Nilesat, Arabsat stop broadcasting Syria state TV channels
CounterPsyOps
September 6, 2012
Satellite companies Nilesat and Arabsat have stopped broadcasting Syrian television stations.
The operators took Syria’s state television channel as well as pro-government channels al-Ekhbaryah and al-Dunya off air on Wednesday shortly after a meeting of Arab League ministers in Cairo.
In June, the Arab League asked satellite operators Nilesat and Arabsat to shut down Syrian TV signals.
The operators, however, continue broadcasting Syria’s anti-Damascus television channels.
The Syrian government has slammed the move as an attempt to silence the Syrians, stressing that it is in violation of media ethics.
It is believed that by removing Syrian channels from Nilesat and Arabsat, Western-backed anti-Syria channels will gain absolute control of media with regard to covering events unfolding in Syria.
Syria has been the scene of deadly unrest since mid-March, 2011 and many people, including large numbers of army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.
While the West and the Syrian opposition accuse the government of being behind the violence, Damascus blames ”outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, insisting that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on August 1 that the country is engaged in a ”crucial and heroic” battle that will determine the destiny of the nation.
Source: Press TV
[hat tip: Friends Of Syria]
Syria Russia Egypt China Israel EU – Benjamin Fulford [video]
108morris108
September 7, 2012
Current Geo Political Developments – And reading their true goals.
The Jews could live in the Middle East – if they could just get rid of their paranoia and anti social behaviour.
The Syrian Debacle: Proxy War
Stop NATO
September 6, 2012
The News
September 5, 2012
The Syrian debacle
Iftekhar A Khan
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Britain has already given £5 million in aid to opposition groups in Syria, and its special envoy to the Syrian opposition, John Wilks, has remained in contact with FSA members in Istanbul. Western powers continue to change the regimes of countries which cannot defend themselves and they do it too often and too brazenly.
It is strange for the Arab League, which also contains repressive monarchies and dynastic emirates, to declare one of its member-states tyrannical.
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Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are engaged in a proxy war at the behest of the United States to destabilise Syria and change the regime in Damascus. Saudi Arabia bankrolls the insurgency, Qatar plays a role similar to the one it played in the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi in Libya, and Turkey provides bases to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighting President Bashar al-Assad. It is incredible how the FSA irregulars inflict heavy casualties on the battle-hardened Syrian army and knock out its tanks and helicopter-gunships.
The United States, Britain and France have thrown their might behind the Syrian rebels by providing them intelligence support and sophisticated weapons. The clandestine operation going on for the last 17 months against Syria is meant to weaken the influence of Iran in the region.
The Iranian leadership refuses to acquiesce to imperial designs in the Middle East, unlike the oil-rich sheikdoms. The pattern of Western intervention in Syria is all too familiar. It is the same old pretext of weapons of mass destruction as it was in Iraq, and the same powers – mainly the US, the UK and France.
The Iraq invasion in March 2003 was fresh in people’s minds when Libya was attacked by Western forces and its leader Muammar Qaddafi lynched. The new candidate for regime change is Syria and its leader Bashar al-Assad. In Libya the opposition was the Transitional National Council (TNC), and in Syria it is the Syrian National Council (SNC). Tony Blair played out the US agenda in Iraq, and David Cameron is faithfully doing the same in Syria.
Britain has already given £5 million in aid to opposition groups in Syria, and its special envoy to the Syrian opposition, John Wilks, has remained in contact with FSA members in Istanbul. Western powers continue to change the regimes of countries which cannot defend themselves and they do it too often and too brazenly.
The recently held summit of the OIC in Mecca has suspended Syria’s membership and backed calls for arming Syrian rebels to launch offensives against Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has accused Assad of acts of repression against his own people. It is strange for the Arab League, which also contains repressive monarchies and dynastic emirates, to declare one of its member-states tyrannical. Who knows the scenario could change for the worse for Muslim countries which are now instigating rebellion in Syria.
For instance, what would happen if the Western media suddenly began to advocate the arrival of democracy in, say, Saudi Arabia, asking it to hold elections? And CNN and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, known for influencing US foreign policy, could take up the sensitive issue of emancipation of women in the ultra-conservative Saudi society and insist that Saudi Arabia granted them the right to vote. Ridding Afghan women of their blue cloak was part of the lofty agenda of the US invasion in Afghanistan, although the cloak stays when the invaders pack up to leave.
It is sad that the Muslim countries allow themselves to be part of campaigns against other Muslim countries because of sectarian prejudices. Iran has always assured Saudi Arabia and the emirates that it has no ill will towards them. Without outside support Qatar can hardly face Iran. In fact, Qatar is so vulnerable on its own that if threatened by Iran it would have to back off…
The writer is a freelance columnist based in Lahore.
Bomb explodes outside mosque in Damascus, many casualties
Russia Today
September 7, 2012
A bomb has exploded near a mosque in northern Damascus causing casualties, state-run Syrian TV reported. It was planted on a motorbike.
The channel’s report did not provide further details.
AP cites an unnamed official as saying that at least 10 people were wounded. Some of the victims are in a serious condition.
Details to follow
Syria Death By A 1000 Cuts – Syrian [video]
108morris108
September 6, 2012
– What’s Russia’s strategy and what does it want?
– Where does China fit in vis-a-vis Syria and Iran?
– What’s with Iran and Egypt?
– Where is the situation headed in the region?
– What is Syria going to do?
BBC Censors Video Showing Syrian Rebels Forcing Prisoner to Become Suicide Bomber [video included]
Broadcaster attempts to hide clear evidence of war crimes
by Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Thursday, August 23, 2012
The BBC has sensationally censored a news story and a video showing Syrian rebels forcing a prisoner to become a suicide bomber, a war crime under the Geneva Conventions, presumably because it reflected badly on establishment media efforts to portray the FSA as glorious freedom fighters.
The video, a copy of which can be viewed above (the original BBC version was deleted), shows Free Syrian Army rebels preparing a bomb that is loaded onto the back of a truck to be detonated at a government checkpoint in the city of Aleppo.
The clip explains how the rebels have commandeered an apartment belonging to a Syrian police captain. The rebels are seen sneering at photos of the police captain’s family while they proclaim, “Look at their freedom, look how good it is,” while hypocritically enjoying the luxury of the man’s swimming pool.
The video then shows a prisoner who the rebels claim belonged to a pro-government militia. Bruises from torture on the prisoner’s body are explained away as having been metered out by the man’s previous captors. The BBC commentary emphasizes how well the rebels are treating the man, showing them handing him a cigarette.
However, the man has been tricked into thinking he is part of a prisoner exchange program when in reality he is being set up as an unwitting suicide bomber. The prisoner is blindfolded and told to drive the truck towards a government checkpoint.
“What he doesn’t know is that the truck is the one that’s been rigged with a 300 kilo bomb,” states the narrator.
The clip then shows rebels returning disappointed after it’s revealed that the remote detonator failed and the bomb did not explode.
The BBC narrator admits that forcing prisoners to become suicide bombers “would certainly be considered a war crime.”
New York Times reporters who shot the video claim they had no knowledge of the plot. A longer version of the clip is posted on the New York Times You Tube channel. The title of the clip glorifies the rebel fighters as “The Lions of Tawhid”.
Within hours of the story being published, it was subsequently sent down the memory by the BBC. Attempts to reach the original article URL are greeted with a 404 Not Found page.
In addition, a You Tube version of the same video originally posted on the official BBC News 2012 channel was also removed. Although the You Tube page for the video states that it was removed after a “copyright claim by British Broadcasting Corporation” this is a bogus reason, because the video was not uploaded by a third party, it was posted on the official BBC channel, as the screenshot below proves.
“Copyright claim” is a bogus reason for the video’s removal because it originally appeared on the official BBC News Channel, and was not uploaded by a third party.
It seems clear that the only reason for the video to be removed would be because senior BBC news editors felt the story reflected badly on the propaganda campaign to characterize the Syrian rebels as venerable and proud freedom fighters, when in reality as we have documented they have been guilty of massacres, kidnappings, torture and other acts of brutality.
This represents a clear effort to hide evidence of Syrian rebels, who the Obama administration recently pledged to support with taxpayer dollars, engaged in war crimes.
In addition, the fact that the rebels, under the direction of Al-Qaeda fighters, are building bombs and carrying out terrorist attacks is something the NATO-aligned media is keen not to emphasize.
This is by no means the first time the BBC has been caught manipulating the news in an effort to propagandize for western military involvement in Syria.
Back in May we exposed how the BBC has used a years-old photo of dead Iraqi children to depict victims of an alleged government assault in the town of Houla.
The photographer who took the original picture, Marco Di Lauro, posted on his Facebook page, “Somebody is using my images as a propaganda against the Syrian government to prove the massacre.” Di Lauro told the London Telegraph he was “astonished” the BBC had failed to check to authenticity of the image.
Should the copy at the top of this article also be deleted, an alternate version of the BBC video with added commentary under fair use is embedded below.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.
UN official voices concern as Lebanon faces growing number of Syrian refugees
End the Lie – Independent News
4 September 2012 – The growing number of Syrian refugees is proving to be an increasingly heavy burden on Lebanon, a United Nations senior official said today in his meeting with the Lebanese Prime Minister, during which he also expressed concern over the security situation along Lebanon’s border with Syria.
In a press encounter following the meeting with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Derek Plumbly, also voiced concern over the spate of violence and kidnappings which have raised fears of renewed sectarian conflict in Lebanon.
“I am very conscious of the challenges to law and order that have occurred recently here, particularly the fighting in Tripoli that led to serious loss of life and the kidnappings in Lebanon and previously in Syria,” Mr. Plumbly said.
“In that context, I would like to say that we strongly hope that all those who have been kidnapped will be released without any further delay. It is unacceptable that this situation should continue and people should be held in this way,” Mr. Plumbly continued, adding that he welcomed efforts by Lebanese authorities to address the country’s security challenges.
According to media reports, the last weeks of August witnessed fighting between supporters and opponents of the Syrian Government in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, which killed more than 12 people, while tensions also increased in other parts of the country, such as the northern city of Tripoli.
Turning his attention to the escalating refugee crisis, Mr. Plumbly noted that increased UN assistance was imminent as displaced Syrians continued to flee the violence in their country and cross the border into neighbouring Lebanon.
Syria has been wracked by violence since an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 18 months ago, with an estimated 18,000 people, mostly civilians, killed and hundreds of thousands others displaced.
“I expect to see a further appeal from the United Nations to donors to assist in caring for the displaced people here in Lebanon because their numbers have increased and the burden is understood,” Mr. Plumbly stated, referring to the swelling number of Syrian civilians seeking refuge in Lebanon.
In a recent news release, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that it was seeing an increase in the number of Syrian refugees arriving in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, with local charities and authorities reporting about 2,200 people settling in the east over the past week – almost double the recent weekly average. Overall, some 51,000 Syrians have registered or applied to register with UNHCR in Lebanon.
Moreover, in addition to the continuing wave of refugees, cross border incursions and shelling have also contributed to the precarious state of security along the Lebanese-Syrian border.
“We are looking now with more urgency at what we can do to help the security authorities here in Lebanon to control the border as it should be,” he added.
Overall, UNHCR has stated that the total number of Syrians who have registered as refugees or are awaiting registration, as of 2 September, stands at 235,368 – with most of those seeking safety in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon.
PN 