Tuesday 31 July 2012

إبني العميد الركن عقيل هاشم ( إسماعيل وإياد هاشم ) يرفعان علم الثورة السورية على برج إيفل في باريس 7-27-2012


<<< إبني العميد الركن عقيل هاشم ( إسماعيل وإياد هاشم ) .يرفعان علم الثورة السورية على برج إيفل في باريس ، اسماعيل يعيش في فرنسا أما إياد فقد ترك عمله في فيلادلفيا وسافر إلى باريس يوم أمس للإشتراك بهذا العمل الجرئء ، وقد تم إعتقالهما من قبل البوليس الفرنسي ثم أفرج عنهما بعد ثماني ساعات

وضع علم كبير للثورة السورية ظهر يوم الجمعة7-27-2012 على برج إيفل، أبرز المعالم السياحية في باريس "للفت نظر العالم إلى الوضع في سوريا". فقد توجهت مجموعة صغيرة من ناشطي هيئة "فرنسا سوريا ديمقراطية" إلى هذا البرج الذي تجرى فيه تصليحات. وارتقى ناشطان هما نجلا الضابط السوري المتقاعد عقيل هاشم الذي يعيش في الولايات المتحدة، على سلمين وأفردا العلم الكبير على مرأى من السائحين الذين صفقوا لهما لدى نزولهما. وقد توتر الوضع لحظات عندما أراد حراس البرج نزع العلم. من جهة أخرى، كتب المتظاهران على لافتة "21 ألف قتيل و65 ألف مفقود ومليونا مهجر.. هذه هي الإصلاحات الإجرامية التي وعد بها بشار الأسد". وقال الناشط إبراهيم وتي لوكالة الصحافة الفرنسية إن "برج إيفل هو رمز فرنسا.. جئنا إلى هذا المكان الذي تؤمه أعداد كبيرة من السائحين، حتى نلفت نظر العالم إلى ما يجري في سوريا".





Two Syrian opposition activists unfurled an enormous rebel flag at the base of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Friday and were arrested by police. As a handful of supporters from the France Syria Democracy group rallied below, the two activists climbed scaffolding set up for maintenance works and released the flag, to applause from tourists gathered below. The two activists, Ismael and Iyad Hashem -- sons of retired Syrian brigadier general Akil Hashem who lives in the United States -- were arrested after climbing down, following a complaint from the site’s management, police said. “The Eiffel Tower is the symbol of France. We came here because there are a lot of tourists and we want to attract the entire world's attention to what is happening in Syria,” said one of the activists, Ibrahim Wetti. The flag they unfurled was the one adopted in 1946 after Syria first gained independence, which was later replaced by the country's Baathist regime.










Related Articles:

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/07/27/228759.html

http://en.ria.ru/world/20120727/174812436.html

http://www.aljazeera.net/news/pages/c8d0372a-e617-4034-8522-66449772a650?GoogleStatID=9#.UBLgGi-z3Zs.facebook.html

http://paris-ile-de-france.france3.fr/2012/07/27/un-drapeau-syrien-en-guise-de-soutien-accroche-sous-la-tour-eiffel-60541.html

Wednesday 25 July 2012

Will Syria Use It's Chemical Weapons?? Ret Brigader General Akil Hashem on CNN Live with Soledad O'Brien 7-25-2012

Will Syria Use It's Chemical Weapons?? Ret Brigader General Akil Hashem on CNN Live with Soledad O'Brien 7-25-2012

Retired Syrian Brigadier General Akil Hashem talks about Syria's Chemical Weapons

Voice Of America
News / Middle East

Syrian Brigadier General Akil Hashem retired after 27 years of military service believes the international community - including Israel - has very little to worry about. He says he can speak with certainty about Syria’s chemical weapons program up to the beginning of 2011.

Experts: Syria Not Likely to Use Chemical Weapons
Cecily Hilleary /Voice Of America

Syria's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Jihad Makdissi speaks during a news conference in Damascus July 23, 2012.
 Syria appears to be backtracking on hints it may have biological and chemical weapons (BCW) capability, following comments by a Foreign Ministry spokesman. The spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, told reporters Monday that Syria would not hesitate to use unconventional weapons against “external aggression,” but promised that Damascus would never use these weapons against its own citizens. His statement came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed concern that Syria’s chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Israel’s enemies.
All of these types of weapons are in storage and under security and the direct supervision of the Syrian armed forces and will never be used unless Syria is exposed to external aggression.
In a direct exchange with VOA on Facebook shortly after his comments, Jihad Makdissi sought to clarify his remarks, “As I explained, any unconventional weapons - if they exist, since I am responding only to false allegations on having them - would never ever be used against anyone inside the country or any civilians during the current painful crisis in Syria, no matter how the crisis evolves,” Makdissi wrote to VOA.

Later on Monday, Syria’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement, saying, "When the Foreign Ministry spokesman says that Syria will not use chemical weapons against its people… this doesn't mean that Syria has such weapons in the first place." The Ministry accused international media of making too much of Makdissi’s statement, which it says came in response to what Syria says is an international media campaign falsely accusing Syria of having weapons of mass destruction, or WMDs, as a pretext for invasion.

This is not the first time Syria has implied that it has a BCW program. After Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi agreed to dismantle his weapons of mass destruction program in 2003, the U.S. and Britain stepped up pressure on the Syrian President to do the same. In response, Bashar al-Assad told London’s Telegraph that Syria had a right to defend itself by acquiring chemical and biological weapons and that Syria would not destroy any such weapons program unless Israel agreed to halt its nuclear program.
It is natural for us to look for means to defend ourselves. It is not difficult to get most of these weapons anywhere in the world and they can be obtained at any time.
Retired Syrian Brigadier General Akil Hashem
​​
Syrian Brigadier General Akil Hashem retired after 27 years of military service and now lives in exile outside of Syria. He believes the international community - including Israel - has very little to worry about. He says he can speak with certainty about Syria’s chemical weapons program up to the beginning of 2011.

“It was primitive. But after that, I don’t know, and nobody else knows, not even the CIA, what might have happened,” Hashem said. “If Iran, in the past year and a half, provided Syrians with chemical weapons components, with experts, with equipment, with technology, this might change my assessment of the quality of this program.

That said, Hashem said he does not believe Syria would actually use these weapons against Israel. It does not have any reason to do so, says Hashem, because Israel would not be a partner to any Western intervention in Syria. Further, he says that because Israel is superior in power to any other country in the region, it could easily counter an unconventional weapons attack by Syria almost as soon as it began.

Some Middle East analysts have expressed concern about what might happen if Syria’s suspected chemical or biological weapons were to fall into opposition hands. General Hashem says that the opposition has promised to protect and maintain any locations over which it gains control. He says he has no doubts that Syria may face even darker days following the fall of the regime. But no matter what the Syrian people suffer, he says, nothing could be darker than life under the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Sunday 22 July 2012

Retired Brigadier General Akil Hashem discussing the recent developments in Syria, on MSNBC, UP with Chris Hayes

Retired Brigadier Syrian General Akil Hashem discussing the recent developments in Syria, and whether the International Community should intervene in Syria or not. UP with Chris Hayes Live show on MSNBC this Sunday, July 22 in the 9:00-10:00 am ET.

Retired Brigadier Syrian General Akil Hashem on MSNBC with Chris Hayes

Click here to watch the full interview:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46979738/vp/48275263#48275263

Friday 20 July 2012

Former Syrian General Akil Hashem says Assad's days are numbered

Former Syrian general says Assad's days are numbered

Michael Vincent reported this story on Thursday, July 19, 2012 12:15:00 ABC News

ASHLEY HALL: Akil Hashem spent 27 years serving in the Syrian army, eventually rising to the rank of brigadier-general before he retired.

He's now living outside the country, where he's free to be an outspoken critic of the Assad regime.

As such, he's regularly called for outside military intervention to end what he calls the 'barbaric genocide' committed by government forces against the Syrian people.

He's speaking here to Michael Vincent.

AKIL HASHEM: The situation is very critical. I consider this regime as a wounded tiger. So he might go for desperate measures. I don't exclude the possibility that this regime in the next few days might use the air force to bomb some certain areas in Syria and kill thousands of people.

MICHAEL VINCENT: You think the regime is collapsing and is capable of a scorched earth type of policy?

AKIL HASHEM: Yes, I think now we are open to all kind of possibilities. This is a turning point in the revolution. This is the beginning of the end. I don't exclude the possibility of Bashar al-Assad being assassinated just after few days. I don't exclude the possibility of fleeing, fleeing the country tonight or tomorrow, I don't know.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Who would give him safe haven if he fled Syria do you believe?

AKIL HASHEM: So far there is three countries are capable to give him a safe haven like Russia, China and Iran and most likely Iran. But also there is the possibility of a military coup might happen in the top of the regime collapsing, the regime even the brother himself might try to overthrow Bashar al-Assad.

Even there will be, I believe a huge amount of defection within the inner circle of this regime. The situation is open for all possibilities.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Up until now the Free Syrian army has not had the fire power to take the Syrian military on offensively. They have only had access to machine guns and rocket propelled grenades. Do you believe that they now have enough hardware to take out the tanks and the helicopters of the Assad forces?

AKIL HASHEM: No, no, they don't have. They lack the heavy weaponry of course and they are
outnumbered by the regime but they have something the regime doesn't have at all which is the morale, the high morale, the belief in their cause. And their willing to sacrifice and they proved that so many times before, they sacrificed their life willingly to get rid of this regime.

So in that regard, in this outbreak we are more powerful than the regime itself in spite of all the tanks and artillery and air planes and helicopters the regime have.

MICHAEL VINCENT: What will you be looking for in the coming hours, days and weeks? What ground do they have to make in terms of improving their position strategically at the moment?

AKIL HASHEM: With freedom fighters have change their strategy recently from a defensive strategy to offensive strategy so now they are fighting the regime in his capital and everywhere in Syria. Now they are getting more organised, they are getting more under a central leadership. It is not completely established so far but they're getting better and better day after day so this will make a huge difference.

So now after all the development we can expect for sure that the freedom fighters will have the upper hand well soon interior. I cannot give you a date, an certain date but it is coming very, very soon.

MICHAEL VINCENT: How long do you think the people in Damascus can hold out in terms of food, water and medicine?

AKIL HASHEM: Yeah, they can hold for a long, long time. Damascus is a six million people and there are people in Damascus will hold for a long time before they start accumulating food and water and everything because they anticipated that they eventually the struggle will come to the capital so they can hold for a long, long time.

There is so many storage for the government and otherwise or other company of food and all kinds of supplies and even with their medical supplies where in Homs and other part of Syria didn't have any medical supplies at all.

Here in Damascus everything is available so I will anticipate a long-term fighting in Damascus.

ASHLEY HALL: The retired Syrian brigadier-general Akil Hashem, speaking to Michael Vincent.

العميد السوري المتقاعد عقيل هاشم يتحدث عن تطورات الوضع في سوري: ماذا بعد ضرب الثورة السورية للنظام في عقر داره؟


العميد السوري المتقاعد عقيل هاشم يتحدث عن تطورات الوضع في سوريا بعد سيطرة الجيش السوري الحر ومعارضين مسلحين على منافذ حدودية بين سوريا وتركيا، وسوريا والعراق، وتواصل عمليات الانشقاق من المؤسسة العسكرية فضلا عن مقتل القيادات العسكرية الرفيعة في النظام السوري بعملية نوعية "للجيش السوري الحر" بقلب العاصمة دمشق، ويشرح انعكاسات هذه التطورات على تماسك نظام بشار الأسد

ليال بشاره (نص)
 
 
"الجيش السوري الحر" بات يسيطر على منافذ حدودية بين العراق وسوريا، وبين تركيا وسوريا. ماذا يعني ذلك على أرض الميدان بالنسبة للنظام السوري ؟
 
إنه عبارة عن تطور طبيعي لتصاعد وتوسع عمليات " الجيش الحر" والمقاتلين في سبيل الحرية داخل سوريا، بالتالي هذا يزيد من التأكيد على أننا دخلنا ما يُسمى بالمرحلة الثالثة من مراحل الثورة السورية.
 
المرحلة الأولى استمرت حوالي ستة إلى سبعة أشهر عندما كان السوريون يتظاهرون سلمياً، والمرحلة الثانية بدأت عند ظهور الانشقاقات وتشكل " الجيش الحر" والمقاتلون داخل سوريا وهم النسبة الغالبة في " الجيش الحر" الذي يمثل 25 بالمائة من عدد المقاتلين ومعظمهم مدنيين تطوعوا أو أجبروا على حمل السلاح للدفاع عن أنفسهم.
 
الآن ومنذ حوالي شهر نستطيع القول بكل تأكيد أن الثورة السورية دخلت في المرحلة الثالثة، التي هي مرحلة الانتقال من الإستراتيجية الدفاعية إلى الإستراتيجية الهجومية.
 
وأكبر تعبير عن هذا الانتقال ما حدث عندما نقلت المعركة إلى قلب النظام، إلى خلية إدارة الأزمة التي يجتمع فيها أعلى مستويات مسؤولي النظام الأمنيين والعسكريين، وقتل منهم أربعة وجُرح الباقي جراحاً بليغة.
 
ترافق ذلك مع القتال في مدينة دمشق التي طالما تبجج النظام بأنها في أمان في أحياء عديدة مهمة مثل ساحة الأحرار والمزة وبرزة والميدان. لم يكن يدرك النظام أن كل تجارب التاريخ تشير إلى أن العنف لا يجر إلا العنف، وأن الدم لا يجر إلا الدم.
 
والآن نحن دخلنا في المرحلة الثالثة للثورة التي يمكن تسميتها ببداية النهاية للنظام المجرم.
 
ما هو وضع نظام بشار الأسد فعلياً على أرض الواقع اليوم ؟ وما هي الأوراق التي لا يزال الرئيس السوري يملكها لمواجهة الحركة الاحتجاجية بعد مقتل أرفع القيادات العسكرية في النظام ؟
 
لا يزال النظام يملك آلة القتل التي درّبها ونظمها وسلحها وموّلها منذ عشرات السنين، المتمثلة بقوات النخبة في النظام مثل " الفرقة الرابعة " و" الحرس الجمهوري" و" الوحدات الخاصة "، وكذلك بأجهزة الأمن الأربعة الرئيسية التي تضم حوالي 150 ألف شخص وهي : المخابرات العسكرية، الوحدة الشعبية السياسية التابعة لوزارة الداخلية، وإدارة أمن الدولة، وإدارة مخابرات القوى الجوية.
 
لا يزال النظام يملك قوى لكن جيشه مشتت في كل أنحاء سوريا، والعناصر الأمنية أيضاً مشتتة، وطبيعة أو ديناميكية الثورات في كل أنحاء العالم تشير إلى أن أي نظام يحارب شعبه، ستكون نهايته وخيمة. لذا بقدر ما يبدو النظام حتى الآن شبه متماسك، سينهار في لحظة واحدة.
 
إذا ما بقينا على هذا الوضع الميداني، إلى متى يستطيع النظام السوري الصمود؟
 
لولا الدعم الخارجي الذي يتلقاه النظام، لسقط منذ أكثر من سبعة أشهر. لكنه يتلقى إمدادات غير محدودة بالأسلحة والذخيرة والخبراء من روسيا، ويتلقى إمدادات مالية بمليارات الدولارات، وإلا لعجز عن دفع رواتب عناصره من إيران، ومقاتليه من جيش مقتدى الصدر من العراق، ومن الحرس الثوري الإيراني، ومن عناصر " حزب الله" من لبنان.
 
وطالما أن النظام متماسك سيبقى يتلقى دعم روسيا، لكن في اللحظة التي يتغير فيها الوضع عن طريق انقلاب عسكري أو انشقاقات عنيفة، سيرفع الروس الغطاء عنه ويتركونه.
 
لكن الأمر يختلف مع إيران التي تعتبر النظام السوري خط الدفاع الأول عن وجودها، فهو بالنسبة لإيران حلقة الوصل والممر الرئيسي الذي يصلها بذراعها الطويلة الموجودة في جنوب لبنان وهي " حزب الله ". بالتالي القضاء على النظام سيؤدي إلى خسارة كبرى لإيران التي ستبقى تدعمه إلى أقصى مدى مهما كانت الأحوال.
 
الوضع الآن مفتوح على كل الاحتمالات، قد يُغتال بشار الأسد أو يفرّ هو وأفراد عائلته، أو قد يحصل عليه انقلاب عسكري أو انقلاب من أخيه ماهر. وقد تحصل انشقاقات في الطائفة العلوية أو في قيادة الجيش أو المؤسسات الأمنية.
 
وهناك مخاطر جدية من قيام حرب طائفية مهلكة في سوريا يذهب ضحيتها مئات الألوف من الناس.  

Inside Story with Ret.General Akil Hashem Syrian conflict: The beginning of the end?

Retired Brigadier General Akil Hashem on Al Jazeera English talking about the Situation in Damascus Syria 7-18-2012

Obama doesn't care about situation in Syria

Fmr. Syrian General says Obama doesn't care about situation in Syria

Ret. Syrian Gen. Akil Hashem says US leadership can end violence in Syria, but Pres. Obama is distracted by reelection.





Sunday 8 July 2012

Syria: Abandoning the sinking ship? - Inside Syria - Al Jazeera English





"I "I don't consider this defection as a politically-motivated defection rather than jumping out of the sinking ship of the regime .... He didn't defect because he is against the regime, he was for years the most loyal to the regime, this is because he doesn't want to go down with the regime itself .... I believe this defection will encourage other Sunni high-rank officers or officials to defect from this regime."


Akil Hashem


See Video below from:
 Syria: Abandoning the sinking ship? - Inside Syria - Al Jazeera English

As one of Syria's top generals has fled the country, AJE discuss the significance of this latest defection as well as the ratcheting up of efforts to end Syria's ongoing crisis. Guests: Akil Hashem, Yasser Tabbara, and Nikolaos van Dam.