The Syrian regime, which has endured nine months of civil unrest spurred by the Arab Spring as it swept across the Middle East, has armed its medium-range missile arsenal with chemical warheads.

According to a report published by the Sabah daily Sunday, Damascus armed 600 one-ton chemical warheads to use in the event of a foreign military intervention. Furthermore, President Bashar al-Assad ordered the deployment of 21 missile launchers along its border with Turkey. Syria’s medium-range missiles that can be equipped with chemical warheads have a range of up to 1,300 kilometers and would include the southern and central provinces of Turkey.

According to the daily, the Syrian military keeps its stockpile of chemical warheads in secret facilities in and around the capital city of Damascus. In mid-November, President Assad held a special meeting with top commanders of the Syrian army and argued over how to respond to a possible military intervention by the international community. Additionally, Russia, which stood by the Assad regime’s defiance of international pressure on Damascus, sent 3 million gas masks to the troubled country. Most of those masks will be distributed to the regime’s loyalists, the families of soldiers and Baath supporters. The distribution of the masks is set to be completed by the end of December, according to the daily.

Syria is believed to have had a chemical weapons arsenal for more than three decades. Following heavy defeats against Israel in conventional warfare, international defense sources believe that following the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Hafez al-Assad, the former general of the Syrian Air Force, decided to bolster Syria’s strategic position through the development of ballistic missiles to counter Israel’s superiority in conventional warfare. The unchallenged superiority Israeli air forces led Syrian generals to push for other means to protect the regime. From then on, Syria has launched clandestine efforts to develop chemical warheads with ballistic missile delivery systems.

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Columns of military trucks carrying fresh troops rolled into Moscow on Tuesday, a day after a record protest rally ended in clashes with police.

Several bloggers reported seeing columns of Interior Troops driving into central Moscow via major thoroughfares, including Yaroslavskoye Shosse, Leningradskoye Shosse and Shosse Entuziastov, Gazeta.ru reported.

Among the divisions spotted was the Dzerzhinsky division of the Interior Troops, which specializes in suppressing mass protests, Vesti.ru said.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said police had requested the soldiers, Interfax reported. A police spokesman said security is being stepped up Dec. 1 to 6 in connection with the State Duma vote last Sunday.

“If the young are not initiated into the village, they will burn it down just to feel its warmth.” – African Proverb.

This mini-documentary film looks at the initial causes and wider context surrounding the recent England riots. Politicians refuse to acknowledge their role in creating a deeply unfair and failing society, a perfect storm of police brutality, city poverty and austerity measures, that will only get worse unless the root problem is addressed.

Did you know for the rioters to be on par with the looting by the financial bailouts, corporate tax avoiders and Libyan invasion, they would have to repeat the same level of damage……4,320 times?

Documentary by WideShut.co.uk

A senior Iranian lawmaker has called on the UN Security Council to condemn the British prime minister for the brutal repression of protesters in the UK as a ‘war criminal.’

Deputy Chairman of Iran’s Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Mohammad-Karim Abedi on Friday lashed out at David Cameron for his regime’s crackdown on protesters, describing it as “unacceptable,” Fars News Agency reported.

Speaking at a news conference outside 10 Downing Street on Thursday, British Prime Minister Cameron said he had authorized the use of rubber bullets and water cannon by the Metropolitan Police to suppress the widespread protests by youths — who UK politicians refer to as gangs of criminals.

“If the Security Council does not put David Cameron’s trial as a war criminal on its agenda and does not meet this demand of the British nation, nations’ view of this council will definitely change more than ever before,” he said.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran as an establishment which considers itself an advocate of the rights of nations cannot remain silent on the British kingdom’s crimes,” Abedi underlined.

The unrest in Britain broke out on August 6 in Tottenham, north London, after a few hundred people gathered outside a police station to protest the fatal shooting and killing of a black man, Mark Duggan, by the police.

Violent protests soon erupted in major cities like Birmingham, Liverpool, and Bristol, contributing to Britain’s worst riot since the 1930s.

On Thursday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the British chargé d’affaires in Tehran to convey Iran’s concern over the heavy-handed handling of protests in Britain.

Earlier, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for an end to the use of force against demonstrators in Britain.

Deputy chairman of Iran’s Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Ebrahimi said on Tuesday that Iran is ready to send a delegation to investigate human rights in Britain.

The commander of Iran’s Basij Force has also expressed readiness to deploy peacekeepers to monitor the rights situation in Britain.

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Tehran’s interim Friday Prayers Leader Hojjatoleslam Kazem Seddiqi blames Britain’s colonial past for the unprecedented social unrest in the country.

“No one thought that Britain, which was once a pioneer in arrogance and colonialism, would one day be engulfed in the flames of its people’s wrath,” IRNA quoted Hojjatoleslam Seddiqi as saying on Friday.

The Iranian cleric said the unrest in Britain was the direct result of the crimes and atrocities it has committed in other countries.

“The colonialists schemed and spent money to create chaos in [other] countries and today the result of their plotting is the events they have been stricken with.”

Seddiqi criticized the British government for its lack of media transparency and for imposing censorship on independent media.

He said Britain’s military ambitions — which have cost British taxpayers a fortune — have led to social poverty and injustice in the country.

The cleric further criticized the West for propagating racial extremism and Islamophobia.

The unrest in Britain began on August 6 in the north London suburb of Tottenham, after a few hundred people gathered outside a police station to protest against the fatal shooting and killing of a black man, Mark Duggan, by the police.

Thereafter, violent protests erupted in major cities like Birmingham, Liverpool, and Bristol, contributing to Britain’s worst riot since the 1930s.

Hojjatoleslam Seddiqi deplored the policies adopted by Western powers, the United States in particular, regarding African countries where famine is pushing Somalia and its neighbors towards a humanitarian crisis.

“The US has looted much of Africa’s resources and today there are no reports of relief efforts by this country for the famine-stricken Somalis,” he stated.

Tehran’s interim Friday Prayers leader pointed to the humanitarian aid convoys the Islamic Republic has sent to Somalia, encouraging more humanitarian supplies for about 3.7 million Somalis who are on the brink of starvation.

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Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday urged the U.N. Security Council to take action over the rioting in Britain, arguing it was hypocritical in its reaction to such events.

Ahmadinejad, whose government is under international sanction for its controversial nuclear program and has been condemned by the Western countries such as Britain for its handling of protests and dissent, also called on British officials to listen to the demands of their people.

“The U.N. is silent. Human rights bodies are silent,” Ahmadinejad said on state radio following a Cabinet meeting. “If one percent of this happens in countries that oppose the West, they scream until they are hoarse.”

“Why is the Security Council silent?” he said, also questioning its willingness to take action directed at one of its five veto-wielding permanent members.

Iran’s nuclear file has been a fixture before the council, where the United States, Britain, China, Russia and France hold permanent seats. The other 10 spots rotate between other U.N. member states, and the council is the only body within the United Nations that can authorize any punitive measure, including military action, on countries.

Tehran is under several rounds of sanctions for its disputed nuclear program — one which the United States and its allies believe is aimed at developing nuclear weapons. Iran disputes that claim, saying the program is for peaceful purposes only, such as generating electricity.

Ahmadinejad’s comments appear to be a direct jab at Britain, which supported the opposition movement during postelection turmoil in 2009.

Iranian opposition members say scores were killed in heavy crackdowns by government forces and militia allied to Ahmadinejad, while hundreds more were either wounded or carted off to prison. The government has said 30 people were killed in the protests.

The unrest in Britain began Saturday after an initially peaceful protest over a police shooting in a London neighborhood turned violent. It has since spread to other cities in the country.

Iranian state media has seized on the rioting as an opportunity for payback, dubbing the violence there a “civil war.” Hardline lawmakers have urged London to allow an Iranian human rights delegation to monitor the situation in the country.

In comments directed at Britain’s leadership, including Prime Minister David Cameron, Ahmadinejad said the officials should “stand by their own people.”

“They should change their attitude, change their management and deal with their own people instead of intervening in others’ affairs,” he said, referring to Britain’s role in Afghanistan, Iraq and its participation in the NATO airstrikes on Libya.

“They were claiming that they are a role model and advocator of freedom, human rights and democracy, but what behavior do they apply in dealing with their own people,” said Ahmadinejad.

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Commander of Iran’s Basij Force says it is ready to deploy peacekeeper forces in London as the unrest in the British capital drags on despite tightened security measures.

“The Ashura brigades of Basij forces are ready to be deployed to London as peacekeeping forces,” Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naqdi said on Thursday, Fars news agency reported.

Naqdi criticized the British authorities for their harsh crackdown of protesters and describing them as rioters and hooligans.

“Unfortunately the crimes and violence of the autocratic British kingdom continues against the country’s deprived [population] and not only the advice of well-wishers has no effect on the conduct of the regime’s repressive police force but we witness the deprived people of this country are being called a bunch of thieves and looters,” he regretted.

It is not clear why they cannot identify and track down the thieves while they have more than 4.6 million security cameras installed in the country and there are only one million people living in London, the Iranian commander questioned.

Naqdi expressed disappointment with the UN Security Council as invariably supporting oppressors.

“If the UN General Assembly approves, the Basij Organization is ready to send a number of Ashura and al-Zahra brigades to Liverpool and Birmingham as peacekeepers to monitor observation of human rights laws and deter use of force,” he added.

Naqdi referred to UK Prince Williams’ lavish wedding and the high cost of its live coverage and described the recent uprisings in Britain as the result of “big mistakes” by British officials and warned them of even more severe consequences.

“This is the beginning if the road and the UK regime has to pay the price for the massacres in Africa, wars and bloodshed in the Indian peninsula, crimes in China, the fall of the Ottoman Empire and bloody conflicts among Muslims and followers of other faiths,” the brigadier noted.

He said the uprising in Britain even if oppressed at this stage is far deeper than a political unrest or factional conflict to be resolved easily.

“This wound will come to a head elsewhere…The people of Britain have awakened and will definitely take their rights back,” he stated.

Naqdi condemned the use of violence against protesters in Britain and deplored the killing of Mark Duggan, 26, who sustained injuries in a shooting spree by armed officers in Ferry Lane in Tottenham last Thursday.

The father of four was killed after police stopped the minicab he was in to carry out an arrest as part of a pre-planned operation. Meanwhile, ballistic tests have indicated that Duggan did not fire at officers before he was killed.

Naqdi recalled remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, who had earlier warned of similar revolutions in Europe as those in North Africa and the Middle East.

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Iran’s president is urging the U.N. Security Council to take action over the rioting in Britain.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was also quoted by state radio on Wednesday calling on Britain’s government to listen to the demands of their people.

Ahmadinejad was heard on the radio asking: “What else should happen for the Security Council to react.”

His comments appear to be direct jabs at the country, which supported Iran’s opposition during postelection turmoil in 2009 that left scores wounded while hundreds more were carted off to prison.

Over the past days, overnight rioting has gripped the British capital, while looting has surfaced in other cities. The unrest began Saturday after an initially peaceful protest over a police shooting in a London neighborhood turned violent.

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British Home Secretary Theresa May has threatened the use water cannons and even military force to quell widespread protests in London against power abuse by police.

As the British capital witnessed the third night of spreading violence and the evident loss of police control over several parts of London, May said that officers would be allowed to use water cannons.

The decision was soon backed by Former London mayor Ken Livingstone, who believes that police must be allowed to use ‘the weapon’ to disperse protesters. Livingstone said, “The issue of water cannon would be very useful given the level of arson we are seeing here.”

The riot-control weapon that shoots a high-pressure stream of water was employed to control mass protests in Northern Ireland.

May also insisted that in case the police fail to regain control of London streets, the government will consider the option of deploying military forces throughout the city.

Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP and former Army officer, asked the Home Secretary to use water cannons to control the violence that has spread across the capital.

“I find it strange that we are willing to use this sort of measures against the Irish yet when Englishmen step out of line and behave in this atrocious and appalling way, we are happy to mollycoddle them,” said Mercer.

“If the police want cannon then they should be allowed to use them. I have used water cannon myself and I found them extremely effective,” he said.

Several other figures also urged the Home Office to apply the so-called anti-riot weapon, claiming that in some cases cannon use was necessary.

Met Police said in a statement that they used armoured vehicles to push back London protesters on the third night of spreading unrest in London.

Commander Christine Jones, said, “We are using tactics flexibly to respond to the disorder we are still seeing in different areas of the capital. Anyone involved in criminality should be under no illusion that we will pursue you. We have been making arrests all evening and have a team working during the night examining CCTV images. We will follow up evidence in the coming days in order to bring anyone else responsible for criminal acts to justice.”

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Iran called for London Police to exercise self-restraint in dealing with protesters in Tottenham, north of London.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast referred to Saturday night massive protests in Tottenham which came following murder of a young black man by Scotland Yard Police and called for the UK government to avoid any police’s harsh treatment with protesters.

He stressed return of peace and calm to London through talks and examining demands of the demonstrators.

Mehmanparast expressed hope independent human rights bodies would take measures to make clear facts behind murder of the black man soon.

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