Friday, February 20, 2015

SILLI Syria

As I progress in this series it becomes less funny.

"Others repeated widely circulated conspiracy theories holding that the United States and Israel created the Islamic State group to sow discord in the Muslim world."

Related: ISIL is the new al-Qaeda 

"CONSIDER THIS OPTION:

That truck never got shipped overseas. Not by the military, not by U-DO-IT-FREE truck transport, NO, it just sat in Texas. Got bought at an auto auction cheap, AND ALL THE BEHEADINGS, ALL THE ISIS PHOTO OPS WERE SHOT ON A MILITARY BASE IN TEXAS WITH ORDINARY USED AMERICAN VEHICLES. How about that? That make sense? Are there good enough “Arab back drops” available in Texas? I THINK SO! This truck most likely simply busted the fact that much of ISIS, if not all, is happening on American soil hollywood style and the American bombings in Syria are done against ONLY what America wants wiped out in Syria. Makes perfect sense when ISIS is an American military intelligence outfit running in Washington DC with major offices in Texas.

Source"

That's just SILLI, isn't it?

US-backed rebel forces advance in Syria

"Rebels advance on two bases in northwestern Syria" Associated Press  December 15, 2014

BEIRUT — Rebels and Al Qaeda militants took over at least three government checkpoints Sunday around a pair of military bases in northwestern Syria, activists said.

The positions that fell to opposition fighters in heavy fighting are around the Wadi Deif and Hamidiyeh bases outside the town of Maaret al-Numan in Syria’s Idlib province. Rebels have been trying to capture both facilities since 2012, but have not been able to take either despite several attempts.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist collective both reported the opposition advances Sunday.

Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman said that the rebels and fighters from the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front seized three checkpoints near the bases. He said that at least 15 progovernment troops and eight opposition fighters have been killed in the clashes thus far.

Nothing Nusra there.

The Local Coordination Committees said the rebels took over a fourth checkpoint as well.

North of the city of Aleppo, meanwhile, government forces killed at least 34 rebels in the Handarat area as the military forged ahead with its efforts to try to sever opposition supply lines into the divided city, the Observatory said.

Aleppo has been carved into government- and opposition-held sectors since mid-2012.

Syria’s SANA state news agency said the military took control of territory in the Mallah farms near Handarat after killing a ‘‘large number’’ of terrorists, the term the government uses for those opposing its rule.

Yeah, I've thought that, too.

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"Islamic fighters capture 2 army bases in Syria" by Bassem Mroue, Associated Press  December 16, 2014

BEIRUT — An Al Qaeda-linked group and other Islamic fighters captured two key Syrian army bases on Monday in the northwestern province of Idlib after two days of intense battles with government troops that killed dozens on both sides, activists said.

The fall of the two bases — Wadi Deif and Hamidiyeh, both near the town of Maaret al-Numan — is a significant blow to the Syrian army, which had managed to hold on to them for more than two years, repelling repeated attacks by an array of opposition groups.

The battles for ‘‘these two bases were exhausting the rebel factions,’’ said Hussam Abu Bakr, a spokesman for the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham group, one of the strongest rebel factions in northern Syria. He said his group captured the Hamidiyeh base.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and an Idlib-based activist who goes by the name of Mohammed al-Sayid said members of the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and other rebel factions captured the Wadi Deif base Monday morning and the nearby Hamidiyeh base in the early afternoon.

Abu Bakr said via Skype that government forces first withdrew from Wadi Deif to Hamidiyeh and then from Hamidiyeh to the nearby village of Bsida.

Then, the rebels captured Bsida, forcing government forces to gather in the village of Maar Hattat, which is being besieged, said Abu Bakr. ‘‘There are more deaths and more prisoners every hour,’’ he added.

State-run Syrian TV said Syrian armed forces were engaged in fierce battles in Hamidiyeh after ‘‘carrying out a redeployment’’ in the Wadi Deif region Monday morning.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 31 government soldiers and 12 opposition fighters have been killed in the clashes since Sunday. The group, which tracks the fighting in Syria through a network of activists on the ground, said that rebel factions also captured about 15 government troops.

Government forces have suffered enormous losses at the hands of Islamic extremists in northern Syria. Earlier this year, members of the Islamic State took over a string of government air bases in the northern province of Raqqa, slaughtering scores of Syrian soldiers after seizing them.

A Twitter account run by the Nusra Front in Idlib province said fighters are now removing mines from the area after the ‘‘Wadi Deif camp was liberated.’’

The propaganda delivered via social media is a bit silly.

Rebels and the Nusra Front control much of the countryside of Idlib province while government forces dominate the provincial capital — also called Idlib. The capture of the bases came a day after rebels and Nusra Front fighters took over seven government checkpoints around Wadi Deif and Hamidiyeh.

At least the good gu.... guys are win.... wait a minute.

Idlib-based activist Asaad Kanjo said the government still holds the town of Ariha in Idlib as well as the Qarmid base near the provincial capital.

The Nusra Front has become one of the most powerful factions in Idlib province. Last month it defeated the moderate Syria Revolutionaries Front headed by Jamal Maarouf, who has since fled.

So there are no moderates left?

The latest round of fighting came as European Union foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to discuss ways to help implement a UN plan for a localized cease-fire in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

They pledged their assistance to help rebuild basic services and local government in the city if a plan proposed by a UN special envoy to Syria, to halt the fighting there can be implemented.

The United Nations has been trying to bring about a strategic deescalation of violence in Syria to permit the delivery of humanitarian aid and set the stage for peace talks.

In what was described as a policy change, Federica Mogherini, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, said later Monday that the ministers went on record in a statement as being ‘‘ready to engage with all regional and international actors with influence over the Syrian parties.’’

She said later that specifically meant Saudi Arabia and Iran as well as Russia.

And then the false flag terror attacks started in Europe. How odd.

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Tough getting good reporting from there:

"Report: At least 60 journalists killed in 2014" Associated Press  December 24, 2014

NEW YORK — Syria was connected to two of the more horrifying killings of journalists this year, the beheadings by Islamic State militants of American freelancers James Foley and Steven Sotloff. Both had disappeared while covering the conflict.

Except that the videos are obvious fakes. 

I mean, when the ma$$ media keeps pushing lies.... I suppose they can't back down now, and all it shows is that they are enabling collaborators regarding the whole charade.

The conflict in Ukraine between the new government and Russian-backed separatists saw five journalists and two media workers killed. They were the first that the Committee to Protect Journalists had recorded in Ukraine since 2001.

Okay, second bad guy Russia, yup.

The report said the number of journalists killed in 2014 was down from 70 the year before, but the past three years have been the deadliest since the organization started compiling such records in 1992.

The crushing conflict in Syria, now well into its fourth year, has been a major factor.

‘‘Syria has never been more dangerous for journalists,’’ Jason Stern, a research associate for the committee, said in a blog post....

That is why I respect the truth tellers.

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No, you won't find them in there.

"Syrian government airstrikes kill at least 14" Associated Press  November 19, 2014

BEIRUT — Syrian aircraft dropped crude barrel bomb explosives on a neighborhood in northern Aleppo province on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people, including children, and wounding another 20, activists said.

Syrian aircraft have dropped hundreds of barrel bombs on rebel-held neighborhoods during the civil war, killing thousands of civilians. The tactic — often using explosives-filled canisters hurled from helicopters — has been criticized by human rights groups because the bombs cannot be precisely targeted.

Yes, when the Syrian government conducts airstrikes children are killed and people are buried under rubble. Never happens when the US strikes (something being reported less and less now).

The video purporting to show the aftermath of the attack appeared genuine and corresponded with Associated Press reporting.

I can't think of a better reason to doubt it. Another staged and scripted fake?

Syria’s war, now well into its fourth year, began as an uprising against the Assad family’s four-decade rule. It has since become a complicated civil war, and activists estimate some 200,000 people have been killed.

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"Syrian air raids on IS-held towns kill dozens" Associated Press  December 27, 2014

BEIRUT — Syrian air raids on two northern towns held by the militant Islamic State group have killed more than 50 people in two days, activists said Friday.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said several airstrikes Thursday on the towns of al-Bab and neighboring Qabasin killed at least 53 people, including seven children.

The Syrian government has been heavily bombing areas held by rebels and the militant Islamic State group in recent days.

And the U.S. is applauding, right?

Rights groups accuse government forces of using bombs that cannot be precisely targeted, causing high civilian casualties.

And the coalition airstrikes in rebel-held areas?

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At least the Kurds are gaining ground against SILLI, even if it was not immediately clear who conducted an airstrike on a crowded market in a Syrian village controlled by the Islamic State group. Some residents said it was a Syrian government airstrike. 

Of course, it must have been government warplanes because the terrorists, 'er, rebels are appealing for help. What, the coalition airstrikes stop?

At least the search is on for diplomatic solution to Syria war as President Bashar Assad’s forces feel increasingly squeezed on the battlefield and Islamic extremist groups proliferate across the region and "Syrian President Bashar Assad’s visit came as rebels fired nearly two dozen mortar shells on Damascus, residents said. It was not clear if there were casualties. Assad has rarely appeared in public since the uprising against his family’s four-decade rule began in March 2011 with peaceful protests. The government’s brutal crackdown led to the rise of an armed opposition, and today the country is in the grip of a civil war that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. State TV footage showed Assad eating baked beans and boiled potatoes with soldiers and pro government militia." 

Look at him having a gourmet meal in the midst of a war!

UN’s Syria envoy says Assad key to war’s end

United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura’s comments came during a week in which Syrian opposition groups reported a particularly deadly week of bombing by government forces in the Damascus suburbs, leaving more than 350 people dead in the suburb of Douma alone, including 120 women and children. De Mistura added that only the Islamic State benefited from the Syrian war, the Associated Press reported. He spoke to reporters in Vienna on Friday after meetings with Austria’s foreign minister.

Actually, there was another

They won't be happy with this, though:

US support for Syria peace plans demonstrates shift in priorities as Syria descends into an enclaves of extremists.

"Diplomats: Syria willing to suspend Aleppo strikes 6 weeks" by Cara Anna, Associated Press  February 18, 2015

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations envoy to Syria says he has received a commitment from the Syrian government to suspend airstrikes on the city of Aleppo for six weeks to allow a proposed UN plan to ‘‘freeze’’ hostilities there to be tested, UN diplomats said Tuesday. 

Has the U.S-led coalition to fight self-created ISIS stopped?

Staffan de Mistura was briefing the Security Council in closed session on his latest efforts to find a solution to the grinding civil war. Diplomats said there is no indication of when the government’s six-week suspension of airstrikes on Syria’s largest city might begin.

De Mistura told the council he will return to Syria to assess whether the government’s commitment is possible, and he called the new development a glimmer of hope.

The envoy continued to emphasize a political solution to the nearly four-year conflict. 

If it is a no-Assad solution it's a non-starter, meaning it was meant to fail so war could be pushed.

It was de Mistura’s first council briefing since he explained his freeze plan in October, and members wanted to know what kind of support, if any, it has received from President Bashar Assad. De Mistura met with Assad this month.

Aleppo is divided into a rebel-controlled west and government-held east. De Mistura wants to see a UN-monitored ‘‘freeze zone’’ that will calm violence, allow more humanitarian aid access, and act as a step to a wider solution to the conflict. ‘‘Our hope is that Aleppo could be a signal of goodwill, a confidence-building measure which could and can facilitate the restarting of a political process with a clear political horizon,’’ he said last month.

The Balkanization of Syria in step with neo-con and other plans!

But Aleppo-based opposition activists have expressed fears the government would exploit a truce to gather its forces to fight elsewhere, and they have questioned how a cease-fire could work with Islamic State fighters in the area.

So much for the glimmer of hope.

And the Nusra Front, the Qaeda affiliate in Syria, recently dismissed de Mistura’s proposal as a conspiracy that would allow Syrian government forces to regroup for more assaults.

CIA-Duh affiliations will do that to you.

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"Fierce fighting near Aleppo as UN envoy seeks truce" by Zeina Karam and Bassem Mroue, Associated Press  February 19, 2015

BEIRUT — Syrian rebels fought government forces north of the divided city of Aleppo Wednesday as both sides sought to expand their ground amid a push by the UN envoy to the country to broker a cease-fire in the city.

The clashes began with a government offensive launched a few hours before the envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said President Bashar Assad expressed a willingness to suspend bombing of Aleppo for six weeks.

So sayeth my lying war pre$$.

The hiatus would set the stage for a proposed UN plan to ‘‘freeze’’ hostilities in Syria’s largest city. However, rebels and opposition activists said that they are deeply skeptical — based on past experience and similar failed peace efforts — that the government would abide by any truce.

‘‘The regime says it wants dialogue then attacks rebel positions,’’ said Bahaa Halaby, an activist in Aleppo. He said fierce clashes were taking place north of the city Wednesday.

Acting like Israel are they?

Syrian government forces backed by Shi’ite fighters, including the Lebanese Hezbollah group, launched a surprise offensive on Tuesday, capturing several villages that brought them closer to their goal of cutting off the main supply route to rebels in Aleppo and besieging opposition-held areas.

This is like the Assad used chemical weapons on his own supporters in front of the U.N. feel, folks.

More than a hundred people on both sides were killed by Wednesday, in a counteroffensive in which rebels regained much of the territory they lost a day earlier, activists said.

An amateur video released by rebels showed the bodies of at least 25 Syrian soldiers and pro-government gunmen in Aleppo’s northern suburb of Mallah, scattered in a muddy open field. The video appeared genuine and corresponded to other reporting of the violent clashes taking place.

That's why I'm not believing it.

Progovernment TV channels, in turn, ran footage showing troops running behind tanks in smoke-filled fields and fighters driving vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns to the backdrop of nonstop gunfire and explosions.

That I'm believing.

A few hours after the government offensive started Tuesday, de Mistura offered a glimmer of hope on his efforts to find a solution to Syria’s civil war, telling the UN Security Council at a briefing that Assad had agreed to halt airstrikes and artillery shelling of Aleppo for six weeks.

‘‘Let’s be frank, I have no illusions because based on past experiences this will be a difficult issue to be achieved,’’ de Mistura said. He added, however, that he would return to Damascus ‘‘as soon as possible’’ to announce a start date.

Mine have certainly been shattered when it comes to the varsity of my war-promoting morning paper.

Rebels claimed the government offensive proved that Damascus was not serious and said they have serious doubts about how a freeze in hostilities could take place in a city that was once Syria’s commercial capital and is now a wasteland and mosaic of various rebel groups.

I don't take peace talk in a war paper seriously anymore, either. It's all a public relations stunt for some agenda-pushing purpose.

Ahmad Hamed, an activist in Aleppo, said he believed most rebel factions will abide by a truce if the government halts airstrikes and releases detainees, starting with female prisoners.

How can you trust terrorists?

Speaking via Skype, he and other Aleppo-based activists said militants from the Nusra Front — Syria’s Al Qaeda branch, which has a small presence in the city — are not expected to abide by the plan.

Then the NSA knows where they are.

The Islamic State group is also about 18 miles northeast of the city.

Still, there were signs that most rebel factions might be at least willing to engage on the plan and see whether the government will make good on its pledge to de Mistura.

Two and a half years of fighting in the city has exhausted fighters and destroyed rebel-held neighborhoods.

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Well, a truce has enabled food aid to resume in what is being called ‘‘the biggest single humanitarian crisis the world faces at the moment.’’

"UN food program suspends assistance to Syrian refugees" by Nick Cumming-Bruce, New York Times  December 02, 2014

GENEVA — The United Nations food aid organization said Monday it is suspending assistance to more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees because it had run out of money to support them.

So much for that!

The organization, the World Food Program, said the suspension, which took place immediately, will have “disastrous” consequences for refugees from the Syrian civil war struggling to cope with years of deprivation.

The cut in aid will affect refugees in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey who receive vouchers from the program to exchange for food in local shops, a mechanism that also provides an economic lifeline for communities struggling with the huge influx of Syrian refugees in the past four years.

The United States gave the agency $125 million last week: $70 million to cover the cost of refugee vouchers in November and $55 million to support food deliveries to about 4 million people in Syria until the end of the year.

It's been $3 billion since the start.

But the agency said that it needed another $64 million to support its voucher assistance operation in December and that food aid in Syria would end in February if it did not receive additional funds.

RelatedUN says $16.4 billion needed to aid most vulnerable

How much food will that buy?

About 3.3 million Syrians are estimated to have fled abroad because of the conflict in their country, which has killed about 200,000 people.

Ertharin Cousin, the agency’s executive director, said the cut in aid would have a “terrible impact” as winter approaches. Frigid temperatures have already gripped the region. 

That's odd because I've been told global warming other places while we freeze here.

“A suspension of WFP food assistance will endanger the health and safety of these refugees and will potentially cause further tensions, instability, and insecurity in the neighboring host countries,” Cousin said in a statement issued from the agency’s headquarters in Rome.

The sudden imposition of the cuts highlights the growing strain all humanitarian aid agencies are facing as they try to cope with a long list of emergencies in such places as the Central African Republic, Iraq, South Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine.

They need to go to the 1% to get money because they are the only ones who have it.

To address the growing number of conflicts and disasters, the International Red Cross last week appealed for support for a 2015 budget that is 25 percent greater than a year earlier. UN agencies and their international aid partners will appeal for funds to operate in Syria and Iraq from donors this month.

Another "unintended" consequence of the wars, destabilizing and burdensome refugees to undermine governments?

The agency’s food aid for Syria had operated for months on a “hand-to-mouth” basis using money as soon as it arrived, said Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the agency in Geneva. In September, to further stretch the available funding, it announced cuts of up to half the value of the vouchers, worth $15 to $45 a month, depending on the country.

Welcome to life like the rest of us.

The food aid cuts “couldn’t come at a worse time,” António Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees, said in a statement. “It will impact tens of thousands of the most vulnerable refugee families who are almost entirely dependent on international aid.”

They cut food stamps here, too.

The agency’s food assistance was “obviously central to the overall humanitarian aid effort,” he said, adding, “It must be funded.”

The millions of refugees from Syria have badly strained neighboring countries.

Has Obummer apologized to any of them?

More than 1 million Syrians have taken refuge in Lebanon, overwhelming the nation of 4.4 million people. Citing the economic burden and security concerns, Lebanon has dramatically reduced the number of Syrians allowed entry.

Lebanese officials have criticized the international community’s inability to meet its commitments to the World Food Program.

Oh, those SILLI Lebanese!

UN member countries often fall short in payments and owed about $3.5 billion in early November for regular operations and peacekeeping.

World powers a bunch of deadbeat dads?

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Btw, Lebanon should't be made to feel alone when it comes to Israeli airstrikes:

"Israeli bombs hit airport, border town, Syria says" by Albert Aji and Ryan Lucas, Associated Press  December 08, 2014

DAMASCUS — Israeli warplanes bombed two areas near Damascus on Sunday, striking near the city’s international airport as well as outside a town close to the Lebanese border, the Syrian military said.

Since Syria’s civil war began in March 2011, Israel has carried out several airstrikes in Syria that have targeted sophisticated weapons systems. The weapons included Russian-made antiaircraft missiles and Iranian-made missiles believed to be destined for Israel’s foe, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Regardless, it is a violation of international law and an act of war.

Israel has never confirmed the strikes, and on Sunday the Israeli military said it does not comment on ‘‘foreign reports.’’

The Syrian armed forces’ general command said Sunday’s ‘‘flagrant attack’’ caused material damage, but did not provide any details on what was hit near the airport or in the town of Dimas, which is northwest of Damascus along the main highway from the capital to the Lebanese frontier.

‘‘This aggression demonstrates Israel’s direct involvement in supporting terrorism in Syria along with well-known regional and Western countries to raise the morale of terrorist groups, mainly the Nusra Front,’’ the military said in a statement carried by SANA, the state news agency.

There is no evidence that Israel has provided any support to the Nusra Front, which is the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria.

Rami Abdurrahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the strike near the Damascus international airport targeted a depot for newly arrived weapons at a military facility that is part of the airport.

The strikes near Dimas, he said, went after weapons depots in hangars in and around a small air base. It was not clear whether those weapons were for the Syrian government or for Hezbollah. He had no word on casualties.

The Britain-based Observatory monitors Syria’s civil war through a network of activists on the ground.

Israel has tried to stay out of the war in neighboring Syria, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly threatened to take military action to prevent Syria from transferring sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah. Israel and Hezbollah are longtime enemies and fought an intense monthlong war in 2006.

In May 2013, a series of Israeli airstrikes near Damascus targeted what Israeli officials said were shipments of Iranian-made Fateh-110 missiles bound for Hezbollah.

In eastern Syria on Sunday, Syrian warplanes carried out at least 11 airstrikes of their own against Islamic State militants who were attacking a key military air base, activists said.

The Islamic State launched its assault on the sprawling air field just outside of the city of Deir el-Zour last week, touching off fighting that activists say has killed more than 150 people on both sides.

For the Islamic State, seizing control of the base would eliminate the last significant government presence in the area and provide a major morale and propaganda boost.

The Local Coordination Committees activist collective and the Observatory said the strikes targeted four areas near the base.

After Islamic State fighters succeeded in storming part of the base on Saturday, the Syrian military launched a counterattack, bolstered by heavy air raids, that managed to push the militants back. Scattered clashes on the ground continued Sunday with fighting around the base, activists said.

A Syrian military official in Damascus said troops are in full control of the base. He said the militants tried to launch attacks from their positions around the airport but they were countered. Several were killed and weapons were seized, he said.

Why do I believe them over my ma$$ media?

When the Arab Spring rebellion spread to Syria in March 2011, President Bashar Assad, having witnessed the humiliating end of other Arab dictators, was determined to crush the uprising at any cost.

Must be the partisanship.

The brutal government crackdown drove opposition supporters to take up arms, and the conflict has since escalated into one of the most savage civil wars in decades, with no end in sight. One third of the country is controlled by the extremist Islamic State. More than 200,000 people have been killed and half the population displaced.

In a separate development over the weekend, the Canadian government said it has plans to follow the United States in expanding airstrikes against the Islamic State into Syria.

At a security conference in the Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain on Saturday, Canada’s foreign minister, John Baird, said his country has a duty to contribute to the US-led bombing campaign against the extremist group because it has attracted Canadians to its ranks. But he said support would be confined to Iraq for now.

They are as much under the control of Zionists as is the AmeriKan Congre$$.

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Related:

"Russia demanded an explanation Monday for Israeli airstrikes on two areas near Damascus. The Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers called it an act of aggression that proves Israel is ‘‘in the same trench’’ with extremist groups fighting the Syrian government. Israeli warplanes struck near the Damascus international airport on Sunday, as well as outside a town close to the Lebanese border. Israel has not confirmed the strikes, which Syrian activists said had hit weapons depots. Israel has already struck inside Syria on several occasions in the course of the country’s civil war, including a series of airstrikes near Damascus in May 2013. Those strikes, according to Israeli officials, targeted shipments of Iranian-made Fateh-110 missiles bound for the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group."

Also see:

Peace in Syria requires Saudi Arabia and Iran thaw

No wonder it hasn't happened.

Boston.com among websites attacked by Syrian hacker group

Why would they bother!!

Next thing you know the propaganda pre$$ will be telling us Syria is harboring Nazi war criminals

Now that is silly.