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Will Hillary Clinton and the US administration please sort out their policy on Syria and the overthrow of the secular state institutions.
Date Assad will fall within days
Date SNC needs to get their act together
Date Doha, Qatar: Alliance regrouped and considered representative of all Syrian people
Date Toughest foreign fighters in rebel group now declared a terrorist organization
Responsible for summary executions, ethnic cleansing, advocating Islamic state with Sharia law in Aleppo
Now that the quagmire in Syria has become irreversible with imminent danger of spreading chemical weapons into the region: Lebanon and Iraq. Not that I haven’t warned for exact these developments months ago …
US declares Syria jihadists ‘terrorists’
Washington (News24) – The United States will declare the al-Nusra Front, a jihadist group battling to overthrow Syria’s President Bashar Assad, a “foreign terrorist organisation”, documents showed on Tuesday. The State Department has not formally announced the move to blacklist the group, but posted the declaration in the Federal Register, in a document that described the al-Nusra Front as an alias of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The al-Nusra Front is one of the most effective of several armed groups fighting to overthrow the Syrian regime, raising concerns in the West that hardline Islamists are hijacking the 21-month-old revolt.
Syrian rebels defy US to back jihadist group
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The group has claimed responsibility for recent suicide bombings that killed scores of people, and has said it hopes to replace the Assad family’s four-decade-old dictatorship with a strict Islamic state. The State Department linked the group to al-Qaeda in Iraq, which has carried out scores of massive bombings targeting Shi’ite civilians and regularly targeted US forces before their withdrawal a year ago.
“We’ve had concerns that al-Nusra is little more than a front for al-Qaeda in Iraq, [which] has moved some of its operations into Syria,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said earlier on Monday.
Spokesperson Nuland said the State Department would “have more to say about this” in the coming days.
Declaring the al-Nusra Front a terrorist group would entail freezing its assets and banning Americans from any transactions with the group, which could complicate efforts to provide aid to Syria’s fragmented rebellion.
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Earlier on Monday, jihadists led by the al-Nusra Front seized a strategic army base in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo. An AFP correspondent reporting from the scene said many of the fighters hailed from other Arab countries and Central Asia.
I’m confused. I thought I heard on ABC that the US recognized the Syrian rebels as the legitimate government of Syria.
Maybe it was a different group of rebels than the one you cite.
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Trying to forge outside political figures to represent the Syrian people suffering from both sides, the FSA rebels and the Assad regime. The so-called uprising and protest has no resemblance in the militants fighting on the ground. The damage done to Syria is massive. The FSA have accepted the jihadists foreign fighters (al-Qaeda) doing the most damage by taking the lead, summary executions and the suicide car bombs. In US hypocrisy, signing the decree to outlaw the al-Nura group is to give peace to one’s conscience as the devastation continues. The jihadist Islamic fighters have established themselves throughout North African continent.
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One meaningless declaration after another, that is NOT showing leadership in a troubled region fighting a deadly civil war with sectarian violence. The Balkans recipe in the near future: genocide. Who does Clinton think are fighting on the ground, yes the Free Syrian Army and the Islamic jihadists. The civilians are suffering and seek refuge in neighbouring states.
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Demonstrators in several Syrian cities raised banners with slogans like, “No to American intervention, for we are all Jebhat al-Nusra,” referring to the group’s full name, Ansar al-Jebhat al-Nusra li-Ahl al-Sham, or Supporters of the Front for Victory of the People of Syria. One rebel battalion, the Ahrar, or Free Men, asked on its Facebook page why the United States did not blacklist Mr. Assad’s “terrorist” militias. Another jihadist faction, the Sahaba Army in the Levant (origin French mandate over Syria), even congratulated the group on the “great honor” of being deemed terrorists by the United States. The aim of many factions in the rebel groups is to establish Sharia law.
Syrian rebel group declares Islamic state in Aleppo and Mouaz Alkhatib wants terror designation revoked
Cross-posted from Juan Cole’s blog Informed Comment – Obama Recognizes Syrian Opposition as Government, as Fighters advance in Aleppo, Damascus
Well duh! But it’s disingenuous because they’ve known since the beginning of the armed conflict who the militants were and that they are the reason why the Assad regime has been wounded. The admin now believes that Assad is ready to fall and the US (as SA proxy) can choose the victor. Might work. But only if the militants are paid off and relocated. Mali is a haven these days.
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No chance. Deal with hardened jihadists Russian style, either way you aggravate the problem as it will spread across the continent. The drone attacks displaces the Arab fighters, fosters hatred and guarantees blow-back in years to come.
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My comments are sometimes too cryptic. Syrian rebels and anti-Assad Syrians believe they are supposed to remain loyal to those that have done the hard fighting. That’s not how the US swings — we ditch such useful or instrumental dupes as soon as it’s convenient to do so — it’s SOP.