Plea to the West: Syria needs Libya-style intervention

[Turborama]

Source: The Independent (UK)

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 17 2011

As violence in Syria intensifies with an attack by anti-government forces on an air defence intelligence complex near Damascus, a senior Arab diplomat in London says Middle Eastern states opposing the Syrian government need West European leadership similar to that seen in the Libyan war.

He said that what was needed was "a team captain" to co-ordinate moves to put pressure on Syria, and only the Europeans could do this. The US is preoccupied by domestic politics and "in the Middle East everybody is driven by ego. How can you have a regional policy when they (local rulers) can't talk to each other?"

The diplomat added that a crucial turning point would come in Syria if the anti-government forces succeeded in establishing an independent enclave like Benghazi in Libya. He thought this was more likely to happen in the north on the Turkish border rather than around Deraa, north of the Jordanian frontier, where the protests began. The existence of such an enclave would raise the possibility of setting up a no-fly zone.

The crisis has reached a crucial stage inside and outside Syria. Inside the country, the Syrian opposition claim that fighting has escalated with 71 people killed on Monday, including 34 government soldiers and that army defectors using automatic rifles and rocket propelled grenade launchers attacked an air force intelligence base near Damascus yesterday. The attack on the Harasta facility is the first such reported assault on a major security facility in the eight-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/plea-to-the-west-syria-needs-libyastyle-intervention-6263233.html

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[Turborama]

1. Free Syrian Army takes shape on Lebanese border

A disaffected soldier who has fled the Syrian military explains why he is fighting to bring down Assad's regime

Source: The Guardian

Martin Chulov and Rachel Stevenson in north Lebanon | Wednesday November 16 2011 21.07 GMT

The man from the Free Syrian Army pointed to a spot on a distant hill marked by a lone white tent and a cluster of trees. "That's how we get in," he said of his furtive and increasingly frequent trips back to Syria. "We wait for them to look the other way and we move."

In early May, Ahmed al-Arabi left his job as a captain in the Syrian army and took to life as a rebel in exile in the foothills of northern Lebanon. Ever since, his role as a revolutionary seems to have grown by the month.

But the events of the past week, which have seen Syria suspended from the Arab League and a spike in an already bloody crackdown, appear to have propelled Arabi and his cause to a point he thought it would take much longer to reach. "There is a real chance now," he said of the Free Syria Army's intensifying guerrilla campaign against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. "Just in the past few days in Homs alone, we have seen 70 defections from the regular troops and 13 from the special forces."

Now, the loose alliance of disaffected soldiers who have left the Syrian military since its violent crackdown against rights demonstrators began in March, appears to have announced its arrival as a national resistance movement.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/16/free-syrian-army-lebanese-border

VIDEO: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/nov/16/syrian-army-defectors-video">Syrian army defectors say they will protect civilians. Source: Reuters

[Arctic Dave]

5. Now that he just admitted to fighting to overthrow the Syrian government I

guess we can't get all worked up if Syria bombs their camp.

[tabatha]

2. suggested Hamza al-Khatib was helping to smuggle weapons.

Source:
Lattakia on the Syrian armed revolution - the criminal actions of Bashar Assad and his dog .... Cbihh Agulwlna
downright suggested Hamza al-Khatib was helping to smuggle weapons.

[TheWraith]

3. Turkey might be willing to help them. nt

[bongbong]

4. Funny

Just a few months ago the Assad regime was getting positive coverage in the US press. I wonder what happened? :sarcasm:

[No Elephants]

8. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Furthermore, these aren't the droids you're looking for.

And I am unanimous in that.

[pampango]

6. Juan Cole: Why a No-Fly Zone won’t Work in Syria (article dated 10/29/11)

Most important, a no-fly zone is not a practical response to the Baath government’s repression. On Friday, troops just shot into the crowds. Unlike Qaddafi, Bashar al-Assad is not bombing his cities with jets from the air. Nor are helicopter gunships or tank units central to the coercive abilities of the Syrian state. Syrian geography is complex, and plinking tanks from the air is not an option in Syria.

There is no Arab League resolution urging intervention in Syria. There is no United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing war. In the absence of a UNSC resolution, any attack on Syria would be considered an act of aggression and could open US politicians and military men to prosecution in international courts.

Russia and China are against Western intervention, which dooms any condemnatory resolution at the UN security council. In international law since 1945, especially in the UN charter, the only grounds for going to war are self-defense or as a result of a UNSC resolution. Neither obtains in Syria and any foreign intervention would therefore be illegal, and the pilots could be tried in international courts.

It breaks my heart to say all this. The youth of Syria is being cold-bloodedly shot down by army snipers. You wish there was a way to stop it. But there isn’t. There isn’t a practical set of military tactics outsiders could deploy effectively in this situation. There is no international framework of legality for an intervention.

But it should be remembered that the political wing of the Syrian opposition in any case does not want such an intervention, and that most Syrians are determined to go it alone. They want to do what the Tunisians and Egyptians did. They should be given a chance, since that would be the best outcome possible.

http://www.juancole.com/2011/10/why-a-no-fly-zone-wont-work-in-syria.html

[4dsc]

7. Wasn't Juan wrong about Libya?

just saying.

[Kaleko]

9. Yes he was.

A more credible source on Libya is Thierry Meyssan who was there, on the ground.

[pampango]

10. How so? And is that an argument the points he makes about the futility of military intervention

in Syria are not valid?