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PRESS RELEASE


Terrorist Suicide Bombers Rock
Damascus as Britain Activates
'Plan B' for Syria

April 30, 2012 (EIRNS)—This release was issued today by the Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee.

At least nine died and more than 100 were wounded when two suicide bombers attacked the Syrian town of Idlib today. Another explosive went off in front of the Army's office near the criminal building in Damascus. This spurt in terrorist activities coincided with an editorial in London's Financial Times (FT), which said "the U.S. and its allies must therefore start devising a 'Plan B' that will put fresh pressure on the Syrian regime if the UN's peace efforts manifestly fail."

The FT editorial added: "It can also set up a hub on the border between Turkey and Syria to offer assistance to the Syrian opposition. However, none of this may be enough to halt Mr. Assad. So the west should not rule out taking tougher action such as the arming of the Syrian opposition or the creation of a safe haven inside Syrian territory to protect civilians under attack."

In all likelihood, the FT-suggested "Plan B" has already been activated. On April 28, Lebanese authorities seized a large consignment of Libyan weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades and heavy caliber ammunition, from a ship flying the Sierra Leone flag, but owned by a Syrian citizen based in Egypt. The ship, intercepted in the Mediterranean, was carrying arms stashed away in 12 containers, carrying a Libyan stamp. The ship had set sail from Libya.

The ship's owner told Reuters it was due to unload in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, a hub of Syrian militant- oppositionists' activities. Franklin Lamb, a former Assistant Counsel of the US House Judiciary Committee at the US Congress and Professor of International Law at Northwestern College of Law in Oregon, and now Director, Americans Concerned for Middle East Peace, Beirut-Washington D.C., stated in an article that

"there is now an eye-witness today, Hassan Diab, who saw that ship, the Lutfallah II, flying a Sierra Leone flag, loaded in Benghazi. We know that Qatar and the Saudis have five warehouses that they control in the area of Benghazi left over from arms that they shipped to Libya."

What is interesting to note is that Lutfallah II, carrying arms to the Syrian terrorists, went apparently unnoticed by the UNIFIL naval vessels that were deployed along the Lebanese shore and which were primarily responsible for uncovering arms smuggling to Lebanon. Security sources also wonder if the ship passed by the Israeli navy, which also did not lift a finger to intercept it, knowing that it had detained a ship on April 22 on suspicion that it was smuggling arms from Beirut to Alexandria and later to the Gaza Strip.

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