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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Jamada al-thani 7,1435/April 6, 2014 # 14


New Trend was right about Qaddafi's last years. Please scroll to end.


Turkey: Gulen's intrigues deflated. Erdogans's AKP wins. Great analysis. Please scroll way down.


What happened to Osama's body? His wife gives eyewitness account.


Breaking News: USA

April 5: There were protest rallies across America by Mexican and central American groups against Obama's anti-immigration policies. The number of illegals deported by Obama is set to reach ONE MILLION in April, higher than any previous president's rule.


Breaking News: Crimea and Afghanistan

The US and EU have condemned a vote conducted by Russia in Russian majority population of Crimea because there are 22,000 Russian troops in Crimea.

April 5: America and the US are hailing the bogus "elections" held in Afghanistan although there are 90,000 NATO troops occupying the country and more than 100,000 mercenaries were mobilized to "protect" the elections. These mercenary troops are Shi'ites, Ismailis, Communists and northern feudals, extremely hostile to the Muslim population which supports the Taliban.


Breaking News: Egypt

As usual, supporters of imprisoned president Morsi rallied in Cairo on April 4 and were beaten up by police and dispersed. Supporters of Mubarak joined hands with supporters of Sisi to beat the protestors.

On April 2, at Cairo University , mujahideen bombed General Sisi's security forces which were on alert to disperse peaceful protestors. A top general of Sisi special police was killed. Another general was wounded along with 10 policemen.


Breaking News: Libya

April 4: Egypt arrested a top smuggler of weapons from Libya. In response Libyans have taken 150 Egyptian truck drivers hostage and want the smuggler returned.

Earlier, rebels who have taken over Libyan ports sold oil to a North Korean tanker. The Libyan regime called for US help and the tanker was boarded and captured by US navy Seals on the high seas near Cyprus. [Piracy?]

Islamic "rebels" are threatening to break eastern Libya away from the country if the regime attacks the ports under rebel control.


Breaking News: Syria

There has been a splurge of anti-Islam propaganda after al-Nusra captured the Armenian Christian city of Kassab in Latakia province. Claims of anti-Christian attacks are being made. The leader of the Turkmen Muslim community, friendly with the Armenians, has categorically rejected claims of attacks on Christians and their churches. Please scroll to end for statement.

April 5: Mujahideen fighters captured the town of Babolin, on the Damascus-Aleppo highway. The Assad military retreated after losing 18 troops and two tanks.

April 5. Mujahideen advance continues in Latakia province. Assad's elite forces mounted several counterattacks but were beaten back but one was successful and recaptured observatory 45.

April 4: A massive artillery barrage by Assad's military killed 45 civilians in Aleppo. [BBC]

The number of deaths caused among civilian populations by Assad's death squads, air force, artillery and infantry has crossed 150,000 according to the UN.
The number of civilians who have fled from Assad's rule into Lebanon has reached ONE MILLION.

Fighting erupted in front of six suburbs of Damascus. Assad's forces tried to advance but could not in spite of air strikes support. Mujahideen fired mortars into government held areas of Damascus city. Among the buildings hit was the Russian embassy.

Another of Assad's fortesses has been captured by the Islamics in Idlib province.

Al-Qaida's top leader Dr, Ayman al-Zawahiri has called for investigation of an attack blamed on ISIL in which an associate of Shaykh Osama was killed in February. Fighting between ISIL and other Islamic groups has done more damage than anything Assad could do.


Our America
New Trend's Web Site
We received 21753 visitors in March, alhamdulillah, on our humble web site.
Congratulations to our web master, Br. Rich.

Also distributions of New Trend at various masjids are creating trafffic.
On March 21, on ONE DAY, we suddenly received 6061 visitors. People note the web site on the hard copy and take the trouble to visit the web site.

Keep up the good work brothers and sisters.


Jamaat al-Muslimeen activity in College Park, Maryland
Visit to an unusual masjid. Dar ul Huda has an impressive Islamic School.

College Park is about 22 miles south of Baltimore, on the edge of Washington, DC.
On April 4, Jamaat al-Muslimeen literature was given to 65 Muslims after juma salat at Dar al-Huda in College Park, only a couple of miles from the University of Maryland.
It was a four page document.
  1. Most of Somalia is in Islamic hands.

  2. Assad's atrocities in Syria.

  3. Armed resistance building up in Egypt as General Sisi keeps killing peaceful demonstrators.

  4. Islam does not permit violence against women. Slander leads to punishment of slanderer.

This is largely an Islamic school rather than a masjid. The khutba was nice with the imam telling people to love Muslims for the sake of Allah if they love Allah. Almost half of Jamaat distribution was to women.


Latest khutba in Baltimore, Maryland
Muslims are often Disunited for flimsy reasons. Why enemies can become friends?

On April 4, Br. Kaukab Siddique gave a juma khutba at masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen in Baltimore. It was crowded but its a small masjid, so here are the main points for distribution across the US umma:
[A convert from the Philippines came and we welcome her.]

Text: "O ye who believe! obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if ye do believe in Allah and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final determination." [The Qur'an 4:59]

  1. Many Muslims differ with other Muslims because they don't know that ALL schools of Islamic Thought accept the Qur'an and the authentic hadith.

  2. Schools of Thought emerged after all the sahaba, r.a., passed away. These are INTERPRETATIONS of Qur'an and hadith known as fiqh.

  3. The Hanafi, Maliki, Shafii, Hanbali schools of thought differ in matters of interpretation. They don't say that the others are unbelievers or that you should not pray with them.

  4. Schools of Thought are different from sects. Allah does not accept sects which try to create a new version of Islam based on a cult or a leader or a companion of the prophet, pbuh

  5. Scholars who came later are also interpreters. They too accept Qur'an and Hadith. Some very prominent names are Ibn Taymiyyah, Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, Shah Waliullah, Maudoodi, Syed Qutb and the jihad leaders.

  6. When someone becomes a Muslim, we do not have the right to talk about the unIslamic activities they carried on before accepting Islam. Faith wipes out all previous sins.

  7. There are many people in the power structure, like Pharoah, whose "hearts" Allah has sealed. They should be challenged and confronted.

  8. There are others who are against us because they are misinformed about Islam. Or they hurt us owing to their professional duties and jobs. As teachers of Islam, we must try to understand WHY someone opposes us.

  9. Khalid ibn al-Waleed opposed Islam. He even killed Muslims at the battle of Ohud. The Prophet, pbuh, understood that Khalid was not an enemy of Islam but only an opponent as a good soldier.

  10. Khalid, r.a. not only embraced Islam but became the SWORD of Allah [Saifullah].

  11. Forgiveness can change people if we forgive them AFTER defeating them. Thus the Prophet, pbuh, forgave Abu Sufian. He was skeptical for a while even after becoming Muslim but once he understood, he not only stood up for Islam but took his family with him. He was seriously wounded fighting for Islam but never wavered. His daughter was with him and gave her life [shaheed] for Islam at Yarmouk.

  12. Shi'ite sectarians abuse Muawiyya, r.a., but he was not only trusted by the prophet, pbuh, after he changed but he wrote revelation [wahi] for the prophet, pbuh.

  13. During the caliphate of Usman, r.a., the compiler of the Qur'an, Muawiyyah, r.a., was in command of the Islamic fleet which destroyed the combined naval fleets of Europe. His wife was with him in the battle as was Umm Hurum, r.a., whom the Prophet, pbuh, had blessed.

  14. Imam Ghazzali has written that we should not denigrate people who are in the last line of prayer because they might be in the first line by the time they die. Similarly those who are in the first line should not be too proud because they might be in the last row by the time they die.

  15. This is a principle of da'wa. Look for the potential for good in each person.



Interview with Syed Munawar Hasan
The man who changed the face of Pakistani Politics
 Munawar Hassan
On April 3, the outgoing ameer of Jamaate Islami, Syed Munawar Hasan, was interviewed by Dr. Kaukab Siddique. Here are the main questions and answers translated from Urdu. Any errors are the fault of New Trend:

Question by K.S. What is your understanding of the media blast against you which is proclaiming the result of Jamaate Islami's elections for the ameer as the defeat of Munawar Hasan?

Munawar Hasan: In a few weeks these "celebrations" will end when these media people will realize that they were seriously mistaken.

Q. Do you think the elections were influenced by some kind of lobbying?

MH: Lobbying is not permitted in Jamaate Islami. There is no electioneering or canvassing. The ARKAN [full members] vote their conscience.

Q. With more than 30,000 Arkan, surely some would have been influenced by the countrywide propaganda against you. You took on a super power and the super power probably worked hard to bring you down. Right or wrong?

MH: Human beings can always be influenced but there is no evidence that anything like that happened.
The overall policies which we folllowed resulted from shoora and will continue to follow shoora.

Q. But America does not operate directly in Pakistan. There is no lack of collaborators, sell outs and mercenary writers. Look at the vicious article DAWN daily has published against you as have other Pakistani channels on line.

MH: I won't be surprised if they have created some marginal influence but it will not be decisive. Jamaate Islami is firmly grounded in its peaceful methodology and its belief system.

Q. Support for you might have been eroded more by those known as popular Muslims like Mujibur Rahman Shami and the publishers of Urdu Digest. In America too we have "Muslims" who oppose people like you who stand against American power.
MH: Those are well known and have said what they wanted to say even much before JI elections.

Q. I consider your greatest achievement that you have made public support for American imperialism
and Zionism impossible. Even secularists speak against America. You have helped to make Pakistan an independent countrty. However, which is your second greatest achievement?

MH: Internal peace is essential for the progress of Pakistan. Hence the emphasis of JI on peace talks with Pak Taliban. At one time this seemed an impossible task. Now we see the start of talks between the government and the Pak Taliban. Various people and outside forces do not want this to happen. If the talks with the Pak Taliban continue, national unity will be assured and outside forces will be reduced in their ability to interfere.

Q. You have achieved major success in Karachi with huge rallies against the forces of disunity. Do you think the new ameer Sirajul Haq sahib will be able to succeed in Karachi?
MH: We have always worked together. Our decisions are made through Shoora [mutual consultation].. This process will continue with the blessings of Allah.

Q. Some "well wishers" even tried to bring you down by saying that your health has deteriorated and you cannot continue the hectic pace you have been following..

MH: Health issues have not stopped me from going where I wanted to go. Right now I am in Islamabad. I travel all the time. Of course there is stress but the cause of Allah is what matters.


'Holocaust Denial' Laws Are Disgraceful
Mark Weber - Institute for Historical Review

http://www.ihr.org/news/112705HoloDenial.html... In Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and several other European countries, as well as in Israel, it is a crime publicly to dispute the official version of Holocaust history ... "Holocaust denial" laws violate ancient and universal standards of justice. They criminalize even factual or truthful statements that "play down" or "whitewash" the Holocaust. They are selective and one-sided. In countries where they are on the books, the Holocaust is the only chapter of history that cannot be freely discussed. They inhibit historical inquiry and restrict free speech. They are a disgrace, and should be repealed.


Turkey: With thanks to Br. Shaykh Hyder.


AKP, Islamic party of Erdogan: Sweeping Victories in Turkish Election.
Fake "Muslim" counter movement led by Gulen Thwarted.

Slap in the face of New York Times & other Western/Zionist Propagandists

Assalam Alaikum. We have for the Muslim countries an example of Turkey as a representative government for Muslim masses. Here is good example for voters and masses in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, etc. to learn and practice, tolerance and kindness with each other, inshAllah. Please publish this article in your esteemed journal.
Allah Hafiz.

Turkish voters get the message
By Adam Bennett McConnel

Turkish local elections on March 30, as was expected by knowledgeable objective observers, resulted in sweeping victories for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul and many areas of the country. The AKP held the Ankara mayoralty and even had a surprise win in Antalya.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) saw its provincial hold weaken from 29 to 22, while the AKP increased its nationwide vote percentage by nearly seven percentage points, to 46%, over the 2009 local elections.

What do the results mean?

The essential lesson that Turkish elites and international observers must take from these results, and with alacrity, is that the current options present on the Turkish political table provide only one choice for a great swath of the Turkish citizenry: the AKP of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Turkish opposition is now comprised of a variety of opposites that have found themselves thrown together only out of desperation - and political incompetence. The party most clearly representing the Turkish elites, the CHP of Kemal Kilicdaroglu lives on its historical reputation as the party of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The problem is that this understanding automatically eliminates the CHP as a voting preference for around 60% of the Turkish population (in this election the CHP received only 28% nationwide) since, despite the historical narrative otherwise, the vast majority of Turkish people resented Kemal Ataturk's social reform projects. They will not vote for the CHP unless a radical change takes place in the party; thorough changes in ideology, narrative, personnel, and structure are the minimum requirements for giving the CHP wider appeal in Turkish society.

The most difficult aspect of creating a political alternative for the Turkish elites is that they have no real experience, or understanding, of how modern politics work. The reason for this is extremely simple: they never had to learn how to run a political party because the Turkish military always had their back. This meant that the CHP never had to think about the grassroots. In fact, most CHP voters display a condescending attitude towards the grassroots.

This attitude simply will not work in modern politics. Turkish elites will have to learn, as soon as possible, how to appeal to voters in all classes of Turkish society, not just the rich, secular, comfortable elites living in the best neighborhoods of Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir.

Many commentators will ponder the "unfathomable" results from this election and resort mostly to tired, condescending cliches: "The Turkish people are ignorant (cahil), so what can we expect?", "Erdogan has an authoritarian grip on the country so everyone votes for him", "the AKP gives free stuff (bread, coal, appliances) to the poor, so they vote for AKP". The list goes on. In reality, the reason for these pundits' confusion stems from their patronizing attitude towards the Turkish masses.

Mumtaz'er Turkone probably drove home the last nail in the coffin of the opposition's hopes in early February, when he let slip a fatal gaffe: "I think the AKP should be closed down." That was in a live political talk show, on the Turkish channel HaberTurk. Oops.

Mumtaz'er Turkone is a well-known columnist for Zaman, the newspaper most closely associated with the Fetullah Gulen movement. Turkone is probably the most influential columnist at Zaman (maybe sharing that title with Ekrem Dumanli), and for many years he was accused by the secular elites of being an AKP toady. All that changed with the move to close the Turkish cram school (dersane) sector last November, and then a series of corruption scandals, seen by most everyone in Turkey as Gulen's counter-move against the AKP, which erupted on December 17, 2013.

By making the "close the AKP" statement, Turkone stepped on an extremely sensitive point, and revealed the true intent of Gulen's adherents for everyone to see. One should remember that the Turkish military and the secular elites made a last-gasp attempt to close down the AKP in 2008, which narrowly failed in the Turkish Constitutional Court.

Turkish people understand what kind of people want to close the AKP and why: the vested interests, the beneficiaries of connections to the state, the people who desire the old system, the elitist system that the AKP has been slowly uprooting for the past 11 years, to continue. Previously the Gulen movement had tacitly presented itself as being with the AKP on this project.

That changed when the dersane issue was tabled, and became an outright war on December 17. Although most Turkish people understood implicitly what the Gulen people were trying to do, Turkone made it overt. The Gulen movement also wanted to shut down the AKP in order to protect their interests and money. For any voters who might have been wavering as a result of the corruption scandals, the choice was now clear: either the AKP or another bunch of oppressive thugs with no accountability. The (mostly illegally obtained) wiretap recordings that began to appear on the Internet in late February made no difference to this reality.

So I want to ask these questions of the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Economist, Al-Jazeera, and of the many other international press outlets that have consistently published anti-AKP, anti-Tayyip Erdogan, and anti-Turkish feature articles, columns, and blog posts for the past 11 years:

"When will you take the time to actually do the work necessary to understand Turkish politics? When will you take the time to try to understand the reality that the average Turkish voter lives in? When will you realize that the information you are receiving from your sources is faulty, and that you are damaging your profession through this adamant refusal to see or understand the double standard you apply to your reporting concerning Turkey?"

After the massive failure of pollsters and journalists to accurately predict the 1948 US presidential election, immediate steps were taken, by both the pollsters and the media, to identify exactly what went wrong. The results helped pinpoint errors in data gathering and assumptions that greatly improved the science of polling and, eventually, restored respectability to the polling profession and to the journalists utilizing those polls. Nathan Silver's performance in the 2012 US presidential election was the latest illustration of how careful, and realistic, polling can accurately predict results.

The 2012 Republican insistence on self-delusional polls mirrors the situation for the vast majority of polls conducted in Turkey. When it comes to Turkey under the AKP, every poll, no matter how distorted or marked by faulty data-gathering, is usable as long as it takes the AKP down a notch. Every type of information, no matter how detached from the Turkish reality, is respectable in the eyes of the international press as long as it portrays the AKP and Erdogan in a negative light. The elections be damned. The Turkish voters and their opinions be damned. The single important thing is to maintain the dire doom-and-gloom narrative: Erdogan is a dictator, the AKP are secretly anti-Semitic religious cultists with designs on the state and security apparatuses, the Turkish economy is collapsing, Turkish foreign policy is an Ottoman revival, all of the AKP ministers are inept, all of their children are corrupt takers.

Until you are able to rescue yourselves from this weltanschauung, until you take the AKP, Erdogan, and most importantly their voters, seriously, and until you understand that Turkey is a true democracy and that Turkish politics now are run as they are in other industrialized democracies, you will not be able to understand what is happening in Turkish politics or society, and you will constantly be shocked and dismayed by Turkish election results.


4/01/2014 @ 6:52PM 6,008 views
Goldman And SocGen Accused Of Defrauding Libya Out Of Billions With Derivatives During Gaddafi's Reign

The devastating civil war that has ravaged Libya has undoubtedly altered the power structure of the North African nation. It also revealed that major U.S. and European financial firms, including Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale, actively courted executives of the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), which, flush with $60 billion of the nation's oil profits, paid rich fees to invest with Western banks and funds, in some cases losing their whole investment. Now, the LIA is suing Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale in London, while the SEC and the U.S. Justice Department are also scrutinizing the practices of hedge fund Och-Ziff and private equity firm Blackstone.

In 2004, the U.S. lifted commercial sanctions on Libya after Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi agreed to hand over his chemical weapons. Major U.S. and European names flocked to the oil producing nation for a cut of the potential profits as the reins on global capitalism were loosened. Established in 2006, Libya's sovereign wealth fund was approached by at least 25 different financial institutions looking to attract its funds, ultimately forging relationships with Goldman Sachs, Societe Generale, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase JPM -1.4%, the Carlyle Group, Lehman Brothers, and Och-Ziff Capital Management.
 Muammar al-Gaddafi 12th AU Summit
English: Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan chief of state, attends the 12th African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Feb. 2, 2009. Qaddafi was elected chairman of the organization. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jitters throughout the U.S. mortgage market became an all out meltdown after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, and along with the global financial system went the investments of the LIA. Goldman Sachs effectively lost 98% of the LIA's $1.3 billion investment, as I previously reported. Societe Generale reportedly lost half of the $1.8 billion entrusted to it by the Libyans.

Now, after the fall of Gaddafi and armed with new executives, the LIA is on the legal offensive. With London as their battleground, they first sued Goldman Sachs this January, accusing the Wall Street institution of "deliberately exploiting the relationship of trust and confidence it had established with the LIA to cause the LIA to enter into each of the disputed [equity derivative] trades," according to the Libya Herald. Goldman is said to have netted $350 million in profit from the trades, which included investments in Citigroup C -1.2%, Banco Santander, Allianz, Eni, UniCredit, Electricite de France, and a basket of currencies. Initially worth $1.3 billion, the positions acquired between January and June of 2008 saw their value decimated, falling to a meager $25.1 million by February 2010. Goldman described the accusations as "without merit."

Societe Generale was next. The LIA sued France's second largest bank in March, accusing them of paying at least $58 million in bribes to a company close to the Gaddafi family, while investing $1.8 billion on their behalf in complex derivative deals that lost half their value by the time the uprising began in February 2011, just a few months before Gaddafi's death. According to the FT, SocGen paid a Panamanian-registered firm named Leinada $58 million in advisory services. The company, which has no expertise in structuring derivative trades, is controlled by Libyan businessman Walid Giahmi, who is accused of having been close to Gaddafi's son Sai al-Islam; Giahmi, through his lawyers, denies Leinada was ever used to pay public officials. SocGen, who is accused of not reporting those "advisory" fees in the contract signed with LIA, called the suit "groundless."

Over in the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department are scrutinizing the relationship of publicly traded hedge fund Och-Ziff with the LIA. In its latest annual results, the hedge fund admits it's "received subpoenas from the Securities and Exchange Commission and requests for information from the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with an investigation involving the FCPA [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act] and related laws" in connection to "an investment by a foreign sovereign wealth fund in some of the Och-Ziff funds in 2007 and investments by some of the funds, both directly and indirectly, in a number of companies in Africa." Also reportedly under investigation are Blackstone and Credit Suisse.


With thanks to Jamaat al-Muslimeen Virginia
Osama bin Laden's Wife Reveals why his body cannot be found or Photographed

According to the testimony of one of bin Laden's wives, who was present at the time of the assault in the house, all American commandos were blown up on board a helicopter along with the body of bin Laden.

A native of Yemen, Amal Al-Sada, who personally witnessed the martyrdom of bin Laden, told the real story, and revealed the secret of the disappearance of his body (after the publication, it was deleted by the criminal administration of YouTube).

Here is her story:

- "When the attack started and soldiers began to descend from helicopters, the brothers, who were in the house at the time, entered into battle with them. The clash was heavy and intense.

American soldiers and the Pakistani army soldiers were those who attacked our house. They acted together.

There were so many of them. They quickly spread all over the yard and the house. A fierce battle followed.

At the time of the assault, Osama was in his room. He immediately took a gun and ran to the window. In the first few minutes of the shooting, a bullet hit him in his face, and he immediately accepted martyrdom, Insha'Allah.

And it was the grace of Allah for the Sheikh.

The Americans, after a while, entered the room and found Sheikh Osama martyred.

They took the body, carried him out of the house and loaded into a helicopter which belonged to American marines.
When the helicopter took off, while it was in the air, there was a very loud explosion. Probably the helicopter was shot down. It caught fire and exploded in the air. Parts of the helicopter fell to the ground. Everyone in the helicopter was killed, and their bodies were torn to pieces. The same happened to the Sheikh's body.

The Americans wanted to show the martyred Sheikh Osama around the world to demonstrate their victory, but Allah destroyed their plans.

Allah took away from them even the body of Osama bin Laden. They were left with nothing, so the Americans had to come up with a story about his burial in the sea. Allah protected Sheikh in life and protected him from his enemies after his death.

May Allah grant him martyrdom and Gardens of Firdaus in higher degrees of Paradise!"
***

In addition to this story, recall that some time after the events in Abbottabad, in August of 2011, the Americans leaked, through Fox TV, that in Afghanistan, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate had shot down a helicopter which belonged to "Team 6" of the American navy who participated in the storm of the house of Emir of al-Qaeda. 22 "SEALS" thugs were killed. Obama expressed his condolences to the families and friends of the marines.

It is possible that this leak was an attempt to cover the losses of Americans killed in the helicopter with the body of Osama bin Laden and the marines in Abbottabad on the night of May 2, 2011.

Department of Monitoring
Kavkaz Center


Syrian Turkmen leader says Kasab Armenians treated well
 Jarba Turkmen
Turkmen Assembly member Zohta refutes claims that opposition fighters looted churches in the town of Kasab, which hosts an Armenian community.

World Bulletin / News Desk
Syrian opposition fighters have been sensitive in their treatment of the Armenian community in the town of Kasab since they captured it two weeks ago, a member of the Syrian Turkmen Assembly has said.

Kasab, whose more than 2,000 inhabitants are mostly of Armenian origin, is located in the northwestern province of Latakia, Syria's main port city.

Izzet Zohta of the Assembly, which was formed in 2012 to organize Turkmens in Syria, told AA on Saturday that some international media outlets were publishing "false" claims that opposition fighters had plundered churches in the town.

"Opposition fighters did not even touch the carpets in the churches," Zohta said. "These claims are entirely baseless. Those who defend them can come and see everything with their own eyes."

A commander from the leading armed opposition group Free Syrian Army, Anas Abu Malik told AA on Thursday of a media campaign by the Syrian regime, which seeks to pressure the opposition by claiming the residents were attacked after the town was captured by the opposition army in late March.

Zohta said that Turkmens had been neighbors with Armenians and Alawites for a long time in Syria.

"We have no problem with Armenians or Alawites. Several countries, including Russia, Iran and a few European states claim that there is a massacre in Kasab. Let them come and see if a single Armenian was ever killed. It's a shame, this is all nonsense," he said.

Zohta added that Syrian regime forces were dropping bombs on Kasab, and they would be responsible for any damage dealt to churches or any other buildings in the town.

2014-04-06 Sun 08:17:18 cdt
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