Obama's moderate Syrian rebels condemn his bombing of ISIS...

It's really hard to find any good guy in the Middle East, with the exception of Israel.

Via LA Times:

… One of the administration’s favored moderate rebel factions, Harakat Hazm, part of the Free Syrian Army alliance and a recipient of U.S. missiles and training, issued a statement Tuesday denouncing the “external intervention” — that is, the U.S.-led bombing campaign in Syria — as “an attack on the revolution.”
The group said its main goal was toppling Assad. It is demanding “unconditional arming” of the Free Syrian Army, yet its members also acknowledge fighting alongside Al Nusra Front, the official Al Qaeda force in Syria.
Still, the country’s motley bands of fighters labeled as moderates may well be the White House’s best hope for now. It has few other options.

Obama on criticism of not arming Syrian rebels: “horsesh*t.”

The “horsesh*t.”defense...

Via Daily Beast:

President Obama got angry at lawmakers who suggested in a private meeting that he should have armed the Syrian rebels, calling the criticism “horseshit.”
The argument that America should have done more in Syria, made for years by foreign policy leaders in both parties and several members of Obama’s senior national security team, was brought back to the fore this past weekend. Obama and Hillary Clinton gave dueling interviews in which they publicly split on whether the security and humanitarian catastrophe in Syria could have been avoided if the United States had played a larger role. Obama’s outburst on July 31, one week prior, reveals the criticism was already getting to him, even before the White House tried to deflect Clinton’s remarks as pre-presidential political posturing.
Just before the Congressional recess, President Obama invited over a dozen Senate and House leaders from both parties to the White House to talk about foreign policy. According to two lawmakers inside the meeting, Obama became visibly agitated when confronted by bipartisan criticism of the White House’s policy of slow-rolling moderate Syrian rebels’ repeated requests for arms to fight the Assad regime and ISIS.
According to one of the lawmakers, Sen. Bob Corker asked the President a long question that included sharp criticisms of President Obama’s handling of a number of foreign policy issues—including Syria, ISIS, Russia, and Ukraine. Obama answered Corker at length. Then, the president defended his administration’s actions on Syria, saying that the notion that arming the rebels earlier would have led to better outcomes in Syria was “horseshit.”
Keep on reading…

Video: Syrian rebels bow up Syrian army base with a 60 ton tunnel bomb.

It is a spectacular explosion. Be prepared for lots of Allāhu Akbar in the video.

Almost half of Syrian rebels are linked to al-Qaeda or hard-line Islamists...

Another 30% are so called moderate Islamists, if there is such a thing. that leaves 20% as secular freedom fighters we would want to support. 

Via Telegraph:

Nearly half the rebel fighters in Syria are now aligned to jihadist or hardline Islamist groups according to a new analysis of factions in the country’s civil war.
Opposition forces battling Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria now number around 100,000 fighters, but after more than two years of fighting they are fragmented into as many as 1,000 bands.
The new study by IHS Jane’s, a defence consultancy, estimates there are around 10,000 jihadists – who would include foreign fighters – fighting for powerful factions linked to al-Qaeda..
Another 30,000 to 35,000 are hardline Islamists who share much of the outlook of the jihadists, but are focused purely on the Syrian war rather than a wider international struggle.
There are also at least a further 30,000 moderates belonging to groups that have an Islamic character, meaning only a small minority of the rebels are linked to secular or purely nationalist groups.
Keep reading…

Fail: John Kerry's Syrian expert vouched for rebel group whose website showed U.S. Capitol burning...

Oh my...

Via Fox News:

Elizabeth O’Bagy, a pro-Syrian opposition analyst whose credibility has come under fire, might have even more explaining to do – as court documents show she once vouched for a rebel group whose website displayed extremist and anti-American images.
Among the pictures was one showing a burning U.S. Capitol.
O’Bagy was fired earlier this week by the Institute for the Study of War for allegedly lying about her academic credentials. Her writings had been used by U.S. officials to bolster their case for military action against the Assad regime.
O’Bagy discussed the rebel group in question in a June 19, 2013 signed affidavit filed in the case of American Eric Harroun, who was indicted for fighting alongside the terror group al-Nusra in Syria.
O’Bagy’s signed declaration, which included a breakdown of rebel groups and their varying degrees of affiliation to Al Qaeda-linked terrorists, was used by Harroun’s defense to argue that the former Army medic had actually fought with a splinter group and not a terrorist one – a group tied to the one O’Bagy described.
In the document, O’Bagy said she had reviewed the apparent Facebook page for the Al Aqsa Islamic Brigades, and found no signs of jihadist leanings.

Boom: Rebels blow Syrian weapons depot (Video)

There is too much Allah Akbar in the video, but the explosion is awesome...

Congress delaying weapons to Syrian rebels...

I hope Bashir Assad is ousted and imprisoned, but it is unclear if the rebels will be better or worse...

(Reuters) - Congressional committees are holding up a plan to send U.S. weapons to rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad because of fears that such deliveries will not be decisive and the arms might end up in the hands of Islamist militants, five U.S. national security sources said.

Both the Senate and House of Representatives intelligence committees have expressed reservations behind closed doors at the effort by President Barack Obama's administration to support the insurgents by sending them military hardware.

None of the military aid that the United States announced weeks ago has arrived in Syria, according to an official from an Arab country and Syrian opposition sources.

Amusing Video: Angry bee versus Syrian rebel...

Tweet Of The Day From Ted Cruz… (Outstanding)

This is going to leave a mark...

Anyone know if President Obama intends to perform background checks on the Syrian rebels before providing them weapons?
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) June 18, 2013

Report: Saudi Arabia sending European-made Mistral-class MANPADS to Syria...

What could possibly go wrong? 

(AFP) - Saudi Arabia plans to supply the Syrian opposition with anti-aircraft missiles to counter President Bashar al-Assad’s air force, German news weekly Der Spiegel reported Sunday.

The article, citing a classified report received by the German foreign intelligence service and the German government last week, said Riyadh was looking at sending European-made Mistral-class MANPADS, or man-portable air-defence systems.

Der Spiegel noted the shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles can target low-flying aircraft including helicopters and had given mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan a decisive edge against Soviet troops in the 1980s.

Saudi Arabia is a key supporter of the Syrian rebels and has long advocated providing them with better weaponry.

Breaking: Obama authorizes weapons shipments to al Qaeda in Syria...

What could go wrong? 

Obama has authorized U.S. arms for Syrian rebels as part of new support package: source #breaking
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) June 14, 2013

Obama May Start Arming Islamist Rebels In Syria This Week…

What could possible go wrong?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moved by the Assad regime’s rapid advance, the Obama administration could decide this week to approve lethal aid for the beleaguered Syrian rebels and will weigh the merits of a less likely move to send in U.S. airpower to enforce a no-fly zone over the civil war-wracked nation, officials said Sunday.

White House meetings are planned over the coming days, as Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government forces are apparently poised for an attack on the key city of Homs, which could cut off Syria’s armed opposition from the south of the country. As many as 5,000 Hezbollah fighters are now in Syria, officials believe, helping the regime press on with its campaign after capturing the town of Qusair near the Lebanese border last week.
Opposition leaders have warned Washington that their rebellion could face devastating and irreversible losses without greater support, and the warnings are prompting the United States to consider drastic action.

Secretary of State John Kerry postponed a planned trip Monday to Israel and three other Mideast countries to participate in White House discussions, said officials who weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

One of the main Syrian rebel factions merged with al Qaeda in April.

One of the most prominent and powerful rebel factions fighting on behalf of the Obama administration-backed “regime change” operation in Syria formally announced that it was merging with al Qaeda in Iraq, sparking fresh concerns about the U.S. government arming, training, and funding the so-called “revolution.” The latest news comes on the heels of reports that the war-torn nation is on the verge of becoming a haven for Islamic extremists on par with Afghanistan and Iraq as foreign jihadists continue flooding into Syria.

Two days before the explosive announcement, purported al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri called on all Islamic fighters in Syria to join together in the bid to oust the existing regime and seize power. "Do all you can to ensure that the fruit of your struggle, God willing, is an Islamic state,” the terror leader said about the conflict in his most recent message. The new regime, he added, should be “a state that would be a building stone in the return of the rightly-guided caliphate."

CBS/NYT poll doesn't find much support for intervening in Syria...

Can you blame them? On one side, we have a despot supported by Iran and Hezbollah. On the other side, we have a collection of rebels aligned with Al Qaeda. We would be lucky if they all killed each other. 

Via TPM:

A wide majority of Americans do not believe the United States has a responsibility to intervene in Syria, according to the latest CBS News/New York Times poll released Tuesday.

The poll found that 62 percent of Americans do not have a responsibility to get involved in the tense and bloody conflict in Syria — little change from previous findings in the CBS/NYT survey despite the recent announcement from the Obama administration that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may have used chemical weapons on the country’s civilian population.

Only 24 percent said the U.S. has a responsibility to intervene, according to the latest CBS/NYT poll.

Report: Syrian rebels bomb Hezbollah

Is there any chance they will fight to the last man standing?

Via WFB:

Syrian rebels have reportedly bombed two compounds operated by the Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah, the main Syrian opposition group announced Thursday.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) claims its forces bombed Hezbollah facilities in Lebanon and Syria, a cross-border raid that indicates the rebels’ desire to increase their attacks on allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“The development may mark a critical turn in Syria’s two-year war, bearing out fears that the increasingly sectarian conflict would spill over across Syria’s borders,” according to the Israel Project (TIP), which first reported on the operation.

Hezbollah reportedly has been preparing for an attack and had placed its forces on “high alert” in recent weeks according to TIP, a pro-Israel media group that spoke to FSA sources who confirmed the attack.

Syrian rebels have increased their rhetoric against Hezbollah, which has backed Assad’s regime.

Keep on reading…

Is the tide turning for Libyan rebels?

The rebels are advancing and routing Muammar Gaddafi’s troops.

(JPost) — Libyan rebels have entered the oil-exporting town of Ras Lanuf after routing Muammar Gaddafi’s troops further east, a rebel fighter told Reuters on the road to Ras Lanuf.

“There is no Gaddafi army in Ras Lanuf,” said the fighter, Walid al-Arabi, quoting rebels who had returned from the town.

He said he believed the front line was now west of Ras Lanuf.

Earlier Sunday, An Al Jazeera correspondent said the rebels had reached Uqayla, more than 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Ajdabiyah and the last town traveling west before the major oil exporting terminal of Ras Lanuf.