NIGHTWATCH: Syria Update

Syria-Saudi Arabia: During Friday’s meeting in Tunisia, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said he supported giving weapons and ammunition to groups fighting the Syrian regime. “I think it’s an excellent idea,” Prince Saud told reporters in Tunisia. Asked why, he replied: “Because they have to defend themselves.” Comment: Prince Saud’s remarks make clear that Saudi …

NIGHTWATCH: US “Diplomats” Out of Touch with Syria

Syria: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the opposition Syrian National Council is emerging as an alternative to the Bashar al-Asad regime and that the consensus among Arab League and other nations is that the group is a credible representative. Comment: Lacking a territory that it can defend, the opposition remains inchoate, not unified …

NIGHTWATCH: Iran-Syria

Iran-Syria: Iran rejected any Yemeni-like scenario in Syria, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Abdollahian who spoke to the press on 8 February at the Iranian Embassy in Damascus. Abdollahian added that Iranians recently kidnapped in Syria were released after Turkish mediation. Comment: The visit by the Iranian Deputy Foreign Ministry corresponds to reports that …

NIGHTWATCH: Syria, Russia, US, Iran, Israel, Lies, & Truth + RECAP

Syria: Special comment. Readers are rightly perplexed about conditions in Syria. Syrian press restrictions inhibit any neutral or balanced coverage. Everything reported from opposition sources and activists is biased and some reports of massacres include manufactured images, according to eyewitnesses. International news descriptions of a worsening crisis receive no offsetting coverage of testimony from non-Sunni …

NIGHTWATCH: Syria, Iran, and the Regional Context

Syria-Iran: The Iranian news agency reported Ayatollah Khamenei on Tuesday criticized the US for interfering in Syria’s internal affairs, but said Iran would accept political reforms in Damascus. Khamenei said, “Iran’s stance towards Syria is to support any reforms that benefit the people of this country and oppose the interference of America and its allies …

NIGHTWATCH: From 1979 to 2012 – No Improvement in DoD Response to Ambassadors and Embassies in Extremis + EE21 RECAP

Ambassador Dubbs was killed in Afghanistan in 1979, not 1988. Thus there has been no improvement in US crisis management responses for rescuing a US ambassador in trouble between 1979 and 2012. NIGHTWATCH KGS Home See Also: Graphic: Benghazi Fiasco Master Post with Links to All Posts, Map of DoD Assets Ordered to “Stand Down,” …