12 Apr 2012

Bowing before Crescent

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The influlence of the Shia Cresent in the Middle East reached extraordinary proportions.
Power of the Cresent was visible during the height of the Syrian rebellion.
United States and Europe tried to silence the government of Syria.
When US and EU failed in Syria, they turned to prayed for Crescent's help.

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Matt Blake - Daily Mail, 11 April 2012

UN begs Iran for help with Syria crisis as bombs continue to fall

The UN begged Iran for help in solving the deepening crisis in Syria today as bombs continued to fall across the war-torn nation.

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Fleeing for their lives: The the true scale of Syria's humanitarian crisis is revealed as UN begs Iran for help amid fears of all-out civil war

* Bombs continue to fall on cities across Syria as hopes for tomorrow's planned ceasefire fade
* Iran foreign minister: 'Change in Syria should come under leadership of Assad'
* Hillary Clinton blames Russia for keeping Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in power
* China reiterates calls for all sides in Syria to respect a ceasefire, due to begin tomorrow

By Matt Blake - DAILY MAIL - 11 April 2012

These are the makeshift cities that reveal for the first time the true scale of the humanitarian crisis sweeping across conflict-ravaged Syria. Refugees have flocked in their thousands to camps like this in Kilis, just across the Syrian border in Turkey.
And as these dramatic aerial photographs show, life is a squeeze for the forgotten victims of a conflict that has already claimed countless lives. Gunfire can be clearly heard as pitch battles continue between government troops and rebel fighters.
And their new homes, cramped and made from carbon fibre crating, provide little protection from stray bullets that may fall at any time.

On Tuesday UN Middle East envoy visited another camp in nearby in Hatay before flying to Iran to beg for in solving the deepening crisis as bombs continued to fall across the war-torn nation. In a desperate friend-finding mission to Tehran, special envoy Kofi Annan said Iran could play a vital role in halting Syria from slipping into all-out civil war. His plea came as activists reported fresh violence a day before an international cease-fire is supposed to take effect. Iran is one of Syria's strongest allies, and former U.N. chief Annan went there to bolster support for his faltering plan to stop the country's slide toward civil war. "Iran, given its special relations with Syria, can be part of the solution," Annan said during a news conference with Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. "The geopolitical location of Syria is such that any miscalculation and error can have unimaginable consequences." However, Iran has always opposed any foreign intervention in the crisis and Salehi insisted that 'change in Syria' should come under the leadership of Assad. "Any change in Syria should be made by the Syrian government under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad who promised to achieve these changes to meet the aspirations of the Syrian people," Salehi added.

Annan visited Iran a day after US Senator John McCain said ground troops are now the only way of ousting defiant Syrian president Bashar al Assad and ending the violence.
During a visit to Yayladagi refugee camp in Hatay,on the Turkish-Syrian border with fellow senator Joe Lieberman yesterday, he said: 'I think it was a failure from the start. Most of us knew because there was no pressure for Bashar Assad to actually stop the killing. We think it's going to require military action on the ground to get him to leave.' The conflict in Syria is among the most explosive of the Arab Spring, in part because of the country's allegiances to powerful forces including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Shiite powerhouse Iran. Hundreds of refugees have fled the country, filling camps in neighbouring Turkey. The uprising that began more than a year ago seeks the ouster of authoritarian President Bashar Assad.
Syria's regime defied the Tuesday deadline to pull out troops from cities and towns that was set in the deal brokered by Annan and launched fresh attacks on rebellious areas. But Annan insists there is still time to salvage the truce by 6 a.m. Thursday, the deadline for government and rebel fighters to cease all hostilities.
There was more violence on Wednesday, putting the chances of a truce even deeper in doubt as Syrian troops took control of large parts of villages and towns near the border with Turkey. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, reported shelling of several rebel-held neighborhoods in the central city of Homs.
Meanwhile U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Russia's refusal to support constructive action by the U.N. Security Council on the crisis in Syria is keeping its President Bashar al-Assad in power. Clinton said when foreign ministers of the G-8 meet in Washington on Wednesday, the U.S. would again try to persuade Russia, a key Syrian ally, to support action that would at least allow humanitarian access. Clinton warned Tuesday night that the danger was rising of regional conflict and civil war flaring from the violence in Syria. She said Russia's 'refusal to join us in some kind of constructive action is keeping Assad in power, well-armed, able to ignore the demands of his own people, the region and the world.' China also weighed into the crisis today, reiterating calls for all sides in Syria to respect a ceasefire as government forces pressed home a sustained assault on opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, ignoring an international peace plan. 'A political solution to the Syrian issue has reached a critical stage, but violence within Syria continues and civilian casualties are rising. China expresses its deep worries,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told reporters at a daily press briefing. Peace envoy Kofi Annan appealed to the U.N. Security Council to use its leverage to prevent the collapse of his efforts to halt 13 months of conflict and said Assad must make a 'fundamental change of course' and adhere to a ceasefire due to begin on Thursday.
Yesterday, Hezbollah demanded punishment for the killers of Al-Jadeed TV cameraman Ali Shaaban slain by Syrian gunfire near the border with Syria. Shaaban, 30, was killed on Monday when Syrian troops opened fire on the car he was traveling in with two Al-Jadeed colleagues, reporter Hussein Khreiss and cameraman Abed al-Azim Khayya in the northern area of Wadi Khaled, near the border with Syria.

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