NOVANEWS

U.S. President Barack Obama (R) and Zionist King of Jordan’s Abdullah await questions from the press prior to a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office of the White House to discuss issues like the Syrian crisis and regional security, in Washington, April 26, 2013 (photo by REUTERS/Mike Theiler)

Jordan is abandoning its cautious diplomatic stand on Syria — one that has favored a political solution to the two-year-old conflict but without calling directly on President Bashar al-Assad to leave — and has joined a growing number of Arab and regional countries who see no role for the Syrian strongman in the future of that country.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh joined counterparts from Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as Turkey, in Abu Dhabi on May 13 to discuss a new US-Russian proposal to hold an international conference on Syria soon.

A joint statement said that the ministers backed a June 2012 Geneva plan for a transitional government in Syria as long as “it takes in consideration that Assad and his aides with blood-stained hands would have no place in Syria’s future,” according to UAE’s news agency. It was the first time that Jordan had supported such strongly worded anti-Assad rhetoric since the outset of the Syrian crisis in March 2011.

It also contravenes calls by a number of Jordanian politicians and commentators that their country stay away from the Syrian quagmire. Last month Assad accused the Jordanian authorities of allowing thousands of “terrorists” to cross the border into his country. He warned that the Syrian fire could reach Jordan.

One day after Monday’s meeting [May 14], Jordan confirmed reports that the next Friends of Syria group will meet in Amman in the middle of next week ]. It would be the first time that Jordan would play host to the opposition group.

The meeting would bring together the foreign ministers of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, the United States, Britain, France, Turkey, Germany and Italy. It is not yet known who will represent the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) in the meeting, which has yet to decide if will participate in the proposed meeting.

A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the “meeting will follow up on previous meetings in Istanbul and Abu Dhabi to discuss the unfortunate events in Syria and coordinate positions in line with the recent US-Russian agreement to revive the political path to tackle the crisis.”

Until now Jordan has tried to maintain contacts with various parties involved in the Syrian crisis including Russia and Iran. Minister Judeh visited Moscow last week and Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was in Amman recently to meet with King Abdullah II. The King was in Washington last month to promote his vision for a political settlement of the Syrian crisis that would involve the US and Russia.

And while relations between Amman and Damascus have been frigid at best, Jordan continues to allow the Syrian embassy in the capital to function normally. It has kept the borders open and is host to over half a million Syrian refugees. Many defecting Syrian army officers and politicians, including a former prime minister, have been received in Jordan since the beginning of the crisis.

The shift in Jordan’s official position is hard to explain. The kingdom had previously come under pressure from its Gulf allies to open its borders to fighters and weapons heading to Syria, but it has always denied reports that it had done so. Recently it acknowledged that some US Army personnel were in Jordan, but only as part of normal military cooperation. That presence was rejected by local opposition groups.

And after last week’s car bombings in a Turkish town near the Syrian border, which claimed at least 51 lives, many Jordanians expressed fear that similar attacks could take place in Jordan. Turkey accused elements with ties to the Syrian intelligence of plotting the bombings.

The mood in Amman is not hopeful about the outcome of the international meeting on Syria. Jordanian commentators spoke of logistical difficulties and that the opposition is divided. Columnist Fahd Al Khaitan wrote in Al Ghad daily that there are more than 20 armed groups fighting the Assad regime today, including the powerful Jabhat al-Nusra. He quoted former Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Miqati as saying that there would be 10 Geneva meetings before things are resolved and that meanwhile he was fearful for Lebanon and Jordan.

Similar sentiments were echoed by former minister of information in Jordan and daily columnist Taher Al Idwan who wrote in Al Rai daily that the proposed Geneva II meeting will not prevent regional conflagration since the regime is bent on a military option that will either defeat the rebellion or partition the country.Jordan’s foreign policy is usually calculating and cautious. It has been both on Syria since the crisis erupted more than two years ago.

There are definite signs that Jordan is aligning itself with regional hard-liners such as Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. With long borders with Syria and more than half a million refugees on Jordanian soil, Jordanians hope that Assad’s fires will not spill over into their country because of recent changes in official policy.

AMMONNEWS – The Lower House of Parliament voted unanimously on Wednesday to ask the government to expel the Israeli Ambassador in Amman, and recall Jordan’s ambassador in Tel Aviv in objection of Israeli attacks in occupied Jerusalem.

The vote comes after deliberations Wednesday morning over the latest wave of Israeli violations in in Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories. Members of Parliament denounced the continued storming of Jewish settlers into Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The occupation forces prevented citizens from both genders who are under the age of 50 years from entering the Mosque, yet allowed Jewish settlers to break into Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday, in the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the so called “the reunification of Jerusalem” under the protection of Israeli soldiers and policemen and toured the place.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour described the ongoing and escalating attacks on Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli forces and settlers as “premeditated and foretells of evil intentions.”

Ensour said that the cabinet addressed the Israeli actions in a meeting Wednesday morning, and agreed to direct Jordan’s Ambassador in Tel Aviv Walid Obeidat to file an official objection to the Israeli government “as a first measure,” followed by resorting to the UN Security Council if matters escalate.

MPs however went further to demand recalling Jordan’s ambassador back to Amman and expelling the Israeli ambassador here, voting unanimously on the matter to be formally proposed to the government by the Arab and International Affairs House committee.

Over 25 MPs signed a petition to reconsider the 1994 Wadi Araba Peace Treaty between Jordan and Israel, citing the cause to be the continued Israeli violations in Palestine and voicing Jordan’s denunciation.

In their speeches, MPs demanded a “strong response” from the Jordanian government, and called for limiting Israeli air force’s use of Jordanian airspace, particularly in light of the recent Israeli airstrike attacks on Damascus.

NOVANEWS

Turkish officials expect international diplomatic pressures to be put on Russia and Iran to support al-Assad’s departure

A senior Turkish official has revealed that there are three scenarios on the table before the United States and its allies for the departure of Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad. 

In remarks quoted by Kuwait’s Al-Siyaasa newspaper, the Turkish official who requested anonymity said that, “The first scenario is to assassinate al-Assad through his narrow inner circle without this being credited as a victory for the opposition or foreign countries.”

The second scenario is “military intervention by the United States backed by British, French and German forces, in addition to the support of other allied countries. This scenario is strongly supported by the Gulf states and the Free Syrian Army, while opposed by Jordan and Turkey due to their concern that the fire of the external military intervention could reach their territories.”

“The third scenario entails keeping things as they are for now until the coming presidential elections in Syria (due in 2014), when al-Assad’s presidential term comes to an end, he declares his intention not to run for presidency again and leaves Syria without international legal prosecution.”

In response to these scenarios that are expected to be implemented by the United States and its allies, the Turkish official expected international diplomatic pressures to be put on Russia and Iran to support al-Assad’s departure and bring an end to mass Syrian deaths before the end of his presidential term, otherwise they might resort to the other scenarios.

The Turkish official confirmed that the Arabs will shortly arrive in Ankara to coordinate with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the Syrian dossier before his upcoming visit to Washington.

middle-east-online.com

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, General Hassan Firouzabadi, has criticized the Jordan for its “cooperation with the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization and Israel against Syria,” and stressed that Amman’s policies are threatening the Muslim community.

“Jordan’s opening of its borders to allow Al-Qaeda fighters to kill people in Syria has severely lowered the country’s creditability among Muslims,” Firouzabadi, who is also a member of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Wednesday, according to Fares news agency.

Firouzabadi pointed to Jordan’s cooperation with Israelis and westerner nations, and noted, “The Jordanian dynasty has completed its betrayal of Palestine by opening its air space to Israeli warplanes.”

“Jordan’s military cooperation with Israel and Al Qaeda is a blow to the Arab world and threatens the interests of the Islamic nation,” he said.

Reacting to Iranian accusations, a Jordanian official said his country “will not open” its airspace toward Syria to Israel or any other party.

The unnamed Jordanian official, who was quoted by the Jordanian Al-Ghad newspaper, mocked “Firouzabadi’s accusations and allegations.”

He added, “There is no need for Jordan to open its airspace to Israel as there are joint borders between Syria and Israel.”

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel revealed last week that some 150 US military specialists have been deployed in Jordan since last year and that he had ordered a US Army headquarters team to bolster the mission, bringing the total American presence to more than 200 troops.

“These personnel will continue to work alongside Jordanian Armed Forces to improve readiness and prepare for a number of scenarios,” said Hagel.

The US troops were deployed to Jordan to help secure chemical weapons amid fears they could fall into the hands of Islamist militants fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and prepare for a possible spillover from Syria.

Assad, whose regime has been battling rebels trying to oust him since March 2011, warned in an interview Wednesday with Syrian television that the war in his country could spread to Jordan which he said was allowing rebels free movement.

Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Momani said earlier that the US deployment was “to boost the Jordanian armed forces in light of the deteriorating situation in Syria.”

But the army denied this and said in a statement on Thursday: “The 200 US troops have nothing to do with Syria’s situation. They are the first of the groups that will take part of the annual Eager Lion military exercise, in which 15 countries are participating.”

“The Jordan Armed Forces have the required capabilities to defend Jordan’s borders, stability and security against any threat,” it added, saying the drill will take place “in the coming weeks.”

Military aircraft with attack capability allocated two corridors to access Syria, monitor chemical weapons, report says

Times of Israel

Jordan has allowed Israel to fly military drones over the country en route to Syria in order to monitor the situation there and, should the need arise, target chemical weapons caches in the civil war-torn country, the French daily Le Figaro reported Monday.

King Abdullah II made the decision during US President Barack Obama’s visit to the region in March, the report said.

Jordan and Israel both fear the spread of hostilities in Syria, and especially dread the possibility of chemical weapons and other game-changing munitions falling into terrorist hands.

The Israeli drones, according to an unnamed expert quoted in the report, fly at night to avoid detection.

While their main purpose is surveillance and intelligence-gathering, “they are also armed and therefore can hit a target anywhere in Syria.”

Israel’s drones are technologically superior and able to evade detection by the Russian air-defense systems used by the Syrian army, the expert was quoted as saying.

Jordan offered Israel two flight corridors to Syria in order to enable aircraft to take off from air force bases in both the Negev and the center of the country, the report said.

Syria’s two-year-long conflict has repeatedly spilled over into neighboring states, while the violence at home has forced more than 1 million Syrians to escape their homeland to seek safety abroad.

Many of the refugees have fled to Jordan, where they have put an immense burden on the cash-strapped Jordanian government.

In recent months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abdullah conducted several secret meetings in Amman, Israeli defense officials said.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Atlantic in March, Abdullah said his relationship with Netanyahu is “very strong. Our discussions have really improved.”

In December, Netanyahu was said to have traveled to Jordan to discuss possible methods for destroying Syria’s sizable chemical weapons stockpile, including air strikes or a ground assault.

According to the pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi, Amman was reluctant to put its weight behind such action.

Massive US arms/aid deliveries prop up Al Qaeda in Syria, while US troops stage in Jordan to defend terrorists they spent last decade fighting. 

(LD) – CNN reports that some 200 US troops are staging along Syria’s border, this as reports reveal huge amounts of US-provided flour smuggled into Syria have formed the foundation of Al Qaeda’s public relations strategy. Together with huge amounts of US-provided weapons, the aid is fueling Al Qaeda’s continued operations and atrocities inside Syria.  The addition of US troops along Syria’s border appears to be a response to recent and significant gains made by the Syrian government in stamping out terrorist operations nationwide.

Image: Cover of the US Army’s West Point Combating Terrorism Center report, “Al-Qa’ida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq.” The report definitively exposed a regional network used by Al Qaeda to send fighters into Iraq to sow sectarian violence during the US occupation. This exact network can now be seen demonstrably at work with NATO support, overrunning Libya and now Syria. The terrorists in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi that US Ambassador Stevens was arming, is described by the 2007 West Point report as one of the most prolific and notorious Al Qaeda subsidiaries in the world.

Syria’s “Rebels” are Same Terrorists US Fought for Last 10 Years  
As reported in October 2012, the networks used to flood Iraq with weapons and Al Qaeda militants during the US occupation, had been positively identified by the extensive academic efforts of the US Army’s own West Point Combating Terrorism Center (CTC). Two reports were published between 2007 and 2008 revealing a global network of Al Qaeda affiliated terror organizations, and how they mobilized to send a large influx of foreign fighters into Iraq.

The first report, “Al-Qa’ida’s Foreign Fighters in Iraq,” was extensively cited by historian and geopolitical analystDr. Webster Tarpley in March of 2011, exposing that NATO-backed “pro-democracy” rebels in Libya were in fact Al Qaeda’s Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), listed by the US State Department, United Nations, and the UK Home Office (page 5, .pdf) as an international terrorist organization.

These very same terrorist would then be documented flooding into Syria, primarily through Turkey with NATO complicity.

In November 2011, the Telegraph in their article, “Leading Libyan Islamist met Free Syrian Army opposition group,” would report:

Abdulhakim Belhadj, head of the Tripoli Military Council and the former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, “met with Free Syrian Army leaders in Istanbul and on the border with Turkey,” said a military official working with Mr Belhadj. “Mustafa Abdul Jalil (the interim Libyan president) sent him there.”

Another Telegraph article, “Libya’s new rulers offer weapons to Syrian rebels,” would admit

Syrian rebels held secret talks with Libya’s new authorities on Friday, aiming to secure weapons and money for their insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

At the meeting, which was held in Istanbul and included Turkish officials, the Syrians requested “assistance” from the Libyan representatives and were offered arms, and potentially volunteers.

“There is something being planned to send weapons and even Libyan fighters to Syria,” said a Libyan source, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There is a military intervention on the way. Within a few weeks you will see.”

Later that month, some 600 Libyan terrorists would be reported to have entered Syria to begin combat operations and have been flooding into the country ever since.

In Syria, the southeastern region near Dayr Al-Zawr on the Iraqi-Syrian border, the northwestern region of Idlib near the Turkish-Syrian border, and Dar’a in the south near the Jordanian-Syrian border, produced the majority of fighters found crossing over into Iraq, according to the 2007 West Point study.

Image: Libyan Mahdi al-Harati of the US State Department, United Nations, and the UK Home Office (page 5, .pdf)-listed terrorist organization, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), addressing fellow terrorists in Syria. Harati is now commanding a Libyan brigade operating inside of Syria attempting to destroy the Syrian government and subjugate the Syrian population. Traditionally, this is known as “foreign invasion.”

US CIA is Propping up Al Qaeda in Syria  
These are now astonishingly the very areas the US CIA is overseeing the flow of thousands of tons of weapons and aid – aid that is clearly falling almost entirely into the hands of Al Qaeda’s Syrian franchise, Jabhat al-Nusra.

The New York Times in their article titled, “Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With C.I.A. Aid,” admits that:

With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders.

The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports.

While the West attempts to claim these weapons are being sent to “moderates,” the US State Department itself admits that Al Qaeda is operating in every major city in Syria, carrying out hundreds of terrorist attacks, and is by far the most highly organized, most prominent militant front in the conflict. If the West via Saudi Arabia and Qatar is sending thousands of tons of weapons to “moderates,” who is sending more weapons to Jabhat al-Nusra?

The obvious answer is there are no moderates, and the West has been intentionally arming Al Qaeda from the beginning. In fact, this is a documented conspiracy first revealed as early as 2007 by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in his New Yorker article titled, “”The Redirection: Is the Administration’s new policy benefiting our enemies in the war on terrorism?” which stated specifically:

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

Now, further evidence that the summation of US aid has fallen into the hands of Al Qaeda in Syria, comes to us from the Washington Post’s Liz Sly who reported in her article, “U.S. feeds Syrians, but secretly,” that:

In the heart of rebel-held territory in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, a small group of intrepid Westerners is undertaking a mission of great stealth. Living anonymously in a small rural community, they travel daily in unmarked cars, braving airstrikes, shelling and the threat of kidnapping to deliver food and other aid to needy Syrians — all of it paid for by the U.S. government.

Sly then claims that most Syrians credit Al Qaeda’s al-Nusra with providing the aid:

“America has done nothing for us. Nothing at all,” said Mohammed Fouad Waisi, 50, spitting out the words for emphasis in his small Aleppo grocery store, which adjoins a bakery where he buys bread every day. The bakery is fully supplied with flour paid for by the United States. But Waisi credited Jabhat al-Nusra — a rebel group the United States has designated a terrorist organization because of its ties to al-Qaeda — with providing flour to the region, though he admitted he wasn’t sure where it comes from.

And while Sly attempts to spin the story as merely misdirected anger and ignorance on the part of Syrians receiving the aid, it is well documented that bakeries in terrorist-held territory are in fact manned by Al Qaeda militants. In fact, while Sly maintains that “security concerns” are owed for America’s opaque aid distribution operation, it appears more likely the US is attempting to insidiously obfuscate its use of humanitarian aid to help its militant proxies win “hearts and minds” amid a humanitarian catastrophe the West itself engineered and perpetuated intentionally.

The London Telegraph revealed in their February 2013 article, “Syria: how jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra is taking over Syria’s revolution,” that taking over bakeries was a key strategy used by Al Qaeda’s al-Nusra front to “win over” the population:

Then, in the past weeks, Jabhat al-Nusra – which is outside the FSA – pushed other rebel groups out of the stores and established a system to distribute bread throughout rebel areas.

In a small office attached to a bakery in the Miesseh district of Aleppo, Abu Yayha studied a map pinned on the wall. Numbers were scrawled in pencil against streets.

“We counted the population of every street to assess the need for the area,” explained Mr Yahya. “We provide 23,593 bags of bread every two days for this area. This is just in one district. We are calculating the population in other districts and doing the same there.

“In shops the cost is now 125 Syrian pounds (£1.12) for one pack. Here we sell it at 50 Syrian pounds (45p) for two bags. We distribute some for free for those who cannot pay.”

The bakery works constantly. Inside, barrows filled with dough were heaved onto a conveyor belt that chopped it into round and flat segments, before pushing the dough into a giant oven. Workers packed the steaming flatbread in bags.

“I am from Jabhat al Nusra. All the managers of all the bakeries are,” said Abu Fattah, the manager. “This makes sure that nobody steals.”

In essence, Al Qaeda is taking over neighborhoods upon a mountain of US-provided flour, in bakeries overrun and held at the barrels of US-provided guns. Just as was planned in 2007, the US is attempting to overthrow the government of Syria with “extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.”

Humanitarian aid is being used as a political weapon to carve out territory for the West’s heavily armed proxies and extort cooperation from the subjugated people who find themselves inside Al Qaeda-occupied territory.

US Military To Stage on Border to Protect Al Qaeda  
The Pentagon now reports that some 200 US troops are on their way to augment an already established US military presence along the Jordanian-Syrian border. CNN reported in their article, “U.S. military to step up presence in Jordan in light of Syria civil war,” that:

The troops, which will number up to 200, are from the headquarters of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, two Defense Department officials told CNN.

The deployment “creates an additional capability” beyond what has been there, one official said, and will give the United States the ability to “potentially form a joint task force for military operations, if ordered.”

Exactly where on the spectrum between actual operational intention and psychological warfare the deployment represents is still uncertain. What is certain, is that the US is deploying military assets with the intent of bolstering militant efforts inside Syria and along its peripheries. The astonishing irony is that many of the terrorists operating on both sides of the Jordanian-Syrian border US troops plan on “defending,” may quite literally have been the same militants killing US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for the past 10 years.

US foreign policy has unraveled to such an extent that it risks unhinging entirely America’s legitimacy and relevance abroad, as well as peace and prosperity at home.

Via LandDdestroyer

U.S.Troops have been deployed in Jordan, near Syrian border since withdrawal from Iraq in 2012. Read more in the related aricles:

Foreign Troops Begin to Spread Near the Villages of Al-Mafraq

Palestinian Intelligence Source: Saudi Arabia ships Weapons to NATO-led Insurgents in Jordan and Syria.

THE ZIONIST BROTHERS

American and Jordanian Zionist efforts to train Zio-NATO rats have stepped up, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday, following reports that the training has been focused on anti-tank weaponry.

The report on Wednesday, citing U.S. and Jordanian Zionist puppets, stated that training – which reportedly began last year – could also be used to establish a buffer zone along Syria’s southern border.

“Jordanian security officials  said a previous  timetable to complete training of about 3,000 Free Syrian Army officers by the end of June has been moved up to the end of this month in light of the border victories,” the Post reported.

A buffer zone would essentially aim to “aim to convert areas now in rebel hands into permanent havens for thousands of army defectors and displaced civilians in the area and allow easy access for humanitarian aid,” the report added.

“Buffer zones on the Syrian side of the border is the only way to keep the conflict away from Jordan,” Mahmoud Irdaisat, head of the Amman-based Center for Strategic Studies at the King Abdullah II Defense Studies Academy, told the Post.

Last month, German newspaper Der Spiegel quoted what it said were participants and organizers in the training, adding that there were doubts over whether the Americans worked for private firms or were from the army, although some reportedly wore uniforms.

Spiegel said the training focused on use of anti-tank weaponry.

Jordanian intelligence services are involved in the program, which aims to build around a dozen units totaling some 10,000 fighters to the exclusion of radical Islamists, Spiegel reported.

“The Jordanian intelligence services want to prevent Salafis (radical Islamists) crossing from their own country into Syria and then returning later to stir up trouble in Jordan itself,” one of the organizers told the paper.

A spokesman for the U.S. Defense Department declined immediate comment on the Spiegel report. The French foreign ministry and Britain’s foreign and defense ministries also had no comment.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper also reported in recent weeks that U.S. trainers were assisting Syrian rebels in Jordan. British and French instructors were also participating in the U.S.-led effort, the Guardian said on Saturday, citing Jordanian security sources.

More than 70,000 people have been killed and 1 million refugees have fled the Syrian conflict.

The United States has said it would provide medical supplies and food directly to opposition fighters but has ruled out sending arms for fear they may find their way to Islamist hardliners who might then use them against Western targets.