Syria President Bashar Al-Assad says British air strikes will fail and mocks David Cameron ‘farce’
Mr Assad says RAF air strikes were illegal and detrimental to anti-terror operations being undertaken by his regime
Matt Payton 2 hours ago
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has claimed British bombing raids against Isis targets in his country will fail – and ridiculed Cameron’s Middle East policy as a “classical farce”.
In an interview with the Sunday Times within his Damascus compound, Mr Assad said the RAF air strikes were illegal and detrimental to anti-terror operations being undertaken by his regime.
He said: “You cannot defeat them [Isis] through air strikes alone. You cannot defeat them without co-operation with forces on the ground.
“You cannot defeat them if you do not have buy-in from the general public and the government …They are going to fail again.”
It comes after MPs gave their backing to British air strikes in Syria, with the oil fields operated by militant group Isis targeted.
Britain is only dipping a toe in this war on Isis
Mr Assad went on to praise his Russian allies, who he said entered the Syrian conflict “the legal way”.
“The Russians can see this clearly, they want to protect Syria, Iraq, the region — and even Europe,” he said.
“I am not exaggerating by saying they are protecting Europe today.”
Mr Assad poured scorn on the British Prime Minister’s assertion that 70,000 moderate rebels could defeat Isis on the ground.
He said: “This is a new episode in a long series of David Cameron's classical farce ... where are they? Where are the 70,000 moderates he is talking about? There is no 70,000. There is no 7,000.”
Mr Assad blamed Europe for producing terrorists, stating: “How many extremist cells now exist in Europe?
“How many extremists did you export from Europe to Syria? This is where the danger lies. The danger is in the incubator.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-president-bashar-al-assad-says-british-air-strikes-will-fail-and-mocks-david-cameron-farce-a6762591.html
Topic: Military Bosses Warned Generalissimo Pigfinder About His Hot Air - page 3. (Read 2516 times)
December 07, 2015, 05:35:59 AM
December 06, 2015, 11:23:25 PM
It sure is equipped to meet the dangerous and "evolving" threat of terrorism.
US national security
US has trained only 'four or five' Syrian fighters against Isis, top general testifies
Senators appear incredulous and call for a new plan after hearing news that US military’s $500m effort has resulted in training of only a handful of fighters
“We’re talking four or five,” General Lloyd Austin, commander of US Central Command, told a dissatisfied Senate armed services committee on Wednesday.
The training initiative is Barack Obama’s linchpin for retaking Syrian territory from Isis. The Pentagon anticipated in late 2014 that it would have trained 5,000 anti-Isis Syrian rebels by now.
Spencer Ackerman in New York
@attackerman
Wednesday 16 September 2015 16.54 BST
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/16/us-military-syrian-isis-fighters
US national security
US has trained only 'four or five' Syrian fighters against Isis, top general testifies
Senators appear incredulous and call for a new plan after hearing news that US military’s $500m effort has resulted in training of only a handful of fighters
“We’re talking four or five,” General Lloyd Austin, commander of US Central Command, told a dissatisfied Senate armed services committee on Wednesday.
The training initiative is Barack Obama’s linchpin for retaking Syrian territory from Isis. The Pentagon anticipated in late 2014 that it would have trained 5,000 anti-Isis Syrian rebels by now.
Spencer Ackerman in New York
@attackerman
Wednesday 16 September 2015 16.54 BST
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/16/us-military-syrian-isis-fighters
December 06, 2015, 09:05:32 PM
The General´s closest ally in the neverending war on terror, President Asswithears, addressed the nation. He symbolically spoke from the White House´s traditional sanctum sanctorum, The Oval Office. He seldom uses this famous setting to spread his tripe, most likely because he knows that most decent Americans reach for the barf bags when they see him there and are reminded of much more substantial personalities of integrity addressing them from there.
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In only his third address to the nation from the Oval Office, President Barack Obama reassured Americans that the United States is equipped to meet the dangerous and "evolving" threat of terrorism.
As U.S. and other Western responses have gained ground against organized, wide-scale terrorist attacks, ISIS and other groups are undertaking "growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds" of home-grown attackers like the couple who killed 14 people last week in San Bernardino, California, the president said.
A senior administration official said that after the Paris terrorist attacks last month, followed by numerous thwarted ISIS plots and then the San Bernardino shootings, Obama decided he needed to address "the significant concerns and very real and legitimate fears in the United States and around the world."
The president has rarely used the Oval Office — the most symbolic representation of his authority — to speak to the nation. He announced the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq from there in August 2010, and two months before that, he laid out his plans to secure American energy after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The choice of the Oval Office for Sunday night's address reflected "the seriousness with which we are taking the issue," the official said. At the same time, the address was meant to "step back and provide context for people," not to announce new policies or strategies, the official said.
Obama referred to history in reinforcing the message Sunday night:
"Let's not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear, that we have always met challenges — whether war or depression, natural disasters or terrorist attacks — by coming together around our common ideals as one nation, as one people," he said. "So long as we stay true to that tradition, I have no doubt America will prevail."
Blablahhhhbla.
------------------------------------------
In only his third address to the nation from the Oval Office, President Barack Obama reassured Americans that the United States is equipped to meet the dangerous and "evolving" threat of terrorism.
As U.S. and other Western responses have gained ground against organized, wide-scale terrorist attacks, ISIS and other groups are undertaking "growing efforts by terrorists to poison the minds" of home-grown attackers like the couple who killed 14 people last week in San Bernardino, California, the president said.
A senior administration official said that after the Paris terrorist attacks last month, followed by numerous thwarted ISIS plots and then the San Bernardino shootings, Obama decided he needed to address "the significant concerns and very real and legitimate fears in the United States and around the world."
The president has rarely used the Oval Office — the most symbolic representation of his authority — to speak to the nation. He announced the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq from there in August 2010, and two months before that, he laid out his plans to secure American energy after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The choice of the Oval Office for Sunday night's address reflected "the seriousness with which we are taking the issue," the official said. At the same time, the address was meant to "step back and provide context for people," not to announce new policies or strategies, the official said.
Obama referred to history in reinforcing the message Sunday night:
"Let's not forget that freedom is more powerful than fear, that we have always met challenges — whether war or depression, natural disasters or terrorist attacks — by coming together around our common ideals as one nation, as one people," he said. "So long as we stay true to that tradition, I have no doubt America will prevail."
Blablahhhhbla.
December 04, 2015, 07:19:24 AM
Military chiefs warned Cameron against using 70,000 ‘moderate’ rebels figure
Published time: 4 Dec, 2015 11:48
Ministry of Defence (MoD) bosses warned Prime Minister David Cameron against claiming there are 70,000 moderate Syrian rebels ready to fight Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), fearing the assertion would echo Tony Blair’s Iraq “dodgy dossier.”
The revelation comes after the House of Commons voted to extend airstrikes from Iraq into Syria, with the first bombs falling hours later.
According to the Times newspaper, military figures also feared Cameron’s claim of such a rebel force may lead MPs to wrongly believe there was a ready-made army on the ground in Syria, therefore influencing the vote.
This led to concerns in the upper echelons of the military establishment that such a claim would later become the Syria war’s “dodgy dossier,” echoing Tony Blair’s now debunked 2003 claims that Saddam Hussein’s regime could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.
“There were Ministry of Defence officials who maybe felt scarred after the previous dossier,” a senior Whitehall source told the Times.
“They looked at the latest text and said that [the 70,000 figure] could become the ‘45 minutes’ moment of this document.
“The concern was … [that the 70,000 figure] will become the one thing that everyone latches on to, like the 45 minutes claim.”
Some of the most vocal critics of Cameron’s claim were among his own party.
During the ten-hour debate on Wednesday, Julian Lewis, Tory chairman of the influential Defence Select Committee, told MPs: “Instead of having dodgy dossiers, we now have bogus battalions of moderate fighters.”
Speaking to Sky News on Thursday, Lewis said: “Where are these magical 70,000 people and if they are there fighting, how come they haven’t been able to roll back ISIL/Daesh?”
“Is it that they’re in the wrong place? Is it that they’re fighting each other? Or is it that in reality they’re not all that moderate and that there are a lot of jihadists among them?” he asked.
https://www.rt.com/uk/324733-cameron-syria-moderate-rebels/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
Published time: 4 Dec, 2015 11:48
Ministry of Defence (MoD) bosses warned Prime Minister David Cameron against claiming there are 70,000 moderate Syrian rebels ready to fight Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), fearing the assertion would echo Tony Blair’s Iraq “dodgy dossier.”
The revelation comes after the House of Commons voted to extend airstrikes from Iraq into Syria, with the first bombs falling hours later.
According to the Times newspaper, military figures also feared Cameron’s claim of such a rebel force may lead MPs to wrongly believe there was a ready-made army on the ground in Syria, therefore influencing the vote.
This led to concerns in the upper echelons of the military establishment that such a claim would later become the Syria war’s “dodgy dossier,” echoing Tony Blair’s now debunked 2003 claims that Saddam Hussein’s regime could launch weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes.
“There were Ministry of Defence officials who maybe felt scarred after the previous dossier,” a senior Whitehall source told the Times.
“They looked at the latest text and said that [the 70,000 figure] could become the ‘45 minutes’ moment of this document.
“The concern was … [that the 70,000 figure] will become the one thing that everyone latches on to, like the 45 minutes claim.”
Some of the most vocal critics of Cameron’s claim were among his own party.
During the ten-hour debate on Wednesday, Julian Lewis, Tory chairman of the influential Defence Select Committee, told MPs: “Instead of having dodgy dossiers, we now have bogus battalions of moderate fighters.”
Speaking to Sky News on Thursday, Lewis said: “Where are these magical 70,000 people and if they are there fighting, how come they haven’t been able to roll back ISIL/Daesh?”
“Is it that they’re in the wrong place? Is it that they’re fighting each other? Or is it that in reality they’re not all that moderate and that there are a lot of jihadists among them?” he asked.
https://www.rt.com/uk/324733-cameron-syria-moderate-rebels/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
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