WarSclerotic

Demonstrations ripple across Syria despite… JPost – Middle East.

  AMMAN – Protests against President Bashar Assad re-erupted across Syria on Friday despite a military crackdown and a pledge that Assad’s tycoon cousin, an object of hatred for demonstrators, would renounce his business empire.

Activists said tens of thousands of people rallied in the southern province of Deraa, cradle of the three-month revolt against Assad’s rule, the Kurdish east, the cities of Homs and Hama north of Damascus, and suburbs of the capital itself.

Friday Muslim prayers have been a platform for the biggest protests leading to the most bloodshed, in the uprising inspired by Arab revolts which overthrew the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia and have challenged autocrats across the Middle East. Residents said two northern towns remained encircled by army units, five days after the military retook the rebellious town of Jisr al-Shughour and sent thousands of refugees streaming across the nearby border into Turkey.

Syrian rights groups say 1,300 civilians and more than 300 soldiers and police have been killed since the protests broke out in March against 41 years of rule by the Assad family, and 10,000 people have been detained.

Assad has responded to the unrest with a mix of military repression and political gestures aimed at addressing protesters’ grievances.

On Thursday state media said his billionaire cousin Rami Makhlouf, a symbol of elite corruption and unaccountability for the protesters, was quitting business and handing proceeds to charity.

Makhlouf controls a string of businesses including Syria’s largest mobile phone operator, duty free shops, an oil concession, airline company and hotel and construction concerns, and shares in at least one bank.

He has been subject to U.S. sanctions since 2007 for what Washington calls public corruption, as well as EU sanctions imposed in May, but repeatedly maintained that he was a legitimate businessman whose firms employ thousands of Syrians.

Activists said Makhlouf’s step by itself would not curb the momentum of protests. They said Assad, who has only spoken twice in public since the uprising started, was expected to address the country soon and might unveil further measures.

France, Germany call for tougher sanctions on Syria

Assad faces international condemnation over the violence, as well as the first signs of cracks in his security forces after a clash in Jisr al-Shughour earlier this month in which the government said 120 security personnel were killed.

There have been no mass desertions from the military, but analysts say it is unclear how long the loyalty of rank and file Sunni Muslim conscripts would last if the crackdown on mainly Sunni protesters by Alawite-commanded military forces continues.

Assad’s family is Alawite.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he had spoken to Assad and urged him to halt the violence.

“I again strongly urge President Assad to stop killing people and engage in inclusive dialogue and take bold measures before it’s too late,” Ban told reporters in Brazil.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday that France and Germany agreed to lobby for stronger sanctions against Syria, which already faces targeted US and European Union sanctions against its leadership.

“France, hand-in-hand with Germany, calls for tougher sanctions against Syrian authorities who are conducting intolerable and unacceptable actions and repression against the (Syrian) population,” he said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

France has so far been unable to rally sufficient support at the UN Security Council for a resolution condemning Assad’s crackdown, in part because of reluctance from veto-holding council members China and Russia.

A witness in the Damascus suburb of Irbin said protesters burned a Russian flag on Friday in protest at Moscow’s stance.

Syrian forces have surrounded two nearby towns on the main north-south road linking Damascus with the second city of Aleppo. Villagers have been streaming out of the towns, fearful of an assault similar to the one witnessed in Jisr al-Shughour.

The state news agency has said army units deployed near Khan Sheikhoun and Maarat al-Numaan to ensure the highway’s safety.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held talks with a Syrian envoy on Thursday in which he called on Damascus to end the violent crackdown and pass democratic reforms.

Turkish officials said the number of refugees who had crossed over from Syria had reached 9,600, and another 10,000 were sheltering by the border just inside Syria.

DEBKA.

On Wednesday, June 15, 100,000 demonstrators marched in Damascus in support of President Bashar Assad‘s regime, carrying what was claimed to be the world’s longest national flag – 2.3 kilometers long. Security personnel were thin on the ground signaling the ruler’s trust in the loyalty of his capital’s inhabitants.
Later, Assad commented to his associates that this rally marked the breaking point of the opposition and proof of his success in vanquishing it, DEBKA-Net-Weekly‘s intelligence sources report. Now, he felt he could sit down and compose his victory speech to be delivered in the coming few days.
Our sources recall that this is not the first time Assad has worked on a victory speech. He was all set to deliver his first triumphant oration when, on June 3, the northern town of Hama exploded in a massive pro-Muslim demonstration, rekindling protest outbreaks in the north. That speech was never delivered.
This time, Assad’s confident assessment is supported by a consensus among the intelligence agencies monitoring Syrian unrest – Americans, Turks, Israelis and Syrian opposition leaders – with one difference: They see the turning-point in the contest between the regime and protesters as having occurred before the pro-Assad demonstration in Damascus, forged in the brutal military campaign launched June 12 in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour by the Turkish border.
Assad’s success leaves Syrian economy broke
It was there, say our military sources, that the Syrian ruler’s decision to bet on the army for crushing the revolt rather than his security and intelligence services paid off. This victory also made the Syrian president’s younger brother, Gen. Maher Assad, who continually urged Bashar to entrust the uprising to the army, the most powerful man in Syria.
Western intelligence agencies have no reliable data on the cost to the Syrian exchequer of crushing the countrywide revolt, but it must be assumed to be very heavy: Some 70,000-100,000 security personnel are on a round-the-clock state of alert, dependent on logistical support for keeping thousands of vehicles and hundreds of tanks almost constantly on the move from one trouble spot to another.
The daily expenditure on the crackdown is roughly estimated at $2-3 million (compared with Muammar Qaddafi‘s outlay of close to $4 million per day for fighting NATO) and spiraling upward.
Wednesday, June 15, the Syrian army began deploying along the Syrian-Turkish border (870 kilometers) and the Syrian-Iraqi border (600 kilometers) to seal off the exits to the stream of fleeing Syrian refugees and smuggling operations from those two neighbors.
This deployment is extremely expensive. Calling for numerous mobile units spread over a large area and backed by air and helicopter reconnaissance planes, it could add another $1 million to Syra’s daily bill for suppressing disaffection.
West could have cut off his war funding by an oil embargo – but didn’t
Therefore, Western intelligence and financial experts familiar with the Syrian scene were highly skeptical when Minister of Finance Mohammed al-Jleilati insisted last week that the economy was “strong and healthy” – especially when he said Syria was self-reliant in food and had amassed foreign currency reserves worth $18 billion.
Some figures tell a different story: Syrian industrial output has declined by 50 percent in the 4 months of the uprising. The tourism industry, a key source of revenue, has collapsed, leaving hotels in Damascus and other tourist centers empty.
Had the US and Europe really wanted to hasten Bashar Assad’s fall and deny him access to war funds, they could have done so by an embargo on the export of Syrian oil, which accounts for $7-8 million in income per day. Their failure to enforce this step is further evidence that US President Barack Obama has not decided that it is time for Bashar Assad to go. US official condemnations of his savage crackdown of protest have never referred to the Syrian president by name. Administration spokesmen have also been instructed not to raise the question of an oil embargo for the time being.
Who would lend Assad money?
Even so, the assessment in the West is that by the fall, in September or October, just a few months from now, Damascus could run out of money for holding down the lingering revolt against his regime. He will then have two options – to print money and catapult Syria into hyperinflation or to borrow from outside lenders – except that no volunteer creditors are immediately in sight. It is hard to imagine the super-moneyed Saudis, who have sunk at least $2 billion in promoting the anti-Assad protest movement, suddenly turning round with an offer to lend him money or raise assistance from their Gulf allies.
Turkey might conceivably be willing to come to Assad’s aid, but only if the Syrian ruler is ready to bow to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan‘s demands for political reforms that would ultimately bring opposition parties into government in Damascus.
Even if the Syrian ruler has managed to reach a turning-point against the revolt, he will still need plenty of cash to rebuild and restore the security services which prop up his regime.

DEBKA.

Tayyip Erdogan

Voices were raised and war threats exchanged on both sides of the conversation Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan held with Syrian President Bashar Assad‘s special emissary, former Syrian Defense Minister Hassan Turkmani (until 2009), in Ankara Wednesday, June 15.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly‘s military and intelligence sources report exclusively that Erdogan first pinned his Syrian visitor down with four tough questions:
1. When will Assad halt military actions in the vicinity of the Turkish border? (See also next article on the turning point in the Syrian uprising.)
2. Can Damascus be trusted to stick to its commitment to Ankara to refrain from sending troops against rebels in the big Syrian Kurdish cities of Amoda, Ifrin, Azez, Tall Afar, Qamishli and Kubani in the Al Haksa region?
Erdogan’s main concern is with an old thorn in Turkey’ side, the PKK (Kurdish Workers Party), which has set up an efficient organization in the Kurdish ethnic areas of northern Syria along the Turkish border. The Syrian branch of the PKK is a hard-line violent faction which could be tipped over into terrorist attacks in Turkey by Syrian military operations.
Neither Turkey nor Syria gives an inch
3. Will Assad agree to an immediate, peaceful and humanitarian solution for the more than 200,000 Syrian refugees now parked on both sides of the Syrian-Turkish border?
Erdogan made sure Turkmani understood that Turkey had no intention of being stuck again with masses of refugees as it was in 2003 when a million panicked Iraqis poured in after the US invasion of Iraq.
4. How does Assad propose to bring closure to his bloody contest with a disaffected opposition? By introducing democratic reforms? By allowing non-Baath parties to share power? By punishing the military and security chiefs who fired live ammunition and artillery shells against civilian demonstrators and killed thousands of Syrians?
Instead of answering the Turkish prime minister, the Syrian envoy fired back even tougher questions of his own:
– Why is Turkey massing military forces along its border with Syria?
– Will the Turkish army march into Syria as it did in northern Iraq (Kurdistan) in early 2003 to establish security buffer zones? Turkmani warned his Turkish host that Syria would hit back at any Turkish incursion by striking military targets deep inside Turkey.
– Is it true that US special forces preparing to strike inside Syria are poised at Turkish bases ready to go across – as Syrian intelligence reports?
– Why don’t Turkish authorities put a stop to the arms consignments flowing from Kurdish centers in southern Turkey to anti-government Kurdish rebels in northern Syria?
– And why doesn’t Turkey seal its border against the flight of Syrian refugees?
The conversation ended as grimly as it began: neither Erdogan nor Turkmani gave an inch.
Erdogan mulls giving Assad a last chance
Thursday morning, June 16, sources close to Erdogan’s office said that the Turkish Prime Minister is considering sending Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, or intelligence agency-MIT chief Hakan Fidan for a “final interview” with Bashar Assad. The suggestion was that this would be the Syrian ruler’s last chance to cooperate with Turkey’s demands. After that, he risked an Erdogan decision to opt for the course of military action.
However, the Turkish prime minister also needs to know if Assad has gone too far to step back – in which case he may refuse to receive a high-ranking Turkish envoy. He has already cut himself off from contact with the Americans and other Western parties, refusing to take phone calls from US administration officials or even Republican and Democratic Senators who for years made informal pilgrimages to Damascus to see him. UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon also called several times and was told Assad was out.
Last week, Erdogan talked on the phone with the Syrian ruler, but he is unlikely to risk calling him now and is hesitating about even sending a messenger to Damascus.
What he now has to decide, according to some sources in Ankara, is whether to send Turkish military units across the border into northern Syria in the full knowledge that a Turkish-Syria war might well ensue, the first armed conflict between two Muslim countries since the Arab Revolt erupted late last year.
A spate of strident threats to US and Turkey from Tehran
The acute escalation of Turkish-Syrian tension this week has more than one incendiary ingredient:
First, President Barack Obama and Erdogan are reported by military and intelligence circles in Middle East and Persian Gulf capitals to have reached an understanding: If Syria shoots missiles against targets deep inside Turkey, as Hassan Turkmani threatened, the US would provide Turkey with the shield of the AEGIS missile interceptors aboard American warships in the Middle East.
Neither Washington nor Ankara was willing to comment on this information.
Second, Tuesday night, following the harsh Erdogan-Turkman conversation in Ankara, the Lebanese Hizballah’s television station in Lebanon broadcast another Iranian threat, that went largely unnoticed in the West: Tehran would strike US bases in Turkey if that country attacked Syria or facilitated an operation against Syria from its territory.
Iran also warned the United Arab Emirates-UAE that any threat to the Syrian regime would spark a major regional conflagration. The broadcast bulletin ended with the allegation that Erdogan had accepted in principle the American plan which entailed a Turkish military incursion of Syria.
This broadcast threat came on the heels of warnings three senior Iranian officials issued this week against US military intervention in Syria.
US naval buildup in the region
An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said the Americans “are not allowed to launch a military intervention in any country of the region including Syria.” He said any military action in Damascus would be doomed to fail like the military action in Libya. He attacked the Zionist regime and blamed it for provoking “terrorist and sabotage operations” in Syria together with the United States.
Iranian Vice President Reza Rahimi then accused the United States of preparing and executing “the slaughter of Muslims” worldwide.
Iran’s ground forces commander Brig. Gen. Kioumars Heidari added: Any new military move by the US in the region will impose heavy costs on the country far greater than the costs it paid in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
DEBKA-Net-Weekly‘s military sources say that in addition to these threats, Hizballah moved some of its long-range surface-to-surface missile batteries from northern Lebanon to the center of the country.
Third, US military and naval forces in the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Aegean and the Black Sea were beefed up. A key piece of this deployment was the stationing of the amphibious attack ship USS Bataan, which carries helicopters and 2,000 marines, in the Mediterranean.
Also stationed in the region was the USS Whidbey Island, a dock landing ship carrying 600 more marines, together with the USS Monterey which is cruising in the Black Sea. This vessel which carries advanced AEGIS missile interceptor systems is in position for intercepting surface-to-surface missiles launched against Turkey from Iran, Syria and Lebanon.
An anti-American government for Lebanon
Fourth, Washington and Ankara were taken by surprise by the sudden breakthrough to the formation of a government in Lebanon headed by Najib Mikati, made possible overnight by Tehran, Damascus and Hizballah after long months of political stagnation in Beirut.
Lebanon finds itself ruled by the most anti-American government in its history. All the key portfolios – defense, interior, justice and treasury – have gone for the first time to Hizballah loyalists.
Tayyip Erdogan has taken this lightning maneuver as aimed at shutting the door in the face of Turkish influence in Beirut. On top of his failure to gain a foothold in any part of the Arab Revolt, the Turkish prime minister finds his country hemmed in by hostile regimes. He himself has been dropped by the alliance with Iran and Syria of which he was an important part in the last two years for the sin of lining up with Washington.
In Ankara, there are seasoned circles who believe the ambitious Turkish leader will not suffer these setbacks in silence and may strike out by ordering the Turkish army to march into Syria.

The threat of attack on Iran is needed to deter it – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Turkish FM calls for immediate end to Syri… JPost – Middle East.

  ANKARA – Turkey called for Syria to immediately halt a violent crackdown on protesters and pass democratic reforms, in a meeting on Thursday between Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and a top Syrian envoy.

The crackdown, which Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has condemned as “savagery,” has tested relations between the two countries, and Turkey has given sanctuary to some 8,900 Syrian refugees who have streamed across the border.

“We want a strong, stable, prosperous Syria. To achieve this we believe it necessary to implement the comprehensive reform process towards democratization guaranteed by [Syrian President] Bashar Assad,” Davutoglu told reporters after three hours of talks with Syria’s Hassan Turkmani on Thursday morning.

“In order to achieve this the violence must stop immediately. Yesterday I clearly saw the fear in the eyes of the people and I shared this,” he added, describing talks with Turkmani as friendly and Syria as Turkey’s “closest friend”.

Davutoglu on Wednesday talked to refugees at the border, including wounded men in camp hospitals at Yayladagi, across from the Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour, 20 km (12 miles) away. Refugees chanted “People want freedom!” and “Erdogan help us!”

On Thursday, Syrian tanks and armored vehicles reinforced positions around the northern town of Maarat al-Numaan.

Turkmani on Wednesday met Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who has also called for rapid reform in Syria. Turkmani said then Syrian refugees staying in makeshift camps in Turkey’s border province of Hatay would soon be returning to Syria.

Assad asked to send an emissary when he called Erdogan on Tuesday to congratulate him on winning a third term in office.

On Thursday afternoon Davutoglu was to meet with Ankara’s ambassadors to the Middle East, United States and some EU countries to discuss Syria and policy across the region.

‘Turkey efforts to bring about peace in Syria will continue‘

Former advisor to Erdogan, Nabi Avci, said Turkey was dismayed by Syria’s response to its requests that it refrain from using violence against civilians and undertake reforms.

“Turkey’s efforts to bring about peaceful change in Syria will continue,” Avci said in Istanbul.

“The response of the Syrian regime so far has been, unfortunately, unhelpful and disappointing,” said Avci, elected a member of parliament for the ruling AK party in Sunday’s vote.

Asked about the possibility the Turkish military could enforce a buffer zone on Syrian territory to protect civilians, Avci said Turkey had no plan for military intervention in Syria.

But he said Turkey constantly reminded the Syrian government that intervention could become part of the international community’s agenda, and urged Damascus to make rational choices.

“We are trying our best for the last chance for the Syrian regime,” he said.

Preparations are being made for another influx of refugees far to the east along the 800-km (500-mile) border, with more tent camps able to shelter 10,000 people being set up near the Turkish city of Mardin and the town of Nusaybin.

High-ranking Syrian soldiers and police are among those seeking refuge at the camps in Turkey, state-run Anatolian news agency reported. Most recently a lieutenant colonel and four other soldiers arrived in Hatay on Wednesday evening after deserting.

There were also increasing numbers of Syrians arriving at the border but remaining on the Syrian side in makeshift tents.

Anatolian said all hotel rooms had been booked up in Hatay ahead of the visit by United Nations refugee agency goodwill envoy Angelina Jolie. The actress was expected to arrive on Friday afternoon.

Iran successfully launches domestically-built satellite into orbit – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

U.S. and allies fear Iran’s long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit can also be used to launch warheads.

By Reuters

Iran has successfully launched a second domestically-built satellite into orbit, Iran’s Arabic language al-Alam television reported on Wednesday.

“Iran launched a domestically built rocket and the Rasad 1 (satellite) has been put into orbit,” al-Alam reported.

	Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flashes the victory sign during his press conference in Tehran on June 7, 2011.
	Photo by: AFP

In February 2009, Iran launched its first domestically-built satellite, OMID.

The United States and its allies fear Iran is seeking to build nuclear bombs and are concerned that the long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit can also be used to launch warheads.

Iran says its nuclear program is solely to generate electricity.

The Rasad 1 (Observation) satellite will be used for transmitting images and weather forecasts, TV reported.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 14, 2011, 6:46 PM (GMT+02:00)

The USS Bataan opposite Syrian coast

debkafile‘s military and intelligence sources report that Monday, June 13, the US deployed the USS Bataan amphibian air carrier strike vessel opposite Syria’s Mediterranean coast with 2,000 marines, 6 war planes, 15 attack helicopters, including new V-22 Ospreys,  and 27 choppers for landing forces aboard.Also this week, US naval units went operational in the Aegean, Adriatic and Black Seas as part of the joint US-Ukrainian Sea Breeze 2011 exercise.
The USS Monterrey cruiser armed with Aegis surface missile interceptors has additionally been stationed in the Black Sea. Western sources additonally report a build-up of ship-borne anti-missile missile strength in the Mediterranean basin.

This huge concentration of naval missile interceptor units looks like preparations by Washington for the contingency of Iran, Syria and Hizballah letting loose with surface missiles against US and Israeli targets in the event of US military intervention to stop the anti-opposition slaughter underway in Syria.
Moscow, Tehran and Damascus, in particular, are taking this exceptional spate of American military movements in and around the Mediterranean as realistically portending American intervention in Syria.

This concentration of US might also the effect of deterring the Turkish government from going through with its decision to send Turkish troops into Syria. The plan was to create a protected buffer zone where the thousands of refugees in flight from the Assad regime’s military crackdown would be kept safe on Syrian side of the border and out of Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyep Erdogan is averse to be seen working hand in glove militarily with any US interference in Syria. At the same time, Western intelligence sources in the Persian Gulf are sure Washington is coordinating its military movements with Ankara and that Erdogan quietly agreed to place Turkish bases at US disposal for an operation in Syria.
debkafile‘s military sources also report that Monday, June 13, Hizballah began shifting the long- and medium-range rockets it had stored in northern Lebanon to locations in the center of the country. Western military sources first thought the Lebanese Shiite group was taking the precaution of keeping its arsenal safe from a spillover of violence from Syria. Tuesday, however, they learned that Iranian intelligence had advised Hizballah to remove its rockets out of range of a possible American operation in Syria.
Tuesday, Iran capped these events with three separate warnings to the Obama administration against military interference in Syria.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said Tuesday: “The Americans are not allowed to launch a military intervention in any country of the region including Syria.”

He accused “Israel and the USA of standing behind the riots in Syria, Iran’s closest ally in the Arab world… with particular aims…of provoking terrorist groups in Syria and in the region to carry out terrorist and sabotage operations.”

Another spokesman warned: “Western attempts to set the model of Libya in Damascus are doomed to failure.”

Iranian Vice President Reza Rahimi accused the United States of preparing and executing “the slaughter of Muslims” worldwide.

Iran’s ground forces commander Brig. Gen. Kioumars Heidari added this threat: Any new military move by the US in the region will impose heavy costs on the country far greater than the costs it paid in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Iran accuses West, Israel’s allies, of med… JPost – Middle East.

  TEHRAN – Iran accused Israel’s allies on Tuesday of interfering in Syria after Western countries said Tehran may be helping crush dissent there.

“Some regimes, especially America and the Zionist regime, with particular aims, are provoking terrorist groups in Syria and in the region to carry out terrorist and sabotage operations,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told a news conference.

Iran, which crushed its own anti-government protests after the contested re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009, has voiced support for uprisings in most of the Arab world, but not Syria with which it has what it sees as a “line of resistance” against Israel as both support Hamas and Hezbollah.

Mehmanparast backed the Syrian government’s assertions that the three-month-old protests are part of a conspiracy backed by foreign powers.

“The Zionist regime and its advocates are seriously threatened, that is why they are doing all they can to crush this resistance line standing against the aggression of the Zionist regime.”

Britain has said there is “credible information suggesting Iran is helping Syria with the suppression of protests there, including through the provision of expertise and equipment,” a charge Tehran denied.

Syrian rights groups say 1,300 civilians have been killed since the start of the uprising. One group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more than 300 soldiers and police have also been killed.

“What is happening inside Syria is an internal issue. The government and the people of Syria are politically mature enough to resolve their own issues,” Mehmanparast said.

The spokesman warned against any overt military action by the West.

“We think that the Americans in no way have the right to have any military interference in any country within the region, namely Syria. We acknowledge this as a wrong act … which can have consequences for the region,” he said.

Report: Document reveals Nakba Day clashes planned by Syria government – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

In his blog on the website of the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, Michael Weiss reveals official Syrian document describing the dispatch of 20 buses sent to infiltrate Israel’s border with Syria on the day when Palestinians mourn the creation of Israel.

By Haaretz

New evidence in the form of an official Syrian state document suggests that the Syrian regime purposefully orchestrated last month’s Nakba Day clashes on the border with Israel, Michael Weiss reported in his blog on The Telegraph website on Monday.

Weiss, who is the spokesperson of Just Journalism, an organization that monitors coverage of Israel in British media, said that he was forwarded an official Syrian state document describing a meeting between Syria’s chief of staff and chiefs of the Syrian military intelligence branches in the province located on the Israel-Syria border.

The document describes 20 buses which were to be dispatched on May 15, also known as Nakba Day, when the Palestinians mourn the creation of the State of Israel.

Two people were killed near Majdal Shams on the Syrian border and between three and 10 people were killed in Maroun a-Ras on the Lebanese border during the protests last month when demonstrators attempted to breach Israel’s border.

The document says “Permission is hereby granted allowing approaching crowds to cross the cease fire line (with Israel) towards the occupied Majdal-Shamms, and to further allow them to engage physically with each other in front of United Nations agents and offices. Furthermore, there is no objection if a few shots are fired in the air.”

The document goes on to describe a specific captain “from the military intelligence division” who is appointed to “the leadership of the group assigned to break-in and infiltrate deep into the occupied Syrian Golan Heights with a specified pathway to avoid land mines.”

Those involved with the plan are then reminded not to carry any identification with them to the protest.

The IDF said that Syrian soldiers in the area did not get involved in the incident. Following the Nakba day incidents, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was determined to defend itself and its sovereignty.

	Palestinian and Lebanese demonstrators running for cover during clashes with troops near the Israel border at Maroun al-Ras, Lebanon, 15.5.2011
	Photo by: Reuters

‘Syria aided by Iran to help crus… JPost – Diplomacy & Politics.

  British Foreign Secretary William Hague accused Iran of helping Syria quell anti-government protests, providing “equipment” and logistical support on how to crush the opposition, the Daily Telegraph reported Monday. Hague criticized Iran’s “hypocrisy in world affairs.”

The UK foreign secretary’s comments come after Britain’s top diplomat in Iran was summoned last Thursday in Tehran to reject similar accusation the UK government had made about Syria-Iran ties during the upheavals in Syrian cities from Damascus to Jisr al-Shughur.

Despite strong British, French, and American support for a UN resolution condemning violent Syrian crackdown, there has been no clear effort to initiate an international-military intervention in the country’s internal affairs.

China and Russia have opposed the UN condemnation of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on the opposition, making even a condemnation difficult to pass at the UN.

According to the Telegraph, Hague explained that there was “no prospect” of passing a resolution similar to UN resolution 1973 on Libya that authorized a no-fly zone.

The British foreign secretary also mentioned the Arab League support for international action in the Libyan crisis, but said that there was “no such call” for action against Syria.

According to the Telegraph, Hague’s announcement comes as a mass grave of at least 10 soldiers was found outside military police headquarters in the northern town of Jisr al-Shaghur, the site of a recent tank-led crackdown on dissidents that saw thousands flee to Turkey.

It was also in Jisr al-Shaghur where a Syrian military defector told Al-Arabiya last week that he had been forced to shoot a number of soldiers who had fired against orders on unarmed civilians, taking women and children as human shields.

The government has claimed, through Syrian television, that the soldiers were killed by “armed gangs” in the area as part of a wider attack that had claimed at least 120.

At least 1,100 Syrian civilians have been killed in the ongoing conflict in Syria as demonstrators and activists call for the ousting of Assad who has been in power 11 years.