Shaky alliance to act against Syria weakened by UK Parliament vote – Syrian hackers warn of major attacks

 

August 30, 2013 – SYRIA – Syrian hackers behind recent attacks on the New York Times and Twitter have warned media companies to “expect us.” The Syrian Electronic Army, which supports President Bashar al-Assad, added it had “many surprises” to come. Interviewed via email following the UK Parliament’s vote against military intervention on Thursday, a spokesman told BBC News: “It’s the right thing.” He added: “Military intervention in Syria has many consequences and will affect the whole world. Our main mission is to spread truth about Syria and what is really happening.” The SEA has targeted various media companies, including the BBC, CNN and the Guardian. Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post reporter, wrote that clues discovered when the SEA’s own website was hacked earlier in the year pointed towards at least one member of the group being based in neighboring country Turkey. But the SEA’s spokesman dismissed these claims, saying that “they keep publishing names so they can get attention. All the media outlets that we targeted were publishing false/fabricated news about the situation in Syria,” he told the BBC. “Our work doesn’t need funds. It just needs a computer and internet connection.” Until this week’s attacks, the SEA’s efforts had largely focused on “phishing” social media accounts, tricking users into handing over log-in details. In one particularly effective attack, the Twitter account of the Associated Press was compromised, and the group posted a tweet saying US President Barack Obama had been hurt in an explosion. The New York Times attack was more damaging, however, as the hackers were able to redirect people trying to visit the newspaper to the SEA’s website instead, albeit briefly. “Our goal was to deliver our anti-war message on NY Times website – but our server couldn’t last for three minutes,” the group said. “The Twitter attack was because of the suspension of our accounts on Twitter by its management. We succeeded in our attack as we expected.” –BBC

UK opts out of military action against Syria: French president Francois Hollande said a British parliamentary vote against taking military action in Syria would not affect France’s will to act to punish Bashar al-Assad’s government for an apparent chemical weapons attack on civilians. Mr. Hollande told the daily Le Monde in an interview that he supported taking “firm” punitive action over an attack he said had caused “irreparable” harm to the Syrian people and said he would work closely with France’s allies. Asked if France could take action without Britain, Mr. Hollande replied: “Yes. Each country is sovereign to participate or not in an operation. That is valid for Britain as it is for France.” Meanwhile British David Cameron today said he would continue to argue for a “robust response” to Syrian president Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons even though UK military action had been ruled out. Mr. Cameron said today that he regretted the failure of the British parliament to support military action in Syria but that he hoped US president Barack Obama would understand the need to listen to the wishes of the people. “I think the American public, the American people and President Obama will understand,” Mr. Cameron said just hours after parliament voted against a government motion to authorize the principle of military action in Syria. “I haven’t spoken to him (Obama) since the debate and the vote but I would expect to speak to him over the next day or so. I don’t think it’s a question of having to apologize,” Mr. Cameron said in a television interview. UK Labour leader Ed Miliband has urged the British government not to “wash its hands” of Syria, despite MPs rejecting military intervention. He said Mr. Cameron must “find other ways” to put pressure on President Assad. “There are other routes than military means to actually help the people of Syria,” he said. –Irish Times

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