WarSclerotic

Syria intensifies crackdown on protests – Middle East – Al Jazeera English.

At least 500 pro-democracy activists arrested, rights group says, after authorities deployed troops to quell protests.

Syrian security forces have arrested at least 500 pro-democracy activists, a rights group said, as the government continues a violent crackdown on anti-government protests across the country.

The arrests followed the deployment of Syrian troops backed by tanks and heavy armour on the streets of two southern towns, the Syrian rights organisation Sawasiah said on Tuesday.

The group said it had received reports that at least 20 people were killed in the city of Deraa in the aftermath of the raid by troops loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Monday. But communications have been cut in the city, making it difficult to confirm the information.

“Witnesses managed to tell us that at least 20 civilians have been killed in Deraa, but we do not have their names and we cannot verify,” a Sawasiah official told the Reuters news agency.

The group said that two more civilians were confirmed dead after government forces entered Douma, a suburb of the capital, Damascus.

At least 500 people were arrested elsewhere in the country, it said.

Deaths and arrests

Gunfire continued to reverberate across the city of Deraa on Tuesday, residents said, a day after thousands of soldiers swept into the city, with tanks taking up positions in the town centre and snipers deploying on rooftops, witnesses said.

“We’ve been listening to live ammunition. Some snipers are working as well, but we don’t know from where,” a resident of Deraa told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.

“The snipers are on all the roofs. I’m now on my stomach, on the ground – I am really in a panicked situation. The city is quite in danger.”

Witnesses said soldiers began opening fire on civilians indiscriminately after arriving in Deraa, sparking panic in the streets.

However, the government insists the army was invited in to rid the town of gunmen.

Al Jazeera’s Rula Amin, reporting from Damascus, said the government has reiterated that it is there to protect residents.

“What we are hearing from activists in Damascus is fear and concern that what the government is trying to do is crush the protests to create fear among people to stay at home.

“Then [the government will] come up with its own plan of reforms, but people won’t be able to stand up and defy these reforms. That is how the government wants to move forward.”

She said the troop deployment was an “unprecedented” offensive against the wave of dissent that has swept the country since the uprising began on March 15.

Up until now, she said, security forces had cracked down in reaction to protests. But the flood of troops into Douma and Deraa came in the absence of any demonstrations.

“We’re seeing a different tactic, with security forces sweeping the towns,” she said, noting reports of house-to-house searches, arrests and random shooting coming from both towns.

Also for the first time, the military has become directly involved in quelling the uprising, much to the disappointment of opposition activists.

“They were hoping the army would not get involved,” our correspondent said. “They feel this is only the beginning of a very serious crackdown.”

However, one activist told Al Jazeera that some army officers have defected to fight alongside the people of Deraa against the government.

Two members stepped down from the provincial council in Deraa. The resignations came a day after two legislators and a religious leader from Deraa broke with the government in disgust over the killings.

Protesters gunned down

Meanwhile, in the coastal town of Jableh, where several protesters were gunned down on Sunday, witnesses said security forces in camouflage uniforms – some with their faces covered – and masked armed men dressed in black were roaming the town’s streets.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian rights group, said on Monday that at least 13 people had been killed in Jableh since Sunday’s crackdown began.

The country has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to trouble spots since the uprising began, making it nearly impossible to get independent assessments.

Syria has also closed all border crossings on its southern frontier with Jordan as the crackdown intensifies, a security official told Al Jazeera.

Syrian intellectuals have expressed their outrage over the violence, with a declaration on Monday signed by 102 writers and exiles from all the country’s main sects.

“We condemn the violent, oppressive practices of the Syrian regime against the protesters and mourn the martyrs of the uprising,” they said.

President Assad is also coming under increased foreign pressure to stop the deadly crackdown.

France, Britain, Germany and Portugal have all urged the UN Security Council to condemn the government’s violent action against demonstrators, and the United States is considering imposing new sanctions.

Report: CIA chief held secret talks on Syria in Turkey – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Ankara-based newspaper says Leon Panetta spent five days in Turkish capital reviewing recent unrest sweeping through Arab nations, mulling possible regime change in Syria

Ynet

United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Chief Leon Panetta reportedly held a secret visit to Turkey lately, the Ankara-based Turkish daily Sabah reported.

Talks included planning for a possible regime change in Syria and ensuring the safety of the Assad family, the paper said.

Panetta reportedly set up a camp in the Turkish capital for five days in order to discuss the uprisings in Arab countries with top Turkish officials.

Panetta is rumored to have met with head of the Turkish Intelligence Organization (MIT), members of the government and officials from the General Staff.

MIT chief Hakan Fidan was sent to Syria to meet Syrian President Bashar Assad by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month.

The talks also touched on the fighting in Libya, Turkish-Israeli relations, intelligence-sharing in Iraq, cooperation in Afghanistan and the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, Sabah said.

Sabah’s claim that Panneta’s talks included planning for possible regime change in Syria and ensuring the safety of the Assad family, were not corroborated by any other source.

Why Syria isn’t likely to see an Islamist takeover.

  There’s a bit of a mystery surrounding events in Syria. First, who is the opposition? Second, what will happen?

Unlike in Egypt, where there is the threat and power of Islamists, Syria may well be a different case. Make no mistake, there’s a possibility of an Islamist takeover and an ethnic conflict in Syria, but a number of factors suggest otherwise.

First, ironically, in Syria, as in Tunisia, the tough repression of radical Islamists by the regime has weakened those forces. It is easy to forget that Mubarak’s Egypt was a relatively tolerant country. The Muslim Brotherhood was allowed to operate, spread its propaganda, build a large membership, and control institutions. In Syria, there was a bloody suppression of the Brotherhood in the 1980s. Islamists there are a lot less organized.

Second, and this might seem a paradox, Islamists in Egypt opposed the regime but the Syrian government enjoyed their support. While the dictatorship in Syria is nominally secular – and was strongly so in earlier decades – President Bashar al-Assad courted Islamists with his foreign policy. After all, his government has been strongly anti-American (though many American officials, journalists, and analysts did not seem to notice), anti-Israel, allied with Iran and supportive of Hamas and Hezbollah and of the terrorist insurgents in Iraq. What’s there for an Islamist not to like? Indeed, the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood declared a few years ago that it was not permissible to oppose the Assad regime because of these policies.

At home, the regime promoted an Islamism that it hoped would support the status quo. While some of these post-Brotherhood preachers might be itching to go for an Islamist revolution, they seem to be hesitating both because they are suspicious of the antiregime opposition and think Assad might well win.

No doubt, there are protesters who want to fight Israel and America. But then, why not just support the reign of the Assad regime? In fact, why not denounce the protesters as CIA and Mossad agents trying to subvert the revolutionary Islamists’ best friend in the Arabic-speaking world?

Third, Syria is a very diverse country. While Egypt is about 90 percent Sunni Muslim, the figure for Syria is about 60 percent. There are Alawites, Christians, Druse, and Kurds, of which only the Kurds are Sunnis and they have a lot of nationalist feeling against the regime.

Fourth, the Sunni Muslims, the constituency for revolutionary Islamism, also provide a large part of the middle class, secular-oriented, pro-democracy movement, thus providing a strong alternative leadership. Consider that Islamism has never made big inroads within the Sunni Muslim community of Lebanon. The parallel is far from exact but gives a sense of that situation.

Fifth, my sense is that, in Syria, there is a stronger pro-democratic middle class and a relatively more urbanized population. Having lived under a dictatorship that used Islamism to stay in power – like Iran but unlike Egypt – people are more skeptical of that doctrine.

I don’t mean to suggest that Islamists are unimportant and might not emerge as leading forces, but, roughly speaking, I would bet that while the level of support for Islamism in Egypt is at around 30% – and has a tremendous capacity for growth – the equivalent number for Syria is about 15% and is naturally limited by the size of the community.

As to what will happen, there will come a moment of truth. One sign of that would be the eruption of serious demonstrations in Damascus. Another would be if inter-communal strife began or if there was any real sign of a split within the army.

Remember that all the Arab regimes have a three-level priority of response.

Level 1: Wait out the protests in the hope that they will go away.

Level 2: Respond with a mixture of repression and promises.

Level 3: Go to heavy repression, including killing civilians in order to destroy the protests and intimidate people from participating.

The shah’s Iran in 1978, as well as Egypt and Tunisia in 2011, did not go from Level 2 to Level 3 because large elements in the elite did not want to do so. In contrast, in Iran, everyone knew that the regime would not hesitate to go to Level 3.

The moment of truth on this point has not yet come for Syria. When it does, the regime will either respond ruthlessly, indifferent to international reaction, or will lose its nerve. All of the nonsense about Bashar as a reformer or about the existence of an alleged “old guard” will disintegrate real fast.

Does Bashar have the killer instinct like dear old dad, or is he just a wimpy eye doctor? Assad means lion in Arabic, and Bashar will either have to bite and scratch or be quickly perceived as a cowardly cub. And that would be fatal.

There’s no third alternative. If he falters, the demonstrations will grow bigger very quickly. Would the army, and especially the elite Alawite-dominated units, step in for him and take over? Possibly.

For the moment, though, the case for cheering on and helping the Syrian revolution is stronger than that of Libya by far. But by the same token, its prospects are poorer than in Egypt or Tunisia precisely because those states were more moderate than the ruthless, radical Syrian regime.

The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center (www.gloria-center.org) and editor of Middle East Review of International Affairs Journal and Turkish Studies. He blogs at http://www.rubinreports.blogspot.com

Bahrain expels Iran diplomat; Tehran threatens retaliation.

  MANAMA – Bahrain has ordered the expulsion of an Iranian diplomat for alleged links to a spy ring in fellow Gulf Arab state Kuwait, state media said, in a further deterioration of relations with Tehran.

Relations between Shi’ite Iran and Gulf Arab states have nosedived since Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates sent troops into the island state, a Sunni Muslim monarchy ruling a Shi’ite majority, to end weeks of pro-democracy protests.

Bahrain has accused the Islamic Republic of fomenting Shi’ite unrest.

A statement on the Bahrain News Agency late on Monday said the foreign ministry had summoned Iranian charge d’affaires Mehdi Islami to inform him that diplomat Hojjatullah Rahmani had 72 hours to leave “based on his link to the spy cell in Kuwait.”

“Bahrain calls on Iran to desist from these serious violations of standards of international relations which are a threat to the security and stability of the region,” it said.

This month Kuwait expelled three Iranian diplomats for involvement in an alleged spy ring, prompting Tehran to order three Kuwaiti diplomats to leave Iran.

That was after a Kuwaiti court sentenced two Iranians and a Kuwaiti to death in March for involvement in espionage.

Bahrain, a US ally that hosts the US Fifth Fleet, has also begun the trial of two Iranians and a Bahraini on charges of spying for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Iran, which once claimed sovereignty over Bahrain, complained to the United Nations over the recent crackdown that has continued with the arrests of hundreds of activists and deaths of some in police custody.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran may take “retaliatory measures”, Iranian media reported.

“The latest move by the Bahraini Foreign Ministry is against the two countries’ good neighborly relations and not based on realities,” he was quoted as saying.

Witnesses: Mass arrests and gunfire in the streets as Syria crackdown continues – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Persistent gunfire comes a day after Syrian tanks and snipers launched a deadly raid on Daraa where the uprising in Syria started over a month ago.

By The Associated Press

Gunfire reverberated in the streets and dead bodies still lay on the pavements Tuesday in Daraa, the southern Syrian city at the heart of the uprising against President Bashar Assad, residents said, in a sign that the regime’s brutal crackdown continued unabated.

Also Tuesday, a Syrian human rights group said authorities detained dozens across the country, mainly in several Damascus suburbs and in the northern coastal city of Jabla.

	Syrian women carrying a banner in Arabic that reads “the women of Daraya want an end to the siege,” southwest of Damascus, Syria, April 25, 2011.
	Photo by: AP

The developments came a day after the Syrian army, backed by tanks and snipers, launched a deadly raid on Daraa, where the uprising in Syria started over a month ago. Monday’s pre-dawn raid left at least 11 dead in the southern city.

The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, couldn’t provide a precise figure for those arrested in Tuesday’s sweeps. He said the group had little news about Daraa since it was difficult to get through after authorities cut mobile telephone service in the city.

A Daraa resident told The Associated Press on Tuesday dead bodies were still in the streets because no one has been able to remove them.

“We are being subjected to a massacre,” the man screamed over the telephone as cracks of gunfire reverberated in the background. “Children are being killed. We have been without electricity for three days, we have no water.”

The man, who spoke over a Jordanian mobile phone, said Syrian special forces were in the streets of the city. He added that Daraa, an impoverished city near the border with Jordan, was bombed by tanks.

A relentless crackdown since mid-March has killed more than 350 people across Syria, with 120 alone dying over the weekend, rights groups said. But that has only emboldened protesters who started their revolt – inspired by uprisings in the Arab world – with calls for modest reforms but are now increasingly demanding Assad’s downfall.

The witness spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to trouble spots since the uprising began, making it almost impossible to verify the dramatic events shaking one of the most authoritarian, anti-Western regimes in the Arab world.

Daraa, a drought-parched region of 300,000 in the south, has seen some of the worst bloodshed over the past five weeks as the uprising gained momentum. Recently, the city has absorbed many rural migrants who can no longer farm after years of drought.

The uprising was touched off by the arrest of teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall.

The attack on Daraa was by far the biggest in scope and firepower. Video purportedly shot by activists showed tanks rolling through streets and grassy fields with soldiers on foot jogging behind them.

State-run television quoted a military source as saying army units entered the city to bring security answering the pleas for help by residents of Daraa.

As the Syrian government stepped up its crackdown, the U.S. State Department urged Americans to defer all travel to Syria and advised those already in the country to leave while commercial transportation is still available. It also ordered some nonessential U.S. embassy staff and the families of all embassy personnel to leave Syria. It said the embassy would remain open for limited services.

Syria has a pivotal role in most of the flashpoint issues of the Middle East – from the Arab-Israeli peace process to Iran’s widening influence. Instability has thrown into disarray the U.S. push for engagement with Damascus, part of Washington’s hopes to peel the country away from Hamas, Hezbollah and Tehran.

Syria steps up attacks on protesters in Daraa; 18 killed – Arab News.

In this citizen journalism image made on a mobile phone and acquired by the Associated Press, Syrian women seek an end to the siege violence against protesters during a rally in Daraya, southwest of Damascus, on Monday. (AP)

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US treads warily in Syria, considers sanctions | Top AP Stories | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.

By MATTHEW LEE Associated Press © 2011 The Associated Press

April 25, 2011, 10:48PM

WASHINGTON — Despite a ruthless crackdown on pro-reform demonstrators, there is no international appetite for a warlike approach to Syria — a crucial Mideast playmaker with ties to Iran and a say in any eventual Arab peace with Israel.

In contrast with the quick international decision to launch an air campaign in nearby Libya, the United States is responding cautiously to mounting civilian deaths in Syria, preparing steps such as slapping financial penalties on Syrian leaders.

As violence escalated anew on Monday, the White House stepped up its condemnation of President Bashar Assad’s regime, but stopped well short of demanding the ouster of a leader some U.S. Democrats had considered a potential reformer and peace broker.

U.S. officials said Washington has begun drawing up targeted sanctions against Assad, his family and inner circle to boost pressure on them to halt the repression. Meanwhile, the U.S. also was conferring with European countries and with the United Nations about options for Syria, where more than 350 people have been killed in weeks of protests and government attempts to quell them.

Thousands of soldiers backed by tanks poured Monday into the city where the five-week-old uprising began, opening fire indiscriminately on civilians before dawn and killing at least 11 people, witnesses said. Bodies were scattered in the streets. Widespread arrests — often of men along with their families — appear to be an attempt to intimidate protesters and set an example for the rest of the country.

The offensive was planned in detail with electricity, water and mobile phone services cut off and knife-wielding security agents conducted house-to-house sweeps.

Late Monday the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning, advising Americans to avoid traveling to Syria. Those in the country to should leave as soon as possible, while commercial transportation is still available, the warning stated. Certain nonessential personnel in the U.S. Embassy in Damascus have been ordered to leave, along with the family of embassy staff. The Embassy would remain open for limited services, the warning stated.

President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan voiced their concern Monday during a telephone call over what the White House called “the Syrian government’s unacceptable use of violence against its own people.”

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney deplored the latest developments in Syria and said that sanctions against the Assad regime were a possible response “to make clear to the Syrian government that we believe it needs to cease and desist from the violence it’s been perpetrating against its own citizens.”

“Syria already is under some significant sanctions by the United States, but we’re looking at other means to increase the pressure on the regime and the Syrian government in a targeted way,” Carney said.

He declined to say whether Assad had lost the support of his people, saying “it is up to the people of Syria to decide who its leader should be. That’s what we believe.”

Assad appears dug in and prepared to risk international condemnation in order to squash dissent. He faces little danger of invasion or attack from outside his borders, largely because Syria’s neighbors and Western powers fear the consequences of war or the fall of the Assads after four decades of iron rule. And unlike in Libya, there is little evidence of an organized rebel military faction that could take on Assad’s forces with help from outsiders.

And unlike in Libya, and even in Egypt, where a longtime ruler fell earlier this spring, what happens in Syria is likely to have a direct effect on Israel, the main U.S. ally in the Middle East. The crackdown in Syria has ignited debate over whether Israel’s interests would be better served by the survival of the Syrian leader or the end of the one of the most despotic regimes in the Middle East.

The deadly bloodshed in Syria is increasingly unnerving Israeli leaders, who are suddenly confronting the possibility of regime change in the neighboring country after years of relative stability.

Israel and its U.S. backers do not want to be seen as opposing the forces of reform sweeping the region — which have toppled autocratic rulers in Egypt and Tunisia and weakened those in Yemen, Libya, Jordan and Bahrain — particularly if they deliver a blow to Israel’s archenemy, Iran.

But although Syria is despised in Israel for its close alliance with Iran and support for the Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, the Syrian leadership has meticulously enforced quiet along the countries’ shared border and has expressed willingness in the past to talk peace with Israel. There is widespread worry in Israel and Washington that if Assad does not survive, any successor could be far more extreme, Islamist and belligerent.

Syria has multiple sectarian divisions, largely kept in check under Assad’s heavy hand and his regime’s secular ideology. Assad and the ruling elite belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The majority of the population is Sunni Muslim.

The Syrian uprising began in mid-March, touched off by the arrest of teenagers in Daraa who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall. But the relentless crackdowns have only emboldened protesters, who started with calls for modest reforms but are now increasingly demanding Assad’s downfall.

New U.S. penalties would likely involve asset freezes and travel bans on Assad, members of his family and senior regime officials. Syria already is subject to numerous penalties as it is deemed a “state sponsor of terrorism” by the State Department. The new sanctions being considered would target specific individuals accused of ordering or committing human rights abuses, a U.S. official said.

Similar sanctions were crafted for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his family and top aides. But a closer model for the probable Syria sanctions would be the penalties the administration put in place against senior Iranian officials for human rights abuses in the aftermath of disputed elections in 2009, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations.

In Obama’s phone call with Turkey’s Erdogan, both leaders specifically reiterated their insistence that Gadhafi must step down and depart Libya, according to a summary of their conversation provided by the White House. Illustrating the different approach to Syria, the White House summary did not even mention Assad by name.

The official said that sanctions are expected to be announced sometime soon, once Obama has signed an executive order authorizing them. The official could not specific about the timing but acknowledged an urgency to act and noted that calls for sanctions to be imposed quickly have been growing as Assad’s crackdown on protesters has intensified.

Obama’s national security team discussed possible sanctions Friday during a meeting of the No. 2 officials at the Departments of state, defense, the National Security Council and intelligence agencies.

Also under consideration is a televised statement by Obama condemning the violence, the official said. The White House on Friday released a written statement in Obama’s name demanding that “this outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now.” But Obama’s top aides believe an on-camera reaction from the president might carry more weight.

“The Syrian people should certainly be respected, their rights should be respected, they should not be attacked, they should not be killed … we call for processes of reform,” Carney said. He argued that there were numerous differences between the situation in Syria and the one in Libya, where the U.S. called for Gadhafi’s exit and, with United Nations backing, launched airstrikes and sorties aimed at protecting civilians and enforcing a no-fly zone.

The administration’s move toward targeted sanctions suggests Obama has all but abandoned efforts to engage the Syrian leadership and gently encourage reform and changes in its policies toward Iran and Israel.

Since he took office in 2009, Obama tried to engage Assad’s government and promote reforms. The administration welcomed Turkey’s efforts to push backdoor peace talks between Syria and Israel and, over congressional opposition, pointedly returned an ambassador to Damascus in order to restore high-level contacts.

Carney maintained that even though Syria’s government has ignored U.S. calls to stop the recent bloodshed, placing a U.S. ambassador in Damascus has proven useful “precisely because we can speak very clearly in this case regarding our opposition and concern” about the government’s actions.

The U.S. could yank its ambassador, a powerful but symbolic step, but sanctions would probably come first.

Syria is believed to arm Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla group that fired thousands of rockets into Israel during a month-long war in 2006. Syria also houses the headquarters of Hamas, a violently anti-Israel Islamic group that has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and rocket attacks from its Gaza Strip stronghold. Last month, Israel’s navy seized a ship carrying weapons that it said were sent by Iran and Syria to Hamas.

Aside from some air battles in 1982, Israel and Syria have not gone to war since 1973. Syria has not responded to direct attacks on its soil widely attributed to Israel, including a 2007 airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor or the assassination of a top Lebanese guerrilla the following year.

Syria also has engaged in multiple rounds of peace talks, most recently in 2008. Although these talks have not yielded an agreement, their repeated failure has led to nothing worse than a continued chill. Syria has demanded that Israel relinquish the Golan Heights, a strategic overlook that it captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War.

___

Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.

The man who fights Iran – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Mark Dubowitz dedicates himself to defending US against global terror, Iranian threat

Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON– While Iran takes pleasure in seeing the US and the world focusing on recent developments in the Arab world, one man ensures that the Iranian nuclear threat remain on the agenda. His name is Mark Dubowitz, the executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and head of the independent organization’s Iran Project.

The FDD (www.defenddemocracy.org) was established following the September 11 attacks and is sponsored by private donors and foundations concerned with defending the US against global terror and the Iranian threat.

Dubowitz’s group employs 32 professionals and his project website, www.iranenergyproject.org, has turned into a user’s manual on any issue pertaining to sanctions against Iran, ranging from various pieces of legislation to the monitoring their implementation and presenting the list of companies that no longer do business with the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s nuclear reactor (Photo: AFP)

In the framework of his campaign to raise awareness for the Iranian threat, Dubowitz utilizes any available means. For example, he may arrive at a meeting in Canada’s Prime Minister Office, and on the way there stop by a local TV studio and bluntly urge Ottawa to shift from talk to action.

While Dubowitz is soft spoken, his words reach deep. This modest man’s TV appearances and the articles he writes for leading US newspapers are not meant to promote him personally, but rather, to embarrass and warn anyone still doing business with Iran.

At the age of 42, Dubowitz has turned into an authority on the Iranian issue, and the US Administration is eager to hear what he has to say about the sanctions imposed on Tehran. He appears at Congressional hearings and briefs US military officials, as well as senior Western officials.

Popular in Washington

One is amazed to discover that the US, a superpower boasting 16 intelligence agencies, nonetheless relies on the information and ideas of a man who heads an independent organization.

Dubowitz himself told Ynet that he was uncomfortable being the subject of the article, lavishing praise on officials in the National Security Council, State Department, Treasury and Congress throughout the interview. These officials are working around the clock to address this highly important issue, he said.

“These are the real heroes who do not get the credit,” he said.

So why does the US Administration need Dubowitz and his people? A senior aide in an important Congressional committee told Ynet that “nobody in this town dedicates so much time and effort to one issue. Mark and his research team do an excellent job. If we have a question, they are the first ones we turn to.”

Sought after by Congress (Photo: Reuters)

The aide said that receiving such information from intelligence officials takes time and requires plenty of paperwork, while Dubowitz’ people “work quickly and are accessible.”

“They come to us with information and with ideas. In order to pass legislation on the matter, we need good ideas,” he said

Shining star in business world

Dubowitz’ personal history may be the factor that makes the difference. He arrived from the business sector, where the bottom line matters most and was on the fast track to major success, working in the venture capital industry and focusing on fundraising for early-stage technology companies. He also served as director of international business development for DoubleClick, later acquired by Internet giant Google.

Business, investment and the law are major milestones in Dubowitz’s life journey. He was born in Johannesburg and grew up in Canada, completing his law degree in Toronto and graduating with honors with a master’s in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University. On top of that, he also studied in Jerusalem’s Hebrew University and in Paris.

However, despite his great business success, Dubowitz chose to focus on realizing his true dream.

Turning point: September 11 (Photo: AP)

“I was a strange kid with an obsession with terrorism and plane hijackings. On September 11th it turned out that terrorism is not just an international problem, after it hit us at home,” he said. “I was deeply fearful for the future and decided to quit the private sector and come to Washington, to see if I could make a small difference. In 2003 I joined a small organization (FDD) despite not having any relevant political or policy experience and coming from a wholly different background.”

Quick response time

Dubowitz does not produce thick studies that gather dust at research institutes, but rather, responds quickly to immediate needs, provides information and offers solutions.

“We closely monitor international companies that do business with Iran, invest in Iran’s energy sector and provide important equipment and technologies to this sector,” he said, adding that his organization also monitors the movement of commercial vessels coming into and leaving Iran.

“We look for ships that arrive from North Korea and are interested in suspicious vessels that change their flag more than once,” he said. “We also follow ships that take suspicious routes and transfer uranium from Africa or arms, for example…we have no way of knowing what’s inside these ships, but we provide information about the movement of suspicious vessels to the US Administration.”

Dubowitz says that his organization’s goal is not only to closely monitor companies doing business with Iran, but also to analyze Tehran’s response to the sanctions.

“It’s a chess game. Iran seeks loopholes in US legislation and opportunities to circumvent it,” he said. “When we discover something that we deem to be of great significance, we write about it in the press, talk about it on television, or quietly approach our friends in the Administration and in Congress.”

Military strike? Not now

Dubowitz does not think that now is the right time for military strikes on Iran.

“The sanctions are working by putting pressure on the regime, although they have not secured their objective and may never do so – putting an end to Iran’s nuclear program. The best way is to work towards changing the regime. Any deal cut with this regime will be violated.”

Dubowitz notes that the US and Europe have failed in providing moral and material support that could have been decisive during the Iranian protests of June 2009.

Striking Iran? Not now (Photo: AFP)

“The Administration realizes this, and has started to change its tone,” he said, adding that the next measures against Iran will take the form of tighter personal sanctions against senior Islamic republic officials and their supporters, a move that got underway a few days ago after the European Union blacklisted 32 senior Iranian officials. The US also extended its own list, including 10 more senior figures in Ahmadinejad’s regime.

“This is an important step. The Administration is changing its policy and now comes the phase of exerting direct pressure on those who carry out the regime’s decisions in the area of human rights,” Dubowitz said. “This is a key move. The objective here is to single them out personally, to isolate and alarm them. From now on they must think twice before murdering and torturing their own people.”

“I believe that in the coming weeks, Congress will present comprehensive human rights and democracy promotion legislation that will target individuals and international companies involved in oppressing Iranians,” Dubowitz summed up.” “These sanctions will help to undermine Iran’s moral legitimacy and hopefully turn it into a pariah state. and the members of congress and their hard working staff behind all these measures deserve the gratitude of all people who are threatened by this brutal and dangerous regime.”

Britain calls on Assad to stop attacks on protesters.

  LONDON – Britain said on Tuesday it was working with its international partners on possible further measures against Syria and called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop attacks on anti-goverment protesters.

“The United Kingdom is working intensively with our international partners to persuade the Syrian authorities to stop the violence and respect basic and universal human rights to freedoms of expression and assembly,” Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said.

“This includes working with our partners on the United Nations Security Council to send a strong signal to the Syrian authorities that the eyes of the international community are on Syria, and with our partners in the European Union and the region on possible further measures.”

US President Barack Obama on Monday spoke by phone with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan telling him the US expressed deep concern about the violence in Syria.

“The leaders agreed that the Syrian government must end the use of violence now and promptly enact meaningful reforms that respect the democratic aspirations of Syrian citizens,” the White House said.

Human Rights Watch calls on UN to probe Syria violence

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast rejected Obama’s words on Iranian interference in Syria, calling them “unfounded and baseless,” Press TV reported.

Mehmanparast warned the US that they should “think about their words.”

“Regional nations will never forget the White House’s unilateral support for the illegitimate Zionist regime (Israel) and its occupation and crimes against the oppressed people of Palestine and Lebanon over the past six decades,” he noted.

Security forces arrested some 500 pro-democracy sympathizers across Syria after the government sent in tanks to try to crush protests in the city of Deraa, the Syrian rights organization Sawasiah said early Tuesday.

The independent organization said it had received reports that at least 20 people had been killed in Deraa since tanks moved in on Monday, but communications with the southern town where the protests against President Bashar al-Assad began on March 18 had been cut making it hard to confirm the information.

“Witnesses managed to tell us that at least 20 civilians have been killed in Deraa, but we do not have their names and we cannot verify,” said a Sawasiah official, adding that two civilians were confirmed dead in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which forces entered earlier in the day.

At least 500 were arrested elsewhere in Syria, it said.

Amateur video showed soldiers and tanks deployed on the outskirts of Deraa early on Monday. In one clip, residents are heard saying of the troops, “Instead of fighting on the Golan, they’re fighting their own people.”

Syrian government officials accused Deraa residents of wishing their region to be annexed to Israel, Channel 2 reported.

The US announced Monday that it was considering sanctions against Syrian government officials to increase pressure on Assad to end the violent crackdown on protesters, a US official said.

The measures, which could freeze the officials’ assets and ban them from doing business in the United States, would likely come in an executive order signed by US President Barack Obama, the US official said on condition of anonymity.

But a final decision has yet to be made and there was no word on whether Assad might be a target, the official said.

Britain, France, Germany and Portugal also asked the UN Security Council to condemn Syria’s violent crackdown against protesters and to urge restraint by the government, council diplomats said on Monday.

But it was unclear whether Russia and China would support the idea. The two permanent veto-wielding council members have become increasingly critical of the UN-backed intervention to protect civilians in Libya, which UN diplomats say Moscow and Beijing worry aims at ousting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Oren Kessler and JPost.com staff contributed to this report.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis April 26, 2011, 9:08 AM (GMT+02:00)

Obama and Erdogan let Syria off the hook

US President Barack Obama continues to avoid direct action against Bashar Assad’s increasingly savage crackdown on dissidents by cultivating a partnership with Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan. After talking on the phone early Tuesday April 26, the two leaders voiced “deep concern over the unacceptable use of violence” in Syria and went on to say: “The leaders agreed that the Syrian government must end the use of violence now and promptly enact meaningful reforms that respect the democratic aspirations of Syrian citizens.”
There was no condemnation of Bashar Assad, his brother Maher Assad or their use of tank artillery and troops to pound entire city blocks, shoot civilians at random or mass arrests. Early Tuesday, Washington recalled nonessential US embassy staff and diplomats’ families from Damascus.
These actions, rather than reining in the Syrian ruler, will have told him he has at another 48-72 hours at least to use the army for polishing off his violent purge of protesters in towns where they have swept up entire districts. In the coming hours, those towns will be condemned to the same fate as the southern city of Daraa, the first to rise up against the Assad regime last month, where Monday, tanks and snipers began massacring the population after shutting down its electricity and telephone communications with the outside world.

Obama and Erdogan have therefore given the Assads a precious lease of life for reasserting their grip on power by brute force.
debkafile‘s Washington sources report that Obama’s decision to engage Assad through the Turkish leader did not come out of the blue. He has been in continuous discreet dialogue with Erdogan by phone since the first protesters took the streets of Syria almost six weeks ago. President Obama was well aware that Erdogan was also on the phone almost daily to Bashar Assad to transmit enormously valuable information: The state of affairs in Syrian towns based on data coming in from Turkish National Intelligence (MIT) undercover agents in the field. He also kept Assad abreast of where the White House stood on different Middle East issues, including Syria.
The secret three-way channel linking Washington, Ankara and Damascus was first uncovered by DEBKA-Net-Weekly 488 on April 8. It then came to light without stirring much notice on April 17 when the Turkish MIT chief Hakan Fidan visited Damascus and was received by the Syrian president.
But the Obama-Erdogan bid to keep the Syrian pot under control blew up under twin pressures: the explosion of long pent-up popular resentment of life in a police state and the extremes to which its heads were willing to go to crush any internal threat to their survival.

The opposition was not impressed by Assad’s show of abolishing the 48-year old emergency laws on April 19 because it was not a genuine concession to demands for reform but a meaningless gesture meant only to get the US and Turkish leaders off his back. The midnight arrests and street shootings of demonstrators went on regardless, with or without the draconian regulations.

After getting away with that charade, Assad felt free Sunday night, April 24 to unleash his tank columns against the populace. And now, the Obama-Erdogan statement gives him more leeway for following through on his bloody crackdown for at least another couple of days until his regime is safe and its opponents crushed.
According to debkafile‘s intelligence sources President Obama knew the Syrian ruler was about to deploy his entire army against the protest movement. He could have tried to hold his hand with a stern official warning of serious consequences, even without Erdogan. But the US president chose to cement his partnership with the Turkish prime minister rather than try seriously to stem the violence against Syria’s pro-democratic movement.
The Obama-Erdogan statement on Syria oddly contained two unrelated elements: It called on Muammar Qaddafi to “step down and leave Libya permanently” and expressed a hope for better Turkish-Israeli relations.