The Syrian government is being blamed for the massacre in the area of Houla on Friday, May 25, where at least 108 people, including 34 women and 49 children were killed, yet circumstances indicate that rebel forces or terrorist groups with backing from the U.S., NATO, and its regional allies may have actually been responsible, and the atrocity will likely be cited as a pretext in increasing calls for military intervention to overthrow the Assad regime on “humanitarian” grounds.
The Western media have since the beginning of the unrest in Syria relied heavily on anti-regime sources, such as the so-called “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights”, which is Rami Abdel Rahman operating out of his home in London to relay information (and disinformation) from his sources within (and presumably also without) Syria to the outside world. Even prominent human rights organizations like Amnesty International have been taken in by disinformation propaganda campaigns of anti-regime forces, who are backed by the U.S. and its allies.
The U.S. has been providing to the Syrian opposition what the State Department has called in Orwellian newspeak “nonlethal assistance”, which effort is coordinated with those of U.S. “friends and allies in the region”, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who are funding and arming the rebel forces, including with antitank weaponry. The U.S. coordination effort includes directing arms shipments to “worthy rebel recipients”, according to the Washington Post.
According to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the U.S. has been providing “communications equipment that will help activists organize, evade attacks by the regime, and connect to the outside world”—the word “activists” here again being used euphemistically, newspeak for “armed rebels”.
The U.S.’s NATO ally Turkey has provided a base of operations for the Free Syrian Army, where they are supplied with surplus weapons from NATO’s campaign to oust the Gaddafi regime in Libya. The arms are “being shipped on NATO aircraft”, according to former CIA military intelligence officer Philip Giraldi. Turkey is “taking the lead as US. proxy”, Giraldi wrote last December, in a clandestine NATO effort with the ultimate goal of another military intervention that would be based on the pretext of “humanitarian principles, to defend the civilian population based on the ‘responsibility to protect’ doctrine that was invoked to justify Libya.”
As Giraldi also noted at the time, “Syrian government claims that it is being assaulted by rebels who are armed, trained, and financed by foreign governments are more true than false”, that truth of the matter having since been openly admitted by the U.S. government.
Author and journalist Pepe Escobar has also commented on how rebel forces “have access to a wealth of weapons plundered from the Gaddafi’s regimes military depots or gently ‘donated’ by NATO and Qatar.”
And as Daniel McAdams has observed, “as soon as the U.S. began supplying the rebels with specialized communications equipment enabling them to more accurately target government forces and institutions, some of the most deadly and gruesome bombings have taken place.”
According to the U.N., terrorist groups may be responsible for recent bombing attacks, including in Damascus, Hama, Aleppo, Idlib, and Deir al-Zor, and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged states to arm neither government nor rebel forces. “The sophistication and size of the bombs point to a high level of expertise, which may indicate the involvement of established terrorist groups,” Ban has said, suggesting that al Qaeda was responsible for two suicide car bombs earlier this month that killed at least 55.
“Those who may contemplate supporting any side with weapons, military training or other military assistance, must reconsider such options to enable a sustained cessation of violence,” said Ban. Alluding to the role of the U.S. and its allies, he added that “The government reportedly continues to receive military equipment and ammunition from other countries, and there are also reports of weapons being sent to opposition forces.”
Back in February, Secretary Clinton cautioned against arming rebel forces. “We really don’t know who it is that would be armed,” she said. “Are we supporting al-Qaeda in Syria?” she asked hypothetically. Such concerns seem to have lost the day as the U.S. has openly sided with al Qaeda in providing material support for the rebels.
The media continues to be taken in by propaganda hoaxes, such as earlier this week when the BBC featured an image alleged to show dead children from the Houla massacre. The BBC ran the image under the headline “Syria massacre in Houla condemned as outrage grows” and with the caption, “This image—which cannot be independently verified—is believed to show the bodies of children in Houla awating burial”.
The photographer who actually took the photo, Marco di Lauro, was shocked to see his image, taken in Iraq, being used without his copyright permission by the BBC, which was provided the photo by opposition members. “What is amazing is that a news organization has a picture proving a massacre that happened yesterday in Syria and instead it’s a picture that was taken in 2003 of a totally different massacre. Someone is using someone else’s picture for propaganda on purpose.” The photo is featured on his website, which explains that the bodies were found in a mass grave outside of Al Musayyib, 40 km south of Baghdad.
Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, acting as a special envoy for the organization, has attempted to mediate and get both sides to adhere to a peace plan that includes a cease-fire, which has been ignored. The rebels have blamed the violence in Houla on government forces and declared it would no longer commit to the cease-fire if the international community refuses to intervene. “We announce that unless the U.N. Security Council takes urgent steps for the protection of civilians, Annan’s plan is going to hell,” the Free Syrian Army said in a statement.
The Syrian government has denied responsibility for starting the violence and for the massacre of civilians. “We categorically deny the responsibility of government forces in the massacre,” said foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi. “There were no Syrian tanks or artillery in the vicinity,” he said, adding that “Syrian troops retaliated in defense of their positions.” Of the massacre, he stated, “Children, women and other innocent people were killed in their homes, and this is not what the Syrian army does. The method of killing was brutal.” He also said that three soldiers were killed and 16 wounded in the violence that resulted from rebels armed with machine guns, mortars, and antitank missiles attacking government positions.
U.N. observers confirmed that the massacre took place, and also “confirmed from an examination of ordnance that artillery and tank shells were fired at a residential neighborhood.” But the U.N. did not indicate whether the massacred civilians were killed by government this tank and artillery fire. On the contrary, the head of the U.N. Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) General Robert Hood said, “The circumstances that led to these tragic killings are still unclear”, and Secretary Ban sent a letter to the Security Council saying that, “while the detailed circumstances are unknown, we can confirm that there has been artillery and mortar shelling. There have also been other forms of violence, including shootings at close range and severe physical abuse” (emphasis added).
On Saturday, the Security Council issued a statement condemning the killings of civilians “in attacks that involved a series of Government artillery and tank shellings on a residential neighborhood” (emphasis added). The statement also called for the cessation of “all violence in all its forms by all parties”.
In its report on the Security Council’s condemnation of the massacre, the New York Times leads readers to the conclusion that government forces were responsible, such as by quoting in the third paragraph German envoy Peter Wittig saying that “The evidence is clear—it is not murky” that “There is a clear government footprint in those killings.” It isn’t until the second half of the article (page 2 in the online edition), that one can read that it hadn’t actually been determined that government forces were responsible, but that “Mr. Ban skated very close to blaming Syrian government shelling for at least some of the deaths while carefully noting that the cause had not been completely determined” (emphasis added).
In the next paragraph, the Times adds, “The Russians seemed to be swayed by the arguments that it made little sense that the opposition, which is heavily Sunni Muslim, or even extremist jihadist elements, would kill so many of their own faith in cold blood, said one Security Council diplomat, speaking anonymously about a closed-door session.”
Yet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that while there was “no doubt that the government used artillery and tanks”, there was “also no doubt that many bodies have been found with injuries from firearms received at point-blank range. So the blame must be determined objectively.” He concluded, “We are dealing with a situation in which both sides evidently had a hand in the deaths of innocent people.”
An early draft of the Security Council statement directly blamed the Syrian government, but it was the Russians who insisted that the Council first be briefed in a closed hearing with UNSMIS chief Gen. Robert Hood, and as already noted, the statement that emerged did not directly pin responsibility for the massacre on government forces.
Syrian government forces may have committed the atrocity, but the alternative possibility—unmentioned in mainstream media reports that rely heavily on accounts from Western government officials and rebel sources benefiting from Western support—that terrorist groups directly or indirectly funded and armed by the U.S. and its allies were primarily responsible for the murders cannot at this point be ruled out.
Ultimately, whoever was mainly responsible, the atrocity will undoubtedly be cited as a pretext in escalating calls for another NATO military intervention to overthrow another regime insufficiently willing to accommodate Washington’s interests in the region.
As former NATO commander General Wesley Clark explained in a talk at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, California, on October 3, 2007, after 9/11, there was a “policy coup” in which the long-term goals of the neoconservatives were implemented. Clark was an inside witness to the efforts to use 9/11 as a pretext to launch the war on Iraq, despite the complete lack of evidence of any Iraqi involvement in the attacks or possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). But the plan didn’t stop with Iraq.
Clark recalled a discussion with an officer in the Defense Department who showed him a memo he had received from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s office. “It says we’re going to attack and destroy the governments in seven countries in five years—we’re going to start with Iraq, and then we’re going to move to Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran,” Clark recalled the officer telling him. He explained to his audience that the foreign policy goal of the U.S. was “to destabilize the Middle East, turn it upside down, make it under our control.”
Taking out the Assad regime in Syria, in addition to being a goal in its own right, would also be another step towards implementing the ultimate goal of regime change in Iran, which would be further isolated by the loss of its regional ally.
{It says we’re going to attack and destroy.. seven countries in five years—we’re going to start with Iraq, and then we’re going to move to Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran,” Clark recalled the officer telling him. He explained….goal of the U.S. was “to destabilize the Middle East, turn it upside down, make it under our control.”}
Mr. Hammond:
The above statement is the US policy in the region. These killings are taking place according to US plan. We have seen it in Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Gaza, Lebanon and many more places.
Thank you very much for your stand against US/NATO, the mass media propaganda against Syria.
Everyone knows the US and its allies are trying to copy Libyan “humanitarian intervention” in Syria with the help of Russia and China. Both states are cooperating with the United States to obtain concessions. I am surprised to see some of the ‘progressives’ are tryping to paint the criminal states of Russia and China as ‘victimes’ which is not true. Russia and China are using countries, Libya, Iran and now Syria, to extract more concessions. Turkey does the same and through selling other countries have enriched themselves and they have no shame.
Russia has gained many concessions and has strengthened its position in the region using Iran card without firing a shot. These killings are taking place to prepare the ground for ‘humanitarian intervention’ where people MUST REJECT OTHERWISE THEY ARE HELPING BUNCH OF TERRORIST STATES.
Turkey and the Saudis are involved in destabilization of Syria to bring the government down. The arm groups are coming from Turkey and Lebanon through the borders. People must expose US/NATO lies.
The US has killed millions and millions of people and is willing to kill more to implement its foreign policy agenda. Are you going to be silent?
PEOPLE OF THE WORLD MUST BE UNITED NOW TO PREVENT MORE KILLING OF INNOCENT PEOPLE.
No one can accept this situation. The so called “progressives” have supported the ‘No fly Zone’ in Libya and now are supporting the demise of Syrian government to HELP US/Israel.
Counterpunch is spreading US/NATO lies about Syria, as Zmag did in the case of Libya.
Patrick Cockburn writes:
{The Syrian government has been growing stronger over the past seven weeks, because the Kofi Annan plan reduced calls for international intervention. The killings at Houla have put this in doubt and will put pressure on Annan for a more substantive ceasefire plan than the present one, which saw each side abide by it only when it was militarily convenient for them to do so.}
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/05/28/syria-after-the-massacre/
http://www.911review.com/denial/imgs/left_gatekeepers.gif
People of the world must support Syrian people who poured into the street by millions in support of Assad government. People of the world must learn from Libya and don’t be fooled again by the war criminals’ lies and their pawns, the ‘progressives’.
Thank you very much Mr. Hammond for your excellent post. The world needs action against the war criminals NOW. World must demand US/NATO get out of the region now and the war criminals, including those in office, be arrested and tried as WAR CRIMINALS. They have killed millions of innocent people for their stupid foreign policy agenda.
“Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged states to arm neither government nor rebel forces.” Same old same old. Make sure the Syrian state is defenceless before Nato goes in with all guns blazing.
Syria is bracing for more political chaos as all antagonistic forces appear to have entered into an unholy alliance to bring the government to its knees by ingeniously choreographing massacres and attributing them to Syrian government, thereby turning the country into fertile soil for US-led invasion.
Makdesi said the massacre was carried out by “terrorists” after fighting between rebels and forces loyal to al-Assad.
“They (rebels) were equipped with mortars and anti-tank missiles, which is a quantitative leap,” he said.
What deserves due attention in the carnage that happened in Houla is that many were shot dead at close range, many were Shia Muslims and many were women and children. In other words, these atrocities are conjectured to have been carried out at the hands of the extremist Wahhabis and al-Qaeda elements who are notorious for targeting women and children in their terrorist operations.
Most importantly, Israel is silently and ironically funneling millions of dollars to the rebels in Syria. In fact, Israel is capitalizing enormously on the collapse of Bashar al-Assad government. The fall of al-Assad in Syria means a lot to Israel.
This is the work of those who invaded Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia and many more. ALL ARE WAR CRIMINALS AND MUST BE ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL NOW.
Are people going to let the war criminals take over Syria like in Libya.
Obama, Erdogan, Clinton, Rice, Cameron, Saudis, Israeli are war criminals. Russia and China, as usual are COOPERATING with the war criminals to obtain more concessions on piles of Chilren and women bodies.
The terrorists “rebels” are trained by the US, Israel, Turkey and Saudi Arabia and funded by the ARAB HEAD OF STATES including Saudis are responsible for this massacre to FRAME ASSAD.
This picture is toooooooooooooooooo familiar and has happened in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and elsewhere. WE KNOW WHO THE WAR CRIMINAL IS.
Ban Ki Moon is nothing but a petty man in the service of the empire. Shame on you.
We are very angry but not fooled and will never accept you blOOOOOOOOdy world government according to the protocol.
(Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says the Syrian opposition is seeking foreign military intervention and inciting a civil war in the country.)
Mr. Lavrov
Please don’t attempt to fool us AGAIN. Russia and China are AS CRIMINAL AS THE US/ISREAEL/BRITAIN/TURKEY, SAUDIS and Arab puppet head of states. You are only interested to use Iran card, Syrian card, and Libyan card to obtain concessions. You are a terrorist state like US/Israel/Turkey/Saudi Arabia.
You sold Libya. Why did China and Russia allowed the war criminals, US/NATO who have committed so many genocide in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere to go free and massacre Libyan people in thousands. You know that ICC is nothing but a whore house in the service of the western criminal states to bring down weaker states in Africa and Asia.
Mr. Lavrov SHUT UP AND AGET OUT. Everyone knows HOW RUSSIA, A TERRORIST STATE ACTS. First, say NO to fool others, but behind the curtain obtain more concessions on the expense of the children and women bodies that you and the petty man Ban Ki Moon allowed to be slaughtered by the US/NATO/ Israel/ Turkey and Saudis, then let it go like in Libya.
Mr. Lavrov shut up and f*ck off. You can not fool us again. If you are serious you must form a front against the war criminals that have killed millions. Why have not done it? The reason is that you are looking for a gate keeper position in the “new world”.
Mr. Lavrov shut up and get out, we are tired of your lies, the lies of the war criminals and their puppet states, TURKEY, SAUDIS AND THE REST OF ARAB PUPPET STATES.
Now, the role of the ‘progressive’ media has been exposed more than ever. Zmag and counterpunch are a front. Counterpuch and Zmag are spreading the lies of the war criminals in Washington and else where in the western capitals. These phony outlets supported the NO FLY ZONE IN LIBYA to benefit Washington and Tel Aviv.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/05/29/243652/syria-opposition-accused-of-seeking-war/
То A Free Byrd
Relax, take a deep breath…
BBC propaganda against Syria: FAKE PHOTOS
Britain’s state-run broadcast BBC has been heavily criticized for using a fake photo of Iraqi dead children in order to sell a new NATO-led invasion, this time targeting Syria.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/05/29/243662/bbc/
People of the world must be united against Washington/Tel Aviv war crimes against humanity.
When ICC is going to act against the war criminals in US-Israel- Britain to be credible otherwise ICC continue to be regarded as complicit in war crimes activities of the Western governments.
Madeleine Albright and the IRAQI GENOCIDE
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2012/1099/op3.htm
Syrian massacare of childeren and women is US trademark. It is toooooooooooooo familiar
Good article Jeremy Hammond. Thanks.
The People of the world must condemn the terror ORGANIZED BY WASHINGTON/ISRAEL/TURKEY/SAUDI ARABI AGAINST CHILDREN AND WOMEN IN HOULA.
What happened in Houla is considered to be a WAR CRIME.
Remember the lies were made in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Sudan by Washington
Don’t be a fool again. They are using massacre as a tool to change government arount the world to put their PUPPET in place to create a safe heaven for the apartheid state of Israel.
The world is taken over by the terror groups trained by Washington and its allies in the region.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/05/29/243617/blackwater-involved-in-syria-unrest/
The agents of the US company Blackwater are operating inside Syria and are involved in the deadly turmoil in the Arab country that began in March 2011
“We have real evidence now that the Blackwater company is working in Syrian territories,” said Taleb Ibrahim, a political analyst from Damascus, in an interview with Press TV on Monday.
Ibrahim also stated that there is a “third party” inside Syria that “wants to undermine” the six-point peace plan put forward by UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Kofi Annan in March.
“I accuse directly the Turkish intelligence and the Saudi intelligence and the Qatari intelligence.”
Thank you for this article. I hope the people of Middle East come to understand soon what the US & NATO are doing to their countries and unit. Soon as Syrian government is replaced with a another Western puppet government, Israel has a free ticket to attack Iran. Why?
If Israel is to attack Iran any time soon, the response from Iran will come from Syria and Lebanon. We know Syria is armed by Iran with highly sophisticated missiles. Therefore, moment this government is replaced by a western puppet government, Syria’s treat on Israel has been neutralised. This Leaves, Israel to only worry about the attack from Lebanon. This I believe is the only reason behind the destabilization of Syria is about.
Hope more people read and educate them self’s of the real truth.
I think I heard in the news last night an American statement that the had no interest in attacking Syria.
I assume therefore that an attack is imminent.
Antiwar.com is another front for US government propaganda to frame governments where wants to bring down by force like in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Iran, and elsewhere.
IVAN ELAND, a regular contributor at ANTIWAR.COM with NO SHAME writes:
http://original.antiwar.com/eland/2012/05/29/hands-off-syria/
(The recent massacre by the Syrian government of 108 people, mostly women and children, will inevitably put intense pressure on a reluctant Obama administration to take out President Bashar al-Assad using force.)
Other people have already shown that Antiwar.com cannot be trusted and is in the business of propaganda for the war criminals. Antiwar is a gate keeper like Zmag and Counterpunch. The world cannot be silent anymore.
Maidhc Ó Cathail in a post “Antiwar.com – Your best source for Antiwar News? criticizes Jason Ditz’s reporting at Antiwar.com reporting where you can read at the following link.
http://maidhcocathail.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/antiwar-com-your-best-source-for-antiwar-news/
Juan Cole, Robert Fisk, Gilbert Achcar and Noam Chomsky from ZMAG, earlier SUPPORTED NO FLY ZONE in Libya where let to the massacre of 60000 people including Gaddafi family. They are doing the same in the case of Syria.
Why don’t these ‘progressives’ advocate NO FLY ZONE in the occupied Palestine (Israel) or Bahrain or Yemen?
Anti-Assad feelings are running so high that incidents like Houla are almost reflexively pinned on the regime. We may never know exactly what happened there. That said, it’s highly unlikely that the US is going to intervene militarily in Syria. US ground forces badly need to recuperate from two long wars — there’s no stomach in the Pentagon, the White House, or Congress for another major intervention. Plus it’s an election year. The US will no doubt seek (short of military action) to get rid of Assad, assuming it can figure out who will succeed him. But what might come after Assad remains very unclear.
The real outside actors are Saudi Arabia and the Qataris on one side, and Iran on the other. They are engaged in a proxy war that is being fought in Bahrain, Syria, and increasingly in Lebanon. My own feeling is that US interests would be better served by partnering with Iran as opposed to our so-called friends in Israel and Saudi Arabia, but elite and general US public opinion overwhelmingly favor the Israeli and Saudi connections.
I really don’t think the noecons are running US foreign policy today. The Rumsfeld memo referenced by Hammond is about ten years old, and we have since then expended $1 trillion dollars and 6,000 lives unsuccessfully prosecuting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The possibility that we’re going to invade anybody else anytime soon is very, very unlikely. Should Romney be elected president (which I don’t believe will happen), then neocon influence in Washington will increase. Even then, however, I doubt a full-scale war will be launched against Iran or anybody else. The economic and military pictures have changed markedly since 2003, and not in America’s favor.
The downward spiral now seems to have taken an inexorable course. Russia and China cannot allow Syria to fall and America is adamant that Syria must fall. The die is obviously cast with the awful crimes that are being committed in Syria. It seems to be only a matter of time before the world is plunged into chaos once again. We are obviously entering a new phase in human history from which we never recover.
Jon Harrison
I would love to believe that American ‘defence’ policy was determined by the incumbent goverment. The more I read on world events and recent history, however, the more I’m starting to think that the secret services of The West and Russia are really the ones in control of their respective governments.
And it’s not really surprising is it? Unaccountable, unelectable and able to sustain long-term projects which aren’t interrupted by pesky eletions every four or five years. Occassionally there are major revelations (Iran-Contra affair, rendition), but we’re not told about these events, they come to light by ‘mistakes’ made by the relevant agency. Imagine what we don’t find out?
On top of this, the revolving door, especially in the US, between CIA, banking/investment groups, politics and the military industrial complex really does make me start to ask questions.
And MI5 doesn’t look much better.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4789060.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2001/sep/11/media.freedomofinformation
Jon – you are doubtful about war.
Yet war is a product and if people buy it there’s money to be made.
Executing war is a money-making exercise, a job provider. A war – accompanied by an austerity ‘buckle down, we’re all in it together’ mentality – could be what some deluded but powerful narcissists think the US economy needs.
You may be right, aussie, that a war is what “some deluded but powerful narcissists think the US economy needs.” But I doubt they have enough weight today to make a war happen, especially in light of Iraq and Afghanistan. A new war would not lead to greatly increased economic activity anyway, but mainly just a shifting of resources within the already bloated defense establishment.
If Romney beats Obama, things may change, but at this point I see neither US boots on the ground nor a major air campaign happening in the Middle East.