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Monday, October 15, 2012

Peace loving EU backs new UN Syria envoy’s plan to deploy 3,000 UN troops inside Syria (We come in Peace Syrians - Just ask our Libyan brothers!)


The EU has approved a new plan to deploy 3,000 peacekeeping troops in Syria, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said. The plan was first introduced by Lakhdar Brahimi, the new UN-Arab League peace envoy to Syria.
The soldiers sent to Syria will possibly include European nationals. Ashton also said that she expected Russian participation in any successful peace plan, RIA Novosti news agency reports.
UK and US soldiers are unlikely to participate in the mission due to their countries’ deployments in Afghanistan, the Daily Telegraph reported. However, the new peace plan may draw on troops currently involved in UNIFIL, the mission founded to guard the Israel-Lebanon border. The 15,000 soldiers stationed there include forces from Ireland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.
Brahimi previously stressed that the key to resolving the conflict in Syria is dialogue, rather than the use of military force. He also tried to downplay expectations, saying it may be “nearly impossible” for him to succeed.
The plan was revealed on Saturday as Lakhdar Brahmi visited Istanbul in a bid to calm rising tensions between Syria and Turkey ahead of his trip to Damascus to broker a ceasefire.
Hostilities between the two nations spiraled after Turkish F-16 fighter jets forced a Syrian Air passenger plane to land in Ankara over allegations that it was carrying military cargo last week. The plane departed Turkey after a nine-hour inspection. Turkish officials pressed the crew to sign affidavits that no fighter jets were involved in the incident, and that it was an emergency landing, the plane’s engineer said.
On Sunday, Syria closed its airspace to Turkish passenger flights; Ankara responded by closing its airspace to Syrian flights.
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US soldiers board the last C17 aircraft carrying US troops out of Iraq at Camp Adder on the outskirts of the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah (AFP Photo / Martin Bureau) 11.10, 23:2458 comments

Planes, strains and geopolitical spills: Syrian conflict goes global

The families of 17 Russian passengers on a Damascus-bound plane from Moscow got a midnight shock upon learning that Turkish jets had intercepted the flight. For those asking why, the answer begins in Syria, and ripples throughout the world.
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(Reuters / Osman Orsal)14.10, 05:0961 comments

Turkey closes airspace to Syrian civilian flights after similar move by Damascus

Ankara has placed a ban on Syrian Airlines flying into Turkish airspace, after a diplomatic row that began when Turkey seized cargo from a Syrian civilian plane it forced to land in Ankara. Earlier, Damascus closed its airspace to Turkish airlines.
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Reuters / Joshua Roberts13.10, 09:4520 comments

‘US clearly favors Assad's overthrow’

Washington has accused Moscow of "morally bankruptcy" in Syria after Turkey intercepted a Syrian civilian plane. But the US cannot be an honest broker, analyst Jeff Steinberg told RT, because of its ill-covered support of the Syrian rebels.
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Turkish tanks take position near the border with Syria at Suruc in Sanliurfa on October 12, 2012 (AFP Photo) 13.10, 07:2129 comments

‘The West is looking for an excuse to attack Syria, but Assad is not giving one’

The Turkish interception of a Syrian civilian jet heading to Damascus from Moscow was yet another attempt to provoke Assad to give the West a reason to strike Syria, Sibel Edmonds of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition told RT.
Syria unrest


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