BEIRUT/PARIS (Reuters) - One of President Bashar al-Assad's
personal friends has defected and was headed for exile in France on
Friday, as the Syrian crisis took on a Cold War tone when Washington
threatened to make Russia and China "pay" for backing the government in Damascus.Manaf Tlas, a cadet college classmate, Republican Guard general and son of Assad's
father's defense chief, has yet to surface abroad, or clearly to throw
his lot in with the rebels, who acknowledged the loss of one of their
strongholds overnight.But his desertion,
leaked by family friends, was confirmed by the French government. That
gave a boost to a conference it hosted in Paris
at which Western powers and Sunni Arab rulers, bitterly opposed to
Assad's Iranian-sponsored administration, agreed to "massively increase"
aid to the Syrian opposition.
The departure of Tlas, a glamorous, 40-something
fixture of both Damascus society and Assad's praetorian close protection
force, may have limited practical impact. But it offers succour to an
opposition that is divided and poorly armed, as well as to foreign
backers whose assurances of flagging morale in Assad's inner circle had
begun to wear thin after 16 months of conflict."If people like
him, and like the generals and colonels and others who have recently
defected to Turkey are any indication, regime insiders and the military
establishment are starting to vote with their feet," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Paris after a speech lambasting Moscow and Beijing in unusually strong terms for blocking U.N. action against Assad.
"The only way that will change is if every nation
represented here directly and urgently makes it clear that Russia and
China will pay a price because they are holding up progress, blockading
it," she told the 50 or so delegations.However, as the past year has shown, options for
Assad's foes to pressure his defenders remain limited, given the
economic and political strength of both Russia and China.Moscow, an ally since the Cold War days of Assad's
father, has supported a new proposal by U.N. envoy Kofi Annan for a
transitional, national unity government in Damascus. But, like China,
Moscow is wary of what it sees as a growing Western taste for "regime
change", and opposes forcing Assad to step down.In response to Clinton's remarks, Deputy Foreign
Minister Gennady Gatilov said she was contradicting the common strategy
the divided world powers managed to agree at Geneva last week.Such deadlock in global diplomacy has left the Western powers
trying to give an impression of momentum growing against Assad, holding
a series of meetings and, as seen on Friday, trumpeting defections and
piling psychological pressure on other members of the ruling elite to
think about jumping ship.As Clinton declared in Paris: "Let me say to the
soldiers and officials still supporting the Assad regime - the Syrian
people will remember the choices you make in the coming days."It is time to abandon the dictator, embrace your countrymen and women, and get on the right side of history."SECTARIAN STRAINS
As rare faces from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority within a ruling clique dominated by Assad's fellow Alawites, Tlas and his father Mustapha, who friends said left for Paris some months ago claiming medical problems, long furnished an answer to Syrians who complained of sectarian domination by Alawites. Their flight may show Assad is losing wider support among wealthier Sunnis.It also suggests the Tlas clan, whatever moral scruples friends say were their prime motive for abandoning their friend and patron, has seen the writing on the wall for Assad's rule.Opposition sources said Manaf Tlas had seen his movements watched as suspicion of him increased before he fled and that other potential defectors, being courted assiduously by the opposition, were also under surveillance. Security men ransacked Tlas's house on Thursday, an activist in Damascus said.Abdel Baset Seda, the president of the opposition Syrian National Council, told a news conference in Paris that he was in contact with "several" high-ranking officials still inside the country and also hoped to speak with Tlas in the coming days."This shows that the very heart of the regime is starting to crumble. This is reminiscent of what happened in Libya toward the end, when there were defections every day," he said, recalling the fall of Muammar Gaddafi last August.However, a Syrian news website quoted a Syrian official on Thursday as saying dismissively: "His desertion means nothing. If Syrian intelligence had wanted to arrest him it would have."Bloodshed on the ground and the suffering of thousands of civilians forced to flee homes and worry about food shortages have kept up pressure on Western governments to be seen to be doing something and the "Friends of the Syrian People" meeting in Paris saw new calls for U.N. action and backing for rebels.But the opposition remains fractious. A meeting in Cairo this week saw a fistfight; governments are wary of anti-Western Sunni Islamists in rebel ranks and are reluctant to see them too heavily armed; and the Western powers have little appetite for a Libyan-style military intervention of their own in a pivotal regional state that is home to a volatile mix of communities.
Yet the veto power which Moscow and Beijing wield in the United Nations Security Council has also blocked Western efforts to tighten the net of sanctions around Assad, leaving leaders watching impatiently for signs of cracks from within - something fearful Alawites and other minorities seem anxious to prevent.
REBEL TOWN FALLS
Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, spoke again with alarm at the situation on the ground: "The risk of full civil war has become even more real," she said. "The regime is clearly responsible for the brutality of the repression. Instead of freeing detainees and withdrawing its troops and heavy weapons from urban areas, Assad's regime continues with the shelling of innocent civilians."Syria's army took control of the rebel stronghold of Khan Sheikhoun in northern Idlib province on Friday after an assault on the town backed by helicopters, rebels said."The Free Army withdrew from the town last night after it ran out of ammunition. Assad's army is in control," said Abu Hamam, a rebel spokesman who fled to a nearby village.
"They are burning the houses. They have burned my own house. I see the smoke covering the sky from where I am now."Army shelling and assaults also killed three people in the southern province of Deraa, where the nationwide revolt began.Opposition activists say more than 15,000 people have been killed in the uprising, while the government says several thousand members of the security forces have died.Clinton repeated a U.S. and French call for a U.N. Security Council resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows the Council to authorize actions ranging from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military intervention.Russia and China and say they are committed rather to the peace plan drafted by Annan which proposes national dialogue. However, that plan's prospects seem dim; U.N. peace monitors effectively gave up on their mission last month after just weeks in Syria as it became clear there was no peace to monitor.
Annan said he was pushing for negotiation and urging
the rebels to cooperate. Telling Britain's Guardian newspaper the
alternative was more war, he said: "We are trying to implement some of
the decisions taken in Geneva, most importantly exploring on the ground
the most effective way to stop the violence and get them thinking of the
political process."Thousands of families have fled their homes in the past
two weeks due to heavy fighting between government forces and rebels
and many face food shortages, the United Nations said on Friday.Late on Friday,
about 300 refugees, including about 30 military personnel, crossed into
Turkey at the border at Bukulmez in Hatay province, according to a
Reuters cameraman. They were picked up by 20 minibuses.(Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Giles Elgood and Michael Roddy)
THIS IS A PILE OF HOGWASH BY IRAN,35 SITES AT ONE TIME...GOOD LUCK.
Iran: We Can Hit 35 US Bases in 'Minutes'
By LEE FERRAN | ABC News – Thu, Jul 5, 2012
An Iranian military commander said that his country has detailed
contingency plans to strike nearly three dozen U.S. military bases in
the region should Iran be attacked, local media reported Wednesday.
Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, told reporters the
U.S. has 35 bases around Iran and all are "within the reach of our
missiles" and could be hit "in the early minutes after an attack,"
according to an English-language report from Iran's semi-official Fars
News Agency. The bases were no threat but instead an "opportunity" for
the Iranian military, Hajizadeh said last month, according to Fars.Hajizadeh's claims come as the IRGC conducts a major military exercise
in which it has fired a barrage of missiles at "mock enemy bases" set
up in the Iranian desert. Another IRGC commander, Brig. Gen. Hossein
Salami, told reporters Tuesday the main aim of the drill "was to
demonstrate the Iranian nation's political resolve to defend [its] vital
values and national interests," according to Iran's state-run Press TV.[Slideshow: Iran tests long-range missiles] Press TV paraphrased Salami's description of the drills as a "firm response to those who threaten Iran with the option of military action."The United States and Israel have for years been locked in a struggle with Iran over its nuclear enrichment program and the leaders of both the Israeli and American governments have said that any option -- including military action -- was "on the table" should it become clear Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. Iranian officials have denied the nation seeks nuclear weapons and said Iran is only enriching uranium for domestic nuclear power purposes.Press TV said that several different missile types were tested, including the Shabab-3, which reportedly has an operational range of over 900 miles, meaning it could reach potential targets throughout the Middle East. The U.S. and its allies have several military bases in the region, including the home of the Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, a little over 120 miles from Iran's southern border. Israel's eastern border is about 600 miles from Iran's mainland.
Another base used by the U.S., the United Arab Emirates' Al Dafra air
base, lies less than 200 miles from Iran's southern coast. In April,
multiple American next-generation F-22 stealth fighters were sent to Al Dafra
but an Air Force spokesperson stressed at the time that the jets should
not be seen as a threat to Iran. However, a top official for the jets'
manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, told ABC News in April 2011 that the
planes -- which have never been used in combat -- could find a home in quick strike missions in countries like Iran or North Korea.
Iran's new drills also coincided with fresh tensions that followed a new round of harsh sanctions
against Iran that targeted the country's oil exports to Europe. Dozens
of Iranian lawmakers have reportedly called on the Iranian military to
shut down the Strait of Hormuz -- a narrow, strategic waterway that
connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea through which an estimated
one-fifth of the world's oil travels. As an apparent precaution against
such action, the U.S. has quietly been building up its military forces in the Persian Gulf.
The Department of Defense declined to comment on Hajizadeh's claims.
ABC News' Martha Raddatz and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytWmPqY8TE0&feature=player_embedded
DEUTERONOMY 7:7-8
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people;(ISRAEL) for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you,(ISRAEL) and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
ZECHARIAH 2:8
8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
JEREMIAH 3:14
14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you:(ISRAEL) and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
ISAIAH 42:1
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect,(ISRAEL) in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
ISAIAH 45:4
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
ISAIAH 65:9,22
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect (ISRAEL) shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
1 CHRONICLES 17:9
9 Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel,(IN PALESTINE) and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more;(ISRAEL-NEVER DESTROYED-FOREVER AN EARTHLY NATION) neither shall the children of wickedness(ISHMAEL-ARAB/MUSLIMS-WORLD ISRAEL HATERS) waste them any more, as at the beginning,(ARAB/MUSLIMS ATTACK ISRAEL ON MAY 15,1948)
ISAIAH 56:5
5 Even unto them (ISRAELIS) will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name,(ISRAEL) that shall not be cut off.
ISAIAH 51:3-4
3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion:(JERUSALEM) he will comfort all her waste places;(FROM NUCLEAR WAR) and he will make her wilderness like Eden,(I BELIEVE THE EZEKIEL-4TH TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT AFTER JESUS RULE FOR THE 1,000 YRS FROM JERUSALEM) and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.(PRAISE TO JESUS IN THE DESERT-COULD BE THE NEW JERUSALEM-4TH TEMPLE BUILT 25 MILES INTO THE DESERT FROM THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT.SINCE EZEKIELS TEMPLE IS WAY TO BIG FOR THE CURRENT TEMPLE MOUNT)
4 Hearken unto me, my people;(ISRAEL) and give ear unto me, O my nation:(ISRAEL) for a law shall proceed from me,(JESUS IN JERUSALEM) and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.(ISRAEL AND THE WORLD)
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
U.N. names experts to probe Israeli settlements
Reuters – 4 hrs ago JULY 6,12
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations named French judge Christine Chanet on Friday as the leader of a team of three experts who will investigate whether Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories violate human rights law.The other team members are Pakistani lawyer Asma Jahangir and Botswana judge Unity Dow. Jahangir has been the subject of human rights cases in the past, having been put under house arrest in 1983 and warned of a plot to assassinate her last month.The U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) launched the probe in March under an initiative brought to the 47-member forum by the Palestinian Authority. Israel's ally the United States was the only member to vote against it.The council said
Israel's planned construction of new housing units in the West Bank and
East Jerusalem undermined the peace process and posed a threat to the
two-state solution and the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Israel on Friday condemned the investigation. "The
establishment of this mission is another blatant expression of the
singling out of Israel in the UNHRC," a Foreign Ministry statement said."This fact-finding mission will find no co-operation in
Israel, and its members will not be allowed to enter Israel and the
Territories."The council's president, Uruguay's ambassador Laura Dupuy Lasserre, announced the names of the investigators after holding consultations among member states, diplomats said.As the team will not be allowed access to Israeli settlements, they are likely to have to gather information from second-hand sources, including media.Even if the investigators conclude settlements violate human rights law, U.S. opposition is likely to stymie any attempt to impose any punishment on Israel.About 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in a 1967 war. Palestinians seek the territory for an independent state along with the Gaza Strip.Palestinians say settlements, considered illegal by the International Court of Justice, the highest U.N. legal body for disputes, would deny them a viable state.Israel cites historical and biblical links to the West Bank and says the status of settlements should be decided in peace negotiations.On Monday Richard Falk, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian Territories, told a news conference that the acceleration of settlement building had "closed the book" on the feasibility of a two-state solution."The Palestinian position gets weaker and weaker through time and the Israelis get more and more of a fait accompli through their unlawful activities," he said.
"Is it just a delaying tactic that allows the Israelis to expand the settlements, expand the settled population, demolish more and more Palestinian homes and structures and engage in a program that has assumed such proportions that the language of ethnic cleansing is the only way to describe the demographic changes in East Jerusalem?"(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles; Editing by Pravin Char)
Almost a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued 
by 
