Chechens To Be Next “Al-CIA-da”—Major Propaganda Offensive Underway from Helmand, Afghanistan To Moscow

Taliban Horde

[Here we have a joint psyop, carried-out by unidentified international elements, with the clear intention of painting "Chechnya/Caucasus" as the next "Al-Qaeda" outpost.  In Moscow, the Russian FSB claimed to have disrupted a Chechen terror plot by individuals who had recently arrived from the "Afghan-Pakistan region," where they had allegedly trained for this plot.  On the same day, in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, another bit of psychological warfare concerning itinerent Chechens was delivered to the unsuspecting American masses and to the general world audience. 

According to an Helmand Provincial spokesman and an alleged "Taliban spokesman" (some unknown quantity named Qari Yusuf Ahmadi who is the favorite pseudo-Taliban "spokesman" for Al-Jazeera and CNN.), while the attacks were unfolding in Russia, Helmand was allegedly, simultaneously, being overrun by "1,000 attackers," many of which were reported as Chechens and Arabs (i.e., "Al-CIA-da"). Two unrelated attacks in one day, both of which accentuated the dangers of Chechen "Al-Qaeda."  What are the odds of that?  A billion to one?

American and ISAF spokesmen are squirming on their hotseats, trying to disavow knowledge of any Taliban offensive, claiming that any attack that size would have automatically generated a call for air support.  Coalition spokesman Col. Thomas Collins described the incident as--

"Ten groups of between 8 and 10 Taliban fighters...doing drive-by shootings against five police checkpoints."---Coalition Plays Down Afghan Reports of Major Battle in Helmand

All of this circumstantial evidence that "Chechens are the new Al-Qaeda" comes after America has suddenly been sensitized to the Chechen danger because of the Boston bombing, which allegedly implicated Russian immigrants, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev.  Not yet fully understanding the purpose of this latest psyop tangent, we must throw into the mix the arrest and deportation of the alleged CIA spy, Ryan Fogle, who was reportedly trying to bribe FSB specialists on the region, hoping to turn them into CIA moles.

Coincidence?   The dangerous, imaginary connections linking militant training camps in FATA, Chechen terrorists, Russia and the Marathon bombing suddenly popping-up as Obama is desperately looking to Central Asia, trying to find a reason to make it the next major conflict zone for his perpetual war. 

This is Obama, Putin, Karzai and the Taliban all working together, as one unit. 

Watch Putin to see how all of this is going to play-out.]

Pakistani and Chechen rebels attack police check post in Helmand

By Mirwais Adeel

At least 23 Taliban militants including Pakistani and Chechen fighters were killed after attacking a police check post in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.

Local officials in Helmand province said the incident took place in Sangin district, leaving four Afghan police officers dead.

Provincial governor spokesman Omar Zwak said the attack was carried out jointly by Pakistani and Chechen militants.

He said clashes started late Monday and the two sides are still exchanging fire.

In the meantime Taliban militants group claimed around 10 police officers along with thier commander were killed.

This comes as Afghan defense ministry on Monday announced that hundreds of Pakistani and foreign militants were deployed to Afghanistan to carry out attacks in Afghanistan.

Defense ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said several religious Madrasas teaching Taliban militants were closed and the fighters were deployed in Afghanistan.

Follow Khaama Press (KP)

Fat Pig of Qatar Slams American Failure To Finish the War He Started In Syria

[[How is it that this piece of shit can conduct his own international foreign policy, employing the very terrorists that we are fighting a perpetual war against?]

Qatar emir slams ‘international inaction’ over Syria

The international community’s inaction on Syria is “no longer acceptable,” Qatari emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, said.

• 

AFP, Doha -

The emir of Qatar, a strong supporter of the Syrian rebels, on Monday slammed what he called inaction by the international community over the conflict there, lamenting the failure to reach a political solution.

“It is no longer acceptable that influential states in the international community do not act to end the horrific tragedy and escalating humanitarian catastrophe” in Syria, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani told the Doha Forum.

He appeared to allude to Western countries, which have failed to agree to arm Syrian rebels, as the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime entered its third year in March.

Activists say more than 94,000 people have been killed.

He said that those countries, which he did not name, “want to decide themselves who should be the defender of the Syrian people,” in an apparent reference to concerns about the presence of radical Islamists among Syrian rebels.

Sheikh Hamad lamented the “failure of all international and Arab initiatives to get the Syrian regime to listen to the sound of reason.”

He expressed “sorrow at seeing the revolution of the Syrian people enter its third year without the clear perspective of an end to the bloodshed… because of the regime’s insistence on a military solution.”

The United States and Russia, a strong Assad ally, have proposed a peace conference for June, bringing together representatives of the regime and its opponents, with the aim of reaching a political solution.

It Is Time for America To “Back-Off” and Let the Arab and Turk Vultures Fight It Out In the Middle East

[Col. Ralph Peters is the infamous author of the divisive 2006 article, Blood Borders, on the Balkanization plan for the Greater Middle East and the map included below.  He makes great sense in his new article below, where he suggests that America "back-off in Syria," letting all the crazy Arabs and Turks just "fight it out" amongst themselves.]

The Arab collapse

Middle East a vulture’s feast

• By RALPH PETERS

Ralph Peters

The Arab Spring has unleashed the Arab Collapse. Everybody still standing in the region is picking the flesh of the helpless. The Islamist cancer proved more virulent than Arabs themselves expected, while dying regimes behave with unrestrained ruthlessness.

And our diplomats still think everyone can be cajoled into harmony.

We’re witnessing a titanic event, the crack-up of a long-tottering civilization. Arab societies grew so corrupt and stagnant that violent upheaval became inevitable. That’s what we’re seeing in Syria and Iraq — two names, one struggle — and will find elsewhere tomorrow.

ZUMAPRESS.com

The next country to go: Rescuers working at the site of a car bomb in Kirkuk, Iraq, last week. Violence is rising rapidly across the country.

We can’t stop it, we can’t fix it, and we don’t understand it. But we can stay out of it.

When the US is in the Middle East, the Arabs want us out. When we’re out, they want us in. But our purported Arab (and Turkish) allies consistently agree that Uncle Sam should pay the party bill, while they take home all the presents.

Yes, Syria’s humanitarian crisis is appalling. And no, I don’t like to see innocents dying or suffering. But the calls from the region for American action are nakedly cynical.

Turkey has the largest military in NATO after our own, but cries “helpless” crocodile tears over Syrian refugees — while dreaming of rebuilding the Ottoman Empire upon their ruined lives. Our Saudi “friends” spent decades building the most-sophisticated military arsenal in the Middle East, apart from Israel. Now the Saudis wring their hands over Syria’s misery — but won’t intervene directly to stop the killing.

The Saudi position is always “You and him fight!” As long ago as Desert Storm, Saudis joked about renting the American army and our bumpkin gullibility. (Try to find one US officer who’s worked with the Saudis and doesn’t hate their guts. . .) Now they want Washington to spend our blood and treasure to open the mosques of Damascus to their Wahhabi cult.

Well, the Assad regime is horrible, but not al Qaeda horrible. Better poison gas than poisoned religion, as far as our own security’s concerned. This is an Arab struggle (with Turkish and Iranian vultures overhead). This time, we need to let them fight it out.

The region’s outdated order is disintegrating. But Washington’s still mesmerized by the artificial boundaries on the map.

Nine decades ago, the diplomats at Versailles ignored the region’s natural fault lines as they carved up the Middle East, forcing enemies together and driving kin apart (while Woodrow Wilson turned his back on the Kurds). Only brute force and dictators kept up the fiction that these were countries. Now the grim charade has reached its end.

Iraq was carved out for British interests, while Syria was France’s consolation prize. Now Syria’s collapsing in a too-many-factions-to-count civil war. And Iraq’s in the early stages of its own dissolution; even a would-be dictator — another of our one-time “friends,” Nouri al-Maliki — can’t keep the “country” together.

We don’t even know how many new states will emerge from the old order’s wreckage. But the Scramble for the Sand is on, with Iran, Turkey, treacherous Arab oil sheikdoms and terrorists Sunni and Shia alike all determined to dictate the future, no matter the cost in other people’s blood.

We had our chance to extend the peace and keep both Iran and Wahhabi crazies at bay after we defeated Iraq’s insurgencies. But a new American president, elevating politics over strategy, walked away from Baghdad, handing Iraq to Iran. Now it’s too late. If George W. Bush helped trigger the Arab Spring, Barack Obama made this Arab Winter inevitable.

We must not be lured into the current fighting — centered, for now, on Syria — by cries of humanitarian necessity. The local powers could step in to stop the killing. But they won’t. Once again, they want us to pay the bill. (It’s time for the Saudis, especially, to give their own blood.)

We’ve paid enough. Rhetoric and red lines notwithstanding, we need to back off from Syria, if for no other reason than a strategist’s golden rule: If you don’t understand what a fight’s about, stay out.

Ralph Peters is the author of the new Civil War novel “Hell or Richmond.”

TODAY’S SCORE IN IRAQ: Shiites 61, Sunnis 18

[Was this Bush's intention for Iraq, to turn the entire country into some macabre, midieval "Ball Game," where the daily score is kept in lost human lives?  It clearly WAS the intention of American Special Forces, to create a permanent state of civil war within Iraq, with the false flag demolition of the golden dome in Samarra.  This is what happened when we followed Cheney into "the Dark Side."  We sat idly by, while his evil little minions weaponized religion itself and used it against the Muslim people of the entire world, NOT just in Iraq.  This puts us right up there with the Nazi Germans of the previous global war of ambition.   Face It....WE are evil.]

Wave of attacks hits Shiite and Sunni areas of Iraq, killing at least 79 people

Associated Press |

Baghdad: A wave of attacks killed at least 79 people in Shiite and Sunni areas of Iraq on Monday, officials said, pushing the death toll over the past week to more than 200 and extending one of the most sustained bouts of sectarian violence the country has seen in years.

The bloodshed is still far shy of the pace, scale and brutality of the dark days of 2006-2007, when Sunni and Shiite militias carried out retaliatory attacks against each other in a cycle of violence that left the country awash in blood. Still, Monday’s attacks, some of which hit markets and crowded bus stops during the morning rush hour, have heightened fears that the country could be turning back down the path toward civil war.

Sectarian tensions have been worsening since Iraq’s minority Sunnis began protesting what they say is mistreatment at the hands of the Shiite-led government. The mass demonstrations, which began in December, have largely been peaceful, but the number of attacks rose sharply after a deadly security crackdown on a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq on April 23.

Iraq’s Shiite majority, which was oppressed under the late dictator Saddam Hussein, now holds the levers of power in the country. Wishing to rebuild the nation rather than revert to open warfare, they have largely restrained their militias over the past five years or so as Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida have targeted them with occasional large-scale attacks.

But the renewed violence in both Shiite and Sunni areas since late last month has fueled concerns of a return to sectarian warfare. Since last Wednesday alone, at least 224 people have been killed in attacks, according to an AP count.

The worst of Monday’s violence took place in Baghdad, where ten car bombs ripped through open-air markets and other areas of Shiite neighborhoods, killing at least 47 people and wounding more than 150, police officials said. In the bloodiest attack, a parked car bomb blew up in a busy market in the northern Shiite neighborhood of Shaab, killing 14 and wounding 24, police and health officials said.

The surge in bloodshed has exasperated Iraqis, who have lived for years with the fear and uncertainty bred of random violence.

“How long do we have to continue living like this, with all the lies from the government?” asked 23-year-old Baghdad resident Malik Ibrahim. “Whenever they say they have reached a solution, the bombings come back stronger than before.”

“We’re fed up with them and we can’t tolerate this anymore,” he added.

The predominantly Shiite city of Basra in southern Iraq was also hit Monday, with two car bombs there – one outside a restaurant and another at the city’s main bus station – killing at least 13 and wounded 40, according to provincial police spokesman Col. Abdul-Karim al-Zaidi and the head of city’s health directorate, Riadh Abdul-Amir.

In the town of Balad, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded next to a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims, killing six Iranians and one Iraq and wounding nine people, a police officer said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but the fact that they all occurred in Shiite areas raised the suspicion that Sunni militants were involved. Also, Sunni insurgents, particularly al-Qaida in Iraq, are known to employ such large-scale bombings bear.

Monday’s violence also struck Sunni areas, hitting the city of Samarra north of Baghdad and the western province of Anbar, a Sunni stronghold and the birthplace of the protest movement.

A parked car bomb in Samarra went off near a gathering of pro-government Sunni militia who were waiting outside a military base to receive salaries, killing three and wounding 13, while in Anbar gunmen ambushed two police patrols near the town of Haditha, killing eight policemen, police and army officials said.

Also in Anbar, authorities found 13 dead bodies in a remote desert area, officials said. The bodies, which included eight policemen who were kidnapped by gunmen on Friday, had been killed with a gunshot to the head.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Two Car Bombs Kill 3 In Makhachkala, Dagestan

Two Consecutive Blasts Kill 3, Injure Over 40 in Dagestan

MAKHACHKALA, May 20 (RIA Novosti) – Twin blasts rocked Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, on Monday, killing three and injuring over 40 people, the republic’s Interior Ministry said.

The blasts took place about 15 minutes apart, near the Bailiff Service building, local authorities say.

No one was reported killed in the first explosion. Two policemen and one Bailiff Service employee were killed by the second blast, the Interior Ministry said.

A three-year-old child is among those reported injured, local Health Ministry officials told RIA Novosti.

“We were working as usual, at our desks. Panic broke out when we heard two explosions,” said Magomed Buttayev, who works as a press officer for the local Bailiff Service.

Earlier on Monday, the local Investigative Committee issued a statement saying that at least eight people had been killed and an as yet unknown number injured in the explosions.

The local Investigative Committee also suggested that both explosions, which are reported to have been car bombs, could have been detonated remotely.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts.

An Islamist insurgency, once confined largely to the republic of Chechnya, has spread across the North Caucasus in recent years. Attacks on security forces, police and civilians are reported regularly in the neighboring republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.

Bashar al-Assad Complete Interview In Argentinian News, CLARIN

Bashar al-Assad, Syrian leader: “Quitting would flee the people decide if I stay, not U.S.”

By Marcelo Cantelmi

In the interview with Clarin refused to step down to end the crisis. He denied using chemical weapons is repression and questioned the figure of 70,000 dead giving the UN.

VIDEO LINK

Bashar Al Assad, President of Syria, interviewed by Clarin in Damascus. By Marcelo Cantelmi

Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s strongman, has a calm look that clashes with the site that he has had in history. Or maybe not calm it also seems that look trapped in amazement continues. In this extensive interview, the first since the start of the war with half Hispanic, Assad looked that way to negate any possibility of resigning, reports of use of chemical weapons and to the figure of 70,000 dead UN complaint. The story was made ​​into a library of his palace in Damascus while listening to the distance the muffled sound of exchange of artillery and mortars shot.
- Why the Syrian crisis has spread and deepened as happened in another Arab country?
-Multiple internal and external elements have contributed to the crisis, the most important is external intervention, then, because the calculations of the countries who wanted to intervene in Syria were miscalculations. Those states believed the plan could end in a matter of weeks or months, but this did not happen, what has happened is that the Syrian people have endured and continue to do so. For us it comes to defending our country.

- Do you know that according to the UN this war has caused more than 70,000 deaths?
-Would have to ask those who raise these figures the credibility of their sources. All death is horrible, but many of the dead are speaking foreigners who came to kill the Syrian people. Nor can we forget that there are many Syrians missing. What is the number of Syrians killed, and which of foreigners? How many are missing? We can not give a precise figure. Of course this changes constantly because terrorists and sometimes kill their victims buried in mass graves.

- Discard there may have been excessive force disproportionately, by their troops in the repression?
– How could you determine whether there has been excessive force or not? What is the formula? It is not objective to talk about it. One responds by type of terrorism facing. At the beginning it was domestic terrorism and then came outside which led to the sophistication of the weapons they brought. The debate here is not the amount of force used or the type of weapon but the volume of terrorism we suffer with the consequent duty to replicate.

- Was not there at the start of the crisis the possibility of achieving a dialogue to avoid this outcome?
-At the start were reformist demands, but that approach was apparent, it was a facade a camouflage to make it happen as a matter of reform. We have made reforms … we changed the Constitution … change the laws … we canceled the state of emergency and announced a dialogue with the opposition forces, but at every step we took was increased terrorism. The logical question here is: what is the relationship between terrorism and reformism?

- How do you respond?
-Terrorism can not be the way of reform. How does a terrorist Chechen with reforms in Syria? How does a terrorist came from Iraq, Lebanon or Afghanistan with the reforms in Syria? Lately there have been about 29 nationalities fighting in Syria … What is the relationship between them and internal reformism? This is illogical. As for us, I say we have done renovations and now we have a policy initiative that includes dialogue. The basis of any political solution is what the Syrian people want, and this will govern the polls. No other way. On terrorism, nobody wants to talk with a terrorist. Terrorism hit U.S. and Europe, but no government spoke with the terrorists. One dialogue with political forces, but not with a terrorist beheads, kills and uses chemical gases.

-You claim the foreign military presence in Syria, but also ensures that no Hezbollah fighters and Iran.
-Syria, with its 23 million inhabitants, does not need human support of the country it is. We have military and security forces. We do not need Iran or Hezbollah for that. We have fighters from outside Syria. There are other people here but from Hezbollah and Iran before the crisis they have come to Syria.

-Among those reforms of the Constitution which says, are contemplated unrestricted freedom of the press?
-Maybe you know that a new press law that was enacted a package of laws …

-No
-We have a title match is bigger than dialogue with political forces. This dialogue would lead to a Constitution that requires a referendum of the people. This Constitution will give greater freedoms. The laws are based on the new constitution and it is obvious that political and media freedoms collected. But one can not speak of freedom of the press with no political freedom in general.

- How does the conference on Syria scheduled for later this month by Russia and the U.S.. States?
-We received good Russian-American rapprochement, and we hope to set an international meeting to help the Syrians. But do not think that many Western countries actually want a solution in Syria. We do not believe that many of the forces that support terrorists want a solution. We support and applaud this effort, but we must be realistic. There can be no unilateral solution in Syria, it takes two sides at least.

- Are the forces that oppose or great powers who do not want a solution?
-In practice these opposing forces are linked to foreign countries and therefore have no choice. They live on what comes from outside, receive funds and do what they choose those countries. Both are the same thing and it is they who said they do not want dialogue with the Syrian state, the last time last week.

-When dialog speaks to whom concerns of the other side?
-We chose to talk with anyone who wants to talk, without exception. As long as Syria has free and sovereign decision. But this does not include terrorists, no state dialogues with terrorists. When they lay down their arms and go to the dialogue we have no problems. Believing that a political conference stop terrorism on the ground, is unreal.

- What is the likelihood that dialogue includes those external forces such as the U.S., for example, that supposedly support these people (terrorists)?
-We have said from the start that dialogue with any force in the country or abroad, provided they do not wield weapons. This is the only condition. We have not put conditions for dialogue. Even there are forces that are looked for justice, but we have not taken any action against anyone to leave room for the dialogue and to listen to everyone. The Syrian people will decide who is patriotic and who is not. We never said we wanted a solution that best suits the government, do not expose what we think it would be better. We have made the solution to the Syrian people.

-With regard to the international conference …
-For us the basic aspect to be addressed in any international conference is to stop the flow of money and weapons to Syria and stop sending terrorists who come from Turkey and funded Qatari and other Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia. While there are countries like Qatar and Turkey who have no interest in stopping the violence in Syria or in a political solution, terrorism will continue.

- Where puts Israel in this crisis?
-Israel supports two-way directly and terrorist groups, given logistical and instructs them on how and which sites to attack. For example they attacked a radar air defense system that detects any aircraft that comes from abroad, especially Israel.

-If shifted forward in dialogue, do you foresee a schedule of delivery of arms by the opposition?
-They are not a single entity, are groups and bands, not tens but hundreds. They are a mix, each group has its local leader. There are thousands who can unite thousands of people? This is the question. We can not talk of a calendar with a part we do not know who he is. When they have a unified structure then give you an answer to this question.

- Would you give a step back for a final solution? Are you willing to give up?
-My stay or not depends on the Syrian people. Not my personal choice to stay or go. It’s the people. If you want you stay, if you leave. The issue depends on the constitution of the polls. In the 2014 elections the people will decide.

He has raised the alternative that you resign as a condition of closing the conflict.
‘I’m an elected president and is the people who choose my stay. Now, someone says that the Syrian president must leave because the U.S. want it or because the terrorists asked, is inadmissible.

-Barack Obama has signaled that his country considers intervene but his chancellor, John Kerry has said that any progress should include you exit from office.
-I do not know if Kerry or another have received a mandate from the Syrian people to speak on behalf of this people, about who should go and who should stay. We have said that any decision regarding reforms in Syria or Syrian political action are decisions and is not permitted or U.S. or any other state to intervene in them. We are an independent, not accept that no one define what we need to do, nor the U.S. or anyone. Thus this probability is determined by the Syrian people. You go to elections, is a candidate and is a chance to win or not. Then you can not go to that conference and decide on something that the people have not decided. Another aspect: the country is in crisis and when the ship is in the midst of the storm, give it away, then the captain does not flee. The first is to deal with the storm, return the boat to the right place and then decide things. I’m not a person who shuns responsibility.

-France, Britain and Kerry himself claimed that his army used chemical weapons, sarin, against the civilian population …
‘We must not waste our time with these statements. Chemical weapons are weapons of mass destruction. They say the use in residential areas. If a nuclear bomb was dropped on a city, and the balance was ten or twenty people, do you believe me? The use of chemical weapons in residential areas means killing thousands or tens of thousands in minutes. Who could hide such a thing?

- What do you attribute this complaint then?
-When raised the issue of chemical weapons did when terrorist groups used them in Aleppo in Khan al-Assal about two months ago. We have collected the evidence: the missile and chemicals used. We analyze these substances and send a letter to the Security Council to send a verification mission. U.S., France and Britain were in an embarrassing situation and said they wanted to send a mission to investigate chemical weapons in other areas where allege they were used. They did not to investigate where actual event occurred. A member of the commission, Carla del Ponte, announced that terrorists are those who use chemical weapons but neither the UN paid attention to that statement.

- Do you think that this claim could pave the way for militiar intervention in Syria?
-If this matter is used as a prelude to a war against Syria is likely. We do not forget what happened in Iraq where were the WMD of Saddam Hussein? West lies and falsifies to unleash wars, is his wont. Of course any war against Syria will not be easy, there will be an excursion. But we can not rule out the possibility to launch a war.

- On what basis?
-This was already part of Israel (the bombing). Force is likely especially after we hit that armed groups in many parts of Syria. Then these countries asked Israel to do this to boost the morale of terrorist groups. We assume that at some point there will be some kind of even limited intervention.

-You say that control the situation but as we speak, hear the roar of artillery on the outskirts of the city.
-The term control or not control is used when there is a war with a foreign army. But the situation is totally different. Terrorists penetrate scattered areas, and fleeing from one place to another. There are vast areas where they move and it is obvious that no army in the world can be on every corner.

- Do you really think the Americans cooperate with Qatar and Saudi Arabia to seize power ultraislámico Wahhabi regime in Syria?
-The West only cares about governments that are loyal. They want a government subservient to do what they want regardless of form. But what happened in Afghanistan refutes that. They supported the Taliban and 11-S paid a high price. The danger of this is that states want to spread Wahhabi extremist thought in the whole population and in Syria we have a moderate Islam and will resist it by all means.

-In the 2014 presidential election will there be international observers and allow free access to the world’s press to cover the event?
-To be honest, the issue of observers is a decision of the country as a part of the people can not tolerate the idea that this monitoring is a matter of national sovereignty. And we have no confidence in the West for the task. If observers agree that there will be such friendly countries as Russia or China for example.

- China?
- …
-In the interview made ​​Clarin in Buenos Aires, said firmly rejecting the idea of denying the Holocaust as Iran claims, do you keep that position?
-I wonder why not talk about the Holocaust and what is happening in Palestine, the million and a half Iraqis killed. The Holocaust is a historical question that needs a comprehensive vision and not be used as a political issue. I’m not a researcher to determine the exact history of this subject. The historical questions depend on who writes them, so the story is distorted at times.

- Excuse me, but there is some criticism that you make?
-It is illogical to be self-critical when it comes to events integers. If you see a film criticism before the end. When the frame is complete will do or not to criticize.

-Finally, do you have information on the whereabouts of journalists James Foley, an American missing for six months here, and Italian Domenico Quirico of La Stampa, lost about a month ago?
-There are journalists who entered Syria illegally in areas where terrorists are active. There have been cases where military troops have been able to release journalists who were kidnapped. In any case where we have information on any journalist who entered illegally, we will pass on to the country concerned. And so far we have no information about the two men vides journalists you.

MOSSAD Site Reports Rebel Smuggling Center Falls To Govt. Forces, Wall St. Claims Battle for Qusayr Ongoing

[SEE: Syrian-Hizballah’s capture of Qusayr opens direct weapons route to Lebanon--DEBKA)  The fall of Qusayr would open the border between the Syrian government and the Lebanese resistance, turning a Sunni terrorist asset into a pro-govt. Shiite asset.  I guess that the coming days will reveal who has control at this key junction.]

Syria Sweeps Into Rebel Stronghold

By SAM DAGHER

Associated Press

Syrian rebel fighters on Sunday gather in Qusayr, near Homs, in an image provided by Qusair Lens and authenticated by the Associated Press.

DAMASCUS—Syrian government forces, backed by members of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, launched a sweeping operation Sunday to capture a rebel stronghold near the Lebanese border, according to Syrian state media and activists opposed to the regime.

Taking the town of Qusayr, southwest of the city of Homs, would bolster recent gains by regime forces in central Syria and around the capital, Damascus. It also could further embolden Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who told an Argentine newspaper over the weekend that his fate would be decided in elections scheduled for next year.

Mr. Assad’s remarks complicate the renewed U.S.-Russian push for a political settlement to end the more-than-two-year civil war in Syria. Rebels and their Western and Arab backers insist any settlement must be predicated on Mr. Assad relinquishing power.

Underscoring the depth of the rift in Syria, regime supporters cheered the military operation in Qusayr, with some Assad loyalists openly calling for the government to storm rebel enclaves around the country, even if that means killing large numbers of civilians.

Mr. Assad’s opponents accused the regime of carrying out a sectarian agenda in Qusayr.

Government forces had cordoned off Qusayr on Sunday and were waging street battles against rebels on multiple fronts, Syrian state television reported. Syrian army officers in Qusayr told state TV that soldiers had taken over several government buildings in the town’s southern half, including the local municipal building, where the rebel flag was brought down and the Syrian flag hoisted in its place. That couldn’t be independently verified.

“We have crushed more than 70 terrorists,” said one army officer. “God willing, Qusayr will be liberated in the coming hours or days.”

The rebels in Qusayr, who are estimated by Hezbollah to number about 5,000 and whose ranks include foreign fighters and extremists, denied the government’s claims.

However, rebels said the town was being subjected to one of the most intensive bombardments by regime forces to date.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that at least 52 people—all but four of them rebel fighters—have been killed so far in the offensive, which started late Saturday night with several airstrikes and a barrage of artillery and rocket fire.

Syrian government forces and Hezbollah fighters have been tightening their siege of Qusayr since mid-April. About 10 days ago, the Syrian regime dropped leaflets on the town telling fighters to surrender and civilians to evacuate.

An activist identified by the channel as Abu al-Hoda al-Homsi, speaking from Qusayr, told the Al Jazeera TV channel that about 40,000 civilians remained in Qusayr. Al Jazeera is owned by Qatar, a principal backer of the Syrian rebels.

Al Jazeera broadcast what it said was footage from inside Qusayr showing the body of a fighter wearing an ammunition vest in the back of a truck and the bodies of bearded military-age men at a field hospital, shrouded in white sheets and being readied for burial in accordance with Islamic traditions. The footage showed parts of the town engulfed in black smoke, as explosions and gunfire are heard in the background.

It is unclear how many civilians remain in Qusayr and whether the figure given by opposition activists is accurate. Before the start of the conflict, Qusayr was home to about 60,000 people, mostly Sunni Muslims and Christians. Almost all the Christians, who numbered about 10,000, fled in early 2012 after rebels belonging to the country’s Sunni majority clashed with Christian families supporting the regime. Hundreds of Sunni families also left the town, many going to neighboring Lebanon, said international aid workers in Lebanon.

Last year, Sunni rebels started attacking Alawites and Shiite minorities inhabiting the farming villages around Qusayr, and this year, rebels openly vowed to “cleanse” the area of the two groups. Alawites, who belong to an offshoot of Shia Islam, dominate the Assad regime.

In April, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah took over at least 14 villages around Qusayr and said it would defend Mr. Assad against what it called a conspiracy by Israel, the U.S. and Sunni Arab dynasties in the Persian Gulf.

Hezbollah has said nothing about its role in the current battle in Qusayr. A senior fighter with the group and residents of border towns and villages in Lebanon told The Wall Street Journal at the end of April that Hezbollah had been instrumental in planning for Qusayr’s takeover. U.S. officials estimate there are 2,000 to 2,500 Hezbollah fighters in Syria.

Sectarian animosities in places like Qusayr have significantly added to the brutality of the conflict in Syria.

Some regime loyalists are urging government forces to replicate what they did this month when they swiftly stormed pro-rebel enclaves on the country’s Alawite-dominated west coast. The government said it had targeted terrorists. Activists said they documented the executions of at least 205 people, many of them civilians.

In his interview with Argentine daily Clarín, published on the newspaper’s website Saturday, Mr. Assad likened Syria to a ship adrift in a stormy sea and himself to a captain steering it to safety. Mr. Assad, who still enjoys popular support, particularly among Syria’s minorities, said his fate wouldn’t be decided at peace talks the U.S. and Russia are trying to convene in Geneva between the regime and the opposition.

“I am not a person who abandons responsibility,” he said, according to a transcript of the interview released by the Syrian Ministry of Information.

“I am a president elected by the people, and only the Syrian people will decide whether I stay or leave, and the ballot box is the referee,” said Mr. Assad.

He warned against foreign intervention in Syria by countries backing the rebels, including the U.S. “They know it won’t be a picnic,” he said.

Write to Sam Dagher at sam.dagher@wsj.com

Qusair Lens/Associated Press

Syrians inspected the rubble of damaged buildings due to government airstrikes in Qusayr.

“We have crushed more than 70 terrorists,” said one army officer. “God willing, Qusayr will be liberated in the coming hours or days.”

The rebels in Qusayr, who are estimated by Hezbollah to number about 5,000 and whose ranks include foreign fighters and extremists, denied the government’s claims.

However, rebels said the town was being subjected to one of the most intensive bombardments by regime forces to date.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that at least 52 people—all but four of them rebel fighters—have been killed so far in the offensive, which started late Saturday night with several airstrikes and a barrage of artillery and rocket fire.

Syrian government forces and Hezbollah fighters have been tightening their siege of Qusayr since mid-April. About 10 days ago, the Syrian regime dropped leaflets on the town telling fighters to surrender and civilians to evacuate.

An activist identified by the channel as Abu al-Hoda al-Homsi, speaking from Qusayr, told the Al Jazeera TV channel that about 40,000 civilians remained in Qusayr. Al Jazeera is owned by Qatar, a principal backer of the Syrian rebels.

Al Jazeera broadcast what it said was footage from inside Qusayr showing the body of a fighter wearing an ammunition vest in the back of a truck and the bodies of bearded military-age men at a field hospital, shrouded in white sheets and being readied for burial in accordance with Islamic traditions. The footage showed parts of the town engulfed in black smoke, as explosions and gunfire are heard in the background.

It is unclear how many civilians remain in Qusayr and whether the figure given by opposition activists is accurate. Before the start of the conflict, Qusayr was home to about 60,000 people, mostly Sunni Muslims and Christians. Almost all the Christians, who numbered about 10,000, fled in early 2012 after rebels belonging to the country’s Sunni majority clashed with Christian families supporting the regime. Hundreds of Sunni families also left the town, many going to neighboring Lebanon, said international aid workers in Lebanon.

Last year, Sunni rebels started attacking Alawites and Shiite minorities inhabiting the farming villages around Qusayr, and this year, rebels openly vowed to “cleanse” the area of the two groups. Alawites, who belong to an offshoot of Shia Islam, dominate the Assad regime.

Related

• Kerry Trip to Focus On Syria, Peace Process

In April, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah took over at least 14 villages around Qusayr and said it would defend Mr. Assad against what it called a conspiracy by Israel, the U.S. and Sunni Arab dynasties in the Persian Gulf.

Hezbollah has said nothing about its role in the current battle in Qusayr. A senior fighter with the group and residents of border towns and villages in Lebanon told The Wall Street Journal at the end of April that Hezbollah had been instrumental in planning for Qusayr’s takeover. U.S. officials estimate there are 2,000 to 2,500 Hezbollah fighters in Syria.

Sectarian animosities in places like Qusayr have significantly added to the brutality of the conflict in Syria.

Related

• Hezbollah Steps Up in Syria as Israel Tries to Ease Tension (5/6/13)
• Syrian Conflict Draws In Christians (07/23/12)

Some regime loyalists are urging government forces to replicate what they did this month when they swiftly stormed pro-rebel enclaves on the country’s Alawite-dominated west coast. The government said it had targeted terrorists. Activists said they documented the executions of at least 205 people, many of them civilians.

In his interview with Argentine daily Clarín, published on the newspaper’s website Saturday, Mr. Assad likened Syria to a ship adrift in a stormy sea and himself to a captain steering it to safety. Mr. Assad, who still enjoys popular support, particularly among Syria’s minorities, said his fate wouldn’t be decided at peace talks the U.S. and Russia are trying to convene in Geneva between the regime and the opposition.

“I am not a person who abandons responsibility,” he said, according to a transcript of the interview released by the Syrian Ministry of Information.

“I am a president elected by the people, and only the Syrian people will decide whether I stay or leave, and the ballot box is the referee,” said Mr. Assad.

He warned against foreign intervention in Syria by countries backing the rebels, including the U.S. “They know it won’t be a picnic,” he said.

Write to Sam Dagher at sam.dagher@wsj.com