back to article Anonymous hack hands WikiLeaks TWO MILLION Syrian emails

Hacktivist group Anonymous is claiming responsibility for an attack on the computer systems of the Syrian government and its evil overlord Bashar Assad thanks to which over two million emails ended up in the hands of whistle-blowing site WikiLeaks. As of last Thursday, the site began drip-feeding sections of the ‘Syria Files’ …

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  1. g e
    Holmes

    Right then

    Let's see the USA cry foul over THIS data set, then.

    Perhaps they'll get round to that after they've copied & read it through a few times....

    Pots, Kettles...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Right then

      Actually, don't be amazed if there is some damning stuff about what the UK and US knew for years and ignored or went along with.. just sayin'

      Anonymous but not in *that* way.

    2. Graham Marsden
      Big Brother

      Re: Right then

      Ah, but you see it's *different* when it happens to someone else...!

    3. Matt Bryant Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Right then

      Of course, that ignores the fact that the CIA and partners have (allegedly) been carefully hacking into Syria's and Iran's comms for years, have probably already read all those emails, extracted information of value and used it to help the democratic groups behind the Syrian rebellion. Which means that the Anonyputzs trampling through it with their hobnailed boots approach to security just killed off the chance of any future intel being gained so easily, effectively kicking the rebels in the nuts. But who cares, right? It's far more important that the Anon skiddies get to scream about what 'leet haxors they are, what does the bigger picture matter?

  2. Skyraker

    Peoples Liberation Front

    Splitters!

    1. davidp231
      Thumb Up

      Re: Peoples Liberation Front

      Woudln't that be the Popular People's Liberation Front? ;-)

  3. Nick Kew

    Gay Girl?

    What's the betting much of the material comes from sources like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amina_Abdallah_Arraf_al_Omari

  4. ratfox
    Go

    Good to see…

    That Wikileaks is still doing stuff. Hopefully, they will work better now that Assange is away…

    1. Gordon 10
      Unhappy

      Re: Good to see…

      By doing stuff I presume you mean "profiting partnering with our media allies".

      Lets drop the pretence Wikeleaks isnt in it for the cash please - it got old long ago. They may do some good but thats almost secondary.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Good to see…

        Do they have any media allies left? I thought Julian had managed to alienate them all?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Oh that'll frighten them

    The assad government is currently engaged in a massacre of its citizens but I'm sure the thing thats REALLY worrying them is international condemnation about a bunch of emails released by some script kiddies showing what naugty boys they've been!

    I mean seriously? Don't these basement dwelling teens have ANY grasp of reality?

    1. Gordon 10
      FAIL

      Re: Oh that'll frighten them

      Do you have any grasp of reality?

      There is a huge difference between us believing that atrocities being committed and email evidence that backs it up.

      Just surmise a second that there is an email from Al-Assad ordering massacres - if you dont think thats important you are a muppet.

      Not that I think there is - but Im sure there will be plenty of circumstancial evidence for when his Hague trial starts in 2020.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Oh that'll frighten them

        @Gordon 10 - If there are "smoking gun" emails, the act of publishing them on the Internet by vigilantes has alerted the Assad regime to the existence of the emails, prompting their destruction. I very much doubt Anonymous and Wikileaks are skilled enough to have preserved chain of evidence required for criminal conviction.

      2. Matt Bryant Silver badge
        Boffin

        Re: Oh that'll frighten them

        "....when his Hague trial starts in 2020." Unfortunately, I think that is unlikely to happen for five reasons:

        1. After Libya, the Russians seem dead set on doing everything they can to stop the West imposing a regime change, and Obamabi won't go it alone, which means any change will have to be by an internal revolution. The only alternative UN plan on the table is the Kofi Annan power-sharing one, which would probably exempt Assad and any officials from prosecution even if Assad was likely to go for it. And the US doesn't currently seem to have a diplomatic carrot to wave at the Russians big enough to make them change their minds.

        2. The rebels have not managed to get the army on their side as the revolutionaries did in Egypt, which means the matter will probably go into a full civil war. That means the rebels are massively outgunned. Whilst Turkey is keen to rattle sabres and pose for the rest of the Muslim World, it is a member of NATO and will be kept on a leash. The Assads can offer to help the Turks root out Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq, and if it was kept on the quiet that would be a big carrot for the Turks.

        3. Again comparing to Egypt, Mubarak had few international friends willing to go out on a limb for him, whereas Assad has several. As well as the Russians running interference for Assad, he has the backing of Iran, the latter already providing plenty of manpower, material and knowledge on how to repress. Again, the US has no diplomatic carrot to get the Iranians to back off.

        4. The Assads are survivors. His father negotiated with the Coallition in the First Gulf War and took sides against Saddam despite Assad and Saddam being from the same pan-Arab political coallition (the Ba'ath Party). Having reaped the rewards of helping the Coallition, over the following decade the Assad regime succesfully switched again to helping Saddam beat the embargoes on oil exports and weapon imports, and helped channel Islamist fighters to Iraq before, during and after the Second Gulf War. Being of Allawite extraction means the Assads have always played the "we're not fundamental Islamists" card when required, and the people funding the arms for the rebels are already being linked with some rather extreme Sunni people in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, so expect some members of the US Senate to start asking questions as to why a "liberal" is probably going to be replaced by another Muslim Brotherhood regime. There are already mutterings that the US "ditched an allie and gained an enemy" in letting the Muslim Brotherhood seize power in Egypt.

        5. Hezbollah is highly dependent on Syria and Iran, and won't take kindly to losing a patron. Any sign that the war is going against the Assads will see a rush of "volunteers" going across the border to fight for the Assad regime. Hezbollah is already moving to cut off the Sunni groups in the Lebanon which are acting as the conduit for arms and money to the Sunni rebels in Syria.

        Sadly, I think setting a court date for Assad now is a bit premature.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        Re: Oh that'll frighten them

        "There is a huge difference between us believing that atrocities being committed and email evidence that backs it up."

        Yes , because email evidence is SO much more damning that the mobile phone videos of dead civilians!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Oh that'll frighten them

          @Boltar - Emails are exactly the sort of thing that are required to show that Assad knew what was going on and ordered it. He can't be tried for genocide or mass murder if it can't be shown that he ordered it. Videos of dead people are just that, evidence of individual crimes carried out by individuals, not the big crime carried out by the man at the top.

          1. Matt Bryant Silver badge
            Facepalm

            Re: Re: Oh that'll frighten them

            Dude, seriously? You want to tell me Assad sits down and writes out his repressive commands in emails? And then you want to pretend that it will stand up in court as evidence after a bunch of skiddies have been involved? BTW, do you want to invest in some prime Florida real estate, each lot with guaranteed water-frontage?

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