WarSclerotic

Jewish establishment still frightened – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

( That which doesn’t kill one, makes one stronger. – Nietzsche . – JW )

Op-ed: Given his narrow support base in Congress, no one truly believes Hagel will be able to implement major changes in US policy

Shoula Romano Horing

The Republicans in the Senate succeeded in delaying the vote to confirm Chuck Hagel for secretary of defense to the week of February 26 but did not yet succeed in defeating his nomination. If the vote will proceed, Hagel will need only a simple majority of 51 votes to be confirmed. The Democrats have 55 senators supporting Hagel including 11 Jewish senators. If only five of the 11 senators will stop their blind worship of President Obama and decide to abstain, the nomination will be defeated. If only the Jewish establishment would stop being frightened and decide to join in the campaign against Hagel, his nomination would be withdrawn.

The Americans Jewish Committee ( AJC), AIPAC, Anti -Defamation League (ADL), the Conference of Presidents and the National Jewish Democratic Council all decided after the nomination not to oppose Hagel and not to campaign against him even though they all raised concerns about his voting record. The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) and the Republican Jewish Coalition have been the only major Jewish groups to publicly oppose Hagel.

Morton Klein, the ZOA president said in a recent interview with an Israeli newspaper that he was personally called by major Jewish leaders and was told to “stop his organization campaign against Hagel.” Klein stated that his counterparts at the other organizations told him that he “was making this a Jewish issue” which they considered “bad for the Jews.”

But in reality, Hagel made this a Jewish issue when he stated that “the Jewish lobby intimidates people” and when his voting record revealed his willingness to appease the Jewish state’s enemies like Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran .The Washington Free Beacon just reported that in a 2007 speech at Rutgers university Hagel remarked that “the State Department was becoming an adjunct of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.”

The fault also lies at Obama’s feet for obsessively deciding to choose Hagel , while knowing that his notorious record will raise the ugly head of anti -Semitism and old age Jewish stereotypes..

But much worse, it was the fault of the Jewish senators, other Jewish Democrats and the major Jewish organizations for being silent despite their concerns. First, by being afraid to voice their objections to the president when his nomination was suggested at the trial balloon phase more than 10 days before the public nomination, and second, by dropping their objections to the nomination.

Hagel weakened, ridiculed

But this is not the first time the US Jewish leaders and establishment have been shamefully self -indulgent and frightened to speak up for the sake of their fellow Jews.

Scholarly research has revealed that the American Jews were not powerless during the Holocaust, but merely weak. They were like a muscle never fully flexed. The evidence shows that the Jewish leaders and organizations were silent even though they could have pressured President Franklin Roosevelt, to enter World War II earlier and rescue millions of Jews or bomb the death camps and railroads.

As with President Obama, President Roosevelt was considered as the god of American liberalism and of the American Jewish community. The American Jews constituted the most loyal and loving of Roosevelt’s constituencies and the vast majority of Jews voted four times for him. No president till then had appointed so many Jews to public office and surrounded himself with so many Jewish advisors.

However, even when Roosevelt closed US doors to Jewish refugees prior to and during the Holocaust, the Jewish establishment refused to confront Roosevelt. Moreover, as Rafael Madoff explains in his book The Deafening Silence, the Jews were also silent because of “their fear of lifting the lid off a simmering American anti- Jewish backlash.”

The only Jewish group in the US who struggled against the silence of America and the passivity of Roosevelt were the Jews on the political right which included the Zionist Revisionists, and strictly Orthodox Jews. Instead of joining them the liberal Jewish establishment fought against them.

Consequently, the question must be asked by every American Jew as to what red lines must be crossed before the Jewish senators, congressmen and major Jewish organizations will stop being silent in regard to President Obama’s policies? When will they flex their political muscles?

What will they do if Obama decides to try to cut military aid to Israel, or lets Iran become a nuclear power? What will happen if Obama recognizes Hamas and Hezbollah and forces Israel to establish another Hamastan in the West Bank? What will happen if Obama tries to force Israel to dismantle its nuclear weapons or votes with the Security Council or the UN General Assembly to boycott Israel?

Barack Obama should not be coddled by the Jews but should be persuaded and confronted, if necessary, to withdraw the Hagel nomination.

If Obama sought to start the “fight” in order to weaken the pro-Israel support in Congress and to create “daylight” between the US and Israel, he failed miserably. Even if confirmed, the pro- Israel supporters, led mostly by Christians, have already won because Hagel has been weakened and ridiculed to the point that he will be ineffective. The vote in the Senate was the first successful filibuster of the nomination of any secretary of defense in US history.

After that humiliating event , and given how narrow his base of support seems to be in Congress, no one truly believes that Hagel will be able to implement any major changes in US foreign or military policy including trying to appease the Arab world and Iran, and weakening the close US-Israeli alliance.

Assad’s troops retreat from Golan, leaving Islamist rebels to confront Israel.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 19, 2013, 12:50 PM (GMT+02:00)

Syrian rebels occupy Golan

President Bashar Assad has evacuated most of the troops of his 5^th Army Division from their permanent bases on the Golan opposite Israeli forces and transferred the unit along with its artillery to Damascus, debkafile’s military sources report.
The Syrian ruler’s step had three purposes:

1. To reinforce his Damascus defenses;

2. To carve out a buffer zone along the Israeli border and leave it under rebel control.

3. To provide the jihadists fighting in rebel ranks with access to the Israeli border fence. Senior officers in the IDF’s northern command believe it is just a matter of time before these al Qaeda-associated fighters hurl themselves at the border fence to break through, or target Israeli military targets from across the Syrian border.

Assad first practiced this stratagem on Syria’s northern frontier with Turkey.

Six months ago, he opened the door of his border region to let armed bands of the separatist PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) through from Iraq and set up new strike bases opposite Turkey’s back door, to which they could flee after attacks.
The PKK took full advantage of this opportunity. Indeed, to curb the Kurdish offensive, Ankara was forced to enter into negotiations with PKK leaders for a settlement of their claims, although they are still poised in Syria to resume their attacks.
Israel does not have that option because most of the Islamists fighting with the Syrian rebels are associated with al Qaeda and committed to jihad against the Jewish state.
debkafile reports that Saturday, Feb. 16, Israeli government and military leaders were at odds over whether to extend medical treatment to seven Syrians injured in battle on the Golan. In the event, they were allowed to cross the border and transferred to hospital in Safed.

But because of the argument, the official communiqué said only that the decision was taken on humanitarian grounds but omitted to specify whether the injured Syrians were soldiers or rebels.
However, there was never any doubt that they were in fact Syrian conscripts wounded in the course of their unit’s withdrawal from the Golan. The argument against giving the soldiers medical treatment was that they were Bashar Assad’s troops and looking after them was tantamount to endorsing Assad’s hostile schemes and therefore unacceptable. It was settled by avoiding identifying the wounded men.

Mortars explode near Assad’s palace in Damascus | The Times of Israel.

( Ask not for whom the bell tolls… – JW )

Minor damage, no injuries in first strike near the presidential compound as Syrian rebels bring the fight to regime’s heart

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Two mortars exploded near one of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s palaces in Damascus on Tuesday but caused only material damage, Syria’s state news service said.

The attack was the first confirmed strike close to a presidential palace and another sign that the civil war is seeping into areas once considered safe and reaching closer to the heart of Assad’s seat of power in the capital.

The news service, SANA, said “terrorists” fired the rounds that struck near the southern wall of the Tishreen palace in the capital’s northwestern Muhajireen district. The government rebels to anti-government fighters as “terrorists.”

No casualties were reported and it was unclear whether Assad was in the palace. He has two others in the city.

Assad often uses the Tishreen palace to receive dignitaries and as a guest house for foreign officials during their visits to Syria.

His two other palaces are the People’s Palace on Qasioun mountain overlooking the capital and Rawda palace in the central neighborhood of Abu Rummaneh.

For security reasons, Assad movements are shrouded in secrecy and it is unclear how much time he spends in any of the palaces. His public appearances have grown increasingly infrequent as the civil war has spread.

The Syrian capital has largely been spared the violence that has left other Syrian cities in ruins. For weeks, however, rebels who have established footholds in the suburbs have been pushing closer to the heart of the city from the eastern and southern outskirts, clashing with government forces.

Rebels have claimed to fire rockets at the presidential palaces before, but Tuesday’s strike was the first confirmed by the government.

In the northern city of Aleppo, a Syrian missile strike leveled a stretch of buildings and killed at least 19 people, leaving residents combing through the rubble to find those trapped beneath it, anti-regime activists said Tuesday.

The strike was the latest salvo in a fierce and bloody 7-month battle for Syria’s largest city and economic center, a key prize in the civil war.

Rebels have slowly expanded their control over parts of Aleppo since first storming it last summer. The city is now divided between rebel- and regime-controlled zones.

Rebel forces have been trying for weeks to capture the city’s international airport and two military airbases nearby, while the government is bringing in reinforcements from areas it still controls further south and regularly bombing rebel areas from the air.

The Britain-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 31 people were confirmed dead in the attack late Monday night, including 14 children and five women.

The activist Aleppo Media Center said more than 40 were killed and published the names of 21 off them on its Facebook page. There was no way to reconcile the differing tolls.

Both groups said the strike appeared to be from a ground-to-ground missile. The Syrian government did not comment.

Activist Mohammed al-Khatib of the AMC said via Skype that the death toll could rise further as residents search the site for more bodies.

“There are still many martyrs under the rubble. … There are still lots of people missing from the area,” he said.

He said the strike appeared to be from a large ground-to-ground missile because of the scale of the destruction and because residents did not report hearing a fighter jet, as they usually do during airstrikes.

Videos posted online showed scores of men searching the destroyed buildings in the poor Jabal Badro neighborhood for the dead and wounded. One man swung a sledgehammer to break through concrete while a bulldozer hauled off rubble. In another video, a man covered in grey dust struggled under pile of concrete.

The videos appeared authentic and corresponded with other Associated Press reporting.

Although President Bashar Assad’s forces regularly shell and launch airstrikes on areas held by anti-government rebels, their use of large missiles has been limited.

In December, US and NATO officials confirmed rebel reports that Syrian forces had fired Scud missiles at rebel areas in northern Syria. That was the last confirmed use of such weapons.

Also Wednesday, rebels clashed with government forces near Aleppo’s international airport and the Kweiras military airport nearby, the Observatory said. Clashes have halted air traffic to the two airports for weeks, since rebels launched their offensive to try to capture them.

The Observatory also reported government shelling and airstrikes and clashes between government forces and rebels east and south of the capital, Damascus. Seven people were killed in rocket strikes on the eastern suburb of Kafar Batna and five died in a car bombing in Jdeidat al-Fadel, southwest off the capital, it said.

The Syrian state news agency said the army had carried out “successful operations against terrorists” in Aleppo, mentioning a number of neighborhoods that did not include Jabal Badro.

Syria refers to rebels seeking to topple Assad as “terrorists” and blames the conflict on an international conspiracy to weaken the country.

The UN says some 70,000 have been killed since Syria’s uprising against Assad’s rule began in March 2011.

The violence has spread humanitarian suffering across much of Syria.

The UN warned in a report released Monday that contaminated water and poor hygiene practices in populated areas have led to an increase in waterborne diseases such as Hepatitis A and Typhoid.

The World Health Organization said the health situation on the ground is rapidly deteriorating, with an estimated 2,500 people in the northeastern Deir el-Zour province infected with Typhoid and 14,000 cases of Leishmania, a parasite responsible for an infectious and often debilitating disease, in Hassakeh province.

It also said Hepatitis A has been reported in Aleppo and Idlib and some crowded shelters hosting displaced people in Damascus.

International diplomacy has failed to stop the violence. The US and other Arab and European countries have called on Assad to stand down, while Russia, China and Iran continue to back him. Russia, Syria’s largest arms supplies for decades, has said it will continue to fulfill its arms contracts with Assad’s regime.

Russia on Tuesday said it had sent two jets carrying humanitarian aid to Syria and are inviting Russians who want to leave the country to take the flights back.

The Emergency Situations Ministry on Tuesday said the two planes had already left Moscow for northwestern port of Latakia, carrying 40 tons of aid, including portable power generators, blankets, canned food and sugar. It says Russians are welcome to fly back on the planes.

Russia’s defense ministry also said it would deploy four ships in the Mediterranean but did not connect this to the situation in Syria. Russian news agencies quoted unnamed officials as saying the ships would be present in case Russia needs to evacuate its citizens.

In January, Russia flew 77 of its citizens out of Syria on two flights from Beirut. The foreign ministry says it is not planning a large-scale evacuation.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Iran says it is willing to make nuke deal with West

Tehran indicates it can ease concerns over enrichment work in exchange for ‘show of goodwill’ from US and others at upcoming talks

February 19, 2013, 11:16 am 1

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Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili speaks during a press conference in New Delhi, in January 2013. (Photo credit: AP/Tsering Topgyal)

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili speaks during a press conference in New Delhi, in January 2013. (Photo credit: AP/Tsering Topgyal)

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Iran

Iran’s nuclear program

Saeed Jalili

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran is prepared to ease Western concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for pledges from the US and others about the country’s ability to enrich uranium, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

The remarks signaled a possible opening before next week’s talks with world powers, due in the Kazakhstan capital.

The West has been reluctant to make clear declarations on Iran’s nuclear “rights” in previous negotiations last year that ended in stalemate. Tehran is seeking international acknowledgment that its uranium enrichment program is acceptable within the UN treaty governing the spread of nuclear technology — a treaty that Iran has signed.

The US and allies fear Iran’s enrichment program could lead to atomic weapons; Tehran says its nuclear fuel is only for energy-producing reactors and medical applications.

The talks last year hit an impasse over Iran’s highest-level enrichment, at 20 percent, which can be rapidly converted to weapons grade material. Iran says it needs the 20 percent uranium for its medical research reactor. It also produces lower-enriched uranium at 3.5 percent for its Russian-build electricity reactor.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters on Tuesday that an important “opportunity” awaits next week’s talks in Kazakhstan between Iran and a six-nation group, the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany.

“We will offer ways for removing possible concerns and ambiguities to show our goodwill, if Western countries, especially the US, fully recognize the nuclear rights of countries, which shows their goodwill,” he said.

“Same-level, same-weight” mutual actions can be followed by Iran to reach an “understanding point,” Mehmanparast added.

Earlier this month, US Vice President Joe Biden said Washington was ready to hold one-on-one talks with Iran, an offer that was later rejected by Iranian leaders.

On Saturday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country was not seeking nuclear weapons, but that if Tehran intended to build them, the US couldn’t stop it.

Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is set to sit across from the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany in the latest round of talks over its nuclear program next week.

via Iran says it is willing to make nuke deal with West | The Times of Israel.

Iran’s Defense Minister threatens Israel

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Iran’s Defense Minister threatens Israel

19 February 2013, 13:43 (GMT+04:00)

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Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 19 /Trend S.Isayev, D. Khatinoglu/

Iran’s Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi has issued a threatening message to Israel, ISNA news agency reported.

“Iran keeps its right for retaliation of the assasination of IRGC General Hassan Shateri,” Vahidi said.

Iranian officials said Shateri was shot and killed while traveling from Damascus to Beirut. A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards blamed the attack on “mercenaries and supporters” of Israel.

Syrian rebel groups offered varying accounts of his death.

The Free Syrian Army said he died in an Israeli air strike last month on a Syrian military center near Damascus, while other rebels said he was killed earlier this week near the Lebanese border.

Iranian officials and semi-official media outlets said Shateri was in charge of reconstruction projects in southern Lebanon.

via Iran’s Defense Minister threatens Israel – Trend.Az.

Assad’s troops retreat from Golan, leaving Islamist rebels to confront IsraelDEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 19, 2013, 12:50 PM GMT+02:00Tags: Bashar Assad Syrian army Syrian rebels Golan Israel Al Qaeda Syria Syrian rebels occupy GolanSyrian rebels occupy Golan President Bashar Assad has evacuated most of the troops of his 5th Army Division from their permanent bases on the Golan opposite Israeli forces and transferred the unit along with its artillery to Damascus, debkafile’s military sources report.The Syrian ruler’s step had three purposes:1. To reinforce his Damascus defenses;2. To carve out a buffer zone along the Israeli border and leave it under rebel control.3. To provide the jihadists fighting in rebel ranks with access to the Israeli border fence. Senior officers in the IDF’s northern command believe it is just a matter of time before these al Qaeda-associated fighters hurl themselves at the border fence to break through, or target Israeli military targets from across the Syrian border. Assad first practiced this stratagem on Syria’s northern frontier with Turkey.Six months ago, he opened the door of his border region to let armed bands of the separatist PKK Kurdish Workers’ Party through from Iraq and set up new strike bases opposite Turkey’s back door, to which they could flee after attacks.The PKK took full advantage of this opportunity. Indeed, to curb the Kurdish offensive, Ankara was forced to enter into negotiations with PKK leaders for a settlement of their claims, although they are still poised in Syria to resume their attacks.Israel does not have that option because most of the Islamists fighting with the Syrian rebels are associated with al Qaeda and committed to jihad against the Jewish state.debkafile reports that Saturday, Feb. 16, Israeli government and military leaders were at odds over whether to extend medical treatment to seven Syrians injured in battle on the Golan. In the event, they were allowed to cross the border and transferred to hospital in Safed.But because of the argument, the official communiqué said only that the decision was taken on humanitarian grounds but omitted to specify whether the injured Syrians were soldiers or rebels.However, there was never any doubt that they were in fact Syrian conscripts wounded in the course of their unit’s withdrawal from the Golan. The argument against giving the soldiers medical treatment was that they were Bashar Assad’s troops and looking after them was tantamount to endorsing Assad’s hostile schemes and therefore unacceptable. It was settled by avoiding identifying the wounded men.

via Assad’s troops retreat from Golan, leaving Islamist rebels to confront Israel.

Israel supplying advanced weaponry to Turkey | The Times of Israel.

Military deal, the fulfillment of an order that was halted after the Mavi Marmara incident, is first of its kind since 2010

A Turkish F-16. (photo credit: CC BY Ronnie Macdonald, Flickr)

Israel is providing advanced electronic warfare systems for aircraft to Turkey, a fulfillment of an earlier order that was put on hold in the wake of the infamous Mavi Marmara incident in 2010. It is the first instance of a military equipment exchange between Jerusalem and Ankara since then.

Turkey’s Today’s Zaman reported the sale, which will significantly beef up Ankara’s intelligence capabilities, and the aircraft upgrade was confirmed by senior Israeli sources Monday. A source said the deal was approved due to US pressure and Israel’s desire to restore its damaged relationship with Turkey, amid escalating tension between Ankara and Tehran over the Syrian conflict, according to the Hebrew daily Haaretz.

The Syrian civil war has posed additional security challenges for Turkey. In October 2012, five Turkish civilians were killed by Syrian fire, sparking fears that Ankara would be dragged into the regional conflict. Turkey vowed to respond harshly, and it deployed extra jets to its border with Syria in the weeks after the incident.

Turkish soldiers patrol a military station at the border crossing with Syria in Akçakale, across from the Syrian rebel-controlled town of Tel Abyad in October. (photo credit: AP)

The electronic systems are to be integrated into the Turkish Air Force’s Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) military aircraft that were purchased from the US in the early 2000s. The system enables the planes to protect themselves from electronic attacks that target its controls during flight, Today’s Zaman reported.

In 2002, Boeing won a $200 million contract to supply Turkey with the four AWACS aircraft — and a $25 million contract to integrate electronic warning systems into the four planes was then won by ELTA, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries. Boeing supplied the planes to Turkey three years ago. Israel’s fulfillment of the order, however, was halted after it delivered two of the electronic systems in 2011, in the wake of the Mavi Marmara incident.

News about the weapons deal comes less than three months after media reports surfaced that Ankara and Jerusalem were engaging in secret back-channel reconciliation talks despite heightened tensions over Operation Pillar of Defense. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed that the two countries were trying to find ways to end their diplomatic impasse.

Relations between former close allies Turkey and Israel soured after nine pro-Palestinian activists — eight Turks and a Turkish-American — were killed by Israeli troops aboard the Mavi Marmara vessel, which was part of an international flotilla trying to break the Gaza blockade, on May 31, 2010. Israeli naval commandos commandeered the vessel and were attacked by activists.

Turkey has demanded a formal apology, compensation for victims and the families of the dead, and for the Gaza blockade to be lifted.

Israel has resisted Turkish demands to apologize for the raid on the ship and to compensate those killed as a precondition for normalizing relations. Israel — stressing that its solders were attacked with clubs and poles by violent thugs aboard the vessel, and insisting that its blockade against Gaza, which is run by the terror group Hamas, is legal — has said it “regrets” the loss of life, rather than issuing a full apology, and has offered to pay into what it called a “humanitarian fund” through which casualties and relatives could be compensated.

Turkey disputes Israeli assertions that its soldiers acted in self-defense. The commando operation sparked worldwide condemnation and led to an easing of Israel’s blockade on the the Gaza Strip. A UN report on the Mavi Marmara incident released in 2011 concluded that Israel had used unreasonable force in stopping the ship, but that the blockade on Gaza was legal.

Syrian rebels push offensive for major airport – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Control of Aleppo’s airport would mark strategic shift in 23-month civil war; EU foreign ministers say keeping current sanctions against Syria in place for three months

Associated Press

The rebels launched a major attack on the airport and the adjacent Nairab military airfield last week, and have since overrun the main army base protecting the area. Control of the airport would provide a significant boost for the opposition, and mark a strategic shift in the country’s 23-month civil war.

The fighting has been raging for weeks, but it was only in early February after the rebels captured the strategic Aleppo neighborhood of Sheik Said near the airport, which has been shut down because of the violence, that the offensive gained momentum.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Aleppo Media Center reported that rebels captured the main fuel station on the Nairab base. The Observatory said there were several regime casualties and five rebels, including foreign fighters, killed before rebels withdrew from the station a few hours later.

The fight for the international airport in Aleppo, Syria‘s largest city and commercial hub, highlights the importance that both sides in the conflict place on controlling strategic assets that could provide an edge in the larger fight for the country.

Last week, rebels seized a hydroelectric dam and a major oil field, cutting off President Bashar Assad‘s regime from key resources necessary for its long-term survival. Rebels also seized an air defense base and fought near two other army installations in Syria’s north.

Rebels attack Assad forces in Aleppo region (Photo: AFP)

Aleppo’s airport is crucial in the broader fight for the city itself. Rebels launched an offensive on Aleppo in July, and quickly seized several neighborhoods. Since then, the fighting has settled into a bloody stalemate that has destroyed entire districts, killed thousands and forced thousands more to flee their homes.

Determined to hang onto the city, Assad’s regime has thrown troops and resources into the fight. But his army has faced difficulties in sending reinforcements to Aleppo since October, when rebels captured the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Aleppo. Maaret al-Numan is on the highway that links Damascus with Aleppo.

The regime has not been able to fly supplies since the Aleppo airport closed weeks ago due to the fighting.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said over the past two weeks large army reinforcements were able to reach the town of Safira, near the city of Aleppo, after securing a desert road that links the central province of Hama with northern Syria.

He said the reinforcements, including dozens of vehicles and thousands of troops, have not been able to reach Aleppo because of heavy fighting in the town of Tal Aran between the city’s international airport and Safira.

Safira is home to military production facilities that rebels have been trying to capture in recent past weeks with no luck.

“The regime is doing all it can to open a road to Aleppo,” Abdul-Rahman said.

Significant boost. Aleppo’s airport (Photo: Reuters)

Abdul-Rahman, whose group relies on a network of activists around the country, said as the army convoys pushed north, more than 200 members of al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra were killed over the past two weeks in clashes with the reinforcements. The Obama administration designated Jabhat al-Nusra a terrorist organization in December.

Also Monday, European Union foreign ministers said they are keeping the current sanctions against Syria in place for three months, blocking a push by some to ease restrictions so some countries could arm the rebels.

An EU official said before the meeting in Brussels that Britain was pushing to ease the embargo, but several foreign ministers from other countries said they opposed the move.

Since the opposition began taking up arms against Assad’s forces in late 2011, it has pleaded for military aid, calling it the only way to turn the tide against Assad’s forces.

The US and other countries have resisted such a move, saying there is no way to control how the arms are used, especially with Islamic radicals rising in the rebel ranks.

Bolstering those concerns, a UN-appointed panel said Monday that the civil war is becoming more sectarian and that both sides are becoming increasingly radicalized.

The panel’s 131-page report, released Monday, said regime forces and affiliated militias committed crimes against humanity such as murder, torture and rape. It said anti-government armed groups have committed war crimes, including murder, torture and hostage-taking, but said these did not reach the “intensity and scale” of the government’s violations.

It said the only way to end Syria’s crisis is a political solution between the two sides.

Also Monday, the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah announced that one of its fighters had been killed while doing “his jihadist duty.” It gave no further details on his death.

The announcement followed reports from Syrian activists and a Lebanese official near the Syrian border that at least two Hezbollah fighters had been killed in sectarian clashes near the Syrian town of Qusair on Saturday.

Hezbollah declined to comment on the clashes, and it could not be confirmed that the fighter buried Monday was killed in Syria.

The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees activist group also said government forces were shelling southern neighborhoods of the capital, Damascus, mostly around the rebel-held Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk. There has been intense fighting in recent weeks in southern and northeastern districts of the capital.

A Syrian official said three mortars had fallen on the Qassaa neighborhood, a Christian area in central Damascus. Speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, the official said two mortars hit the roof of a hospital and another fell in a school playground, causing material damages.

The UN says nearly 70,000 people have been killed in Syria’s conflict since the revolt against Assad began in March 2011.

Syrian Islamists meet Hizballah head-on – take in arms from Bosnia, Kosovo.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report February 18, 2013, 12:52 PM (GMT+02:00)

Fagot anti-tank missile

  Reports Monday, Feb. 18, that Hizballah has transferred 1,000 fighters to the Syrian district of Homs are a red herring to distract attention from six new major developments in the Syrian civil conflict – revealed here by debkafile’s military and intelligence sources:
1. Contrary to reports of Hizballah attacks on villages in the Homs region, the thousand Hizballah militiamen have moved in to defend the predominantly Shiite villages of the area whose population is loyal to Bashar Assad. They are there to relieve the Syrian army of the burden of defending these Shiites against rebel attack.
Hizballah has also undertaken to guard Shiite holy shrines in Syria.

2.  The Muslim factions of the Syrian revolt have received their first heavy weapons consignments, mostly Kornet and Fagot anti-tank missiles. Their improved armaments account for the new edge they display in battles with Bashar Assad’s army, although reports of their conquests are much exaggerated.
3.  These arms are coming from two sources: radical Islamist organizations in Bosnia and Kosovo, some of them associated with al Qaeda – at least ideologically. It is hard to say who is organizing and bankrolling the new weapons sea route to Syria. According to one theory, it is the Albanian mafia.

4. For the first time, Syrian rebels are taking in arms unsupervised by any of the Western or Arab agencies involved in the Syrian revolt.

5. Most of the incoming weapons are destined for the Islamist Jabhat al-Nusra, the rebel faction identified with al Qaeda.

6. The Jabhat al-Nusra, newly armed with hardware from Bosnia and Kosovo, have pushed across the border into Lebanon, our sources reveal, and are harassing Hizballah in its home bases in the Beqaa Valley. Night after night in the last ten days, small bands of Islamist fighters, weighed down by heavy loads of rockets, are attacking Hizballah strongholds and isolated guard and watch posts and ambushing military vehicles.
Both are designated terrorist groups by the United States government.
The Syrian conflict has indeed spilled over the border into Lebanon. It is also turning more and more into a sectarian confrontation between extremist Sunnis and radical Shiites.

Iran says it is willing to make nuke deal with West | The Times of Israel.

( Would that this was more than just another con… – JW )

Tehran indicates it is can ease concerns over enrichment work in exchange for ‘show of goodwill’ from US and others at upcoming talks

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili speaks during a press conference in New Delhi, in January 2013. (Photo credit: AP/Tsering Topgyal)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran says it is willing to ease Western concerns about Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for pledges from the United States and others about its ability to enrich uranium.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast says an “opportunity” awaits at the nuclear talks next week between Iran and world powers in Kazakhstan.

Mehmanparast told reporters on Tuesday that Iran seeks a “show of goodwill” by the US and its allies to recognize Iran’s nuclear “rights,” which include enriching uranium. Mehmanparast says Iran would respond with proposals to address Western concerns.

Earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden said Washington was prepared to talk directly to Iran. Tehran rejected the offer.

The West suspects Iran’s enrichment program could eventually produce material for a nuclear weapon, a charge Iran denies.

Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is set to sit across from the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany in the latest round of talks over its nuclear program next week.