Syrian Rebels Wield Heavy Weapons in Attack on Airport

[bemildred]

Source: NYT

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syria’s rebels shelled an airport near Aleppo on Thursday in what was described as one of the first known instances of insurgents using captured heavy weapons, as opposition activists warned that fighting for the city, the country’s main commercial center, would likely intensify.

A Syrian activist said President Bashar al-Assad’s army appeared to be preparing for an all-out assault.

“We have seen military reinforcements making their way to Aleppo,” said Abou Firas, an activist in Aleppo using a satellite Internet connection because telephone and Internet service from the city was cut off. “We were worried about massacres but now we are issuing a warning about a war of extermination to be launched by the regime.”

The news about the government reinforcements could not be independently confirmed because of restrictions on reporters. It came after the battle for Aleppo intensified on Wednesday when United Nations observers there reported that Syrian jets had fired rockets into contested neighborhoods and that rebels had commandeered tanks and other heavy weapons.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/03/world/middleeast/syrian-fighting-intensifies-in-battle-for-aleppo.html?pagewanted=all

[nanabugg]

1. The so-called rebels are killing as many as the Syrian government and many people on the ground are

afraid to not cooperate with the rebels. nt

[harun]

9. You aren't there

[leveymg]

2. Civil war. Both sides would have to be forcibly suppressed in any "humanitarian" intervention

and the UN would have to compel the US and other outside parties feeding the conflict to desist or face charges of complicity in violation of the weapons embargo and other war crimes.

Any eventual war crimes tribunal for this one has to include prosecution of those who have fed the conflict from the outside. Is the Obama Administration prepared for that eventuality?

[Gman]

3. Well then, what is your solution?

Stand by and do nothing?

[leveymg]

4. Harm reduction and prevention of genocide necessitates pressure on "allies" to cut off weapons,

money, and entry of anti-regime fighters. Cease-fire and freeze in place. Withdrawal of foreign fighters and "advisors" on all sides. Negotiate settlement that allows the Shi'ia minority regime total autonomy and security in Damascus and other areas controlled by the government. Size, location, and disposition of predominantly Kurdish and Sunni territories will need to be negotiated.

Outside parties involved in destruction of Syrian property and facilities should pay for reconstruction and repair. According to a formula to be worked out, Iran and Russia should recompense Shi'ia, Allawite and Ba'ath Party for losses while KSA/GCC/Turkey/US should fund reconstruction in Sunni and other ethnic areas. Alternative reparations arrangements may be preferred.

That's a beginning. The alternative is a vastly destructive regional war along Sunni/Shi'ia lines with potential for uncontrolled spread of global conflict.

[Gman]

6. Good plan.

[David__77]

5. Cut off the arms supply to anti-state insurgents.

Peace and security would be restored relatively quickly.

[Gman]

7. No doubt

After The militants are exterminated while unarmed.

[David__77]

8. The Syrian Arab Army went for decades without exterminating any Syrians.

It was only with outbursts of armed struggle, of assassinations, bombings, "strikes" enforced by arms, that the army has spilled any Syrian blood. With the disarmament of anti-state actors, again those peaceful conditions would return.

I think the people of any country have the right to make revolution by any means they see fit. But I do not want the US government, my representative, to interfere in those struggles by supporting "regime change." The international order is based on respect of sovereign states. Without that framework, we return to barbarism.