America has rejected an offer by the Syrian regime to fight Al-Qaeda and jihadists in the country in return for staying in power in Damascus, the prime minister of the Syrian National Coalition's opposition government has revealed.In reality, "the blame for the increase in Al-Qaeda activity" in Syria belongs to long-time U.S. allies Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, not the Assad regime. The head of the Syrian National Coalition is a moron if he honestly believes the bullshit Washington is selling him and his gang. And did the Syrian government seriously offer the United States a proposal to jointly fight Al-Qaeda? What the hell are they thinking? Do they realize that the U.S. basically created Al-Qaeda and sicked these wild dogs on the people of Syria? Why would the U.S. agree to fight and defeat their own proxy Islamic army when it has served them so well? Asking America to help fight Al-Qaeda will only draw laughter and ridicule from Washington, privately, of course.
Speaking to Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Ahmed Touma said that the Americans told the coalition about the offer. The US, he claimed, put the blame for the increase in Al-Qaeda activity in the country firmly on the Assad regime in Damascus.
2. An excerpt from, "Syrian FSA struggles in shadow of Saudi-backed opposition front" by Edward Dark, Al Monitor, December 11:
Apparently, removing Assad has taken a backseat to a more pressing need. Building a feasible coalition of regime and opposition forces to tackle the al-Qaeda threat seems to be the first goal of any political settlement, a priority which has the backing of all the major players in the Syrian conflict except for Saudi Arabia.The regional power struggle over Damascus is leading to the destruction of an entire country. Removing Assad from power will solve nothing. Ambitions for power, thirst for military glory, greed, bitterness, sectarian hatred, political stubbornness, hardened opinions, religious bigotry, as long as these exist in the human heart, there won't be peace. Saudi Arabia is funding an ideology that promotes many of these characteristics, indoctrinating youth all over the Muslim world through their schools and mosques, and telling them to believe that anyone who is not like them is an infidel. The leaders of Saudi Arabia falsely believe they are safe from retribution for their crimes in Syria. This illusion will die soon.
The Saudis' overt backing and funding of the Islamic Front seems specifically geared toward scuttling any such deal. In terms of Saudi calculations, curbing Iranian influence in the Middle East is their number-one strategic goal. As far as Riyadh is concerned, a failed state ruled by Sunni extremists seems preferable to the existence of any Iran-friendly regime in Syria. But despite deploying its cards via the Islamic Front, it remains to be seen whether Saudi Arabia will actively defy an US attempt to form an anti-al-Qaeda coalition in Syria.
3. An excerpt from, "Croatia mulls Syrian chemical weapons destruction" AP, December 10:
Croatia is considering taking part in the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, but only if there is no opposition from the public, the Adriatic country's prime minister said Tuesday.
Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said there are "consultations" throughout the Mediterranean states about Syrian weapons possibly being shipped to one of their ports before being reloaded and destroyed by the U.S. military, "probably somewhere in the Atlantic."
Washington has offered to provide a ship carrying a device in which the chemicals can be neutralized under a plan proposed by the international chemical weapons watchdog, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. No chemicals or waste products would be dumped at sea under the plan being finalized by the OPCW.Milanovic called for a "public debate" over the possible reloading project.
"We can take part in the noble project, or we don't have to," Milanovic said. "But the Croatian public has to know what it's all about."
Under a threat of public unrest, Albania last month refused a U.S. request to host the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal, a serious blow to efforts to destroy that stockpile by mid-2014.
