Antonio C. S Rosa, editor, TRANSCEND Media Service, participated, May 1-11, 2013 in the Mussalaha International Peace Delegation to Lebanon-Syria alongside Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, from Ireland, and 15 others from eight countries. This peace activist has compiled and written a report on the days progress, on the meetings and people met, with comments and conclusions overall using input from the ...

I participated, May 1-11, 2013 in the Mussalaha International Peace Delegation to Lebanon-Syria alongside fellow TRANSCEND member Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire, from Ireland, and 15 others from eight countries. Keenly aware of my responsibility, especially to my newly made Syrian and Lebanese friends left behind, I shall try to report, describe, make sense of what I saw, heard and experienced; also o ...

After all the delays and rescheduling of the Syria visit, most of my fellow delegates have now returned to their home countries, and are compiling their thoughts, film and photos. Further to the sniper firing at the car transporting Mother Agnes, it apparently happened twice, both coming and going, and as far as she knows, the attack was not directed specifically at her, but rather towards all vehicles, wit ...

Syria Dispatch #3: prisoner release; attack on M. Agnes; Homs project In my previous dispatches I withheld some information from you. Over the last four months I have been in touch with Dr. Mohja Kahf, who is active in the Syrian Nonviolence Movement. Dr. Kahf has produced some excellent background material. It is not unbiased, in my opinion, but very informative nonetheless, and I have great respect for he ...

As I begin to compose this, I hear what sounds like artillery and rocket fire in the distance, mixed with occasional small arms and possible explosions. Most of their targets must be far away, because I don't hear them hit. The explosions may or may not be something else. I guess that after two years of fighting it is not surprising that the Syrians take it in stride, and life is surprisingly normal, if har ...

“When can we go back?” This plaintive question of refugees since time immemorial was asked again of Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire at the United Nations High Commission on Refugees intake center in Zahleh, Lebanon, overlooking the vast Beqaa valley, now dotted with refugee camps wherever we look.  The Mussalaha Delegation [International Peace Delegation] is spending longer than expected in Lebanon bec ...

Let us be clear. The United States can verify absolutely nothing about the use of chemical weapons (CWs) in Syria. Any suggestion to the contrary is entirely false. Don’t take it from me – here is what US officials have to say about the subject: A mere 24 hours after Washington heavyweights from the White House, Pentagon, and State Department brushed aside Israeli allegations of chemical weapons use in Syri ...

“The weapons of choice in (today’s) new conflicts are not big-ticket items like long-range missiles, tanks, and fighter planes, but small and frighteningly accessible weapons ranging from handguns, carbines, and assault rifles on up to machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and shoulder-fired missiles,” explained William Hartung more than a decade ago in an article entitled The New Business of War. Writte ...

An outspoken investigative journalist and former CNN correspondent has once again stressed that the US-based network is engaged in spreading Western propaganda against Iran and Syria. Syria’s SANA news agency quoted Amber Lyon as saying that when she was working for the CNN, she received orders to send false news or exclude certain information which the US administration did not approve of with the aim of i ...

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon today said that the United Nations will launch an independent investigation into allegations of the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria, after receiving a formal request from the country’s Government. “The investigation mission is to look into the specific incident brought to my attention by the Syrian Government,” the Secretary-General told journalists in New York this m ...