President al-Assad: Syria won’t be a puppet state for the West “full Text”- SANA

Damascus, SANA, President Bashar al-Assad gave an interview to “Paris Match” Magazine, following is the full text of the interview:

Question 1: Mr. President, three years into this war, and considering how things have turned out, do you regret that you haven’t managed things differently at the beginning, with the appearance of the first signs of the revolution in March 2011? Do you feel that you are responsible for what happened?

President Assad: Even in the first days of the events, there were martyrs from the army and the police; so, since the first days of this crisis we have been facing terrorism. It is true that there were demonstrations, but they were not large in number. In such a case, there is no choice but to defend your people against terrorists. There’s no other choice. We cannot say that we regret fighting terrorism since the early days of this crisis. However, this doesn’t mean that there weren’t mistakes made in practice. There are always mistakes. Let’s be honest: had Qatar not paid money to those terrorists at that time, and had Turkey not supported them logistically, and had not the West supported them politically, things would have been different. If we in Syria had problems and mistakes before the crisis, which is normal, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the events had internal causes.

Question 2: Your army is blamed for its excessive use of force during this war. Why are civilians shelled?

President Assad: When a terrorist attacks you with weapons, how do you defend yourself and your people, with dialogue. The army uses weapons when the other side uses them. For us in Syria, it is impossible to have our objective as shelling civilians. There’s no reason to shell civilians. If we are killing civilians, in other words killing our people, fighting terrorists at the same time, and fighting the states which stand against us and which support terrorists, like the Gulf countries, Turkey, and the West, how could we stand for four years? If we haven’t been defending the people, we wouldn’t have been able to stand all this pressure. Consequently, saying that we are shelling civilians doesn’t make any sense.

http://www.sana.sy/en/?p=20381

Our Interview with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad- Paris Match

Exclusive excerpts of Paris Match interview of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, granted in Damascus on November 28th. 

Paris Match: François Hollande continues to refer to you as an adversary.  Do you think contact can ever be reestablished?

Bashar al-Assad: It is not a question of personal relations.  As a matter of fact, I don’t even know him.  It is about relations between states and institutions, and the interests of the two nations.  We will work with any French dignitary or government in our common interests.  But the current administration is working against the interest of our people and that of the French people.  I am neither a personal enemy or rival of Hollande.  I think that Daech is his rival, their popularity is very much the same.

http://www.parismatch.com/Actu/International/Our-Interview-with-Syrian-President-Bashar-al-Assad-661984

Niğde'de yakalananlar IŞİD'ci çıktı!- Radikal

RADİKAL - Niğde'nin Ulukışla İlçesi'nde 1 polis memuru ile 1 astsubayı şehit edip, gasp ettikleri kamyon şoförünü öldüren Irak Şam İslam Devleti (IŞİD) terör örgütü üyesi Alman vatandaşı Benjamin Xu, İsviçre vatandaşı Çendrim Ramadani ile Makedonyalı Muhammed Zakiri hakkında 3'er kez ağırlaştırılmış ömür boyu hapis istemiyle yargılanması için iddianame hazırlandı. Aynı dosyada bazıları Türk 8 kişi hakkında da yardım ve yataklıktan çeşitli cezalar istendi. 

Geçen 20 Mart'ta meydana gelen olayla ilgili başlatılan soruşturmada Cumhuriyet savcısı iddianameyi tamamlandı. İddianamede halen Ankara Yüksek Güvenlikli F Tipi Kapalı Cezaevi'nde tutuklu bulunan ve bir dönem Musul'daki Türk diplomatlara karşı takas edildikleri söylentileri yayılan Benjamin Xu, Çendrim Ramadani ile Muhammed Bakiri'nin 'anayasayı ihlal, 6136 sayılı yasaya muhalefet, yerine getirdiği kamu görevi nedeniyle kasten öldürme, yakalanmamak amacıyla kasten öldürme, yerine getirdiği kamu görevi nedeniyle kasten öldürmeye teşebbüs, patlayıcı madde bulundurmak, nitelikli yağma ve kasten yaralama' suçlarından 3'er kez ağırlaştırılmış ömür boyu hapis cezası istendi. 

http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/nigdede_yakalananlar_isidci_cikti-1244753

March 14 Backs Mustaqbal-Hizbullah Talks, Urges 'Activating' Border Watchtowers- Naharnet

The March 14 forces on Wednesday called for "activating" the UK-built military watchtowers on Lebanon's eastern border with Syria, as they voiced support for the upcoming dialogue between al-Mustaqbal movement and Hizbullah.

“The battle against terrorism is part of an international battle,” the March 14 General Secretariat said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting, noting that the government must “benefit from the global campaign by obtaining information and assets” that can help it in its anti-terror fight.

“This cooperation would be part of the international community's decision to protect Lebanon and preserve its sovereignty and stability, especially after the issuance of (U.N. Security Council) resolutions 1559 (in 2004) and 1701” in 2006, the general secretariat added.

Its statement comes three days after the British Telegraph newspaper reported that a UK team had saved the Bekaa border town of Ras Baalbek from a "massacre" by advancing Islamic State militants through constructing 12 military watchtowers in the area.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/157743-march-14-backs-mustaqbal-hizbullah-talks-urges-activating-border-watchtowers

Withdrawal follows Nusra arrest of the Commander of the Khalid Ibn Al-Walid Brigade- The Syrian Observer

Withdrawal follows Nusra arrest of the Commander of the Khalid Ibn Al-Walid Brigade

The Nusra Front has arrested the Commander of the Khalid Ibn Al-Walid Brigade, Hassan Al-Ashtar, who is affiliated to the Free Syrian Army, in Rastan, a Qassioun News correspondent reported.

According to the report, Ashtar was injured and tried to flee to the countryside, east of the city. The Nusra Front, however, pursued and arrested him. Having arrested a number of the brigade leaders, the Nusra Front then withdrew from the city.

http://www.syrianobserver.com/News/News/Nusra+Withdraws+From+Rastan

UNESCO Wants Ban on Iraq, Syria Art Trafficking- ABC News

The head of UNESCO is calling on the U.N. Security Council to adopt a ban on the illicit trafficking of cultural objects from conflict zones in Iraq and Syria.

Ahead of a conference on endangered heritage Wednesday, Irina Bokova told The Associated Press the trafficking of objects obtained through illegal excavations in both countries is an industry now worth between $7 billion and $15 billion.

"(A U.N. ban) is critical in order to curb the financial flows, because there is the other dark side of this process: that extremists are using this money to fund their activities," she told the AP.

"If the international community and the Security Council want to stop the financing of the terrorists, they need to look also at the trafficking of objects of art," she said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/unesco-ban-iraq-syria-art-trafficking-27334362

Syria War Death Toll Now More than 200,000- Naharnet

Syria's civil war has killed more than 200,000 people in less than four years, a monitoring group told Agence France Presse on Tuesday, adding that most were fighters from the two sides.

"We have documented the killing of 202,354 people since March 2011," Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that more than 130,000 of them were combatants.

"Of the total, 63,074 of the killed were civilians, including 10,377 children," said Abdel Rahman.

"Among the anti-regime fighters, 37,324 were Syrian rebels, while 22,624 were non-Syrian jihadists," he added.

"On the regime side, there were 44,237 soldiers, 28,974 members of the (paramilitary) National Defence Force, 624 members of (Lebanon's Shiite) Hezbollah, and 2,388 pro-regime Shiite fighters from beyond Syria and Lebanon," Abdel Rahman said.

Another 3,011 were unidentified, he added.

Abdel Rahman said the toll "is probably much higher than 200,000, but certain areas under regime and (jihadist) Islamic State group control are impossible to work in freely".

He also said some 300,000 people are being held in Syria's infamous jails, including 20,000 who have gone missing entirely.

Thousands of other people -- combatants and civilians -- have also been taken hostage by IS and other factions active in Syria.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/157582

Russian destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov enters Syrian port- TASS

MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. The Russian Northern Fleet's large anti-submarine ship Vice Admiral Kulakov has arrived on a business visit to the Syrian port of Tartus, an official spokesman for the fleet, Captain 1st Rank Vadim Serga said on Tuesday.

“The port visit of the Russian ship to Syria will last for around a week,” Serga said.

http://itar-tass.com/en/russia/764652

Fighting terrorists in Syria impossible without coordination with Damascus — diplomat- ITAR-TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman confirmed that preparations are underway for a meeting in Moscow between Syria’s government and the opposition, but refused to tell the exact date for the event.

MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. International coalition will not succeed in the effort to struggle against the Islamic State in Syria if there is no coordination with Damascus, Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Tuesday.

“In any case, there is no hope here of gaining victory over the terrorists without a broad coordination with the Syrian government,” Lukashevich said.

“Terrorists are strengthening their rule on a part of Syria’s territory, and the international coalition has not solved the problems in Kobani,” he said, also mentioning the air strike against the Islamic State in Ar-Raqqah.

http://itar-tass.com/en/world/764693

Lebanese Army arrests ISIS leader Baghdadi’s wife- Daily Star

Baalbek, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army has arrested a wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on the Lebanon-Syria border, security sources told The Daily Star Tuesday.

An Army source said that Intelligence officers arrested Baghdadi's wife and their son more than a week ago as they tried to enter Lebanon from Syria using fake IDs after receiving a tip from Western intelligence agencies.

The source identified the wife as Saja Hamid al-Dulaimi, who was one of the prisoners released earlier this year from Syrian jails in exchange for the 13 Maaloula nuns abducted by the Nusra Front last December.

- See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Dec-02/279605-lebanese-army-arrests-isis-chief-baghdadis-wife-report.ashx

Lebanon Grand Mufti in Egypt for terrorism conference- Daily Star

BEIRUT: Fundamentalism, terrorism and radicalism are the biggest challenges facing not just Middle East, but the whole world, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian said Tuesday, before traveling to Egypt to attend a conference on combating religious extremism.

Derian said the conference, organized by Sheikh al-Azhar Ahmad al-Tayeb, comes at a time the Arab world is confronting extreme dangers. 

“Inter-Muslim relations are of utmost importance in such sensitive conditions, necessitating the initiation of moderate, calm and rational dialogue,” Derian said, stressing that Lebanon’s participation with a delegation comprising Muslims and Christians “is meant to reaffirm Egypt’s leading role in treating major Arab and Islamic issues.”

- See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Dec-02/279616-lebanon-grand-mufti-in-egypt-for-terrorism-conference.ashx

U.N. Suspends Food Aid to 1.7 Million Syrian Refugees- Naharnet

The World Food Program (WFP) on Monday suspended food aid to more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees in neighboring countries, blaming a financing crisis caused by unhonored cash pledges.

The Rome-based U.N. agency said refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt risked going hungry this winter if donors do not urgently provide the $64 million (51 million euros) needed to finance the distribution of food vouchers through December.

"This couldn't come at a worse time," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "I urgently appeal to the international community –- support WFP now, don't let refugees go hungry."

While WFP didn't name which countries haven't made good on their commitments, foreign ministers from Germany, Finland and Sweden told reporters in Copenhagen their countries could do more to fill the funding gap.

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/157511

Lebanese mourn poet Said Akl at funeral- Daily Star

BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai led the funeral services Friday for Lebanese poet and author Said Akl at the Saint George Maronite Cathedral in Downtown Beirut. 

Akl passed away at the age of 102 last Friday, two days after the other prominent icon in Lebanon’s art history, Sabah, had died at 87. 

Many of Lebanon’s top Christian figures attended the funeral mass, including former President Michel Sleiman, Kataeb leader Amine Gemayel, and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun. 

Many of Akl’s black-and-white portraits were hung outside the church hall, while a painted portrait of him was attached to the main gate. 

Notre Dame University had hosted prayers over Akl’s body Monday at its campus in Louaize, where students, officials and artists took turns taking snapshots of his corpse with their smart phones. 

- See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Dec-02/279625-lebanese-mourn-poet-said-akl-at-funeral.ashx

Syria conflict: WFP suspends refugee food aid scheme- BBC News

The World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to suspend a critical food aid scheme for more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees because of a funding crisis.

The UN agency said the programme gave refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt vouchers to buy food.

Without such assistance, many families would go hungry this winter, it warned.

The WFP's Executive Director, Ertharin Cousin, said it was in critical need of funding, with $64m (£41m) required to support refugees in December alone.

More than 3.2 million people have fled Syria and another 7.6 million have been displaced inside the country since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began three years ago.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30275514

Syria crisis: US-led coalition warplanes hit Isis capital with 30 air strikes in Raqqa- The Independent

US-led coalition warplanes carried out 30 air strikes on and around the de facto Isis capital in Syria on Friday night.

The strikes targeted positions in the city of Raqqa, in the north-east of the country, and the Division 17 airbase, which was seized by the militants from government troops, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in the UK.

Sources in the city reported at least 30 strikes in all to the monitoring group. The Local Coordination Committees, a network of local groups in Syria, also confirmed the strikes.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-crisis-usled-coalition-warplanes-bombard-isis-capital-with-30-air-strikes-in-raqqa-9893830.html

UN halts food aid to 1.7 million Syrian refugees due to lack of funds- Al-Akhbar

The UN's World Food Program (WFP) suspended aid to more than 1.7 million Syrian refugees in neighboring countries on Monday, due to lack of funds.

The program allowed Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt to buy food from local shops with vouchers provided by the WFP.

Many families will go hungry through the winter if donors fail to pledge an additional $64 million to cover the aid for December, the WFP said.

The agency has so far spent about $800 million feeding refugees since Syria's civil war erupted in 2011.

A lack of food will "potentially cause further tensions, instability and insecurity in the neighboring host countries," WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin said in a statement.

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/un-halts-food-aid-17-million-syrian-refugees-due-lack-funds

Jumblatt slams calls for Lebanon-Syria coordination- Daily Star

BEIRUT: MP Walid Jumblatt Monday criticized those seeking coordination between Lebanon and Syria over the Lebanese hostage crisis.

“It is strange these allegations that come from here and there about our positions on the issue of the kidnapped servicemen,” Jumblatt wrote in his weekly column for Al-Anbaa newspaper.

“Strange, too, how some are trying to portray our vision as if it stems from sectarian considerations, knowing that the [hostages] belong to various religions and sects.”

“Why give this national issue a sectarian tone?” he complained.

“Then again what is this heresy that calls for reactivating coordination between the Lebanese and Syrian armies? And for what goals and reasons?"

- See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Dec-01/279512-jumblatt-slams-calls-for-lebanon-syria-coordination.ashx

Army inflicts heavy losses upon terrorists in several Syrian provinces- SANA

Provinces, SANA- Large numbers of terrorists were killed, and their hideouts and vehicles were destroyed as the army continued its military operations against their gatherings in several areas across the country.

Aleppo

Army units killed several terrorists, injured many others and destroyed their vehicles near al-Sheikh Lutfi area, the surrounding of al-Nairab, Baynoun, al-Ameriyeh, Bustan al-Qasr, Khan Touman, al-Ashrafiyeh, Bani Zaid, al-Shaar, Aghiour roundabout, al-Shaqif, Handarat Camp, Anadan and Mayer in Aleppo and its countryside.

Terrorist organizations acknowledged on their social media pages the killing of many of their members during the army operations in the areas of Andan and M’arset al-Khan. Those included Nabhan Sattouf, the military leader of the so-called “Islamic Front”, Yaseen Ghajar, Ahmad Ghajar, Bassam al-Hussein, Adel Abdul-Rahman al-Hilal, Ayman Abdul-Salam, Mohammad Zaraor, Mahmoud Eleisha and Abdul-Qader Qassam.

The pages also said terrorists Alaa al-Yasin, Abdul-Salam al-Salmo, Abu Hamoud Habbash, Abu al-Zubair Ghazal and Abu al-Walid al-Sweid were identified among many who were killed on the outskirts of Nubbul and al-Zahraa towns.

http://www.sana.sy/en/?p=20140

The British watchtowers beating back jihadists- The Telegraph

It is one of the most beautiful places in the world, overlooking sweeping plains and the snow-topped Qalamoun mountains of Syria.

At odds to this serene backdrop sits Tango 10, a rudimentary watchtower of shipping containers and wire cages filled with rubble. However, to the local population, this is not a blot on the landscape, but a defiant symbol of freedom.

The makeshift structure, bristling with artillery, is the only thing standing between Isil [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] and the Bekaa valley of Lebanon, where thousands of Christians, Druze and Sunni and Shiite Muslims live in a scattering of villages.

For years, this area was a no-mans land but now, with British help, it has been reinforced as a Lebanese stronghold.

Tango 10 is one of 12 watchtowers built at extraordinary speed along the Lebanese border in the past few months. More are under construction.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11264257/The-British-watchtowers-beating-back-jihadists.html

In latest peace plans for Syria, Assad can stay- Al-Monitor

A significant number of global and regional players have been forced to reconsider their strategies in Syria with the bloody civil war having morphed into a clash in which the main belligerents are now the most radical jihadists, represented by the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat al-Nusra, and government forces.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/12/syria-ceasefires-plan-russia-somalia-assad.html