C-130 pesawat kargo Hercules (C-130 Hercules cargo
plane (Reuters/Tech. Sgt. Brian E. - think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
MaliaJYy – (Published Ogos 27, 2013) UK mengumpulkan pesawat
pejuang, perkakasan tentera di pangkalan berhampiran Cyprus Syria – laporan “Pesawat
perang dan pengangkutan tentera” telah dilaporkan telah berpindah ke Britain
Akrotiri pengkalan udara di Cyprus dalam tanda terbaru persediaan tentera
bersekutu ‘untuk serangan tentera ke atas Syria di tengah-tengah retorik yg
suka berperang menentang kerajaan Syria.
2
juruterbang komersial yang sering terbang dari Larnaca, Cyprus, mendakwa telah
dilihat C-130 pesawat pengangkutan dari pesawat mereka sendiri dan pembentukan
kecil jet pejuang mungkin Eropah dari skrin radar mereka, menurut Guardian.
Akrotiri
pengkalan udara adalah kurang daripada 100 kilometer dari Syria, menjadikannya
hab besar untuk kempen pengeboman. Penduduk berhampiran lapangan terbang
disahkan Guardian bahawa "aktiviti terdapat banyak banyak tinggi daripada
biasa dalam tempoh 48 jam yang lalu.”
Sementara
itu, pegawai-pegawai tertinggi tentera dari 10 Barat dan negara-negara Timur
Tengah - yang diketuai oleh Amerika Syarikat Joint Chiefs Pengerusi Jeneral
Martin Dempsey dan rakan sejawatannya dari Jordan itu - bertemu di Amman,
Jordan, untuk membincangkan tindakan ketenteraan yang berpotensi di Syria. Ini
berikutan laporan bahawa Dempsey dibentangkan pilihan tentera berpotensi untuk White
House pada hujung minggu.
Pada
hari Jumaat, Reuters mendedahkan Tentera Laut Amerika Syarikat telah
mengembangkan kehadiran Mediterranean dengan kapal ke-4 mampu melancarkan jarak
jauh, peluru berpandu subsonik untuk mencapai sasaran di tanah Syria.
UK
gathers warplanes, military hardware in Cyprus base near Syria - report
“Warplanes
and military transporters” have reportedly been moved to Britain’s Akrotiri
airbase in Cyprus in the latest sign of the allied forces’ preparations for a
military strike on Syria amid bellicose rhetoric against the Syrian government.
Two
commercial pilots who regularly fly from Larnaca, Cyprus, claim to have spotted
C-130 transport planes from their own aircraft and small formations of possibly
European fighter jets from their radar screens, according to the Guardian.
Akrotiri
airbase is less than 100 miles from Syria, making it a likely hub for a bombing
campaign. Residents near the airfield confirmed to the Guardian that “activity
there has been much higher than normal over the past 48 hours.”
Meanwhile,
top military officials from ten Western and Middle Eastern nations – led by US
Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey and his Jordanian counterpart – met
in Amman, Jordan, to discuss potential military action in Syria. This follows
reports that Dempsey presented potential military options to the White House
over the weekend.
On
Friday, Reuters revealed the US Navy was expanding its Mediterranean presence
with a fourth ship capable launching long-range, subsonic cruise missiles to
reach land targets in Syria.
USS Mahan, sebuah Arleigh Burke kelas pemusnah (USS
Mahan, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer (Reuters/Chip East – think IN pictures
@1WORLDCommunity)
Aset
tentera British sudah berhampiran Syria termasuk 4 kapal perang, perdana HMS
Bulwark Tentera Laut, sebuah syarikat penerbangan helikopter dan 2 kapal frigat
berhampiran Albania. Sementara Perancis - satu lagi pemain utama dalam konflik
yang mungkin - mempunyai jet pejuang yang ditempatkan di Emiriyah Arab Bersatu
jika diperlukan
Pentadbiran
Obama telah sedikit meragui rejim Assad senjata kimia digunakan di pinggir
Damsyik minggu lepas, membunuh beratus-ratus, Amerika Syarikat Setiausaha
Negara John Kerry berkata pada hari Isnin.
Laporan
dari Syria peperangan kimia “harus kejutan hati nurani di DUNIA,” kata Kerry,
sambil menambah bahawa pembunuhan secara rambang wanita dan kanak-kanak yang
dijalankan oleh rejim Assad merupakan “kelucahan moral.”
Presiden
Barack Obama belum lagi membuat penentuan tentang bagaimana Amerika Syarikat
akan bertindak balas, Kerry berkata, tetapi keputusan akan datang.
“Walaupun
penyiasat mengumpul maklumat tambahan di atas tanahnya, pemahaman kita tentang
apa yang telah berlaku di Syria adalah berasaskan fakta, dimaklumkan oleh sedar
dan dipandu oleh akal,” Sec. Kerry berkata. “Bilangan yang dilaporkan mangsa,
simptom yang dilaporkan dari orang-orang yang terbunuh atau cedera, akaun
tangan pertama dari organisasi kemanusiaan di atas tanahnya . . . ini semua
menunjukkan dengan kuat bahawa semua imej-imej ini sudah menjerit pada kami
adalah nyata: bahawa senjata kimia telah digunakan di Syria ".
Sementara
itu, Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin, hari ini semasa panggilan telefon dengan
Perdana Menteri Britain, David Cameron bahawa tidak ada apa-apa keterangan
serangan telah berlaku. “Presiden Putin berkata bahawa mereka tidak mempunyai
bukti sama ada serangan senjata kimia telah berlaku atau yang bertanggungjawab,”
kata seorang jurucakap kerajaan British berkata selepas mesyuarat itu.
Menteri
Luar Rusia Sergey Lavrov disahkan semasa sidang akhbar kecemasan di Moscow
bahawa Amerika Syarikat, Britain dan negara-negara lain telah mengumpulkan satu
“kuasa yang kuat” dan “persediaan kapal dan pesawat mereka” untuk serangan yang
mungkin di Syria.
British
military assets already near Syria include four warships, the Navy's flagship
HMS Bulwark, a helicopter carrier and two frigates near Albania. Meanwhile
France – another key player in the possible conflict – has its jet fighters
stationed in the United Arab Emirates if needed
The
Obama administration has little doubt the regime of Assad deployed chemical
weapons on the outskirts of Damascus last week, killing hundreds, US Secretary
of State John Kerry said on Monday.
Reports
from Syria of chemical warfare “should shock the conscience of the world,”
Kerry said, adding that the indiscriminate slaughter of women and children
carried out by the Assad regime constitutes a “moral obscenity.”
President
Barack Obama has yet to make a determination about how the US will respond,
Kerry said, but a decision would be forthcoming.
“While
investigators are gathering additional information on the ground, our
understanding of what has already happened in Syria is grounded in facts,
informed by conscious and guided by common sense,” Sec. Kerry said. “The
reported number of victims, the reported symptoms of those who were killed or
injured, the first-hand accounts from the humanitarian organizations on the
ground . . . these all strongly indicate that everything these images are
already screaming at us are real: that chemical weapons were used in Syria.”
Meanwhile,
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday during a phone call with British
Prime Minister David Cameron that there is no evidence such an attack had
occurred. “President Putin said that they did not have evidence of whether a
chemical weapons attack had taken place or who was responsible,” a British
government spokesperson said after the meeting.
Russia’s
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed during an emergency press conference
in Moscow that the US, Britain and other countries have assembled a “powerful
force” and are “readying their ships and planes” for a possible invasion in
Syria.
Menteri Luar Rusia Sergey Lavrov (Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (RIA
Novosti/Maxim Blinov – think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
“Rasmi Washington, London & Paris mengatakan mereka mempunyai bukti dipertikaikan
bahawa kerajaan Syria di belakang serangan kimia di Damsyik, tetapi mereka
masih belum mengemukakan bukti ini,” kata Lavrov, menyatakan kemarahan tertentu
dengan kemungkinan yang baru diperkenalkan NATO mengadakan ‘Strike’ atas Syria
tanpa mandat Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu.
Penyiasat
PBB berada di kawasan Damsyik Isnin, mengambil sampel dari tapak serangan kimia
dikatakan Rabu di pinggir bandar yang timur. Pasukan PBB telah cepat terpaksa
kembali ke pusat pemeriksaan kerajaan untuk menggantikan kereta mereka, yang “telah
sengaja ditembak beberapa kali oleh penembak tepat yang tidak dikenali di
kawasan zon penampan,” kata seorang jurucakap Setiausaha Agung PBB, Martin
Nesirky, katanya.
Bangsa-Bangsa
Bersatu memberi jaminan bahawa ia masih mungkin untuk pasukan pakar mengumpul
keterangan yang perlu walaupun masa yang berlalu sejak serangan yang didakwa.
Ban Ki-moon berkata PBB akan “mendaftar aduan yang kuat” untuk kedua-dua
kerajaan Syria dan pihak pembangkang akibat serangan dalam usaha untuk
mengekang serangan masa depan menentang pasukan penyiasatan.
Kembali
di Washington, akhbar White House Setiausaha Jay Carney ditimbang dengan
kenyataan sendiri Isnin, mengatakan penggunaan senjata kimia pada skala yang
meluas di luar Damsyik pada 21 Ogos adalah “tidak dapat dinafikan.”
“Sebagaimana
Ban Ki-moon berkata minggu lepas, penyiasatan PBB tidak akan menentukan yang
menggunakan senjata-senjata kimia, hanya sama ada senjata itu digunakan -
penghakiman yang sudah jelas kepada DUNIA,” kata Carney, sambil menambah bahawa
ia adalah “mendalam dalam kepentingan Amerika Syarikat dan masyarakat
antarabangsa bahawa melanggar satu norma antarabangsa yang akan menyahut.”
Di
samping itu, tidak Sec Kerry nor Carney menyatakan
apa yang negara-negara bersetuju atau tidak bersetuju dengan naratif Amerika
serangan kimia dikatakan Assad. Carney tidak mengatakan presiden sedang mencari
bimbingan daripada ahli-ahli Kongres Amerika Syarikat untuk menggunakan
kekerasan terhadap Syria.
“Official
Washington, London and Paris say they have incontrovertible evidence that the
Syrian government is behind the chemical attack in Damascus, but they have not
yet presented this evidence,” Lavrov said, expressing particular outrage with
the newly introduced possibility of NATO staging a strike on Syria without a
United Nations mandate.
UN
investigators were in the Damascus area Monday, taking samples from the site of
Wednesday’s alleged chemical attack in an eastern suburb. The UN team was
quickly forced to return to the government checkpoint to replace their car,
which “was deliberately shot at multiple times by unidentified snipers in the
buffer zone area," a spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Martin
Nesirky, said.
The
United Nations assured that it was still possible for the team of experts to
gather necessary evidence despite the time elapsed since the alleged attack.
Ban Ki-moon added that the UN will “register a strong complaint” to both the
Syrian government and opposition forces as a result of the attack in an effort
to stem future aggression against investigation teams.
Back
in Washington, White House press Secretary Jay Carney weighed in with a
statement of his own Monday, saying use of chemical weapons on a widespread
scale outside of Damascus on August 21 was "undeniable."
“As
Ban Ki-moon said last week, the UN investigation will not determine who used
these chemical weapons, only whether such weapons were used – a judgment that
is already clear to the world," Carney said, adding that it is “profoundly
in the interest of the United States and the international community that that
violation of an international norm be responded to.”
Further,
neither Sec. Kerry nor Carney stated what countries agree or disagree with the
American narrative of Assad’s alleged chemical attack. Carney did say the
president is seeking guidance from members of the US Congress on using force
against Syria.
Dalam imej ini disediakan oleh Agensi Berita Syria
(SANA) pada 19 Mac, 2013, medik dan lain-lain orang bertopeng hadir dengan
seorang lelaki di sebuah hospital di Khan al-Assal di wilayah utara Aleppo,
kerana kerajaan Syria dituduh pasukan pemberontak menggunakan senjata kimia
untuk kali pertama (AFP Photo – think IN pictures @1WORLDCommunity)
Menurut
Perang Kuasa Resolusi, yang diluluskan di Amerika Syarikat pada tahun 1973,
penggunaan kuasa tentera adalah terhad kepada keadaan apabila suatu
perisytiharan rasmi perang telah diisytiharkan, kebenaran berkanun tertentu
diberikan atau semasa kecemasan kebangsaan.
Tanpa
kelulusan Kongres segera, Presiden boleh melakukan tentera tanpa pengisytiharan
perang. Dalam kes itu, Presiden perlu mengemukakan laporan kepada Kongres pada
butir-butir tindakan itu. Kemudiannya selepas tempoh 60 hari, Kongres mesti
meluluskan tindakan selanjutnya, walaupun Kuasa Resolusi Perang telah dilanggar
oleh presiden Amerika Syarikat pada masa lalu.
White
House dikemukakan pada tahun 2011 bahawa tindakan tentera Amerika Syarikat
tanpa kelulusan Kongres di Libya tidak melanggar Kuasa Resolusi Perang
berdasarkan peranan terhad tentera Amerika Syarikat sepatutnya dalam kempen
NATO yang dipimpin.
Walaupun
kuasa barat muncul bersedia untuk tindakan ketenteraan mungkin terhadap Syria,
Obama berkata dalam satu temu bual Jumaat Amerika Syarikat perlu berhati-hati “ditarik
ke dalam sangat mahal, sukar, campur tangan mahal yang sebenarnya membiak lebih
kebencian di rantau itu.’
Obama
pergi untuk menyatakan tempahan untuk menjadi yang terlibat dalam konflik 30
bulan Syria kerana kekurangan konsensus antarabangsa.
“Jika
Amerika Syarikat berlaku di dalam dan menyerang negara lain tanpa mandat PBB
dan tanpa bukti yang jelas yang boleh dikemukakan, maka ada soalan dari segi
sama ada undang-undang antarabangsa menyokongnya, (dan) kita perlu gabungan itu
untuk membuat ia berfungsi?” kata Obama.
Setiausaha
Pertahanan Amerika Syarikat Chuck Hagel disahkan akhir minggu lalu bahawa
pasukan tentera Amerika Syarikat sedang membuat persediaan untuk kemungkinan
bahawa Presiden Obama akan memerintahkan serang.
“Jabatan
Pertahanan mempunyai tanggungjawab untuk memberikan presiden dengan pilihan
untuk jangkanya, dan yang memerlukan kedudukan pasukan kami, kedudukan aset,
dapat menjalankan pilihan yang berbeza - apa sahaja pilihan presiden boleh
memilih,” Hagel berkata pada Jumaat, sambil menambah keputusan perlu dibuat
dengan cepat diberikan “mungkin ada satu lagi serangan (kimia).”
Pursuant
to the War Powers Resolution, passed in the US in 1973, use of military force
is limited to instances when a formal declaration of war has been declared,
specific statutory authorization is granted or during a national emergency.
Without
immediate congressional approval, the President can commit troops without a
declaration of war. In that case, the President must submit a report to
Congress on the details of that action. Then after the 60-day period, Congress
must approve further action, though the War Powers Resolution has been violated
by US presidents in the past.
The
White House posited in 2011 that US military action without congressional
approval in Libya did not violate the War Powers Resolution based on US forces’
supposed limited role in the NATO-led campaign.
While
western forces appear ready for possible military action against Syria, Obama
said in an interview Friday the United States should be wary of “being drawn
into very expensive, difficult, costly interventions that actually breed more
resentment in the region.”
Obama
went on to express reservations for becoming involved in the 30-month Syrian
conflict due to a lack of international consensus.
"If
the US goes in and attacks another country without a UN mandate and without
clear evidence that can be presented, then there are questions in terms of
whether international law supports it, [and] do we have the coalition to make
it work?” said Obama.
US
Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel confirmed late last week that US military
forces are preparing for the possibility that President Obama would order a
strike.
"The
Defense Department has a responsibility to provide the president with options
for contingencies, and that requires positioning our forces, positioning our
assets, to be able to carry out different options - whatever options the
president might choose," Hagel said Friday, adding a decision must be made
quickly given “there may be another (chemical) attack.”
