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Damascus, Tehran warn US against Syria
intervention
Al-Akhbar
English, August 25, 2013
Updated 1:30 pm: Syria and its ally Iran
separately warned the United States against any military action over a suspected
chemical weapons attack in Ghouta, shortly after the US defense secretary hinted
on Sunday of possible strikes against the Damascus
government.
"US military intervention will create a
very serious fallout and a ball of fire that will inflame the Middle East,"
Syrian Information Minister Omran Zoabi was quoted by state news agency SANA as
saying to Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen TV.
And
in remarks carried by Tehran's state agency, a top Iranian military leader
warned Washington, its western allies and Israel against playing with
"fire."
"If the United States crosses this red
line, there will be harsh consequences for the White House," armed forces deputy
chief of staff Massoud Jazayeri was quoted as
saying.
A team of United Nations inspectors are
waiting in a hotel in Damascus a few miles from the site of an alleged chemical
weapons attack in Ghouta, but Syria suggested they would not be allowed to visit
as it was not on a list agreed in July of alleged chemical attacks this
year.
US President Barack Obama met his
top military and national security advisers on Saturday to debate options. US
naval forces have been taken up positions in the Mediterranean to give Obama the
option of an armed strike.
"The
terrorist war underway in Syria was planned by the United States and reactionary
countries in the region against the resistance front (against Israel)," Fars
quoted Jazayeri as saying.
"Despite this, the government and
people of Syria have achieved huge successes. ... Those who add fire to the oil
will not escape the vengeance of the people," added
Jazayeri.
Syrian opposition accounts that
between 500 and well over 1,000 civilians were killed this week by gas in
munitions fired by pro-government forces.
In the most authoritative account
so far, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said three hospitals near
Damascus had reported 355 deaths in the space of three hours out of about 3,600
admissions with nerve gas-type symptoms.
Major
world powers, including Syria's ally Russia, have urged the Syrian leader to
cooperate with UN chemical weapons inspectors already in Damascus to pursue
earlier allegations.
But Russia said the rebels were
impeding an inquiry and that Damascus would have no interest in using poison gas
for fear of foreign intervention.
A senior UN official arrived in
Damascus on Saturday to seek access for inspectors to the site of last
Wednesday's attack but Syria reiterated on Sunday that it had not yet agreed on
access to the site.
Information
Minister Zoabi said Syria and the UN had previously agreed on inspections of
certain sites around Syria from before Wednesday's allegations and will not
allow any "inspection that will prejudice national
sovereignty."
The minister said Syria would
cooperate "significantly and transparently" with prior agreed inspection sites.
But he went on to suggest that UN inspectors would not be allowed to visit the
site of Wednesday's attack.
Zoabi
said Syria "will not allow the existence of inspection committees under any
pretext, and this position is final because it is clear to the (UN) inspectors
to investigate particular incidents ... in accordance with the agreement between
Syria and the United Nations."
Iranian
Commander Refutes US Defense Secretary’s Remarks on Syria
FARS
Iranian news agency, 25 August 2013
TEHRAN (FNA)- Deputy Chief of Staff of
the Iranian Armed Forces for Cultural Affairs and Defense Publicity Brigadier
General Massoud Jazayeri condemned the US officials’ statements that Washington
is reviewing the military option for Syria, and warned that military
intervention in the Muslim country will have grave consequences for
Washington.
His remarks came after US Defense
Secretary Chuck Hagel claimed that the White House is studying different
military options against Syria.
“The US knows Syria’s redline and
crossing over this line will have dire consequences for the White House,”
Brigadier General Jazayeri said on Sunday.
He pointed to the developments in the
confrontation between the Syrian nation and government with Takfiri, Salafi and
foreign-backed terrorists, and said, “Now the Syrian resistance has reached such
a level of maturity that the arrogant front cannot defeat it.”
“Each of the US
and Zionist regime’s accomplices in the terrorist war against Syria have faced
problems and those who add fuel to this fire will not be immune from the
nations’ revenge,” he added, and warned against any move or remarks fueling
tension in the region.
Hagel suggested
Saturday the Pentagon is moving forces into place ahead of possible military
action against Syria, even as President Barack Obama voiced caution.
The conflict in
Syria started in March 2011, when sporadic pro-reform protests turned into a
massive insurgency following the intervention of western and regional
states.
The unrest,
which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle-East and North
Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.
As the foreign-backed insurgency in
Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its
political and military support to Takfiri extremists.
Washington has remained indifferent to
warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming
militant groups.
Former Iranian Envoy Warns US, Israel of
Dire Consequences of War against Syria
FARS Iranian news agency, 25 August
2013
TEHRAN (FNA)- Former Iranian Ambassador
to Jordan Mohammad Irani warned the US and Israel against the dire consequences
of military intervention in Syria, and said a war on Syria would spill over into
the entire Middle-East.
"Now
the conditions aren’t ripe for the US military intervention (in Syria)," Irani
told FNA on Sunday.
Asked about media reports on coordination between Washington
and Tel Aviv for launching an invasion of Syria, he said, "Carrying out new
operations by Israel is not unlikely, but Tel Aviv should consider the fact that
it is more vulnerable than the US and other western states which may enter the
Syrian crisis with their naval fleets."
Irani
underlined that Israel should be aware of the vital consequences of waging war
on Syria and realize that Damascus and its allies will retaliate against foreign
aggressions, which will eventually exacerbate the crises in the
Middle-East.
His
remarks came after US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel claimed that the White House
is studying different military options against Syria.
Hagel
suggested Saturday the Pentagon is moving forces into place ahead of possible
military action against Syria, even as President Barack Obama voiced
caution.
The
Pentagon was apparently hard at work coming up with these new plans and new
targets, even though Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey had only two days
prior warned against military involvement, and now has the cruise missiles ready
to go, just waiting for presidential approval to launch the
attack.
Now
officials seem closer than ever to starting a war, and though President Obama
did insist there would be "no rush" to attack Syria, there seems to be a renewed
Congressional push to get the jump on Syria by not waiting for any pesky
evidence to support their claims and just attacking
outright.
With
NATO allies France and Turkey already on the bandwagon and the Pentagon now
having cruise missiles ready to go at a moment notice, it will be awfully easy
for the administration to start attacking and argue that it was a "compromise"
compared to some other, even bigger attack.
The
case for that already seems to be getting laid out by the White House, which
insists that they don’t envision "boots on the ground" during any potential
military intervention.
What
sort of attack that would mean remains to be seen, but officials have often
discussed setting up "buffer zones," nominally for humanitarian reasons but
primarily to give Syrian rebel factions a place from which to launch attacks
with impunity.
At
the same time, any military intervention that seriously changes the situation on
the ground will run into the same problem that has repeatedly been pointed to,
that of the rebels’ dominance by Al-Qaeda allies. This means that any attack
that harms the Assad government too much risks bringing a jihadist faction into
power that will be even more hostile toward the US.
Iranian MP: West Using Chemical
Weapons as Pretext for War on Syria
FARS
Iranian news agency, 25 August 2013
TEHRAN (FNA)- The US and its western allies are seeking to
start an all-out war on Syria under the pretext of the use of chemical weapons
by the Syrian government, a senior Iranian lawmaker
said.
Member of the Iranian Parliament's
National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mehdi Davatgari said that the US
and its allies are the main cause of such threats against other countries,
exactly similar to something that happened in Iraq in 2003 when the US decided
to attack that country during the term of former president George W.
Bush.
The world has realized now that using
chemical weapons is the option of western states, said the
lawmaker.
US
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel suggested Saturday the Pentagon is moving forces
into place ahead of possible military action against Syria, even as President
Barack Obama voiced caution, AFP reported.
Officials
continue hyping Wednesday’s allegations of a chemical weapons strike, saying
that they believe such an attack probably happened even though they don’t have
any actual proof to back that up.
The Pentagon was
apparently hard at work coming up with these new plans and new targets, even
though Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey had only two days prior warned
against military involvement, and now has the cruise missiles ready to go, just
waiting for presidential approval to launch the attack, Antiwar.com reported
Friday.
Now
officials seem closer than ever to starting a war, and though President Obama
did insist there would be "no rush" to attack Syria, there seems to be a renewed
Congressional push to get the jump on Syria by not waiting for any pesky
evidence to support their claims and just attacking
outright.
With NATO allies
France and Turkey already on the bandwagon and the Pentagon now having cruise
missiles ready to go at a moment notice, it will be awfully easy for the
administration to start attacking and argue that it was a "compromise" compared
to some other, even bigger attack.
The case for that
already seems to be getting laid out by the White House, which insists that they
don’t envision "boots on the ground" during any potential military
intervention.
What
sort of attack that would mean remains to be seen, but officials have often
discussed setting up "buffer zones," nominally for humanitarian reasons but
primarily to give Syrian rebel factions a place from which to launch attacks
with impunity.
At the same
time, any military intervention that seriously changes the situation on the
ground will run into the same problem that has repeatedly been pointed to, that
of the rebels’ dominance by Al-Qaeda allies. This means that any attack that
harms the Assad government too much risks bringing a jihadist faction into power
that will be even more hostile toward the US.
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