Syria Today: A "Plan B" If International Conference Fails?

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutogluTurkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu says Ankara and the US have a "Plan B" if a proposed international conference fails to provide a viable political solution to the Syrian conflict.

Speaking to a group of Turkish reporters on Friday, Davutoğlu said formulas for a political solution will be discussed in a meeting in June, with Turkey and the US reaching an accord in a discussion between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and US President Barack Obama at the White House on 16 May.

However, Davutoğlu declined to elaborate on details of either the approach at Geneva or the "Plan B".

The Foreign Minister did say that the "Friends of Syria" --- the US, Turkey, and Arab and European States --- had agreed on Wednesday to the exclusion of President Assad from a transitional government with the Syrian opposition and elements of the regime who "do not have blood on their hands".

Davutoğlu also hinted that aid to the Syrian opposition, including weaponry, would escalate if there was no agreement at Geneva. He said the European Union is expected to lift an arms embargo on opposition forces in a June meeting of Foreign Ministers, which Turkey will attend as an observer, in early June.

Beyond his discussion of strategy, Davutoğlu criticised other countries for a lack of decisive action: “Turkey has failed to see that some countries would zigzag during the Syrian uprising as happened in the Bosnian crisis (in the 1990s)."

He continued with a lament, “We couldn’t know how barbarian Assad would become, acting differently from his usual character suggests to behave."

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Nasrallah: Should Syria fall, the resistance will be confined and Israel will enter Lebanon

In a televised speech on Saturday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned that "Israel is ready for war" against Lebanon and Syria.

Israel has threatened Lebanon every day since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Nasrallah claimed, adding that the Jewish State has been mobilizing its troops on the border with Lebanon for months.

The Hezbollah leader claimed that Lebanon's army can fight against Israel like the "Resistance", but only if given proper arms.

Nasrallah went on to argue that the Resistance "has done a lot in Lebanon to face Israel ", and said that the Resistance is not only Hezbollah but all those who exerted efforts against Israel.

 

He added that should Hezbollah agree to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese state, those "weapons will lose their significance."

Nasrallah accused Israel of building settlements on its borders with Jordan, Syria and Lebanon and is  "recruiting Jews from all over the world as part of its military plan for the region."

Meanwhile, Nasrallah accused the international community of failing to act while Israel completed its "project in Palestine".

Nasrallah criticized attempts by the international community to designate Hezbollah as a terror group, dismissing the moves as " ink on paper."

Regarding events in Syria, Nasrallah said that the ongoing crisis is "crucial" for Lebanon, but echoed Iran by saying that a solution could only be reached through "political dialogue."

Nasrallah blamed the Syrian crisis on "an axis" led by the USA and Israel, and said that al-Qaeda and "Takfiri" organizations are receiving money to join the fight against Assad.

The US was waging a "political and economic world war" on Syria, Nasrallah said, noting that while "thousands of fighters" were sent  to Syria from all over the world, they were "were concerned about the involvement of few Hezbollah members."

Moving to the clashes in the Lebanese town of Tripoli, Nasrallah said the "absurd battle" should stop and said Tripoli should "stay away from the Syrian conflict."

Fighting Intensifies in Qusair As Regime, Hezbollah Push For Gains

Sources on both sides of the conflict in the Syrian border town of Qusair have reported intensified fighting, as regime troops bolstered by Hezbollah fighters push for gains.

Qusair is strategically important to both the insurgency and to Assad's forces, because it lies on the route between Damascus and the Alawite stronghold on the Mediterranean coast. If regime forces succeed in taking the city, they will effectively have divided insurgent supply lines.

An activist based in Qusair, who spoke to Reuters on Saturday morning, said that the shelling was "violent and heavy" and that he had "never seen a day like this since the battle started".

Reuters also quoted a Hezbollah fighter, who said that: "We are in the second phase of our plan of attack but the advance has been quite slow and difficult. The rebels have mined everything, the streets, the houses. Even the refrigerators are mined."

The Syrian regime claims to control about two thirds of Qusair. State news agency SANA reported on Saturday afternoon that regime forces had destroyed "terrorist nests" in the area, killing large numbers, and that more insurgents had surrendered in the north and central neighborhoods of the city while "terrorists' gatherings" were destroyed in the western and southwestern sections. Regime forces were destroying barricades, tunnels, mines and improvised explosives that insurgents had planted along public roads and in houses.

The agency also claimed that the armed forces "tightened their grip "on both sides of Homs-Baalbek road through the middle of the city.

The extent of Hezbollah's role in the battle is unclear and impossible to verify. This video, posted on Saturday, boasts that regular regime troops have withdrawn from Qusair and that only Hezbollah fighters survive.

This video, published Saturday, claims to show an air bombardment by regime forces, to allow Hezbollah to advance in the city.

Tripoli Residents Complain About "Hellish" Fighting

The Lebanese Daily Star's Misbah al-Ali reports from the Tripoli in northern Lebanon, where at least 29 people have been killed and 100 more injured since clashes broke out last Sunday.

The clashes erupted at the same time as Hezbollah helped Syrian regime forces attack Qusair in Syria. The Star says residents claim that hundreds of mortars and rocket-propelled grenades are launched every night, with "endless rounds of machine gun fire".

According to The Star, around 130,000 residents of the poverty-stricken Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood have been without electricity since Tuesday.

The Star spoke to one resident of the neighborhood, Zakaria Masri, who said the situation was "tragic" and that "morale is low".

“Securing our daily needs is a priority now, especially with the vegetable and flour markets closed. Residents are still managing to buy their groceries from small shops, but the shopkeepers don’t know how they will remain open, if the battles and clashes continue,” Masri told The Star.

Casualties

The Violations Documentation Center reports that 61,458 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict since March 2011, an increase of 86 from Friday. Of the deaths, 47,863 were civilians, a rise of 44 from yesterday.