Analysis shows Syria came under attack by Israel using, not just nuclear weapons, but an American nuclear bunker buster bomb, one of several supplied to Israel to use against Iran, one of the last acts of the Bush/Cheney administration.

Striking evidence of the use of American EPW (Earth Penetrating Weapons) nuclear weapons in Syria has come to light. Experts say the proof is irrefutable.

Dramatic video footage from Syria has revealed startling evidence that counters Israel’s claims of “surgical strikes” on weapons headed to Lebanon.

There was no similarity whatsoever noted between the Syrian “event” and a conventional “bunker buster” including the GBU 57, the largest conventional weapon every to be used.

The other problem with the GBU 57 is delivery. Only two aircraft are capable of delivering this weapon, the B-52 and B-2 Stealth Bomber.

Israel does not have these aircraft.

Thanks to “From the Trenches” reporting on this Talmud Terror Masters evil.

Look out for more of this Jew madness inflicted upon Syria. The psychos in charge of that State of Hate will use the MSM’s sudden interest in Obama’s illegal activities to engage in more terrorist acts against its neighbors.

More Proof that Israel Nuked Damascus

And Even More Proof Israel Nuked Damascus

The recent gruesome video of a Syrian rebel soldier, Khalid al-Hamad, mutilating a corpse has triggered shock and outrage, fueling a tense debate over the wisdom of supporting the armed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. While some consider the video as the ultimate proof that backing the rebels is a bad idea, others view the radicalization and increasing brutality of the armed opposition as a direct result of the weak Western response and US dithering. This later opinion is based on the assumption that an early and decisive intervention in support of the moderate factions of the Syrian rebels would have marginalized the radicals and reduced their recruiting abilities.

While debating the brutal war in Syria — and the possible solutions and the inherit risks associated with each option — there are a few issues to consider about radical groups, the factors that help increase their power, and, more important, whether early military intervention would have prevented the radicalization of the Syrian opposition.

Collapse of the state

Undoubtedly, the collapse of law and order has had an enormous impact on the rise of non-state players, particularly radical groups. Even the short-term security vacuum has created enough of an opportunity for jihadists to pour in. For example, the January 2011 revolution in Egypt has compromised security and helped jihadists to build their own safe haven in the mountains of Sinai. Syria is no different; in fact, it is easier to get into Syria due to its porous border security, particularly along the borders with Iraq and Lebanon. The lack of intervention in Syria has resulted in a chronic collapse of law and order. Any military intervention, however, would also cause law and order to crumble, and result in a more acute form that would encourage (rather than discourage) radical groups to pour into Syria under the pretext of helping the rebels.

Radicals are already in place

Jihadi backpackers are already around in abundance throughout the region, from Afghanistan to Somalia. In the name of jihad, they are continuously seeking new adventures and opportunities in any country they see as vulnerable. As long as the ideology exists and funds are available, jihadists will always be able to survive and recruit new members; no invitation is required, and no permission is needed. If the lack of outside help has given the radicals a chance to flourish in Syria, any Western intervention could easily give them the excuse and the motive to join the war in Syria under various pretexts.

The other jihadists

Perhaps the most important factor that was underestimated in Syria is the depth of loyalty and strength of the pro-Assad camp. Many prematurely predicted the downfall of Assad, citing that his allies would desert him at some stage. It turns out to have been a miscalculation by Western observers.

Remember that jihadism is not an exclusive Sunni phenomenon; Shiite jihad is also a flourishing business. The Lebanese guerrilla organization Hezbollah is a perfect example. The assumption that a collapse of Assad’s regime would lead Hezbollah, and its patron Iran, to give up on Syria is wishful thinking to say the least. If Assad was ousted, the Shiite Crescent would suffer a huge setback, but their resilience and tenacity would help them endure the pain, and formulate a new survival strategy. For them, the best comeback is to declare jihad in Syria, and hence a counter-Sunni jihad could easily emerge. In other words, while an early military intervention in Syria might have prevented the leak-in of Sunni jihadists, the weakness of a wartorn post-Assad Syria would almost certainly invite them in in the name of fighting Shiite terrorists. Thanassis Cambanis argues that Syria could turn out to be Iran’s Vietnam, but it could also easily be the opposite: Turning Syria into Vietnam could be the Iranian revenge.

Weapons blowback

Weapons outside of disciplined military forces are seductive tools that can easily inspire exploitation and violence. In a police state like Syria, armed rebellion unleashes rancid chronic resentment and transforms it into raw anger that is difficult to control with logical thinking. Once weapons are available, anger quickly devolves into sick atrocities of unimaginable scale.

Any military intervention, particularly without boots on the ground, would not prevent such atrocities from happening; it might reduce its extent, but not enough to stop the cycle of revenge that would follow the collapse of the current regime.

Libya is one example of an early successful foreign intervention that failed to prevent revenge-fueled action. Libya also highlighted how enormous a challenge it is to collect arms at the end of the war. The recent [May 13] deadly car bombing in Benghazi is one of many examples of the blowback of weapons availability and their impact on the state. There is no reason to believe that Syria would do better; in fact, it is almost certain that it will do worse. Fortunately, Libya is an oil-rich country that can rebuild itself, but Syria is much poorer, with limited resources. The combination of poverty, armed militias and radical preaching is a very toxic cocktail ready to explode.

Fouad Ajami, for one, has argued that after the fall of the Syrian tyranny, better politics may take hold in Syria. This assumption would only be applicable if all stakeholders learn lessons from tyranny and are willing not to repeat it. We must acknowledge, however, that the end of Assad would not lead the Iranian regime to embrace liberal democracy in Syria, nor it would stop radical jihadists from exploiting a post-regime fragility to corrupt and recruit others.

There are no easy answers for the complex Syrian conundrum, but let’s not delude ourselves that early intervention would have been the perfect remedy for Syria. Radicalism is a much more complicated phenomenon, while brutality, revenge and eye-for-an-eye are all part and parcel of the savagery of war. However, it’s crucial to prevent the fight for Syria and the fight against Assad from becoming mutually exclusive. Syrians have rebelled against Assad to achieve freedom, democracy and human rights. Tolerating radicalism would signal a huge defeat for Syria, which would be more tragic than the current bloodbath.

nytimes.com

In a clear warning to Syria to stop the transfer of advanced weapons to Islamic militants in the region, a senior Israeli official signaled on Wednesday that Israel was considering additional military strikes to prevent that from happening and that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, would face crippling consequences if he retaliated.

“Israel is determined to continue to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah,” the Israeli official said. “The transfer of such weapons to Hezbollah will destabilize and endanger the entire region.”

“If Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his terrorist proxies,” the official said, “he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate.”

The Israeli official, who had been briefed by high-level officials on Israel’s assessment of the situation in Syria, declined to be identified, citing the need to protect internal Israeli government deliberations. He contacted The New York Times on Wednesday.

The precise motives for Israel’s warning were uncertain: Israel could be seeking to restrain Syria’s behavior to avoid taking further military action, or alerting other countries to another military strike. That would increase the tension in an already fraught situation in Syria, where a civil war has been raging for more than two years.

There could be a secondary audience for the warning, analysts said, in Hezbollah and its primary supporter, Iran. Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon, has said in recent days it could use weapons supplied by Iran to retaliate for recent Israeli strikes on Syria.

Nearly two weeks ago, Israeli warplanes carried out two strikes in Syria, the first hitting bases of Syria’s elite Republican Guard and storehouses of long-range missiles, in addition to a military research center that American officials have called the country’s main chemical weapons site.

A more limited strike on May 3 at Damascus International Airport was also meant to destroy weapons being sent from Iran to Hezbollah. The Israeli government did not confirm either of the attacks, which followed another earlier this year.

The Syrian government publicly condemned Israel for the assaults, saying it “opened the door to all possibilities.” The Syrian deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, declared, “We will respond immediately and harshly to any additional attack by Israel.”

Mr. Assad and Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, have each said in recent days that the Israeli-Syrian border, which has been relatively quiet despite the more than two years of civil war inside Syria, could become a “resistance front,” in response to Israeli attacks.

On Wednesday, mortar shells, fired from across the Syrian border, landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The shells landed on Mount Hermon, a popular tourist site, and were the latest in a series of what Israel has generally considered errant fire from internal Syrian fighting.

Israel did not fire back, as it had on several previous occasions, but it closed Mount Hermon to the public for several hours during a Jewish holiday on which hiking in the Golan is popular.

In his comments, the Israeli official said that “Israel has so far refrained from intervening in Syria’s civil war and will maintain this policy as long as Assad refrains from attacking Israel directly or indirectly.”

“Israel,” he said, “will continue its policy of interdicting attempts to strengthen Hezbollah, but will not intercede in the Syrian civil war as long as Assad desists from direct or indirect attacks against Israel.”

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, declined to discuss the meaning of the Israeli official’s statement. “We’re not going to comment on the story,” he said.

American and Israeli political analysts agree that Israel has little motive to intervene in Syria’s civil war, but that it is deeply concerned about the transfer of advanced weapons, as well as the danger that Mr. Assad’s stockpiles of chemical weapons could be used against it.

Amos Yadlin, Israel’s former military intelligence chief who now directs the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said that the timing of the warning could have been linked to intelligence Israel had received about something it wanted to prevent.

That, he said, could be a Syrian intention to react, albeit belatedly, to the recent airstrikes on its soil, an imminent shipment of weapons to Hezbollah, or signs of action by Syrian proxies in the Golan Heights.

Mr. Yadlin said that, aside from Mr. Assad, Russia could be another intended recipient for the Israeli official’s message. Two of the weapons systems that Israel has identified as game-changing “red line weapons” — SA-17 antiaircraft weapons and Yakhont shore-to-sea missiles — were supplied by the Russians, he added. The convoy that Israeli warplanes struck in January was carrying SA-17 antiaircraft weapons.

A Western diplomatic official who works in the region said that after the recent airstrikes, Israel had sent a similar message to Mr. Assad through back channels — probably Russia — saying it was not attacking his government but would do so if he retaliated. Perhaps, this official said, Jerusalem now wanted to broadcast the message publicly because the real audience is Iran and Hezbollah, whose leaders have been among the loudest threatening responses.

“It’s probably doubling down on the message to make sure it’s known to him and the others,” he said, also on the condition he not be named because of the delicacy of the situation. “Maybe some of the others who are calling on him to respond but also have an interest in him surviving would hear it better from this channel than other channels. Maybe it’s more directed at Iran and Hezbollah than it is at Syria.”

As for whether the timing of the statement indicated an imminent strike, this official said, “I wouldn’t think they would telegraph a punch like that so publicly.”

MALEKIYYAH, Al-HASSAKAH PROVINCE, Syria — The province of Hassakah is the Syrian oil tank. Before the revolution, its 170,000 barrels per day accounted for more than half of the country’s oil production, thus representing the backbone of those oil exports covering a third of national export revenues. Syrian oil engineers working in the province told Al-Monitorthat the Democratic Union Party (PYD) — affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) — currently controls around 60% of the oil fields, leaving the remaining 40% in the hands of several factions of the Arab opposition. Since the conflict engulfed the route of the pipelines to the refineries, however, the drills have stopped working.

Despite such a fragmented context, the European Union on April 22 decided to lift the oil embargo on liberated regions in Syria in an attempt to support the opposition. The move, though, is likely to stir up Kurdish-Arab strife and catalyze regime raids on a region that has largely remained immune to the conflict so far. The war for control of Syria’s energy resources has not even started, but mutual allegations are already circulating between the parties involved, which accuse each other of cutting power supplies and dealing with the regime.

Exporting crude oil to Europe would encourage ethnic strife, but Syria’s rebel-held areas urgently need to produce or import fuel, electricity and gas to meet the basic needs of the population under its control, unless the undesirable option of trading with the regime is brought back to the table. For the time being, the few energy resources available remain prey to looting and black-market dealing.

In Hassakah, the response to the European call for oil trade with the Arab opposition’s Syrian National Coalition (SNC) has been largely negative. The PYD doesn’t recognize any SNC power over its territories and sees the proposal as an attempt to encourage Arab offensives against Kurdish-held areas. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) compares it to plundering as long as there is no transitional government on the ground.

“We consider the EU offer as if they are spurring Arabs to seize our regions and sell oil through the SNC,” Aldar Khalil, a veteran PKK fighter and one of the most influential PYD leaders, told Al-Monitor. “For us, the only body entitled to take decisions on oil trade is the KNC (Kurdish National Council).”

“We’re against selling oil before the collapse of the regime or until the formation of a transitional government in Syria,” Maj. Muntasir al-Khalid, commander of the FSA Military Council in Hassakah, told Al-Monitor. “For the moment, oil sales would be an organized theft of the wealth of Syria, as the wells are in the hands of different factions.”

To add further complications, the al-Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusra, believed to be the best organized within the opposition, is not subject to the FSA leadership. Jabhat al-Nusra already controls the Ali Agha well in nearby Rmelan.

The regime is also not likely to accept any initiative in the oil trade. “In order to accept the EU offer, the PYD and the opposition need a no-fly zone, as the regime would shell any oil cargo,” predicted an electric engineer in the Oil Ministry’s department of Hassakah and Rmelan, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

While the door of foreign exports is temporarily closed, the lack of oil has also affected the production of associated gas and, consequently, electricity. The internal supply routes are hindered by hostilities between Kurdish and Arab factions.

“The Sueidia power plant covers around 200 megawatts, so that before the uprising we used to rely on 150 megawatts from the Tabqa power plant in Raqqa to cover the provincial needs,” the electric engineer told Al-Monitor. ”But now Tabqa is blocked by the clashes and the power needs have almost doubled, reaching 700 megawatts, due to the lack of government control over consumption.”

The Baathist regime intentionally compelled oil-rich Kurdish regions to rely on power plants and refineries located in other provinces, but now the Arab opposition is accused of adopting similar practices. “Both Tabqa and Mabrukeh power plants are still supplying Deir ez-Zor, whereas they cut electricity in our direction,” PYD’s Khalil said. Such allegations were denied by an employee responsible for the maintenance of the power plant in Mabrukeh when contacted by Al-Monitor. The outcome is that Kurdish-populated cities such as Amuda only enjoy a few hours of electricity per day.

Despite mutual accusations, power cuts affect all regions regardless of their ethnic composition. “Blackouts are not necessarily planned by one side or another. In the Arab-Kurdish Tell Tamr the mills serving the whole city are suffering from power shortages, even if the electricity comes from the [Arab-controlled] South,” Ayman al-Ahmad, an Arab opposition activist from Hassakah told Al-Monitor.

On the other side, the PYD is accused of cooperating with the regime in managing oil resources. On April 16, some government documents published by the Syrian weekly Jisr indicated an agreement between the Oil Ministry, the military intelligence and the PYD to allow the latter to guard the wells in Rmelan.

“The PYD took over the wells on March 1, but oil kept flowing toward the government refinery in Banyas until approximately March 20, when some Arab phalanxes closed the valves in Tell Hamis,” the electric engineer said.

“We have to choose between the current deprivation and the return to drill and pump oil toward Banyas,” Khalil said.

“Everything imported from abroad has a double cost: We paid $12 for each gas cylinder coming from Iraqi Kurdistan. The Syrian-subsidized price of a gas cylinder is 425 Syrian pounds (less than $3 on the black market), but it’s actually sold at 3,500 Syrian pounds ($25) by PYD supporters,” an employee from Sueidia gas plant who spoke on condition of anonymity told Al-Monitor.

The option of keeping the oil flowing toward government refineries is harshly criticized by the Arab opposition as a form of support to the ongoing massacres. Nevertheless, some oil workers claim that even Arab armed groups are easily corrupted by the regime. “We know that the regime happened to pay some factions of the opposition to protect the passage of oil pipelines between Hassakah and Deir ez-Zor,” an oil engineer working for the same government department in Rmelan told Al-Monitor.

Besides the need to boycott the regime without viable alternatives, smuggling is dramatically affecting the availability of petroleum products. “We monitored the distribution of oil fuel (mazout) coming from Iraqi Kurdistan through the Supreme Kurdish Committee between November 2012 and January 2013,” recalled Zorab Ali, a young activist from the Amuda Group (Tajammu Amuda). “Twenty-five thousand families were supposed to receive the tanks, but only 6,000 actually did.”

The mazout is mainly refined at home through rudimentary dangerous techniques. “Homemade refining could lead to diseases caused by the inhalation of hydrogene sulfide (H2S),” warned the oil engineer from Rmelan.

“The international community needs to put pressure on the Syrian regime to allow us to import petroleum products from Iraqi Kurdistan in exchange for crude oil,” the electric engineer in the Oil Ministry said. “Upon the arrival of the hot season, we will risk a cholera contagion without enough fuel to clean the streets.”

http://www.reuters.com

Turkey’s prime minister will push President Barack Obama for more assertive action on Syria during a visit to Washington this week, days after car bombs tore through a Turkish border town in the deadliest spillover of violence yet.

The bombings in Reyhanli, which killed 50 people on Saturday, and activists’ reports of a massacre of Sunni Muslims in a Syrian coastal town have incensed Tayyip Erdogan, already critical of the slow international response to the conflict.

The risk of Syria’s chaos spreading will top the agenda in Erdogan’s talks with Obama on Thursday, but the wide-ranging meeting with one of Washington’s Middle Eastern allies is also expected to cover Turkey’s nascent reconciliation with Israel and its deepening energy ties with Iraqi Kurdistan.

Turkey has thrown its weight heavily behind the two-year uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, allowing the rebels to organize on its soil and sheltering 400,000 refugees.

But Ankara resents a sense that Western allies are cheering it along while offering little in the way of concrete support.

“Of course Syria will be our main topic … We will draw a roadmap. Turkey has been damaged more than any other country,” Erdogan told reporters before boarding his plane to Washington.

Saturday’s bombings in crowded shopping streets, which Ankara blamed on “an old Marxist terrorist organization” with direct links to Assad’s government, brought home the reality of Syria’s chaos spreading to Turkish soil.

Washington sees Turkey, which shares a 900 km border with Syria and has NATO’s second-largest army, as key to planning for a post-Assad Syria and is expected to push for Erdogan’s support in arranging a proposed peace conference also backed by Moscow.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he expected the conference to be held in early June, although Western leaders including Obama have dampened expectations that a civil war, estimated by the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights to have killed over 94,000 people, can be doused soon.

Assad’s government has said it wants specifics before it decides whether to take part, while Syria’s main opposition coalition has said it will meet in Istanbul on May 23 to assess whether it will join.

“Our objective is to ensure Assad cedes power to a transitional authority. We are hoping that what (Russian Foreign Minister Sergei) Lavrov and Kerry announced will be within those parameters,” a senior Turkish government official said.

Turkey long advocated a no-fly zone to create safe havens within Syria but the idea failed to gain much traction among Western allies. It has since said it favors greater support to the opposition over military intervention, though some Turkish officials said a no-fly zone could come back under discussion.

Erdogan and Obama are also expected to confer on any evidence of chemical weapons use by Assad’s forces, which the U.S. president has warned would be a “red line”, as well as possible deeper U.S. engagement in the conflict.

Turkey has been testing blood samples from casualties, which Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who will also be in Washington, said last week indicated chemical weapons use.

Washington has said in recent weeks it is rethinking its long-standing opposition to arming the rebels, although there has been no word on when a decision might be made.

ENERGY DEALS

Turkey and the United States have a long history of military and strategic cooperation but ties have often been prickly.

Erdogan and Obama will discuss a host of other regional issues, from Turkey’s thawing relations with Israel to its energy deals with Iraq, as well as the division of Cyprus, split between a Turkish north and Greek Cypriot south since 1974.

“The visit is an opportunity for the leaders to coordinate on a broad and substantive agenda, including Syria, Iraq, Middle East peace, Iran and countering global terrorism, among others,” a White House official said.

Turkey is not the deferential U.S. ally it once was, its long-standing alignment with Washington has eroded under the decade-old leadership of Erdogan, who has carved out an increasingly assertive and independent role on the world stage.

Its caustic rhetoric on Israel, gold sales to Iran – meant to be under the choke of U.S. sanctions – and deepening energy ties with Iraqi Kurdistan, to the chagrin of the central government in Baghdad, have all been sticking points.

Before leaving for Washington, Erdogan – who will be accompanied by Energy Minister Taner Yildiz – said Turkey had agreed with Kurdistan’s regional government and U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil on terms for oil exploration.

Kurdistan is pushing ahead with plans to build its own oil export pipeline to Turkey, despite objections from the United States, which fears it could lead to the break-up of Iraq.

An energy official in Ankara said Turkey could open a neutral escrow account to help share the revenues.

“If the U.S. administration gives the green light, Turkey could take a step forward in this,” the official said.

hurriyetdailynews.com

Former leader of the organization that was accused of the recent twin blasts that killed over 50 people in Reyhanlı, denied all accusations and claimed the incident was Israel’s work, according to daily Radikal. 

Mihraç Ural, member and former leader of “Acilciler,” or the Hasty Ones, claimed the incident was similar to previous acts of Israel, and denied any connections to his organization. 

“Acilciler hasn’t been around for two decades, and has not committed any military acts for the past 30 years,” Ural told daily Radikal. “How can you bring such a group into such a complicated act?”

Ural said such an act could have been made by those “wishing to alter all balances in the Middle East, and to pin the Syrian and Turkish people against each other.” 

“Israel has an interest in this, since the Syrian army’s recent gains show that Bashar al-Assad is here to stay,” Ural said. 

Several reports have claimed that Acilciler, cooperating with Mukhabarat, the Syrian secret police, are responsible of the attack that killed 51 people in Reyhanlı. Forty-one of the victims have been identified, including 36 Turkish citizens. 

Turkish authorities have blamed the supporters of President Bashar al-Assad for the blasts, but Syria speedily denied the accusations.

NOVANEWS

Unannounced meeting with PM Netanyahu and senior Israeli figures comes amid concerns over Syrian weapons.

• Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
• guardian.co.uk,
• Friday 17 May 2013 

CIA chief John Brennan ‘was sent to Israel to prevent it from taking action on its own in Syria’, according to reports in Israeli media. Photograph: Charles Dharapak/AP

The CIA chief has made an unexpected visit to Israel to meet senior political and military figures to discuss the deteriorating security situation in neighbouring Syria.

John Brennan, who took up his post two months ago, met the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, defence minister, Moshe Ya’alon, military chief of staff, Benny Gantz, and Mossad chief, Tamir Pardo, according to reports in Israel media.

The unannounced meetings followed two Israeli air strikes on weapons stores near Damascus a fortnight ago. Israel has repeatedly warned it will take action to prevent advanced or chemical weapons being transferred to the Syrian regime’s Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, or falling into the hands of jihadist groups fighting alongside the Syrian opposition.

According to a report in the Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronoth, the visit stemmed from “the American fear of escalation in the region against the backdrop of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah’s threats to act against Israel in the Golan Heights and the American sense that Israel is disappointed by the ineffectuality of the Obama administration with regard to the ongoing deterioration in Syria.

“It is assessed that Brennan was sent to Israel to co-ordinate a joint policy between the two countries and prevent Israel from taking action on its own in Syria.”

On Wednesday, the New York Times quoted a senior Israeli official as saying the Jewish state was considering further strikes to prevent the transfer of advanced weaponry to Islamist militants in the region. “If Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his terrorist proxies, he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate,” the official – thought to be a high-level political figure – said.

The Syrian government has warned it will retaliate against further military action by Israel, which would risk embroiling the US ally in a regional conflict.

Two shells landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights this week. An unknown Palestinian group, the Abdul Qader al-Husseini brigades, said it had fired the missiles, which, if true, would make it the first time Israeli-controlled territory had been targeted. “We are avenging all our martyrs that we lost in our war with the Zionist enemy,” the brigades said.

Three observers with Undof, the UN peacekeeping force in the Golan, were abducted by Syrian opposition forces and later released on Wednesday, the third such incident in the past two months.

NOVANEWS

By Tim Marshall

On May 11, large explosions rocked the Turkish town of Reyhanlı. Close to one of the main border crossings between Turkey and Syria, the explosions were almost assuredly part of the broader regional fallout from the civil war in Syria.

The U.S.-backed AKP [Justice and Development Party] government in Turkey is a resolute opponent of the Syrian government and has aggressively pushed for regime change in Syria. The AKP government has attempted to assign responsibility for the bombings to Syrian government forces. It also blamed “inaction” from international actors for the bombings, attempting to turn them into a pretext that Western powers can use to justify deeper intervention into the Syrian conflict.

The following document, from the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), clarifies a number of issues surrounding the bombings, and challenges the perspective of the Turkish government. With the rising danger of more direct intervention from the United States, it is more important than ever that anti-war forces remain alert to the exploitation of dramatic events in the service of imperialist aims.

Death toll above 100 after Reyhanlı bombings

While the official statements from the AKP government claim the death toll is 46 [at time of press official sources now claim the death toll is 50-Ed.], according to the information from the hospital officials in Reyhanlı, the death toll is actually more than 100 after the two bombs that exploded in the town center near the municipality building and main post office on May 11th.

Conflicting statements from the AKP government after the incident

Speaking from Berlin, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said, “It is possible that there would be provocations during such a critical transition phase in Syria.” Speaking, by implication, to the government of Syria with a threatening attitude, Davutoğlu continued: “Nobody should test the power of Turkey. Whoever has committed this act will get a full response from us if needed. It is not a coincidence that all this happened just as critical decisions were being made for the transition phase when diplomatic contacts were intensifying. Turkey will not give up its decisive policies.”

In Istanbul, Prime Minister Erdoğan accused parties that wanted to sabotage the “peace process” with the Kurdish people in Turkey. He said, “We have started a new era with the peace process in our country and those who can’t stand this process may have done this.”

Deputy Prime Minister  Beşir Atalay claimed that the organization behind the bombings was pro-Syrian government  group “Syrian Resistance”. The group is led by Mihraç Ural, an Antakya Alawite, and an ex-leftist leader who has been fighting in Syria against the FSA with his group in Syria. The statement issued by the Head of Parliament, Bülent Arınç said that the “Assad regime” is the usual suspect behind the incident.

People of Reyhanlı take to the streets to denounce AKP

Right after the explosions, video footage from the journalists in the area captured the reactions of the people of the town, expressing their anger towards Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan, blaming him and the AKP government for the massacre. The young people of the town were shouting on the ruins of the explosion for Erdoğan to resign immediately. Very shortly after these reactions by the locals, the government declared that it was forbidden for the press to broadcast from the area.

Demonstration in Antakya

A few hours after the explosions, a huge demonstration in the city center of Antakya was attended by thousands. The demonstration was headed by an organization “The Union to Prevent an Imperialist Intervention into Syria”.  The organization demanded the resignation of the governor of Antakya. Speaking on behalf of the organization, Eylem Mansuroğlu said that the perpetuators of this massacre are the bloody Al-Qaeda murderers, Al Nusra jihadist gangs, and the AKP government who protects and supports these groups.

Mansuroğlu said:

“This attack is a direct result of the war policies of the AKP government. This attack is about the policies of animosity by the government in order to destroy the historical, economic, cultural and familial relations that exist between the peoples of Turkey and Syria. We, as the forces of democracy, had noted numerous times in our statements in the past that the war policies led by the AKP government will bring about nothing but blood, suffering and death. We want peace. We demand an immediate end to the use of the land of Turkey to harbor murderers who threaten another country. We want the real refugees from Syria, the victims of war to be cared for, but we want the armed militants to be expelled from the country immediately. Only the people of Syria should determine the future of Syria. The sectarian conflict that is being fueled in Syria will turn into a conflict that will soak the whole Middle East with blood. The bombings in Reyhanlı is a clear proof of this.”

The Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) also participated in the demonstration, carrying banners that said “Hands off Syria”. The party also issued a statement demanding the resignation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu. The declaration noted that:

“The AKP Government has been a straight supporter of the bloody provocations in Syria. Turkey was drawn into a dreadful swirl with the rhetoric of ‘diplomatic profundity’. The peoples of Turkey starting with the people of Hatay are paying the price for the infamy of the attempt to gain regional power by feeding the enemies of the people of Syria. The explosions in Reyhanlı indicate that the “foreign policy” of subcontracting for imperialism has hit the wall. The chief architect of these anti-human and warmongering policies, the minister of foreign affairs Ahmet Davutoğlu must step down immediately. AKP government will surely pay for the crimes against humanity and against the people of Syria.”

Locals clash with the Syrian refugees

The initial panic after the explosions soon turned into rage against the Syrians in the town. It was reported that there were clashes between the local population and the Syrian refugees after the explosions. In addition to the police, Turkish military had to intervene to suppress the clashes.

The town, with a local population of 70 thousand people, has been hosting around 80 thousand refugees. Along with the refugees, there are also armed members of the Free Syrian Army. Reyhanlı has been the main hub for the FSA in its fight in northern Syria. It is on one of the most significant supply routes for the FSA, the Cilvegözü-Bab Al Hawa route. FSA militants take refuge in camps set up in Reyhanlı and freely cross the Syrian border to attack Syrian government forces and cross the border back to Turkey to rest.

There has been constant tension between the locals of Reyhanlı and FSA militants since the FSA has been in the area.

Media ban by AKP government on coverage from Reyhanlı

After the incident, the biggest censorship in Turkish history came into force when the AKP government introduced a media ban on coverage from Reyhanlı. Three journalists were detained for violating the ban. According to the state prosecutor, media coverage from Reyhanlı would expose certain “state secrets”.

Evidence at the incident scene are cleared by bulldozers

Members of the main opposition party CHP went to Reyhanlı just hours after the bombings. One of the CHP deputies, Mevlüt Dudu, who went to the explosion site, said: “Police officers are not gathering evidence; on the contrary they are burying the evidence. Bulldozers are clearing the scene”.

The government has issued a ban on the media to take pictures or video of the crime scene. Two cameramen were detained for shooting the explosion site.

Reyhanlı incident ignites protests all over Turkey

On Sunday, May 12th, there were massive protests held in cities all over Turkey, including İstanbul, Ankara, Mersin, Eskişehir and İzmir. In all the protests, the AKP was denounced as the responsible party for the massacre in Reyhanlı. Speaking at the protest in Ankara, Dengiz Sönmez, spokesperson for the main government employees union, KESK, said: “As long as the forces of labor, democracy and revolution are standing against US’s subcontractor AKP, imperialism and its lackey AKP will eventually pay the price.” Sönmez also indicated that what happened in Reyhanlı was an excuse for imperialist intervention in Syria, adding: “We will never leave the people of Syria stranded. We are screaming from here that we will not let our country to be pushed to war.”

Previous incidents similar to Reyhanlı

There have been four previous incidents in Turkey that resulted in the deaths of civilians. All of the incidents were a direct result of AKP’s policies towards Syria.

The first one was in October 2012 when mortar fire from Syria resulted in the deaths of five Turkish citizens and injury to nine others in Akçakale, a Turkish town on the Syrian border. After the incident, the residents of Akçakale stormed the the AKP mayor’s office, holding the AKP responsible for the deaths. AKP officials blamed the Syrian government and used the incident as an excuse for an artillery attack into Syria. A few days after the incident, evidence pointed to the armed opposition for the mortar attack, not the Syrian army.

The second incident took place in January 2013 in the province of Gaziantep. After an explosion that claimed the lives of Syrian citizens in the industrial section of town, AKP officials quickly blamed the Syrian government. Later on, it was revealed that the explosion was caused by an overheated acid boiler in a factory where Syrian refugees were put to work illegally.

On February 11th, 2013, there was a huge explosion in Cilvegözü border crossing near Reyhanlı which claimed the lives of 14 people and injured more than ten. The AKP government blamed Syria again but instead of providing evidence for their claim, the government censored the evidence.

On May 2nd, a group of people belonging to the Syrian opposition wanted to cross the border at Akçakale. When the Turkish police asked to see their passports, the group attacked with assault rifles, killing one police officer and injuring five civilians. The AKP government was not able to accuse the Syrian government for this incident. The government and the mainstream media dropped the whole issue in a few days after the incident.

NOVANEWS