Syria Support Movement solidarity with the Syrian people
International pressure has been building for a military strike on Syria in the wake of an alleged chemical weapons attack in a Damascus suburb. The West has laid the blame at the feet of President Assad, as UN experts collected chemical samples on-site.
Thursday, September 5
11:48 GMT: The international community should focus on a political solution for the Syrian crisis, said the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.
“The European Union is certain that the efforts should be aimed at a political settlement,” Barroso told reporters at the G20 briefing.
11:39 GMT: Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, slammed the US for using the alleged chemical weapons use as a “pretext” for intervention in Syria.
“In the case of Syria, the chemical attack is a pretext… The Americans try to play with words and pretend that they’ve become involved in this case for humanitarian aims,” Khamenei said, at a meeting of the Iranian Assembly of Experts.
Khamenei then warned the US would “suffer loss” in Syria, should they launch a military strike.
“I believe the Americans are making mistakes in Syria and they have felt the impact and will certainly suffer loss,” he said.
11:09 GMT: Seventy percent of Germans are against military intervention in Syria. However, 65 percent consider it a possibility, according to a survey ordered by the ZDF TV channel.
10:15 GMT: UN special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, will push for an international conference to find a political solution to the conflict in Syria during the G20 summit.
“While the world is focused on concerns about the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria we must push even harder for the International Conference on Syria to take place in Geneva,” said Brahimi in a statement.
05:12 GMT: Russia has sent an official request to meet the US lawmakers with the aim of lobbying them on Syria. It’s after earlier speculations that Russia will send a delegation to Washington, DC.
02:52 GMT: While calling for reconciliation and denying his government used chemical weapons, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad told the Wall Street Journal if the US attacks Syria, Damascus would strike back not only at Israel, but also neighbors Jordan and Turkey if they participate in hostilities.
“Once the war starts nobody can control what will happen,” he said. “We believe that any attack against Syria will definitely result in chaos in the entire region if not beyond.”
He also said US strikes would strengthen rebel groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda rather than the moderate opposition forces the US has supported.
02:41 GMT: The Vatican will host a day of fasting and a four-hour prayer vigil Saturday in St. Peter’s Square in opposition to US military strikes in Syria, the AP reported. The Vatican has invited bishops’ conferences the world over to host local version of the vigil.
In recent speeches, tweets and remarks, Pope Francis has called for a negotiated settlement to the Syrian conflict while condemning use of chemical weapons. “War never again! Never again war!” he tweeted earlier this week.
Wednesday, September 4
23:58 GMT: Russian lawmakers have announced plans to meet with US congressional leaders to discuss Syria, according to CNN. Previous reports speculated that Russia would send a delegation to Washington but it is not clear whether they will arrive before Monday, when the Senate and House of Representatives are scheduled to debate a bill authorizing military force in Syria.
House Speaker John Boehner, however, has already declined the invitation, according to Boehner spokesman Michael Steel, who did not provide a reason.
“At this particular point, my understanding has been that relations between members of Congress and the Russian parliament have been very sour,” Dick Lugar, the former head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN. “I don’t think a delegation from Russia will make any difference in terms of congressional votes. But at the same time there may be the possibility that dialogue could lead to other positive things.”
23:35 GMT: The Pentagon has issued a clarification to US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s assertion Wednesday that Russia had supplied chemical weapons to Syria.
During the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on potential use of force against Syria, Hagel alluded to Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons. When asked where they came from, Hagel said, “Well, the Russians supply them. Others are supplying them with those chemical weapons. They make some themselves.”
Pentagon spokesman George Little explained in a statement Hagel was referring to the “well-known conventional arms relationship between Syria and Russia.”
The full statement from Little:
“In a response to a member of Congress, Secretary Hagel was referring to the well-known conventional arms relationship between Syria and Russia. The Syrian regime has a decades-old largely indigenous chemical weapons program. Currently, Russia provides the Syrian regime a wide variety of military equipment and support, some of which can be modified or otherwise used to support the chemical weapons program. We have publicly and privately expressed our concern over the destabilizing impact on the Syrian conflict and the wider region of continued military shipments to the Assad regime.”
22:00 GMT: The White House praised the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for passing an authorization of military force against Syria hours after questioning top administration officials on potential strikes.
“We commend the Senate for moving swiftly and for working across party lines on behalf of our national security,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.
The resolution now goes to the full Senate for debate. The bill needs 60 votes to ultimately pass.
21:53 GMT: Former Syrian Defense Minister Ali Habib has not fled the country, state television reported Wednesday.
“There is no truth to what the media has reported on the travel of former defence minister Ali Habib Mahmoud outside of Syria and he is still in his home,” Syrian state television quoted an official source as saying.
A top member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition had previously told Reuters Habib had defected to Turkey.
21:43 GMT: Probes from Khan al-Assal show chemicals used in the March 19 attack did not belong to standard Syrian army ammunition, and that the shell carrying the substance was similar to those made by a rebel fighter group, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
A statement released by the ministry on Wednesday particularly drew attention to the “massive stove-piping of various information aimed at placing the responsibility for the alleged chemical weapons use in Syria on Damascus, even though the results of the UN investigation have not yet been revealed.”
By such means “the way is being paved for military action” against Damascus, the ministry pointed out.
But the samples taken at the site of the March 19 attack and analyzed by Russian experts indicate that a projectile carrying the deadly nerve agent sarin was most likely fired at Khan al-Assal by the rebels, the ministry statement suggests, outlining the 100-page report handed over to the UN by Russia.
21:23 GMT: US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel insisted that any military strike on Syria for use of chemical weapons would significantly reduce President Bashar Assad’s military might.
“The president has said … this would not be a pin prick. Those were his words. This would be a significant strike that would in fact degrade his capability,” Hagel said during a hearing in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which will consider authorizing use of military force in the coming days.
Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry agreed that “likelihood is very high” Assad would use chemical weapons again should the US not use force.
Hagel added during the hearing that a limited military strike campaign in Syria would likely cost “tens of millions” of dollars.
“We have looked at the different costs, depending on the different options,” Hagel said. “It would be in the tens of millions of dollars, that kind of range.”
21:00 GMT: During Wednesday afternoon’s hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel suggested that the Assad regime received some of their alleged chemical weapons arsenal from Russia.
“There’s no secret that the Assad regime has had chemical weapons, significant stockpiles of chemical weapons,” Hagel said.
When asked by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) to elaborate, Hagel responded, “The Russians supply them, others are supplying them with those chemical weapons, they make some themselves.”
18:13 GMT: Rep. Brian Higgins (D-New York) questioned the United States’ potential involvement in the Syrian civil war by insisting that the US should concentrate on its domestic endeavors, not efforts abroad.
“The American people are sick and tired of war,” Higgins told Secretary of State John Kerry. “It’s time to nation build — in America.”
18:07 GMT: Answering critique from Rep. Ted Deutsh (D-Florida) about America’s potential role in the Syrian civil war, Secretary of State told the committee, “The United States of America is not being the world’s policeman.”
17:23 GMT: Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters that a meeting and potentially a vote could occur as early as 2 p.m. local time, or 1800 GMT, today.
16:48 GMT: According to Reuters, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to vote later today on the draft resolution presented on Tuesday which would authorize the use of military force in Syria
16:36 GMT: Secretary of State John Kerry is again the lead witness during a Congressional hearing in Washington, this time one hosted by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
During Wednesday afternoon testimony, Kerry said that new evidence has surfaced only hours earlier linking Assad’s regime to the August 21 attack near Damascus that the White House says killed over 1,400 people.
Meanwhile, anti-war protesters with the group Code Pink assembled during the hearing seated behind Kerry. International television cameras captured the demonstrators with symbolic “blood” on their hands.
During Tuesday’s hearing in the Senate, Code Pink co-founder Madea Benjamin was ejected from the facility during an outburst that occurred moments into the meeting.
14:58 GMT: Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized remarks made by the US Secretary of State John Kerry at the Congressional debate, saying Kerry “lied” by claiming there was no Al-Qaeda militants fighting in Syria and that the military strike against President Assad will not boost the terrorist network’s presence in the region.
“Well, he [Kerry] lies. And he knows that he lies. This is sad,” Putin remarked as he spoke to human rights activists on Wednesday, saying that the Al-Nusra Front terrorist organization, which pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda, has been at the forefront of the rebel groups fighting Assad’s forces, and that the US is well aware of that.
Speaking of Kerry’s confidence in that Assad’s forces used chemical weapons, Putin recalled former US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s rhetoric on the eve of American invasion in Iraq. It later turned out that all Powell’s arguments that Iraq had chemical weapons “did not hold water,” the Russian President stressed.
13:40 GMT: President Barack Obama said the credibility of the US Congress was on the line regarding the need to uphold a ban on chemical weapons in Syria.
“My credibility is not on the line. The international community’s credibility is on the line,” he told a news conference in Sweden. “America and Congress’s credibility is on the line, because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important,” Obama added.
13:16 GMT: US President Barack Obama urged the international community to respond effectively to chemical weapons’ use in Syria during his statement at a press conference in Sweden.
A “real strong message” to Assad must be sent to ‘degrade’ his ability to use chemical weapons again, the President added.
Obama stated that he was not required to submit proposals for military action to Congress for approval, but also said that not doing so was no empty exercise.
10:20 GMT: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan reiterated on Wednesday that Turkey would take part in any international coalition against Syria but didn’t say whether that would include military action.
00:47 GMT: A new US Senate draft resolution for authorizing use of military force in Syria sets a 60-day deadline, with one 30-day extension possible, while barring ground forces.
The resolution was drafted by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman and ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee. The resolution needs 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster by opponents.
The draft follows Tuesday’s hearing on Syria featuring testimony from US Secretary of State John Kerry, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.
00:30 GMT: Though not yet in session, members of the US House of Representatives have released two separate draft resolutions on potential US military action in Syria, Politico reported.
Rep. Devin Nunes (Calif.), a top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, offered a resolution calling for President Obama to consult with Congress within 60 days to provide information on nine fronts to justify the use of military force.
The resolution would require a summary of “attempts to build a coalition; a ‘detailed plan for military action in Syria, including specific goals and military objectives;’ what would qualify as degrading the chemical weapons supply; an explanation how a limited military strike would encourage regime change, prevent terrorists from taking control of power or weapons, secure the chemical weapons and deter their future use; how a strike would prevent Iran and Russia from keeping Assad in power; information about Al Qaeda’s access to weapons; an explanation of whether weapons from Libya are being used by the Syrian opposition and an estimation of the cost.”
The other resolution, offered by Democrats Rep. Gerry Connolly (Va.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), is also supportive of a Syria attack but seeks to narrow the scope of any such action. Their resolution bars use of ground forces, limits attacks to 60 days while prohibiting a second series of attacks — unless the Obama administration has proof Assad used chemical weapons again — and says an attack on Syria can only happen to prevent use, not stockpiling, of chemical weapons.
Tuesday, September 3
23:17 GMT: United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on Security Council members to develop a response should UN inspectors find proof that Syria used chemical weapons.
“I take note of the argument for action to prevent future uses of chemical weapons,” Ban said from UN headquarters in New York. “At the same time, we must consider the impact of any punitive measure on efforts to prevent further bloodshed and facilitate a political resolution of the conflict.”
UN inspectors are working “around the clock” after a recent investigation of an alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus that the US and allies have attributed to the Syrian government. Once analyses of the site samples are completed, Ban will share the report’s results with the 193-member Member States and the 15-member Security Council.
Ban also appealed for a renewed commitment to solutions to the Syrian conflict during the upcoming G20 conference in Russia.
22:55 GMT: Some 56 percent of respondents do not want the US to intervene in Syria, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll surveying the American public on potential strikes there. Only 19 percent surveyed supported US action, while 25 percent said they did not know what, if anything, the US should do.
Just 29 percent of respondents support arming anti-government rebels in Syria, while 49 percent oppose. Another 21 percent were undecided on arming rebels.
22:50 GMT: At the conclusion of Tuesday’s Senate hearing Senator Rober Menendez stated that a resolution for the use of US military force in Syria would likely be written by the end of the day, and Congress might
convene a vote on that by Wednesday.
According to Menendez the text authorizing President Obama to commit military forces would ensure the intervention would not be open-ended “and specifically not with boots on the ground, American troops on the ground.”
“It is likely that we could very well be in a business meeting sometime after the classified hearing tomorrow morning,” Menendez said. The Senate is scheduled to receive a classified hearing with administration
officials on Wednesday morning.
22:45 GMT: During the Syria hearing, a Washington Post photographer snapped a photo of Sen. John McCain playing poker on his iPhone. Soon after the photo made the rounds on Twitter, McCain tweeted, “Scandal! Caught playing iPhone game at 3+ hour Senate hearing – worst of all I lost!”
22:40 GMT: Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told Congress Tuesday Russia may increase Syria military aid should the US attack, though he said he did not think this possibility should stall US action.
“There is some indication that they (the Russians) have assured the regime that if we destroy something, they can replace it,” Dempsey said during a Senate hearing.
22:31 GMT: Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton backs President Obama’s appeal to Congress for authorization of attacks against Syria, The Washington Post reported.
“Clinton supports the president’s effort to enlist the Congress in pursuing a strong and targeted response to the Assad regime’s horrific use of chemical weapons,” a Clinton adviser said in a statement.
As secretary of state, Clinton advocated for the administration to do more to arm and assist forces opposed to Assad’s government in Syria.
19:59 GMT: Two Russian amphibious assault ships, “Novocherkassk” and “Minsk,” have headed to the Mediterranean Sea as part of a scheduled mission of monitoring the situation in the region, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman told ITAR-TASS.
The ships were dispatched from Russia’s Black and Baltic Sea Fleets, and will reach the destination area on September 5-6, joining the Russian standing naval force in the region, the ministry said.
The maneuvers are part of the “stage-by-stage rotation of warships and support ships of the standing naval force in the Mediterranean,” the spokesman explained.
One of the key tasks of the Russian standing naval force in the Mediterranean is “comprehensive monitoring over the air, underwater, and surface situation in the zone of its deployment,” he added.
19:22 GMT: During a congressional hearing in Washington Tuesday afternoon, Secretary of State John Kerry and Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advocated for a limited military strike on Syria. Senator Bob Menendez (D-New York), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also said he supported action targeting the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
According to Sec. Kerry, “The authorization that Pres. Obama seeks is definitively in our national security interests.” The former senator also said Assad would be “arrogant” and “foolish” to retaliate against any US strike.
18:24 GMT: Russia’s missile defense system “proved its effectiveness” after it was put on high alert following the Israeli-US test launch of a ballistic missile in the Mediterranean, said Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov.
Describing the Mediterranean as a modern “powder keg,” Antonov called for the US “not to play with fire,” and said it should show more responsibility for both regional security and world peace.
He reminded that the US and the USSR signed an agreement binding both parties to give notification of missile launches in advance, which is still valid between the US and Russia.
17:26 GMT: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said he intends to bring the issue of the escalating Syrian crisis to the top of the G20 summit’s agenda.
Ban stressed that the use of military force is only legal in self-defense, or with the authorization of the UN Security Council. He also called for holding the Geneva-2 peace conference on Syria as soon as possible.
The UN Chief also reminded that UN investigators are set to return to Syria to investigate several other cases of alleged chemical weapons use.
16:10 GMT: Democratic leader in the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said she believes Congress will support a resolution authorizing the use of military force against Syria.
Pelosi made her remarks after meeting the president and congressional leaders at the White House.
15:38 GMT: Republican US House Speaker John Boehner announced he will support President Obama’s call for military action in Syria, and said he believes his colleagues should also back the decision.
US Senator John McCain immediately reacted by applauding Boehner’s stance on his Twitter.
15:21 GMT: France won’t intervene in Syria unilaterally, should the US Congress veto military action against Syria, French President Francois Hollande has said.
“If the decision of [US Congress] was not positive, then we would not act alone, but we would not shirk our responsibilities, by supporting the opposition in Syria in such a way that would provide a response,” Hollande said as quoted by Reuters.
15:05 GMT: The Israeli Defense Ministry confirmed a US defense agency took part in a “successful flight test of the new version of the Sparrow target missile” in an e-mail statement to RT Arabic.
“Israel’s Missile Defense Organization and the US Missile Defense Agency officials conducted the flight test. The main contractor for the integration and development of the Sparrow is Rafael and the main contractor of the Arrow Weapon System is MLM of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in conjunction with Boeing,” the statement explained.
14:39 GMT: Pentagon has confirmed the US Defense Department took part in Israeli missile test in the Mediterranean.
The missile test was carried out “with technical support of the US Defense Department,” the department spokesman George Little said as quoted by Itar-Tass.
According to Little, the test was “pre-planned” and “not connected to Syria.”
14:12 GMT: US President Barack Obama held a White House meeting with select members of Congress to discuss the Syrian crisis in Washington on Tuesday morning. The president again stressed that he was pursuing a limited and proportional military strike that would degrade the Assad regime’s capabilities of using chemical weapons while also underlining a broader strategy that will allow the US to assist opposition fighters in the future if necessary.
When asked if he was confident that Congress would authorize the use of military force against the Syrian government, Obama replied, “I am.”
13:40 GMT: The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) announced on Tuesday that more than 2 million Syrians have fled the country since civil war began in March 2011.
“The war is now well into its third year and Syria is hemorrhaging women, children and men who cross borders often with little more than the clothes on their backs,” the UNHCR statement read.
A further 4.25 million people have been displaced inside Syria, according to data from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). This makes the country’s refugee crisis “unparalleled in recent history,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said.
12:37 GMT: World markets immediately plunged on Tuesday after the Russian Defense Ministry reported the launch of two ballistic missiles in the eastern Mediterranean. The FTSE 100 slumped down nearly one percent (7.01 points), and stock markets in Germany and France experienced similar losses. Traders reacted to fears of escalation of war in the Middle East as far as India, as the BSE Sensex fell nearly 4 percent (651 points) on “geopolitical worries,” Reuters India reported.
Some of the markets recovered soon after the launch was claimed by IDF to be a joint Israeli-US early warning system test.
11:30 GMT: The US Navy did not fire any missiles from ships in the Mediterranean, according to a spokesman for the US Navy’s European headquarters.
“No missiles were fired from U.S. ships in the Mediterranean,” the spokesman said.
10:58 GMT: Israel claimed a joint missile launch with the US in the Mediterranean Sea. The Israeli Defense Ministry spokesmen told journalists that they tested an Ankor-type (“Sparrow”) target missile to check how well the anti-missile system known as “Arrow-3” functions. The launch took place at 06:15 GMT, the ministry spokesmen added.
10:08 GMT: Syria’s missile warning system has not detected any rockets landing on the country’s territory, a Syrian security source has told Lebanese channel al-Manar TV.
9:59 GMT: Russia’s early warning radars have detected the launch of two ballistic rockets in the eastern Mediterranean, Russia’s Defense Ministry stated. The launch reportedly took place at 06:16 GMT Tuesday.
The trajectory of the missiles is reported to have been from the central part of the Mediterranean Sea towards the eastern landmass. Both rockets have allegedly fallen into the sea 300 kilometers off the coast, RIA Novosti news agency reported.
00:30 GMT: Samples collected by the UN chemical experts team in the Damascus suburb will be transferred to laboratories for analysis “within hours,” a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General ban Ki-moon has said in a note to correspondents.
“Since the return of the Mission last Saturday, the UN team worked around the clock to finalize the preparations of the samples in view of their shipment to the designated laboratories.”
“The samples were shipped this afternoon from The Hague and will reach their destination within hours,” the note continued.
It added that the designated laboratories are prepared to begin the analyses “immediately after receipt of samples.”
