WarSclerotic

Marines ‘assault’ US beaches in amphibious drill.

With beach landings, 25 naval ships and an air assault, the United States and eight other countries are staging a major amphibious exercise on the US East Coast this week, fighting a fictional enemy that bears more than a passing resemblance to Iran.

After a decade dominated by ground wars against insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, the drill dubbed Bold Alligator is “the largest amphibious exercise conducted by the fleet in the last 10 years,” said Admiral John Harvey, head of US Fleet Forces Command.

About 20,000 US forces, plus hundreds of British, Dutch and French troops as well as liaison officers from Italy, Spain, New Zealand and Australia are taking part in the exercise along the Atlantic coast off Virginia and North Carolina.

An American aircraft carrier, amphibious assault ships including France’s Mistral, Canadian mine sweepers and dozens of aircraft have been deployed for the drill, which began on January 30 and runs through mid-February.

Monday was “D-day” for Bold Alligator, with US Marines stepping on to the beach from hovercraft, near the Camp Lejeune base in North Carolina.

The American military, mindful that Marines have spent most of their time in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan since 2001, said the goal was “to revitalize, refine, and strengthen fundamental amphibious capabilities and reinforce the Navy and Marine Corps role as ‘fighters from the sea.'”

With defense spending coming under pressure after years of unlimited growth, the Marines — which devoted a brigade to the exercise — also are anxious to protect funding for their traditional role as an amphibious force.

The exercise scenario takes place in a mythical region known as “Treasure Coast,” with a country called Garnet, a theocracy, invading its neighbor to the north, Amberland, which calls for international help to repel the attack.

Garnet has mined several harbors and deployed anti-ship missiles along the coast.

The threat of mines, anti-ship missiles and small boats in coastal waters conjure up Iran’s naval forces, but the commanders overseeing the drill, Admiral Harvey and Marine Lieutenant General Dennis Hejlik, say the scenario is not based on any particular country.

Amid rising tensions with Iran and threats from Tehran to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, naval officers and military planners are keenly aware of the Islamic Republic’s arsenal of mines and anti-ship missiles.

When asked by reporters last week, Harvey acknowledged that the exercise scenario was “certainly informed by recent history” and that it was “applicable” to the Strait of Hormuz, as well as other areas.

Harvey also said the exercise incorporated lessons from the 2006 Lebanon conflict, when Iran-backed Hezbollah forces hit an Israeli navy corvette with an anti-ship missile.

The Pentagon opened the drill to allied forces for the first time this year, with 650 French troops among those participating.

In their AMX-10 wheeled reconnaissance vehicles and VAB armored personnel carriers, the mission of the French forces was “to land first to secure a path for the Americans,” said Second Lieutenant Chens Bouriche, a French military spokesman.

Jeffrey Goldberg – Authors – The Atlantic.

This just in from the Department of Non-Ambiguous Iranian Threats to Wipe Out The Jews: A regime-linked website, Alef, has produced an article calling on Iran to use its missile arsenal to kill all of Israel’s Jews, and describes just how this could be done. The author, Alireza Forghani, is linked to office of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and the article’s release coincided with Khamenei’s latest “Israel is a cancerous tumor” speech.

Here’s a bit of Forghani wrote (you can read the entire translation on MEMRI’s website):

“Israel is the only country in the world with a Jewish majority. According to the last census of [the] ‘Israel Central Bureau of Statistics,’ this country has a population of 7.5 million, including 5.8 million Jews. The other ethnicities in [its] population structure are Muslims, Christians, Druzes [sic], and Samarians. The largest ethnic minorities are [the] so-called Israeli Arabs.”
“Residents of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and H[a]ifa can be targeted even by Shah[a]b 3 [missiles]. Population density in these three adjacent areas composes about 60% of [the total] Israeli population. Sejjil missiles can target power plants, sewage treatment facilities, energy resources, [and] transportation and [communication] infrastructures; and in the second stage, Shahab 3, Ghadr, and Ashura missiles can target urban settlements until [the] final annihilation of Israel[‘s] people.

But here is my favorite part of the MEMRI entry:

Alireza Forghani provides the following details about himself on his blog:

“forghani_alireza@yahoo.com”

“Married, a resident of Tehran, born August 31, 1983
“Telephone: 09124906386
“Favorite book: The Absolute Rule of the Jurisprudent
“Favorite sport: Jihad in fierce war”

I’ve emailed at Forghani at his Yahoo address, seeking an interview.

U.S. Attack on Iran ‘Suicide,’ Would Spark Reprisal, Envoy Says.

Ladane Nasseri and Stepan Kravchenko, ©2012 Bloomberg News

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Iranian leaders are willing to carry out an attack in the U.S. in response to real or perceived actions that threaten their government, James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told Congress on Jan. 31.

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) — A U.S. attack on Iran would be “suicide” that would prompt retaliation, said Mahmoud-Reza Sajjadi, the Persian Gulf country’s ambassador to Russia,

“Iran has very good access to the whole world to carry out strikes against America,” he told reporters in Moscow today, adding that no pre-emptive strike is planned.

Iranian armed forces are closely monitoring hostile powers’ activities in the region, including along Iran’s borders, and are ready to counter possible aggression, said Abdollah Reshadi, commander of the northeastern air defense unit. “Iran’s air defense is on the alert for foreign powers’ military moves and fully prepared to counter any threats against the country,” he said today, according to state-run Press TV.

Israeli leaders, who have accused Iran of working toward building a nuclear weapon, say time is running out for a military strike that could stop the Islamic Republic from pursuing that aim. President Barack Obama told NBC News on Feb. 5 that “our preferred solution is diplomatic, but we’re not going to take any actions off the table.”

Iran, which says its atomic activities are designed to ensure electricity for its growing population, is under four rounds of United Nations sanctions and additional restrictions imposed by the U.S. and the European Union. Iran has threatened to shut the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of globally traded oil passes, as the EU prepares to ban imports of Iranian crude on July 1.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta this month declined to comment directly on a report by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius that Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June. He and other U.S. officials have warned Israel not to act alone.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Feb. 2 that his country must consider conducting “an operation” before Iran reaches an “immunity zone,” referring to Iran’s goal of protecting its uranium enrichment and other nuclear operations by moving them to deep underground facilities.

Iran doesn’t recognize Israel as a legitimate state and backs the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which it describes as “resistance” groups and the U.S. and Israel classify as terrorists.

“Wherever there is cruelty, there will be resistance, and wherever there is resistance, we will be there,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at a conference in Tehran today. He said Iran “isn’t seeking to rule the world or dominate anyone.”

Syrian Troops Pound Homs as Russia Warns Against Intervention | News | English.

Photo: Reuters

Residents rest in a shelter in Baba Amro near Homs, February 8, 2012. Syrian forces thrusting into the rebellious city of Homs, killing dozens of civilians.

Voice of America

Syrian troops are continuing their assault on the protest hub of Homs, reportedly killing dozens of civilians, as Russia said the world faces a growing “cult of violence” in international affairs and warned the West against outside intervention in Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces used tanks, rockets and mortars Wednesday to subdue resistance in Homs, killing at least 50 people and heavily damaging more than 20 buildings in a number of the city’s rebel-held districts. Homs is under the fifth day of a relentless offensive that activists say has killed hundreds of people.

_{Undated citizen journalism image provided by Local Coordination Committees in Syria shows man weeping as he sits next to a man who was purportedly killed in shelling by Syrian government forces, Homs, February 8, 2012. (AP Photo)}

Casualty figures cannot be confirmed because Syria restricts independent reporting.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin condemned all violence “regardless of its source,” but said the world “cannot act like a bull in a china shop.” He told Russian religious leaders Wednesday that outside forces should let Syrians settle their conflict “independently,” saying Moscow must not let events like those in Libya and Syria be repeated at home.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad delegated his deputy to hold a dialogue with the opposition after meeting Russia’s top diplomat Tuesday in Damascus. Efforts by the Arab League and Russia to organize talks have been rejected by Syrian opposition groups angered by the Assad government’s deadly crackdown on the 11-month-old uprising.

_{Free Syrian Army (FSA) members in Saqba, a Damascus suburb, February 8, 2012. (Reuters photo)}

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday he had “very little confidence” in the Russian-Syrian efforts, while French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Assad’s promises were merely manipulation and should not be believed. The Syrian leader said Tuesday he will push ahead with promised reforms and soon set a date for a referendum on a new constitution aimed at broadening political participation.

U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay called for urgent international action to protect civilians in Syria, saying she is “appalled” by the government’s “willful assault on the city of Homs.” Pillay also said is it time for the international community to “cut through the politics and take action” to protect the civilian population.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due to arrive in Washington Wednesday to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has said the United States will work with other nations to tighten sanctions against Mr. Assad’s government and deny it arms in the absence of a United Nations resolution.

_{Undated citizen journalism image provided by Local Coordination Committees in Syria shows mourners gathered around bodies of people allegedly killed by Syrian government forces in Maarat al-Noman, Idlib province, February 8, 2012. (AP photo)}

The White House said Tuesday Washington is exploring the possibility of providing humanitarian aid to Syrians, in cooperation with U.S. allies. Western powers and Arab nations have repeatedly said they do not want to intervene militarily in the Syrian crisis. The Obama administration shut its embassy in Damascus Monday as part of a Western and Arab campaign to isolate Assad and pressure him into stopping the crackdown.

France, Italy and Spain recalled their ambassadors to Syria on Tuesday, citing the Assad government’s continued repression. The six Gulf Cooperation Council states, led by Saudi Arabia, also withdrew their ambassadors from Damascus and expelled Syrian envoys in response to the worsening violence.

The moves came after Russia and China vetoed a Western and Arab-backed U.N. Security Council resolution that would have endorsed an Arab League plan for Assad to step aside, order his troops to stand down and enact democratic reforms. Moscow and Beijing said they blocked the measure because they perceived it as taking sides in a domestic conflict and providing a possible pretext for foreign military intervention.

The Syrian government blames the mayhem on “armed terrorists” bent on dividing and sabotaging the country.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

Middle East Crumbles Around Obama’s Foreign Policy.

Thousands are dead in Syria, with more blood spilled each day. Iran is within arm’s reach of a nuclear weapon, threatening Israel’s very existence.

And in Egypt, 19 Americans are banned from leaving the country, making them veritable hostages in an unfriendly land. All indications are that the Middle East is crumbling, and President Barack Obama’s foreign policy is collapsing right along with it.

First look toward Homs, Syria — ground zero in the 11-month-old uprising against the brutal government of Bashar al-Assad, which is unleashing death upon its people minute by minute and hour by hour. The United Nations estimates that Assad’s regime has killed more than 5,000 anti-government protesters in the last 11 months, with 200 killed on Friday night alone. The Arab League has stationed observers in country, whose mission was to oversee compliance with a peace plan. That failed.

The Obama Administration rushed to the United Nations Security Council and attempted to pass a resolution calling for Assad to step aside. Predictably, China and Russia laid down a veto. On Monday, the United States finally closed the doors to its embassy in Damascus and withdrew the diplomatic staff over continuing security concerns. Meanwhile, intelligence experts are examining the risk of terrorists gaining control of Syria’s weapons stockpiles should the Assad regime fall.

To the east in Iran, the regime’s full-steam-ahead pursuit of nuclear weapons is reaching a crescendo, with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently remarking that the country could build a bomb within one year and have the means for delivering it one or two years later.

Finally, in Egypt, officials there published a list of 43 people, including 19 Americans, accused of interfering in Egypt’s internal politics. They are not allowed to leave the country and could soon be brought to trial on claims that they illegally funded political groups in Egypt’s parliamentary elections. Heritage’s James Phillips explains that “they have become hostages in a much larger struggle: the struggle for freedom in Egypt against an unholy alliance between Egypt’s transitional military government and the Islamist political parties who will soon assume power.”

President Obama and members of his Cabinet tried to reach Egyptian leaders on the matter, but in the words of Lorne Craner, head of the pro-democracy organization IRI, “things are getting worse . . . We are all scratching our heads over here. I did two tours at State and one at the [National Security Council]. If the president called someone, something gets worked out.” But as was the case under President Jimmy Carter, the White House appears helpless while Americans are held captive.

None of these crises occurs in a vacuum — except for the vacuum of a cogent U.S. strategy for dealing with these ever-worsening conditions. Since President Obama took office, he has pursued a diplomatic strategy of charm and restraint: attempting to broker peace between Israel and Palestine, engaging with Syria and Iran, and withdrawing from Iraq. Now we are seeing the results.

The international rogue that is Iran continues to rise, along with its threat to the world. Thousands are dead in Syria under a brutal dictator while the international community is serving up effete condemnations. America’s ally Israel appears ready to take matters into its own hands in order to ensure its survival, while prospects for peace with Palestine remain dim. U.S. citizens are trapped in Egypt as anti-Western Islamists seek to consolidate their power. And Iraq’s once-peaceful prospects have been marred by one terrorist attack after another after America’s military forces departed.  Obama has failed at every turn to safeguard U.S. interests in the region or take effective proactive initiatives to deal with threat of rising extremism and spiraling violence that could lead to regional conflict.

There are actions the United States can and should take. Phillips explains that in Syria,  “the best assistance that the United States can give to ease the suffering of Syrians is to help speed the fall of the Assad regime.” And it can do it by working with European allies, Turkey, and Arab states to escalate sanctions, provide humanitarian relief to refugees, and provide diplomatic and economic support for the Syrian opposition — while holding back from military intervention.

To address Israel and Iran, Phillips and James Carafano advise that the United States must have a clear and unambiguous policy that it will protect itself and its interests.

As for Egypt, Phillips writes that America should “freeze U.S. foreign aid to Cairo and give Egypt’s new leaders an ultimatum: free the American hostages or permanently lose U.S. foreign aid and any American help in refinancing Egypt’s burdensome national debt.”

More broadly, President Obama must fundamentally change course toward the Middle East. His policy of engagement has not worked, and the world is seeing the results. The Middle East is crumbling, and an ineffectual and inert Obama Administration is leading from behind with a foreign policy that has entirely failed to cope with the rapidly devolving conditions along the Mediterranean’s southeastern shores and beyond, with consequences reaching around the world.

Iran’s Arsenal Of Sunburn Missiles Is More Than Enough To Close The Strait.

Any good armchair general with a good search engine and time on their hands can figure out in a hurry that the song and dance about Iran being unable to close the Strait if Hormuz for long  is just a plain crock. Worse than a crock. Yet, this big Orwellian lie persists, so once again I have to set the record straight. Iran has the capability of not only closing the Strait for some time, but creating a world of hurt for the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

Iran possesses a build up of anti-ship weapons called Sunburn missiles, which it has procured from Russia and China over the last decade. These are top-notch weapons developed by the Russians as a low-cost challenge to the expensive, tech-heavy weaponry of the U.S., and specifically the aircraft carrier task force.  A conflict, which I now assign a high probability to [see Scenario for an Israel Attack on Iran], is going to be a huge test of a global-naval doctrine that Russia and China will watch with tremendous interest. That’s why I think they have armed Iran to the teeth. The big question: How many of these weapons does Iran have? I would suggest thousands, and that this is the real show.

Given that U.S. crony logic seems to be about squandering money on weapons in the military-industrial complex, I fear for young sailors and marines on the 5th Fleet. Don’t get me wrong, the US Navy is professional, but the Strait doesn’t allow for the normal defense in depth available in open seas, in fact it offers the Iranians a cross fire setup or triangulation (see map of Strait below) . If you read discussions on various military sites, there is a lively debate on American ship defense system like the Aegis.  However, almost nobody claims this to be fully protective against ship strikes. And an oil tanker, no way.  It is important that the US is working on new generation lasar defense to counter these missiles, however they are still in development. This puts added pressure for Iran to have this fight now, not later. The following is from  ”Russian Military Equality Network. (I have cleaned up the English a bit]

U.S. Navy Pacific Commander Admiral Timothy Keating said that due to lack of sufficient funds for the procurement of simulated target missile defense system,  the U.S. Navy can not now afford to fight “the club” category of supersonic anti-ship missiles. It is reported that the U.S. military that is used to simulate the “club” missile target missile is still being developed, and is expected to be put into use in 2014.

The Sunburn is perhaps the most lethal anti-ship missile in the world, designed to fly as low as 9 feet above ground/water at more than 1,500 miles per hour (mach 2+).  The missile uses a violent pop-up maneuver for its terminal approach to throw off Phalanx and other U.S. anti-missile defense systems. Given their low cost, they’re perfectly suited for close quarter naval conflict in the bathtub-like Persian Gulf.

The Sunburn is versatile, and can be fired from practically any platform, including just a flat bed truck. It has a 90-mile range, which is all that is necessary in the small Persian Gulf and 40-mile-wide Strait of Hormuz.  Fired from shore a missile could hit a ship in the Strait in less than a minute. It presents a real threat to the U.S. Navy. Tests using the Aegean and RAM ship defense technology stops the Sunburn 95% of the time, but such testing was done in open seas, not a bathtub. The payload hit with a 750-pound conventional warhead  can be witnessed at 1:53-1:57 in this video. Not enough to sink a carrier, but it could take down smaller capital ships and crew.

You don’t have to be Hannibal preparing for the Battle of Cannae to see that the Strait is a potential shooting gallery. Without a doubt, Iran has plotted and mapped every firing angle and location along the Gulf, their home-court coastline. This is going to put enormous interdiction pressure on U.S. warplanes to spot and destroy platforms, which may be as simple as a flat-bed truck. In reality, Iran has dug in from Jask in the east to Bandar in the west and can easily cover any ship, commercial or military, traversing the narrow Strait.

Equally disturbing is Iran’s missile range for the entire Persian Gulf. Bahrain itself could be hit by the longer-range version of the Sunburn, the Onyx. Is the U.S. (which has three aircraft carrier groups in play currently) going to stick around or clear out to the Oman Sea, leaving control of the oil lanes to Iran? Or will they stay and slug it out with the Iranians? If so, at what cost? Iran’s strategic advantage may mean some losses for the 5th Fleet, if this gets played out on Iran’s home court.

William Hamilton: Iran: Bomb now or bomb later? | SkyHiDailyNews.com.

As this column is being written, it might be overtaken by the Israel Defense Force (IDF) attacking several places where Iran is developing nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, certain facts regarding Iran’s nuclear capabilities and intentions merit everyone’s attention.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmedinajad, the lunatics in charge of Iran, are committed to the production of nuclear weapons and also committed to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. One or two nuclear weapons hitting Tel Aviv would mean the extinction of Israel as a viable nation-state. Present day Israel occupies less than 2 percent of the land of the Middle East. It is the compactness of Israel that makes it so vulnerable to nuclear attack.

Mr. Obama’s Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, in addition to cutting our armed forces in half and getting ready to pull the plug on Afghanistan, is worried that the IDF will attack Iran sooner rather than later. For his boss politically, the best time for the IDF to attack is this October, right before the November presidential election.

The Israelis are well aware that diplomatic and economic sanctions will not stop Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Russia’s Vladimir Putin and the Saudis know that it is not in the interest of Russia or Saudi Arabia to have neighboring Iran be a nuclear power. But when the USSR collapsed and Russia was so strapped for cash, Russia sold nuclear materials and scientific talent to Iran.

But now, cash-in-hand, Russia is sabotaging Iran’s nuclear program. Of course, the assassinations of five of Iran’s top nuclear scientists over the last five years are blamed on Israel’s Mossad and the CIA. The recent explosion at Iran’s main nuclear facility that killed the general in charge of the program is also blamed on the Mossad and the CIA. Also, someone inflicted the Stuxnet Virus on Iran’s computers.

The organization most likely to have carried out these acts is Russia’s Sluzhbra Vneshney Razvedki (SVR), which carries on the mission of the former KBG’s First Directorate, i.e., foreign intelligence operations. Not even the Mossad is capable of having as many agents on the ground in Iran as the SVR. If the CIA has any assets in Iran, that would be way above Top Secret.

When completed, what will be Iran’s nuclear capability? IDF General Aviv Kochavi says Iran has enough material to make four atomic bombs. Iran has missiles that can not only reach Tel Aviv but also New York, Moscow, and Beijing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister Ehud Barak contend there is only a brief time before the Iranian nuclear program reaches the “zone of immunity,” when it would be too late to delay or destroy the Iranian production facilities.

Could this be done with non-nuclear weapons? Yes, the easiest way would be for U.S. B-2 stealth bombers to drop GBU-57 A/Bs on each of Iran’s nuclear sites. The GBU-57 can penetrate 200 feet of reinforced concrete. The GBU-57s should be followed immediately with GBU-43/B thermo-baric bombs. The GBU-43/Bs would suck all the oxygen out of the air and melt the underground facilities.

Viewed from above, such attacks would not be readily apparent, providing the Iranian dictatorship with a face-saving opportunity to act as if nothing had happened. A situation reminiscent of Soviet workers, who joked: “We pretend to work and the government pretends to pay us.”

Probably, the IDF has non-nuclear weapons to do the penetration; however, they might borrow thermo-baric bombs from Russia whose thermo-baric bombs are four times more powerful than our GBU-43/B. But a 1,000-mile delivery is a problem. To reach Iran, the Saudis would have to give overflight permission. Memo to readers: Vitamin D helps deal with nuclear radiation.

Nationally syndicated columnist, William Hamilton, was educated at the University of Oklahoma, the George Washington University, the U.S Naval War College, the University of Nebraska, and Harvard University.

Iran: US, Israel vulnerable to c… JPost – Iranian Threat – News.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

Syrian tank on fire in Homs

British and Qatari special operations units are operating with rebel forces under cover in the Syrian city of Homs just 162 kilometers from Damascus, according to debkafile’s exclusive military and intelligence sources. The foreign troops are not engaged in direct combat with the Syrian forces bombarding different parts of Syria’s third largest city of 1.2 million. They are tactical advisers, manage rebel communications lines and relay their requests for arms, ammo, fighters and logistical aid to outside suppliers, mostly in Turkey.

This site is the first to report the presence of foreign military forces in any of the Syrian uprising’s embattled areas.
Our sources report the two foreign contingencies have set up four centers of operation – in the northern Homs district of Khaldiya, Bab Amro in the east, and Bab Derib and Rastan in the north. Each district is home to about a quarter of a million people.

More details as they unfold will be available in the coming DEBKA-Net-Weekly issue out Friday.

To subscribe to DEBKA-Net-Weekly, click here
The presence of the British and Qatari troops was seized on by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan for the new plan he unveiled to parliament in Ankara Tuesday, Feb. 7. Treating the British-Qatari contingents as the first foreign foot wedged through the Syrian door, his plan hinges on consigning a new Turkish-Arab force to Homs through that door and under the protection of those contingents. Later, they would go to additional flashpoint cities.

In the close to eleven months of the Syrian revolt, Erdogan has hatched more than one scheme for countering the Assad regime’s savage crackdown on dissent. His most persistent was a plan for the creation of military buffer zones to shelter rebels and civilians persecuted by the Syrian authorities. But nothing came of those plans because, every time they came up, Assad reinforced his contingents on the Turkish border and deployed air defense and surface-to-surface missile batteries. He made it clear that the first Turk crossing the border would spark a full-scale war.

It is hard to say at this point whether the latest Turkish leader’s current plan is any more practical than his earlier schemes. For now, he has put the ball in the American court.  Wednesday, Feb. 8, he sent Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Washington to ask for the Obama administration’s cooperation. The Turkish prime minister is also in urgent consultation with Saudi and several other Gulf rulers in the hope of bringing them aboard.

The British-Qatari troop presence in Homs was at the center of Assad’s talks in Damascus Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian SVR intelligence chief Mikhail Fradkov. Senior Syrian intelligence officers laid their updates from the field before the Russian visitors and received SVR data and evaluations in return.

Western intelligence officials familiar with the talks describe the atmosphere between Assad and the Russian officials as uneasy and tense. Later, Lavrov reported optimistically that he had received assurances from the Syrian ruler of an end to the violence, talks with all Syrian parties and an early referendum on a new constitution for political reforms. His account was no more than prevarication to conceal the opposite outcome of their talks. In fact, their conversation focused on more violence, namely, Assad’s plans for his next assault on rebels and protesters and his military response to the rising covert presence of foreign Western, Arab and Muslim troops in Syria.

debkafile’s military sources report that President Assad has given a kinsman, Gen. Zuhair al-Assad, authority to stamp the Homs revolt into the ground.  The general who is in his thirties commands the 90th Syrian Infantry Brigade, which is the backbone of the military force battering the city for the past five days at the cost of a death toll soaring into hundreds.

The Associated Press: EU set to adopt new sanctions against Syria.

BRUSSELS (AP) — A senior EU official say the bloc will soon impose harsher sanctions against Syria as it seeks to weaken the regime and end President Bashar Assad’s crackdown against political opponents.

The official said Wednesday the new measures may include bans on the import of Syrian phosphates, on commercial flights between Syria and Europe, and on financial transactions with the country’s central bank.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with EU rules, said some measures would be adopted at the EU foreign ministers meeting on Feb. 27, but it’s not yet clear which.

The EU has already banned oil imports from Syria, and imposed visa bans and asset freezes against government officials and military and police officers.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad wants his vice president to hold talks with the opposition groups, Russia’s foreign minister said, as activists reported that dozens died Wednesday in government bombings of cities and villages across Syria.

A day after holding talks with Assad in an emergency meeting in Damascus, Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow that the Syrian leader has “delegated the responsibility of holding such a dialogue to Vice President (Farouk) al-Sharaa.”

Lavrov blamed both Assad’s regime and opposition forces for instigating the violence that has killed thousands of people since March. “On both sides there are people that aim at an armed confrontation, not a dialogue,” he said.

His comments came as Syrian troops bombed residential neighborhoods in the central city of Homs, the northern province of Idlib, southern region of Daraa and the mountain town of Zabadani, in what activists say is the regime’s final push to retake areas controlled by the rebels.

Activists said at least 50 people died in Wednesday’s shelling of Homs, which has been under a relentless regime offensive for the past five days. Hundreds are believed to have been killed there since Saturday.

Syria’s state-run TV reported that gunmen fired mortar rounds at the oil refinery in Homs, one of two in Syria, setting two fuel tankers on fire.

Assad’s regime is becoming increasingly isolated over its bloody crackdown on dissent. Five European countries and six Arab Gulf nations have pulled their ambassadors out of Damascus, and the U.S. has closed its embassy in Syria. Germany, whose envoy left Syria this month, also said he would not be replaced.

Though increasingly ostracized internationally, the Syrian president was bolstered by Tuesday’s visit from Lavrov and Russia’s intelligence chief, Mikhail Fradkov. During the talks, the Russians pushed for a solution to the Syrian crisis that would include reforms by the regime and a dialogue with the opposition — but not for Assad to step down.

Assad said Syria was determined to hold a national dialogue with the opposition and independent figures, and that his government was “ready to cooperate with any effort that boosts stability in Syria,” according to state news agency SANA.

The Syrian opposition rejects any talks with the regime and says they accept nothing less than Assad’s departure.

On Saturday, Russia and China blocked a Western- and Arab-backed U.N. Security Council resolution supporting calls for Assad to hand over some powers to his vice president as a way to defuse the 11-month-old crisis.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 50 people were killed in Wednesday’s shelling of the Homs neighborhoods of Bayadah, Baba Amr, Khaldiyeh and Karm el-Zeytoun. The group also said that 23 homes were heavily damaged in Baba Amr alone.

Omar Shaker, an activist in Baba Amr, said his neighborhood was under “very intense shelling” by tanks, mortars, artilleries and heavy machine guns. Shaker added that he counted five bodies Wednesday in his district.

“The situation is dire. We are short of food, water and medical aid. Doctors have collapsed after treating the wounded without rest for five days,” Shaker said. “We want Lavrov to come and spend a night in Homs to see what we have been passing through.”

The activist urged the international community to set up a safe passage so that women and children can leave volatile areas of Homs.

The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said the regime was trying “exhaust rebels in preparation for storming neighborhoods.”

The Observatory and another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, also reported intense clashes between troops loyal to Assad and defectors on Wednesday in the province of Idlib, bordering Turkey. The Observatory said at least five soldiers were killed in the clashes.

The LCC said troops backed by tanks were also shelling and pushing forward in the southern village of Tseel in the Daraa province that borders Jordan. The group also said that rebel-controlled Zabadani, west of Damascus, was subjected to intense shelling since the early hours of Wednesday.

The U.N. estimates the government crackdown has killed more than 5,400 people since March, making Syria’s conflict one of the deadliest of the Arab Spring.

Hundreds more are believed to have died since the U.N. released that figure in January, but the chaos in the country has made it impossible for the world body to update its figures.