Syria in 2015

[OUTLAW 09]

Rich irony: #Russia's production of anti-Turkish T-shirts was hampered by delays in delivery of Turkish fabric 😂😂😂
https://meduza.io/shapito/2015/12/09/zaderzhki-turetskoy-tkani-pomeshali-dizayneru-vypustit-antituretskie-futbolki …

[OUTLAW 09]

Even the Sohr documents rebel war crimes in west Aleppo. Rest of the world, complete silence
http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/12/6-killed-and-dozens-wounded-after-targeting-areas-controlled-by-the-regime-in-aleppo-and-more-casualties-in-the-aerial-bombardment-on-the-city/ …

Iraq-i #KataibHezbollah say it's HIGHLY likely they will attack #Turkish Forces inside Iraq in the coming days.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-turkey-idUSKBN0TS21W20151209#oLalUjuxyP8wf47o.97 …

[OUTLAW 09]

http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap.org:90ad6bc61c154b758d1ee0f5ef7a21 de

Russia tells UN Turkey was acting 'recklessly' in Iraq

By EDITH M. LEDERER

Dec. 8, 2015 11:24 PM EST


UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia's United Nations ambassador said he told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that Turkey was acting "recklessly and inexplicably" by sending troops across the border into Iraq without the consent of the government.

Vitaly Churkin told reporters after raising the issue at a closed council meeting that the Turkish action was also a reflection of the "lack of legality" in the aerial attacks in Syria by the international coalition without its consent.

He expressed disappointment that the council did not agree on Russia's proposal to issue a statement reaffirming the need to respect international law and sovereignty and calling for unity against Islamic State extremists.

Russian-Turkish tensions have escalated following Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane near its border with Syria last

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria #IslamicState retook #Mahin city from #Assad-forces ~60km SE of #Homs city

�� UPDATE:
Syrian opposition has agreed in Riyadh meeting to form a committee of 23 members
http://bit.ly/YFbzyW

[SWJ Blog]

Judgment At Raqqa: The Leader Of The Islamic State, And His Key Associates Should Be Charged With Crimes Against Humanity (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/judgment-at-raqqa-the-leader-of-the-islamic-state-and-his-key-associates-should-be-charged-with)

Entry Excerpt:



--------
Read the full post (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/judgment-at-raqqa-the-leader-of-the-islamic-state-and-his-key-associates-should-be-charged-with) and make any comments at the SWJ Blog (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog).
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.

[Azor]

I got a guy who claims that the Russian Fencer using Garmin was relying upon a Glonass chip and so there's nothing wrong. He also claims that smart weapons are fairly elementary. Any notes on Garmin Glonass or hard data on Russian cruise missile successes/fails in Syria?

[CrowBat]

That the Garmin's hand-helds are meanwhile 'standard' for SVP-24 upgrade is clear.

But that with 'PGMs being fairly elementary' - definitely not. Especially not for 'vanilla' Su-24s (half the Russian fleet in Syria), and for Su-25SM-1/2s, which are completely incompatible with any.

[OUTLAW 09]

Sorry for being away... have been dueling with a very good state sponsored attack of my very well protected WLAN router.

Something someone told me in 2005 in Iraq that applies here----this is a cat and mouse game where sometimes the mouse wins and sometimes the cat--but we have one smart mouse that we are dealing with......

BUT these mice have been serving as volunteers to test a new concept for backtracking across the internet in a way never done before and it works very well......so the game will probably continue for the next few days until they realize they are being accurately tracked.

[OUTLAW 09]

Putin has gone all in with the Shia...........as a way to protect Assad and built out their ME influence against KSA and Turkey.

AND in the face of the mass killings of Syrian civilians via the "Islamic State Air Force" of the last eight weeks NOT a single word was wasted by the US/Obama on the topic of war crimes by Putin......

Russian warplanes carried out a massacre in the town of Qasabiyeh in Idlib countryside. #Syria (GRAPHIC)
http://youtu.be/mQ0FgEEEcOA

Just give the following some thought----130 killed in Paris AND in the last eight weeks SEVEN times that number have been killed by the "Islamic State Air Force"--men, women, children, and civil defense rescuers and hospitals, churches, food and water production centers, granaries, aid convoys and residential areas hit with cluster munitions and WP.

AND not a single word was wasted on Putin's killing spree by a single western leader.......BUT tons on the IS killing spree---WHY is that??

WHY the double standard---we condemn IS BUT when a nation state is just as guilty of war crimes actual war crimes WE the west say nothing and that is not a double standard??

[OUTLAW 09]

That the Garmin's hand-helds are meanwhile 'standard' for SVP-24 upgrade is clear.

But that with 'PGMs being fairly elementary' - definitely not. Especially not for 'vanilla' Su-24s (half the Russian fleet in Syria), and for Su-25SM-1/2s, which are completely incompatible with any.

Just a side comment--if we look at the strategic bomber strike the "Islamic State Air Force" carried out recently on the SAA base in Aleppo--flying all the way from southern Russia, through Iraq and then hitting absolutely the wrong target---one has to wonder just really how good their GPS and targeting processes are----THEN trying to blame the USAF for the "friendly fire".

BUT then again their are the "Islamic State AF".

[OUTLAW 09]

Iran recruits #Pakistan'i Shi'ites for combat in #Syria
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-pakistan-iran-idUSKBN0TT22S20151210 …

Aleppo Destruction in Jarez village shows the fire-power of #IslamicState
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSkx6-aUAuE …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.570080&lon=37.143188&z=15&m=b …

Rebels expelled #IslamicState from Hamzat village in northern #Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels hit #Aleppo International Airport /Neirab military airbase with a barrage of rockets- destroyed vehicles & aircrafts

FSA blow up excavator belonging to Shiite militias in southern #Aleppo with TOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WvjDkueiT0 …

In #Idlib prov., 100.000s of #IDPs face harsh winter after being displace by #Assad/#Putin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EZ-WTV3i4I …

Another TOW hit.....
Footage
The #FSA destroys a pro-#Assad forces bulldozer south west of #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwL87RdMAUU …

[OUTLAW 09]

Footage
Syrian rebel tank targets regime position in northern #Daraa province.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn43ESzG76k …

VIDEO: Opposition group in northern #Homs hit T-62 tank with Metis-M missile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTgBXu4wuqM …

FSA TOW vs. pro-#Assad forces digger S-W of #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOeksBUUNgU …

[OUTLAW 09]

Twitter, YouTube and FB all claimed they would be attacking IS who uses their platforms...BUT then this happens....the anti Assad opposition is not IS.....???

BUT ALL Russian, Syrian and IS info warrior accounts have not been removed by these three US social media companies....why is that????

Syrian rebel @YouTube channels dying in big numbers these days ...
Guess, we know, who is behind it.

[OUTLAW 09]

News
#Assad/#Putin air strikes hit civilian areas in #Saqba (picture) and Kafr Batna today.
pic.twitter.com/qcqoqWIyIl

News
#ISIS allows first elections for women in its caliphate.
Oh wait, it's Saudi Arabia! ...
pic.twitter.com/Tpz0vvph9d

Russia never likes anything anyone other than Russia does........

BREAKING: #Russia slams Riyadh talks as not representing 'entire #Syria opposition' - @AFP

So does Putin envision IS being part of the talks????

[OUTLAW 09]

Footage
#Jobar today, facing the same terrorism as #Homs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzBdEPsRXNA …
R.I.P. to all victims ...
pic.twitter.com/DvnPNPOccb

News reports of a carbomb in Homs' Zahraa neighborhood (Alawite), at least 15 dead, talk of almost a hundred injured.

I find it hilarious that Assad supporters & their allies are crying so much about this car bomb & not about 1000000 of barrel bombs for 4yrs

Минобороны России 
‏@mod_russia #SYRIA Airstrike against oil refinery near Khafsa Kabir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKbA_g-4zEE …
MAN.....turns out to be a waste water facility.....

ANOTHER poor air strike by the Islamic State Air force.......

Russia combines firepower with gross negligence and lack of Intel when bombing #Syria. Outcome: Civilians killed by the dozens these past days....

The message Assad’s lieutenants may hear: if you want a peace deal, you have to get rid of Assad
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/11/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKBN0TU2F920151211#jFAGkYp3e5u8lsfR.97 …

[OUTLAW 09]

Those pictures represent the complete failure and the break down of the #Syria|n regime. South #Aleppo fell to #Iran

Syria's water infrastructure has often been targeted. My latest @bellingcat article looks at most recent attacks. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2015/12/11/syrias-bombed-water-infrastructure …

[OUTLAW 09]

Latakia: high ranking Assad regime general Mamdouh Canaan killed by rebels

Afghani mercenary fighting for Assad Yasin Mohamadi killed in Hama by rebels

Damascus: Syrian Rebels kill dozens of Assad forces in Marj & destroy a tank

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad/Russia are going insane over the skies of Syria: a preschool today, bakery yesterday, villages..etc +50 civilians dead (if not more)

[OUTLAW 09]

Another blow for Iran. 2 Colonels & a General killed in Syria
http://www.shaam.org/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9/%D8%B6%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%A4%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B9%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88-%D9%86%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A8-%D9%88%D8%B9%D9%86%D8%B5%D8%B1-%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1.html …

After JayshFatah victory in #Idlib #Ghab & #Hama fight vs Syrian regime was won, now #Iran & #Russia battles.
With Shia fighters from Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, are Assad's forces Syrian?
http://bit.ly/1SSULvP

Aleppo : 4 dead and dozens wounded in #Atarib from #Russian vacuum bombs, two families were lost, attack also destroyed 8 nearby shops.

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels blow regime army T62 with ATGM north #Homs.
https://youtu.be/OteGfYuizgk

FSA secured a defected regime army soldier in Turkman Mount #Latakia.
https://youtu.be/SicH10mL4ds

BREAKING: Putin orders Russian military to take "extremely tough" action against any threat to its forces in #Syria - @BBCBreaking

Iraqi IRGC mercenary trying to talk his way out after captured by rebels south #Aleppo.
http://twitter.com/Syria1500/status/674922169953083392/video/1 …

[OUTLAW 09]

Confirms previously posted comment on this development..........

French military source also confirms that Iran is bringing jet fighters in Syria.

3ed report that IrIAF will soon begin combat operations in Syria. Central & northern Syria are the main objectives.

[OUTLAW 09]

There are around 10 T-90s in south #Aleppo, they have not been used in combat yet

There was a recent TOW hit video on a tank that had the same long barrel as the T90 and it was also hit in south Aleppo......rebels claimed it was a T90....

[CrowBat]

Confirms previously posted comment on this development..........

French military source also confirms that Iran is bringing jet fighters in Syria.

3ed report that IrIAF will soon begin combat operations in Syria. Central & northern Syria are the main objectives.
And if they add a US, Russian, Albanian, and Chilean source... nothing of this is likely to happen without the IRIAF being capable of doing something of that kind.

[Dishonesty]

1) T-90 is new version T-72B.

2)Su-25SM,Su-24M2(but not vanilla Su-24),Tu-22M3,Tu-95SM have integrated Glonass/GPS receiver A-737 in the Navigation system.
http://www.glonass-portal.ru/catalog/navigators/plane/a737

24 Channel Glonass/GPS L-1 Receiver,CEP location 23m,altitude 27meters.
But they needed map Syria with Glonass Grid.

Su-24M navigation are based on DISS-7(Doppler navigation)&RSDN("LORAN" in Syria maybe beyond range ground station in the Russian)&RSBN("TACAN" you need 3 ground station in line of sight)&Radar PNS-24 Tigr(Ground Mapping and Navigation)

3)Su-24M&Su-25SM are Precision Weapons Capable.
Especially Su-24M was premier Deep Interdiction Striker (in eighties-counterpart F-111F) equipped with Fire Control System Kaira-24 -on Board Laser target rangefinder&designator with television sight.
Capable: Missiles Ch-25MR(radio controlled,very clumsy),Ch-25ML,Ch-29L,S-25L(Laser Guided)Ch-29T(TV Lock-on)Ch-59,Ch-59M(Inertial and terminal TV guided)Ch-25MP,Ch-58(ARM)
Bomb KAB-500/1500KR(TV Lock-on) KAB-500/1500L(Laser Guided)
All Weather Radar or Navigation Bombing-only Area Target.

Su-25(Vanilla)&Su-25SM have Klen-PS on board Laser Target Designator capable:Missile Ch-25ML&Ch-29L(used in Afghanistan 1987-88),Ch-25MR.
Su-25SM Navigation Bombing and in theory KAB-500S(GPS guided)

4)One question:Can me anyone explain why USA not turn on GPS SA Mode in Syria and Iraq???(GPS Select Avaiability-degradate the position quality for civilian Use)

[Azor]

Thanks CrowBat.

Do you or Outlaw know of any hard data on the success rate of the Kalibr missiles launched from the Caspian Flotilla (44) or from the Rostov-on-Don in the Med (unknown number)?

How about the ALCMs from the bombers operating out of Russia? I am not sure the number or type (again could be Kalibr)...

[CrowBat]

There was a recent TOW hit video on a tank that had the same long barrel as the T90 and it was also hit in south Aleppo......rebels claimed it was a T90....The FSyA claimed two TOW-hits on T-90s in southern Aleppo: one turned out to be a T-72, the other a T-55.


2)Su-25SM,Su-24M2(but not vanilla Su-24),Tu-22M3,Tu-95SM have integrated Glonass/GPS receiver A-737 in the Navigation system.
http://www.glonass-portal.ru/catalog/navigators/plane/a737Don't forget the Su-24SVP-24: there are nearly three times more of Su-24s upgrarded that way (because it's much cheaper than the M2) - in VKS service, and in Syria too.


3)Su-24M&Su-25SM are Precision Weapons Capable.Actually: Su-24M ('vanilla') is such only in theory. In practice, it's never seen armed with anything else but Kh-25s.

Ditto for Su-24M2 and Su-24SVP-24.

Su-25SM-1 and Su-25SM-2 are not PGM-compatible; Su-25SM-3 is going to become, but there are none in Syria.

For details on all of this, see Russia's Warplanes (http://www.harpia-publishing.com/galleries/RuWp/index.html) (out since five weeks, and up-to-date as of September this year).


Do you or Outlaw know of any hard data on the success rate of the Kalibr missiles launched from the Caspian Flotilla (44) or from the Rostov-on-Don in the Med (unknown number)?Sorry, nope.

Haven't found an opportunity to compile the data on all the CALCM/CSLCMs launched so far.

[CrowBat]

Regarding Azor's question about Russian cruise-missile attacks:

Involved are:
- warships of the Caspian Sea Fleet
- Tu-160s from Engels AB (6950 AviaBase); usually 2 per mission;
- Tu-95MS' from Engels AB (6950 AviaBase); usually 2 per mission;
- Tu-22M3s from Mozdok AB (forward deployed there from 6951 AviaBase Shaikovka and 6953 AviaBase Belaya); usually 2 per mission but up to 12 per day
- Il-78M tankers; usually 2 per mission, and nearly always in support of Tu-22M3s.
- Rostov-na-Donu SSK

Tu-160s and Tu-95s are deploying conventional air-launched cruise missiles (CALCMs): Tu-160s primarily Kh-101s, Tu-95MS primarily Kh-555s (AS-15; this is re-worked Kh-55SM, with guidance system of Kh-101 and conventional warhead). Tu-22M3s are carpet-bombing with FAB-250s or FAB-500s.

Tu-160s are usually taking a long route around entire Western Europe, via Gibraltar over the Mediterranean Sea, and launching their CALCMs off the coast of Syria, while escorted by Su-30s from BAAIAP, as can be seen here (video released by Russian MOD on 20 November, probably taken on 17 November):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja_kvsngEFI

Tu-95s are usually taking the route over the Caspian Sea and launching their CALCMs over northern or central Iran, while escorted by Su-27SMs (from 6972 AviaBase Krimsk) and Su-30SMs (from 412 AviaBase Domna), plus IRIAF F-4Es from TFB.3 and F-14As from TFB.8.

Tu-22M-3s are taking the route over the Caspian Sea, northern Iran and northern Iraq, and usually require support of Il-78M tankers. Over Iran, they're escorted by IRIAF F-4Es and F-14s (see video below), while once over Syria, they are escorted by Su-30SMs from BAAIAP.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ascSnBbxfaU

Gauged by whatever is reported in this regards, it seems the cruise-missile strikes are meanwhile taking place every second day (at least some were reported on 6, 8, 10 and 12 December). While the Russian MOD is de-facto claiming 100% launch-hit ratio, I'm yet to see any video or report 100% confirming that some target was hit and destroyed. Here something like a 're-view' of known attacks so far:

- 17-20 November: 34 cruise missiles fired by warships of the Caspian Sea Fleet and Tu-160s (http://bmpd.livejournal.com/1585491.html). A number of these have crashed underway to their targets (including at least four in Iran), some detonated prematurely few kilometres short or aside of their (apparent) targets, while 1 was shot down by insurgent AAA near Aleppo (seems, they thought they were targeting an UAV, because Kh-555s are flying so slow).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igzjX1IKULw

Places reportedly hit by that attack were (all of this is supported by photos and videos): Ayn al-Arus, Darat Izza, Khan al-Asal, Urem al-Koubra (near at-Tareb), and an industrial area in Aleppo-suburb of Hayyan (all of this in Aleppo Province; two of these missiles killed 10 civilians, including two women and four of their children); al-Bara, Midan al-Ghazal and Kansanfra (6, only one hit the local school, which was empty), as-Sahan, Ma'arat an-Nouman, Mir'ian and Abu ad-Duhor AB (Idlib Province), Idlib City (1 hit a conserve factory on the western entry into that city; another detonated right above one of major streets, causing a number of casualties); one hit an orchard outside regime-held Khattab (Hama); and one reportedly detonated in Sheikh Miskin area (Dera'a). Five of those targeting al-Bara and Kansanfra either experienced various sorts of failure (like going ballistic, detonating prematurely, or simply passing by without detonation) while one hit the school building in Kansanfra. The one that hit that orchard in Khattab caused no damage at all (well, it did cut a number of almond trees, that these are worth something).

Two or three of these missiles were said to have hit the Daesh-held Raqqa, but there are no details about results of their attacks.

- 23-24 November: airspace over northern Iraq closed because of a Russian CALCM attack. 4 cruise missiles detonated in area held by the 1st Coastal Division FSyA. No reports about any casualties or damage.

- 6 December: airspace over northern Iraq closed again because of a Russian CALCM attack. Worst example of Russian cruise missile failure known so far took place on 6 December, when one hit a local regime HQ in Western Aleppo, reportedly killing 36 NDF troops. Either the same, or another cruise missile hit the area of 'Defence Factories' in as-Safira (southern Aleppo).

- 8 December: SSK Rostov-na-Donu launched 8x CSLCM attack, targets unknown.

- 10 December: CALCM attack reported, no details yet.

- 12 December: CALCM attack reported, and one missile reportedly crashed near Aleppo.

[Dishonesty]

I've never heard of Su-24SVP-24.
Maybe it is Su-24M2 with new on board Computer SV-24 Replacement ancient Orbita-10.

Only difference between use Ch-25ML and Ch-29L is missile racks.Ch-29 is for Hardened Target.
Su-24M is only Russian aircraft capable KAB-1500 family(now Su-34).Used in Afghanistan and Chechnya,very small scale.
Main role Su-24M is high altitude horizontal bombing.Russian PGM are very expensive,Life is cheap.

Very nice snap from Syria Su-24M with 4 Ch-25ML

http://kvedomosti.com/uploads/posts/2015-11/minoborony-pokazalo-kak-su-24m-sbrasyvaet-v-sirii-bombu-na-obekt-terroristov_1.jpeg

Both Su-25&Su-25SM have Klen-PS simply but effective laser designator.They are capable Laser Guided missile Ch-25ML,Ch-29L and S-25L.

Russian claims 1 sorties with destroy 2-3 target is total nonsense.

[CrowBat]

SVP-24 is an upgrade of the Su-24M run by the GEFEST company. The essence is the same like that of the Su-24M2 upgrade: improve CEP, while removing necessity for the aircraft to fly perfectly straight and level before weapons release.

With other words: they try to make their Su-24Ms 'smart', so these can drop 'dumb' ammo but still hit the target.

Result: instead of 3-4 minutes like before, the 'flying straight and level before release' is now down to about 1 minute...

...which means all the money is spent for nothing, as made so obvious today when these sick idiots have used Tu-22M3s to carpet-bomb a primary school in Douma and murder 60 Syrian kids.

For what results of a Russian 'precision bombing' looks like, see here (https://twitter.com/sakirkhader), and consider yourself warned: GRAFFIC, VERY GRAFFIC.

[Azor]

See here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DAYst1L9-k4

[CrowBat]

...once again, I'm left in near shock from realizing there are other, much more clever and better-informed people, realizing the same I'm talking about all the time...

Thanks for posting that, Azor.

***********

What's also leaving me at lack of words is the newest series of... I really lack the words for this now... 'Absurdities'? 'Nonsense'? ...nah, that's not describing it... from Moscow. Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov (http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151214/1031706532/russia-strikes-fsa.html#ixzz3uHvCgGJB) cannot be described even as a 'drunken ape' any more when stating:


"...Russian aviation group in Syria launches 30-40 strikes daily to support the Free Syrian Army (FSA)..."

...at least not without offending drunken apes...

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkish Patience With Russia 'Has a Limit' With Yet Another Incident At Sea

11:52 (GMT)


The Turkish government has warned that Ankara's patience with Moscow "has a limit" after tensions between the two countries were highlighted yet again when the Russian destroyer Smetlivy fired warning shots as it neared a Turkish fishing boat yesterday.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, the fishing boat did not make radio contact or respond to to signal lamps and flares as it approached the Smetlivy near the Greek island of Lemnos. Crew on board the destroyer fired warning shots with small arms when the boat came within 600 metres.

But the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, told Italy's Corriere della Sera in an interview published today that the Russian reaction was "exaggerated."

Reuters reports:


"Ours was only a fishing boat, it seems to me that the reaction of the Russian naval ship was exaggerated," Mevlut Cavusoglu told Italian daily Corriere della Sera in an interview.

"Russia and Turkey certainly have to re-establish the relations of trust that we have always had, but our patience has a limit," Cavusoglu said.

This afternoon, Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency reported that there had been another incident involving Turkish and Russian vessels, this time in the Black Sea.

According to the report, a Turkish-flagged merchant vessel illegally crossed the path of an oncoming convoy of Russian ships, including a Black Sea Fleet missile boat, a Federal Border Service patrol boat and a towed drilling platform, forcing vessels to make emergency manoeuvres to avoid collision.

The Chernomorneftgaz company, which owns the rig being towed, claims that the Turkish-flagged vessel did not respond to radio calls.

The Border Service patrol boat and missile boat then "forced" the merchant vessel to change course.

It is worth noting that Chernomorneftgaz was one of several Ukrainian state-owned entities that were seized by the Russian government during the annexation of Crimea last year. The company is under both US and EU sanctions.

Meanwhile the Caesar Kunikov landing ship returned north through the Bosphorus today. When the vessel passed south through the strait on December 6, en-route to Syria, a crew member strode the upper deck with an anti-aircraft missile launcher at the ready.

The passage was well-documented and triggered complaints from the Turkish government. Mr Cavusoglu described the incident as "a provocation" at the time.

[OUTLAW 09]

MORE Russian cluster munitions use on civilian targets......

Scorched earth bombardment by regime forces on villages in the Ghab plain in Hama's countryside. #Syria

Interesting........so who is actually lying .........Egypt, the Russian FSB/Putin and or IS.......????? OR did KSA money win the day......

Agence France-Presse ✔ @AFP
#BREAKING Egypt says still no proof 'terrorist' attack downed Russia plane

While people look at #Douma, #RussianAirstrikes keep hitting civilians in #Aleppo daily !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm2Otx-ZQlI … pic.twitter.com/nb7SxtwErh

[OUTLAW 09]

NOTICE not a single word is said by any western leader or nation....UN statements alone will not stop the Putin massacres of Syrian civilians......

Agence France-Presse ‏@AFP · 1h1 hour ago
#BREAKING UN condemns 'unacceptable' attacks on rebel bastion near Syria capital

[OUTLAW 09]

Syrian rebels (Jund al-Aqsa, but also other brigades) took 5 #Assad regime positions in #Hama today.

Irakli Komaxidze's response on #Russian sub munition used in #Syria.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=178640142487168&set=a.110124196005430.1073741828.100010235495201&type=3&theater …
pic.twitter.com/uPtNiyGkZM

The Syrian capital #Jobar area today.
#Assad didn't have such weapons until some weeks ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3yRo_p8G7w …

Footage
Jund al-Aqsa uses MLRS-like 'multiple hell cannons(?!)' vs. #Assad front in #Hama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UIJkkjB9YE …

Fact
As long as Russian pilots don't fly MiG-23, #Assad planes bombed #Douma today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5EUSrCKgYU …

Iranian press report the death of General Hussain Farday commander of the pro-Assad Iran backed Afghan Shia #Fatimiyoun Brigade in #Syria

[Azor]

...once again, I'm left in near shock from realizing there are other, much more clever and better-informed people, realizing the same I'm talking about all the time...

Thanks for posting that, Azor.



From CSIS: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w1elSx7U-xo

[OUTLAW 09]

Reports Suqour al-Jabal rebels delivered a devestating blow to a Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba ops room/gathering w/ a TOW in Birnah, #Aleppo

In #Aleppo mosque, Akram Kabi head of pro-Assad Iran backed Shia militia Harakat Nujaba calling for death of Sunnis http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/5207.htm …

FSA Northern Division clashes with #ISIS in north rural #Aleppo
http://youtu.be/6q02ZlQjK0o

Nusra claims more than 80 pro-Assad Shia militants were killed in attempt to advance on the village of Banes in south rural #Aleppo

Some of the cluster munitions & rockets used by Russia/Assad on the #Damascus suburb of #Douma yesterday
http://youtu.be/3xLrPnOqW9E

Russia'n airstrikes killed 45 people- incl 10 children in #Syria #Damascus suburb #Douma yesterday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQpvX_UaKhw …

[OUTLAW 09]

Lots of foreign Shiite fighters killed in battle near al Eis in southern countryside of #Aleppo

Rebels seized Zor al-Heisa barrier btw Helfaia & Taibat al-Imam towns in northern #Hama

Rebels took over al-Buwaydah village in northern #Hama
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.313374&lon=36.699400&z=14&m=b …

Over 60 civilians have been killed in criminal regime bombardments all over besieged eastern #Ghouta yesterday

BreakingFootage WHAT THE HECK was it carrying for munitions???????
#FSA TOW in the Ghab plain hits #Assad ammunition transport.
Boom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVHSle1G6is&feature=youtu.be …

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels advancing north #Hama and reportedly took al-Massasenah village after VBIED attack.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.294742&lon=36.661377&z=15&m=b&search= …

Jund al-Aqsa artillery attack on al-Buwaydah village before captured north #Hama.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.315878&lon=36.695892&z=14&m=b&search= …البويضة

Footage
Large drone above the #Iraq/#Iran offensive over #KhanTuman, S-W of #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWwiKvHDYgY …

IRGC militias recon drone downed south #Aleppo.

FSA Suqour al-Jabal using a TOW against Harakat al-Nujaba ops room in south rural #Aleppo
http://youtu.be/eXQtfurENv4

[OUTLAW 09]

16 Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria in under 48 hours
http://eldorar.com/node/92500

Large number of Nigerian Hezbollah fighters killed after Nigerian Government discovered weapons and explosives

Hama: while Assad & Putin take their wrath out on civilians Syrian Rebels hit back at Al masasana regime checkpoint, dozens killed

4 Iranian revolutionary guards killed yesterday by accident from Russian airstrikes #Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

Remnants of #SyAF chlorine bomb near #Idlib #Latakia border pic.twitter.com/0Ed3ofPF0o

AEJ خليل ้้้้้็็็็ @AEJKhalil
#Russia mercenary TU-22M3 Guard Lt.Col. Valery Rykov board42 (red),registration RF-94142,bombing our children
#Syria
pic.twitter.com/4IPvVhQyNt

That Russia is helping the FSA "is totally untrue. Russian warplanes are bombing our headquarters on a daily basis.” http://www.businessinsider.com/free-syrian-army-rebels-deny-receiving-any-russian-support-2015-12 …

Russian Mod claims to be supporting the FSA with 30-40 air strikes daily......

Still remember 'experts' claiming "no more TOW being passed to rebels" and "TOW are not used in antipersonnel role" https://twitter.com/NorthernStork/status/676394662718930944 …

Per Mikhail Kuznetsov fr InformNapalm it was АО-1СЧ from РБК-250-275, Su-24 sub munition.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=178737735810742&id=100010235495201&__mref=message_bubble … pic.twitter.com/AAVJoUyIbq

[CrowBat]

16 Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria in under 48 hours
http://eldorar.com/node/92500Combined with 30 KIA on 10 and 11 December on Jebel Turkomen, that's a total of 46 KIA in four days...

Since they seem to still haven't got their pay for November, no wonder there are rumours (and not only a few) that Hezbollah/Lebanon wants to withdraw from Syria...

[CrowBat]

Fact
As long as Russian pilots don't fly MiG-23, #Assad planes bombed #Douma today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5EUSrCKgYU … There's absolutely no need for Russians to fly any of Assadist MiG-23s: the type is out of service in Russia since early 1990s, and the VKS has not a single pilot current on it.

Plus, because the fleet is badly worn out after three years of intensive combat ops, Assadists are left with less than a dozen of operational MiG-23BNs - which in turn means there are more than enough of brainwashed Alawite pilots to fly them (for at least a few details about them - and then from a 1st-hand source - see Muhammed Faris: Space Odyssey Refugee (http://www.middleeasteye.net/in-depth/features/muhammed-faris-space-odyssey-refugee-odyssey-1880597043#.dpuf)).

[OUTLAW 09]

Clear footage of Assad's barrel bombs dropped on residential areas in Daraya #Damascus.
https://youtu.be/E8R2C4OOz2Y
pic.twitter.com/7qzveoiEEQ

@SyriaCivilDef going to the scene of the 3rd Russian air raid on Maarat al-Numn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SujGB1yJ7HM …

2nd barrel bomb attack today on Ter Maela https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOqKcTYEDZA … http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=34.803232&lon=36.707811&z=14&m=b …
AEJ خليل ้้้้้็็็็ @AEJKhalil
Full footage of @SyriaCivilDef collecting dozens of #Russia Cluster Bombs in #Marjah #Aleppo #Syria Dec 14
https://www.facebook.com/Civil1Defense1in1Aleppo/videos/vb.646749932071335/936838386395820/?type=2&theater&notif_t=notify_me_page …

IslamicState advance in SE #Homs & seized Hadath village from regime forces
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=34.310689&lon=37.091045&z=13&m=b …

Syria Rebels in northern #Homs took out 23mm gun with ATGM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYXTntvKRzU&feature=youtu.be …

News
5 civilians incl. 2 children killed, 15 people wounded in Russian cluster bomb attack on #MaaratAlNuman.
pic.twitter.com/1m3GLKKW8y

[OUTLAW 09]

ISIS oil mostly traded WITHIN #Syria.
Syrian government also buys gas from ISIS.
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-where-isis-oil-is-actually-going-2015-12?IR=T …
pic.twitter.com/IrDYzE1PMI

[OUTLAW 09]

"Assad's Army is tired, the Iranians are not very skilled, and the rebels they are fighting are quite experienced." http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/policy-budget/warfare/2015/12/13/russia-digging-long-haul-syria/77148866/

ApocalypseAleppo
Scene after massive #RussianAirstrikes on civilians in the northern hub.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_3fiWrX1ok …

White Helmets secured over 100 unexploded RuAF cluster-munitions dropped on Ma'rrat al-Numan
https://youtu.be/4WuMSpEcqkU

RuAF Mi-8AMTSh over Homs city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN0fQQF2Ho4 …

A full rocket salvo against alleged rebels positions in Jurin, Sahel Al Ghab, Hama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHF7ixKizCI …

First Write-Up on MANPADS and their use in the Syrian Civil War
http://theosintblog.com/2015/12/12/manpads-in-the-syrian-civil-war-2/ …

[Azor]

First Write-Up on MANPADS and their use in the Syrian Civil War
http://theosintblog.com/2015/12/12/manpads-in-the-syrian-civil-war-2/ …

I would say that the article is a contemporary primer on MANPADs, rather than details on their use in the Syrian Civil War. Obviously rebels have taken out some regime aircraft, mostly by ground fire, but none of these incidents were detailed. I am curious as to who exactly is supplying the FSA with TOWs and who controls the supply itself; I'd imagine Washington is pushing back against MANPAD delivery.

Finally, I was reading that MANPADs can be configured so as to only operate within certain geographic boundaries, or against certain-sized targets, or with PALs presumably to be controlled by CIA/MIT officers, and that these "safe" systems would be delivered in 2016-2017...

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA rebels have shot down what appears to be a Russian Orlan-10 UAV in Sheikh Miskin, #Daraa, #Syria

FSA Sultan Murad, Liwa Mutasim & Faylaq al-Sham have liberated Qarah Kubri in north rural #Aleppo from #ISIS
http://youtu.be/DcdCDkrTnjQ

Oil market in Maʿarrat al-Naasan targeted by RuAF airstrikes. Casualties reported .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwGIypeliRs …

SyriaCivilDef extinguish fire due #Russia airstrikes on #Maarat_al_Naasan, 20+killed
#Idlib #Syria Dec15

SCD - 19 carbonized bodies including children so far..
#Russia airstrikes on #Maarat_al_Naasan
#Idlib #Syria Dec15

Night Russian air strikes are taking place on various towns in E. #Ghouta:
Douma, Saqba, Zamlaka, Kafar Batna, Hamouriya..

Russian cluster bomb sub ammo AO-2.5RT dropped on densily populated suburb #Douma in #Damascus killed 40 yd.

Footage
#Assad forces recaptured the Marj al-Sultan air base in #EastGhouta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RNyQ92cy7M …

Two hours ago....
Damascus Rebels regain control of the Marj al-Sultan Airport in East Ghouta

[OUTLAW 09]

Footage
Iraqi forces captured more Syrian rebel positions S-W of #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCfS_ezf2a8 …

Footage
Syrian rebel ATGM hit vs. #Assad-held building in occupied #Homs province.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcIcxAgbKpo …

Syrian activists from #Damascus distributed flyers in several neighbourhoods of "Syrians' killer".

Part of Assad's efforts in implementing #AssadOrWeBurnTheCountry was false talks to lure/detain representatives.

Coalitions vs terrorism in Syria & Iraq
US-led: 61 countries
Russia-led: 4 countries & Hezb
France-led: 26 countries
Saudi-led: 34 countries

[OUTLAW 09]

The Times of Israel ‏@TimesofIsrael
A third of Hezbollah’s fighters said killed or injured in Syria http://dlvr.it/D1J6Rh

MFA Russia 
‏@mfa_russia #Lavrov: We must put aside all secondary considerations and focus on fighting terrorism, which is a threat we all face

MFA Russia ‏@mfa_russia · 3h3 hours ago
We will continue pressing #US to revise its policy based on dividing terrorists into "good" & "bad guys" http://en.mid.ru/en/web/guest/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/1986792 …

BUT Russia calls the Ukrainians "Nazi's" BUT "separatists" the good guys...again Russian double standards.......THEY always hope that the world forgets what they have previously said.......

[OUTLAW 09]

MORE TOS-1s being delivered by Russia to Syria----hidden in freighters beneath the decks.

Russian Mi-35M gunship helicopter appears in Syria for the first time
http://wp.me/p2TYIs-9dS

Iran #RuAF Su-34 & IL-76 in Shahid Nojeh AB (Hamadan), 15th Dec 2015.
http://www.criticalthreats.org/russia/kagan-donovan-bucala-russo-iranian-coalition-in-syria-deepening-december-14-2015?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fdpctp …

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkmen militants say Northern Latakia front is on the edge of collapse with Russians bombing their positions 7/24.
http://t24.com.tr/haber/bayirbuc

MORE proAssad trolls stating this.....
Iran "is studying an official request already made by the Syrian government to send large troops (& jets) to #Syria"

Even more Russian disinformation on their support to the FSA.............
Head of #FSA intelligence, Gen. Hossam Awak, 'ready to share maps, documents' to support strikes vs #ISIS
http://sputniknews.com/military/20151214/1031736166/free-syrian-army-russia-intelligence-data-airstrikes-daesh.html#ixzz3uJV3yEPE …

[OUTLAW 09]

AEJ خليل ้้้้้็็็็ @AEJKhalil

#BREAKING ExclusiveBy @RamiJarrah
#Russia airstrike popular Market
#Aleppo #Syria Dec15
FULL:
https://youtu.be/S9ZBrUEyreU

New on The Hoplite: Soviet 3O8 240 mm rocket-assisted cargo projectiles in Syria.
http://armamentresearch.com/soviet-3o8-240-mm-rocket-assisted-cargo-projectiles-in-syria/ …
pic.twitter.com/nV9NLSE4rT

News
Today, the victims of the #DoumaMassacre were buried.
All #WarCrimes evidence on video.
pic.twitter.com/QCl7Sk8Hbq

If Russia keeps escalating, Turkey will close Bosphorus Strait - legally. Via @ArutzSheva_En
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/17978#.Vm5yxyOxCu2.twitter …
pic.twitter.com/siTaxAbKw6

[OUTLAW 09]

SAUDI MILITARY NEWS @SAUDI_AFNEN

🔴Saudi Arabia announced the formation of an anti terrorism force consisting of 34 muslim countries .

The coalition countries: KSA, Jordan, UAE, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Turkey, Chad, Tunisia, Togo, Djibouti, Senegal, Sudan, ..

Sierra Leone, Somalia, Gabon, Guinea, Palestine, Comoros, Qatar, Kuwait, Cte d'Ivoire, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Mali, Malaysia, Egypt, ..

[OUTLAW 09]

High explosive parachute bomb dropped by Assad aircraft on Deir al-Assafir this morning in rural #Damascus, #Syria

After infusion of arms by #Putin, horrific atrocities pick up pace in #Syria under #AssadOrWeBurnTheCountry policy.
pic.twitter.com/jKyoqHFozP

[OUTLAW 09]

Reuters Top News ✔ @Reuters

EXCLUSIVE: Iran's October missile launch violated UN resolution - confidential UN report
http://reut.rs/1I6xkii
pic.twitter.com/QR9BaqCV8m

[OUTLAW 09]

Michael Weiss ✔ @michaeldweiss
Tribes in Raqqa protest the Kurds. Here is why the YPG can't liberate Isis's "capital":
https://www.facebook.com/AbuMaaz.alraqqa/videos/199662917039047/?pnref=story …

Michael Weiss ✔ @michaeldweiss
Russian airstrikes force a halt to aid in Syria, triggering a new crisis
http://wapo.st/1UrgTOY?tid=ss_tw …

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels expelled #Assad-forces from Tell Huwayr btw Morek & Maan in northern #Hama
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.359656&lon=36.740599&z=14&m=b …

FSA battle in northern #Aleppo's Qarah Kubri village
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6hxjL6Gh9c …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.635814&lon=37.263694&z=15&m=b …

Clashes btw #Assad-forces & #IslamicState about control of Ghunthur
village SE of #Homs
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=34.394304&lon=37.149410&z=13&m=b …

Clashes btw #Assad-forces & #IslamicState about control of Ghunthur
village SE of #Homs
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=34.394304&lon=37.149410&z=13&m=b …

Rebels intensify shelling on regime positions in al-Mughayer, Buraydij & grain silos #Hama before possible assault.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.406121&lon=36.495037&z=14&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian cruise missiles are flying all over the damn place: Russian Cruise Missile Goes Astray, Lands Near Village http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_FAILED_LAUNCH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-15-13-23-32 …

Russian Cruise Missile Hits Russian Village, by Mistake Obviously
http://news.sky.com/story/1606459/cruise-missile-hits-russian-village-by-mistake …
pic.twitter.com/TURowrKQf6

[OUTLAW 09]

Video:Jaish al-Nasr TOW grazes tank in rif Hama,Syria https://youtu.be/j-aliYMhAvU
pic.twitter.com/YO0veucsiB

VIDEO: Tribes from Raqqa demand justice after FSA fighter allegedly killed by YPG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFrEK3cxGUc&feature=youtu.be … pic.twitter.com/EKIlEapve7

BREAKING NEWS: 34 dead in suspected Russian raids on two Syrian markets. AFP

In less than 30 days, Russia went from denying the FSA ever existed to making up fake FSA Groups that it "supports". https://twitter.com/artwendeley/status/676848498533392384 …

Does anybody know these 'FSA' groups (besides the Syrian Democratic Forces)?
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Dec-15/327560-russia-names-syrian-rebel-groups-it-says-it-is-supporting-with-airstrikes.ashx?utm_content=buffer3f676&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer …
pic.twitter.com/1ZNw26FmB1

[OUTLAW 09]

Reports Assad helicopters are dropping naval mines on Morek & Kafrzita in rural #Hama

Reports that 600 fighters from the Iran backed Faylaq Badr terrorist Shia militia are heading to #Syria to support Assad

Assad Republican Guard Recon. Battalion Cmdr Staff Colonel Ali Asad Farwi has reportedly been killed by rebels in Marj, E. Ghouta, #Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

Some of the groups Jordan has reportedly added to list of terrorist orgs in Syria. Not a single Shia terrorist group

The list was leaked by journalist Ahmad al-Masri which he talks about on Deutsche Welle Arabia here:
http://youtu.be/2U7gfxRTvpQ

Faylaq al-Rahman rebels using a locally made canon against Assad positions in Irbin, rural #Damascus
http://youtu.be/5eiMHN6k0C4

Syria Feature: Russia's Aerial Victory --- 80% Aid Cut, 260,000 Displaced, Infrastructure Damaged
http://eaworldview.com/2015/12/syria-feature-russias-aerial-victory-80-aid-cut-260000-displaced-infrastructure-damaged/ … | .@EANewsFeed

Dzhemilev: invaders accuse Crimean Tatars of working for with Turkish intel
http://www.unian.info/politics/1213090-dzhemilev-invaders-accuse-crimean-tatars-of-working-for-with-turkish-intel.html … pic.twitter.com/NmiPc7MQdU

Footage
#Putin's jets also targeted #Idlib city today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWipM2e7cMM …
pic.twitter.com/e9Vo2OK6He

WarCrimes
Many #RussianAirstrikes targeted civilians in #Aleppo today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7AANQq88mw …
pic.twitter.com/7XJaWaJgZn

Footage
In #Idlib province, Russian planes returned to target the rescue forces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0renum_6Gdw …
pic.twitter.com/Tou32Dqt3C

[OUTLAW 09]

UN: Since early October 20 health facilities have been struck by aerial bombs dropped by #Syria Gov & allied forces
http://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/turkey-syria-flash-update-developments-northwestern-governorates-01 …

VIDEO: Jaish al-Izza show off ammo and weapons captured in Hama, #Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Piod9KYpzM …

[OUTLAW 09]

SAUDI MILITARY NEWS @SAUDI_AFNEN

🔴Saudi Arabia announced the formation of an anti terrorism force consisting of 34 muslim countries .

The coalition countries: KSA, Jordan, UAE, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Turkey, Chad, Tunisia, Togo, Djibouti, Senegal, Sudan, ..

Sierra Leone, Somalia, Gabon, Guinea, Palestine, Comoros, Qatar, Kuwait, Cte d'Ivoire, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Mali, Malaysia, Egypt, ..

MORE: Saudi FM says sending ground troops to fight ISIS not out of question - @AlArabiya_Eng

BREAKING: Saudi anti-terror coalition will share info, deploy troops if needed: minister - @AFP

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad regime killed 360,000 Syrians. Which is clearly not enough for regime change according to Obama administration
https://twitter.com/RamiAlLolah/status/676858290421301248 …

#putin kills 100+ Syrian civilians per day. Doesn't attack #ISIS
#Kerry calls #Russia "strategic partner" in #Syria
Is this a sick #joke?

[OUTLAW 09]

BREAKING: Rocket tested by #Iran was ballistic missile, capable of delivering nuclear warhead: #UN experts - @AlArabiya_Eng

[OUTLAW 09]

Reuters TV ✔ @ReutersTV

.@Reuters investigates Russian ships supplying Syria:
http://reut.rs/1QKc8Qk
pic.twitter.com/d9OwoxbAJW

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia killed ~570 civilians in #Syria including 152 children & 60 women in the past 2 1/2 months

Throwing fire on gasoline - incendiary weapon used in attack on Idlib fuel market, #Syria
https://youtu.be/icqbOvMLP6o

Footage
Bomb carpet on what's left of #TerMaela in #Homs province.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTUfZN_85Vs …
pic.twitter.com/fvBudyeHQL

The cousin of Syria’s embattled president: I don’t see a way out, I’m very pessimistic
http://read.bi/1ZaGpe6

Footage
Rebels give winter clothes to children,which's parents got killed by #Assad & co.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfDrlpS_k4s …
pic.twitter.com/VWKg1H38JQ

"No civilians left" ...
Russian planes bombed into a regular school day in #Aleppo today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9ZBrUEyreU&feature=youtu.be …
pic.twitter.com/zKTOUFiUgn

[OUTLAW 09]

DoS Kerry dismisses the #Riyadh conference of #Syrian opposition but sticks with the #Geneva transition agreement. https://twitter.com/statedept/status/676855795586232320 …

[Azor]

Assad regime killed 360,000 Syrians. Which is clearly not enough for regime change according to Obama administration
https://twitter.com/RamiAlLolah/status/676858290421301248 …

#putin kills 100+ Syrian civilians per day. Doesn't attack #ISIS
#Kerry calls #Russia "strategic partner" in #Syria
Is this a sick #joke?

Aren't both those numbers rather high? The total Syrian death toll including combatants is roughly 250,000 to 300,000, and the Russian air campaign has killed less than 2,000...

[Azor]

MORE: Saudi FM says sending ground troops to fight ISIS not out of question - @AlArabiya_Eng

BREAKING: Saudi anti-terror coalition will share info, deploy troops if needed: minister - @AFP

YES, finally a Sunni Arab army to deal with a Sunni Arab problem.

The only questions are: (a) how to protect Iraqi and Syrian Shias from ethnic cleansing, (b) where do the Kurds fit in, and (c) how do Syria and Iraq become separate and functional states again?

[OUTLAW 09]

Let's see---the KSA in a recent article literally condemned the lack of a US ME FP...........NOW the Sunni Front States led by KSA and Turkey HAVE now become the Global Sunni League.........AND it appears that the US DoS has not figured that out.....EVER think that actually Kerry and Putin both have the same goal---support of the Shia Revolutionary Islam against the global Sunni community........??

Department of State 
‏@StateDept At #Moscow press conference, @JohnKerry discusses finding common ground with #Russia on several pressing issues.

"As Sergey just said" ?! ...
"Common ground" ?! ...
"Riyadh - that is not (our) position" ?! ...
speechless

[CrowBat]

YES, finally a Sunni Arab army to deal with a Sunni Arab problem.

The only questions are: (a) how to protect Iraqi and Syrian Shias from ethnic cleansing, (b) where do the Kurds fit in, and (c) how do Syria and Iraq become separate and functional states again?
Erm...

a) ...presently, it's the Shi'a death-squads (in Iraq) and IRGC-run 'pilgrims' (in Syria) - with wholehearted support from Putin - plus Syrian Kurds that are running ethnic cleansing of practically everybody else.

So, can't really see a reason to question protection of any of them.

b) Sorry to say it that bluntly, but Kurds fit nowhere, not even in any kind of independent 'Kurdistan'. And they are themselves to blame.

They can't agree even about their own official language (there are 47 different Kurdish 'languages', not to talk about dialects), and this is reaching such extensions that the 'official' language within the PKK is Turkish - so they can at least understand each other.

They can't really agree whom to side either: in northern Iraq, the KRG government is wholeheartedly cooperating with Turkey, but with the USA, China and everybody else including Iran too - while at the same time hundreds of Kurds are siding with the Daesh (which is 'better' than only two years ago, when it was thousands of Kurds that sided with the Daesh), and PJAK is running an anti-IRGC campaign in Iran. In Syria, they are officially cooperating with the USA, but at the same time with Assadist regime too, plus they play middlemen for the Daesh and its sales of oil and slaves - and now demand Russian support.

And overall, it's good they're presently so busy with all the 'outside' factors and powers, then otherwise they would certainly return to their old habbit of slaughtering each other, as they did so often in the past...

But, they're everybody's honey right now, particularly so in the West: so much so that even the Amnesty International withdrew its report about ethnic cleansing of Syrian Sunnis by Syrian Kurds... so what I'm talking about is 'impossible' and 'never happened'...

[CrowBat]

[I]Let's see---the KSA in a recent article literally condemned the lack of a US ME FP...........NOW the Sunni Front States led by KSA and Turkey HAVE now become the Global Sunni League.........AND it appears that the US DoS has not figured that out.....EVER think that actually Kerry and Putin both have the same goal---support of the Shia Revolutionary Islam against the global Sunni community........??Kerry? Why Kerry?

Kerry has no powers to order a re-deployment of better part of this commedy named 'SDF' (official for 'Syrian Democratic Forces') from its bases in eastern Turkey to western Turkey, and then into YPG-held part of north-western Syria, with intention of assaulting and cutting off the insurgent-held Azaz corridor, north of Aleppo.

There is only one character in position and with such idiotic ideas to a) blatantly violate Turkish sovereignity in this fashion, b) order such re-deployments and operations, and c) think he's in a position to order Turkish president what to do about Turkish borders.

And that's certain character is the President of the United States of America.

Namely: In October this year, Oblabla pushed the Kurds to organize that 'Syrian Democractic Force' (SDF) - a joint force consisting of Kurds organized as the YPG (military wing of PKK-offshot PYD, which de-facto exterminated 14 other Kurdish political parties in north-eastern Syria, during the las three years), and of US-vetted and armed Syrian Sunni Arab insurgents of the former Harakat Hazzm and similar groups, destroyed and forced to flee to Turkey by the JAN, earlier this year.

Official purpose of the SDF is, 'fighting Daesh'. OK?

Unsurprisingly, as soon as their troops were ready, SDF-commanders said, 'thanks, we're good to go now, and with your (US) support, can cross the border (from Turkey to Syria) and assault in direction of Raqqa, to liberate city where there are still 200,000 Syrians terrorised by the Daesh'....

What did Oblabla do?

He ordered half that gang to re-deploy from its bases in eastern Turkey to western Turkey, and then to cross into the Kurdish-held areas of north-western Syria, and from there to attack the town of Azaz. At the same time, he ordered Erdogan to completely block the Turkish-Syrian border. That was on 22 November.

Now, by side that Erdogan refused Oblabla's order: he was already fed-up of Americans acting as if Turkey would be no sovereign country. More importantly: Azaz is 35km north of Aleppo and on the main road from the Turkish border. It is held by 'non-vetted' but Saudi/Turkey/Emirati-supported parts of the Free Syrian Army; by Saudi-supported Ahrar ash-Sham; and by Qatari-supported JAN. Azaz and lies on the main supply route for all Syrian insurgents - Free Syrian Army, Islamic Front/Ahrar ash-Sham, but also the JAN - fighting Assadist regime, IRGC, Hezbollah, Syrian Nazis, Russians, AND the Daesh on the frontlines from Idlib to Aleppo.

Best of all: because Russians then had that Su-24 splashed by Turkish F-16s, and because their air strikes on insurgents proved as ineffective, at the same time they began murderous bombing of Azaz and all the roads around that town. So far they've killed more than 300 Syrian (and Turkish) civilians, injured nearly 500, and destroyed dozens of vehicles in last 15 days there...

Through all of this time, I'm yet to see more but 2-3 Western media reports about this mass-slaughter run by Russians: but I'll not find even a single complaint. How comes?

Unsurprisingly, and operating primarily by night (when Russians were not flying; meanwhile they do fly by night at least a bit) the FSyA, Ahrar and the JAN defended Azaz to their best. But, even more so: they did that so skillfully, that the SDF was beaten back and lost about a dozen of villages west of Azaz. Under pressure, the YPG accepted a cease-fire: US-vetted insurgents refuse to do so even now.

Then the FSyA and AAS turned around and punched into the northern flank of the Daesh, assaulting along Turkish border by night into the northern flank of the Daesh and liberating another 7 villages.

Now keep in mind that through all of that time (meanwhile it's THREE WEEKS since Oblabla launched this BS):

- Russians are exclusivley bombing Syrian civilians, or Syrian insurgent positions facing Daesh, or truck-convoys hauling supplies for insurgents - but foremost Syrian civilian population - but NOT the Daesh north of Aleppo;

- Oblabla is doing whatever is possible to force Erdogan to block the border between Turkey and Syria (in order to stop the flow of supplies for insurgents and for about 3 million of civilians living in insurgent-held parts of northern Syria)

- not a single US or Russian air strike on Daesh concentrations north of Aleppo and east of Azaz was flown; NOT ONE, although there was plenty of opportunity; and (best of all)

- CENTCOM ordered the Turkish Air Force to STOP flying air strikes on Daesh too.

Hand at heart, please: isn't this insane?

What character with more than 1 brain cell can describe that as any kind of 'war aginst Daesh'?

They're all belitling that Saudi-Turkish led coalition. And yup, I'll agree: that coalition is nothing but silly. But, this US-Russian-Assadist-IRGC 'friendship in war against Daesh' can only be named 'Coalition of Perfidity'.

[OUTLAW 09]

Let's see---the KSA in a recent article literally condemned the lack of a US ME FP...........NOW the Sunni Front States led by KSA and Turkey HAVE now become the Global Sunni League.........AND it appears that the US DoS has not figured that out.....EVER think that actually Kerry and Putin both have the same goal---support of the Shia Revolutionary Islam against the global Sunni community........??

Department of State 
‏@StateDept At #Moscow press conference, @JohnKerry discusses finding common ground with #Russia on several pressing issues.

"As Sergey just said" ?! ...
"Common ground" ?! ...
"Riyadh - that is not (our) position" ?! ...
speechless

Appears that basically the US has folded to Putin's and Assad's demands...

So basically the US has no valid FP nor does it seem to really care about the ME NOR eastern Ukraine ie the Baltics/Poland anymore.......

No 'regime change' in Syria: After talks in Moscow, Kerry accepts Russian stance on Assad

Fox News 15 Dec


MOSCOW – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday accepted Russia's long-standing demand that President Bashar Assad's future be determined by his own people, as Washington and Moscow edged toward putting aside years of disagreement over how to end Syria's civil war.

"The United States and our partners are not seeking so-called regime change," Kerry told reporters in the Russian capital after meeting President Vladimir Putin. A major international conference on Syria would take place later this week in New York, Kerry announced.

Kerry reiterated the U.S. position that Assad, accused by the West of massive human rights violations and chemical weapons attacks, won't be able to steer Syria out of 4 ½ years of conflict.

But after a day of discussions with Assad's key international backer, Kerry said the focus now is "not on our differences about what can or cannot be done immediately about Assad." Rather, it is on facilitating a peace process in which "Syrians will be making decisions for the future of Syria."

Kerry's declarations crystallized the evolution in U.S. policy on Assad over the last several months, as the Islamic State group's growing influence in the Middle East has taken priority.

President Barack Obama first called on Assad to leave power in the summer of 2011, with "Assad must go," being a consistent rallying cry. Later, American officials allowed that he wouldn't have to resign on "Day One" of a transition. Now, Assad's stay could be indefinite.

Russia, by contrast, has remained consistent in its view that no foreign government could demand Assad's departure and that Syrians would have to negotiate matters of leadership among themselves. Since late September, it has been bombing terrorist and rebel targets in Syria as part of what the West says is an effort to prop up Assad's government.

Kerry said, "No one should be forced to choose between a dictator and being plagued by terrorists." However, he described the Syrian opposition's demand that Assad must leave as soon as peace talks begin as a "nonstarting position, obviously."

Earlier Tuesday in the Kremlin, Putin noted several "outstanding issues" between Russia and its former Cold War foe. Beyond Assad, these include which rebel groups in Syria should be allowed to participate in the transition process and which should be deemed terrorists, and like the Islamic State group and al-Qaida, be combatted by all.

Jordan is working on finalizing the list of terrorist v. legitimate opposition forces. Representatives of Syria's opposition themselves hope this week to finalize their negotiating team for talks with Assad's government. The U.S., Russia and others hope those talks will begin early next year.

Appearing beside Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov hailed what he described as a "big negotiating day," saying the sides advanced efforts to define what a Syrian transition process might look like.

The two countries also have split on Ukraine since Russia's annexation of the Crimea region last year and its ongoing, though diminished, support for separatist rebels in the east of the country. The U.S. has pressed severe economic sanctions against Russia in response and has insisted that Moscow's actions have left it isolated.

But Kerry sang a different tune on Tuesday.

"We don't seek to isolate Russia as a matter of policy, no," Kerry said. The sooner Russia implements a February cease-fire that calls for withdrawal of Russian forces and materiel and a release of all prisoners, he said, the sooner that "sanctions can be rolled back."

The world is better off when Russia and the U.S. work together, he added, calling Obama and Putin's current cooperation a "sign of maturity."

"There is no policy of the United States, per se, to isolate Russia," Kerry stressed.

[OUTLAW 09]

By Kerry and de facto his boss Obama--the acceptance now of the Putin plan actually places the US in full and complete support of a genocidal dictator and the war crimes being committed by Putin in the name of protecting Assad.

IN the last two months over 570 civilians have been directly killed by Russian and Assad AFs, they continue to use thermobarbic, WP and cluster munitions on civilians and strictly civilian targets---schools, market places, residential areas and critical civilian infrastructures ie food and water.

YET Kerry and Obama never say a word......"AND this is US leadership from behind"?????

Never though I would see US FP reflecting the actual support of "genocide and war crimes against humanity".

US retrenchment a la Wilson 1920 ALL over again....

NOTICE Kerry never said a single word concerning the sheer numbers of civilians killed by Putin's AF...not a single word was wasted....telling.

[OUTLAW 09]

Footage
A #RussianArmy Orlan-10 drone emergency-landed in #SheikhMaskin, Southern #Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADbscTBanvs …

[OUTLAW 09]

By Kerry and de facto his boss Obama--the acceptance now of the Putin plan actually places the US in full and complete support of a genocidal dictator and the war crimes being committed by Putin in the name of protecting Assad.

IN the last two months over 570 civilians have been directly killed by Russian and Assad AFs, they continue to use thermobarbic, WP and cluster munitions on civilians and strictly civilian targets---schools, market places, residential areas and critical civilian infrastructures ie food and water.

YET Kerry and Obama never say a word......"AND this is US leadership from behind"?????

Never though I would see US FP reflecting the actual support of "genocide and war crimes against humanity".

US retrenchment a la Wilson 1920 ALL over again....

NOTICE Kerry never said a single word concerning the sheer numbers of civilians killed by Putin's AF...not a single word was wasted....telling.

BTW--just a side comment---the reason we have absolutely no push back on the Russian info warfare is that this administration CANNOT push back without revealing their poor foreign policy as a push back would directly challenge Putin and his ME FP......to effectively push
back requires the use of "truth" and this administration has as does Putin a general lack of that single word "truth"......

Propaganda
Pro-regime #map shows, #Assad is ONLY fighting #ISIS in W #Latakia province.
NO ISIS in that province

[OUTLAW 09]

Just maybe Kerry and Obama should learn German.........

78 day of #RussianAirstrikes in #Syria.
My colleagues in Berlin summarised the actions.
http://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/wladimir-putin/kriegsverbrechen-in-sy... …

The not so subtle use of the words "war crimes" is often used in this article as a reason politicians should be shying away from anything Putin proposes BUT US leaderships seems to think otherwise........

TO assist the WH in their thinking about Putin--the West and western MSM seems to have glazed over/ignored the following simple fact..........

Russia killed in 78 days of bombings ~570 civilians in Syria including 152 children & 60 women in the past 2 1/2 months --provided by the Syrian Civil Defense figures


THAT alone is FOUR times what the IS killer team in Paris achieved YET the West says nothing...AND there are no double standards with Western moral values.......

[OUTLAW 09]

Recently arrived Su-34 (with blue camo) in the last @RT_com video covering RuAF activities in Humaymim AB

BREKING Looks like first L-39 Albatross landed tonight at Kweires airbase in #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2QEmlKLI4A …

Well spotted by @pfc_joker : #RuAF Il-76 with Syrian flag in the background.

RuAF Su-25UB ( 53, RF-93055), with 4 B-8 rocket pods in Humaymin AB.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTp6INcq4ZI …

[OUTLAW 09]

Военный Советник
‏@miladvisor Syrian Army take control #Mount_Nuba (Jebal al-Noba) in #Latakia CS
http://postimg.org/image/iocua6tgb/full/ …

Meanwhile, Carter asks why #Turkey jets nowhere to be seen vs #ISIS over #Syria
#Russia's S-400s waiting as well
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2015/12/15/carter-in-turkey-seeking-new-ways-to-fight-isil/77389052/ …

The US has been trying to reign in Turkey for over four years.....NOW use Putin to assist them......

Turkey is at risk of sanctions if it does not seal its border with the #IslamicState

U.S. now agrees with #Russia to disrupt #ISIS oil trade to #Turkey - UNSC resolution coming
http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2015/12/united-nations-must-clamp-down-isis-oil-profits/124518/?oref=d-river …

NOTICE not a single mention that Assad is the largest buyer of the IS oil and gas next to a Russian company.......

Meanwhile, Carter asks why #Turkey jets nowhere to be seen vs #ISIS over #Syria
#Russia's S-400s waiting as well
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2015/12/15/carter-in-turkey-seeking-new-ways-to-fight-isil/77389052/ …

AlQaeda-led #Turkey proxies in #Syria face defeat in #Latakia mountains, opp sources say
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566377-syria-rebels-facing-defeat-in-latakia-mountains …

[OUTLAW 09]

Jordan and #Damascus seem to agree Ahrar al Sham and other 'mainstream' rebels are, you know, terrorists

[OUTLAW 09]

By Kerry and de facto his boss Obama--the acceptance now of the Putin plan actually places the US in full and complete support of a genocidal dictator and the war crimes being committed by Putin in the name of protecting Assad.

IN the last two months over 570 civilians have been directly killed by Russian and Assad AFs, they continue to use thermobarbic, WP and cluster munitions on civilians and strictly civilian targets---schools, market places, residential areas and critical civilian infrastructures ie food and water.

YET Kerry and Obama never say a word......"AND this is US leadership from behind"?????

Never though I would see US FP reflecting the actual support of "genocide and war crimes against humanity".

US retrenchment a la Wilson 1920 ALL over again....

NOTICE Kerry never said a single word concerning the sheer numbers of civilians killed by Putin's AF...not a single word was wasted....telling.

Not clear what he really said but you can smell #Kerry's naivety towards Russia.
https://twitter.com/timesofisrael/status/676884448005066753 …

Maybe it's better #US pulls out completely from the #Syrian issue. #Kerry acting like #Putin's jumpy little sister isn't really helpful.

Can't be stressed enough: #Assad attacks on #Ghouta is terrorism on a very large scale. But let's negotiate... Damn.

ALL of the areas hit by Russia today, except one, are ISIS-free. Perhaps 100+ civilians dead today alone. "Progress"

In less than 30 days, Russia went from denying the FSA ever existed to making up fake FSA Groups that it "supports".

[OUTLAW 09]

NOTICE another attempt by Iran to "keep Soleimani image alive..."--there has not been a single officially dated and verified photo released from him and or about him that could be verified since his reported being hit by a FSA TOW during an ambush........NOT even a photo of this "alleged" meeting with Putin.......

World | Wed Dec 16, 2015 7:29am EST
Related: World

Iran's Soleimani met Putin in Moscow

DUBAI


The commander of foreign operations in Iran's Revolutionary Guards, General Qassem Soleimani, visited Moscow last week for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and high-ranking military commanders, Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.

"General Soleimani held a meeting with President Putin and high-ranking Russian military and security officials during a three-day visit last week... They discussed the latest developments in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon," Fars said, quoting unnamed sources.

He is virtually dead and the Iranian IRGC is still trying to figure out how to tell the common man in Iran that he is virtually dead--hit by a US TOW paid for/supplied by KSA and fired by the Sunni FSA under Russian air strikes.

[OUTLAW 09]

Reference Russian info warfare..........

Kremlin Trolls @KremlinTrolls
Soviet Active Measures in the US 1986-87..
Applies today in #Putin's #Russia.
http://americasurvival.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/FBI_Rprt_Active_Measures.pdf …
pic.twitter.com/0KXadImwJ8

Kremlin Trolls ‏@KremlinTrolls
#KremlinTrolls get deeply embedded in anti-Kremlin communities, then radically change their "views" once activated.

[OUTLAW 09]

Aren't both those numbers rather high? The total Syrian death toll including combatants is roughly 250,000 to 300,000, and the Russian air campaign has killed less than 2,000...

570 civilians killed in just seven weeks-----that is not counting the previous ten months of Assad bombings. BTW--does not include the wounded and or maimed numbers which are running about double the KIA numbers.

The figure of 350K is a tad on the higher side but the lower figures do not take in the wounded and maimed from attacks that are initially listed as WIA but then die later. Actual KIA figures are exactly that KIA at the point and time of the attacks.

Now go back into Google and actually try to ascertain the exact numbers killed by IS in Syria and then Iraq---those that are killed are usually regime fighters and on the civilian side those that resist IS in the occupied areas---STILL that does not come anywhere close to outweighing the Assad figures.

THEN take the figures for Shia militia atrocities comitted after the takeover of Iraqi Sunni villages and towns as well as the Kurdish Arab cleansing in those areas they have taken over and initially confirmed by Amnesty International and HWR.

So while the West "appears to be shocked by IS" a true genocidal dictator and Putin gets passes.......

Why is that...?

Why--it is far easier to blame a non state actor THAN to condemn in the UNSC a nation state as a sponsor of terror--especially if you are the MSM.

[OUTLAW 09]

A look inside some of #Russia's cluster bombs dropped onto #Syria. pic.twitter.com/cxNlzOB5M4

[OUTLAW 09]

570 civilians killed in just seven weeks-----that is not counting the previous ten months of Assad bombings. BTW--does not include the wounded and or maimed numbers which are running about double the KIA numbers.

The figure of 350K is a tad on the higher side but the lower figures do not take in the wounded and maimed from attacks that are initially listed as WIA but then die later. Actual KIA figures are exactly that KIA at the point and time of the attacks.

Now go back into Google and actually try to ascertain the exact numbers killed by IS in Syria and then Iraq---those that are killed are usually regime fighters and on the civilian side those that resist IS in the occupied areas---STILL that does not come anywhere close to outweighing the Assad figures.

THEN take the figures for Shia militia atrocities comitted after the takeover of Iraqi Sunni villages and towns as well as the Kurdish Arab cleansing in those areas they have taken over and initially confirmed by Amnesty International and HWR.

So while the West "appears to be shocked by IS" a true genocidal dictator and Putin gets passes.......

Why is that...?

Why--it is far easier to blame a non state actor THAN to condemn in the UNSC a nation state as a sponsor of terror--especially if you are the MSM.

BTW--this does not cover any available figures if there are any---of the number of "starved to death" as Assad is using a very aggressive starvation campaign that is now actually being supported by Russian air strikes. AND that incudes the aggressive Russia airstrikes on Turkish aid convoys which Russia argued were weapons shipments which turned out be actually food.......

REMEMBER Russia demanded the right to send into eastern Ukraine 47 "so called humanitarian aid convoys" which turned out to be largely military resupply runs.

Already people have to little to eat in Syria.
Putin's campaign to starve them is taking effect.
https://twitter.com/ward_alyafe/status/676900798853419009 …

FYI: that is INTENTIONAL. Russian WANTS to create a humanitarian disaster in Syria. ALL signs point towards that. https://twitter.com/SenJohnMcCain/status/676770172439502852 …

ALSO--there is a not a real good handle on the death numbers of Sunni opposition who were arrested and then "disappeared"....since 2011--at the most just estimates or where actual documents were recovered.

Some causes of death in the Syrian govt's prisons: blunt force trauma, suffocation, starvation, torture, disease
https://www.hrw.org/node/284486

Some known facilities #Assad's victims were starved, tortured and executed at. Also includes an airbase & hospitals.
pic.twitter.com/RXmIxIR59V

While waiting for @HRW's report on #Assad's industrial scale murder, here is the location:
https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2015/03/18/3062/ …

SYRIA: Stories behind photos of killed detainees.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/16/syria-stories-behind-photos-killed-detainees …

Syria govt developed complex coding system to log 1000s of detainee deaths #CaesarPhotos
http://bit.ly/1UykryY

BTW---one of the chief individuals behind the photos is alleged to be in a local Berlin refugee camp and yet the German government does nothing--guess he is not "terrorist" enough......

Rehab’s family paid +$100K to free her from detention. Her body appeared among #CaesarPhotos
http://bit.ly/1MgAzi2

[OUTLAW 09]

Ron Pauls Institute has been previously named as a proPutin friendly organization ..........and has received from Russia a number of "contributions"......

RonPaul's lapdog: ISIS was created by US, Israel, France, and Britain to prop-up military-industrial complex
https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/isis/

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey: Russia is playing up a military threat from Ankara that 'has nothing to do with reality'
http://read.bi/1P6KwmKurkey:

Turkey will set up a military base in Qatar to face 'common enemies’
http://www.businessinsider.com/turkey-will-set-up-a-military-base-in-qatar-to-face-common-enemies-2015-12 …

[OUTLAW 09]

Referencing that recent so called super precision Russian cruise missile testing accident......

Russia tests weapons: Cruise missile hits house where kindergarten located
http://belsat.eu/en/news/russia-tests-weapons-cruise-missile-hits-house-where-kindergarten-located/ …
Severodvinsk
pic.twitter.com/RM0UANsSW5

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaysh al-Islam not happy about Riyadh opposition meeting final statement & possibly to withdraw. Its getting messy!

ISIL linked Shuhada al-Yarmouk in Dar'a blow 2 Jabhat al-Nusra prisoners with explosives.

Restructuring of supposedly nationalist army in Iraqi & Syria into asset/labor pools for sectarian militia is _bad_.

[OUTLAW 09]

Not there so can’t confirm but reports all roads around Shami hospital have been closed & convoy of over 20 vehicles seen leaving hospital

I think some high level regime official/officer died in there today

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian airstrikes continue on non-ISIS targets today in south rural #Aleppo: Khan Touman, al-Qarasi, ICARDA, al-Zirba, etc..

Another Turkish warning for Putin....cannot say he was not informed....
Hurriyet Daily News
‏@HDNER #Turkey says #Russia should not violate its airspace to avoid repeat plane shoot down
http://bit.ly/1TPvXFi

[OUTLAW 09]

Ukraine/Turkey to facilitate creation of FTA
http://www.unian.info/economics/1214074-ukraine-turkey-to-facilitate-creation-of-free-trade-area.html …
A predictable outcome of a shared neighbourhood & RU imposed sanctions

The enemy of my enemy is my friend proves itself again......

[OUTLAW 09]

Journalist and combatants in Syria. Like in Donbas
pic.twitter.com/XBV5jioXFS

Turkey has arrested 27 Russian ships responding to RU arrests. Doesn't Kremlin realize TU can close Bosphorus? http://www.eurointegration.com.ua/rus/news/2015/12/16/7042327/ …

[CrowBat]

Referencing that recent so called super precision Russian cruise missile testing accident......

Russia tests weapons: Cruise missile hits house where kindergarten located
http://belsat.eu/en/news/russia-tests-weapons-cruise-missile-hits-house-where-kindergarten-located/ …
Severodvinsk
pic.twitter.com/RM0UANsSW5
'...but hey, it did not enter the house...' :rolleyes:

Perhaps they were trying to hit something in Syria...

[CrowBat]

Another Turkish warning for Putin....cannot say he was not informed....
Hurriyet Daily News
‏@HDNER #Turkey says #Russia should not violate its airspace to avoid repeat plane shoot down
http://bit.ly/1TPvXFiIndeed. Considering it seems that Russian memory lasts only three-four weeks (see the span from 15 October until 24 November)... I would say this is not only a response from Ankara to all of Putin's BS about excuses, punishment and reparations, but Ankara is trying to remind them not to become reckless again.

[CrowBat]

Appears that basically the US has folded to Putin's and Assad's demands...

So basically the US has no valid FP nor does it seem to really care about the ME NOR eastern Ukraine ie the Baltics/Poland anymore.......

No 'regime change' in Syria: After talks in Moscow, Kerry accepts Russian stance on Assad

Fox News 15 Dec
Why can't Kerry excuse for the downing of that Sukhoi, and Oblabla pay reparations from his own pocket...? They're at such good terms with Putler - especially so since latter is so good at exterminating the Syrian problem, so there should really be no such 'unpleasant' obstacles there...

[CrowBat]

570 civilians killed in just seven weeks-----that is not counting the previous ten months of Assad bombings. BTW--does not include the wounded and or maimed numbers which are running about double the KIA numbers.

The figure of 350K is a tad on the higher side...I don't think so.

If we take the SOHR's figure - which is rather on 'minimalistic' side, then they count only those they know by full name and other details - then there are something like 250,000-270,000 deaths (haven't caught their latest, sorry).

Usually, such figures double or even tripple after the end of bloody civil wars like this one...

Another 28,000 were 'disappeared' by the regime (http://hrbrief.org/2015/10/the-disappeared-in-syrias-civil-war/), but that's not even half of about 60,000 'assumed' as having been arrested by Assad's thugs. Some are talking about ten-fold more of disappeared Syrians (i.e. about 200,000).

Whatever, I find assumptions talking about 450,000 and 500,000 victims not as 'too high'.



So while the West "appears to be shocked by IS" a true genocidal dictator and Putin gets passes.......

Why is that...?

Why--it is far easier to blame a non state actor THAN to condemn in the UNSC a nation state as a sponsor of terror--especially if you are the MSM.I do not understand this either.

It's the same like there is first a 'red line' (even if this was a 'spontaneous statement' somebody like Oblabla should know how seriously are such statements taken), and then there's not only none, but the regime is even good to stay, and a possible 'partner against the Daesh'...

... while others (especially Europeans), who have demonized Putler for what he did (and is still doing) in Ukraine, now expect him to act as a peace-maker in Syria... and that in company with Assad and that Khamenei/IRGC clique in Tehran, which proved at least as murderous as Assad did (or did everybody forget about what was going on in Iran, just five years ago...?)

To call this 'insane' would be an understatement. But, that's the reality.

[OUTLAW 09]

Journalist and combatants in Syria. Like in Donbas
pic.twitter.com/XBV5jioXFS

Turkey has arrested 27 Russian ships responding to RU arrests. Doesn't Kremlin realize TU can close Bosphorus? http://www.eurointegration.com.ua/rus/news/2015/12/16/7042327

[OUTLAW 09]

Still waiting for @SputnikInt's headline of the day...

Torture is indefensible. #Syria #Caesar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQni3qn6GIU …

RuAF Su-34 airstrike in Irbin, Damascus countryside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaZEtsguljU …

[OUTLAW 09]

NOTICE another attempt by Iran to "keep Soleimani image alive..."--there has not been a single officially dated and verified photo released from him and or about him that could be verified since his reported being hit by a FSA TOW during an ambush........NOT even a photo of this "alleged" meeting with Putin.......

World | Wed Dec 16, 2015 7:29am EST
Related: World

Iran's Soleimani met Putin in Moscow

DUBAI

[/U][/B]

He is virtually dead and the Iranian IRGC is still trying to figure out how to tell the common man in Iran that he is virtually dead--hit by a US TOW paid for/supplied by KSA and fired by the Sunni FSA under Russian air strikes.


NICE that the Russians are calling the Iranians basically liars.

Russia presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied reports that #Putin had talks w/ #Iran's #QudsForce commander Soleimani.-Tass

Reported killed / lightely / severely injured, Qassem Soleimani somehow managed a 3 days trip to Moscow & met Putin. http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0TZ1NW20151216 …

Like Schrödinger's cat, Soleimani is both dead and alive, injured and not injured, all at the same time.

[OUTLAW 09]

North Rural Homs Ops Room take out Assad 37 mm gun at entrance of Zor al-Sous Batt. in N. Hama with a Kornet missile
http://youtu.be/ydUv2YnUbsM

The moment a @SyriaCivilDef journalist Mohammed Elias is martyred by an Assad mortar shell in #Douma, #Damascus
http://youtu.be/x-Ipt0Ot2A4

Assad helicopters dropping barrel bombs on Sheikh Miskin in #Daraa, #Syria yesterday evening.
http://youtu.be/4gnT2KsrBoA

If only a quarter of the bombs dropped by Assad on rebel held areas are dropped on ISIS….

[OUTLAW 09]

Homs: Assad regime colonel Izzat Hussain Saidah killed today

[OUTLAW 09]

Crow Bat--anything to this series of comments......????

Russian military: Iran is withdrawing from Syria & we will not allow Syrian to become a platform for Iran to launch war on Israel

Sputnik, Russian news agency: Iranian Revolutionary Guard have reduced their numbers in Syria by 10 times
(Could be disinfo though)

Reports seem to be confirmed: IRGC is effectively withdrawing from #Syria and esp. S. #Aleppo (in boxes with Iranian flag).

[OUTLAW 09]

Reports: No-ISIL-Zone is happening with Intl Coalition & Turkey artillery/air support for #FSA, No-Fly-Zone is not.

[OUTLAW 09]

Crow Bat--anything to this series of comments......????

Russian military: Iran is withdrawing from Syria & we will not allow Syrian to become a platform for Iran to launch war on Israel

Sputnik, Russian news agency: Iranian Revolutionary Guard have reduced their numbers in Syria by 10 times
(Could be disinfo though)

Reports seem to be confirmed: IRGC is effectively withdrawing from #Syria and esp. S. #Aleppo (in boxes with Iranian flag).

Satellite imagery obtained by @AllSourceA shows #Russia using airfield in #Iran
http://www.criticalthreats.org/russia/kagan-donovan-bucala-russo-iranian-coalition-in-syria-deepening-december-14-2015 …
pic.twitter.com/7dqCoBOjxB

[OUTLAW 09]

CNN Trk ENG @CNNTURK_ENG

#BREAKING Turkish PM Davutoğlu on #ISIS attack on #Bashiqa base: Our forces retaliated and destroyed the ISIS post.
pic.twitter.com/nfbQD77ISJ

[OUTLAW 09]

Let's see---the KSA in a recent article literally condemned the lack of a US ME FP...........NOW the Sunni Front States led by KSA and Turkey HAVE now become the Global Sunni League.........AND it appears that the US DoS has not figured that out.....EVER think that actually Kerry and Putin both have the same goal---support of the Shia Revolutionary Islam against the global Sunni community........??

Department of State 
‏@StateDept At #Moscow press conference, @JohnKerry discusses finding common ground with #Russia on several pressing issues.

"As Sergey just said" ?! ...
"Common ground" ?! ...
"Riyadh - that is not (our) position" ?! ...
speechless

In 'Red Notice' @Billbrowder write that Kerry used passing of Magnitsky act as bargaining chip to become Sec State.
https://twitter.com/andersostlund/status/676795840116191232 …

[OUTLAW 09]

Reports: No-ISIL-Zone is happening with Intl Coalition & Turkey artillery/air support for #FSA, No-Fly-Zone is not.

So #Assad and #Putin can bomb all towns and villages to pieces after they were freed from #ISIS by #FSA?!

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey Refuses To Pay Compensation For Downed Russian Warplane
http://go.shr.lc/1YhUJVd

[OUTLAW 09]

CNN Trk ENG @CNNTURK_ENG

#BREAKING Turkish PM Davutoğlu on #ISIS attack on #Bashiqa base: Our forces retaliated and destroyed the ISIS post.
pic.twitter.com/nfbQD77ISJ

UPDATE Turkey says ISIL attack shows it was right to send additional troops to N. Iraq
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_isil-fires-rockets-at-iraq-base-where-turkish-troops-stationed_407165.html …
pic.twitter.com/YPa8gbBF2d

4 #Turkish soldiers wounded in #IS attack on a Turkish base in #Iraq. Turkish Forces returned fire.

[OUTLAW 09]

Humor............

Gazprom employees vacationing in #Syria prepare for pumping #oil manually as #sanctions prevent importing new pumps
pic.twitter.com/wjJiaX8mZs

Scientist who developed a #simulator which predicted how #Russia will look like in 2025 is jailed for extremism
pic.twitter.com/rQ3gEFI21c

[Azor]

presently, it's the Shi'a death-squads (in Iraq) and IRGC-run 'pilgrims' (in Syria) - with wholehearted support from Putin - plus Syrian Kurds that are running ethnic cleansing of practically everybody else. So, can't really see a reason to question protection of any of them.

The Islamic State death squads are Sunni Arab death squads, no? Given the atrocities committed by pro-Assad forces, isn't it conceivable that in the event of their collapse, Sunni Arab forces might run amok in Latakia?

If you're opposed to a Shia dictator running a Sunni-majority country, I assume you would equally oppose an Iraqi Sunni running Iraq, no?


b) Sorry to say it that bluntly, but Kurds fit nowhere, not even in any kind of independent 'Kurdistan'. And they are themselves to blame.

If you gather three people of any nationality together, you will find yourself with two Prime Ministers and one Leader of the Opposition. The Kurds are as "deserving" of statehood as anyone else, irrespective of whether their current occupiers are dividing and ruling.

[OUTLAW 09]

BREAKING: NATO SENDS ANTI-AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS AND AWACS RADAR PLANES TO TURKEY
http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-international-20672490-nato-trimite-sisteme-antiaeriene-turcia-dar-cere-evitarea-doborarii-avioanelor-ruse.htm …

[OUTLAW 09]

Referencing that recent so called super precision Russian cruise missile testing accident......

Russia tests weapons: Cruise missile hits house where kindergarten located
http://belsat.eu/en/news/russia-tests-weapons-cruise-missile-hits-house-where-kindergarten-located/ …
Severodvinsk
pic.twitter.com/RM0UANsSW5

Photos released of missile hitting residential area in Russia during drills
http://www.unian.info/world/1214331-photos-released-of-missile-hitting-residential-area-in-russia-during-drills.html …
pic.twitter.com/E8F1T2Bns7

[CrowBat]

The Islamic State death squads are Sunni Arab death squads, no?Nope.

This pseudo-Islamic State has as much with Sunni Islam as me with Vanuatu: nothing at all.


Given the atrocities committed by pro-Assad forces, isn't it conceivable that in the event of their collapse, Sunni Arab forces might run amok in Latakia?That's at least the Alawite version (which they never stop repeating any time I hear from one of them; they really sound like a broken record in this regards).

Nobody can issue a 100% written guarantee there would be no attrocities against Alawites, probably some of other that openly sided with Assad too (including Christians and Druze). There's too much blood sticking on their hands, no doubt. But, that's all within realms of 'if'.

Presently, such a situation is completely out of question simply because there is no chance the insurgents could get as far as to defeat Assad + Russians + IRGC.


If you're opposed to a Shia dictator running a Sunni-majority country, I assume you would equally oppose an Iraqi Sunni running Iraq, no?Firstly, Assad converted to Sunni Islam. Secondly, the notion that Alawites are some sort of 'Shia offshot' is wrong, and disproven since long (i.e.: they are none).

And otherwise: I'm against all sorts of dictators and dictatorships, whether those of ethic/religious minorities over majority or versa-vice. I'm also against any kind of puppet governments, whether the Iranian-puppets in Baghdad and Damascus, or US-puppets in Riyadh. I prefer Syrians (and Iraqis) - no matter of their ethnic or religious backgrounds - being left on their own to elect their own representatives in free elections. Provided nobody from abroad is messing around (and irrespectivelly of all Western prejduice) I'm convinced they're perfectly capable of running their countries, economies and social systems on their own.


The Kurds are as "deserving" of statehood as anyone else, irrespective of whether their current occupiers are dividing and ruling.While I've got no clue what kind of 'current occuppiers of Kurds' do you mean here... can only say: yes, of course they deserve their own state - or at least should get one (finally).

But please: not at the price of ethnic cleansings and cooperation with oppressive regimes (like Assad and Putler), opportunists (Israel), and dilletants (USA).

Namely, one of primary reasons they've still got none was precisely their cooperation with such foreign powers: this is always only causing internal problems (between Kurds).

[CrowBat]

UPDATE Turkey says ISIL attack shows it was right to send additional troops to N. Iraq
http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_isil-fires-rockets-at-iraq-base-where-turkish-troops-stationed_407165.html …
pic.twitter.com/YPa8gbBF2d

4 #Turkish soldiers wounded in #IS attack on a Turkish base in #Iraq. Turkish Forces returned fire.
Harakat an-Nujba (Hezbollah/Iraq) also claimed their first attack on Turkish troops NE of Mosul today.

Amazing how fast are they at that - instead of fighting the Daesh.... :rolleyes:

Plus... several of about 80+ Hezbollah/Iraq pilgrims KIA in Benesh (southern Aleppo) two days ago, were found wearing the full Iraqi Army uniform, including corresponding insignia. Wouldn't be surprised if they were US-trained too...

Anyway, since the last I've heard Aleppo is still in Syria (and not in some sort of IRGC-run Islamic Republic of Khameneistan), it could be that Baghdad might want to check the exact position of its own troops too...

[CrowBat]

Crow Bat--anything to this series of comments......????

Russian military: Iran is withdrawing from Syria & we will not allow Syrian to become a platform for Iran to launch war on Israel

Sputnik, Russian news agency: Iranian Revolutionary Guard have reduced their numbers in Syria by 10 times
(Could be disinfo though)

Reports seem to be confirmed: IRGC is effectively withdrawing from #Syria and esp. S. #Aleppo (in boxes with Iranian flag).
Yeah, the FSyA is sending them back home - with help of TOWs...

Seriously now: nope. I'm hearing such rumours from people working for various parties that are NATO members since days. Some are 'really, really convinced' of this, i.e. it should be some sort of dependable info.

Can't confirm anything of this. On the contrary, the IRGC just completed the deployment of another gang of 'Iraqi pilgrims' to Hamma AB (with help of Islamic State Air Fo... erm... Russian Air Force Il-76s wearing Syrian flags, and three IRIAF C-130Hs) only a week ago, while Russians are meanwhile in the process of training IRGC and Iraqi Hezbollahis in the use of T-90s they're taking over (in Southern Aleppo).

So, they're rather bolstering their position there, than withdrawing.

That said, there is some sortof... hm... 'commotion' within Hezbollah/Lebanon. They were never happy with the Iranian order, 'go fighting in Syria'. Plus, and as posted above, their losses in NE Lattakia recently are really 'heavy': nearly 100 KIA in the last week of fighting, and - reportedly - at least 1,200 in the last three years. Hezbollah/Lebanon is a small force (max 30,000, including reserves) and this is badly felt.

...and, they seem to still haven't got their pay for November...

[CrowBat]

Ah yes... and re. 'Iranian withdrawal': lookie here...

The Russo-Iranian Military Coalition in Syria may be Deepening (http://www.criticalthreats.org/russia/kagan-donovan-bucala-russo-iranian-coalition-in-syria-deepening-december-14-2015)

Now, from my POV; this is a little bit of misinterpretation for what was a Su-34 that apparently was forced to land at IRIAF's TFB.3 ('Nojeh AB') near Hamedan (central western Iran), probably due to some sort of technical glitch, during deployment to Syria. The Il-76 then brought spares and a team to repair it...

Nevertheless, this is the second confirmed case of VKS aircraft landing in Iran since September. And that's really so very much unusual, can't say. Just a few years ago the IRIAF wouldn't let any Russian even see the entry to any of their bases, not to talk about landing there...

[Azor]

Correct me if I am wrong, but the death toll from the Islamic State is roughly 10,000 combatants and 25,000 civilians. In the process, IS has lost more than 40,000 fighters, 1/2 from the efforts by CJTF-OIR.

Yet, pro-Assad forces have killed 90,000 to 100,000 civilians.

Hundreds of publicized executions impact public opinion, but day-to-day shelling and bombing doesn't?

IS has created an IRAQI refugee problem, but the Syrian one is almost all a result of Assad and his backers.

Firstly, the West is callously unconcerned with murderous forces unless they threaten it, and Assad is not planning to attack Paris anytime soon.

Secondly, Obama is so terrified of being accused of regime change that despite accusing Assad of using chemical weapons, he ignores the daily bodycount.

This is reminiscent of the Holocaust, whereby the exotic gas chambers received all the attention, despite most victims dying from bullets in a ditch close to their homes.

[CrowBat]

You're absolutely right.

But what's making me biggest worries: the last time Oblabla left the insurgents down as much as now was back in September 2013.

Few months later, the Daesh overrun north-eastern Syria - not only by exterminating all of insurgent leaders, but also explaining, '...you see, the West has left you down...'.

Hope, I need not explaining what happened ever since...

Now that Syrians have been left down by the West once again, and then in worst possible fashion... what kind of next sick development can we expect...?

[OUTLAW 09]

Do take notice---after the Obama TOTAL retrenchment and it is actually abandonment of the entire ME and eastern Europe ---not retrenchment a la Wilson 1920 all over again with the same dire results we will be seeing in the next ten years.

Big #Putin show in #Russia'n TV channels -new self-proclaimed global policeman after #USA withdrawn

WHO would have ever thought Putin would be the next "worlds policeman"...??

[OUTLAW 09]

Damascus Rebels try to regain Marj al-Sultan military airport(s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMYBuC8RDjE&feature=youtu.be …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=33.493057&lon=36.469245&z=15&m=b …

Russia bombing rebel held frontline-towns to the #IslamicState in northern #Aleppo #Syria (Azaz & Tal Rifaat) a dozen dead this morning

FSA Chief of Staff Gen Ahmad Biri: Only 5% of #Russia airstrikes target ISIS in #Syria, 95% target rebel areas killing over 1000 civilians

"From IS" ... in #Latakia!
RT keeps lying without limitations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mbe9W1PtDk …

[OUTLAW 09]

In German.....

The German military sends a refueling tanker and six Recce aircraft AND then
immediately after Kerry is in Moscow the US pulls out their entire F15s.....

Accidental--think not......WAS it note NATO SG who this week stated that NATO
was beefing up ADs in Turkey........

Whrend wir 6 Aufklrungsflugzeuge in die Trkei entsenden, ziehen die USA die Hlfte ihrer Kampfjets ab.
http://thecairopost.youm7.com/news/183107/world-news/us-withdrawing-12-warplanes-from-turkish-air-base

[OUTLAW 09]

Footage
Syrian rebels liberated #QarahKubri - north of #Aleppo - from the "Islamic State"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCMKMQMfLlw …

RT now also works as a mouthpiece for the #Assad regime, which kills at least 50 innocents per day since 2011 ...

Reference Russian info war----they are now attacking a long term social media type who cut his social media open source analysis teeth on Syria and then eastern Ukraine AND who has become a definite problem for the entire Russian info warfare trolls.....AND who is now the Political Editor for the German BILD Online....

Hip hip hurray @jreichelt !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdCfDWTUsFY …

Probably the most ridiculous answer to seriously meant criticism in media history.
@jreichelt

[OUTLAW 09]

From Marj al-Sultan battlefield, rebels take back positions around the base.
https://youtu.be/qMYBuC8RDjE

Regime propaganda hero appears drunk speaking gibberish & confuse everyone
"I saw Assad's pic on the sun & the moon"
https://youtu.be/9pgklvYPT9U

Republican Guard Staff Colonel Ali Asa’ad al-Farwi’s funeral procession in #Damascus yesterday
http://youtu.be/Og2UkcyZ0y4

Report from inside Qarah Kubri in north rural #Aleppo after rebels liberated it from #ISIS
http://youtu.be/WCMKMQMfLlw

Russia airstrikes on #Tel_Reefat targeted a family van, 7 killed, including 3 children
#Aleppo #Syria Dec 17

Syria RPO-A Shmel Thermobaric rockets used by NDF/SAA in Jabal Al Nuba against rebels /JN.
https://youtu.be/AayuHEMfz1A

RuAF Su-34 airstrike in Irbin, Damascus countryside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaZEtsguljU …

[OUTLAW 09]

From Putin's very own press conference..........

#Putin's theory on rise of #ISIS: Iraq's illegal oil trade needed armed protection, so Islamic slogans were used to attract "cannon fodder."

BUT wait that is exactly what his mercenaries are inside eastern Ukraine.....

[OUTLAW 09]

MORE Putin total disinformation on Turkey.....

Putin refuses to disclose "sensitive issue" he was ready to cooperate on with #Turkey: "I won't say because it's not my style."

REMEMBER the super big theater on the so called black box from the downed SU24-----still no analysis has been released by Russia which means it was all for disinformation show.......

NOTICE just how he plays the info war concept----talks about "sensitive" but never says exactly what is "sensitive" so it appears to the Russian population that Putin is this great international doer but then it means absolutely nothing.

Turkey asked us to cooperate on "most sensitive issue" at G20 summit and we agreed, #Putin says. Then they shot down our warplane.

[OUTLAW 09]

Harakat an-Nujba (Hezbollah/Iraq) also claimed their first attack on Turkish troops NE of Mosul today.

Amazing how fast are they at that - instead of fighting the Daesh.... :rolleyes:

Plus... several of about 80+ Hezbollah/Iraq pilgrims KIA in Benesh (southern Aleppo) two days ago, were found wearing the full Iraqi Army uniform, including corresponding insignia. Wouldn't be surprised if they were US-trained too...

Anyway, since the last I've heard Aleppo is still in Syria (and not in some sort of IRGC-run Islamic Republic of Khameneistan), it could be that Baghdad might want to check the exact position of its own troops too...

NOTICED that the US demanded that the Turks take out their troops from Iraq---BUT then the Iraqi's refused more US boots on the ground.

In reality the US has done virtually nothing to ensure to the Sunni Front States that the US is fully committed to pushing Iranian influence and troops as well as Putin out of Syria......

AND Iraq has not quite explained JUST WHAT Iraqi Shia militias with US provided weapons are doing in Syria when IS is in Iraq......???

[OUTLAW 09]

Just how close are we to Turkish intervention..............

Rebels calls for general mobilisation in Akrad Mount #Latakia to fight IRGC & regime militia
https://youtu.be/0_f7pqBMbqM pic.twitter.com/ROmfRedfEQ

[OUTLAW 09]

#Damascus Nusra published fotos from dead pro regime-forces in Marj al-Sultan area
pic.twitter.com/Gj3IhRGORP

Seems mostly regime army republican guards involved in #EastGhouta clashes.
pic.twitter.com/NkXUpPdyzM

Reference Turkish gas needs........no longer need Gazprom and turkey is their second largest European customer........so who gets hurt the most.....??

Qatar ready to provide any amount of gas Turkey needs, ambassador say
http://sabahdai.ly/7NMcS4
pic.twitter.com/dZPS0ykqEP

[OUTLAW 09]

#Putin warns of "creeping Islamisation of #Turkey that would have Ataturk rolling in his grave".
http://pal-preview.api.bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur

So is Putin going to invade Turkey to stop this "Islamisation"??

From Putin's three hour or so press conference today....

Russia Dipl. language is dead.
Putin: 'Someone in Turkish gov't decided to lick US in particular place'? #classy

[OUTLAW 09]

BUT WAIT is not Putin an "outside voice" telling the majority of Syrians what it is he wants them to do--support Assad a genocidal dictator......

Reuters World ✔ @ReutersWorld
Putin says he would never agree to any outside force deciding on who should rule Syria:
http://reut.rs/1QOAoAN
pic.twitter.com/JHHTlYjhCL

[OUTLAW 09]

Iraq MoD confirmed Russian delivery of arms shipments including Tanks & armoured vehicles for use by the Shia militias

Just as in eastern Ukraine.......

[OUTLAW 09]

Eliot Higgins @EliotHiggins

While we bomb Isil, Syrians are starving – and it's Assad who's blocking their aid
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/12053486/While-we-bomb-Isil-Syrians-are-starving-and-its-Assad-whos-blocking-their-aid.html …

[OUTLAW 09]

Chechen-led militant group Ajnad al-Kavkaz published video of fighting in N. #Latakia

Many Hezbollah fighters announced killed on 12 December in Syria:e.g.Ali Qasim Sharri (killed in Aleppo countryside)
http://southlebanon.org/archives/160515

A Complete History of Jamaat Ansar al-Islam"
by the indomitable @ajaltamimi
http://www.aymennjawad.org/2015/12/a-complete-history-of-jamaat-ansar-al-islam …
Account of Ansar al-Islam deals w/emirate in Kurdistan,role in Iraq War insurgency,decline in #Iraq,#Syria expansion

Russia: we've got 5,000 FSA fighters in #Syria! https://www.rt.com/news/325834-russia-strikes-support-fsa … yeah, the 8th Invisible Brigade

[OUTLAW 09]

Well worth reading.......

Good, frank piece by @hxhassan outlining evolution of #Syria war & intl comm.'s response before and after #IS's rise http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/syrians-yearn-for-peace-but-not-under-assad …

[OUTLAW 09]

#Syria rebels debunk #Putin's claim of aiding opposition: @AFP pic.twitter.com/1dNBZSUjmq

After 2 months of #Assad/#Russian shelling, rebels in #TerMaela return fire w/DIY rocket.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fes_g_FAJng …
pic.twitter.com/Sj8eQZqXzt

ex-diplomat & now head of the Turkish think-tank @usakorg says the cost for Russia will be higher than for Turkey
pic.twitter.com/S2CzY0eH4S

Turkish diplomat Ozdem Sanberk writes Russia "seems chosen to pick a quarrel with Turkey"
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/there-is-an-urgent-need-to-convene-the-nato-russia-council-former-turkish-envoy.aspx?pageID=238&nID=92653&NewsCatID=396 …
pic.twitter.com/YflcyimkFA

[OUTLAW 09]

Humor........

#Russia succesfully tests world's first extremely short-range #CruiseMissile #RussiaVsISIL
pic.twitter.com/tc9xHkdV3j

[OUTLAW 09]

Um... @wikileaks tweets post urging Anonymous to stop attacking ISIS; attack "real enemy" of US gov https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/675159070249193472 …

Turkey holding 27 Russian ships because #Russia is keeping 8 Turkish ships in port
http://www.dailysabah.com/money/2015/12/16/turkey-withholds-27-russian-ships-for-failing-to-meet-sailing-criteria …

[OUTLAW 09]

http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/syriasource/john-kerry-on-regime-change?utm_content=buffera7a84&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer#.VnLN7a-nN5A.twitter

December 16, 2015

John Kerry on “Regime Change”

By Frederic C. Hof


Speaking in Moscow on December 15, 2015 after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Secretary of State John Kerry said—as part of his prepared statement—that, “the United States and our partners are not seeking so-called ‘regime change,’ as it is known in Syria. What we have said is that we don’t believe that Assad himself has the ability to be able to lead the future Syria…” Unless Mr. Kerry is using the phrase “regime change” as a synonym for violent overthrow, his statement is perplexing. Is it a superficial attempt to curry favor with Russian hosts? Is it a change in policy? No doubt a clarification will be forthcoming. It is definitely needed. More importantly, the Vienna process launched six weeks ago needs to start saving Syrian lives.

Since August 18, 2011, when President Barack Obama called upon Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside, the American objective with respect to Syria has been one of regime change. That which has been consistently lacking is a strategy to bring it about.

In place of a strategy there has been a fervent wish for a negotiated political transition, by means of which a particularly loathsome war criminal, along with his closest partners in crime, would be changed out for something inclusive, legitimate, and civilized. Having a strategy—even one aimed at setting a basis for productive negotiations—would have taken the president places he did not want to go, especially given Iran’s role in facilitating its client’s survival strategy of collective punishment and mass homicide. No need to offend the Supreme Leader over Syria.

The alternative to an effective strategy aimed at making good on President Obama’s words has been to beg Moscow for help in moving its client toward the exit: first in 2013, resulting in a Geneva conference fiasco; and now in 2015, with a Vienna peace process that, in six weeks, has not even stopped the wholesale massacre of Syrian civilians. Indeed, it has not sprung a single political prisoner from Assad’s dungeons or lifted a siege that starves and sickens civilians. Instead Russia has piled on, slaughtering civilians with its bombing runs and complicating relief operations in northern Syria, disastrously coincident with the onset of winter.

The administration—with Messrs. Obama and Kerry in the lead—has stated clearly and eloquently why a role for Bashar al-Assad and his regime (the balance of the ruling family and its key enablers) in Syria’s political transition is absurdly inadmissible. This has been the administration’s position since the beginning of the crisis. Yet with the rise of the Islamic State (ISIL, ISIS, or Daesh) in eastern Syria, the anti-Assad rhetoric has sharpened. Desperately lacking a sufficient ground combat component in Syria in its battle against ISIL, the administration dreams of a Syrian government-nationalist rebel united front against the self-proclaimed caliph and calculates—quite correctly—that the dream cannot materialize with the Barrel Bomber in Chief either at the helm or in the ranks. He and his partners are simply drenched in blood and objectively unable to play a unifying role. For the grand, anti-ISIL coalition of armed Syrians to come about, the regime must change.

Indeed, the P5 agreement reached in Geneva in June 2012—the “Action Group for Syria Final Communique”—was a blueprint for peaceful regime change in Syria. Why Russia signed it is anyone’s guess. It has spent over three years trying to redefine its very clear language and meaning. And the Assad regime has rejected the document categorically. Perhaps it can be excused for declining to facilitate its own transition. Yet the American negotiators at Geneva—supported by French and British partners—made clear their goal of putting paid to Assad. All the Russians asked for in the proceedings were no explicit mention of Assad and no reference to “people with blood on their hands.” In return they agreed to a “mutual consent” clause giving opposition and government negotiators veto power over nominees to a “transitional governing body” exercising “full executive power.” Assad’s political fate was thereby consigned to the opposition.

The suspicion here is that the Department of State will, sooner rather than later, issue the requisite “what the Secretary really meant to say” clarification. It will likely define “regime change” in a Saddam Hussein or similar violent context, reiterating that the objective of the United States is an Assad-and-ISIL-free Syria of inclusivity, citizenship, and rule-of-law—a place where political legitimacy can fill vacuums now occupied by two rapacious criminal enterprises largely in the business of living-and-let-living with one another, working with Russia and Iran to eliminate nationalist alternatives.

More salient in the near-term is the question of when this Vienna process will begin to produce positive results for the people of Syria. Six weeks have slipped by since the initial meeting at the end of October. The Assad regime continues its reign of terror in the skies above residential neighborhoods. It continues to besiege some 600,000 people. It does these things in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions. It does so with an enhanced sense of impunity due to Russian and Iranian support and participation. Does anyone on the United States government payroll ever raise these matters with Iranian and Russian counterparts? Will the recent Human Rights Watch report on the “Caesar” photos of people murdered in regime prisons get the attention of a single American official?

In his Moscow statement Secretary Kerry also said, “But we do believe that nobody should be forced to choose between a dictator and being plagued by terrorists. Our challenge remains creating the conditions on which an alternative can emerge.” The first and most important “condition” for anything good to happen is to take civilians off the bullseye in Syria: stop the bombing, lift the sieges, and empty the prisons of political prisoners. Can the sweet-talking of Vladimir Putin be put on pause long enough to address this urgent matter?

If the foreign ministers of the ‘International Syria Support Group’ meeting in New York this Friday will not lift a finger to help the Syrian people, nothing else they do will matter. The ‘regime’ is not the only thing requiring change. Moving civilian protection to the front of the diplomatic queue is all that can prevent this Vienna process from becoming an open-ended permission slip for murder and mayhem.

[OUTLAW 09]

Only around 80 civilians were killed yesterday by Russian & Assad bombardment across #Syria. Like a broken disc we are tweeting this….

Russian air strikes in Syria helping Isis advance, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/russian-air-strikes-in-syria-are-helping-isis-advance-uk-foreign-secretary-philip-hammond-says-a6775461.html …

Russian air strikes massacred 8 civilians in Azaz in northern Aleppo.

Putin: It's hard to imagine a better exercise than operation in Syria. We can keep exercising there for a long time without much spending.

Exercise being aiding ISIS & Assad by targeting rebels & civilians on a daily basis. This SOB is pure fu***ng evil

We keep saying next generation will rebuild #Syria, but Russian & #Assad genocidal maniacs are wiping out our next generation.

[OUTLAW 09]

Only around 80 civilians were killed yesterday by Russian & Assad bombardment across #Syria. Like a broken disc we are tweeting this….

Russian air strikes in Syria helping Isis advance, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/russian-air-strikes-in-syria-are-helping-isis-advance-uk-foreign-secretary-philip-hammond-says-a6775461.html …

Russian air strikes massacred 8 civilians in Azaz in northern Aleppo.

Putin: It's hard to imagine a better exercise than operation in Syria. We can keep exercising there for a long time without much spending.

Exercise being aiding ISIS & Assad by targeting rebels & civilians on a daily basis. This SOB is pure fu***ng evil

We keep saying next generation will rebuild #Syria, but Russian & #Assad genocidal maniacs are wiping out our next generation.


A question about a "concrete plan on Syria." Putin: we will support the Syrian army offensive

Putin knows that he cannot continue his air campaign 4ever. The majority of Syrian Rebels have nothing 2 lose

Russian support of Assad for the last 10 weeks helped him make NO gains in Latakia. Killed many civilians though http://www.agathocledesyracuse.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Latakia-16-Dec-2015.jpg …

[OUTLAW 09]

Was this the TOW shot that was rumoured to have severely injured Soleimani?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEk_gUcijuc&feature=youtu.be …

I had posted this particular video and went back to it one more time as it matches roughly the same time period of the actual early wounding report and it was on an armored SUV....

If it was then he was in fact seriously wounded if not in fact KIA......

[OUTLAW 09]

Must watch (high Quality):
#Drone Combat vid of #Nusra assault storming shia CP
https://youtu.be/9QqRqYdHBsM

More than true Analysis by #Alloush:
#JaI & #Ahrar are the most unified & capable groups, black listed by US admin.

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Drastic reduction in ATGM launches in first half of December 2015:
http://justpaste.it/DecemberATGM

They reduce #TOW supply to blackmail rebels to surrender talks to appease #Putin.

An this is the Obama plan to force acceptance by the FSA and others to accede to Putin's demands to accept Assad for another two years?????

AND it these very same groups that are currently fighting Islamic State rather successfully AND who had clearly indicated THAT once Assad is forced out they will turn their full attention to IS.

BUT then what was the Obama response---Kerry to Moscow and denying the comments that came out of the oppositional meeting in KSA AND telling basically in Kerry's words--the anti Assad forces MUST drop their demands for Assad to leave first.....

THIS is though the Russian reality that Obama fails to address.......
In addition to earlier reports 138 Russian airstrikes targeted 101 civilian targets & 10 non-ISIS rebel targets
pic.twitter.com/YRUhgzwja2

[OUTLAW 09]

Unbelievable Russia has gone mad!
Russia travel firm offers vacations to Syria conflict -
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/17/travel/russia-vacations-syria-conflict/index.html …

Turkish Internet hit with massive DDoS attack
http://www.dailydot.com/politics/turkey-ddos-attack-tk-universities/ …

[OUTLAW 09]

http://www.businessinsider.de/putin-syria-russia-military-exercise-2015-12?r=US&IR=T

Putin just made a major admission about one of Russia's primary goals in Syria


Natasha Bertrand


In his annual marathon news conference Thursday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to Russia's intervention in the Syrian civil war as a military "exercise" for Russia's "air forces, air defense," and "intelligence."

"We did not start the war" in Syria, Putin told reporters during his end-of-year news conference from Moscow, according to a translation by the state-sponsored news agency Russia Today.

He added: "We are just conducting separate operations, using our air forces, air defense, intelligence. This is not a serious burden for the budget ... It's hard to imagine a better exercise [for the Russian forces]. So we can train there for a long time without any serious harm to our budget."

Boris Zilberman, a Russia expert at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said he thought the statement was an admission of one of Moscow's key intentions for the Russian military intervention in Syria.

"I think he is basically saying that the conflict in Syria is allowing Russia to showcase their air and sea capabilities in a real conflict," Zilberman told Business Insider.

"He doesn't say it, but I think the point he is getting at is that the conflict in Syria increases the Russians' military readiness."

Russia reformed its air force, weaponry, and intelligence after a five-day war with Georgia in 2008 that exposed serious deficiencies in the Russian military's mass-mobilization capabilities, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

The results of these reforms have been showcased in Syria, where Russia began building up its military arsenal in September — two months after Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran's Quds Force, visited Moscow asking for Russia's help in shoring up the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

A Russian air campaign launched on September 30 has consequently used a mix of updated Soviet aircraft, including Su-24, Su-30SM, and Su-34 fighter jets capable of carrying out airstrikes with a surprising level of accuracy.

"Syria is a debut of sorts for Russia's tactical aviation," military expert Michael Kofman wrote in October for War on the Rocks. "Despite its visible limitations, watching footage from Russian drones of relatively accurate nighttime airstrikes in Syria is almost science fiction compared to what the Russian air force was capable of as recently as 2008."

Russia is reportedly building a second base of operations for Moscow's air assets in Syria southeast of Homs, at the current Syrian military base of Shaayrat. Russia has largely been carrying out airstrikes from its base in northwestern Syria, in the Latakia province.

Russia air bases syria
Google Maps

Following Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border late last month, Moscow ordered that all Russian fighter jets conducting airstrikes in Syria be equipped with air-to-air missiles for self-defense.

A powerful S-400 surface-to-air missile-defense system was also reportedly deployed to the Russian air base in Latakia to deter Turkish jets from shooting down Russia's warplanes in the future.

The Syrian civil war, now entering its fifth year, is also a chance for Russia to use its Black Sea fleet. Though admittedly outdated, the fleet wields a naval variant of the S-300 defense system — one of the most potent anti-aircraft missiles in existence.

Indeed, as Kofman noted, "Military reforms, a large modernization effort, and a relentless exercise program have restored competence and capability to a percentage of the Russian military."

More than 4,000 Russian military personnel are now deployed in Syria — roughly double the number who were there initially providing repair services and support to Russia's naval base at Tartus.

Trainers and advisers are working alongside the Syrian military, and forces are guarding Russia's bases in western Syria. [I]None of the forces are engaged in a ground-combat role, the Russian government has said.


If not engaged in combat just how did the estimated 50 KIAs end up being created..........bad Syrian takeout.......??

[OUTLAW 09]

Breaking: #Israel and #Turkey agree to restore the full diplomatic relations.- Israeli Media

This AFP video from Hmeymim for the first time shows Su-34 "26 Red" deployed to Syria:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u8b7jSFhB4 …
( @ 0:47 mark)

[CrowBat]

Just how close are we to Turkish intervention..............

Rebels calls for general mobilisation in Akrad Mount #Latakia to fight IRGC & regime militia
https://youtu.be/0_f7pqBMbqM pic.twitter.com/ROmfRedfEQ
Turks aren't gonna go into Syria. That's out of question now - irrespectivelly how much that FSB-Mafioso in Kreml is behaving like a... 'responsible statesman': Erdogan might be an Islamist, and declared for a 'Sultan' and 'crazy', but he's not going to provoke the WWIII.


#Damascus Nusra published fotos from dead pro regime-forces in Marj al-Sultan area
pic.twitter.com/Gj3IhRGORP

Seems mostly regime army republican guards involved in #EastGhouta clashes.
pic.twitter.com/NkXUpPdyzM
Yup, the 105th Brigade Republican Guards.

Assad's Alawites are going to be happy about additional heavy losses, no doubt...


#Russia succesfully tests world's first extremely short-range #CruiseMissile #RussiaVsISIL
Perhaps they could offer it to Amazon for use instead of UAVs...? 'It's not going into your house: just knocking on your doors..'

[OUTLAW 09]

CrowBat------what do you think......???

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-17/new-russian-air-defenses-in-syria-keep-u-s-grounded?utm_content=buffer2c2c6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

New Russian Air Defenses in Syria Keep U.S. Grounded

Dec 17, 2015 1:00 PM EST
By Josh Rogin & Eli Lake


There is a new crisis for the international effort to destroy the Islamic State, created by the Kremlin. The U.S. has stopped flying manned air-support missions for rebels in a key part of northern Syria due to Russia’s expansion of air defense systems there, and the Barack Obama administration is scrambling to figure out what to do about it.

Russia’s military operations inside Syria have been expanding in recent weeks, and the latest Russian deployments, made without any advance notice to the U.S., have disrupted the U.S.-led coalition's efforts to support Syrian rebel forces fighting against the Islamic State near the Turkey-Syria border, just west of the Euphrates River, several Obama administration and U.S. defense officials told us. This crucial part of the battlefield, known inside the military as Box 4, is where a number of groups have been fighting the Islamic State for control, until recently with overhead support from U.S. fighter jets.

But earlier this month, Moscow deployed an SA-17 advanced air defense system near the area and began “painting” U.S. planes, targeting them with radar in what U.S. officials said was a direct and dangerous provocation. The Pentagon halted all manned flights, although U.S. drones are still flying in the area. Russia then began bombing the rebels the U.S. had been supporting.

Inside the top levels of the administration, officials are debating what to do next. The issue is serious enough that Secretary of State John Kerry raised it with Russian President Vladimir Putin when they met on Tuesday, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General John Dunford has discussed it with his Russian counterpart as well, a spokesman for U.S. Air Force Central Command told us.

"The increasing number of Russian-supplied advanced air defense systems in Syria, including SA-17s, is another example that Russia and the regime seek to complicate the global counter-Daesh coalition’s air campaign,” said Major Tim Smith, using another term for the Islamic State.

The increasing number of Russian air defense systems further complicate an already difficult situation over the skies in Syria, and do nothing to advance the fight against the Islamic State, which has no air force, Smith said. He added that Russia could instead be using its influence with the regime to press President Bashar al-Assad to cease attacking civilians. “Unhelpful actions by Russia and the Syrian regime will not stop coalition counter-Daesh operations in Syria, nor will such actions push the coalition away from specific regions in Syria where Daesh is operating,” said Smith.

In Washington, top officials are debating how to respond to Russia's expanded air defenses, said another administration official who was not authorized to discuss internal deliberations. The administration could decide to resume flights in support of the rebels fight Islamic State, but that could risk a deadly incident with the Russian military. For now, the U.S. seems to be acquiescing to Russia’s effort to keep American manned planes out of the sky there and "agree to their rules of the game," the administration official said.

With U.S. planes out of the way, Russia has stepped up its own airstrikes along the Turkey-Syria border, and the Obama administration has accused it of targeting the rebel groups the U.S. was supporting, not the Islamic State. The Russian strikes are also targeting commercial vehicles passing from Turkey into Syria, the administration official told us. The Washington Post reported that the Russian strikes have resulted in a halt of humanitarian aid from Turkey as well.

These heightened tensions between the U.S. and Russia on the ground run counter to the public outreach Kerry has been pursuing as part of his effort to kick-start a peace process between the Syrian regime and the opposition. In remarks at the Kremlin Tuesday, Kerry said he was “grateful for President Putin” and looked forward to cooperating with Russia on the fight against the Islamic State. Kerry will meet with Russian leaders again Friday in New York.

Kerry also said the U.S. is not pursuing “regime change” in Syria, comments that were seen by many as another step away from the long-held U.S. call for Assad to step down. The latest U.S.-Russia talks didn’t focus on Assad’s status, Kerry said, adding that he was working to establish a political process that would allow Syrians to choose their own leadership.

While the diplomacy drags on, the Russian military continues to place Assad in a stronger position and constrain the coalitions' operations, said Matthew McInnis, a former Iran analyst for U.S. Central Command and now a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “The Russians are trying to create zones where they would have to give permission for U.S. flights,” he said. “The Russians are increasingly defining the military landscape by their actions.”

McInnis said he has heard other Western diplomats express concern about how much the U.S. may give in to the Russian and Syrian position to get a cease-fire. "There is definitely some nervousness about how far the administration is willing to go to accommodate the Russian position on Assad," he said.

Robert Ford, Obama’s former ambassador to Syria, said the Russians may have another motive in expanding their military operations in northern Syria: to put pressure on Turkey. Russian-Turkish relations have turned ugly since Turkey shot down a Russian plane near its border last month. Turkey is keenly interested in the Box 4 region in Syria because it supports the Sunni Arab groups fighting there, working covertly with the U.S.

“The Russians are doing this to squeeze the Turks," said Ford. "It’s going to cause problems for the CIA program."

The actual number of U.S. flights that were supporting Syrian groups in this area was not large. Officials told us that Defense Secretary Ash Carter had been resisting a more comprehensive air campaign in the area for two reasons: Some of the groups fighting there are not vetted and include Islamic brigades, including the al-Nusrah Front. Also, Carter prefers a strategy of supporting Syrian Kurds with weapons and having them take over the border territory.

But the Syrian Arabs and the Turks don’t want Kurdish troops to control Box 4, said Ford, because then the Kurds would then have a proto-state reaching all the way from the Mediterranean Sea to the Iran-Iraq border.

The success of any U.S.-led effort to bring Assad to the negotiating table will depend on squeezing the Syrian regime. Yet at this crucial moment, the U.S. is not only decreasing pressure, but acquiescing to Russian pressure. This benefits not only Assad and Russia, but also the Islamic State.


Russia inadvertently helps out ISIS - New Russian missile systems in Syria are keeping U.S. jets grounded
http://bv.ms/1NrE35h via @BV

[OUTLAW 09]

Breaking: #Israel and #Turkey agree to restore the full diplomatic relations.- Israeli Media



Israeli official tells me Israel will pay 20 million dollars in compensation to families of Turkish citizens killed on Gaza flotilla

BREAKING Israeli official tells Haaretz,Turkey will expel Hamas leader Saleh al-Aruri and limit activities in TR.
pic.twitter.com/aykdUOKwbX

[OUTLAW 09]

This AFP video from Hmeymim for the first time shows Su-34 "26 Red" deployed to Syria:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u8b7jSFhB4 …
( @ 0:47 mark)

The initial four Su-34s deployed to Hmeymim in September have serials 21, 22, 25 and 27 Red:
http://etkmkao.livejournal.com/540.html

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian airstrike on rebel held Tal Rifa’at in N #Aleppo, another ISIS frontline. Azaz, Mare’a & al-Ziyara also hit
http://youtu.be/PDWo_oCAbR4

The Intercept 
‏@the_intercept Secret government catalogue offers a preview of the future of mass surveillance:
http://interc.pt/1QPwmby

Although Assad Intel services have full backend access at GSM providers (Syriatel & MTN), Stingrays common in #Syria

Deraa: Syrian Rebels bring down a building being used by Assad fighters in Al Yadouda

Deraa: Syrian Rebels repel Assad regime fighters trying to advance http://goo.gl/qqaM3h

Aleppo: car destroyed & at least 10 pro Assad fighters killed by rebel elephant missile

Iraqi sources confirm the death of Seyed Ali Mousavi leader of the "Ahl al-Haq asaeb" militia in Iraq killed by Syrian Rebels in ALEPPO!!!

North Aleppo: Syrian Rebels repel ISIS attack on Al Hamzat, kill 2 ISIS fighters & capture many weapons.

US House of Representatives voted unanimously Wednesday on cut broadcast of Hezbollah's satellite Al-Manar TV channel

ISIS launch heavy assault on rebel held Herbel while allowing Assad forces to advance in Kuweires & Russia bombing Rebels fighting ISIS!

[OUTLAW 09]

The U.S. has a long history of backing brutal secularist dictators; it's a less awkward alliance than w/Shia fundamentalist Iran

In time you'll probably see some sham process for removing Assad, then the U.S. allying with the rebranded remainder of the #SAA

[OUTLAW 09]

Footage
Syrian rebels want to retake #MarjAlSultan air base.
#RussianAirstrikes on them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5uhbimz0A0&feature=youtu.be …

According to Israeli estimates: one third of Hezbollah’s fighters have been killed or injured backing Assad in Syria
http://www.timesofisrael.com/a-third-of-hezbollahs-fighters-said-killed-or-injured-in-syria/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter …

Read @tweets4peace's personal stories about Syria's forgotten detainees.
There are over 200K innocent Syrians In Assad's dungeons.

[OUTLAW 09]

Fascinating podcast on @JihadPod with @ajaltamimi on IS's finances and economy. Definitely worth a listen.
http://bit.ly/1PatN3L

How far does Islamic State follow the 'masterplan' text I leaked to the Guardian? Some analytical notes of mine here http://www.aymennjawad.org/2015/12/the-islamic-state-masterplan-of-administration …

Breaking
Several people got victims of #RussianAirstrikes in #TallRifat tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_tk9wPrH8s …
pic.twitter.com/85TJGCD7t7

[OUTLAW 09]

Syrian Express on the move again......

FLOT's Ropucha Class Landing Ship Yamal 156 back from Syria in 8 days after crossing the #Bosphorus south on Dec 9th

This is the 1st Syria deployment in 2015 for Ropucha class LST, Baltic Fleet's, Minsk 127

TCG Gr S357 is likely returning from shadowing #ВМФ Rostov-on-Don Б-237 which transited Bosphorus yesterday
Russian stealth sub had fired three cruise missiles recently

Rostov-on-Don can remain undetected under water for long periods of time, earning it the nickname 'black hole'

Checkout @googlemaps, search Novorossiysk and you can see #ВМФ BSF Nikolai Filchenkov 152, NF Yauza & Dvinitsa-50

Updated GoogleEarth image shows trucks about to be loaded on to Alligator-class landing ship at Novorssiysk on 2 Nov

[OUTLAW 09]

The initial four Su-34s deployed to Hmeymim in September have serials 21, 22, 25 and 27 Red:
http://etkmkao.livejournal.com/540.html

Interesting loadouts: Su-34 "26 Red" with 2 R-73 AAMs + 2 KAB-500Kr + dumb bombs, Su-25SM "30 Red" with 4 B-8 + 2 B-13 rocket pods.

[CrowBat]

CrowBat------what do you think......???

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-17/new-russian-air-defenses-in-syria-keep-u-s-grounded?utm_content=buffer2c2c6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=bufferMy reply is likely to sound weird, to put it mildly. I beg for understanding: please keep in mind (everybody), that my usual 'business' are militaries that are not only 'obscure', but 'secretive' in such a paranoid fashion, that one is easily jailed (if not outright shot), alone for talking about anything military-related...

In comparison to this, one of 'nice things' about the CENTCOM (like most of the times when it comes to the US military) is: one needs not 'thinking'.

Just check their press releases for the last few days:
16 December (http://www.centcom.mil/en/news/articles/dec.-16-military-airstrikes-continue-against-isil-terrorists-in-syria-and-i)

Syria
* Near Ayn Isa, one strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions.
* Near Manbij, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL checkpoint and an ISIL bunker.
* Near Mar'a, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), an ISIL fighting position, and an ISIL staging area.

17 December (http://www.centcom.mil/en/news/articles/dec.-17-military-airstrikes-continue-against-isil-terrorists-in-syria-and-i)

* Near Ar Raqqah, three strikes struck an ISIL financial building, an ISIL headquarters building, and an ISIL training camp.
* Near Al Hawl, one strike destroyed an ISIL artillery piece.
* Near Manbij, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed four ISIL fighting positions and two ISIL bunkers.
* Near Mar'a, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and damaged an ISIL fighting position.

Now sure, Blomberg's authors say 'manned flights', and it's perfectly possible that the strikes in question were actually flown by the UAVs. It's also perfectly possible that Oblabla put all 'manned' air strikes on hold during Kerry's babbling with Putin & Co KG GesmbH...

But, perhaps they should've first asked at the CENTCOM if rumours on which their story is based bear any semblance to reality, then the last I've heard one of strikes on 16 December was flown by an AC-130. Word is that type has a crew of about 20 and is usually not considered as suitable for being sent into 'heavy-SAM-protected-zones'.

[CrowBat]

The initial four Su-34s deployed to Hmeymim in September have serials 21, 22, 25 and 27 Red:
http://etkmkao.livejournal.com/540.html
That with Su-34s is correct: their number was increased to 8 on 6 December (after one of aircraft made a short stop in Iran, due to technical glitch).

But, that site is wrong in regards of Su-24s: regardless if some of these have received new 'borts', 20 of them are visually confirmed as present there.

[OUTLAW 09]

The Syrian military has thousands of deserters. New research tells us why they left
@monkeycageblog http://wpo.st/NLvx0

Russia open to Assad's ouster after #Syria transition: diplomats
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-assad-idUSKBN0U032R20151217 …

BUT WAIT......did not DoS Kerry singal the US intentions in Moscow of allowing him to remain in for the transition for a total of two more years....he has far more Syrian blood on his hands THAN all of what IS has done in Syria since 2011......

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaysh al-Yarmouk targeting regime army sniper nest in Manshiya area #Dara with tanks.
https://youtu.be/QWxqmWldhhM pic.twitter.com/maKgVzlj4C

FOR Russian disinformation and propaganda---the "charges", "claims" and or their "official" statements are FAR more important in non linear info warfare THAN the truth--that means the LIE drives everything..........

Turkey dispute. Russia claims it has evidence of non-violation of airspace. Fact of claim more important than facts. https://twitter.com/flashnord/status/677748639457009664 …

The Russian Su-24 downed by Turkey appears to have been equipped with a single black box. Wonder if that's standard in fighter jets

Black box of Russian jet downed by Turkey "badly damaged" - Russian officials
http://www.kp.ru/daily/26472/3342304/ …
Image: Ria pic.twitter.com/pYmpDVDIoq

NOTICE not a single country offered to analyze the black box.......After Putin asked......

BUT WATCH--while badly damaged the Russians will still state it was Turkey who is at fault

Tahrir Homs pounding regime army 26th battalion in Tair Ma'la #Homs with "Douma" IRAMs.
https://youtu.be/GOQtJltQt94 pic.twitter.com/kcwqST2Hd7

[OUTLAW 09]

In this ongoing Syrian thread discussions in multiple articles we have seemed to have forgotten what started this whole mess to begin with ---Russian aggression against the Ukraine using their UW non linear warfare strategy.

The two key cornerstones of that UW strategy rests on cyber warfare/cyber criminal activities and informational warfare.

After Putin's press conference yesterday we know the true reason he is in Syria--to test the new Russian weapons and weapons systems, their air strike abilities and just how the new military reforms have worked using a real time war AND then calling it yesterday An EXERCISE........

We have largely forgotten in the last 18 months to apply that non linear warfare to Syria.

NOW the Russian military is testing their cyber warfare capabilities under "live fire conditions" in support to their political warfare against Turkey.

Hurriyet Daily reports Russian cyber attack on Turkish government & business online platforms
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-under-cyberattack-by-russia-repo... …

SO when will Obama and Kerry call the spade what it is--open Russian military aggression in now two locations--eastern Ukraine and now Syria.

When will Obama/Kerry finally call out the Russian AF genocide being conducted under the name of Putin.

While Obama and Kerry appease Iran and Putin both seem to have forgotten the Russian non linear warfare in support to Russian political warfare.

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey wants to enlist Ukraine's support in anti-Russian propaganda – media
http://www.unian.info/politics/1216120-turkey-wants-to-enlist-ukraines-support-in-anti-russian-propaganda-media.html …
pic.twitter.com/7MqloJfUuk

[OUTLAW 09]

Even Obama's lack of a FP for Syria is "messing" up the so called German "moral compass"..........

According to @BILD, German Federal Intelligence Service works again with #Syria, wants to open a permanent station. https://twitter.com/BILD_Politik/status/677813123483459584 …

Let's remember Hitler, the SS and the gas chambers BUT let's "forget"
THAT it is the Assad Security Services that continue to have 200,000 prisoners in their torture prisons, that thousands were arrested, tortured and killed and thousands simply disappeared AND Assad has contributed to the genocidal killing of over 350,000 Syrians........AND Assad is still using starvation, barrel bombs and chemical weapons as are the Russians via their cluster munitions and WP on Syrian civilians.....

BUT WAIT our German CIA "moral compass" is not out of whack.....????????

BY no US leadership anywhere to be seen in the ME outside of the legacy "Iran Deal" this is what we get..........

REMEMBER this is the same BND that bashed the KSA recently, then the Turks and was reined in by Merkel and THEN again today......who actually controls German FP these days...certainly not Merkel it appears.........

[OUTLAW 09]

We need to get to the Ukrainian standard when reporting on Assad and or Russian air strikes....BASICALLY the aircraft flying are Russian produced and maintained with Russian military parts, the pilots are Russian trained and the munitions being dropped are Russian manufactured........

SO if it talks like a Russian, walks and looks like a Russian, and it flies like a Russian THEN all absolutely ALL air strikes are Russia's responsibility BECAUSE who cares what language is being spoken AS PUTIN has stated yesterday---this is a training exercise NOT a war.......

Agence France-Presse ✔ @AFP
Suspected Russia raids 'kill 32 civilians in north Syria'
http://u.afp.com/ZAmB

It sure was not the Turks, the US, the UK or even France......

[OUTLAW 09]

Humor.........

#Russia's MoD says the #Su24 #FlightRecorder is damaged, data will be presented after it's been faked #Backstabbed
pic.twitter.com/wGlMf5p5bE

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia open to Assad's ouster after Syria transition. - the Putin trap. Keep regime. Ditch the man. Same rule http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0U032R20151217 …

Oh dear GAWD! @CNN is endorsing #Putin & his war on civilians in #Syria.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/17/middleeast/syria-russian-warship-moskva/index.html …
pic.twitter.com/WlJedSe5Vl

[OUTLAW 09]

Unconfirmed reports that Russian jets have again targeted positions of Assad forces by mistake around Marj al-Sultan. #Damascus #Ghouta

Heavy clashes reported since the morning between Jaish al-Fateh & the ISIS affiliated Shuhada al-Yarmouk around Sahem al-Golan, #Daraa

7 reported killed in Russian airstrikes on Jisr al-Shugour in #Idlib this morning. (No ISIS here of course). TO include a small new born child that was pulled out of the rubble......


#AhrarSham BM21 Grad attack on Hmeimeem. #Latakia

[OUTLAW 09]

Diplomats concede the Syrian dictator is unlikely to face war crimes charges any time soon.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/kerry-assad-syria-peace-talks-216911 …
In what world would you expect the perpetrator to allow their crimes to be investigated?

Assad on denying his regimes atrocities: "You want to make investigations, come to Syria"

Amnesty, HRW & UN monitors are still blocked.

[OUTLAW 09]

Has anyone noticed that when the WH talks about it's inability to have ground forces confront IS THERE is a distinct lack of a conversation around the FSA---and that extends even into the US MSM which all but ignores the FSA who is daily fighting with and gaining ground on IS while being attacked by Assad's SAA which is really just a Shia mercenary army from Hezbollah, Iraqi Shia militia, Iranian IRGC and Shia fighters from 12 different countries.

BUT not a single thorough well done analysis of the FSA by the US MSM.

Iyad El-Baghdadi @iyad_elbaghdadi
The level of trolling is just epic. Syrian foreign ministry: FSA can join Assad's army if it makes some changes. https://twitter.com/RTarabic/status/677808194597572608 …

Iyad El-Baghdadi @iyad_elbaghdadi
The FSA was formed by professional Syrian soldiers who defected from Assad's army. Assad is their first, worst, and forever enemy.

FSA is slowly but steadily winning and why should they then join a genocidal army under leadership of a genocidal dictator?????

FSA and the majority of the anti Assad forces have repeatedly stated to the US---help us eliminate Assad and then we can turn our attention to IS..(a Syrian solution against the IS Syrian problem)..this is actually what needs to be done BUT then why does this WH not do it????

[OUTLAW 09]

Hurriyet Daily News @HDNER

#Turkish banks raided in #Russia over ‘money laundering’ claims
http://bit.ly/1lW04jQ
pic.twitter.com/lc30bkA6wh

BUT WAIT Russian money launderers cannot be found anywhere inside Russia.....???

[OUTLAW 09]

RFS report: Russian air attacks on Syrian rebel areas.
https://youtu.be/jtniQgrA_4k

At least 38 #IRGC, #Hezbollah & #Iran-backed fighters were killed in #Syria last week by 2 Russia air strikes. Via @sahamnewsorg

[OUTLAW 09]

For those SWJ readers who honesty think that Obama did not create the so called Syrian mess......yes he did---wonder if he and or Kerry would like to respond to Assad's recent interview.......?????

Assad on @Nieuwsuur interview:
I was packing my bags to leave but now I stay thanks to Kerry & France [who now say Assad is part of solution especially Kerry after his Moscow visit].

OR
Assad on the UN & in effect, UN led transition: "The UN is a biased institution..it is under the control of the US"
http://sana.sy/en/?p=64343

AND Obama is not the problem....?

[OUTLAW 09]

Ever notice how US MSM articles actually support the Russian info warfare narrative/propaganda pushed by Putin and the Russian MoD when it comes to Turkey.........?

Doug Bandow
Senior Fellow, the Cato Institute

Dump New Ottomans from NATO: Shoot Down of Russian Plane Shows Turkey to be Dangerous Ally

Posted: 12/18/2015 6:40 am EST Updated: 25 minutes ago
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doug-bandow/dump-new-ottomans-from-na_b_8836998.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592&ref=yfp

Russian #SU24 blackbox data is damaged...
Of course!
It would have shown it violated Turkish airspace.
https://twitter.com/lennutrajektoor/status/677809844385128448 …

[CrowBat]

Russia open to Assad's ouster after Syria transition. - the Putin trap. Keep regime. Ditch the man. Same rule http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0U032R20151217 …

Oh dear GAWD! @CNN is endorsing #Putin & his war on civilians in #Syria.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/17/middleeast/syria-russian-warship-moskva/index.html …
pic.twitter.com/WlJedSe5VlMr Chance is 'just taking an objective look' at the Russian military and showing his skills in reporting on military-related affairs:

The naval power behind Russia's air war

But this one is better:

Not long ago, an international journalist being granted this kind of access to an active Russian warship would have been even more of a rarity....if 'not long ago' means 'before Mr. Chance was born', then sure!

There follows a series of good jokes:

...But the Kremlin's newfound openness around Russian military activities... :D


...it also underlines just how well the Russians perceive their campaign in Syria is going.......here I had to stop typing: got stomachache from LOLing...


...Russian defense officials say that since the country entered the Syrian conflict at the end of September, in response to a formal request from Syria's government, it has been able to significantly degrade the capabilities of ISIS and other terror groups, including the al Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front....Ah really? Wasn't it Putin who said that the Daesh is spreading since the start of the Russian intervention...? :rolleyes:

And here the it's the cited Russian officer in need of some help:

"Every day we show you how Russian aviation is fighting Syrian civilians, destroying infrastructure in Syria."

...sigh... right after filling a report containing such loads of nonsense, I would've borrowed myself a Yarygin pistol from the nearest Russian Navy officer - and committed a suicide...

[CrowBat]

Has anyone noticed that when the WH talks about it's inability to have ground forces confront IS THERE is a distinct lack of a conversation around the FSA---and that extends even into the US MSM which all but ignores the FSA who is daily fighting with and gaining ground on IS while being attacked by Assad's SAA which is really just a Shia mercenary army from Hezbollah, Iraqi Shia militia, Iranian IRGC and Shia fighters from 12 different countries.Principal problem is that Oblabla needs an excuse to remain 'non-committed'.

Therefore, 'there's no FSyA, period'.

If that means one re-deploys parts of the FSyA from eastern to western Turkey (as if Turkey is no sovereign country), and then orders them to cross the border into Kurdish-held enclave in NW Syria, and assaults FSyA-held Azaz - in order to cut-off the insurgent supply-links to Turkey...

...or ignores a big concentration of the Daesh only 15km from Turkish border and never flies even a single air strike on it, in order to enable them to attempt the same (assaulting Azaz), but from east...

...while ordering Erdogan to close the border to Syria in the area of the Azaz-corridor...

...or ignores massaces of Syrian civilians in Azaz area by that Russian air farce (typo is intentional)...

... all methods are OK, because these 'non-existing' FSyA are dickheads that are refusing to 'fight Daesh only', and a major obstacle to Vienna talks: because of them (and because of 'Ottomans' too, of course), Putler is provoking by painting US and French aircraft underway over Syria by his SAMs...

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria....right now the Russian mercenaries in eastern Ukraine are complaining they have not been receiving pay and or to little pay and the Shia militias in Syria are complaining about nt being paid as well......

Russian ruble, stock market crash showing no sign of abating amid declining oil prices
http://www.unian.info/economics/1216300-russian-ruble-stock-market-crash-showing-no-sign-of-abating-amid-declining-oil-prices.html …
pic.twitter.com/QOKwPwPu8r[/QUOTE]

Sberbank shares, Russian stock indices collapse after Ukraine defaults on "Russian debt"
http://www.unian.info/economics/1216472-sberbank-shares-russian-stock-indices-collapse-after-ukraine-defaults-on-russian-debt.html … pic.twitter.com/UBEILOcixI

[Azor]

Any truth to this?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(From Sputnik)

In a dramatic move, Germany is set to become the first western nation and NATO member to break ranks and begin cooperating with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and set up an intelligence agency branch in Damascus.

Although there has been no official announcement, anonymous sources quoted in the German Bild newspaper, confirmed that the federal government is keen to establish a branch of its Federal Intelligence Service (BND) in Damascus in an effort to counter Daesh, also known as Islamic State (IS).

The source said a decision on the move to renew ties with the Syrian intelligence agencies could be made as early as 2016 and may even involve reopening the German embassy in Damascus, which was closed in February 2012, when the German ambassador was withdrawn.

The BND is reported to be anxious to quickly set up as a so-called Residentur in the Syrian capital, with a view to permanently stationing staff there.

There has been a long history of intelligence-sharing between Berlin and Damascus, which Germany believes is an important partner in the fight against radical Islamists.

Diplomatic relations were broken off in 2012 when, the then Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, expelled the Syrian ambassador from Germany. The German ambassador to Damascus was withdrawn and the embassy closed for safety reasons.

The IS can be defeated in less than a year if the US and its allies stop supporting rebel fighters, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Dutch NPO2 television in an interview.

The US has sponsored and supplied anti-government rebel fighters, including those who do not fight IS, thereby detracting resource from the Syrian army.

“If the responsible countries take action against the flood and the flowing of terrorists and the logistic support, I can guarantee that it will take less than one year,” Assad said.

[OUTLAW 09]

More signs that Syrian population is starting to starve.
https://twitter.com/NorthernStork/status/677882097437048832 …

Reuters Top News ✔ @Reuters
Obama urges Turkey's Erdogan to withdraw troops from Iraq - White House http://reut.rs/1Qvs4HQ

The second Russian ORSIS T-5000 bolt-action sniper rifle known to have been captured by fighters of IS, Zawbaa Iraq.
pic.twitter.com/QBt4OOCj9f

Riyadh Conference: Regime Unlikely to Accept Newly Unified Opposition’s Position
http://buff.ly/1P9VOXe
pic.twitter.com/J9GUHnoP7b

FSA hunting #IslamicState on #Damascus -Baghdad road in desert of eastern Qalamoun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdCPagiy1_Y&feature=youtu.be …
pic.twitter.com/U79GVcLARH

[OUTLAW 09]

Now let me carefully point out how fxxxxxxing stupid the UNSC is (excuse my French, there's no sugar coating this anymore)

This sounds EXACTLY like the deal negotiated by the Arab League in 2012. How's Syria been since then?

CNN Trk ENG @CNNTURK_ENG
Draft UNSC reso endorses prev agreed timeline for creating transitional Syrian govt&holding UN-monitored elections.
pic.twitter.com/UI4Fr7ZNmt

A UNSC draft resolution means nothing if the armed parties don't agree to it. There's no evidence that will happen https://twitter.com/Interpreter_Mag/status/677943332908179457

AND Obamas response is again exactly what.......

Theres only so much bombing you can do, Obama says of frustration of Syrians with Assad BUT he ignores this......

Assad comment on reports of torture & HR violations to Dutch TV: "you can pay anyone to tell you any story" "these reports means nothing".

[OUTLAW 09]

VIDEO: Jaish al-Izza hit T-72 tank in Hama. #Syria with TOW missile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A7PZMxE5BA …

Footage
Syrian rebels at the #Maan front in #Hama province.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVQM9YRnl28 …

[OUTLAW 09]

Now let me carefully point out how fxxxxxxing stupid the UNSC is (excuse my French, there's no sugar coating this anymore)

This sounds EXACTLY like the deal negotiated by the Arab League in 2012. How's Syria been since then?

CNN Trk ENG @CNNTURK_ENG
Draft UNSC reso endorses prev agreed timeline for creating transitional Syrian govt&holding UN-monitored elections.
pic.twitter.com/UI4Fr7ZNmt

A UNSC draft resolution means nothing if the armed parties don't agree to it. There's no evidence that will happen
https://twitter.com/Interpreter_Mag/status/677943332908179457

AND Obamas response is again exactly what.......

Theres only so much bombing you can do, Obama says of frustration of Syrians with Assad BUT he ignores this......

Assad comment on reports of torture & HR violations to Dutch TV: "you can pay anyone to tell you any story" "these reports means nothing".

Russia and the #US discussing list of up to 160 Syrian rebel groups to become "terror organisations" soon - report

Breaking
"@UN veto powers agree on #Syria resolution draft" - diplomats
Declaring 95% of the Syrian opposition "terrorist groups" ?!?!

BUT no mentioning of Hezbollah, or the 25 Iraqi Shia militias or the Shia mercenaries from 12 countries Or the IRGC is there......

[OUTLAW 09]

Footage
#RussianAirstrikes aimed at civilians in #JisrAlShughur today, hitting children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4HsjA0Bd6U …

Footage
Effects of #RussianAirStrikes on civilians in #TallRifat overnight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywJs2crdGmw …

UN Syrian negotiator says opposition wants transition without Assad:
http://reut.rs/1OcgryL

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey's self-produced "Bayraktar TB2" UAV succesfully completes shooting test with two Mızrak-U missiles.

Photos: Inside a Syrian field hospital in Douma - @BassamKhabieh
http://widerimage.reuters.com/story/a-syrian-field-hospital-in-douma …

Up to nine Russian contractors die in Syria, experts say. @tggrove reports on a secret chapter in the Syria war:
http://on.wsj.com/1OdvH4R
Actually now at least 50 plus........

The is the quintessential Obama.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/obama-2016-game-plan-216922 …
pic.twitter.com/wTGjawLUEt

[Azor]

This pseudo-Islamic State has as much with Sunni Islam as me with Vanuatu: nothing at all.

I beg to differ. The Islamic State, like Al Qaeda before it, is the tip of the spear of Sunni supremacism.


Nobody can issue a 100% written guarantee there would be no attrocities against Alawites, probably some of other that openly sided with Assad too (including Christians and Druze). There's too much blood sticking on their hands, no doubt. But, that's all within realms of 'if'.

So you're hinting at collective punishment?




Firstly, Assad converted to Sunni Islam. Secondly, the notion that Alawites are some sort of 'Shia offshot' is wrong, and disproven since long (i.e.: they are none).

Regardless, Iran feels that the Alawites are close enough to be a chess piece in their Thirty Year War.


I prefer Syrians (and Iraqis) - no matter of their ethnic or religious backgrounds - being left on their own to elect their own representatives in free elections.

But do a separate Syria and Iraq even make sense now? Iraqi Sunni Arabs would be better off with their Syrian co-ethnics and co-religionists, and the Alawites would be better off as part of Lebanon...



While I've got no clue what kind of 'current occuppiers of Kurds' do you mean here... can only say: yes, of course they deserve their own state - or at least should get one (finally).

Turkey, Iran and Iraq.

Jewish minorities throughout Europe played and were played by foreign powers throughout their period of statelessness. They also played and were played by majority populations. This was all part of the game of survival. The end result was tragedy until the creation of Israel.

[CrowBat]

Any truth to this?
In a dramatic move, Germany is set to become the first western nation and NATO member to break ranks and begin cooperating with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and set up an intelligence agency branch in Damascus.

Although there has been no official announcement, anonymous sources quoted in the German Bild newspaper...Nothing firm. But the two gents preparing such reports for Bild are quite well-informed, and not easy to fool.

Plus: given big part of German Socis are on Gazprom's paylist, and their MOD was already day-dreaming (and quite loudly at that) about cooperation with Assad in fighting Daesh... sigh... let's say: it wouldn't surprise (nor disapoint) me any more.

[CrowBat]

I beg to differ. The Islamic State, like Al Qaeda before it, is the tip of the spear of Sunni supremacism.Nah, sorry, really not.

Daesh's rubbish-ideology cannot even be compared with classic Wahhabist anti-establishment ideology.


So you're hinting at collective punishment?Firstly, I'm never hinting: I tend (or at least try) to express myself quite frankly (outright 'bluntly').
And nope: no collective punishment. But, 'occassional retribution'... who can exclude that after all the regime's idiots have done?


Regardless, Iran feels that the Alawites are close enough to be a chess piece in their Thirty Year War.'Iran' can't care less about Alawites. Or if it does, then only as next bunch to convert.
Come on: Khamenei and his IRGC clique consider themselves 'representatives of the God on Earth' and 'above all laws', and dream about 'liberating al-Qods' (read: Jerusalem).

Do you seriously think they give a damn if somebody there is considered a 'Shi'a offshot' by uninformed Western observers...?


But do a separate Syria and Iraq even make sense now?Did Sykes-Picot Treaty ever make any sense?
Or, better yet: what was wrong with that forgotten parliamentary monarchy known as Kingdom of Syria? Even the Jewish Agency was signing contracts about Jewish settlement with it...


Iraqi Sunni Arabs would be better off with their Syrian co-ethnics and co-religionists, and the Alawites would be better off as part of Lebanon......sure, especially if bunched into a concentration camp in the middle of the Syrian semi-desert, void of any kind of natural ressources (taken away by/given over to Kurds), and away from any kind of usual lines of communication...


Turkey, Iran and Iraq.Heh... look: if results of the Sykes-Picot Treaty - see existence of (clockwise): Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine/Israel, and Lebanon - are considered 'official' and 'legitimate'... and the international laws and regulations are valid accordingly... then where's the place for Kurdistan?

...or if: then where's the end of re-drawing borders...?

(Mind: I've got no problem with this, but think there might be several hundred million of other people that could come to the idea to consider this a big-style precedent case.)


Jewish minorities throughout Europe played and were played by foreign powers throughout their period of statelessness.Don't know enough to say if they were really played by foreign powers: what I do recall to have read, and very clearly at that, was that since medieval ages, anybody who only could was instigating pogroms against them.


The end result was tragedy until the creation of Israel....which was (and still is) another tragedy...

[OUTLAW 09]

Any truth to this?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(From Sputnik)

In a dramatic move, Germany is set to become the first western nation and NATO member to break ranks and begin cooperating with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and set up an intelligence agency branch in Damascus.

Although there has been no official announcement, anonymous sources quoted in the German Bild newspaper, confirmed that the federal government is keen to establish a branch of its Federal Intelligence Service (BND) in Damascus in an effort to counter Daesh, also known as Islamic State (IS).

The source said a decision on the move to renew ties with the Syrian intelligence agencies could be made as early as 2016 and may even involve reopening the German embassy in Damascus, which was closed in February 2012, when the German ambassador was withdrawn.

The BND is reported to be anxious to quickly set up as a so-called Residentur in the Syrian capital, with a view to permanently stationing staff there.

There has been a long history of intelligence-sharing between Berlin and Damascus, which Germany believes is an important partner in the fight against radical Islamists.

Diplomatic relations were broken off in 2012 when, the then Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, expelled the Syrian ambassador from Germany. The German ambassador to Damascus was withdrawn and the embassy closed for safety reasons.

The IS can be defeated in less than a year if the US and its allies stop supporting rebel fighters, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Dutch NPO2 television in an interview.

The US has sponsored and supplied anti-government rebel fighters, including those who do not fight IS, thereby detracting resource from the Syrian army.

“If the responsible countries take action against the flood and the flowing of terrorists and the logistic support, I can guarantee that it will take less than one year,” Assad said.

Azor----this is a typical Sputnik info war article---mixes a tad of truth with a ton of lies........will comment more later.......

[OUTLAW 09]

One must fully understand just how a moderate Syrian Arab Spring in 2011 was slowly but steadily radicalized and forgotten by the West.......

A must watch video to fully understand.......

Syria: >100,000 have watched this video about deaths in custody. You should too.
https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/video/2015/12/15/if-dead-could-speak …

[OUTLAW 09]

A few hours ago a car bomb exploded at an Assad 4th Division checkpoint in Yafour, rural #Damascus (on Damascus-Zabadani/Beirut road)

Russia'n airstrikes hit towns & villages along highway south of #Aleppo in northern #Syria

Daraa Rebels repelled #Assad-forces tried to advance from Qarfa toward Ibta/Abtaa
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=32.798314&lon=36.175575&z=14&m=b …

Rebels retook strategic Nuba mountain overlooking #Latakia - #Idlib highway http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.688951&lon=36.072149&z=14&m=b …

Russia has dropped cluster bombs on civilians in Eastern Ghouta.
Putin's a war criminal, not a 'peace partner'.
pic.twitter.com/k4vNNfAJhn

Will Turkey-Russia Tensions Spill Over Into the Caucasus? Answer is definitely yes.......
http://globalinterests.org/2015/12/18/cgi-asks-will-turkey-russia-tensions-spill-over-into-the-caucasus/ …

[OUTLAW 09]

Why Is Russia Interested in Undersea Internet Cables?
http://m.voanews.com/a/3044819.html

Russian Ships Snooping Around Near Undersea Data Cables
http://www.popularmechanics.com/mili...a-data-cables/ … via PopMech

2 cables that connect Turkey to the world, KAFOS & MedNautilus pass under this spot near Lemnos (map TeleGeography)

Russian Navy has been active here since Yauza's arrival:

7FBTK
‏Video of tracks for "NS Concord" and "Yauza"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XI50uPGBmw …

ВМФ has been active around this part of the Aegean. We are guessing that Saratov has been lingering here as well

Russian subs & spy ships have been aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables(Map via Telegeography)

Russian Ships Near Data Cables Are Too Close for U.S. Comfort
http://nyti.ms/1KyD7Hl

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express....on the move again.....

Amguema class #ВМФ cargo ship, NF Yauza completed Bosphorus transit and entered the Marmara Sea, en route to #Syria

ВМФ Amguema class cargo ship, NF #Yauza carried a few container boxes above the deck, en route to Tarus, #Syria

Yauza is returning the white refrigerated container. No info if food to or Cargo 200 from Syria.

NOTE: from the eastern Ukraine experience these Russian refrig white containers are used to carry +200 cargo ie KIA bodies back to Russia---this container was spotted two weeks ago going back to Russia via a LST--normally the container can handle 50-100 KIA bodies if the eastern Ukraine experience is used.......

ВМФ Ropucha class LST BSF Yamal returns to mid-Bosphorus in exactly 8days 6 hours, possibly #fastestroundtrip ever

Tonight’s transit completes the 6th Syrian deployment for #ВМФ Черноморский Флот Rooucha class LST BSF Yamal

Port of #Tartus ships identified from the video released yesterday:
http://youtu.be/k7BM0P8l0vg

[OUTLAW 09]

Any truth to this?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(From Sputnik)

In a dramatic move, Germany is set to become the first western nation and NATO member to break ranks and begin cooperating with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and set up an intelligence agency branch in Damascus.

Although there has been no official announcement, anonymous sources quoted in the German Bild newspaper, confirmed that the federal government is keen to establish a branch of its Federal Intelligence Service (BND) in Damascus in an effort to counter Daesh, also known as Islamic State (IS).

The source said a decision on the move to renew ties with the Syrian intelligence agencies could be made as early as 2016 and may even involve reopening the German embassy in Damascus, which was closed in February 2012, when the German ambassador was withdrawn.

The BND is reported to be anxious to quickly set up as a so-called Residentur in the Syrian capital, with a view to permanently stationing staff there.

There has been a long history of intelligence-sharing between Berlin and Damascus, which Germany believes is an important partner in the fight against radical Islamists.

Diplomatic relations were broken off in 2012 when, the then Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, expelled the Syrian ambassador from Germany. The German ambassador to Damascus was withdrawn and the embassy closed for safety reasons.

The IS can be defeated in less than a year if the US and its allies stop supporting rebel fighters, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Dutch NPO2 television in an interview.

The US has sponsored and supplied anti-government rebel fighters, including those who do not fight IS, thereby detracting resource from the Syrian army.

“If the responsible countries take action against the flood and the flowing of terrorists and the logistic support, I can guarantee that it will take less than one year,” Assad said.

Azor......Russian propaganda/disinformation works with the 6 Ds principle..
Distract, Dismay, Deflect, Distort ALL designed to create Doubt and Distrust.

Sputnik is really good at this...they took a true fact BND and mixed in a healthy dose of lying--German embassy will reopen ALL designed to create a "narrative" ---see even Germany is now willing to work with Assad and good things will come out of this intel sharing ie the defeat of IS.

BUT then reality takes over the "narrative" and 96% of all Russian air strikes hit specifically anti Assad forces and NOT IS.

MY problem with Merkel and I live here in Berlin....she has no control over her own intelligence agencies BUT that has been a problem for any leader politician since the Red Army Faction days of Baader/Meinhof of the 70s.

Her BND released without approval their bashing recently of the KSa and now again this---BUT the big difference is that she reigned them in after the KSA bashing THIs time nothing of the sort occurred which to me verifies the BND comments of working with Assad.

BUT again my deep concern---it is almost as if Merkel has lost here moral compass--a nation with the history of Germany--WW1, Hitler, WW2, gas chambers, genocide SHOULD n ot be so quick to support a proven genocidal dictator one would think......

Merkel and Germanys problem--they simply do not know which side of the fence they want to be on---NATO and or Putin--trying to do both has never worked well for Germany.

Found this and it is rather interesting.......


Frankly, this column wasn’t designed to address the current environment. This format doesn’t make sense. I’ve spoken to several researchers and academics about this lately, because it’s started to feel a little pointless. Walter Quattrociocchi, the head of the Laboratory of Computational Social Science at IMT Lucca in Italy, has spent several years studying how conspiracy theories and misinformation spread online, and he confirmed some of my fears: Essentially, he explained, institutional distrust is so high right now, and cognitive bias so strong always, that the people who fall for hoax news stories are frequently only interested in consuming information that conforms with their views — even when it’s demonstrably fake.

[A researcher explains why hoaxes flourish on the social Web]

Had I written this column as normal this week, I probably would have included, say, this widely shared post on Before It’s News that claimed an Alaska judge called for Obama’s arrest. But Quattrociocchi has found (and this is perhaps intuitive) that the sort of readers who would unskeptically share such a far-fetched story site are exactly the readers who will not be convinced by The Washington Post’s debunking.

To me, at least, that represents a very weird moment in Internet discourse — an issue I also addressed earlier this week. At which point does society become utterly irrational? Is it the point at which we start segmenting off into alternate realities?

“What Was Fake” has had a good run, but the nature of Internet misinformation has changed — so as the year winds up, we’re going to change, as well. Thanks for reading over the past year and a half! And remember: If in doubt about a news item on an unfamiliar source, please click the “about” or “disclaimer” tab.


BTW--the Russian info warfare is light years ahead of anything the US could ever put together as they fully understand just how to use the net just as IS knows how to.....we are nowhere in this game regardless of what DoD and Obama state.....

Informational warfare and cyber warfare are the two key cornerstones to a successful UW strategy using non linear warfare to win a political war.

Right now whether we like it or not Putin is "winning" his non linear war in eastern Ukraine and Syria...why because we have a President and a NSC who care more about their legacy's than they do about a solid US forward looking FP using a counter UW strategy.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia warplanes carried out airstrikes targeting #Deir_Sanabil village
#Hama CS #Syria Dec 19

Russia warplanes carried out airstrikes targeting #Qurah village
#Hama CS #Syria Dec 19

Russia warplanes carried out airstrikes targeting #al_Karkaat village
#Hama CS #Syria Dec 19

Russia warplanes carried out airstrikes targeting #al_Tamanah village
#Idlib #Syria Dec 19

[OUTLAW 09]

TOWs now being used in an anti personnel role in ambushing Assad/IRGC/Hezbollah/Iraqi Shia personnel in the middle of their meetings...

Latakia: Rebels hit Assad regime gathering

Assad & wife visiting church in PR move to convince idiots that they protect & care about Christians

[B]Syrian Rebels in Ghouta take complete control of Marj & its main airbase & kill/injure up to 45 pro Assad fighters
http://fb.me/4LGrEgihS

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express....on the move again.....

Amguema class #ВМФ cargo ship, NF Yauza completed Bosphorus transit and entered the Marmara Sea, en route to #Syria

ВМФ Amguema class cargo ship, NF #Yauza carried a few container boxes above the deck, en route to Tarus, #Syria

Yauza is returning the white refrigerated container. No info if food to or Cargo 200 from Syria.

NOTE: from the eastern Ukraine experience these Russian refrig white containers are used to carry +200 cargo ie KIA bodies back to Russia---this container was spotted two weeks ago going back to Russia via a LST--normally the container can handle 50-100 KIA bodies if the eastern Ukraine experience is used.......

ВМФ Ropucha class LST BSF Yamal returns to mid-Bosphorus in exactly 8days 6 hours, possibly #fastestroundtrip ever

Tonight’s transit completes the 6th Syrian deployment for #ВМФ Черноморский Флот Rooucha class LST BSF Yamal

Port of #Tartus ships identified from the video released yesterday:
http://youtu.be/k7BM0P8l0vg

Project 775/24, BDK46, BSF ropucha class landing ship Novocherkassk 142 transits southbound Bosphorus
pic.twitter.com/4E0UAXuVq1

Today’s 10th Syrian deployment puts Novocherkassk to the lead position among other LSTs

BSF ropucha class LST Novocherkassk 142 transits southbound Bosphorus followed by Dvinitsa-50 (left, rear)

[OUTLAW 09]

Why Is Russia Interested in Undersea Internet Cables?
http://m.voanews.com/a/3044819.html

Russian Ships Snooping Around Near Undersea Data Cables
http://www.popularmechanics.com/mili...a-data-cables/ … via PopMech

2 cables that connect Turkey to the world, KAFOS & MedNautilus pass under this spot near Lemnos (map TeleGeography)

Russian Navy has been active here since Yauza's arrival:

7FBTK
‏Video of tracks for "NS Concord" and "Yauza"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XI50uPGBmw …

ВМФ has been active around this part of the Aegean. We are guessing that Saratov has been lingering here as well

Russian subs & spy ships have been aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables(Map via Telegeography)

Russian Ships Near Data Cables Are Too Close for U.S. Comfort
http://nyti.ms/1KyD7Hl


More data cable issues: this time off Cyprus

[OUTLAW 09]

An agreement has been reached between Jaysh Al-Thuwar and Jabha Al-Shamiyah and Mare' operation,allowing JAT to fight ISIS at Mare'

Another development: Jaish Thuwar will join Mare' Op Room in north #Aleppo countryside

Another agreement signed between Rebels and YPG in Afrin and Sheikh Maqsoud ending the recent fighting,and opening routes

[OUTLAW 09]

Azor......Russian propaganda/disinformation works with the 6 Ds principle..
Distract, Dismay, Deflect, Distort ALL designed to create Doubt and Distrust.

Sputnik is really good at this...they took a true fact BND and mixed in a healthy dose of lying--German embassy will reopen ALL designed to create a "narrative" ---see even Germany is now willing to work with Assad and good things will come out of this intel sharing ie the defeat of IS.

BUT then reality takes over the "narrative" and 96% of all Russian air strikes hit specifically anti Assad forces and NOT IS.

MY problem with Merkel and I live here in Berlin....she has no control over her own intelligence agencies BUT that has been a problem for any leader politician since the Red Army Faction days of Baader/Meinhof of the 70s.

Her BND released without approval their bashing recently of the KSa and now again this---BUT the big difference is that she reigned them in after the KSA bashing THIs time nothing of the sort occurred which to me verifies the BND comments of working with Assad.

BUT again my deep concern---it is almost as if Merkel has lost here moral compass--a nation with the history of Germany--WW1, Hitler, WW2, gas chambers, genocide SHOULD n ot be so quick to support a proven genocidal dictator one would think......

Merkel and Germanys problem--they simply do not know which side of the fence they want to be on---NATO and or Putin--trying to do both has never worked well for Germany.

Found this and it is rather interesting.......



BTW--the Russian info warfare is light years ahead of anything the US could ever put together as they fully understand just how to use the net just as IS knows how to.....we are nowhere in this game regardless of what DoD and Obama state.....

Informational warfare and cyber warfare are the two key cornerstones to a successful UW strategy using non linear warfare to win a political war.

Right now whether we like it or not Putin is "winning" his non linear war in eastern Ukraine and Syria...why because we have a President and a NSC who care more about their legacy's than they do about a solid US forward looking FP using a counter UW strategy.

Well worth looking at the Russian info warfare troll link analysis..........

UK #US #EU:Penetration or Osmosis?by @webradius:
http://kremlintrolls.com/t/20151012-rumfa.html …
pic.twitter.com/2YGsOBpUgs

AND MORE Russian trolls......

“#Russia|n #KremlinTrolls >>>
by @webradius >
http://kremlintrolls.com/t/20150616-ri3m.html …
pic.twitter.com/ezDqScQTST”v

[OUTLAW 09]

All Russian PMCs (real ones, not the "pay us for training" ones) are FSB/SVR/GRU assets

@AbraxasSpa Wagner Group & other Russian PMCs don't work elusively for RuMOD?

1,000 men with howitzers and tanks. Service in Ukraine and Syria. This is Russia's Blackwater
http://www.wsj.com/articles/up-to-nine-russian-contractors-die-in-syria-experts-say-1450467757 …

[OUTLAW 09]

SNHR #Syria
Images shows remnants of alleged Russian cluster incubators fired on Marea in Aleppo, Dec 18.
pic.twitter.com/g1XM5rHU5K


Russian Embassy, UK ✔ @RussianEmbassy
Read the full text of the groundbreaking UN SC resolution on Syria peace process
http://www.rusemb.org.uk/fnapr/5356
pic.twitter.com/g4WPIzzBfN

GROUNDBREAKING??????.....actually a take off on the 2012 Arab League proposals that went nowhere.....

No doubt Russian Mi-8AMTSh being used to carry around Iraqi Shia militias, also transporting them from Iraq? #Syria
pic.twitter.com/rxpXiOop7x

[OUTLAW 09]

What does #Russia do when rebels are battling #ISIS around Mare’a, #Aleppo? They bomb the rebels of course. Luckily no casualties today.

[OUTLAW 09]

All Russian PMCs (real ones, not the "pay us for training" ones) are FSB/SVR/GRU assets

@AbraxasSpa Wagner Group & other Russian PMCs don't work elusively for RuMOD?

1,000 men with howitzers and tanks. Service in Ukraine and Syria. This is Russia's Blackwater
http://www.wsj.com/articles/up-to-nine-russian-contractors-die-in-syria-experts-say-1450467757 …

InformNapalm English @en_informnapalm
Russian Private Military Companies As Licensed Tool of Terror:
https://informnapalm.org/en/russian-private-military-companies-as-licensed-tool-of-terror/ …
pic.twitter.com/tsIhv2TDyB

[OUTLAW 09]

Growing Number of Russian Converts to Islam Joining Insurgents at Home and Abroad | The Jamestown Foundation -
http://go.shr.lc/1mc3crp

Russian Orlan-10 drone over eastern eastern Ghouta, Damascus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNHJgHSKq6U …

Badr 4th Div. in southern Aleppo. Jassim Mossavi (head of Reg. Mukhtar) is also in Syria.

Aleppo yesterday morning. Akram Alkaabi and Harakat alnujaba fighters fighting with #IRGC in #Syria via @mouqawama

selfie b4 martyrdom of 3 #IRGC fighters; #Syria: Ghador Sarlak,Mohamad Khani,Meysam Modvari
https://instagram.com/p/_blEPswoQJ

[OUTLAW 09]

Major development in both Iraq and Syria if anyone knows al Duri.......

Izzat al-Duri's #JRTN, once an ally of #IS, is "joining" #Saudi-led anti-
#IS coalition.

How times change--driven by the KSA NOT the US........this is the move that needed to be seen if the Sunni are going to take care of IS themselves.

[OUTLAW 09]

https://instagram.com/p/_dmwqIsMMq/
video of Qassem #Suleimani in #Aleppo two days ago (December 17th)

Qassem Soleimani in a pretty good shape for a man severely injured / Killed multiple times.

Video is not geo tagged nor dated ----still unconfirmed.......as the source commenter and poster is a known IRGC poster......possible that the video is actually for early Nov. timeframe

[OUTLAW 09]

http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.de/2015/12/muslims-from-russia-now-living-in.html

Saturday, December 19, 2015

Muslims from Russia Now Living in Turkey against Moscow but Not for ISIS

Paul Goble


Staunton, December 19 – A growing number of Muslims from the Russian Federation are now living in Turkey on a more or less permanent basis, and that community, whose size is estimated to be from a few thousand to some tens of thousands, is prepared to defend Turkey against Russia but is not closely connected with ISIS.

Diana Aliyeva of Kavkazsky Uzel and Olga Ivshina of the BBC spoke with some of the leaders of this new diaspora as well as with experts who have been trying to keep track of it (bbc.com/russian/international/2015/12/151218_muhajirs_islam_russia_turkey?ocid=ssitocial flow_facebook).

Dmitry Chernomorchenko, who edits the Golos Islam site from Istanbul to which he emigrated it 2012, says that “now Muslims are not leaving Russia but are evacuating” because of the pressure put on Muslims of all kinds on that country given that Russians fail to distinguish between Muslims and terrorists.

Those Muslims who have come from Russia to Turkey call themselves “muhajirs,” which in Arabic means “resettlers.” They have left Russia for many reasons but mostly because of repression. A geologist, he faced constant questions about his religious faith because of his beard, but “geologists always have beards,” he says.

Unfortunately, the problems of Muslims from Russia have not ended when they arrive in Turkey. The FSB routinely sends lists of such people claiming that they have ties with extremists and under the terms of a bilateral agreement, Ankara extradites them, even though statistics show that few of them are attached to ISIS.

Gumer Isayev, director of Istanbul’s Institute for Russian Research, says that it is a big mistake to think that all or even a large fraction of Muslims from Russia in Turkey are interested in supporting ISIS. Some may be, but they constitute a very small share. Most simply want to live and practice their religion without being oppressed by anyone.

Akhmet Yarlykapov, a specialist on Islamic societies at the Moscow Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, agrees. The main goal of the mujahirs, he says, “is to live in a Muslim country. Some consider Turkey the ideal model; some Egypt of the Mursi period; and some the part of Syria controlled by the opposition to Bashar Asad.”

“Even those people who now are fighting in Syria,” Yarlykapov says, “went there to live” in a Muslim society. That they are fighting simply means that the one now requires the other not that they necessarily went to fight in the first place.

Aliyeva and Ishina say that “certain ‘mujahirs’ who have immigrated into Turkey continue to participate in Russian-language Islamic sites, to take up human rights questions, and to speak at conferences,” although most simply try to live their lives in a quiet way.

One of the activists, Salman Sever, tells them that in addition to cooperating with each other, many of the muhajirs also have “fruitful contacts with Ukrainian colleagues” because “the general attitude of the muhajirs now is that “we are ready to defend Turkey from Russia” and to use the military experience they gained in the Russian army or fighting Moscow for Turkey.

Exactly how many Muslims from Russia are now in Turkey is difficult to say. There are no precise statistics and estimates range from a few thousand to “tens of thousands.” Most have come only recently, with the largest spike occurring between 2011 and 2012. Among them are Tatars, Bashkirs, people from the Caucasus and ethnic Russian converts to islam.

Salman notes that “in Russia many jamaats are banned, even if they have no connection to ISIS or the theological platform on which ISIS stands. The siloviki continue to tighten the screws and to suppress any Islamic activity.” That is generating dissatisfaction and there “the flow of mujahirs will intensify.”

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA Central Division chief of staff at the southern #Aleppo fronts. #Syria http://youtu.be/J-JRfe-dqwE

Mare'a Ops Room - Mutasim Brigade: Clashes during last night with #ISIS on the Harbel front in north rural #Aleppo
http://youtu.be/U1ipb31YlW4

Russian cluster muntions also used again in Tal Rafat today, 1 civilian death reported & several wounded.

SAA Reporter ‏@Syria_Protector · Dec 17
#Russian command in chief awards #SAA Tiger soldiers with medal of honour. #Syria #Russia

Did #Syria's Ali Mamlouk discuss rebels terrorist list on his visit to #Jordan weeks ago?
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566287-syria-security-chief-in-secret-jordan-visit-report …

Russia forced the U.S. to pull out its airforce from the Azaz corridor in northern #Syria
https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/russia-forces-us-shift-northern-syria …

Ghouta: the Assad regime commander who led many massacres on civilians including Otaiba. Killed by rebels
http://en.eldorar.com/node/988

[OUTLAW 09]

Important by @Nussaibah on how the US, Iraqi Shias, Iraqi Sunnis disagree on handling IS:
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/menasource/the-us-iraq-disconnect-over-fighting-isis …

[OUTLAW 09]

https://instagram.com/p/_dmwqIsMMq/
video of Qassem #Suleimani in #Aleppo two days ago (December 17th)

Qassem Soleimani in a pretty good shape for a man severely injured / Killed multiple times.

Video is not geo tagged nor dated ----still unconfirmed.......as the source commenter and poster is a known IRGC poster......possible that the video is actually for early Nov. timeframe

Another "latest #Soleimani" photo seems to be an old one from at least 2013.

[OUTLAW 09]

During the past 24 hours Russian jets struck Deir Jamal Tal Rifat, Sheikh Issa & Marea, all situated in the Azaz corridor in northern #Syria

Syria: another 100 rebel recruits have finished their training with Jabhat Thuwar #Raqqa (#FSA/#SDF)

Syria: an agreement has been signed between Jaysh al-Thuwar (#SDF) and the #FSA groups of Mare (N #Aleppo)

Syria: thousands of families are fleeing Marj al-Sultan to "safer" areas in E #Ghouta
https://youtu.be/stlIEhDVFVw

[OUTLAW 09]

TURKEY: NATO agrees to send aircraft and ships to strengthen Turkey's air defence on border with #Syria.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-nato-exclusive-idUSKBN0U123520151218 …

VIDEO: Iraqi special forces engage ISIS in #Ramadi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JubKtNof1X8 …'

VIDEO: FSA 1st Coastal Division shell #SAA positions in Latakia, #Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra1Ez1M9LAM …

VIDEO: FSA Sultan Murad Brigade shell pro government positions in southern #Aleppo, #Syria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf8ygxS4xYc …

VIDEO: #FSA 1st coastal division hit group of #SAA with Fagot ATGM.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpMZHfwza5I …

VIDEO: (NSFW) al-Nusra counterattack on Marj al Sultan air base near Damascus, #Syria.
http://syriancivilwararchive.com/Videos/Al-Nusra-counterattack-on-Marj-al-Sultan-air-base.mp4 …

VIDEO: Jaish al-Izza hit T-72 tank in Hama. #Syria with TOW missile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A7PZMxE5BA …

[OUTLAW 09]

More insane conspiracy theories published as news. https://twitter.com/sputnikint/status/678245955326509056 …

[Bill Moore]

Apologies if this was already posted, but I don't have the time to ready every post on this sight. The following is for consideration, while logical, at the same time it is illogical.

Moscow in Syria is to undermine West, not to support Assad, Belarusian experts say

http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/12/14/moscows-goal-in-syria-is-to-undermine-west-belarusian-experts-say/#arvlbdata


Moscow’s primary goal in Syria is not to support its ally Bashar Assad against all challenges but rather to destabilize the situation in the Middle East, undercutting the influence of the West and boosting its own; and to that end, it will be quite prepared to sacrifice the Syrian dictator, according to Belarusian security analysts.

[OUTLAW 09]

Massive destruction in Jisr al-Shughour city in western #Idlib bc #Russia'n airstrikes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG_-rOYRRoU&feature=youtu.be …

Russia'n airstrikes on rebel held #Mare in northern #Aleppo continues
Not a single strike on #IslamicState-villages around the town

[OUTLAW 09]

Is this the road map to peace? Putin says Russia ready to increase military role in Syria
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/19/russia-ready-increase-military-role-syria-vladimir-putin …

Mare'a, #Aleppo - Between #ISIS bombs & #Russia|n cluster muntions that target civilians & rebels fighting #ISIS
http://youtu.be/Srb4IXYq7ec

Devestating blow to regime, more than 50 presidential guard forces inc. 7 officers killed in the last 2 days in Marj, E. Ghouta, #Damascus

Rebels own urban fighting. It's their land, dignity, and people they fight for and Assad's best crack squad won't stop it

[OUTLAW 09]

BREAKING: #Turkey announces troop withdrawal from Iraq after Obama appeal: ministry - AFP

SO what did Obama have to do to get the Turk buy in.....MORE TOWs......

[OUTLAW 09]

Is this the road map to peace? Putin says Russia ready to increase military role in Syria
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/19/russia-ready-increase-military-role-syria-vladimir-putin …

Mare'a, #Aleppo - Between #ISIS bombs & #Russia|n cluster muntions that target civilians & rebels fighting #ISIS
http://youtu.be/Srb4IXYq7ec

Devestating blow to regime, more than 50 presidential guard forces inc. 7 officers killed in the last 2 days in Marj, E. Ghouta, #Damascus

Rebels own urban fighting. It's their land, dignity, and people they fight for and Assad's best crack squad won't stop it

ISLAMIC STATE AIR FORCE AND ASSAD'S AIR FORCE IN ACTION OVER SYRIA NOW GOING ON 81 DAYS

And the anti Assad forces ie FSA and Sham are still resisting and taking territory from both Assad and IS.......

AND Obama still thinks there is no military solution and that a "ceasefire and elections will work wonders for Syria just as it did for the Ukraine???".......WE have seen this type of Russian ceasefire in Minsk 1 and 2---when Putin is involved the ceasefire is really just a "fighting ceasefire".

[OUTLAW 09]

So current situation: Russia is
1. creating civilian massacre in Syria, saving Assad, NOT fighting ISIS.
2. arming PKK
3. arming Houthis

So there is intense fighting going on on TURKISH SOIL here...
Didn't Putin send arms to PKK after SU24 was downed? https://twitter.com/worldonalert/status/678305802868912130 …

Yes, Iranians have been smuggling large quantities of Russian weapons to PKK:
https://twitter.com/DajeyPetros/status/676051397654290432 …

Russian Propaganda Channel Anna News at SU24 crash site. But looks like randomly placed aircraft items in forest. https://twitter.com/AbraxasSpa/status/678309670059032576 …

Question: how is is possible that some seamingly random militia can take over a Saudi border post????
https://twitter.com/VincentTriest/status/677990388142075905 …

Answer: because RUSSIA IS ARMING THEM!!!!
https://twitter.com/DajeyPetros/status/672395561916571648 …

[OUTLAW 09]

So current situation: Russia is
1. creating civilian massacre in Syria, saving Assad, NOT fighting ISIS.
2. arming PKK
3. arming Houthis

So there is intense fighting going on on TURKISH SOIL here...
Didn't Putin send arms to PKK after SU24 was downed? https://twitter.com/worldonalert/status/678305802868912130 …

Yes, Iranians have been smuggling large quantities of Russian weapons to PKK:
https://twitter.com/DajeyPetros/status/676051397654290432 …

Russian Propaganda Channel Anna News at SU24 crash site. But looks like randomly placed aircraft items in forest. https://twitter.com/AbraxasSpa/status/678309670059032576 …

Question: how is is possible that some seamingly random militia can take over a Saudi border post????
https://twitter.com/VincentTriest/status/677990388142075905 …

Answer: because RUSSIA IS ARMING THEM!!!!
https://twitter.com/DajeyPetros/status/672395561916571648 …

So Russia is instigating war between Turkey and PKK because of #SU24 downing.
Russia's hybrid war on NATO-member...

[CrowBat]

What does #Russia do when rebels are battling #ISIS around Mare’a, #Aleppo? They bomb the rebels of course. Luckily no casualties today.
Wait a second, please: Russian bombs have missed?

I'm shocked. Shocked... :rolleyes:


Muslims from Russia Now Living in Turkey against Moscow but Not for ISIS (http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.de/2015/12/muslims-from-russia-now-living-in.html)Wh...oh, there are Moslems that aren't Daesh terrorists...? :eek:

No end of wonders today... Is it already Christmas? :rolleyes:


BREAKING: #Turkey announces troop withdrawal from Iraq after Obama appeal: ministry - AFP

SO what did Obama have to do to get the Turk buy in.....MORE TOWs......There are even 'better' news today. US aircraft seem to have hit the 55th Brigade ISF today, killing either 20 or 30.

Of course, Iranian puppets in Baghdad - and RT - are having a field day: why to hell should anybody care the coordinates were provided by the Iraqis themselves? Or about the fact that the other half of the 55th went to Syria, in form of Hezbollah/Iraq's 'pilgrims to Sayyida Zaynab'...?

The only thing surprising here: nobody comes to the idea to call for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Almost pity not to get a chance to see if the IRGC can at least find the Daesh, not to talk about fighting it...

[OUTLAW 09]

Apologies if this was already posted, but I don't have the time to ready every post on this sight. The following is for consideration, while logical, at the same time it is illogical.

Moscow in Syria is to undermine West, not to support Assad, Belarusian experts say

http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/12/14/moscows-goal-in-syria-is-to-undermine-west-belarusian-experts-say/#arvlbdata

Bill--you might be actually fully correct with this article as it is looking more and more like Putin wants a complete destabilization of the entire ME especially the Sunni Front States and I think it is the famous oil question.....as well as using Obama's own indecisiveness against Obama......

So current situation: Russia is
1. creating civilian massacre in Syria, saving Assad, NOT fighting ISIS.
2. arming PKK
3. arming Houthis

So there is intense fighting going on on TURKISH SOIL here...
Didn't Putin send arms to PKK after SU24 was downed?

Yes, Iranians have been smuggling large quantities of Russian weapons to PKK:

Russian Propaganda Channel Anna News at SU24 crash site. But looks like randomly placed aircraft items in forest. Question: how is is possible that some seamingly random militia can take over a Saudi border post????

Answer: because RUSSIA IS ARMING THEM!!!!

So Russia is instigating war between Turkey and PKK because of #SU24 downing.
Russia's hybrid war on NATO-member...

[OUTLAW 09]

Wait a second, please: Russian bombs have missed?

I'm shocked. Shocked... :rolleyes:

Wh...oh, there are Moslems that aren't Daesh terrorists...? :eek:

No end of wonders today... Is it already Christmas? :rolleyes:

There are even 'better' news today. US aircraft seem to have hit the 55th Brigade ISF today, killing either 20 or 30.

Of course, Iranian puppets in Baghdad - and RT - are having a field day: why to hell should anybody care the coordinates were provided by the Iraqis themselves? Or about the fact that the other half of the 55th went to Syria, in form of Hezbollah/Iraq's 'pilgrims to Sayyida Zaynab'...?

The only thing surprising here: nobody comes to the idea to call for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. Almost pity not to get a chance to see if the IRGC can at least find the Daesh, not to talk about fighting it...

CrowBat---keep your comments coming as they are my reality check.....plus the insight is worth listening to and I learn along the way......SO is the IRGC Commander dead or alive???

[OUTLAW 09]

Despites supplies via #Turkey keep coming, combined pro-#Assad/#Russian forces advance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cikaD3xGlNk … pic.twitter.com/Ce3IU0vdea

Turkey reportedly hit by large-scale DDoS attack: http://www.digitalattackmap.com/#anim=1&color=0&country=TR&list=0&time=16788&view=map … pic.twitter.com/7swGk6kuKb

Reuters Exclusive: Iran to match stance with Russia in push for Syria deal
http://www.unian.info/world/1217280-reuters-exclusive-iran-to-match-stance-with-russia-in-push-for-syria-deal.html …
pic.twitter.com/i7gbmPoXJk

AEJ خليل ้้้้้็็็็ @AEJKhalil
There's reports,#Russia helicopters started to drop "land mines" type "butterfly" on #Hama
#Syria Dec19
[Photo file] pic.twitter.com/2UGPL7rilF

Putin: "Russia has "additional capabilities" that have not yet been used in Syria"
http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-russia_report-20678304-vladimir-putin-rusia-putea-utiliza-capacitati-militare-suplimentare-siria.htm …

One of the #Jisr neighbourhoods hit by our new @UN "partner" ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG_-rOYRRoU …
pic.twitter.com/29TCAg3PWt

Since 2 days, rescue workers are digging for dead people after a #Russian raid on #Jisr.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z85jNqLbTmE …
pic.twitter.com/sls417Rbn8

ISIS-besieged #Marea today.
#Russia cluster-bombed it in favor of the terrorists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srb4IXYq7ec …
pic.twitter.com/tMWYfsmpcq

Meanwhile in the real world,#Russia dropped 12 bombs on northern rural #Hama province today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ZjgxjZq5c …
pic.twitter.com/dzIepOE219

Military says Russian air defense not stopping U.S. mission in Syria | Washington Examiner
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/military-says-russian-air-defense-not-stopping-u.s.-mission-in-syria/article/2578703 …

Ghouta: more than 100 Iraqi militia men killed in Ghouta. At least 15 died in less that 48 hours
pic.twitter.com/2bJHtGG84L

[OUTLAW 09]

April 20, 2011:
Amazing (& foretelling) report by the late Anthony Shadid on the early popular protests in #Syria http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/21/world/middleeast/21syria.html?_r=0 …

[OUTLAW 09]

New @HRW report: Extensive recent use of cluster munitions in #Syria.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/20/russia/syria-extensive-recent-use-cluster-munitions …
pic.twitter.com/hQv33MEl7b

Russians widely use "Green parrot" land-mine in Syria. It cld be easily mistaken for atoy by children
pic.twitter.com/wnDa5yOjhU

ALSO used extensively in AFG......

[OUTLAW 09]

Hezbollah: Samir Kantar, longest-held Lebanese prisoner in Israel, killed in Israeli airstrike in Syria:
http://apne.ws/1T9DDCg

Location of IAF air strike targeted Hezbollah terrorist Samir Quntar & 8 others in Druze district Jaramana #Damascus
https://youtu.be/45CyJqFuPD4

Pro-Assad NDF posted pic claiming to be from Jaramana showing site of attack which killed Quntar #HizballahCavalcade
pic.twitter.com/ZARBJErRXH

Russians targeting rebels' front line with #ISIL in Mare north #Aleppo with cluster munition
https://youtu.be/_pwx1Le-lHI
pic.twitter.com/qU9UBZinPa

Farhan Issam She'lan, commander in the Syrian Resistance was martyred in #Israel-i airstrike on Jaramana #Damascus
pic.twitter.com/cCPNmCdJ3s

[OUTLAW 09]

Data from downed Russian Su-24 black box appear to be damaged beyond recovery
Guess data confirmed Turkey's version?
pic.twitter.com/DfECkADVjK

[OUTLAW 09]

VIDEO: Rebels use interesting truck mounted gun near Marj al-Sultan, #Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH9goxhruvc …

[OUTLAW 09]

We urgently need to get back to the discussion on how Russian uses in their UW strategy non linear warfare especially the one of two key cornerstones...informational warfare..in both Syria and the eastern Ukraine....

If one truly wants to understand Russian info warfare being poured out daily by the minute that conforms to the Russian 6Ds propaganda doctrine just browse this short selection from one of the worst Russian propaganda outlets "Sputnik International" totally owned by the Russian government......notice the Twitter hashtags they focus on.....

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 4m4 minutes ago
A matter of true intensions: why Washington does not want to send troops to #Syria
http://sptnkne.ws/asug #Daesh

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 15m15 minutes ago
Is #SaudiCoalition created to challenge Russia, Iran in #Syria?
http://sptnkne.ws/astV #Daesh #waronterror

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 26m26 minutes ago
#Turkey eyes building pipeline to receive #gas from Israel – reports
http://sptnkne.ws/astK

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 36m36 minutes ago
Not US job to call for #Assad's resignation – @MartinOMalley
http://sptnkne.ws/astF #DemDebate #Syria

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 46m46 minutes ago
#Crimea’s Tatars slam #Turkey over aggressive stance towards Russia
http://sptnkne.ws/ast8 #BackStabbed #Su24

BUT the greatest article was titled......
US Weakness Drove Turkey Out of Control.......

[CrowBat]

CrowBat---keep your comments coming as they are my reality check.....plus the insight is worth listening to and I learn along the way......
And versa-vice, mate...

Anyway, in essence, we've got a sort of 'I Middle Eastern War' now:

- Russians are back to attempting to de-stabilize Turkey by providing arms to the PKK; Turkey reacts with a big-scale military offensive against the PKK;

- Russians are attempting to complete Assadist efforts to ethnically cleanse Sunnis out of Syria by widespread deployment of CBUs against civilian population in insurgent-held areas - while claiming to be 'bombing Daesh', which is nonsense;

- Saudis are BS-itting around in Yemen (they've just spoiled another cease-fire and UN-sponsored peace negotiations by driving into northern Yemen), and thus too busy but to take care about Syria;

- Iraq is de-facto split between areas controlled by Iranian-puppet regime in Baghdad, Kurds, and the Daesh.

- ...and to describe Syria as a total mess (foremost to lack of Western action, and Russians openly taking sides without any kind of serious Western opposition), would be an understatement...

Meanwhile I'm sure this is going to keep all of us busy for another decade.

[OUTLAW 09]

And versa-vice, mate...

Anyway, in essence, we've got a sort of 'I Middle Eastern War' now:

- Russians are back to attempting to de-stabilize Turkey by providing arms to the PKK; Turkey reacts with a big-scale military offensive against the PKK;

- Russians are attempting to complete Assadist efforts to ethnically cleanse Sunnis out of Syria by widespread deployment of CBUs against civilian population in insurgent-held areas - while claiming to be 'bombing Daesh', which is nonsense;

- Saudis are BS-itting around in Yemen (they've just spoiled another cease-fire and UN-sponsored peace negotiations by driving into northern Yemen), and thus too busy but to take care about Syria;

- Iraq is de-facto split between areas controlled by Iranian-puppet regime in Baghdad, Kurds, and the Daesh.

- ...and to describe Syria as a total mess (foremost to lack of Western action, and Russians openly taking sides without any kind of serious Western opposition), would be an understatement...

Meanwhile I'm sure this is going to keep all of us busy for another decade.

CrowBat---and the reality on the ground is actually depicting this....WHAT amazes me is the utter lack of Western realization of the Assad and Putin "ethnic cleansing" that is and has been the main goal of Assad since 2011.

AND the utter realization of any Western leader especially Obama who assumes for one single second that Putin is compromising and "contributing" to a solution...ANY solution.....notice the strong uptick in Russia attacks in eastern Ukraine that Putin is not coming off of his non linear war with the US wherever he can find a "battlespace".......

AND we are NOW back to this standard Putin disinformation/propaganda pitch----"it ain't us---it is those others IE the US that are responsible..."

Putin's spox Peskov: same technology of destabilization used both in Ukraine and Syria
http://liveuamap.com/en/2015/20-december-putins-spox-peskov-same-technology-of-destabilization …

[OUTLAW 09]

We urgently need to get back to the discussion on how Russian uses in their UW strategy non linear warfare especially the one of two key cornerstones...informational warfare..in both Syria and the eastern Ukraine....

If one truly wants to understand Russian info warfare being poured out daily by the minute that conforms to the Russian 6Ds propaganda doctrine just browse this short selection from one of the worst Russian propaganda outlets "Sputnik International" totally owned by the Russian government......notice the Twitter hashtags they focus on.....

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 4m4 minutes ago
A matter of true intensions: why Washington does not want to send troops to #Syria
http://sptnkne.ws/asug #Daesh

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 15m15 minutes ago
Is #SaudiCoalition created to challenge Russia, Iran in #Syria?
http://sptnkne.ws/astV #Daesh #waronterror

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 26m26 minutes ago
#Turkey eyes building pipeline to receive #gas from Israel – reports
http://sptnkne.ws/astK

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 36m36 minutes ago
Not US job to call for #Assad's resignation – @MartinOMalley
http://sptnkne.ws/astF #DemDebate #Syria

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 46m46 minutes ago
#Crimea’s Tatars slam #Turkey over aggressive stance towards Russia
http://sptnkne.ws/ast8 #BackStabbed #Su24

BUT the greatest article was titled......
US Weakness Drove Turkey Out of Control.......

NOTICE the Putin info war "narrative" is changing back to this...I have the right and the power to protect Russians wherever they reside....the so called "Putin Doctrine" that he announced during his Duma Crimea speech.

Russia Cannot Leave People In Southeastern Ukraine To Nationalists - Putin
http://liveuamap.com/en/2015/20-december-russia-cannot-leave-people-in-southeastern-ukraine …

BUT WAIT--did not Putin violate his own Russian signed Budapest Memorandum and all UNSC statements concerning the use of force to change territorial boundaries?????

BUT WAIT there are no Russians inside Syria outside of his own military...wonder if that counts......????

[OUTLAW 09]

CAN the "real anarchist in the world please stand up"......????

AND the "Islamic State Air Force" is back at work killing civilians today.....

Russia air strikes hit civilians in #Idlib #Syria over 40 casualties 150 civil injured
pic.twitter.com/uhhzRWD7eQ

NOT a single comment from Kerry, Obama, his NSC, and the entire UNSC on the massive killing of civilians by the "Islamic State Air Force".

BUT WAIT we have based on Kerry's comment...."a milestone"...whatever the heck that means in the face of genocide and ethnic cleansing being carried out by Assad, Putin and Iran......

[OUTLAW 09]

CAN the "real anarchist in the world please stand up"......????

AND the "Islamic State Air Force" is back at work killing civilians today.....

Russia air strikes hit civilians in #Idlib #Syria over 40 casualties 150 civil injured
pic.twitter.com/uhhzRWD7eQ

NOT a single comment from Kerry, Obama, his NSC, and the entire UNSC on the massive killing of civilians by the "Islamic State Air Force".

BUT WAIT we have based on Kerry's comment...."a milestone"...whatever the heck that means in the face of genocide and ethnic cleansing being carried out by Assad, Putin and Iran......


The White Helmets @SyriaCivilDef
Idlib City. 20/12/15. 43 killed, more than 150 injured. Teams attribute attacks to Russian bombs.
pic.twitter.com/beIKXRwnwN

AEJ خليل ้้้้้็็็็ ‏@AEJKhalil ·
#Russia airstrikes nearby School in the Downtown #Galaa Stree, targeting a Court as well
#Idlib #Syria Dec20

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Rebels hit T-72 tank in northern #Hama wth TOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVQwLZ9NDY …

Shiite foreign militias from #Iraq storm SW suburbs of #Aleppo

Footage
@SYRedCrescent responds to the war crime, evacuating wounded civilians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PjWduqELIc …

[OUTLAW 09]

Islamic State Air Force again appears to be hitting the completely WRONG targets...BUT Putin states and has stated he is attacking and destroying IS....MAYBE the Islamic State Air Force has the wrong maps, poor GPS or simply bad pilots.........lately the ISAF seems to be simply killing civilians.......NOT a single IS position within literally miles of this town....

BreakingFootage
Heavy air strikes hit occupied #Rastan city in #Syria's #Homs prov.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_OK3-iAeMA …

If you have Russian friends or followers, feel free to share the above post.
There is no clearer evidence of the Kremlin's lies on Syria!

BUT HEY we have based on Kerry and Obama....."a milestone...."?

"MILESTONES" do not stop the killing of civilians and right now it appears the US fully supports that killing......

[OUTLAW 09]

WHEN Putin is backed into a corner by the social media truth vs his very own State driven info warfare we get this not so subtle threat or a variation of this threat coupled with a nuclear attack threat.

Putin plays nicely on such fears being voiced in various MSM articles.

Hopefully Global War will not happen, that would be planetary catastrophe - Putin
http://russia.liveuamap.com/en/2015/20-december-hopefully-global-war-will-not-happen-that-would …

Putin himself has now triggered the First Middle Eastern War and is siding fully with the Shia......

[OUTLAW 09]

We are long long past anarchy---we are actually in the First Middle Eastern War and somehow missed the anarchy part....

FINALLY after 82 straight days of social media carrying the evidence of the Russian AF deliberating attacking and killing civilians and critical civilian infrastructure FINALLY MSM picks it up....

NOTICE that all western leaders ignore social media reporting on this genocide YET perk up with MSM carries the same exact story...WHY is that???

Russia is following the Assad regime's strategy of targeting civilian infrastructure. Great work by @LizSly

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/russian-airstrikes-forc... …

NOTICE not a single word was lost that in fact social media had been reporting this for 82 straight days.....

[OUTLAW 09]

WHEN Putin is backed into a corner by the social media truth vs his very own State driven info warfare we get this not so subtle threat or a variation of this threat coupled with a nuclear attack threat.

Putin plays nicely on such fears being voiced in various MSM articles.

Hopefully Global War will not happen, that would be planetary catastrophe - Putin
http://russia.liveuamap.com/en/2015/20-december-hopefully-global-war-will-not-happen-that-would …

Putin himself has now triggered the First Middle Eastern War and is siding fully with the Shia......

BUT WAIT has Putin, his FM and his Duma not threatened the West with nuclear strikes for over 18 months now ..........

Putin: Rus. will improve nuclear arsenal as deterrent and security protection, but won't wield "nuclear big stick"
http://russia.liveuamap.com/en/2015/...uclear-arsenal …

[OUTLAW 09]

We are long long past anarchy---we are actually in the First Middle Eastern War and somehow missed the anarchy part....

FINALLY after 82 straight days of social media carrying the evidence of the Russian AF deliberating attacking and killing civilians and critical civilian infrastructure FINALLY MSM picks it up....

NOTICE that all western leaders ignore social media reporting on this genocide YET perk up with MSM carries the same exact story...WHY is that???

Russia is following the Assad regime's strategy of targeting civilian infrastructure. Great work by @LizSly

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/russian-airstrikes-forc... …

NOTICE not a single word was lost that in fact social media had been reporting this for 82 straight days.....

AND YET this is what social media has been carrying for over 82 days now and silence from the West......

50+ dead after #Russia'n airstrikes on school, court & other buildings in #Idlib city
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txwuv-fVwqQ&feature=youtu.be …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSSSojtZcEA …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5r2Uwq30g4 …

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian T-90A made its combat debut in Khan Tuman, Southern Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXGskZYJSnI …

The marking on the left-hand turret storage box ("21_"?) is similar to one visible in this photo:

But the tanks themselves are different (the tank in the video is camouflaged, while one in the photo is painted olive-drab).

As compared to a photo posted here a week or so ago of the olive drab T90s.

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels destroyed 2 regime tanks at entrance to southern #Damascus suburb Muadamiyat
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=33.465244&lon=36.194544&z=15&m=b …

9M55K Cargo rocket in Jabal Al Nuba, Lattakia countryside
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPrE8IK9QWE …

TOS-1 operates in Salma are of #Latakia province, #Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian T-90A made its combat debut in Khan Tuman, Southern Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXGskZYJSnI …

The marking on the left-hand turret storage box ("21_"?) is similar to one visible in this photo:

But the tanks themselves are different (the tank in the video is camouflaged, while one in the photo is painted olive-drab).

As compared to a photo posted here a week or so ago of the olive drab T90s.

The fall of Khan Tuman is now confirmed by pro-rebels activist. Map via @MilitaryMediaSy https://twitter.com/abazed89/status/678569309384388608 …

VIDEO: #FSA Sultan Murad Brigade destroy #SAA technical in Khan Touman, southern #Aleppo.
TOW again....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwPCbxYACK8 …

[OUTLAW 09]

MORE Russian disinformation from their greatest Russian owned propaganda media outlet.........


Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 11m11 minutes ago
#Syria defines Israeli airstrike on Damascus suburb as 'terrorist act'
http://sptnkne.ws/asz7

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 26m26 minutes ago
#SyrianArmy takes full control of several areas south of Aleppo
http://sptnkne.ws/aszy #Syria

Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt · 1h1 hour ago
Faithful friend: German vice-chancellor stands up for #NordStream2 project
http://sptnkne.ws/asyP