Exclusive information to Al Seyassah al Kuwaiti newspaper revealed that the Syrian regime has foiled an attempted military coup in the past two days, the second in two months. There was an attempt to bomb the presidential palace, killing President Assad, his brother Maher, and the senior officials close to them, to prepare for a coup against the regime.
Sources from the Syrian capital told Al Seyassah that the Air Force Intelligence thwarted the plot aimed at bombing the presidential palace using air force jets, destroying it completely, killing Assad, his brother Maher and their senior aides.
The sources revealed that after the plot was thwarted, strict orders were given to military airports preventing pilots from going near their planes, banning all flights, including routine training flights, unless they are given direct orders by Assad personally.
According to the same sources, the Air Force Intelligence arrested more than 14 senior officers and figures suspected of being involved in this plot. The arrests included both the planners and the participants, most of them from a military airport and an aerial base near Damascus.
In the same context, similar sources revealed that some of the regime’s senior figures are trying to communicate with the opposition.
MP Riyad Rahal told Al-Mustaqbal newspaper that the Rahal hospital he owns in Akkar has been treating wounded Syrians since May 14th. “We have treated around 120 wounded Syrians, most of them coming from Tal Kalakh, Kosseir and Homs”, he said.
Rahal said that former PM Saad Hariri is the one who gave the High Commission for Relief instructions to treat the injured at its expense.
“The establishment of a camp in the border region is vital in order for the state to count the displaced and assume its responsibilities, assumed for the moment by the people of Akroum and Kobayat”, Rahal said.
Once again, Rahal called on PM Najib Mikati to resign, adding that “should he delay his resignation, March 14 coalition must urge the people to take to the streets”.
The Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Kamel Rifai told Acharq al Awsat that Syria is subjected to a foreign plot aimed to cut off its relations with Iran and the Resistance in Lebanon and Palestine.
“Syria’s stance, refusing to bow to temptations and pressures, has made most of the Arab states, some European countries and some parties in Lebanon agree on an undeclared understanding to strike the regime in Syria”, he said.
Rifai criticized foreign and Arab countries that are “pushing towards a civil war in Syria”.
“The role played by Syria’s neighbors, including Turkey which is still the U.S.’s strategic ally in the region, is deplorable”, he said.
According to
An-Nahar newspaper, PM Najib Mikati’s visitors quoted him as saying, “the path that guarantees the STL funding has come to an end; the moment of truth has arrived. The time we sought to gain is over; it is high time for us to take a decision”.
The visitors said that Mikati’s statements were based on the numerous U.N. cables that were sent to Lebanon since the end of September, reminding Lebanon that it must pay its share of the STL funding.
“In these cables, the U.N. Secretary General was very clear when he warned Lebanon that should Lebanon fail to pay its share of the STL by December 15, 2011, less than a month from now, he will have to submit this issue to the U.N. Security Council to take the right decision”, the visitors added.
According to
An-Nahar newspaper, the Progressive Socialist Party will organize a ceremony for the birthday commemoration of its late leader Kamal Jumblatt on December 4th in Moukhtara, Chouf, two days before his actual birthday on December 6th.
The ceremony will include extensive meetings with the National Struggle Front leader MP Walid Jumblatt and popular and parliamentary crowds, including all the MPs of the Democratic Gathering, as well as representatives of different parliamentary blocs.