NOVANEWS
ed note–knowing a little bit about small arms myself, let me fill in a few details here that are relevant.
Assuming this indeed is a Syrian rebel, what he has in his hands is an M16 AI, originally made by the US for its armed forces, but which is also used in other countries, NAMELY ISRAEL. Although the weapon itself has been plagued with all sorts of problems in terms of its performance in the ‘heat of battle’, the one thing where it stands out from other small arms–such as the AK47–is in its inherent accuracy. Even though this particular model is fitted with a light-weight barrel, nevertheless even with just its iron sights, a moderately competant shooter can hit a target 18 inches wide target (roughly the width of a man’s chest) at 300 yards consistantly.
However, more important in fleshing out this pic here is the fact that what we see fitted out on this particular weapon is a sniper scope, as evidenced not just by its long length, but in particular the turret-type adjustments for the sights. I personally know from having spent hundreds of hours shooting various military and police sniper rifles that with a weapon of this kind, an average, ordinary, run-of-the-mill shooter becomes a highly-effective killing machine out to as far as 500 yards.
Furthermore, his stance–the manner by which he is holding the weapon (and more importantly, the fact he is using his right knee as a support for his right elbow and vice versa for his left) crouching, making as small a target of himself as possible with his weapon held very closely to his midsection and with his balance supported by the building behind him–is something that snipers trained by a professional military utilize. ‘Rebels’ with nomilitary training generally do not acquire knowledge of this sort on their own. This man has been trained and when it comes to snipers using the M16AI, no one has more experience than Israel.
So, what I am saying here is that the turmoil taking place in Syria, and most notably the news reports discussing the high numbers of civilians being killed are more likely than not as a result of individuals such as this one who has been trained and sent in by Israel and the US with the purposes of destabilizing the Assad regime.
Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS — Syria has told international envoy Kofi Annan in a letter obtained Saturday by The Associated Press that it is “keen to end violence” but insists that armed opposition groups give up their weapons first.
The Syrian response falls far short of U.S. and European demands that Syrian forces stop fighting first — and even Russia’s insistence that both sides lay down their arms simultaneously.
But it does leave the door open for talks, and Annan is sending a team to Damascus on Sunday to continue discussions on implementing his proposal to end the yearlong conflict. Annan said Friday that if the team makes sufficient progress he will consider returning to Damascus, where he held two rounds of talks last weekend with President Bashar Assad.
The Syrian letter asks Annan, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, “to provide guarantees to the Syrian government that the armed groups will cease all armed aggressions and give up their weapons to the dedicated authorities in exchange of a full pardon.”
The Syrians said they want the “guarantees” because of “the lessons” they learned dealing with Arab League monitors.
The monitors were supposed to ensure Syrian compliance with an Arab League plan that Assad’s government agreed to on Dec. 19 calling on Syria to remove heavy weaponry, such as tanks, from all cities, free all political prisoners and allow in human rights organizations and foreign journalists. But the monitors were withdrawn in late January amid heavy criticism that the Arab League mission had failed to stop the crackdown.
The Syrians said that when the Arab monitors were in the country and they withdrew all their forces from cities and other urban areas “the armed groups used their weapons and attacked the population as well as the public order police and destroyed (the) Syrian economy.”
The letter, first reported by the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar, also demanded from Annan that neighboring countries control the flow of arms through their borders, and that countries that have called publicly for weapons and financing for armed opposition groups stop doing so.
When Annan provides all these guarantees, “the Syrian government can discuss with him the idea of putting in place a neutral monitoring system,” the letter said.
On the humanitarian front, a Syrian-led assessment team with technical experts from the United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is scheduled to start visiting key cities affected by the uprising this weekend.
As far as Annan’s request for a two-hour “temporary humanitarian ceasefire,” Syria said “this would relate to the local situation evaluated by the Syrian party,” in consultation with the Syrian Red Cross, the International Committee of the Red Cross and its foreign ministry.
Syria insisted that there have been no “random arrests” during the uprising and that a large number of prisoners with “blood” on their hands or criminal records have been released. The government said a decree has been signed pardoning all those who surrender weapons.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has visited the central prison in Damascus and the government said it is ready to organize another visit to the central prison of Aleppo.
In response to Annan’s request for unhindered media access, the government said “we agree to allow the entry for the media with freedom of movement according to the Syrian laws and regulations.”
