Syria Expels Jesuit Priest Who Spoke for Change

The Rev. Paolo Dall’Oglio traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, last week after Syria expelled him over his increasingly active role in criticizing the violence.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Thick wooden beams barred the doors of St. Cyril’s Church in Damascus when friends of Bassel Shahade, a young opposition filmmaker killed in Homs in late May, arrived for a memorial prayer service. Government thugs dragged

Syrian pilot flies his MiG to Jordan, gets asylum

BEIRUT—A Syrian fighter pilot on a training mission flew his MiG-21 warplane to neighboring Jordan, where he was

The Qaida and the Syrian Regime: Penetration, Cooperation, or Enmity?

The Qaida and the Syrian Regime:

Penetration, Cooperation, or Enmity?

The previous article tackled upon four of the five major explosions that have shaken Damascus since December 2011. The Syrian regime accused the Qaida linked opposition, and the opposition accused the regime of fabricating such explosions to propagate its story of the popular uprising. An unknown faction, that claims to be part of the Qaida, adopted some of these explosions on videos on youtube; however, can the Qaida be responsible for these attacks? Before venturing to answer such a question, one needs to explore the relationship, if any, between the Qaida and the Syrian regime.

The Escalating Violence in Syria: Damascus Explosions

The Escalating Violence in Syria

Damascus Explosions

As an episode in the Arab Spring phenomena, Syria witnessed on March 15th 2011 the beginning of a popular uprising against the Assad family ruling since 1970. From the very beginning, the regime started accusing armed terrorist Salafist groups linked to the Qaida and Muslim Brotherhood organizations. These terrorist groups, the regime claims, belong to the opposition and attack opposition members to blame the regime for the killing. These attacks, later on, developed into booby traps and bomb cars. On the other hand, the opposition is accusing the regime of being responsible for these actions and put forward many sensible presumptions of the regimes involvement in the attacks.

BBC: Does al-Qaeda have a foothold in Syria?

Paul Wood reports from Syria on al-Qaeda’s influence in the country

Amid growing concern among some Western officials about al-Qaeda’s involvement in the Syrian uprising, the BBC’s Paul Wood – who has been back inside Syria – assesses the influence of Islamists in Syria’s anti-government protests.

“People are fed up with journalists,” says the Free Syrian Army’s Lt Col Muleldine al-Zein. “We are not extremists, although you try to portray us as such.”

He adds bitterly: “The West still supports the regime as far as I am concerned. The US could take him out in a week, but they don’t want democracy for us. I don’t know why. They want the country to collapse.”

Outside, in this small Syrian town, the daily pro-democracy protest is going on.

“Men and women together,” the colonel says, presenting the fact as another testament to the group’s moderation. Speakers make the usual calls to remember the revolution’s martyrs.

Saudis forces mass on Jordanian, Iraqi borders. Turkey, Syria reinforce strength

The Syrian crisis was Friday, June 29, on a knife edge between a
Western-Arab-Turkish military offensive in the next 48 hours and a big power accord to ward it off.

Turkey deploys troops, tanks to Syrian border

Istanbul (CNN)

Syria’s Assad says duty to “annihilate terrorists”

(Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al Assad said in a rare interview broadcast on Thursday that his government had a duty to “annihilate terrorists” to protect its people and ruled out any solution to the crisis imposed from outside the
country.

Syrians defiant as world powers plan talks

As the protests unfolded, the opposition Local Coordination Committees urged officers and soldiers to defect, as many already have.

“If you defect in greater numbers and sooner rather than later, you can spare Syria from further tragedies and pain,” the LCC said in an appeal to the army. “Syrian young men, defect from the regime’s sinking ship because the new Syria will need you to protect her people and borders.”

Syria shelling kills dozens in rebel town

Government troops rained tank and artillery shells down on a rebellious suburb of the Syrian capital of Damascus Friday, killing at least 43 people over two days, opposition groups and activists said.

For Barack Obama, Syria is best forgotten this election year

The ordeal of Syria has been a rebuttal of what the diplomacy of Barack Obama once promised and stood for. It is largely forgotten now that Syria and Iran were the two regimes in the Greater Middle East that Obama had promised to “engage.”

Do not rule out military action in Syria

Over the past few months analysts and commentators in and outside the US have been busy trying to determine whether the Obama administration will or will not intervene in Syria before the November 2012 US presidential elections.

Vatican, initially silent on Syria, steps up condemnation of violence

[tags VATICAN,Pope Benedict XVI, syria, violence
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is stepping up its condemnation of violence in Syria with Pope Benedict XVI calling for urgent
humanitarian aid to reach residents.

U.N.: Syria monitoring mission has outlived its usefulness

Speaking to the press outside the U.N. Security Council in New York on Tuesday, Gen. Robert Mood, the head of the U.N. observer mission in Syria, and U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, put on a brave face, assuring the Syrian people that the United Nations would not abandon them in their hour of need.