Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/238719246?client_source=feed&format=rss
george st pierre aldon smith friday night lights nick santino bruce arians the misfits hook
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Analysis: Syrian army faces tough battle in Aleppo
LONDON (Reuters) - The Syrian army's brisk recapture of parts of Damascus is unlikely to be repeated in Aleppo, where open rebel supply lines, hard-to-assail narrow streets and an apparent lack of elite manpower will limit its commanders' options.
The struggle in parts of Aleppo held by insurgents is likely to be more protracted than last month's battles in the capital, inflicting further bloodshed and damage on Syria's largest city and driving more of the population out, analysts say.
One reason the army's superior firepower has not translated into a quick victory may be the narrow streets and alleys that give cover for Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels in central Aleppo.
That complex geography in a city vital to Syria's economy and to President Bashar al-Assad's survival makes it problematic to bring the military's full firepower to bear.
"It would destroy a lot of the city and that would undermine the 'support' of the population for the regime," said Nikolaos van Dam, a Dutch historian of Syrian politics and ex-diplomat.
"The regime will need more time to plan. The army is not really well trained for urban warfare," he said. "It is easier for 100 armed FSA men to infiltrate the city and play cat-and-mouse than for the regime to really eradicate them."
Syrian forces took just a few days to dislodge rebels in Damascus who had seized parts of the capital after a July 18 bombing killed four of Assad's top security men, including his brother-in-law Assef Shawkat.
REBELS GOT A "BLOODY NOSE" IN DAMASCUS
While a sustained onslaught in Aleppo may start at any moment, few see the Damascus clashes as a template for Aleppo.
"The rebels seem to have been over-extended in Damascus and expected more progress than they achieved, and they ended up getting a bloody nose despite the bombing," said Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies at Britain's Bradford University.
"But in Aleppo, if anything it is the regime's elite forces that are over-extended. The regime's elite forces are always going to be more focused on Damascus, and while we have to be cautious about these judgments, Aleppo seems like it is going to be rather more difficult for Assad."
On Thursday government troops bombarded Aleppo's strategic Salaheddine district with tank and artillery fire while rebels tried to consolidate their hold on areas they have seized.
Such bombardments are seen by some experts as the likely preferred government tactic in the coming days, rather than any sustained attempt at street fighting.
A Syria expert at Exclusive Analysis, a London-based risk consultancy, said the army lacked the manpower to surround Aleppo and isolate the insurgents there, noting that it had failed to seal off Homs, a city half the size of Aleppo.
"Government forces, lacking sufficient ?boots on the ground' to recapture the city, are very likely to use overwhelming force, including artillery, helicopters, tanks' main armament and jets against areas where insurgents are based," said the expert, who declined to be named due to the topic's sensitivity.
"These factors are likely to lead to widespread destruction across Sunni neighborhoods in Aleppo."
SUPPLY ROUTE FROM TURKEY
The expert said insurgents in Aleppo would be hard-pressed to prevent Assad's troops, supported by tanks, artillery and helicopters, from penetrating urban areas in an all-out assault.
However, the rebels now control an open supply route from Turkey, allowing them to regroup and resupply.
"As such, even if the rebels are unable to hold individual neighborhoods in the face of government forces, they are likely to be able to redeploy across neighborhoods and resume their activities," the expert said.
Kamel Ayham of Eurasia Group, another consultancy, said the Syrian military was taking "a more nuanced approach" to Aleppo that was intended to limit the impact on civilians somewhat in a city traditionally loyal to the government.
"More importantly, rebel forces have become much more capable and can inflict damages on the regime's forces. A more calibrated approach is increasingly necessary; however I expect the Syrian regime to retake the city within the next 10 days."
Others see the fight potentially lasting longer.
Van Dam said video footage that emerged this week of the apparent execution of pro-Assad militiamen by rebels "may further undermine and shake the morale" of individuals working for the government intelligence and security services.
"Their power and arrogance must have had a great blow," he said.
Shashank Joshi, a research fellow at Britain's Royal United Services Institute military think-tank, said the rebels appeared to have become more effective at restricting the military's mobility in northern Syria, using improvised bombs and ambushes.
"These are taking a serious toll on regime armor, to a seemingly greater extent than is the case around Damascus."
The Exclusive Analysis expert said social media monitoring indicated that government forces deployed to Aleppo in the past few days had lower-quality equipment than units that had been involved in other fights critical to the Assad's grip on power.
One example was the deployment of Soviet-era T-55 tanks as opposed to more advanced T-72 tanks.
"We assess that this means that mainstream Army units, manned by Sunni conscripts, as opposed to more loyal elite formations (e.g. the Republican Guard and 4th Division) with better equipment, are being used," he said.
"If true, this would indicate that armored units deployed in and around Aleppo are more likely to defect than those used to recapture Homs and Damascus."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-syrian-army-faces-tough-battle-aleppo-142513378.html
nba schedule nhl realignment nhl realignment new earth light year light year michelle rounds
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Iran's president mocks Romney visit to Israel
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is calling a visit to Israel by U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney as "kissing the foot" of the Jewish state to boost his bid for the White House.
Ahmadinejad did not specifically name Romney, but his comments were an unmistakable jab at the Republican contender's stop this week in Israel. Romney strongly backed Israel's drive to stop Iran from possibly seeking nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the claims.
Ahmadinejad questioned why Romney would make "concessions to get some pennies for (his) campaign?"
Ahmadinejad made the comments during a speech Tuesday broadcast on state TV.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/irans-president-mocks-romney-visit-israel-084806501.html
colorado rockies moonshine news channel 4 radar weather weather channel lionel richie mike brown
New influenza virus from seals highlights the risks of pandemic flu from animals
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
A new strain of influenza virus found in harbor seals could represent a threat to wildlife and human health, according to the authors of a study appearing July 31 in mBio?, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. It is crucial to monitor viruses like this one, which originated in birds and adapted to infect mammals, the authors say, so that scientists can better predict the emergence of new strains of influenza and prevent pandemics in the future.
"There is a concern that we have a new mammalian-transmissible virus to which humans haven't been exposed yet. It's a combination we haven't seen in disease before," says Anne Moscona of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, the editor of the report.
The authors, who hail from several different institutions, including Columbia University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Outbreaks, say transmissible and pathogenic flu viruses in mammals, like the one in this study, clearly pose a concern for human health. In 2009, for instance, the H1N1 "swine flu" virus that emerged in humans apparently originated from a reassortment of flu viruses found in birds, pigs, and humans. The H3N8 strain in New England harbor seals may come to represent the first sighting of a new group of influenza viruses with the potential to persist and move between species.
The mBio? study analyzed the DNA of a virus associated with a die-off of 162 New England harbor seals in 2011. Autopsies of five of the seals revealed they apparently died from infection with a type of influenza called H3N8, which is closely related to a flu strain that has been circulating in North American birds since 2002. Unlike the strain in birds, this virus has adaptations to living in mammals and has mutations that are known to make flu viruses more transmissible and cause more severe disease. The virus also has the ability to target a receptor called SA?-2,6, a protein found in the human respiratory tract.
Moscana says the study raises two concerns about flu. First, this strain is a novel virus that infects mammals and may well pass from animal to animal, a combination of traits that make it a potential threat to humans. Also, the possibility that a bird flu virus would infect seals hadn't been widely considered before, highlighting the fact that pandemic influenza can crop up in unexpected ways. She emphasizes the need for readiness.
"Flu could emerge from anywhere and our readiness has to be much better than we previously realized. We need to be very nimble in our ability to identify and understand the potential risks posed by new viruses emerging from unexpected sources," says Moscona. "It's important to realize that viruses can emerge through routes that we haven't considered. We need to be alert to those risks and ready to act on them."
###
American Society for Microbiology: http://www.asm.org
Thanks to American Society for Microbiology for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
This press release has been viewed 35 time(s).
wilson chandler bristol motor speedway puerto rico prometheus grand canyon skywalk tonga pid
Research Finds Possible Link Between Stress And Aging - The ...
Telomeres are DNA-protein complexes at the end of chromosomes that serve as protection against deterioration. Shortened telomeres have been linked to biological or cellular aging, as well as increased risk of cancer, heart disease, dementia, and mortality. And now, according to a recent study from researchers at Brigham and Women?s Hospital, shortened telomeres have been linked to stress and phobic anxiety in middle-aged and older women. The study, which looked at blood samples from 5,243 women between the ages of 42 and 69, found that participants that reported higher levels of anxiety had significantly shorter telomere lengths than women who reported less stress. The difference in telomere length between participants who reported anxiety and those who didn?t was similar to the effects of an additional six years of aging. Olivia Okereke, the study?s author, said the results were notable for showing a connection between a common form of stress and a plausible mechanism for premature aging. More here and here.
Category: Health & Wellness
Tagged: Aging, author, blood samples, brigham and women, chromosomes, disease, Elder Law, Eric Barnes, heart disease, Kaysville, length, levels of anxiety, mechanism, plausible mechanism, protein complexes, research, risk, s hospital, Shortened, study, telomere lengths, telomeres, The ElderCare Law Firm, Utah, Women
Source: http://elderlaw-infoblog.com/?p=715
south carolina primary squirrel appreciation day billy beane kathy griffin road conditions newt gingrich wives weather
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)