Liberal Warfare, The Syrian Food Fight

“US & UN send food, Russia sends Commandos”
The Russians have been supplying the Syrian and Iranian governments with light and heavy weapons for years. In the last 5 years their has been a significant increase in small arms and ammunition, roughly a 580% increase over the previous 5 years. Syria and Venezuela have been acting as agents of circumvention allowing Iran to overcome the sanctions imposed by the majority of NATO and Middle Eastern States.  Heavy weapons such as T72 tanks, towed 120 mm howitzers, self-propelled 155 mm howitzers  such as the Gvozdika  and the BTR-80 a armored personnel carrier that has a crew of 3 and accommodates 7 passengers. The BTR is equipped with a 14.5 mm KPVT machine gun as well as a 7.62 mm PKT machine gun. These are the bread and butter weapons that have been employed by President Assad for taking out the buildings and residents of Homs and Daraa.

The Syrians also have a formidable mixed bag of attack fighter jets,helicopters, transports and support aircraft that have not been pressed into action as of yet. The Syrian air forces have been sidelined for political and strategic reasons. In the event of confrontation such as a Turkish skirmish in the Northern Syrian frontier or coalition invasion from the Mediterranean the Syrians will not hesitate to use their aircraft in homeland defense.

Currently the public position emanating from the White House on Syria is to stand off any military options but to supply money for food and humanitarian aid that is to be distributed by NGOs such as the Red Crescent and Red Cross. This liberal doctrine is spelled out in a press release from the US Department of State, seen below reprinted in blue. This is just what Assad was hoping for, more time, and more stalling, culminating in more killing and a wider genocidal cover-up. The possibility of this food getting to the people that need it in a timely manner is slim at best. It is far more likely that any aid supplied to Syria will be hijacked in whole or in part, security annalists must have raised this possibility in the White House but President Obama must make some kind of statement, even if it is to show the world just how limp his dick really is. This so-called food aid is in all likelyhood a smoke screen for covert British SAS operators to be inserted into the country where the borders are closed to outsiders and the only source of news is coming from unvetted Internet sources and the Assad controlled media propaganda machine.

The problem with all this stalling by a wavering coalition force is that it leaves President Assad a continuous free hand in the eradication of his political opposition that he refers to as terrorists. The Death toll of these people has been on a steady increase in the year following the Arab spring but in the last two months the death has rate sky-rocketed.  The UN and the Red Crescent NGOs have pegged the body count at 7500 to 8000 but sources inside the country said that their is no way of confirming any death toll because entire populations have been displaced and dispersed. Whole cities have been decimated and abandoned leaving behind bombed out building shells and rubble piles.

A year ago when President Assad issued the order to attack, detain, torture and kill his political criticizers his fate was sealed. As King Abdullah of Jordan has expressed “Syria is a Pandora's Box when it comes to the ouster of the Assad family". The King is right, if he is looking to replace Assad with a candidate from the current list of malcontents. However many more possibilities exist outside of the country. The King is of the opinion that President Basher al-Assad has an “Expiration Date.”  The further out that date is postponed the higher the bodies will be piled. The more time Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran will have to get their terror ducks in a row. The US, the UK, Israel, Turkey and the Arab League will without a doubt face a backlash of terror activities for their involvement or non-involvement in the Syrian conflict, a no win situation when it comes to the Bedouin rational. The involvement of a coalition force in Syria will trigger a greater Middle Eastern Conflict drawing in other surrounding nations spiking the death toll even higher but this is inevitable. It does not matter how many tons of food are dropped on Syria or how many broken promises Iran and Syria issue. The fact is the seeds of war have been sown and there is no avoiding it. The Arab Spring has given birth to a new Middle East one of tumult and tenuous peace and that is a fact. The other fact is that their are factions stockpiling weapons and these factions have the means, the compunction, the opportunity and the religious motivation to initiate a regional conflict with global ramifications.

Humanitarian Relief for Syrians

Fact Sheet
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
March 15, 2012

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The United States is pursuing every avenue to get humanitarian relief into Syria and is engaged in focused diplomatic efforts to secure safe access for humanitarian organizations to reach those in need. To that end, the United States is providing over $12 million in humanitarian assistance through the UN and other humanitarian organizations to support the people of Syria. This assistance is supporting international and non-governmental humanitarian partners, including:

• $5.5 million to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR);
• $3 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC);
• $3 million to the World Food Program (WFP); and
• $1 million to non-governmental organizations (NGO).

U.S. efforts also include bolstering existing regional stockpiles of humanitarian supplies and equipment to be delivered to vulnerable and besieged Syrian communities. These stockpiles of food and other emergency relief supplies are part of a growing international effort to rush humanitarian aid into Syria to alleviate suffering as access and conditions allow.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are delivering critical medical services and supplies, food, water, blankets, hygiene kits, and heaters to the Syrian people. This funding will also provide support for host families who are sheltering displaced Syrians due to the ongoing violence and to those who have fled to neighboring countries.

On March 14, 2012, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued a special alert voicing serious concern over the state of food security, especially for vulnerable groups. The World Food Program (WFP) estimates that 1.4 million people have become food insecure as a result of the violence.

WFP plans to provide food aid to 100,000 people affected by the civil conflict in 11 governorates in Syria. The WFP operation provides rations to displaced Syrians and host families, households that have lost breadwinners or livelihoods, female-headed households, and unaccompanied minors.

Since February 20, the World Food Program has delivered 16,850 family food rations—sufficient to feed approximately 84,000 people for one month—to Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) warehouses in 11 governorates in Syria. SARC has distributed 7,415 WFP food rations to beneficiaries this month, although several of the worst-affected areas within the governorates remain inaccessible due to insecurity.

PRN: 2012/386

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