WikiLeaks targets Syria with 'embarrassing' trove (+video)

WikiLeaks has obtained some 2.4 million e-mails, which relate to both the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad?and the regime?s opponents, including Western countries.

By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / July 5, 2012

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gather outside the Ecuador Embassy in London last month. Assange is seeking political asylum to prevent being extradited to Sweden to face questioning about allegations of sexual assault.

Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

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WikiLeaks ? known for publishing secret government and corporate documents ? is focusing its latest effort on the tumult in Syria.

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This latest batch of leaks totals some 2.4 million e-mails, which WikiLeaks says will be embarrassing to both the regime of Bashar al-Assad?and the regime?s opponents, including Western countries.

So far, the only information released has to do with the Italian defense giant Finmeccanica, which?is reported to have provided communications equipment and expertise about helicopters to the Syrian military and police.

Finmeccanica (which is 30 percent owned by the Italian government and is also one of Britain's largest defense suppliers) says it is investigating the authenticity of the e-mails before commenting.?

WikiLeaks acknowledges that some of the e-mails can't be verified. They involve 680 different Internet domains, 678,752?different e-mail senders, 1,082,447 different e-mail recipients, and several different languages, including Arabic and Russian.

Published by the Italian news magazine L'Espresso, one of WikiLeaks' media partners, e-mails appear to show that a subsidiary of Finmeccanica was selling radio equipment to Syria as recently as two months ago ? at the same time that the European Union was imposing an embargo on the regime, specifically prohibiting the sale of weapons and equipment that could be used in the fight against the Syrian opposition.

In a statement Thursday, WikiLeaks said the Syria-related entities or domain names from which the e-mails were obtained include the Ministries of Presidential Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Information, Transport, and Culture.

"The material is embarrassing to Syria, but it is also embarrassing to Syria?s opponents,? WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said, without elaborating, through WikiLeaks spokeswoman Sarah Harrison. ?It helps us not merely to criticize one group or another, but to understand their interests, actions and thoughts. It is only through understanding this conflict that we can hope to resolve it."

According to the organization, the range of information in the e-mails ?extends from the intimate correspondence of the most senior Baath party figures to records of financial transfers sent from Syrian ministries to other nations.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/f-Ou2QxuQtY/WikiLeaks-targets-Syria-with-embarrassing-trove-video

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