Tag Archives: UN

May 16 2013

Austria says UK push to arm Syrian rebels would violate international law & Putin warns against actions fueling crisis in Syria

Forceful Austrian position signals deep EU divisions on Syria ahead of this month’s embargo decision

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Fighters from Islamist Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra take their positions on the front line during a clash with Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo. Photograph: Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters/REUTERS

By Julian Borger, The Guardian

“Die Briten sind not amused,” is how Die Presse reported it today. “The Brits are not amused.” The Austrian foreign ministry circulated a discussion paper (known in Brussels jargon as a non-paper) among the EU member states yesterday forcefully rebutting British and French arguments for amending the European embargo on Syria to allow weapons shipments to the rebels.

Update: here is a link to an English version of the Austrian paper [click here]

The Austrian paper argues that lifting the embargo would “constitute a breach of international and EU law” and be contrary to the “principle of non-intervention and non-use of force” laid down in the UN Charter. If the weapons ended up in the hands of the al-Nusra Front, it would also violate UN Security Council resolutions on al-Qaida, given al-Nusra’s stated affiliation.

According to the Austrian press reports the UK asked the Austrians not to circulate the paper, but Vienna did it anyway – a sign of the declining clout of the UK in Brussels as the country sinks into an internecine quagmire on EU membership.

Austria has a particular reason for opposing the lifting of the arms embargo, as it has UN peacekeeping troops deployed in the line of fire on the Golan Heights, but sources in Brussels suggest the Austrians may also be expressing the views of a EU majority that has deep reservations over lifting the embargo, particularly at a time when there is at least the glimmer of diplomatic hope in the wake of the Kerry-Lavrov agreement to hold a new international conference on Syria.

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May 7 2013

US-led Zio-Wahhabis wage war on Syria

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PressTV

This morning, the government of Israel contacted President Assad of Syria. They did so as the leader of a coalition now openly at war against Syria and Iran, with plans to broaden the conflict.

Assad was told he would be allowed to continue his rule, but on the “Jordanian model,” as a puppet of Israel and Turkey.

Israeli armor is now inside Syria, not just the occupied zone, but has closed the distance to Damascus and has that city under artillery fire.

The claimed air attacks are a ruse; Israel has been using 155 and 175 mm artillery, mobile howitzers of extreme range, enhanced by arms expert Gerald Bull, who was assassinated by Israeli agents in 1990 as his reward.

The artillery attacks on Syria, using time delay and cluster munitions, are in direct support of military actions with fire control and communications being supplied by Israeli UAV aircraft operating in Syrian air space in support of Al Qaeda led rebel group.

These terrorist groups, aided by extremists from Libya and the Persian Gulf States are being trained and supplied in Jordan and Turkey. It is hard to ignore the fact that US troops, on a secret mission to verify Israeli claims of chemical weapon use by the Syrian government, are fully complicit in aiding Al-Qaeda operations against the Syrian government.

As for chemical weapon use, a report from United Nations human rights investigators, according to Reuters, has verified that it is rebels who have been using these weapons, in particular, deadly Sarin Gas.

Former Swiss attorney general, Carla Del Ponte, representing the United Nations independent commission of inquiry, based in Geneva, is quoted in a televised interview:

“Our investigators have been in neighboring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of Sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated. This was use on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities.”

RED LINE

Last week, President Obama declared that use of chemical weapons by the Assad government would represent a “red line” for the United States, justifying military action against Syria. However, despite numerous unsubstantiated news reports, the first “actionable” reports of that mythic line being crossed place Israel, Turkey and even the United States on the wrong side, aligned with Al Qaeda in the use of deadly nerve agents against Syria.

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Feb 28 2013

Al-Jaafari: Syria Needs Objective, Unbiased Aid

NEW YORK, (SANA)- Syria needs real unbiased aid and not just a highlight on the humanitarian situation that does not meet the precise evaluation and description of what is actually taking place in the country, said Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Bashar al-Jaafari.

Al-Jaafari’s remarks came in a press statement following a closed-door session of the UN Security Council on the situation in Syria held on Wednesday.

He dismissed as “having nothing to do with reality “the statements made on the humanitarian situation in Syria by UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, UN High Commissioner for Refugees and UN Secretary General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

These statements came in line with “the unilateral outlook to what is happening in Syria”, said al-Jaafari, lashing out at the UN representatives for refraining to admit that the Syrian government has actually been cooperative with each one of them, a cooperation that resulted in signing what was labeled as “the response plan” with the UN.

He explained how the Syrian government, in the framework of its cooperation with UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, has allowed access to 11 international NGOs to deliver humanitarian aid into the Syrian territories. Continue reading →

Feb 15 2013

Hypocrisy: US Arms Al Qaeda in Syria, Mass-Slaughters Civilians in Afghanistan

February 13, 2013 (LD) – AFP has reported that a recent NATO airstrike in Afghanistan has killed over 10 civilians in an all-too-familiar headline glossed over by the Western media in an exercise of both depravity and hypocrisy. RT’s article, “NATO airstrike kills 10 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children - officials,” notes in particular that up to 11,864 civilians were killed in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2011, and that civilian deaths before 2007 were not even tracked by the UN.

By Tony Cartalucci, LAND DESTROYER

Such facts reveal alarming hypocrisy as the UN keeps almost daily, inflated tallies of civilian deaths elsewhere, in particular, in nations like Libya and Syria where Western interests have been heavily involved in regime change and in dire need of manipulating public perception worldwide. The United Nations had in fact pieced together a dubious report crafted from “witness accounts” compiled not in Syria, or even beyond its borders in a refugee camp, but instead, in Geneva by “witnesses” supplied by the so-called Syrian “opposition.”

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Image: Just some of the corporate members of the US-Qatar Business Council, whose president just so happens to sit on the same board of directors of the Middle East Policy Center as Karen AbuZayd, co-author of one of many conveniently timed UN Human Rights Council reports on Syria.

Worse yet, that UN report was co-authored by Karen Koning AbuZayd, a director of the US Washington-based corporate think-tank, Middle East Policy Council. Its board of directors includes Exxon men, CIA agents, representatives of the Saudi Binladin Group (Osama Bin Laden’s family business), former ambassadors to Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, US military and government representatives, and even the president of the US-Qatar Business Council, which includes amongst its membership, Al Jazeera, Chevron, Exxon, munitions manufacturer Raytheon (who supplied the opening salvos during NATO’s operations against Libya), and Boeing.

In other words, the very underwriters of the armed militancy that is consuming Syria are sitting along side the head of the UN commission producing reports portraying the Syrian government as guilty of “war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Nov 22 2012

Syria presents foreign fighter list in bid for UN to acknowledge terror acts

Syria has presented the UN Security Council a list of 143 foreign citizens killed in Syria fighting government troops. Damascus hopes the move will force the UN to declare the presence of foreign nationals in Syria to be international terrorism.

The Syrian government reportedly presented proof that citizens of 19 different nations had fought in the country alongside rebel forces.

Bashar Jaafari, Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, wrote a letter the Security Council requesting they register the list of mercenaries as an official document on the UN’s agenda of “measures to combat international terrorism.”

The UN Security Council has not yet officially recognized Syria as a country confronting international terrorism. Last month, Syria delivered a previous version of the list containing 108 names.

The new list contains the names of citizens from 19 countries accused of joining Syria’s rebels: Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Chad, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen and Chechnya. Since Chechnya is not a country, but a republic of the Russian Federation, the list likely contains names of Russian citizens.

The list consists of the names of people who were positively identified through ID or documents found on their bodies that helped establish their nationality. The bulk of the dead mercenaries in Syria are apparently still unidentified. Continue reading →

Oct 27 2012

Siege of Bani Walid: Foreign fighters, phosphorus bombs and nerve gas (Graphic images)

The besieged Libyan city of Bani Walid has been plunged into chaos. Several sources told RT the former Gaddafi regime stronghold is under attack by militias bolstered by foreign mercenaries, and they used banned weapons like white phosphorous.

The sources denied reports of the last few days that Bani Walid was retaken by the Libyan government. Residents said that militia forces have continued their assault, while preventing the refugees who fled from reentering the city.

A man who claimed his relatives are trapped inside the besieged city spoke with RT, saying, “There is no food; there is nothing to support the life of people. And the militia does not allow anyone to come back to their homes.”

“They are demolishing homes with machinery and tanks. There is no communication or internet so people are not able to connect with each other,” the source said. He is currently in Egypt, and refuses to reveal his identity over fears of personal safety.

He believes the real reason for the inoperable communications is that many people have been killed inside Bani Walid by the forces besieging the city and now they are trying to prevent information about the killings to be leaked outside.

The militia attackers have claimed they are battling ‘pro-Gaddafi’ forces, but the source slammed that motive as a “lie and a dirty game.”

“They use foreign snipers, I think from Qatar or Turkey, with Qatar covering all the costs,” he said. He claimed that a ship with weapons and other equipment recently docked in the port city of Misrata, where the assault on Bani Walid is allegedly being directed.

“There is no government in Libya. Groups of militia control everything. They don’t care about Libya, they don’t care about the nation,” he said, adding allegations that the majority of militia fighters have dual citizenship or passports from other countries.

“We ask the envoy [Special Representative] of the Secretary-General of the United Nations [for Libya] Mr. Tarik Mitri – where is he now?” he said. “Where is the United Nations? Where is the EU? Where is the Human Rights Watch? We ask for an intervention now as soon as possible – please!”

In an October 23 UN session, the US blocked a statement on the violence in Bani Walid drafted by Russia, which condemned the ongoing conflict in the city and calling for a peaceful resolution.

RT Photo from Bani Walid. RT source. The photo could not be independently verified.

Witnesses claim militia used chemical weapons in Bani Walid

“I can confirm that pro-government militias used internationally prohibited weapons. They used phosphorus bombs and nerve gas. We have documented all this in videos, we recorded the missiles they used and the white phosphorus raining down from these missiles,” Bani Walid-based activist and lawyer Afaf Yusef told RT. Continue reading →

Oct 2 2012

Syrian FM Al Muallem’s speech at the UNGA yesterday in NYC

Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem on Monday delivered a speech before the United Nations General Assembly.

Following the full text of al-Moallem’s speech

Mr. Vuk Jeremic President of the 67th session of the General Assembly, Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to congratulate you and your friendly country, the Republic of Serbia, on your election as President of the General Assembly at its current session, and to wish you success in conducting our work in a way that brings back to the President of the General Assembly its important and neutral role in fulfilling his duties away from any political, national or international agendas that violate the rules of international law and contradict efforts to achieve security and stability in the world. We also wish success to the Secretary General of the United Nations in carrying out his duties in enhancing the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, Our contemporary world faces many events that are affecting its states, and continue to cast their shadow on the international scene. Many countries are facing political, economic and financial crises which exceed the capacity of States to cope with their consequences individually. Continue reading →

Sep 26 2012

CIA Islamists Destroy Somalia

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By Dean Henderson

The Sudan Tribune reported on Saturday that Ethiopian troops would hand over the recently captured Somalian towns of Beledweyne and Baidoa – which had been strongholds of al Qaeda-allied Al-Shabab Islamist militants – to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Ethiopian had sent hundreds of troops to Somalia in December to help Mogadishu fight Al-Shabab.

(Excerpted from Chapter 13: USS Persian Gulf: Big Oil & Their Bankers…) Western intelligence agencies used these Islamists to split Somalia into three different nations. On September 10, 1992 the US sent 2000 Marines and four warships led by the USS Tarawa to lurk off the Somali coast in the Gulf of Aden which separates Somalia from Saudi Arabia.

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Sep 10 2012

‘US doesn’t need UN to oust Assad’ – Clinton

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (AFP Photo/POOL/Jim Watson

Hillary Clinton threatens the US and “like-minded states” might pursue regime change in Syria in circumvention of the UN if the new resolution on Syria is “toothless”. Russia’s Foreign Minister believes the conflict is still solvable diplomatically.

Having conducted talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has acknowledged that the Russian position is steadfast: foreign intervention in Syria is intolerable.

“We have to be realistic. We haven’t seen eye-to-eye… that may continue,” Clinton revealed on Sunday.

Since the Russian and American positions on Syria do not converge, “then we will work with like-minded states to support a Syrian opposition to hasten the day when Assad falls and to help prepare Syria for a democratic future and help it get back on its feet,” she declared.

There is no point to passing a new UN resolution on Syria “with no teeth”, she said, “because we’ve seen time and time again that Assad will ignore it and keep attacking his own people,” Clinton told reporters.

“As I underscored yesterday with Foreign Minister Lavrov, that will only be effective if it includes consequences for non-compliance,” she added.

Russia together with China has vetoed three consecutive Western-drafted UN Security Council resolutions on Syria, claiming the resolutions were unbalanced.

Still, Clinton promised that she will continue to work with Lavrov “to see if we can revisit the idea of putting the Syrian transition plan that we agreed to in Geneva earlier this summer into a Security Council resolution.”

The disagreements on Syria between Moscow and Washington are not only limited to the UN resolutions. The foreign minister explained that Russia is firmly against bilateral sanctions the US and EU are imposing on Syria. Continue reading →