McCain responds to Syria photo accusations
By Rachel Weiner May 30, 2013 Email the author
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has pushed back on a report claiming that the Syrian rebels he was photographed with last weekend were involved in kidnapping Lebanese Shiite pilgrims a year ago, saying none of the men identified themselves by the names used in the article.
The Beirut Daily Star reported Thursday that according to family members of the kidnapped pilgrims and one released captive, two of the men in pictures taken with McCain are Anwar Ibrahim and Mohammad Nour.
https:// www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2013/05/30/mccain-responds-to-syria-photo-accusations/?utm_term=.11a2faabe931
https:// web.archive.org/web/20180409041419/https:// www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2013/05/30/mccain-responds-to-syria-photo-accusations/?utm_term=.565de9eb39a2
BEIRUT: U.S. Senator John McCain was unwittingly photographed with a known affiliate of the rebel group responsible for the kidnapping of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims one year ago, during a brief and highly publicized visit inside Syria this week.
The U.S. senator became the highest-level American official to enter Syria since the uprising began. A former presidential candidate and staunch opponent of President Barack Obama’s Syria policy, he has been leading calls to better arm moderate opposition groups fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad.
During a brief visit to northern Syria from Turkey, confirmed by his office Monday, McCain met with rebel leaders calling for greater support in their fight against Assad. He was accompanied by the chief of staff of the rebel Supreme Military Council, Gen. Salim Idriss.
The pilgrims were kidnapped by armed rebels in Azaz, in Syria’s Aleppo province, in May last year as they were making their way back to Lebanon from Iran.
Two of the kidnapped, Anwar Ibrahim and Hussein Ali Omar were released in August and September but intense negotiations are still underway for the remaining nine, believed to be in the custody of the “Northern Storm” brigade, headed at the time by rebel commander Ammar Al-Dadikhi, aka Abu Ibrahim. Dadikhi was widely believed killed in fighting with Syrian regime forces several months ago. The Northern Storm Brigade also claimed responsibility for the kidnap of a Lebanese journalist in October.
According to families of the remaining captives and one of the released men, Anwar Ibrahim, one of the men standing alongside McCain in a photograph released by the senator’s office, is Mohammad Nour, the chief spokesman and photographer for the Northern Storm kidnappers. Nour appears in several other shots released by news agencies where McCain is posing with different officials.
Ibrahim and other members of the kidnapped family said they recognized Nour, and another man affiliated with the group, also identified as “Abu Ibrahim,” immediately after seeing the photos, widely circulated by international media following McCain’s visit.
Ibrahim, who had seen Nour multiple times in person during his captivity, said he was a close affiliate of Dadikhi who had photographed him and his fellow captors during the media campaign surrounding his kidnap. Nour has also acted as the spokesman for the kidnappers.
Photographs of Nour with the group of kidnapped pilgrims have been independently verified by The Daily Star. In the photograph released by McCain’s office, he is seen standing holding a camera, behind the senator as he poses alongside Idriss.
“I recognized him immediately. He was the photographer who was brought in to take our photos [during captivity]. He works with the kidnappers. He knows them very well,” Ibrahim said. “I don’t know anything about why McCain was visiting, or what he wanted, but I was very surprised to see [Mohammad Nour] there.”
A spokesman from McCain’s office said the senator had traveled to Syria with Idriss in coordination with the Syrian Emergency Task Force to meet with two Free Syrian Army commanders, but denied he had met with the two individuals identified by the kidnap victims.
“A number of other Syrian commanders joined the meeting, but none of them identified himself as Mohammad Nour or Abu Ibrahim,” the spokesman for McCain, Brian Rogers, said. “Two members of our organization were present in the meeting, and no one called himself by either name.”
https:// web.archive.org/web/20130727031410/http:// dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2013/May-30/218852-mccain-crosses-paths-with-rebel-kidnapper.ashx
shit got wiped from G maps in Qamishli… over the target much ?
Disregard this post, shops don't show unless you are using actual G maps not search - false alarm!
ty! doh
http:// www.aymennjawad.org/15865/special-report-northern-storm-and-the-situation