freepalestine
7th August 2012, 21:50
Bilad al-Sham: Jihad’s Newest Hot Spot
http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/5cols/leading_images/Syria_Jihad_Main_pic_1.jpg
Members of the Free Syrian Army (The Brigade of the Revolution's Shield) pray in Sarmada, northern Idlib province, 4 July 2012. The words on the military cap reads: "There is only one God (Allah)". (Photo: Reuters - Shaam News Network - Handout)
By: Radwan Mortada (http://english.al-akhbar.com/author/radwan-mortada)
Published Monday, August 6, 2012
Syria has become a magnet for the world’s jihadis.
It has been attracting them since the start of the crisis, lured by what many believe to be a divine promise that jihad in Bilad al-Sham, Greater Syria, will set the stage for the emergence of the true Islamic state.
With victory and the downfall of the regime thus pre-ordained, jihadis from far and wide have been heeding the call.
According to jihadi sources, the fighters currently operating in Syria include Jordanians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Kuwaitis, Tunisians, Libyans, Saudis and Yemenis, as well as Muslims from non-Arab countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. The biggest single contingent of foreign fighters is said to be composed of Lebanese, Jordanian, Iraqi and Palestinians who had previously fought against US forces in Iraq.
But while all Islamist fighters rally under the same banner, they are divided among many factions and schools of thoughts.
Some – such as al-Qaeda’s Abdullah Azzam Brigades, the Jabhat al-Nusra li-Bilad al-Sham (Support Front for the Land of Syria) inspired by Mauritanian cleric Abul-Munther al-Shanqiti, and the Doura Fighting Group – espouse hardline takfiri ideology.
Extremist groups tend to have more combat experience than the others, and reports indicate that they are bracing for what they expect to be a major decisive battle.All three draw inspiration from a 200-page tract called The Return of Salaheddin, and see themselves as following in the footsteps Saleheddin al-Ayyoubi, the 12th Century commander who defeated the Crusaders in Jerusalem. They maintain that the latter-day liberation of Jerusalem requires the prior “purification” of its hinterland, and that they have a religious obligation to perform this task. This means ridding Greater Syria of apostates – i.e. expelling or eliminating all Shia Muslims and Christians.
These extremist groups tend to have more combat experience than the others, and reports indicate that they are bracing for what they expect to be a major decisive battle.
Some foreign jihadi factions are less doctrinally hardline, such as the Liwaa al-Umma (Banner of the Nation) Brigade which was formed by Libyan jihadists. It too holds that every Muslim has a pressing religious obligation to fight to liberate Syrian from “the tyrant” and establish “right-guided Islamic rule” in the country. However, it subscribes to Islamic rules of warfare, which include not targeting non-combatants, carrying out reprisals against innocents, or harming property or possessions.
The group is headed by two former commanders of the Tripoli Brigade during the Libyan revolution, sheikhs Mahdi al-Harati and Abdul Hakim al-Misri. Harati is also a citizen of Ireland, where he is Imam of the al-Noor mosque and established a school of teaching the Quran and an Islamic foundation. He was also a passenger on the 2010 Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, and was detained in an Israel jail.
Another main Syrian Islamist armed organization is the Suqour al-Sham (Hawks of Syria) Brigade, led by Ahmad al-Sheikh, known as Abu-Issam, a native of the village of Sireh. This group is said to consist of more than 50 fighting units active in the provinces of Idlib, Rif Dimashq, Latakia and Hama, and particularly in Jabal al-Zawiya, Khan Sheikhoun, rural areas east and west of al-Maarah, Saraqeb, the town of Idlib, and Sarmin. These formations include: the Muhammad al-Khalaf Brigade; the Daoud Brigade led by Hassan al-Aboud; the Ansar al-Haq Brigade led by Rashid Abu-Abdu; The Dhi Qar Brigade headed by Abdul Aziz bin-Wassam; the al-Muhajerin wal-Asar Brigade, whose leader is known as Abu-Musaab; the al-Khansa Brigade, headed by an Abu Shayma; and the Martyr Muhammad al-Abdallah Brigade, commanded by Nidal al-Hajj Ali.
Also prominent is the al-Ansar Brigade, which was established by Abu-Ali al-Ansari, a former member of the Fatah al-Islam group in Lebanon, who reportedly went to Syria after escaping from jail, and died fighting in Homs. This group and others interpret certain passages of the hadeeth – sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad – about the need to fight injustice as applying to present-day Syria. They see victory as inevitable, now that the revolutionaries have “turned to God,” provided they perform their duty of carrying out jihad.
Similar views are held by the Sheikh Hajjaj al-Ajami Brigade, based in the countryside near al-Boukamal close to the Iraqi border, whose Salafi jihadi followers are taught that the Prophet foretold current events in Syria.
In Homs, a total of 23 jihadi fighting groups are estimated to be active, under the auspices of the Homs Military Council. This is led by a Majlis al-Shura, a consultative council consisting of five clerics who provide both religious guidance and practical leadership. It is considered the most powerful body in Homs, with the power to make war or peace.
Leaders of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) have been strenuously denying that jihadi groups have been fighting under the banner of al-Qaeda.Military affairs in Homs are run by a 16-member committee of brigade commanders, which oversees the deployment of fighters, the provision of arms and ammunition, and inducting new volunteers, army defectors or Arab fighters into the ranks of the revolution.
A civil council meanwhile takes charge of securing food, medical supplies and shelter, both for fighters and civilians in rebel-controlled areas.
The biggest of the fighting groups in Homs is the Farouk Brigade, consisting of 16 separate battalions under a general commander – currently known as Abu-Sufyan – chosen by the Majlis al-Shura.
The next largest is the Khalid Ibn al-Waleed Brigade, which takes its political lead from the Muslim Brotherhood and is thought to have around 1,200 fighters, some of them from other Arab countries, including Libyans and Tunisians. Details of the group’s structure are unclear, but its main power-base is in the town of al-Rastan, and it is commanded by a former army captain Ahmad al-Deek. In addition to Homs, the group is active in al-Qusayr and Tal-Kalakh.
Other Islamist militias in Homs include the Abadelah, Omar Ibn-al-Khattab, al-Ahrar, Haraer Homs, and al-Mujahideen battalions. The latter is a secretive outfit said to consist of 53 experienced fighters, all of them veterans of the war in Iraq, led by a man referred to as Abdul-Lateef.
Leaders of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), including its commander Riyadh al-Asaad, have been strenuously denying that jihadi groups have been fighting under the banner of al-Qaeda in the current battles in Aleppo. When confronted with documentary evidence from the Arab world Western media, they tend to play down their numbers or dismiss them as irrelevant.
One FSA commander also maintained that heavy weaponry used by the rebels in recent fighting, including tanks, armored vehicles and artillery was all seized from the Syrian army. But he denied reports that rebel fighters had been supplied with anti-aircraft missiles, charging that such claims were “an excuse by the regime to bomb us with Mig-23s.”
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/bilad-al-sham-jihads-newest-hot-spot
Syrian Kurds warn Turkey against intervention
Syrian Kurds warn Turkey against intervention
http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/5cols/leading_images/PYD_07082012.jpgSyrian Kurds guard a check point at the entrance of the Kurdish town of Jinderes, near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on 22 July 2012. (Photo: AFP - Bulent Kilic)
Published Tuesday, August 7, 2012
A Kurdish party that is extending its power in northeastern Syria as President Bashar al-Assad battles an insurgency raging elsewhere in the country has warned Turkey not to interfere in its affairs.
Ankara has warned that it may intervene militarily into Syrian territory to thwart the emergence of the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Turkey has accused the group of links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is fighting an armed campaign for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey.
But PYD leader Mohammed Saleh Muslim rejected the Turkish accusations, denying anything more than ideological affinity with the PKK and warning Ankara not to make threats.
"Turkey has nothing to do with the Syrian Kurds," he told Reuters via telephone from the Syrian city of Qamishli.
"The protection of my people in my areas, in my town: that is my right, no one can deny it, and that's what we did. So there is no need for Turkey to be worried and make threats," he said.
Kurds make up just 10 percent of the total population of Syria, but Muslim said they were now in control of the Syrian towns of Kobani, Derik and Efrin.
A 17-month-old uprising against Assad is being seen by Syrian Kurds as an opportunity to win the power enjoyed by their ethnic kin in northern Iraq where they live semi-autonomously from Baghdad.
But Syria's Kurds are not politically united and rivalries between the PYD and another group, the Kurdish National Council (KNC), have at times threatened to spiral into intra-Kurdish conflict.
Last month, the two parties signed a pact to form a joint council, presenting a united front to work for Kurdish interests in a post-Assad Syria. But that unity may be less strong in reality than on paper.
The PYD was notably absent at a meeting in Iraqi Kurdistan last week between Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) and the KNC, to discuss the future Syria and the need for a peaceful solution to Turkey's Kurdish question.
"We did not join it because they didn't invite us," Muslim added.
Ankara has been a key backer of Syria's opposition, both political and armed, and is suspected of financing and arming Syrian rebels, including Islamist insurgents.
The Syrian National Council is also based in Istanbul, with Turkey hosting a number of summits aimed at unifying Syrian opposition ranks.
But Muslim added his name to a number of critics of the SNC, criticizing the umbrella group for its lack of independence.
"The Syrian National Council continues to take one step forward and one step back and is taking orders from parties who will remain unnamed," Muslim said.
The PYD leader played down separatist intentions of Syrian Kurds, insisting on a final solution to the Syrian crisis to be led by Syrians.
"The Syrian Kurds are part of the Syrian people and the solution to the issue will be in Damascus".
(Al-Akhbar, Reuters)
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-kurds-warn-turkey-against-intervention
Assad vows to crush Syrian rebellion
Assad vows to crush Syrian rebellion
http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/5cols/leading_images/muppets.jpgA handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad meeting with Iranian aide Saeed Jalili in Damascus on 7 August 2012. (Photo: AFP – SANA)
Published Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Tuesday to crush the 17-month rebellion against him and to cleanse the country of "terrorists," as his troops engaged rebels in the key battleground city Aleppo.
"The Syrian people and their government are determined to purge the country of terrorists and to fight the terrorists without respite," he was quoted by state news agency SANA as telling visiting senior Iranian envoy Saeed Jalili.
Assad appeared earlier on television for the first time in more than two weeks in his meeting with Jalili.
The last time footage of Assad was screened was when he received new armed forces chief General Ali Ayyub on July 22, four days after a bombing killed four top security chiefs.
Tehran, which has voiced growing criticism of support by the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar for the rebels, also sent its foreign minister to Ankara and a letter to Washington holding them responsible for the fate of 48 kidnapped Iranians.
For his part Jalili warned that the crisis in Syria was no longer an internal Syrian matter, but had become a battle between what he called the axis of resistance and its enemies.
"What is happening in Syria is not an internal issue but a conflict between the axis of resistance on one hand, and the regional and global enemies of this axis on the other," said Jalili, a top aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He added that he was in favor of "national dialogue between all domestic groups to be the solution, and believes foreign solutions are not helpful."
Referring to 48 Iranian pilgrims abducted over the weekend, Jalili told Iran's al-Alam Arabic-language television Tehran was using "all means possible" to secure their release.
He said Tehran held responsible not only the kidnappers but also those foreign governments that supported the rebels fighting Assad's forces.
"We believe that not only terrorists but also their supporters are responsible for this criminal act," Jalili said.
Clinton calls for transition plan
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that the world needs to decide how to end the conflict in Syria and start planning for a political transition in Damascus.
"We must figure out how to hasten the day when bloodshed ends and the political transition begins," she said after talks with her South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
"We have to be sure that we are working with the international community to bring that day about and to be very clear of (our) expectations of both the government and the opposition about ending the violence and beginning the political transition," she said.
"We have to make sure that the state institutions stay intact," she said.
Clinton warned "terrorist" groups from exploiting the Syrian situation, a veiled reference to the growing number of Islamist militants in Syria.
"Those who are attempting to exploit the misery of the Syrian people either by sending in proxies or sending in terrorist fighters must recognize that will be not tolerated, first and foremost by the Syrian people."
The US backs Syrian rebels, but is wary of a growing Islamist presence within the rebellion.
South Africa, which holds a rotating seat on the UN Security Council, has been reluctant to support the US and European stance on Syria.
It abstained last month from a vote on a resolution that called for sanctions against Damascus, saying the rebels also needed to be pushed toward peace.
Clinton is currently on an African tour, but afterwards is headed to Istanbul for talks on the Syrian crisis.
(Al-Akhbar, AFP)
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/assad-vows-crush-syrian-rebellion
Al-Qaeda's Specter in Syria
Author: Ed Husain, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies[neoCon prosaud]
http://www.cfr.org/syria/al-qaedas-specter-syria/p28782
Bahraini MPs meet with Syrian Salafis
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/bahraini-mps-meet-syrian-salafis
.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/5cols/leading_images/Syria_Jihad_Main_pic_1.jpg
Members of the Free Syrian Army (The Brigade of the Revolution's Shield) pray in Sarmada, northern Idlib province, 4 July 2012. The words on the military cap reads: "There is only one God (Allah)". (Photo: Reuters - Shaam News Network - Handout)
By: Radwan Mortada (http://english.al-akhbar.com/author/radwan-mortada)
Published Monday, August 6, 2012
Syria has become a magnet for the world’s jihadis.
It has been attracting them since the start of the crisis, lured by what many believe to be a divine promise that jihad in Bilad al-Sham, Greater Syria, will set the stage for the emergence of the true Islamic state.
With victory and the downfall of the regime thus pre-ordained, jihadis from far and wide have been heeding the call.
According to jihadi sources, the fighters currently operating in Syria include Jordanians, Iraqis, Palestinians, Kuwaitis, Tunisians, Libyans, Saudis and Yemenis, as well as Muslims from non-Arab countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. The biggest single contingent of foreign fighters is said to be composed of Lebanese, Jordanian, Iraqi and Palestinians who had previously fought against US forces in Iraq.
But while all Islamist fighters rally under the same banner, they are divided among many factions and schools of thoughts.
Some – such as al-Qaeda’s Abdullah Azzam Brigades, the Jabhat al-Nusra li-Bilad al-Sham (Support Front for the Land of Syria) inspired by Mauritanian cleric Abul-Munther al-Shanqiti, and the Doura Fighting Group – espouse hardline takfiri ideology.
Extremist groups tend to have more combat experience than the others, and reports indicate that they are bracing for what they expect to be a major decisive battle.All three draw inspiration from a 200-page tract called The Return of Salaheddin, and see themselves as following in the footsteps Saleheddin al-Ayyoubi, the 12th Century commander who defeated the Crusaders in Jerusalem. They maintain that the latter-day liberation of Jerusalem requires the prior “purification” of its hinterland, and that they have a religious obligation to perform this task. This means ridding Greater Syria of apostates – i.e. expelling or eliminating all Shia Muslims and Christians.
These extremist groups tend to have more combat experience than the others, and reports indicate that they are bracing for what they expect to be a major decisive battle.
Some foreign jihadi factions are less doctrinally hardline, such as the Liwaa al-Umma (Banner of the Nation) Brigade which was formed by Libyan jihadists. It too holds that every Muslim has a pressing religious obligation to fight to liberate Syrian from “the tyrant” and establish “right-guided Islamic rule” in the country. However, it subscribes to Islamic rules of warfare, which include not targeting non-combatants, carrying out reprisals against innocents, or harming property or possessions.
The group is headed by two former commanders of the Tripoli Brigade during the Libyan revolution, sheikhs Mahdi al-Harati and Abdul Hakim al-Misri. Harati is also a citizen of Ireland, where he is Imam of the al-Noor mosque and established a school of teaching the Quran and an Islamic foundation. He was also a passenger on the 2010 Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, and was detained in an Israel jail.
Another main Syrian Islamist armed organization is the Suqour al-Sham (Hawks of Syria) Brigade, led by Ahmad al-Sheikh, known as Abu-Issam, a native of the village of Sireh. This group is said to consist of more than 50 fighting units active in the provinces of Idlib, Rif Dimashq, Latakia and Hama, and particularly in Jabal al-Zawiya, Khan Sheikhoun, rural areas east and west of al-Maarah, Saraqeb, the town of Idlib, and Sarmin. These formations include: the Muhammad al-Khalaf Brigade; the Daoud Brigade led by Hassan al-Aboud; the Ansar al-Haq Brigade led by Rashid Abu-Abdu; The Dhi Qar Brigade headed by Abdul Aziz bin-Wassam; the al-Muhajerin wal-Asar Brigade, whose leader is known as Abu-Musaab; the al-Khansa Brigade, headed by an Abu Shayma; and the Martyr Muhammad al-Abdallah Brigade, commanded by Nidal al-Hajj Ali.
Also prominent is the al-Ansar Brigade, which was established by Abu-Ali al-Ansari, a former member of the Fatah al-Islam group in Lebanon, who reportedly went to Syria after escaping from jail, and died fighting in Homs. This group and others interpret certain passages of the hadeeth – sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad – about the need to fight injustice as applying to present-day Syria. They see victory as inevitable, now that the revolutionaries have “turned to God,” provided they perform their duty of carrying out jihad.
Similar views are held by the Sheikh Hajjaj al-Ajami Brigade, based in the countryside near al-Boukamal close to the Iraqi border, whose Salafi jihadi followers are taught that the Prophet foretold current events in Syria.
In Homs, a total of 23 jihadi fighting groups are estimated to be active, under the auspices of the Homs Military Council. This is led by a Majlis al-Shura, a consultative council consisting of five clerics who provide both religious guidance and practical leadership. It is considered the most powerful body in Homs, with the power to make war or peace.
Leaders of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) have been strenuously denying that jihadi groups have been fighting under the banner of al-Qaeda.Military affairs in Homs are run by a 16-member committee of brigade commanders, which oversees the deployment of fighters, the provision of arms and ammunition, and inducting new volunteers, army defectors or Arab fighters into the ranks of the revolution.
A civil council meanwhile takes charge of securing food, medical supplies and shelter, both for fighters and civilians in rebel-controlled areas.
The biggest of the fighting groups in Homs is the Farouk Brigade, consisting of 16 separate battalions under a general commander – currently known as Abu-Sufyan – chosen by the Majlis al-Shura.
The next largest is the Khalid Ibn al-Waleed Brigade, which takes its political lead from the Muslim Brotherhood and is thought to have around 1,200 fighters, some of them from other Arab countries, including Libyans and Tunisians. Details of the group’s structure are unclear, but its main power-base is in the town of al-Rastan, and it is commanded by a former army captain Ahmad al-Deek. In addition to Homs, the group is active in al-Qusayr and Tal-Kalakh.
Other Islamist militias in Homs include the Abadelah, Omar Ibn-al-Khattab, al-Ahrar, Haraer Homs, and al-Mujahideen battalions. The latter is a secretive outfit said to consist of 53 experienced fighters, all of them veterans of the war in Iraq, led by a man referred to as Abdul-Lateef.
Leaders of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), including its commander Riyadh al-Asaad, have been strenuously denying that jihadi groups have been fighting under the banner of al-Qaeda in the current battles in Aleppo. When confronted with documentary evidence from the Arab world Western media, they tend to play down their numbers or dismiss them as irrelevant.
One FSA commander also maintained that heavy weaponry used by the rebels in recent fighting, including tanks, armored vehicles and artillery was all seized from the Syrian army. But he denied reports that rebel fighters had been supplied with anti-aircraft missiles, charging that such claims were “an excuse by the regime to bomb us with Mig-23s.”
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/bilad-al-sham-jihads-newest-hot-spot
Syrian Kurds warn Turkey against intervention
Syrian Kurds warn Turkey against intervention
http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/5cols/leading_images/PYD_07082012.jpgSyrian Kurds guard a check point at the entrance of the Kurdish town of Jinderes, near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on 22 July 2012. (Photo: AFP - Bulent Kilic)
Published Tuesday, August 7, 2012
A Kurdish party that is extending its power in northeastern Syria as President Bashar al-Assad battles an insurgency raging elsewhere in the country has warned Turkey not to interfere in its affairs.
Ankara has warned that it may intervene militarily into Syrian territory to thwart the emergence of the Democratic Union Party (PYD).
Turkey has accused the group of links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is fighting an armed campaign for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey.
But PYD leader Mohammed Saleh Muslim rejected the Turkish accusations, denying anything more than ideological affinity with the PKK and warning Ankara not to make threats.
"Turkey has nothing to do with the Syrian Kurds," he told Reuters via telephone from the Syrian city of Qamishli.
"The protection of my people in my areas, in my town: that is my right, no one can deny it, and that's what we did. So there is no need for Turkey to be worried and make threats," he said.
Kurds make up just 10 percent of the total population of Syria, but Muslim said they were now in control of the Syrian towns of Kobani, Derik and Efrin.
A 17-month-old uprising against Assad is being seen by Syrian Kurds as an opportunity to win the power enjoyed by their ethnic kin in northern Iraq where they live semi-autonomously from Baghdad.
But Syria's Kurds are not politically united and rivalries between the PYD and another group, the Kurdish National Council (KNC), have at times threatened to spiral into intra-Kurdish conflict.
Last month, the two parties signed a pact to form a joint council, presenting a united front to work for Kurdish interests in a post-Assad Syria. But that unity may be less strong in reality than on paper.
The PYD was notably absent at a meeting in Iraqi Kurdistan last week between Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) and the KNC, to discuss the future Syria and the need for a peaceful solution to Turkey's Kurdish question.
"We did not join it because they didn't invite us," Muslim added.
Ankara has been a key backer of Syria's opposition, both political and armed, and is suspected of financing and arming Syrian rebels, including Islamist insurgents.
The Syrian National Council is also based in Istanbul, with Turkey hosting a number of summits aimed at unifying Syrian opposition ranks.
But Muslim added his name to a number of critics of the SNC, criticizing the umbrella group for its lack of independence.
"The Syrian National Council continues to take one step forward and one step back and is taking orders from parties who will remain unnamed," Muslim said.
The PYD leader played down separatist intentions of Syrian Kurds, insisting on a final solution to the Syrian crisis to be led by Syrians.
"The Syrian Kurds are part of the Syrian people and the solution to the issue will be in Damascus".
(Al-Akhbar, Reuters)
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syrian-kurds-warn-turkey-against-intervention
Assad vows to crush Syrian rebellion
Assad vows to crush Syrian rebellion
http://english.al-akhbar.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/5cols/leading_images/muppets.jpgA handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad meeting with Iranian aide Saeed Jalili in Damascus on 7 August 2012. (Photo: AFP – SANA)
Published Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Tuesday to crush the 17-month rebellion against him and to cleanse the country of "terrorists," as his troops engaged rebels in the key battleground city Aleppo.
"The Syrian people and their government are determined to purge the country of terrorists and to fight the terrorists without respite," he was quoted by state news agency SANA as telling visiting senior Iranian envoy Saeed Jalili.
Assad appeared earlier on television for the first time in more than two weeks in his meeting with Jalili.
The last time footage of Assad was screened was when he received new armed forces chief General Ali Ayyub on July 22, four days after a bombing killed four top security chiefs.
Tehran, which has voiced growing criticism of support by the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar for the rebels, also sent its foreign minister to Ankara and a letter to Washington holding them responsible for the fate of 48 kidnapped Iranians.
For his part Jalili warned that the crisis in Syria was no longer an internal Syrian matter, but had become a battle between what he called the axis of resistance and its enemies.
"What is happening in Syria is not an internal issue but a conflict between the axis of resistance on one hand, and the regional and global enemies of this axis on the other," said Jalili, a top aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He added that he was in favor of "national dialogue between all domestic groups to be the solution, and believes foreign solutions are not helpful."
Referring to 48 Iranian pilgrims abducted over the weekend, Jalili told Iran's al-Alam Arabic-language television Tehran was using "all means possible" to secure their release.
He said Tehran held responsible not only the kidnappers but also those foreign governments that supported the rebels fighting Assad's forces.
"We believe that not only terrorists but also their supporters are responsible for this criminal act," Jalili said.
Clinton calls for transition plan
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that the world needs to decide how to end the conflict in Syria and start planning for a political transition in Damascus.
"We must figure out how to hasten the day when bloodshed ends and the political transition begins," she said after talks with her South African counterpart Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
"We have to be sure that we are working with the international community to bring that day about and to be very clear of (our) expectations of both the government and the opposition about ending the violence and beginning the political transition," she said.
"We have to make sure that the state institutions stay intact," she said.
Clinton warned "terrorist" groups from exploiting the Syrian situation, a veiled reference to the growing number of Islamist militants in Syria.
"Those who are attempting to exploit the misery of the Syrian people either by sending in proxies or sending in terrorist fighters must recognize that will be not tolerated, first and foremost by the Syrian people."
The US backs Syrian rebels, but is wary of a growing Islamist presence within the rebellion.
South Africa, which holds a rotating seat on the UN Security Council, has been reluctant to support the US and European stance on Syria.
It abstained last month from a vote on a resolution that called for sanctions against Damascus, saying the rebels also needed to be pushed toward peace.
Clinton is currently on an African tour, but afterwards is headed to Istanbul for talks on the Syrian crisis.
(Al-Akhbar, AFP)
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/assad-vows-crush-syrian-rebellion
Al-Qaeda's Specter in Syria
Author: Ed Husain, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies[neoCon prosaud]
http://www.cfr.org/syria/al-qaedas-specter-syria/p28782
Bahraini MPs meet with Syrian Salafis
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/bahraini-mps-meet-syrian-salafis
.