Maliki in Russia for huge arms deal, Syria agreement
09 October 2012 - 06H19
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki delivers a lecture at the foreign ministry in Moscow, October 8. Russia eyes a record arms deal and rare agreement over Syria on Tuesday when it hosts Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for the first time in almost four years
AFP - Russia eyes a record arms deal and rare agreement over Syria on Tuesday when it hosts Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for the first time in almost four years.
Maliki arrived in Moscow for three days of discussions Monday that media reports speculated would conclude with the signing of a $4.3 billion arms deal that makes Russia Iraq's biggest supplier after the United States.
But that contract and talks about new energy tie-ups were likely to create only the background to a strong common stance against any form of outside pressure on Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad to leave power.
"The stance of Iraq calls for finding a political solution to the Syrian crisis, and it is opposed to violence ... for solving the crisis," Maliki said in a recent television interview.
"Iraq has not intervened in Syria on behalf of the regime's interests, or for the interests of the armed opposition."
Talks set for Wednesday will thus offer President Vladimir Putin a rare chance to showcase a key regional power as an ally of his refusal to press for Assad's resignation or let the opposition gain the upper hand after 19 months of fighting.
Russia views Syria as its last major Middle East outpost and has most recently refused to condemned its volleys of fire into Turkish territory that have edged the two sides ever closer to an all-out war.
Meanwhile, Maliki also intends to use his visit to wean off his nation's overwhelming dependence on US weapons and technology.
A noted military analyst and the Vedomosti business daily both reported that the $4.3 billion negotiated arms agreement involves 30 Mi-28 attack helicopters and 42 Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems.
Further discussions are reportedly underway for Iraq's eventual acquisition of MiG-29 jets and heavy armoured vehicles along with other weaponry.
Vedomosti said the deal would be Russia's largest since 2006 and a symbol of its return to the Middle East arms markets after years of decline caused by the surging US presence.
Maliki is travelling with Iraq's oil and trade minister as well as the chief of its investment commission -- two officials in a perfect position to approve new investments from Russia's state energy holdings Rosneft and Gazprom.
Both Russian giants enjoyed lucrative deals in the country before those were restructured following the 2003 fall of the Moscow-backed Saddam Hussein regime.
Both have expressed interest in new fields in the region that could compensate for gradually diminishing production at some of the two companies' most important but oldest fields.
Eve of Destruction >> which candidate puts us one step closer...on this I agree with you...the dept of defense has enough money to do its job of PROTECTING US >>
Rebels seize key town near Aleppo October 10, 2012 01:40 AM By Daily Star Staff
Agence France Presse
Syrian rebel fighters patrol during clashes against Syrian government forces in the Saif al-Dawla district of the northern city of Aleppo on October 9, 2012. (AFP PHOTO/Tauseef MUSTAFA)
BEIRUT: Syrian rebels seized a key town in the northwest Tuesday, in a move that was expected to slow the regime’s efforts to break a stalemate in the metropolis of Aleppo.
The rebel advance on the town of Maaret al-Numan in the governorate of Idlib came as the regime said its troops entered the rebel-held neighborhood of Khaldieh in Homs, although activist groups denied that government forces had overrun the district.
The rebel battalions overran Maaret al-Numan, located on the highway linking Damascus with Aleppo, after a fierce 48-hour gunbattle and heavy shelling, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“This is a strategic location on the route from Damascus to Aleppo. All the regime reinforcements headed to Aleppo must pass through Maaret al-Numan,” it added.
“This is your tank, O Bashar!” a group of about 20 rebels shouted in a video posted by activists online as they fired off celebratory gunfire at a captured army checkpoint.
Rebels have released a series of videos detailing the battle for Maaret al-Numan, as well as the taking of nearby villages of Bdama and Khirbet al-Joz, which they say will bolster their control over areas bordering Turkey.
The rebels’ seizure of the Maaret al-Numan came as government soldiers moved into Homs, farther south on the same highway, in a bid to finish off insurgents in the central city and free up forces for northern battle zones.
While pro-opposition websites acknowledged that the army entered part of the neighborhood, the Observatory said Khaldieh remained in rebel hands, although fighting was intense.
“The catastrophe is that there are 800 families trapped in Homs. It will be an unprecedented massacre if they take over the district,” said an activist, who identified himself as Abu Bilal.
The army onslaught around Homs sparked a new exodus of refugees into neighboring Lebanon, with up to 400 people fleeing from the nearby area of Qusayr within 24 hours, a Lebanese security official said.
A security official told AFP on Monday the army hoped to eliminate the last pockets of resistance in Homs and nearby Qusayr by the week’s end to free up troops for battle zones in the north, such as Aleppo.
On the Turkish border, no cross-border shelling was reported for the first time in a week, although Ankara continued to warn Syria that it would not hesitate to retaliate for any strike on its territory.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned of retaliation against Syria’s “aggressive position.”
“It has become inevitable for our armed forces to retaliate in kind ... as the Syrian administration maintains its aggressive position,” he told MPs.
Erdogan spoke as his armed forces chief inspected troops on a tour of the heavily fortified border after a number of shells landed on Turkish soil, including one strike that killed five civilians last week.
For its part, NATO warned against any escalation in hostilities between Syria and Turkey after border artillery exchanges as alliance defense ministers prepare for a difficult withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“I would like to commend the Turkish government for the restraint it has shown in its response to the completely unacceptable Syrian attacks,” NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the opening of a two-day ministers meeting.
“Obviously Turkey has a right to defend herself within international law,” Rasmussen said.
“We hope it [protecting Turkey] won’t be necessary, we hope that both countries will show restraint and avoid an escalation of the crisis,” he said.
Turkey as a NATO member has the right to invoke military help in response to an attack on its territory under Article V, but it has so far invoked only Article IV, which involves consultations.
Pressed later in the day, Fogh Rasmussen reiterated his position, insisting on the importance of a political solution in Syria and saying there was no reason to focus on the issue of NATO contingency plans being ready for Turkey’s defense.
“I think you would be surprised if a defense alliance ... didn’t have in place necessary plans to defend and protect all our allies,” he said.
Fogh Rasmussen’s comments came as the Dogan agency quoted unidentified military sources as saying that at least 25 additional F-16 fighter jets were deployed at Turkey’s Diyarbakir air base in the southeast late Monday.
A senior U.S. defense official said the alliance would likely react if Turkey made a request for assistance.
“The allies would have to hear what Turkey says and decide what kind of assistance the alliance should bring,” he said. “We engage with Turkey to make sure that should the time come where Turkey needs help we’re able to do what we can.”
In the evening, activists and opposition websites reported the sounds of explosions and clashes in Harasta and other eastern suburbs of Damascus. Harasta was the site of twin suicide bombings that targeted an Air Force Intelligence compound near Damascus late Monday and killed dozens of people, the Observatory said.
Pro-government media remained silent the attacks, while a security official told AFP that the assault had been largely foiled, although some people were hurt when one vehicle blew up.
The blasts were claimed by the jihadi Al-Nusra Front, which said one attacker drove a booby-trapped car and a second an explosives-packed ambulance.
The Observatory’s Abdel-Rahman said “dozens of people” died in the bombings, and that the fate of “hundreds of prisoners” held in the building’s basement was unknown.
“The regime has not said a word about what happened last night. I hold the regime responsible for the fate of the prisoners. They shouldn’t be holding all of these people in the first place,” he said.
The Observatory said violence across Syria killed at least 100 people on Tuesday, while the Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists, put the figure at 115, with 50 killed in Damascus and areas surrounding the capital.
Separately, the first formal camp inside Syria for civilians driven from their homes by the nearly 19-month conflict began admitting displaced families, an AFP correspondent reported.
The camp, a stone’s throw from the Turkish border, opened its doors amid mounting pressure from Ankara for the international community to do more for the displaced inside Syria to stem any new exodus of refugees.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on October 10, 2012, on page 1.
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