’s forces and tipping the battle in its favor in areas close to Lebanon.
Lebanese broadcasters Al-Mayadeen and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar aired live footage from outside Yabroud showing bombs landing over the city.
Also Saturday, Lebanon’s state-run National News agency said two rockets, apparently fired by Syrian rebels, struck the Lebanese border villages of Nabi Othman and Labweh, killing one person and wounding two. Syrian rebels have been shelling Lebanese border villages where Hezbollah enjoys wide support.
--more--"
Over and out from Lebanon.
Related: UN alarmed by deadly Syrian protest in Jordan camp
More alarm here and here.
Will the food shortage put you in a mood to wage war to save Syrians?
Yeah, it's the weather and not the earth-scorching war that ruined Syria's food production. At least they got some snow this year so there is enough water.
How about some more fake photos with the Power of Holocaust™ hyperbole? Will that do it?
"The crisis has also uprooted some 6.5 million people from their homes, forced 2.7 million to flee the country, laid waste to cities and towns alike."
Anything appetizing enough to give you war fever?
Globe didn't give me a Syrian meal today. It's all in Iraq now.
Over and out from Lebanon.
Related: UN alarmed by deadly Syrian protest in Jordan camp
More alarm here and here.
Will the food shortage put you in a mood to wage war to save Syrians?
Yeah, it's the weather and not the earth-scorching war that ruined Syria's food production. At least they got some snow this year so there is enough water.
How about some more fake photos with the Power of Holocaust™ hyperbole? Will that do it?
"The crisis has also uprooted some 6.5 million people from their homes, forced 2.7 million to flee the country, laid waste to cities and towns alike."
Anything appetizing enough to give you war fever?
Globe didn't give me a Syrian meal today. It's all in Iraq now.
