IKEA 'regrets' cutting women from Saudi advert
Showing posts with label posted by: Jordan S. Show all posts
Showing posts with label posted by: Jordan S. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
France and US fund ‘terrorism’, says Syrian envoy
France and US fund ‘terrorism’, says Syrian envoy
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told the UN on Monday that the United States, France and several Arab states support "terrorism" by backing anti-regime rebels with arms and aid in "blatant interference in the domestic affairs of Syria".
Syria accused the United States, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Monday of hijacking the country’s 18-month conflict between government forces and pro-democracy rebel groups by supporting “terrorism” with arms, money and foreign fighters.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told the U.N. General Assembly that outside calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step down were a “blatant interference in the domestic affairs of Syria, and the unity of its people and its sovereignty.”
Earlier on Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Moualem and strongly criticized the Syrian government for killings, rights abuses, aerial and artillery attacks, and expressed frustration that the conflict was worsening.
Speaking on the final day of the annual gathering of the 193-nation assembly, Moualem said that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States, and France “clearly induce and support terrorism in Syria with money, weapons and foreign fighters.”
“Under the pretext of concepts such as the ‘Responsibility to Protect,’ drums of war are beaten, and sedition and unrest are spreading and damaging the structure of national societies,” Moualem said.
He was referring to a concept about governments’ responsibility to protect civilians that has become increasingly popular in Western diplomatic and academic circles. The concept was used to justify last year’s military intervention in Libya.
“Worst of all is to see permanent members of the Security Council, who launched wars under the pretext of combating terrorism, now support terrorism in my country,” Moualem said.
Russia, backed by China, repeatedly vetoed Western- and Arab-backed council resolutions that criticized the Syrian government and threatened it with sanctions, saying the United States, Europe and Gulf Arabs were seeking regime change.
Ban “raised in the strongest terms the continued killings, massive destruction, human rights abuses, and aerial and artillery attacks committed by the government,” his spokesman said in a statement.
“He stressed that it was the Syrian people who were being killed every day, and appealed to the Government of Syria to show compassion to its own people,” the spokesman said.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told the U.N. General Assembly that outside calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step down were a “blatant interference in the domestic affairs of Syria, and the unity of its people and its sovereignty.”
Earlier on Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Moualem and strongly criticized the Syrian government for killings, rights abuses, aerial and artillery attacks, and expressed frustration that the conflict was worsening.
Speaking on the final day of the annual gathering of the 193-nation assembly, Moualem said that Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States, and France “clearly induce and support terrorism in Syria with money, weapons and foreign fighters.”
“Under the pretext of concepts such as the ‘Responsibility to Protect,’ drums of war are beaten, and sedition and unrest are spreading and damaging the structure of national societies,” Moualem said.
He was referring to a concept about governments’ responsibility to protect civilians that has become increasingly popular in Western diplomatic and academic circles. The concept was used to justify last year’s military intervention in Libya.
“Worst of all is to see permanent members of the Security Council, who launched wars under the pretext of combating terrorism, now support terrorism in my country,” Moualem said.
Russia, backed by China, repeatedly vetoed Western- and Arab-backed council resolutions that criticized the Syrian government and threatened it with sanctions, saying the United States, Europe and Gulf Arabs were seeking regime change.
Ban “raised in the strongest terms the continued killings, massive destruction, human rights abuses, and aerial and artillery attacks committed by the government,” his spokesman said in a statement.
“He stressed that it was the Syrian people who were being killed every day, and appealed to the Government of Syria to show compassion to its own people,” the spokesman said.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Former Israeli PM Olmert fined in breach of trust case
Israel’s former premier Ehud Olmert received a suspended jail sentence and more than $19,000 in fines for breach of trust Monday. Olmert faces separate bribery charges related to a controversial housing project while he was mayor of Jerusalem.
Dogged by corruption scandals as he tried to forge a peace deal with the Palestinians, Olmert resigned in 2008. Though found guilty in July of cronyism while in a former cabinet post, he was acquitted of more serious bribery charges.
Jerusalem District Court handed Olmert a suspended one-year jail sentence and a 75,300-shekel ($19,225) fine. Had he been put behind bars, the 66-year-old centrist politician might have been prevented from returning to public office.
“I leave court today walking tall,” Olmert told reporters, without elaborating on his plans.
After his conviction, Olmert, who denied all wrongoing, said he had no intention of reentering politics. The party he once led, Kadima, now heads the opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rightist Likud.
A comeback would likely depend on the outcome of a separate bribery case over Olmert’s role, as Jerusalem mayor from 1993 to 2003, in a controversial housing project.
“This is not over,” deputy Israeli state prosecutor Eli Abravanel said after Monday’s sentencing.
Netanyahu urges UN to draw ‘red line’ for nuclear Iran
© AFP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the UN Thursday that a “red line” should be drawn to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. He also hit back at the Palestinian President’s earlier comments on settlements as “ethnic cleansing”.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu appeared to pull back from any threat of an imminent Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, saying the Islamic Republic would be on the brink of producing an atomic weapon only next summer.
He added that he was confident the United States and Israel, which have disagreed about the urgency of military action, could devise a common strategy to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Holding up a cartoon-like drawing of a bomb with a fuse, Netanyahu literally drew a red line just below a label reading “final stage” to a bomb, in which it was 90 percent along the path of having sufficient weapons-grade material.
“A red line should be drawn right here, before Iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb, before Iran gets to a point where it is a few months or a few weeks away from amassing enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon,” he said.
“Each day that point is getting closer, and that is why I speak today with such a sense of urgency, and that is why everyone should have a sense of urgency.”
Netanyahu added that “the red line must be drawn on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program because these enrichment facilities are the only nuclear installations that we can definitely see and credibly target.”
“I believe that faced with a clear red line, Iran will back down. And this will give more time for sanctions and diplomacy to convince Iran to dismantle its nuclear weapons program all together,” he added.
Netanyahu was referring to Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity, a level it says is required for medical isotopes but which also brings it close to bomb-fuel grade.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stepped up pressure on the US over Iran's controversial nuclear programme on Sunday in a move that coincides with the final weeks of the country's heated presidential election.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stepped up his efforts to push the US into confrontation with Iran over its controversial nuclear programme, a move that coincides with Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s attempts to convince American voters that President Barack Obama is weak on foreign policy.
Netanyahu spoke only days after US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an attack on the United States consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. The incident took place as widespread protests erupted in countries around the world last week against a US-made film, “Innocence of Muslims”, ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad.
In two separate interviews aired in the United States on Sunday morning by CNN and NBC, Netanyahu said little, if anything, new about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. More interesting, however, was Netanyahu’s decision to time his remarks during the final weeks of the heated US presidential campaign.
Political positioning
The message conformed seamlessly with Romney’s harsh rhetoric on Iran. Romney, like Obama, has said he would not allow Iran to add a nuclear weapon to its arsenal. The Republican nominee has been critical of Obama for not acting quickly or forcefully enough, but has not offered specifics on how he would handle the situation differently. Neither Obama nor Romney have called for US military intervention in the near future.
Obama insists that time remains for tough sanctions imposed by the US and its allies to force a diplomatic solution. Netanyahu argues time is running out and that Washington must quickly draw “red lines” past which Iran cannot move in its nuclear programme without engendering an American military attack.
Netanyahu has threatened that Israel would attack Iran alone if it determines Tehran is reaching a point beyond which the Israeli military could do little to stop the march towards building a nuclear weapon.
The United States, its Western allies and Israel all accuse Iran of using what it says is a nuclear programme designed only for electricity generation and medical research as cover to build a weapon.
The savvy Netanyahu, who lived many years in the United States and once worked at the same financial firm as Romney, denied that he was meddling in the US presidential election. He and Obama have a notoriously cool relationship, and earlier this summer he doted Romney with the trappings of a visiting head of state when the candidate made a gaffe-filled foreign tour to build up his foreign policy credentials.
As Muslim demonstrators threaten US diplomatic missions throughout the Islamic world, Netanyahu’s remarks on NBC sought to draw on the violence to bolster his argument.
“Iran, with nuclear weapons, would mean that the kind of fanaticism that you see storming your embassies would have a nuclear weapon. Don’t let these fanatics have nuclear weapons,” he said.
Netanyahu’s comments came on the heels of Romney’s comments last week that criticised Obama’s approach to foreign policy in the Islamic world, saying it was largely based on apologies for past American actions, especially in Arab countries.
Romney’s assertions came as demonstrations against “Innocence of Muslims” first kicked off outside of US diplomatic buildings in countries like Egypt and Libya, where Stevens was eventually killed during an attack on the consulate in Benghazi, before spreading worldwide.
Romney came under heavy political fire for his comments, which many considered to be inappropriate and poorly timed. He was blasted by Democrats and some Republicans for issuing statements before he knew the facts and for breaking with the US tradition of bipartisanship in times of foreign crises.
Romney and his surrogates also have been deeply critical of Obama’s handling of US-Israeli relations, with some Republican surrogates saying the administration has “thrown Israel under the bus.”
‘I’m not going to be drawn into the American election,’ Netanyahu says
Asked if he viewed Romney as the candidate who would keep Israel safer, Netanyahu has denied trying to interfere with the US elections.
“God, I’m not going to be drawn into the American election. And what’s guiding my statements is not the American political calendar, but the Iranian nuclear calendar,” he said during the interview with NBC.
But his appearance on widely viewed and important US television news programmes at the time he chose, whether knowingly or not, could affect the outcome of the race.
While the struggling US economy is the top issue among American voters, much of Romney’s mostly conservative base, especially evangelical Christians, are determined to tie the United States even more closely to the needs of Israel. Netanyahu contends Iran poses an existential threat and would use a nuclear weapon to make good on its rhetorical threats to wipe Israel off the map.
While polls show Obama gaining ground on Romney’s standing among voters as the best candidate to handle the economy, the president holds a significant lead as the best man to run US foreign policy.
Netanyahu spoke only days after US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an attack on the United States consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. The incident took place as widespread protests erupted in countries around the world last week against a US-made film, “Innocence of Muslims”, ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad.
In two separate interviews aired in the United States on Sunday morning by CNN and NBC, Netanyahu said little, if anything, new about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. More interesting, however, was Netanyahu’s decision to time his remarks during the final weeks of the heated US presidential campaign.
Political positioning
The message conformed seamlessly with Romney’s harsh rhetoric on Iran. Romney, like Obama, has said he would not allow Iran to add a nuclear weapon to its arsenal. The Republican nominee has been critical of Obama for not acting quickly or forcefully enough, but has not offered specifics on how he would handle the situation differently. Neither Obama nor Romney have called for US military intervention in the near future.
Obama insists that time remains for tough sanctions imposed by the US and its allies to force a diplomatic solution. Netanyahu argues time is running out and that Washington must quickly draw “red lines” past which Iran cannot move in its nuclear programme without engendering an American military attack.
Netanyahu has threatened that Israel would attack Iran alone if it determines Tehran is reaching a point beyond which the Israeli military could do little to stop the march towards building a nuclear weapon.
The United States, its Western allies and Israel all accuse Iran of using what it says is a nuclear programme designed only for electricity generation and medical research as cover to build a weapon.
The savvy Netanyahu, who lived many years in the United States and once worked at the same financial firm as Romney, denied that he was meddling in the US presidential election. He and Obama have a notoriously cool relationship, and earlier this summer he doted Romney with the trappings of a visiting head of state when the candidate made a gaffe-filled foreign tour to build up his foreign policy credentials.
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As Muslim demonstrators threaten US diplomatic missions throughout the Islamic world, Netanyahu’s remarks on NBC sought to draw on the violence to bolster his argument.
“Iran, with nuclear weapons, would mean that the kind of fanaticism that you see storming your embassies would have a nuclear weapon. Don’t let these fanatics have nuclear weapons,” he said.
Netanyahu’s comments came on the heels of Romney’s comments last week that criticised Obama’s approach to foreign policy in the Islamic world, saying it was largely based on apologies for past American actions, especially in Arab countries.
Romney’s assertions came as demonstrations against “Innocence of Muslims” first kicked off outside of US diplomatic buildings in countries like Egypt and Libya, where Stevens was eventually killed during an attack on the consulate in Benghazi, before spreading worldwide.
Romney came under heavy political fire for his comments, which many considered to be inappropriate and poorly timed. He was blasted by Democrats and some Republicans for issuing statements before he knew the facts and for breaking with the US tradition of bipartisanship in times of foreign crises.
Romney and his surrogates also have been deeply critical of Obama’s handling of US-Israeli relations, with some Republican surrogates saying the administration has “thrown Israel under the bus.”
‘I’m not going to be drawn into the American election,’ Netanyahu says
Asked if he viewed Romney as the candidate who would keep Israel safer, Netanyahu has denied trying to interfere with the US elections.
“God, I’m not going to be drawn into the American election. And what’s guiding my statements is not the American political calendar, but the Iranian nuclear calendar,” he said during the interview with NBC.
But his appearance on widely viewed and important US television news programmes at the time he chose, whether knowingly or not, could affect the outcome of the race.
While the struggling US economy is the top issue among American voters, much of Romney’s mostly conservative base, especially evangelical Christians, are determined to tie the United States even more closely to the needs of Israel. Netanyahu contends Iran poses an existential threat and would use a nuclear weapon to make good on its rhetorical threats to wipe Israel off the map.
While polls show Obama gaining ground on Romney’s standing among voters as the best candidate to handle the economy, the president holds a significant lead as the best man to run US foreign policy.
The United States has put its embassies and consulates worldwide on high alert as protests against a US-made film mocking the Prophet Mohammed spread in the Muslim world.
The United States government has put all of its embassies and consulates around the world on high alert amid fears that demonstrations against a film mocking Islam could escalate in the Muslim world.
“Innocence of Muslims”, an excerpt of which was posted on YouTube, has triggered both small and mass protests in many countries including Egypt, Yemen and even Bangladesh.
On Tuesday, the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, an assault on the US consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi led to the deaths of four American citizens, including the US ambassador in the country.
Libyan authorities said Thursday that their investigation into the attack was making steady progress and that four suspects had been arrested. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and two former Navy seals identified as Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were among the victims. It’s the first time a US ambassador had been killed since 1979.
With the demonstrations showing no sign of dying down, the US government has put its embassies and consulates overseas on high alert and several countries have reinforced security around US diplomatic missions.
Yemen embassy stormed
Hundreds of protesters stormed the US embassy in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Thursday, breaking through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound before police drove them back using water cannons and firing warning shots. Local officials say at least one person died in the clashes between protesters and security forces.
Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi condemned the attack and announced an investigation into the unrest, a move US President Barack Obama later thanked him for.
The same day, Saudi Arabia, a close US ally, also spoke out against mounting anti-America protests, while simultaneously lambasting the film that triggered them.
"Saudi Arabia has expressed ... its condolences to the United States of America for the victims of violent actions in Libya that targeted the American consulate in Benghazi," state news agency SPA reported, citing a senior official.
The kingdom went on to criticise the “irresponsible” group that had made the film, but condemned “the violent reactions that occurred in a number of countries against American interests”.
Video ‘disgusting’ and ‘reprehensible’, says Clinton
Saudi Arabia’s comments came after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a statement in which she emphasised that the US government had no involvement with the offending video.
"To us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose, to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage," Clinton said. "The United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message."
"There is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence", she added.
On Thursday, Google announced it was withdrawing the controversial video from the YouTube platform in Libya and Egypt in order to prevent further protests. Earlier the Afghan government said it would ban the video-sharing website altogether.
By late Thursday the protests had spread to several countries, with scuffles reported outside the US embassies in Egypt, Tunisia and Sudan.
“Innocence of Muslims”, an excerpt of which was posted on YouTube, has triggered both small and mass protests in many countries including Egypt, Yemen and even Bangladesh.
Libyan authorities said Thursday that their investigation into the attack was making steady progress and that four suspects had been arrested. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and two former Navy seals identified as Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were among the victims. It’s the first time a US ambassador had been killed since 1979.
With the demonstrations showing no sign of dying down, the US government has put its embassies and consulates overseas on high alert and several countries have reinforced security around US diplomatic missions.
Yemen embassy stormed
Hundreds of protesters stormed the US embassy in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Thursday, breaking through the main gate of the heavily fortified compound before police drove them back using water cannons and firing warning shots. Local officials say at least one person died in the clashes between protesters and security forces.
Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi condemned the attack and announced an investigation into the unrest, a move US President Barack Obama later thanked him for.
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"Saudi Arabia has expressed ... its condolences to the United States of America for the victims of violent actions in Libya that targeted the American consulate in Benghazi," state news agency SPA reported, citing a senior official.
The kingdom went on to criticise the “irresponsible” group that had made the film, but condemned “the violent reactions that occurred in a number of countries against American interests”.
Video ‘disgusting’ and ‘reprehensible’, says Clinton
Saudi Arabia’s comments came after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a statement in which she emphasised that the US government had no involvement with the offending video.
"To us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose, to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage," Clinton said. "The United States government had absolutely nothing to do with this video. We absolutely reject its content and message."
"There is no justification, none at all, for responding to this video with violence", she added.
On Thursday, Google announced it was withdrawing the controversial video from the YouTube platform in Libya and Egypt in order to prevent further protests. Earlier the Afghan government said it would ban the video-sharing website altogether.
By late Thursday the protests had spread to several countries, with scuffles reported outside the US embassies in Egypt, Tunisia and Sudan.
Syrian rebels took control of a third post on the Turkish border on Wednesday as other anti-regime fighters retreated from southern areas of the capital, Damascus, following weeks of government air strikes and heavy shelling.
Syrian rebels seized control of a third border crossing with Turkey on Wednesday after battling with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, consolidating their grip on a border zone that until now had remained under Assad’s control.
On the diplomatic front, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, whose country is Assad’s main Middle East ally, arrived in Damascus to consult with the Syrian leader about proposals by regional powers to resolve the 17-month Syrian crisis.
Salehi’s talks followed a meeting in Cairo on Monday of the “Contact Group”, grouping Iran, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Salehi said before leaving Cairo that the four states had a “great role” to play and could table a proposal that might produce a satisfactory result but that it needed more talks.
In the Syrian capital Damascus, rebels said they had started to retreat from southern districts early on Wednesday after weeks of heavy bombardment and government air strikes.
The neighbourhoods of Hajar al-Aswad, al-Asali and al-Qadam lie on the southern edge of what is considered Damascus proper and a withdrawal will be seen as a large setback after rebel gains in the capital three months ago.
The revolt, which began as peaceful street protests cracked down on by Assad’s military, has escalated into a civil war in which more than 27,000 people have died. Daily death tolls now approach 200 and the last month was the bloodiest yet.
London-based Amnesty International said in a report on Wednesday that civilians, including many children, are the main victims of indiscriminate Syrian army bombing and shelling of areas abandoned to opposition forces.
The international human rights group said attacks near hospitals and on bread queues appeared to be deliberately targeted at civilians, and thus constituted war crimes
Government forces use “battlefield weapons which cannot be aimed at specific targets, knowing that the victims of such indiscriminate attacks are almost always civilians,” said Amnesty’s Senior Crisis Response Adviser Donatella Rovera.
Chemical weapons plans
A former Syrian general was quoted on Wednesday as saying that his country had drawn up plans to turn chemical weapons against rebels and civilians in Aleppo. He said he was involved in top-level talks before defecting to Turkey three months ago.
“We were in a serious discussion about the use of chemical weapons, including how we would use them and in what areas,” Major-General Adnan Sillu told The Times newspaper.
“We discussed this as a last resort - such as if the regime lost control of an important area such as Aleppo.”
Sillu said Syria, which began to acquire the ability to develop and produce chemical weapons agents in 1973, also considered transferring chemical weapons to the Lebanon-based Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah group - a move that could prompt Israel into action.
Activists said 170 people, mostly civilians, were killed on Tuesday.
At the Tel Abyad border crossing, one of seven main crossing points on the Turkish-Syrian border, television footage showed rebels tearing down a Syrian flag above one government building.
“I can confirm that the (Tel Abyad) gate has fallen. It is under the complete control of the rebels,” a Turkish official said.
The fighting, which started on Tuesday evening, appeared to be the first attempt by insurgents to assert their grip over a border zone in Syria’s al-Raqqa province, most of which has remained solidly pro-Assad.
Rebels hold two other crossings on the northern border with Turkey. A third border point would help strengthen their control in the north and put more pressure on the army as they battle for control of Syria’s largest city Aleppo not far away.
‘Fighters will be back’
In Damascus, a rebel fighter told Reuters that civilians had been fleeing the southern suburbs for days and now rebels were withdrawing as they were unable to resist the heavy bombardment.
“They’re withdrawing to another area because we just don’t have enough weapons to keep up our hit and run operations. Also, we’ve got a lot of wounded people and many martyrs. The wounded need treatment and the fighters need some rest,” said Moaz, a rebel in Damascus, who was wounded last week.
“The regime is bent on destroying all of the southern region to try to keep us from advancing. But the southern areas are quite large, so the regime will move into one area and comb it for rebels, while we move to another. There are a lot of places we can go, and the fighters will be back to fight again soon.”
Syrian state television said the armed forces had freed four employees from an electricity terminal building in Hajar al-Aswad after the men were kidnapped by “terrorists,” a broad brush term they use to refer to the opposition.
On Wednesday, activists uploaded a video of 11 dead bodies laid on the floor of a mosque in the Damascus suburb of Jobar.
The bloodied corpses were laid out on white stretchers and appeared to have been shot dead. Some of the men checking the bodies were sobbing. Activists had scribbled the names of some of the dead on white paper and the unknown were marked with a number. Activists said several of the bodies were men who had been arrested by Assad’s forces and executed.
Refugees flee fighting
The civil war in Syria is spilling over its borders, with related sectarian violence in Lebanon and hundreds of thousands of refugees living in neighbouring countries.
One Turkish woman and her daughter were wounded on Tuesday night by stray bullets from the fight for the border gate and an official said other bullets had smashed windows in several houses along the border.
Salehi said his mission was to “consult with (Syrian) officials to reach a unified conclusion on a solution to the Syrian crisis.” But the international community has failed to halt the violence.
Western and Arab countries have all demanded that Assad step down. Iran has stood staunchly by Assad, agreeing that the revolt is a foreign-backed conspiracy and accusing Saudi Arabia and Turkey of helping the rebels who are fighting to topple him.
Russia and China, both veto-wielding U.N. Security Council members, have blocked three resolutions condemning Assad.
On Wednesday, Syrian National Council (SNC) head Abdulbaset Sieda told pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper that Iran was “part of the problem” and should not be involved in efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis.
He called on Arab states to work together to effect an international intervention in Syria similar to the campaign in Libya, which helped to topple Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.
Although the West has shied away from intervention in Syria, France’s ambassador to Syria told France Inter radio on Wednesday that he had been instructed by President Francois Hollande to help organise the opposition, including armed groups, and that Paris was “seriously” discussing the issue of arming the rebels.
“We are working with the opposition to help them organise themselves and I have been instructed by the president to talk to all the components of the opposition, including, and we are the first country to do it in such a structured way, armed groups,” Eric Chevallier said.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has repeatedly said Paris, which is providing non-lethal aid to rebels including communications equipment and night vision goggles, would not give weapons given the embargo and for fears the weapons could get into the wrong hands.
Salehi’s talks followed a meeting in Cairo on Monday of the “Contact Group”, grouping Iran, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Salehi said before leaving Cairo that the four states had a “great role” to play and could table a proposal that might produce a satisfactory result but that it needed more talks.
In the Syrian capital Damascus, rebels said they had started to retreat from southern districts early on Wednesday after weeks of heavy bombardment and government air strikes.
The neighbourhoods of Hajar al-Aswad, al-Asali and al-Qadam lie on the southern edge of what is considered Damascus proper and a withdrawal will be seen as a large setback after rebel gains in the capital three months ago.
The revolt, which began as peaceful street protests cracked down on by Assad’s military, has escalated into a civil war in which more than 27,000 people have died. Daily death tolls now approach 200 and the last month was the bloodiest yet.
London-based Amnesty International said in a report on Wednesday that civilians, including many children, are the main victims of indiscriminate Syrian army bombing and shelling of areas abandoned to opposition forces.
The international human rights group said attacks near hospitals and on bread queues appeared to be deliberately targeted at civilians, and thus constituted war crimes
Government forces use “battlefield weapons which cannot be aimed at specific targets, knowing that the victims of such indiscriminate attacks are almost always civilians,” said Amnesty’s Senior Crisis Response Adviser Donatella Rovera.
Chemical weapons plans
A former Syrian general was quoted on Wednesday as saying that his country had drawn up plans to turn chemical weapons against rebels and civilians in Aleppo. He said he was involved in top-level talks before defecting to Turkey three months ago.
“We were in a serious discussion about the use of chemical weapons, including how we would use them and in what areas,” Major-General Adnan Sillu told The Times newspaper.
“We discussed this as a last resort - such as if the regime lost control of an important area such as Aleppo.”
Sillu said Syria, which began to acquire the ability to develop and produce chemical weapons agents in 1973, also considered transferring chemical weapons to the Lebanon-based Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah group - a move that could prompt Israel into action.
Activists said 170 people, mostly civilians, were killed on Tuesday.
At the Tel Abyad border crossing, one of seven main crossing points on the Turkish-Syrian border, television footage showed rebels tearing down a Syrian flag above one government building.
“I can confirm that the (Tel Abyad) gate has fallen. It is under the complete control of the rebels,” a Turkish official said.
The fighting, which started on Tuesday evening, appeared to be the first attempt by insurgents to assert their grip over a border zone in Syria’s al-Raqqa province, most of which has remained solidly pro-Assad.
Rebels hold two other crossings on the northern border with Turkey. A third border point would help strengthen their control in the north and put more pressure on the army as they battle for control of Syria’s largest city Aleppo not far away.
‘Fighters will be back’
In Damascus, a rebel fighter told Reuters that civilians had been fleeing the southern suburbs for days and now rebels were withdrawing as they were unable to resist the heavy bombardment.
“They’re withdrawing to another area because we just don’t have enough weapons to keep up our hit and run operations. Also, we’ve got a lot of wounded people and many martyrs. The wounded need treatment and the fighters need some rest,” said Moaz, a rebel in Damascus, who was wounded last week.
“The regime is bent on destroying all of the southern region to try to keep us from advancing. But the southern areas are quite large, so the regime will move into one area and comb it for rebels, while we move to another. There are a lot of places we can go, and the fighters will be back to fight again soon.”
Syrian state television said the armed forces had freed four employees from an electricity terminal building in Hajar al-Aswad after the men were kidnapped by “terrorists,” a broad brush term they use to refer to the opposition.
On Wednesday, activists uploaded a video of 11 dead bodies laid on the floor of a mosque in the Damascus suburb of Jobar.
The bloodied corpses were laid out on white stretchers and appeared to have been shot dead. Some of the men checking the bodies were sobbing. Activists had scribbled the names of some of the dead on white paper and the unknown were marked with a number. Activists said several of the bodies were men who had been arrested by Assad’s forces and executed.
Refugees flee fighting
The civil war in Syria is spilling over its borders, with related sectarian violence in Lebanon and hundreds of thousands of refugees living in neighbouring countries.
One Turkish woman and her daughter were wounded on Tuesday night by stray bullets from the fight for the border gate and an official said other bullets had smashed windows in several houses along the border.
Salehi said his mission was to “consult with (Syrian) officials to reach a unified conclusion on a solution to the Syrian crisis.” But the international community has failed to halt the violence.
Western and Arab countries have all demanded that Assad step down. Iran has stood staunchly by Assad, agreeing that the revolt is a foreign-backed conspiracy and accusing Saudi Arabia and Turkey of helping the rebels who are fighting to topple him.
Russia and China, both veto-wielding U.N. Security Council members, have blocked three resolutions condemning Assad.
On Wednesday, Syrian National Council (SNC) head Abdulbaset Sieda told pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper that Iran was “part of the problem” and should not be involved in efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis.
He called on Arab states to work together to effect an international intervention in Syria similar to the campaign in Libya, which helped to topple Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.
Although the West has shied away from intervention in Syria, France’s ambassador to Syria told France Inter radio on Wednesday that he had been instructed by President Francois Hollande to help organise the opposition, including armed groups, and that Paris was “seriously” discussing the issue of arming the rebels.
“We are working with the opposition to help them organise themselves and I have been instructed by the president to talk to all the components of the opposition, including, and we are the first country to do it in such a structured way, armed groups,” Eric Chevallier said.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has repeatedly said Paris, which is providing non-lethal aid to rebels including communications equipment and night vision goggles, would not give weapons given the embargo and for fears the weapons could get into the wrong hands.
15/09/2012 - MUSLIM WORLD
Deadly anti-US protests spread across the world
Angry demonstrations and riots over an anti-Islamic film escalated across the Muslim world on Friday and spilled over into Saturday, killing several people and reaching as far as Sydney and the Maldives, as police struggled to protect US embassies.
Latest developments:
France became the latest country to witness the protests when dozens of angry people, mostly men, marched towards the US embassy in Paris and clashed with police, who made around 100 arrests.
A mob of angry demonstrators took to the US consulate in Sydney, throwing shoes and waving banners reading “behead all those who insult the Prophet”. Australian police fired pepper spray to contain protesters.
On the same day, hundreds of people gathered outside the UN building in the Maldives, but left peacefully after a few hours.
In north Africa and the Middle East meanwhile, overnight clashes resulted in at least six deaths and hundreds of injuries, as protesters across the region fought with police as they tried to protect US missions.
In southern Afghanistan, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a heavy attack on a NATO base in Helmund province in which two US Marines and 16 attackers were killed. Britain’s Prince Harry is posted at the base but was unharmed.
On Friday, Sudanese demonstrators broke into the German embassy in Khartoum and hoisted an Islamic flag, while one person was killed in protests in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where a KFC fast-food restaurant was attacked.
Rallies against the film were also staged on Friday in Egypt, Yemen, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq.
Protesters clashed with police near the U.S. embassy in Cairo before a nationwide protest called by the Muslim Brotherhood which propelled Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Mursi to power.
Police in the Sudanese capital fired tear gas to try to disperse 5,000 protesters who had ringed the German embassy and nearby British mission. A Reuters witness said police stood by as a crowd forced its way into Germany’s mission.
Demonstrators hoisted a black Islamic flag saying in white letters “there is no God but God and Mohammed is his prophet”. They smashed windows, cameras and furniture in the building and then started a fire.
Staff at Germany’s embassy were safe “for the moment”, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in Berlin. He also told Khartoum’s envoy to Berlin that Sudan must protect diplomatic missions on its soil.
Witnesses said police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters to stop them approaching the U.S. embassy outside Khartoum.
Then on Saturday Sudan rejected a US request to send special forces to protect its embassy in Khartoum, the official SUNA news agency said.
Californian arrested over incendiary film
In California, police arrested a man in relation to the obscure US-made film that triggered the protests. Previously convicted of bank fraud, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was escorted to an interview with federal officers for questioning. On the same day, the bodies of US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other embassy employees – killed in a brutal attack on the US embassy in Benghazi Tuesday – were flown home.
US President Barack Obama led a ceremony in homage to the men, vowing again to “bring to justice those who took them from us”. “We will stand fast against the violence on our diplomatic missions," Obama said at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.
The protests present U.S. President Barack Obama with a new foreign policy crisis less than two months before seeking re-election and tests Washington’s relations with democratic governments it helped to power across the Arab world.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington had nothing to do with the crudely made film posted on the Internet, which she called “disgusting and reprehensible”, and the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff called a Christian pastor in Florida to ask him to withdraw his support for it.
FRANCE 24 with wires
- In Sydney hundreds of protesters clashed with police and hurled shoes at the US consulate.
- At least six protesters died overnight Friday in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon and Sudan as police there battled to defend American embassies from mobs.
- Dozens of people took part in a heated demonstration near the US embassy in Paris; French police arrested close to 100 people altogether.
- Protests erupted in cities with large Muslim populations in countries as far away as Malaysia, Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria, India and the Maldives.
- The bodies of US ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other embassy staff were returned to the US late on Friday. President Barack Obama vowed again to “bring to justice those who took them [the four victims] from us”.
- In California, police arrested Nakoula Basseley Nakoula in connection with the obscure film that triggered the protests. Nakoula was escorted to an interview with federal officers for questioning.
France became the latest country to witness the protests when dozens of angry people, mostly men, marched towards the US embassy in Paris and clashed with police, who made around 100 arrests.
A mob of angry demonstrators took to the US consulate in Sydney, throwing shoes and waving banners reading “behead all those who insult the Prophet”. Australian police fired pepper spray to contain protesters.
On the same day, hundreds of people gathered outside the UN building in the Maldives, but left peacefully after a few hours.
In north Africa and the Middle East meanwhile, overnight clashes resulted in at least six deaths and hundreds of injuries, as protesters across the region fought with police as they tried to protect US missions.
In southern Afghanistan, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a heavy attack on a NATO base in Helmund province in which two US Marines and 16 attackers were killed. Britain’s Prince Harry is posted at the base but was unharmed.
On Friday, Sudanese demonstrators broke into the German embassy in Khartoum and hoisted an Islamic flag, while one person was killed in protests in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, where a KFC fast-food restaurant was attacked.
Rallies against the film were also staged on Friday in Egypt, Yemen, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq.
Protesters clashed with police near the U.S. embassy in Cairo before a nationwide protest called by the Muslim Brotherhood which propelled Egypt’s Islamist president Mohamed Mursi to power.
Police in the Sudanese capital fired tear gas to try to disperse 5,000 protesters who had ringed the German embassy and nearby British mission. A Reuters witness said police stood by as a crowd forced its way into Germany’s mission.
Demonstrators hoisted a black Islamic flag saying in white letters “there is no God but God and Mohammed is his prophet”. They smashed windows, cameras and furniture in the building and then started a fire.
Staff at Germany’s embassy were safe “for the moment”, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in Berlin. He also told Khartoum’s envoy to Berlin that Sudan must protect diplomatic missions on its soil.
Witnesses said police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters to stop them approaching the U.S. embassy outside Khartoum.
Then on Saturday Sudan rejected a US request to send special forces to protect its embassy in Khartoum, the official SUNA news agency said.
Californian arrested over incendiary film
In California, police arrested a man in relation to the obscure US-made film that triggered the protests. Previously convicted of bank fraud, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was escorted to an interview with federal officers for questioning. On the same day, the bodies of US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other embassy employees – killed in a brutal attack on the US embassy in Benghazi Tuesday – were flown home.
The protests present U.S. President Barack Obama with a new foreign policy crisis less than two months before seeking re-election and tests Washington’s relations with democratic governments it helped to power across the Arab world.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington had nothing to do with the crudely made film posted on the Internet, which she called “disgusting and reprehensible”, and the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff called a Christian pastor in Florida to ask him to withdraw his support for it.
FRANCE 24 with wires
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