The Syrian city of al-Qusayr witnessed on Saturday the fiercest fight since the Syrian army launched the operation against the foreign-backed militants almost nearly a week ago. - Syrian military sources told al-Manar that the Syrian army advanced on Saturday in the area of Hamidiyeh. The source added that the Syrian armed forces destroyed a vehicle loaded with a 23 mm cannon in the airport of Dabaa in al-Qusayr countryside. For his part, al-Manar correspondent reported that the armed groups inflicted heavy losses, noting that dozens of militants were killed or injured in the clashes. He said that militants who are in the back-rows of the battle were asking to be provided with equipments as their supply routes were totally cut.

PressTV: Syrian army advances deeper into Qusayr
SANA: The Army Continues Crackdown on Terrorists in al-Qseir and Other Areas

The US war on terror is in fact the most massive terror campaign ever, and the invasion of Iraq was the worst crime in recent history, prominent liberal thinker Noam Chomsky told RT, adding that he wants to see Bush, Blair and Obama tried at the ICC. - The ‘father of modern linguistics,’ Chomsky reflects on the language of the war on terror, coming to the conclusion that the freer the society, the more sophisticated its propaganda.

RT: As someone who was living in the aftermath of the Boston bombings, the chaos, what did you think of the police and media response to them?
Noam Chomsky: I hate to second guess police tactics, but my impression was that it was kind of overdone. There didn’t have to be that degree of militarization of the area. Maybe there did, maybe not. It is kind of striking that the suspect they were looking for was found by a civilian after they lifted the curfew. They just noticed some blood on the street. But I have nothing to say about police tactics. As far as media was concerned, there was 24 hour coverage on television on all the channels.

PressTV: Obama, Bush, Blair must be put on trial at ICC: Chomsky
Russia Today: Sen. Lindsey Graham says US drones have killed nearly 5,000 people

Once, twice, three times a lady! - President Obama’s speech Thursday on national security wasn’t just a one-sided affair. The president paused multiple times when Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin shouted out, literally stopping Obama in his place and forcing him to respond. Benjamin was demanding answers for the drone strikes that killed four American citizens as well as the end to holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Benjamin is a well-known anti-war protester recognized around the world, and she joined us to talk about why she couldn’t remain silent during the president’s speech.

Germany’s foreign intelligence agency says the Syrian army is capable of conducting successful operations against the foreign-backed militants ‘at will.’ - Gerhard Schindler, the head of Germany’s Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), told security officials that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is now more stable than it has been in a long time, German news website Spiegel Online reported on Wednesday. The new assessment is a fundamental reversal from last summer, when the BND predicted that the Syrian government would collapse by early 2013.

PressTV: Syria resolute to fight terrorists, find political solution: Assad

Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya: Israel is fighting a regional war in Syria - The changing internal situation in Syria is putting a new set of plans into motion, which involve Israeli aggression against Syria. Not only have the US and its allies been trying to militarily buttress the retreating anti-government militias, but now they aim to create a new phase in the conflict where states start asserting leverage against Syria in place of the weakening anti-government forces. In other words, external pressure is being applied to replace the declining internal pressure.

Pepe Escobar: Forget it; the Global War on Terror (GWOT) is not becoming more “democratic” – or even transparent. US President Barack Obama now pledges to transfer the responsibility of the shadow 'Drone Wars' from the CIA to the Pentagon – so the US Congress is able to monitor it. Until virtually yesterday the Obama administration did not even recognize in public the existence of the shadow 'Drone Wars'. The Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at the Pentagon – which would then be in charge of the 'Drone Wars' - is bound to remain secret. And the Pentagon is not exactly yearning to retouch its definition of a “militant”, a prime candidate to be 'target-assassinated'; “any military-aged male in a strike zone”. “Muslim” male, it goes without saying. Obama’s rhetoric is one thing. His administration’s 'Drone Wars' are another thing entirely. The President now insists GWOT is no longer a “boundless global war”. That’s rhetoric. For the Pentagon, the “entire globe is a battlefield”. That is the operative concept since the beginning of GWOT, and inbuilt in the Pentagon’s Full Spectrum Dominance doctrine. And if the entire globe is a battlefield, all its causes and consequences are interconnected.

Daniel McAdams: Senate Votes Unanimously Toward War Against Iran - Today the US Senate voted unanimously in favor of a Lindsey Graham resolution, S.Res.65, which "[s]trongly support(s) the full implementation of United States and international sanctions on Iran and urg[es] the President to continue to strengthen enforcement of sanctions legislation." The legislation, as expected from a Lindsey Graham product, is full of misstatements, historical revisionism, and war-drum-beating hyperbole. Particularly revolting is the distortion and lies about Iran's not being in compliance with IAEA nuclear safeguards requirements and the irony of Graham's using Iran's refusal to implement UN resolutions as evidence of its rogue status. Also deceptive is the sleight of hand claiming that Iran pursuing a "nuclear weapons capability" is the real violation, rather than an Iranian failure to uphold its agreed upon obligation to not actually divert fissile material to build a nuclear weapon. It is a unilateral lowering of the bar, which is in fact itself a US violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Through support for Israeli occupations and participation in American invasions of Muslim countries, Britain has ended up spawning tens or even hundreds of millions of “radicalized Muslims” across the world, British MP George Galloway told RT.

RT: You compared the Woolwich attackers to UK-sponsored Syrian rebels - what do you mean?
George Galloway: This was a grotesque and sickening act of murder involving either an attempt of successful beheading of someone by fanatic extremists. This is the sort of thing that happens in Syria every day, except sometimes they even cut out the heart and the liver of the deceased and eat it on video for the entertainment of their brothers in the barracks afterwards. And Britain is helping to pay for that sickening barbarism in Syria. But when it comes close to home, happens on our own streets by the same kind of people, these people influenced by the al-Qaeda mindset are exactly the same kind of people that we are paying for, arming, giving all kinds of war material and agitating to give them more in Syria. So I simply ask David Cameron as I asked him before in Parliament if he would adumbrate the key differences between the hand-chopping throat-cutting fanatics that we saw in Woolwich yesterday and the hand-chopping throat-cutting fanatics we are giving money and weapons to in Syria.

United States Attorney General Eric Holder has informed Congress that four American citizens have been killed in Yemen and Pakistan by US drones since 2009. - It has been widely reported but rarely acknowledged in Washington that three US citizens — Samir Khan, Anwar al-Awlaki and his teenage son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki — were executed in Yemen by missile-equipped drones in 2011. With Holder’s latest admission, however, a fourth American — Jude Kenan Mohammed — has also been officially named as another casualty in America’s continuing drone war.

John Glaser: Obama Admits US Killed 4 Americans in Drone War

A US Senate committee had passed a bill that would allow, if signed for the Obama administration to supply arms to Syrian opposition — a move that could threaten the entire region if these weapons end up in terrorist cells operating on the ground. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations 15-3 vote showed bipartisan support among US politicians for arming the rebels.

Pepe Escobar: Assad talks, Russia walks

Assim Qansou, a representative of the socialist party in Lebanon’s parliament, told the Lebanese al-Nashrah newspaper that during the battle in al-Qusseir city, the Syrian army has arrested tens of French, British, Belgian, Dutch and Qatari officers. The EU’s anti-terror chief said in April that hundreds of Europeans are now fighting with rebel forces in Syria against Bashar al-Assad’s government. Gilles de Kerchove estimated the number in Syria at about 500.Intelligence agencies are concerned some could join groups linked to al-Qaeda and later return to Europe to launch terrorist attacks.The UK, Ireland and France are among the EU countries estimated to have the highest numbers of fighters in Syria.

A new report shows that US assassination drones in Pakistan have killed “scores of innocent civilians” instead of targeting terrorists. - On Tuesday, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) published a report entitled “Drones: Myths and Reality in Pakistan” that says the United States’ refuses to acknowledge that the CIA-led drone campaign “undermines efforts to assess the program’s legality.” The ICG called on Washington to “demonstrate respect for the international humanitarian law principles of humanity, distinction, proportionality and military necessity.” The report said the US must “establish clearer lines of authority and accountability, including greater congressional and judicial oversight.”

“The Obama administration should terminate any practice, such as the reported signature strikes, that does not comply with principles of international humanitarian and human rights law. It must also introduce transparency to the drone program, including its governing rules, how targets are selected and how civilian damage is weighed.”

Signature strikes target groups of men by using behavior patterns associated with terrorist activity rather than targeting terrorists with known identities. Pakistan’s tribal regions are often attacked by US assassination drones.

David Swanson: Our elected and unelected officials tell us that drone strikes target top level enemies of the United States who are imminent threats to us, and that killing innocent people is avoided altogether or minimized. Congressional hearings, with a couple of excellent exceptions, question outside academics about the legality of this purported strategy. The Obama administration declines to send any witnesses. But drone pilots have begun talking to the media. And they describe policies that bear a lot closer resemblance to reporting from the areas where the missiles strike. These pilots should be brought before Congress. Here is a stunning new interview with one of them.

The Israeli military says its troops have shot at a target inside Syria, after gunfire from Damascus hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. - The military said in a Tuesday statement that the gunfire from Damascus damaged a military vehicle without causing any injuries. The statement added that the Israeli soldiers “returned precise fire.” Tel Aviv has recently boosted military activities in the occupied Golan Heights, where clashes between Syrian forces and foreign-sponsored militants have spiked dramatically in recent weeks.

PressTV: Syria seizes Israeli army vehicle used by insurgents in al-Qusayr

The Daily Star: Israeli unit crosses technical fence in Ghajar - GHAJAR, Lebanon: An Israeli army unit crossed the technical fence just south of the occupied village of Ghajar at dawn Monday, without passing the Blue Line [entering through Syria instead], to a road dug by Israelis by the eastern bank of the Wazzani River. The crossover comes two months after three Israeli bulldozers backed by tanks and armored vehicles crossed the same fence to dig the road that runs parallel to the river. The Israeli unit consisting of 10 army personnel stayed within the area around the makeshift road for a short while, positioning themselves behind rocks and mounds of earth along the Wazzani River.

A new video shows foreign-backed militants in Syria whipping two men for violating marriage procedures based on their interpretation of Islam. - The incident has occurred in the northwestern city of Saraqeb in Idlib Province, where a court formed by the militants issued a verdict to flog the men - the husband and father of a local woman. The al-Qaeda-affiliated Salafi militants in Syria have conducted similar acts in over two years of turmoil in the country. They say their own interpretation is the only correct way of implementing the rules of Islam. Unrest has gripped Syria since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Syrian soldiers and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

At last we know. The mysterious legal authority for Barack Obama’s killer drone program flows from another administration with an elastic interpretation of executive power: that of Richard Nixon. - In a chilling 16-page dossier known simply as the White Paper, one of Obama’s statutory brains at the Justice Department cites the 1969 secret bombing of Cambodia as a legal rationale justifying drone strikes, deep inside nations, against which the United States is not officially at war. This startling disclosure is drafted in the antiseptic prose of an insurance adjuster announcing the denial of a claim based on a pre-existing condition. Yet, the bombing of Cambodia (aka Operation Menu), which involved more than 3,000 air strikes, was almost universally acknowledged as a war crime. Now the Obama administration has officially enshrined that atrocity as precedent for its own killing rampages.

A foreign-backed militant who was seen eating an organ of a dead Syrian soldier in a recent video has confirmed the authenticity of the 27-second clip. - In an interview with Time magazine conducted via Skype on Tuesday, Khalid al Hamad, known by his nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, confirmed that the video is real and that he did indeed take a bite of the soldier’s lung. The video shows him cutting out some of the soldier's organs and biting into one. At the time of the filming, al Hamad believed that he was eating the man’s liver, but A surgeon who saw the video said the organ in question was actually a lung. Other Syrian militants condemned the "horrific and inhumane" action and said he should be arrested or killed for committing the atrocity. Human Rights Watch said it was a war crime.

Finian Cunningham: Cannibalizing Syria: The West to blame - This is the nature of sickening violence that Western governments have been sponsoring in Syria for more than two years. And if US President Barack Obama, Britain’s David Cameron and France’s François Hollande get their way with plans to openly supply mercenaries in Syria with even more weaponry, then the bloodbath in that country will escalate.

Ryan Fogle was allegedly caught red-handed late last night trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer for the CIA. - In a dramatic moment right out of the pages of a Cold War thriller, a US diplomat has been arrested in Russia and accused of being a spy. Ryan Fogle was allegedly caught red-handed late last night trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer for the CIA. The Federal Security Service today released pictures of the arrest, saying its officers snared Mr Fogle carrying a large amount of money along with eavesdropping equipment. The FSB – the successor to the feared KGB – said it captured the American in Moscow on his way to meet his intended recruit. Mr Fogle was also allegedly carrying a disguise to be given to the Russian agent and a letter offering £653,000 a year for information requested by the US. Russia declared the diplomat “persona non grata” today and ordered him to leave the country.

An alleged CIA agent has been briefly detained in Moscow for allegedly trying to recruit a Russian intelligence officer, Russian media report. - The man, named as US diplomat Ryan Fogle, was held overnight before being released to US officials, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said. Russia has declared him "persona non grata" and ordered his expulsion, the foreign ministry said on its website. The US ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul, had been summoned, it added. Mr Fogle is said to have worked as third political secretary at the US embassy in Moscow, which has issued no comment on the matter so far.

As the Syrian army continues to gain the upper hand against the NATO-backed death squads made up of mercenaries, fanatics, and al-Qaeda terrorists, it appears that the Western powers responsible for the creation of the armed and violent rebellion have kicked into high gear as the advance of their proxy army has been stalled. Even though the barbarism of death squad participants seems to have recently hit a fever pitch, while Israeli air strikes on sovereign Syrian soil are targeting military and civilian targets alike, and newfound erroneous claims by Western nations of the use of chemical weapons by the Assad government, the Syrian army has managed to continue its mop up of the inappropriately named “rebels.”

Angry residents of Reyhanli cars owned by FSA refugees in Antaya 'Turkey'. Protesters call for the step down of Erdogan, and their suppport of Assad. The people of Antakya blame Erdogan terrorist supporting foreign policy for the bombings in Reyhanli.