Read: "Muslim Brotherhood Wanted Egypt’s Break-Up for Israel with a “Free Army.”
An excerpt from, "Egypt: do you support a military coup d’état in Egypt?" by Thierry Meyssan, Voltaire Network, July 16, 2013.
"I would like to point out that there was no possible solution to the Egyptian crisis other than the intervention of the army, which explains why 33 million Egyptians took to the streets to celebrate the coup d’état. The choice was not between democracy and a coup d’état, but between a coup d’état and civil war.
I deplore the fact that the Egyptian army has accepted a separate peace with Israel to the detriment of the Palestinian people. I do not support the coup because the army refused to go to war with Syria, but because they are attempting to safeguard the unity and civil freedom of their country. The intensity of my reaction is certainly the fruit of my experience – I have witnessed the crimes committed by the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya and Syria.
Furthermore, the aim of this coup is not to put the army in power, but to prevent the confiscation of power by a putschist cult. The leaders of the political parties, the rector of Al-Azhar and the Coptic pope, who were present with the military Chief of Staff when he made his announcement, had previously accepted a common « road map » which specifies the type of regime which will follow, and the stages necessary to implement it – a logical process in a country where, for the last 4000 years, every head of state with the exception of President Morsi has been a military man."
II. Turkey May Invade Northern Syria After Kurdish Gains Against Al-Qaeda.
An excerpt from, "Turkish party calls for armed intervention in Syria to prevent formation of Kurdish region," by Phil Sands and Thomas Seibert, The National, July 23, 2013.
Devlet Bahceli, leader of the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), said the latest fighting in northern Syria was a "great risk for Turkey" and a sign that the PKK, through the PYD, was pushing for Kurdish autonomy in the region to fill the power vacuum there.An excerpt from, "Turkey: No tolerance for Kurdish entity in Syria," Associated Press, July 22, 2013.
"Turkey should declare that it will intervene militarily against the formation of an autonomous administration in northern Syria," Mr Bahceli said on Sunday.
"To this end, concrete preparations should start in our border regions in accordance with military deterrence."
He said Kurds had succeeded in creating a region of self-rule in northern Iraq and were trying to do the same in Syria. "If it goes on like this, Turkey is next."
The Syrian Kurdish opposition activist, who makes regular trips into areas where the clashes between Kurd and Islamist forces are taking place, said fighting in northern Syria had been intense in recent days.
Turkey’s deputy prime minister says his country supports Syria’s territorial integrity and won’t tolerate the creation of a “de facto” Syrian Kurdish entity on its frontiers.
Speaking to reporters Monday, Bulent Arinc would not spell out what Turkey would do prevent any such entity from coming about but said it would act carefully and in a cool-headed manner.
Authorities here have been concerned over Syrian Kurdish militants’ recent strengthening of power in areas bordering Turkey.
III. Pentagon: Assad Will Remain In Power For The Foreseeable Future, But Controlling Less Territory.
An excerpt from, "Pentagon Lays Out Options for U.S. Military Effort in Syria," by Mark Landler and Thom Shanker, The New York Times, July 22, 2013.
The Pentagon has provided Congress with its first detailed list of military options to stem the bloody civil war in Syria, suggesting that a campaign to tilt the balance from President Bashar al-Assad to the opposition would be a vast undertaking, costing billions of dollars, and could backfire on the United States.
The list of options — laid out in a letter from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, to the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin of Michigan — was the first time the military has explicitly described what it sees as the formidable challenge of intervening in the war.
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A Syrian opposition leader said in an e-mail Monday night that with the Congressional reservations largely addressed, American arms would most likely begin flowing to the rebels within a few weeks. “We think August is the date,” the official said.
In an interview, Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations special envoy to Syria, expressed disappointment at the Congressional approval. “Arms do not make peace,” he said. “We would like to see the delivery of arms stopped to all sides.”
If ordered by the president, General Dempsey wrote, the military is ready to carry out options that include efforts to train, advise and assist the opposition; conduct limited missile strikes; set up a no-fly zone; establish buffer zones, most likely across the borders with Turkey or Jordan; and take control of Mr. Assad’s chemical weapons stockpile.
