Syria ‘setting border mines to stop refugee flight’

[Playinghardball]

Source: Raw Story

Syria has planted landmines near its border with Turkey along routes used by refugees fleeing the regime’s deadly crackdown on dissent, the Turkish deputy prime minister said on Thursday.

“The Syrian administration has been planting mines, taking measures not to allow refugees to flee to the other side of the border,” Besir Atalay said in televised remarks.

Atalay said the Syrian army was militarily intervening in any attempt by the people fleeing the unrest. “Many have lost their lives,” he added.

The number of Syrians arriving at the Turkish border is increasing daily. Around 1,000 Syrian refugees, including a defecting general, flocked into Turkey in the last 24 hours, the foreign ministry said Thursday.


Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/15/syria-setting-border-mines-to-stop-refugee-flight/

[RKP5637]

1. What a pit, an absolute pit. n/t

[GodlessBiker]

2. This has got to be a war crime or a crime against humanity.

[joshcryer]

3. Technically, it's legal since they haven't signed the Ottawa Treaty.

Neither has the USA, mind you.

[PavePusher]

4. Any country that has to resort to violence to keep its own citizenry....

has lost any last remaining shred of legitimacy.

[BadtotheboneBob]

5. Yes, shades of East Germany, the Berlin Wall and...

... their Grenztruppen shooting people trying to flee to the west.

[PavePusher]

9. Soviet Russia, North Korea, and various other People's Paradises...

Edit: Oops, forgot South Africa. Myanmar. Cambodia.

[David__77]

10. They are trying to prevent infiltration from outside the country.

I'm quite certain that Syria's government would be just fine with a one-way exit by opposition forces. If they manage to seal off weapon smuggling, that's it for any insurgency.

[Odin2005]

12. That's what the East German government said when they built the Berlin Wall.

[David__77]

13. So-and-so says something, and if someone else says it, it's false?

I know there's a term for such an argument.

The universally acknowledged fact is that insurgents are smuggling weapons and personnel into the country.

Thankfully, it seems that the situation in Syria is improving, and this discussion may soon be irrelevant.

[jakeXT]

14. I wonder what wold've happened without sabotage

2) During the 1950s, American coldwarriors in West Germany instituted a crude campaign of sabotage and subversion against East Germany designed to throw that country's economic and administrative machinery out of gear. The CIA and other US intelligence and military services recruited, equipped, trained and financed German activist groups and individuals, of West and East, to carry out actions which ran the spectrum from juvenile delinquency to terrorism; anything to make life difficult for the East German people and weaken their support of the government; anything to make the commies look bad.

It was a remarkable undertaking. The United States and its agents used explosives, arson, short circuiting, and other methods to damage power stations, shipyards, canals, docks, public buildings, gas stations, public transportation, bridges, etc; they derailed freight trains, seriously injuring workers; burned 12 cars of a freight train and destroyed air pressure hoses of others; used acids to damage vital factory machinery; put sand in the turbine of a factory, bringing it to a standstill; set fire to a tile-producing factory; promoted work slow-downs in factories; killed 7,000 cows of a co-operative dairy through poisoning; added soap to powdered milk destined for East German schools; were in possession, when arrested, of a large quantity of the poison cantharidin with which it was planned to produce poisoned cigarettes to kill leading East Germans; set off stink bombs to disrupt political meetings; attempted to disrupt the World Youth Festival in East Berlin by sending out forged invitations, false promises of free bed and board, false notices of cancellations, etc.; carried out attacks on participants with explosives, firebombs, and tire-puncturing equipment; forged and distributed large quantities of food ration cards to cause confusion, shortages and resentment; sent out forged tax notices and other government directives and documents to foster disorganization and inefficiency within industry and unions ... all this and much more. 5
http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer96.html

Reminds me a bit of the dead Iranian scientists.

[leveymg]

6. Mines are indiscriminate. But, there's still cross-border movement going both ways.

Saudi Arabia and the GCC states finally admitted just last week that they were funding anti-regime arms moving into Syria, along with (officially unacknowledged) Jihadi foreign fighters.

Unfortunately, refugees often follow the same infiltration routes, and many (like the mutinying General) are members of the same armed insurgent groups.

[geek tragedy]

7. Yes, yes, those fleeing Syrians have it coming.

Thank you for providing the spin from Damascus.

[leveymg]

8. The ones with guns probably do, on both sides. There's no easy black-white, good-bad to this

religion-based civil war. They're all victims of ancient blood feuds, and perpetrators of ancient hatreds that will carry this forward into the 22rd Century and beyond. We have no place in this fight.

That's my only point.

[Fool Count]

11. There are functioning and open border crossings from Syria to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.

Those are not mined and can be used by peaceful (and unarmed) citizens of Syria. That's illegal crossings
used by arms smugglers and rebels which Syrian government is trying to close down and it is well within
its rights in doing so, as illegal border crossing is a crime in any country.

[WCGreen]

15. What the fuck....

This is like something out of the cold war...