Linux Beach

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Another mass defection from Syrian army

BREAKING: Morsi refuses congratulations from Assad 27-06-2012 01:27 PM

The Amman Post, in Jordan is reporting that the newly elected president of Egypt, Dr. Mohamed Morsi, has refused a telegram of congratulations from Syria's embattled president Bashar al-Assad, saying "we do not recognize Bashar al-Assad" as representing Syria. According to the Al Arabiya satellite news Morsi also refused a lion Assad sent him on Tuesday.

BREAKING: Another mass defection from Syrian army.
Wed Jun 27, 2012 at 11:58 AM PDT

Huge defection to Free Syrian Army is reported today in Rastan, Syria with the formation of al-Hamza at the Rastan media center.

This was after Assad's forces shelled the town of Rastan for 18 consecutive days.

Assad forces shell the town for the 18th consecutive day. ArRastan is located in the Homs province. Homs has been a center of the uprising calling for the down-fall of the Assad regime. The shelling comes as part of the regimes brutal crack-down on a revolution calling for freedom and the downfall of Assad.
Taped on 24-06-2012
ArRastan, Suburbs of Homs, Syria

The wheels are truly coming off the cart for Assad in Syria now. How long before Workers World Party, International Action Center, Party for Liberation and Socialism, and the ANSWER Coalition defect?

BREAKING: Russian media reports Russia canceled S-300 sales to Syria
Wed Jun 27, 2012 at 10:51 AM PDT
According to the Jerusalem Post, the Russian Business Daily Vedomisti is reporting that Russia has chosen to withhold sales estimated at about $100 million in advanced surface-to-air missiles in a deal reportedly signed in 2011. I could not myself confirm the story with Vedomisti because, besides being in Russian [overcome with Google translates], it only makes the current edition available to subscribers online. Needless to say, as I am doing all this for free, I'm in no position to subscribe to a Russian business daily when I don't even speak Russian. From the JPost, 06/27/2012 19:09, we have:

In what could be a possible outcome of Putin's visit to Israel, Russian paper 'Vedomisti' says Russia chose to withhold sale estimated at about $100 million; deal reportedly signed between Russia, Syria in 2011.

Russia has suspended the sale of the advanced S-300 surface-to-air missile system to Syria, a Russian daily reported on Wednesday, in what could be a possible outcome of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Israel earlier this week.

The New Middle East News is also reporting this story:

The Vedomisti business paper reported that Russia chose to withhold the sale, estimated at about $100 million. The deal, previously unknown, was reportedly signed between Almaz-Antey – Russia’s top defense contractor – and Syria in 2011.

One of the most advanced multi-target anti-aircraft missile systems in the world, the S-300 has a reported ability to track up to 100 targets simultaneously while engaging up to 12 at the same time.

Russia signed a similar deal to sell the S-300 to Iran in 2007 but cancelled it in 2010 due to United Nations arms embargo that had been imposed on the Islamic Republic.
...
While Syria might not have the S-300, it has spent the past few years upgrading its air defense capabilities and is believed to have spent $3 billion on advanced Russian systems such as the SA-15, SA-17 and SA-22.

BREAKING: Report of another Syrian jet defection
Wed Jun 27, 2012 at 08:40 AM PDT

I just got this minutes ago via facebook:

BREAKING NEWS: A #Syrian military jet has just defected and fled to #Jordan and taken asylum there. The #Assad regime tried to shoot it down but couldn't, and when he arrived in Jordan, he ran out of the jet waving the #Syrian freedom flag.
?????? ????? ??? 21 ? ?????? ?? ?????? ?? ???? ????????? ???? ??? ????? , ? ????? ????? ??????? ??? ???????? ?? ??????? ? ???????? ? ?? ??????? ???? ?? ???????? ??????? ??????? ???? ?? ????? ??????? ???? ?????? ????? ???? ?? ??? ?????? ??????? ????? ??? ?????????
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This is what Google translates gives us from the Arabic:

Split MiG 21 and landing at the airport in Jordan such as Alzeitrut afternoon, Jordanian security and tries to prevent the activists from approaching and imaging of Aalagdir and said that ground defenses stamens failed to bring down the plane with the pilot hero running around in the airport by Jordan's flag carrier Independence
We will provide you any details, and in the event that the

Help me break this story - it it turns out to be one - check your twitter, google - regional contacts. Leave links in comments or email me at clayclai@gmail.com

On Sunday, Al Arabiya News reported that three more Syrian pilots had defected to Jordan, of a total of seven at that time:

Three additional Syrian military pilots have defected to Jordan earlier today; bringing up the total number of defected Syrian pilots to seven, according to Al-Arabiya’s Amman correspondent.

“The three pilots have entered Jordan in an illegal way and they are currently held by the Jordanian security authorities who are taking them through the regular routine procedures” said Al-Arabiya’s Ghassan Abu Louz quoting sources within Syrian opposition.

According Abu Louz, one of the three pilots is a Lieutenant Colonel who managed to bring in his family to Jordan today as well. The other two pilots are both colonels and are said to have also brought in their families from Syria.

Four other Syrian military officials have entered Jordan since last Thursday following the defection of the colonel Hassan Marei Hamada who landed his Meg21 plane inside the Hashemite Kingdom

UN Reports on Houla Massacre

The UN issued a special report on Houla massecre today and found Syrian government forces ‘may have been responsible’ The Washington Post June 27, 1:55 AM reported:

A report by U.N.-appointed human rights experts says the military or pro-government “shabiha” forces had better access to the sites of the massacre in the Houla village, in Homs province, on May 24-25.

The village leans toward opposition support and most of the victims were women and children who were slaughtered in their homes.

Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the head of the expert team, told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Wednesday that a final verdict on who was responsible for the massacre would require further investigation by his team.

The Syrian representative to the UN Human Rights Council has rejected the report saying that it was based on the testimony of "people fleeing from justice".

Human Rights Watch Reports on Assad's Indiscriminate Killing

Today Human Rights Watch issued a report and demanded:

Syria: End Indiscriminate Shootings of Civilians Fleeing Country
Border Forces Appear to Shoot on Sight Syrians Fleeing to Jordan - June 27, 2012

(Amman) – Syrian soldiers on the border with Jordan appear to be shooting indiscriminately at anyone - including civilian women and children - trying to flee from Syria, Human Rights Watch said today. The Syrian authorities should immediately order its armed forces on the border to end all indiscriminate attacks and take all feasible measures to avoid injuries to civilians crossing into neighboring countries, and to respect their right to leave the country.

In mid-June, Human Rights Watch spoke with 17 Syrian refugees in Jordan who said that when they fled in May and June across the border in groups of up to 200 civilians accompanied by members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Syrian soldiers subjected them to sustained machine gun and sniper fire, killing three civilians and wounding 11. All of the refugees described incidents in which the Syrian army opened fire without warning, and fired on everyone who was crossing the border, FSA fighters and civilian men, women and children alike.

“Syria says it is fighting armed terrorists, yet its border forces appear to shoot at everyone crossing the border without distinction, attacking civilian men, women, children and the wounded the same way they attack fighters,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher and advocate for Human Rights Watch. “By indiscriminately attacking civilians fleeing across its borders, Syria violates fundamental human rights, including the right to life, the right to leave one’s country, and the right to seek asylum in another country.”

A Syrian army defector told Human Rights Watch that fellow defectors from the Jordanian-Syrian border guard told him they had been ordered to shoot at anyone trying to leave or enter the country without passing through an official border post, and that some of the soldiers refused to carry out the order.

While atrocities may at times be committed by people trying to defend themselves, there is no real question about who is responsible for the violence in Syria today.

Question for the US Left:

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

The Syrian people's side:
In spite of shelling, helicopter gunships and all manner of government violence directed at the opposition they had a live demonstration yesterday, one of the largest in a long time. uploaded 2/27/12

Mass protest today in Manbej.rural Aleppo

Assad's side:
In this leaked 20 minute video from Derbers, we see Syrian artillery batteries at the military airport in Daralzor going about their mechanized monotonous work of turning Syrian lives into mush in the city of Diralzor and the surrounding countryside. uploaded 2/27/12

MORE RECENT VIDEOS

Syria Freedom Fighters Seize Military Airbase at Jebl Simon - Idlib 6-26-12 Take Dictator's Weapons

This is said to be a bomb [unexploded] dropped by Syrian Air Force on other Syrians June 27, 2012.

During the Libyan conflict, some Internet activists were able to provide immediate practical assistance to the people being terrorized by Qaddafi's forces by identifying ordinances, and from that, what their range is, who the supplier is, and of critical importance in cases like this, how to safely dis-arm them. Any Kossack want to take a crack at this one?

In Damascus today freedom fighters stormed a pro-Assad TV channel. Reuters reported:

(Reuters) - Gunmen stormed a pro-government Syrian TV channel headquarters on Wednesday, bombing buildings and shooting dead three employees, state media said, in one of the boldest attacks yet on a symbol of the authoritarian state.

The dawn attack on Ikhbariya television's offices, 20 km (15 miles) south of the capital, as well as overnight fighting on the outskirts of Damascus showed the 16-month-old violence now rapidly encroaching on the city.

Ikhbariya resumed broadcasting shortly after the attack, which killed three journalists and four security guards, displaying bullet holes in its two-storey concrete building and pools of blood on the floor. One building was almost entirely destroyed.

"I heard a small explosion then a huge explosion and gunmen ran in. They ransacked the offices and entirely destroyed the newsroom," an employee who works at the offices in the town of Drousha told state media at the scene.

Syrian media are tightly regulated by the Ministry of Information. Although Ikhbariya is privately owned, opponents of Assad say it is a government mouthpiece.

After Tuesday's fighting unprecedented in its intensity around Damascus, violence appeared to ease off around the capital following the attack on the television complex. But rebel forces were clearly becoming stronger and more ambitious.

Thu Jun 28, 2012 at 7:26 AM PT: This bomb has been IDed by Brown Moses who said they are a type of unguided anti-personnel bomb dropped from helicopters:

I believe what we are seeing in these videos are OFAB 250-270 High Explosive Fragmentation Bombs, and I've come to the conclusions by identifying a number of characteristics which I believe collectively are unique to that specific model of bomb.

Monday, June 25, 2012

NATO says No War in Syria shoot down of #Turkey jet

For the earlier developments in this fast breaking story see my last dairy:
BREAKING: #Turkey calls #Syria attack "hostile act" on #NATO

NATO has just concluded the consultation meeting called by Turkey after its reconnaissance jet was shot down by Syria. They did not decided to take any military action at this time. Article 5 was not invoked. They just issued the following statement:

NAC Statement on the shooting down of a Turkish aircraft by Syria
26-Jun-2012 11:44 Brussels

The North Atlantic Council has met at Turkey's request to hold consultations within the framework of Article 4 of the Washington Treaty which states that "the Parties will consult whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence, or security of any of the Parties is threatened."

The North Atlantic Council discussed the shooting down of a Turkish aircraft by Syria. We consider this act to be unacceptable and condemn it in the strongest terms. It is another example of the Syrian authorities’ disregard for international norms, peace and security, and human life.

Our thoughts at this difficult time are with the missing Turkish aircrew, their families and their loved ones. We continue to follow the situation closely and with great concern, and will remain seized of developments on the South-Eastern border of NATO.

The security of the Alliance is indivisible. We stand together with Turkey in the spirit of strong solidarity.

AP released this at 3:18am pst:

Turkey threatens Syria with retaliation

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's prime minister, responding to the downing of a Turkish jet by Syrian forces, said Tuesday that Turkish military will respond to any future violation of its border by Syrian military elements.

"The rules of engagement of the Turkish Armed Forces have changed," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. "Any military element that approaches the Turkish border from Syria by posing a security risk and danger will be regarded as a threat and treated as a military target."

Syria insists that the Turkish plane violated its air space on Friday. But Turkey says that although the unarmed RF-4E reconnaissance jet had unintentionally strayed into Syria's air space, it was inside international airspace when it was brought down.
...
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance condemns it "in the strongest terms," and expressed solidarity with Turkey, but made no mention of retaliatory action.

Erdogan said Syria shot down the unarmed plane in international airspace in a 'deliberate' and 'hostile' act and without warning. He said border violations in the region were not uncommon. He said Syrian helicopters violated Turkish airspace five times recently, without Turkish response.

"No one should be deceived by our cold blooded stance," Erdogan said. "Our acting with common sense should not be perceived as a weakness."

Ahamad Khaled Barre becomes the 18th Brigadier General to defect from Assad

Here is the current list. Click on links for YouTube videos:

1. Brigadier General Dean Radwan defected and joined the FSA 12.10.2011
2. Brigadier General Mustafa Ahmed al-Sheikh defected and joined the FSA 08.01.2012
3. Brigadier General Fayez Qaddour defected and joined the FSA 14.02.2012
4. Brigadier General Adnan al-Qasim Farzat defected and joined the FSA 06.03.2012
5. Brigadier General Hossam Alawak defected and joined the FSA 12.03.2012
6. Brigadier General Hussein Mohamed defected and joined the FSA 27.03.2012
7. Brigadier General Ziad Ismail Fahad defected and joined the FSA 28.03.2012
8. Brigadier General Adnan al-Ahmad defected and joined the FSA 28.03.2012
9. Brigadier General Mouhammad Razzuq defected and joined the FSA 31.03.2012
10. Brigadier General Muhammad Yahya Bittar defected and joined the FSA 01.04.2012
11. Brigadier General Ghazi al-Jaber Abboud defected and joined the FSA 04.05.2012
12. Brigadier General Hassan Nasser defected and joined the FSA 22.05.2012
13. Brigadier General Mohammad Rahhal defected and joined the FSA 26.05.2012
14. Brigadier Gen Mahmoud Qitaz & his son defected and joined the FSA 27.05.2012
15. Brigadier General Mohammad Anwar Saad al-Deen defected and joined the FSA 04.06.2012
16. Brigadier General Muhammad Amal Zakaria defected and joined the FSA 21.06.2012
17. Brigadier General Abdullah Amal Zakaria defected and joined the FSA 21.06.2012
18. Brigadier General Ahamad Khaled Barre defected and joined the FSA 25.06.2012

Another massive defection & formation of "Omar bin Abdul Aziz" Brigade. 6 26, 2012

And we have this report of FSA ground action:

The FSA from Lakakia province that raided a ammo dump last week killing more then 20 Assad troops got hold of a number off Truck based Grad launchers.

They where used this evening to bombard Bassel Al-Assad International Airport
Location 35°24'6"N 35°56'47"E

The attack was directed at the Northern End of the Base where the Terminal is(was)and the choppers and ammo storage Major Damage was reported also on the runway.

Most choppers are on fire now and ammo is still exploding.

The Attack was done from the east for obvious reasons I will not give this coordinates. The attack was done about 00.35 local time

And finally, we have this twitter report from @AletheiaLibya:

Mass defection of 200 soldiers in #Idlib is another sign that the #Assad regime could ultimately collapse faster than anyone expects. #Syria

This was followed up by @Ugariti_Homsi who tweeted:

Accr to Aljazeera, 200 soldiers defect from the army in #Idlib and are engaged in clashes with the loyalist troops. #Syria

And Al Jazeera English is running this this morning:

Deadly clashes in Damascus suburbs 26 Jun 2012 11:41
Dozens reported dead during fighting on edges of capital and other parts of Syria between army and opposition fighters.

Dozens of people have been killed in fierce clashes between Syria troops and opposition fighters, mainly in the suburbs of Damascus, monitoring groups have reported.

Opposition forces and Syrian army units were locked in fierce clashes around elite Republican Guard posts in the capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), an activist monitoring group, said on Tuesday.

"Violent clashes are taking place around positions of the Republican Guard in Qudssaya and Al-Hama," eight kilometres from central Damascus, Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the SOHR, told the AFP news agency.

Fighting has intensified in past weeks in and around the capital, where government buildings and security posts are heavily defended, but the violence on Tuesday was the most intense in the area, Abdel Rahman said.

"This is the first time that the regime uses artillery in fighting so close to the capital," he said.

"This development is important because it's the heaviest fighting in the area and close to the heart of the capital."

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut, said that the reports of clashes in Damascus were significant as most opposition attacks on the Syrian army had previously only been overnight attacks.

"This shows how desperate rebels are to bring the fighting to capital and also how desperate the Syrian government is to keep opposition fighters back," she said.

The opposition fighters blew up an artillery gun at the entrance to Qudssaya, said Abdel Rahman.

"These suburbs are home to barracks of troops which are very important for the regime like the Republican Guard," he said.

"This is also where families of [army] officers live."

'Large military vehicles'

The SOHR reported that Syrian troops, backed by "large military vehicles", stormed the Barzeh neighbourhood of Damascus, amid heavy shooting.

Another monitoring organisation, the Local Co-ordination Committees in Syria (LCC), reported one fatality in the area as well as many other people injured as the "army stormed the neighborhood with tanks, armored vehicles, and a large number of soldiers".

The SOHR reported major shelling by Syrian forces on opposition fighters in al-Reef, on the outskirts of Damascus.

"Intense shelling by the Syrian regime and also intense clashes with rebels fighters in [Al-Hamaeh town]. Also, sounds of explosions in the suburbs of Doumar and Qudssaya, areas outside of Damascus," the observatory said.

The Revolution Leadership Council of Damascus reported seven fatalities and 13 people injured in Al-Hamaeh.

"Continuous ... shelling, sounds of gunfire, and snipers on building rooftops [in Al-Hamaeh]," it said.

"Telephone landlines and cell phone lines are disconnected, in addition to electricity cut off. Military reinforcement is on the way to the area now."

Elsewhere in the country, the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province, in the northwest, was hit by "more than 20 shells in half an hour" after midnight, according to the observatory, which gave no casualty toll.

The LCC reported that there has also been fierce fighting in old Homs. "Fierce rocket bombing in Old Homs neighbourhoods, and massive explosions from bombing," it said.

On Monday, 95 people were killed, including 61 civilians, as the army pounded rebel strongholds and other towns and cities, according to activists,

The SOHR, which is based in the UK, says the government's suppression of the uprising, which began in March last year, has cost more than 15,000 lives.

10:15 AM PT: Reports that Turkey is moving tanks up to the border with Syria at this hour

26 June 2012, 18:59 (GMT+05:00):

Following a statement by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the regime of Bashar al-Assad is a threat to the security of Turkey, on the border with Syria had massed a large amount of Turkish military equipment, "Zaman" newspaper reported.

Long convoy of Turkish military vehicles from Diyarbakir are currently being deployed to Turkish-Syrian border

11:34 AM PT: Reuters is reporting Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:05am EDT that Russia will send a half billion dollars in arms to Syria this year:

By Thomas Grove

MOSCOW, June 26 (Reuters) - Russia is expected to deliver air defence systems, reconditioned helicopters and fighter jets to Syria this year worth nearly half a billion dollars despite international pressure to halt arms sales to Damascus, a defence think-tank said on Tuesday.
The report, by CAST, a Moscow-based think tank, is likely to fuel concerns that Russia is supplying President Bashar al-Assad with arms that are being used against protesters taking part in an uprising against him and air defence systems that could be deployed in the event of international military intervention.
Obtained by Reuters before publication, the report shows a series of contracts that were signed between 2005 and 2007 are at the heart of Russia's arms sales to Syria, which has been rocked by a vicious cycle of violence for the last 16 months.
The deals were signed long before the start of the rebellion in Syria and after Moscow wrote off some 70 percent of Syria's $13.4 billion debt to Russia and the former Soviet Union, a stumbling block that froze Moscow's arms cooperation with Damascus throughout the 1990s.
Russia is expected to start delivering 12 top-of-the-line MiG-29 fighter jets this year and to deliver a batch of repaired Mi-25 attack helicopters, the report said.
It said air defence systems expected to be delivered to Syria this year included the Buk-M2E, which Moscow began delivering in 2010, and Pantsir-S1 armoured rocket complexes, which are designed to help protect troops against air attacks.

11:47 AM PT: From the Times of Israel:

UN peacekeeping chief: Syria too dangerous, mission won’t resume

June 26, 2012, 9:16 pm

Mission head tells Security Council observers had suffered direct fire at least 10 times

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. peacekeeping chief has told the Security Council that it’s too dangerous for U.N. observers in Syria to resume their mission.
A diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity said Tuesday that Herve Ladsous told a closed council meeting that the mission could restart at some point but that for the time being, it’s too dangerous.
U.N. forces in Syria repeatedly came under fire before the U.N. suspended the 300-member mission earlier this month.
Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, the mission’s head, told the council at the time that the observers had suffered direct fire at least 10 times, had been in several indirect fire incidents. He said nine U.N. vehicles had been damaged or struck by small arms fire.

2:47 PM PT: According to Al Arabiya, Bashar al-Assad declared Syria in "real situation of war:"

Embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday that his country, in the grips of an anti-regime uprising now in its 16th month, is in a “real situation of war.”

“We are witnessing a real situation of war,” state news agency SANA quoted him as telling a meeting of the new Syrian cabinet.
But Assad insisted that “when one is in a state of war, all our policies and capabilities must be used to secure victory.”
New cabinet
The speech followed Assad swearing in the new government, in images broadcast on state television.
The president had issued a decree to form the new government on Saturday, shaking up many cabinet posts but keeping the heads of the interior, defense and foreign ministries, state television reported.
The reappointment of Defense Minister Daoud Rajha will quash widespread rumors, previously denied by the government, that he had been assassinated by rebels who are struggling to bring down Assad's rule.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

NATO meetup tomorrow as more defect from Syria

Parts of wreckage of the Turkish reconnaissance plane shot down by Syria three days ago was found by search teams from Turkey and Syria. Reports are that it was found in international waters.

Turkey is a NATO member and the Article 4 - Consultation meeting that Turkey has called for is scheduled to take place tomorrow. It is significant that Turkey did not call for the meeting under the much stronger Article 5, which would have indicated that it was seeking an armed response. It is also important that no one is calling the plane shoot down an act of war.

Meanwhile more defections from Assad's side.

Seven Syrian army officers and 33 soldiers defected to Turkey yesterday. Al Jazeera English is reporting:

Syria officers and troops defect to Turkey

Turkish media says 33 members of the Syrian army, including a general and two colonels, have arrived in the country.

Turkey's state-run news agency says 33 more members of the Syrian military have defected to Turkey with their families at a time of heightened tensions between the two countries over Syria's downing of a Turkish plane.

The Anadolu agency said on Monday that the group, which includes a general and two colonels, crossed into Turkey overnight and that they were being hosted at a refugee camp near the border.

The defection brought to 13 the number of generals seeking refuge in Turkey since the revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime erupted 16 months ago.

Thousands of soldiers have abandoned the army, but most are low-level conscripts. The Free Syrian Army, the loosely-linked group of rebel forces, is made up largely of defectors.

The Sun Daily is reporting:

ANKARA (June 25, 2012): Another general has fled to Turkey from neighbouring Syria and joined the swelling ranks of rebel soldiers based close to the border, the Anatolia news agency reported on Monday.

The defection brought to 13 the number of generals seeking refuge in Turkey since the revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime erupted 16 months ago.

In addition to the general, two colonels and some 30 soldiers accompanied by their families -- making a total of 196 individuals who crossed into Turkey late on Sunday, along with 28 Syrians mostly women and children, said Anatolia.

The defectors, together with their families, were taken to Apaydin camp in Hatay province, some four kilometres from the border with Syria. And 28 Syrians were taken to another camp in Sanliurfa province near the border.

On Al Jazeera English TV this morning reporter Anita McNaught assures us that even bigger defections are in the pipeline that haven't been announced yet.

In Other area news:

The Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohammed Morsi, is named the winner of Egypt's recent presidential run off Sunday.

Tunisia has extradited ex-Qaddafi PM Baghdadi al-Mahmudi back to Libya for trial, he became the first senior Qaddafi official to be returned to Libya.

1:56 PM PT: Thanks to several Kossacks who noted this in the comments, we now have reports of the Syrians firing on a second Turkish plane. This one was searching for the first plane and pilots. From Reuters we have this breaking story:

Syrian forces fire at 2nd Turkish plane - Turkey

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 17:19 GMT

Turkey said on Monday that Syrian forces had fired at a second Turkish plane which was searching for an F-4 reconnaissance jet shot down by Syria last week, but the second plane was not brought down.
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told a news conference that Turkey would protect itself, within the framework of international law, against what it called Syria's "hostile action" of downing its warplane last week.
He said at the end of a seven-hour cabinet meeting on the incident that Syria's downing of the reconnaissance jet would "not go unpunished". (Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Michael Roddy)

And AP has this story:

Syria fires on second Turkish plane

5:37 AM Tuesday Jun 26, 2012

Turkey says Syria has fired on a second Turkish plane in what is now an escalating situation. The second plane was a search and rescue plane searching for the military jet downed earlier last week.
Syria's downing of the Turkish military jet has the feel of a turning point that could drag Western powers into a conflict that is spiraling out of control.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has vowed to hold Syria to account, while Britain's foreign minister said Damascus won't be allowed to act with impunity.
But for all the hard talk, the prospect of Western military intervention in Syria remains remote, at best.

2:23 PM PT: Now we have this report from the Telegraph of a Senior Syria general deserting his desert command and defecting. I don't know if this is from the group of Syrian officers discussed above or an entirely new defection:

Syria general deserts senior command in Damascus

Syria's regime suffered its highest-ranking military defection when a general escaped into Turkey after deserting a senior command in Damascus.

By Ruth Sherlock, Hatay province, Turkey and Adrian Blomfield 8:00PM BST 25 Jun 2012

The officer, who has promised to disclose his identity in the coming days, was accompanied by a colonel and at least 20 other soldiers. While other generals have deserted, he is believed to be the most senior yet to have abandoned the regime.

...

The general fled into Turkey during the course of Sunday night, arriving yesterday morning. Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the FSA military council, said the general had travelled all the way from Damascus where he was "responsible for a large ammunitions store". Mr Sheikh added: "It remains under the control of the Syrian army but he was able to escape".
He spoke inside Apaydin camp in Turkey's Hatay province, where the general is believed to have been taken. This base, heavily guarded by the Turkish army, was set up specifically for defecting Syrian officers and their families.

Turkey calls Syria attack "hostile act" on #NATO

Word on Twitter and CNN is that Turkey is officially officially calling the downing of its F-4 reconnaissance jet a "hostile act" and Al Jazeera English is reporting that tomorrow, at the meeting it called of the alliance, Turkey will ask them to consider the downing of the jet an attack on NATO. That means they will be invoking Article 5.

According to Fox News:

Asked if Turkey will insist on the activation of Article 5 of NATO, [Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent] Arinc said, "No doubt, Turkey has made necessary applications with NATO regarding Article 4 and Article 5."

"It should be known that within legality we will of course use all rights granted under international law until the end," Arinc said. "This also includes self-defense. This also includes retaliation many-fold. This includes all sanctions that can be applied to the aggressor state under international law. Turkey will not leave anything out on this issue. The public should be assured."

However Turkey also said today that it has no intention of going to war. After a seven-hour cabinet meeting on the incident, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ar?nç told a news conference "Whatever is needed to be done will definitely be done within the framework of international law. We have no intention of going to war with anyone. We have no such intent,"

According to Barbara Plett of the BBC Turkeys letter to UNSC says captured radio communications show Syria fully aware of what it was doing when it shot down Turkish plane. Riaf al Asaad is saying that Turkey has reports that Assad ordered an attack on the Turkish air force in retaliation for Turkey hosting the defections.

According to the Ertugrul Apakan, Turkish ambassador to the UN:

“Radio communication among Syrian authorities clearly demonstrates that the Syrian units were fully aware of the circumstances and the fact that the aircraft belonged to Turkey,”

Details to follow...

All this as more Syrian military officers defect and reports come in of a second Turkish jet being shot at by Syria. See my earlier diary today for more details on those stories.

NATO meetup tomorrow as more defect from Syria

Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:08pm ED, Reuters is reporting from Ankara:

Turkey is to demand backing from its NATO allies on Tuesday at a special meeting called after Syrian troops shot down a Turkish warplane last week in an incident Damascus said was self-defense but which Ankara branded an "act of aggression".

It is only the second time in NATO's 63-year history that it has convened under Article 4 of its charter which provides for consultations when a member state feels its territorial integrity, political independence or security is under threat.

Turkey rejected assertions from Damascus that its forces had no option but to fire on the F-4 jet as it flew over Syrian waters close to the coast on Friday.

In a letter to the U.N. Security Council, Turkey condemned the "hostile act by the Syrian authorities against Turkey's national security", saying it posed "a serious threat to peace and security in the region".

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told a news conference Syria's actions "would not go unpunished".

NATO Press Release on tomorrow's meeting.

(6-24-12) Midan | Damascus | Large Demonstration "We Are Coming For You Bashar"

Al Arabiya News is reporting that the EU has slapped new sanctions on Syria and Australia is introducing a new embargo:

Mon Jun 25, 2012 13:56 pm (KSA) 10:56 am (GMT)

The European Union slapped fresh sanctions on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime on Monday, targeting six entities and clarifying an existing arms embargo, EU diplomatic sources said.
...
No details were immediately available on the identities of those targeted but several EU diplomats said on condition of anonymity that assets held in Europe by Syria’s defense and home affairs ministries were targeted.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said banks and telecommunications firms were also on the list.

Urging more sanctions against the Assad regime, Fabius called for a company specialized in telecommunications transmissions which is “in touch with an Ericsson firm” to be added to an EU blacklist.

He also suggested a ban on Syrian phosphate imports.

Monday’s sanctions also included a specific ban on insuring items embargoed for delivery to Syria, including arms shipments.

The measure follows an incident some days ago involving a British-insured Russian cargo ship carrying attack helicopters for Syria.

The United States alerted Britain to the consignment and British security services told insurers Standard Club that providing insurance for the shipment would breach EU sanctions, reports said.

Standard Club then cancelled insurance for the ship as well as others in the fleet owned by Russian cargo line Femco, forcing the vessel to head home.

Earlier on Monday, Australia has announced new sanctions against Syria covering oil, petroleum, financial services, telecommunications and precious metals.

Foreign Minister Bob Carr said in a statement Monday that the new trade sanctions are in addition to Australia’s arms embargo and financial and travel sanctions on Syrian individuals and entities, The Associated Press reported.

Even the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is considering suspension of Syria. From Arab News today:

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), is seriously considering suspension of Syria from the membership of the pan Islamic organization and its affiliated bodies.

“Foreign ministers from the member countries will discuss the issue and take a decision at the ministerial level meeting to be held in Djibouti on Nov. 15,” he said. Ihsanoglu was replying to queries from Arab News during a press conference held at the end of the ministerial-level extraordinary meeting of the OIC Executive Committee here on Sunday.

The OIC chief said that any military intervention in Syria at present would not be fruitful but instead it would further deteriorate the situation and drag the region into a vicious war. "This would exacerbate the situation and in no way serve the interests of the Syrian people,” he said.

Action Item: What can I do? Its hard to know what you can do about a far away crisis like the one facing the Syrian people now. In point of fact, in the Internet age, there are many things you can do. Here's one, a Change.org petition:

Stop son of #Assad's financier from competing in @London2012 @Olympics - Sign & Share for #Syria

11:21 PM PT:
(06-25-12) Daraya | Damascus | The Brave Continue to Call for Freedom

Tue Jun 26, 2012 at 12:50 AM PT:
(06-25-12) Al-Mahatta | Daraa | People Call Out 'God is Greatest' as Regime Shells

Tue Jun 26, 2012 at 1:02 AM PT:
(06-25-12) Salah Ad-Deen | Aleppo | O Arabs, Fear God, Where are You

Tue Jun 26, 2012 at 1:12 AM PT: Al Jazeera reports June 26, 2012 - 10:58:

Iran offers to use its good ties with Damascus and Ankara to help resolve the row.

Iran on Tuesday offered to use its good ties with Damascus and Ankara to help resolve the row between the two countries over Syria's downing of a Turkish warplane.

Syria's shooting down of the jet last Friday was "a very sensitive issue" that also concerns Tehran, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said, just ahead of an emergency NATO meeting on the incident

"We will use our good relationship with the two countries to resolve the issue," Ramin Mehmanparast said in his weekly news briefing.

"It should be resolved through restraint and negotiations and [the two sides] should avoid measures that disturb the security of the region," he said. "We hope this issue will be resolved rapidly."

Tue Jun 26, 2012 at 1:24 AM PT: Al Akhbar English is reporting Tuesday, June 26, 2012:

Turkey rejects Syrian claims over downed jet
Turkey rejected Syria's explanation for downing a Turkish F-4 jet last week, branding it as an "act of aggression" while Damascus insists it fired on the warplane in self-defense.
..
Syria's foreign ministry spokesperson, Jihad Makdissi, fronted the media on Monday to relay Damascus' version of events, claiming the event as an act of self-defense, while reiterating Syria's commitment to a "neighborly relationship" with Turkey.

"The plane disappeared and then reappeared in Syrian airspace, flying at 100 meters altitude and about 1-2kms from the Syrian coast," Makdissi said.

"We had to react immediately, even if the plane was Syrian we would have shot it down," he said. "The Syrian response was an act of defense of our sovereignty carried out by anti-aircraft machine gun which has a maximum range of 2.5km."

Turkey rejected assertions from Damascus that its forces had no option but to fire on the F-4 jet as it flew over Syrian waters close to the coast on Friday.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Turkey condemned the "hostile act by the Syrian authorities against Turkey's national security", saying it posed "a serious threat to peace and security in the region."
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told a news conference Syria's actions "would not go unpunished."

Arinc disputed Makdissi's claims that Syria had shot the warplane down with anti-aircraft guns, thus implying the Turkish jet was over Syrian airspace when the incident occurred.

"According to the data in our hands, it points to our plane being shot by a laser or heat-guided surface-to-air missile. The fact our plane was not given an early radar warning, suggests it was not a radar-guided missile," said Arinc. Syria warned Turkey and NATO against retaliating.

"NATO is supposed to be there to strengthen countries," said Makdissi. "If their meeting is for hostile reasons (they should know that) Syrian land and waters are sacred."

Tue Jun 26, 2012 at 3:11 AM PT:
CNN reports on the NATO meeting in progress 5:41 AM EDT, Tue June 26, 2012:

Turkey PM: 'No excuse' for Syria downing of jet

(CNN) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Syria harshly on Tuesday for shooting down a Turkish fighter jet last week, saying: "Even if the plane was in their airspace for a few seconds, that is no excuse to attack."

The first public statement on the incident from Turkey's leader came as NATO leaders were meeting at Turkey's request to discuss the incident.

"It was clear that this plane was not an aggressive plane. Still it was shot down," Erdogan said, arguing that Syrians should be ashamed of the attack
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NATO's discussions at their headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, are being held at Turkey's request under Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's founding charter.

The article allows any member to call for consultations "whenever, in the opinion of any of them, their territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in an email to CNN.

There is a chance Turkey will demand a collective military response, but there is no appetite for a military conflict with Syria at the moment, several NATO diplomats told CNN's Elise Labott on Sunday.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Turkey calls for NATO consult on downing of jet by Syria

The Turkish Foreign Minister announce 7:30 GMT Sunday that Turkey would be consulting with its NATO allies with regards to a response to the shooting down of a Turkish Air Force F-4 Phantom reconnaissance jet by Syria. As a NATO member Turkey has the right to call upon military support from the NATO alliance if it is attacked and some have said they consider the Syria downing of the jet an act of war even if the jet was in Syrian air space. The NY Times is reporting this morning:

“Next week permanent council of NATO will be informed,” the foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a Twitter message posted Sunday from his official account.

In another posting Sunday, he said Turkey would invoke Article 4 of the NATO treaty, which provides for consultations when a member is attacked. He did not cite the much stronger Article 5, in which an attack on one member is considered an attack on all NATO countries and obliges a concerted response.

The posting came after Mr. Davutoglu told state-owned television that an analysis of radar, visual and communications data had confirmed that the aircraft, identified as an American-made F-4 Phantom, had been struck by Syrian antiaircraft weapons outside of Syrian airspace.

“Our plane was hit in international airspace, 13 nautical miles out of Syria, when Syrian territorial space is 12 miles,” he said in a statement on TRT-TV.

The network also reported that the wreckage of the aircraft had been found Sunday, along with the ejection seats, off the Syrian coast in 3,200 to 9,800 feet of water. The search continued for the pilots or their bodies, the report said.

In a posting on its Web site, the state television network, said Turkey had asked for the NATO meeting on Tuesday.

Since the Turkish warplane disappeared from radar two days ago and Syria announce that they had shot it down this story has continued to develop. Once Turkey determined that the plane had been shot down they said that they would began an investigation after which they would take "determined action." From the NY Times again:

Syria has insisted that although it shot down the plane, that was not an attack because the plane was flying low into its air space and appeared to have hostile intentions.

“It was an accident, certainly not an attack,” the Syrian foreign minister, Jihad Makdissi, told the Turkish news channel A Haber on Saturday.

Syria said the plane was shot down a kilometer into its air space but most Turkish observers have insisted that modern jets cover that distance in seconds and overshooting a border isn't that uncommon. They have said that this happens all the time up on the Turkey-Greek border without incident. Since a state of war does not exist between the two countries, some have said the shoot down was tantamount to an act of war.

It is not likely that Assad would want to pick a fight with Turkey now. The Turkish military is more than twice the size of the Syrian military in pretty much every category, and now the Syrian military is reported to be falling apart with massive desertions at all levels. Only Thursday, four high level Syrian officers announced their defection to the Free Syrian Army on a YouTube Video and on that same day, a Syrian Air Force Colonel flew his Mig-21 to Jordan and deflected.

In fact, as I said in my diary Friday, I think their is a direct connection between the defection of the Mig-21 pilot and the shoot down of the Turkish plane. The Syrians have insisted that the Turkish plane was shot down by accident. They have even gone so far as to say they didn't know it was Turkish, when they shot it down. That implies that Assad had issued orders to shot down anything off of a fight plan and he might have issued such orders to thwart further pilot defects.

Of course, just why the Turkish warplane was shot down becomes secondary now. It was shot down, the pilots are most probably dead and Turkey is in no mood to make light of this.

I have just one more thing to throw into the mix at this juncture. Al Jazeera has a very good reporter on the ground, Anita McNaught, apparently she spends her time crossing the border [illegally] between Syria and Turkey. Well, yesterday's report was on a village on the Turkish coast near Syria, near where the plane was shot down. She said the people she talked to spoke of two Turkish jets flying fast and low up the coast. This was not routine. It had happened only once before, a week ago. But they said there were two of them, and nobody else, not the Syrians or the Turks have mentioned a second jet.

In Other news, the Russian cargo ship loaded with refurbished helicopters that was forced to turn around, is reported to be headed back out again: According the the Chicago Tribune:

"A military-diplomatic source in Moscow told Interfax that (the ship) will go from Murmansk to Syria. According to his information the ship should travel under escort," the news agency reported.

The ship Alaed, which entered the Russian port of Murmansk on Sunday to change its flag to the Russian Standard, will not be accompanied by military vessels, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The report did not say how the ship had resolved its insurance problems or what difference the flag change would make.

Russia acknowledged on Thursday it was trying to send repaired combat helicopters - not new equipment - to Syria.