Police fire on Kurds in fifth day of Syria riots

[DuctapeFatwa]

Thousands of Kurds fought pitched battles with paramilitary police across northern Syria yesterday as rioting, in which at least 30 people have died, worsened for the fifth day in a row.

Tanks were reported on the streets of Kameshli, on the Turkish border, where security forces responded with force after rioting broke out last Friday.

The trouble began at a football match at which Kurdish fans waved posters of President George W Bush while being taunted by Syrian supporters with pictures of Saddam Hussein.

A spokesman for the Kurdish Human Rights Project in London said Turkish tanks had been deployed on the border with Syria to prevent Kurds in Turkey crossing over in support.

Kurds comprise almost two million of Syria's 17 million population although about 200,000 of them are not recognised as citizens of the country as a punishment for seeking to establish an autonomous homeland.

http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/18/wkurd18.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/03/18/ixworld.html

[DianeG5385]

1. Organized by the CIA

to destabilize Syria.

[bemildred]

2. Yup. Regime change.

Wonder what Little Assad is going to do now?

[madrchsod]

4. hell on earth

the destabilization of Syria could be a even greater disaster to America than anything we have seen so far. if Syria goes the Muslim brotherhood will fill in the vacuum. note-Assad`s father killed thousands of the brotherhood members in a bid to reduce their power in Syria.
bush has opened Pandora`s box.......

[bemildred]

7. Yeah, let's play dodge car on the freeway, and see what happens?

In another thread I heard things are being stirred up on the
Iranian side too, but I have seen no second source for that.

[tlcandie]

3. They're falling like flies and NOONE is doing anything about it!!!

Why doesn't the EU or someone stand up to this mess and STOP it!?!?!

[Forkboy]

5. Pretty soon we'll have to invade

for thier own good!

[DuctapeFatwa]

6. US has already begun the invasion of Syria (link inside)

An American delegation has secretly arrived
from Iraq to the Kurd region in northern Syria,
in an effort to calm tensions, following several
days of riots which came on the heels of a
violent soccer game between a Kurdish-backed
and a mostly Arab-backed team, Kurdish
sources and Syrian exiles in Europe told
Haaretz on Monday.

The information was also published on
Kurdish websites in Europe.

The U.S. team, which includes intelligence
officers, contacted senior officers in a Syrian
delegation sent to the region by President
Bashar Assad to negotiate with local leaders.

According to the sources, two U.S. helicopters
arrived Sunday from Iraq to the city of
Qamishli on the Turkish border, where the
riots began.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/404906.html

[Forkboy]

8. related story

http://www.tompaine.com/blog.cfm?startRow=1&blogrow=4#blog10060

CIA In Syria?
What's happening in Syria has all the hallmarks of a classic, 1950s-era, Cold War-style CIA coup d'etat scheme.

First, on March 7 a gaggle of demonstrators—no more than 20 to 30, according to The New York Times on March 8—was squelched by Syrian police, who arrested not only the demonstrators but swooped up a "junior diplomat from the American Embassy," says the Times. "The United States government protested the detention of the American diplomat to the Syrian government, a spokesman for the embassy told The Associated Press." Now the question is: what was a "junior diplomat" from the United States doing there in the first place. Could he have been from the CIA? (Syria is wondering the same thing.)

[bemildred]

9. Yeah, I dunno, still trying to figure it out.

Doen't look like an invasion, more like what it says,
"classic, 1950s-era, Cold War-style CIA coup d'etat scheme"
as seen recently in various other locales in Latin
America. Have we maybe suborned a few of Little Assad's
minions or something?

[Barrett808]

10. kick

[ConcernedCanuk]

11. Hmmm - not looking too healthy for Syria

.
.
.

They got Israel to the South with around 200 nukes

Mediterranean's probably got some armed subs laying in wait to the West



And Turkey came on board with the US in the North, no?

Of course there's probably more Marines skulking around the East border of Syria(Iraq) than they let on -

So they are literally surrounded with bad-ass Murikkan forces, hmmm

the only thing stopping the US from going full-bore is world opinion, IMHO . .

Oh,

and maybe the election?

. :shrug: .