Syria in 2016 (July-September)

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian air force targets and destroys a specialized hospital in Marj al Sultan, #Damascus
https://youtu.be/vbdxO1gAu5Y

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA/#VSO Northern Thunder Brigade in N. Aleppo seems to be on the rise relative to other N. Aleppo FSA groups.

They're a fairly small T&E group and are branded as a 'special forces unit.' Note the American M16A2s and rigs.

All this uptick in activity coincided with swanky new logos and nice graphics on their social media sites.

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaish Al-Fateh repelled an Hezbollah-led assault to take back 1070 Project in W. #Aleppo.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.165389&lon=37.099972&z=14&m …

Again a #Fagot strike vs an #ATGM position on house's roof of Hamadaniyah in W. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqIn4MV9eW8 …

JFS obliterated with #ATGMs 2 groups of pro-Regime forces on Qalaat Shalif in N. Latakia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU8_nT-nrkc …

Heavy clashes in Rashidin between Rebels & pro-Assad forces, #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MseEgHGxJy0 …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.169477&lon=37.070875&z=14&m …

Thousands of Jaish Al-Fateh troops managed to reach #Aleppo past days despite constant #RuAF overflight & airstrikes.

Drone view of fire raging inside #Aleppo Cement Factory in Ramoussah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRmXd1lkDJw …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.149103&lon=37.141922&z=16&m …

Report that part of #Aleppo Cement Factory is on fire as Rebels destroyed fuel tanker(s) inside it.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.148999&lon=37.141814&z=15&m …

1st Coastal Div. pounding pro-Regime forces with M-46 cannon around #Kinsabba, N. #Latakia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMorI9fwCno …

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels capture Tel Sha'ir, Qassajiq and Kamaliya from IS. Reports of possible fighting between SDF and rebel groups.

[OUTLAW 09]

Multiple Iraqi militias sending reinforcements to Aleppo: including Harakat al-Nujaba', Kata'ib Hezbollah & Harakat al-Abdal.

Other Iraqi factions on Aleppo front:Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada',Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya',Liwa Dhu al-Fiqar,Liwa Assad Allah al-Ghalib

Nujaba's Iraqis heading to S. #Aleppo equipped w/ a Russian BTR-80/82 & Iranian ATGM Toophan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeZF3NE55ZE …

[OUTLAW 09]

BIG. First confirmation Regime using armed drones throwing MZD2 submunitions in S. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLnRt9CZz58 …

[OUTLAW 09]

/Rebels shelling pro-#Assad militias in #Fuah and #Kafarya since 1 hour.

Tartus: Fuel crisis in #Assad's strongholds in #Latakia Province.

Aleppo: Rebels killed 4 more Afghan #IRGC fighters from the #Fatemiyoun Brigade in Southern #Aleppo today.

Aleppo: All attempts by pro-#Assad forces to advance in Southern #Aleppo failed today. Many #Hezbollah and #Iraq|i militias were killed.

Homs: #ISIS has killed the #Assad "Leopards Special Forces" Commander Shadi Jomaa in Eastern #Homs.

Aleppo: Heavy fighting at #Rashidin frontline, Western #Aleppo, today.

Suwayda: #ISIS killed 6 pro-#Assad forces northeast of #Suwayda & captured some weapons. Other regime fighters fled

Hasakah: #ISIS IED killed 3 #YPG fighters north of #Shaddadi today.
+

[OUTLAW 09]

Putin submitted to the state Duma the ratification of agreement of deployment military airgroup in Syria
http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2016/9-august-putin-submitted-to-the-state-duma-the-ratification …

[OUTLAW 09]

Sky News
✔ @SkyNews Meet #Russia's secret soldiers, who work for a private military company which officially doesn't exist @sparkomat
http://news.sky.com/story/revealed-russias-secret-syria-mercenaries-10529248

Serbia answers Russia call to support humanitarian operations in Syria's Aleppo: state news agency TASS

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels killed the #Iran|ian #IRGC soldier Farid Kaywe'ani in Southern #Aleppo today.

[OUTLAW 09]

Hezbollah drone drops cluster submunitions (likely Chineze MZD2)
http://npaid.websys.no/item3/1193917513 …

Hezbollah previous used this type of munition on Israel in 2006

Hezbollah shelled Israel with Type 81 rockets containing MZD2 submunitions in 2006
https://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/lebanon0208/5.htm …

Nornico MZD2 bomblet for 122mm rocket:
http://npaid.websys.no/item3/1193917513 …

[OUTLAW 09]

Mujahideen army field report during the battle to take the gypsum market in Rashideen district, #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/MseEgHGxJy0

Levant front targeting the cement factory with mortars, hell cannons, and heavy machine guns
https://youtu.be/STQ2sRPmkVk #Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

US Spies-for-Hire Now at War in Syria
http://thebea.st/2ba4TlY via @thedailybeast

[OUTLAW 09]

Another Russian incendiary attack on Kafr Da'el in west rural #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/JW9mzoJZS0E

Footage of the Russia incendiary attack on Rashidain & 1070 housing project in #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/sz3JihEMgGM

Reports now that Russian jets are targeting the Ramouseh area in #Aleppo with incendiary munitions

Damascus Several civilians killed inc. a child & more wounded in Assad artillery shelling of #Douma yesterday evening

[OUTLAW 09]

More of the Obama WH being "kind" to "moderate" Iranians......

Iran supplies and funds Hezbollah, Hamas, Assad, Houthis, etc - but State Dept wants global banks to reestablish financial ties.

BUT WAIT did not the DoS recently actually admit that a large amount of the frozen funds being returned to Iran WOULD indeed flow into their terrorism efforts?????

So why would they now actually support that flow??

[OUTLAW 09]

Confirmed, rebels have captured Qasajek & Tal Shair in north rural #Aleppo from #ISIS

[OUTLAW 09]

"Russian servicemen are performing the most important peacekeeping mission as they assist the truce" in Syria.
- @interfax_news

[OUTLAW 09]

Fierce clashes all across Kinsibba axis. #Lattakia

More clashes on Jabal Akrad as opposition pounds assadists with artillery. #Lattakia

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo 'hell' prevents Syria peace talks, say diplomats

http://theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/09/aleppo-hell-prevents-syria-peace-talks-say-diplomAleppo

BUT WAIT.........
Diplomats were silent before recent clashes for breaking the #Aleppo siege. Why they speak about peace talks now?

[OUTLAW 09]

Worth watching......

MiddleEast Institute ‏@MiddleEastInst
The Battle for Aleppo: Political & Security Repercussions | w @Charles_Lister & @paul_salem
http://bit.ly/2aybuZC

[OUTLAW 09]

Backstory on Wagner: Fontanka Investigates Russian Mercenaries Dying For Putin In Syria And Ukraine
http://www.interpretermag.com/fontanka-investigates-russian-mercenaries-dying-for-putin-in-syria-and-ukraine/ …

[OUTLAW 09]

Syrian rebel "Levantine Front", attacking the cement factory base yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMTtVQbBn44 …

Footage from Kafr Da'el shortly ago.
#Putin burns the country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW9mzoJZS0E …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.212944&lon=37.026243&z=15&m=b …

Also the western suburbs of #Aleppo are under #Russian attack right now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz3JihEMgGM …

Just another horrific day in #Assad-besieged and bombed #Daraya.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOli81XOMis …

ProAssad media hard at work.......
Assad media:#Russia jets are hunting rebel reinforcement convoys to #Aleppo in the triangle Saraqib-Taftanaz-Zerbah

[CrowBat]

Due to the landscape, #Assad forces have full fire control over the #Ramouseh corridor.Yup, in minds of Assad-fans.

This is a build-up area, dominated only by the Artillery Base - which is in insurgent hands.

No way to exercise 'fire control' over it (except this means simply saturating the area with any bomb and artillery shell they can get).

That said: sure, the JAF is yet to establish a _safe_ corridor into Eastern Aleppo. The current one is over 2,000m wide, but not yet safe for civilian use.

[OUTLAW 09]

Cluster bomb attack on northern rural #Aleppo this morning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsQsLS1QZzU …

Homs calling.
Now also #Rastan joined the group of terrorised cities across #Syria.
20 towns under Rus/reg attack. One school reportedly is hit as well.

B]Anything special used vs. #Rastan here?
[/B]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsQsLS1QZzU …

5 dead in air strikes on Maarat al-Numan.
Report of 17 air strikes alone on Ariha during the last half hour.

[CrowBat]

Pro-regime sources claimed Shia Iraqi militias sent reinforcements to Aleppo

Imagine how much would be the uproar if these were "Sunni foreign Jihadis" arriving from Turkey to aid rebels...but they are arriving - at a rate of about '100 a day', and increasing.

I just don't understand why is nobody reporting about this...

Anyway, this is absolutely no surprise: remember that back in September 2015, the JAN and several of its foreign supporters issued a number of calls for 'Jihad against Russians'.

Now, we see something like cummulative effects of these.

[OUTLAW 09]

Rus propagandist Solovyev tweets that "U.S could ignite war at Donbas as asymmetric response to Syrian defeat"

He alleges that it is all about the Kerry Plan "B"

[OUTLAW 09]

Great opposition @QASIOUN_NEWS agency mapped today's air strikes, distinguishes in Rus/reg.
http://qasioun.net/ar/map/show/17/%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%83%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82% D8%B5%D9%81_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%8A_%D9%81% D9%8A_%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7 …

Also 3 towns in #Hama and #Douma in Rif Dimashq under constant attack.
Most air strikes target civilians.

Heavy air strikes on Kafr Zita and Al-Lataminah since the morning.

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaish al Fatah shells #Fuah & #Kefraya "in response to Russian massacres in Idlib".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvdOMnw6tUg …

[OUTLAW 09]

...but they are arriving - at a rate of about '100 a day', and increasing.

I just don't understand why is nobody reporting about this...

Anyway, this is absolutely no surprise: remember that back in September 2015, the JAN and several of its foreign supporters issued a number of calls for 'Jihad against Russians'.

Now, we see something like cummulative effects of these.

CrowBat.......any ideas why western MSM is not reporting on this fighter flow?

[davidbfpo]

A commentary by Professor Scott Walker, of Birmingham (UK) University, on and as a taster here are two passages:
Less than 24 hours after Nusra released al-Joulani’s video, the power of the blended rebel forces was made clear when a rebel-JFS offensive turned the tide in the battle for Aleppo. On August 6, after only eight days, the rebel coalition group Jaish al-Fatah (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/02/world/middleeast/syria-russia-airstrikes-rebels-army-conquest-jaish-al-fatah.html) (which Nusra has joined in various offensives) not only broke the joint Russian-regime siege (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37000570) but also threatened to isolate the Syrian military in the areas of the city it controls. This makes it plain just how arbitrary the West’s categorisations are. For now, whatever label the US and analysts put on Nusra, the rebels need it as a battlefield ally, and any distinction between “moderate” and “extremist” is a political imposition.
Link:https://theconversation.com/american-obsession-with-al-qaeda-in-syria-is-making-the-conflict-there-worse-63290? (https://theconversation.com/american-obsession-with-al-qaeda-in-syria-is-making-the-conflict-there-worse-63290?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20 for%20August%2010%202016%20-%205407&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20f or%20August%2010%202016%20-%205407+CID_b7fae395864f85da796cab333059043f&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=American%20obsession%20with%20al-Qaeda%20in%20Syria%20is%20making%20the%20conflict% 20there%20worse)

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia: "From now on we will attack Aleppo's hospitals, school and markets for only 21 hours per day."

UPDATE: U.N. aid chief says willing to consider Russia's proposed Aleppo truce, but 48-hour pause needed to meet humanitarian need

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo/#Idlib: #Russia|n and #Assad airstrikes killed 250+ #Syria|n civilians and injured 550+ more in the last seven days.

[OUTLAW 09]

Kyle W. Orton @KyleWOrton
This is an incredible piece of work by @ryanmofarrell and @badly_xeroxed on the Syrian insurgency as it now stands.
http://bit.ly/2aGkWWJ

The life of a US Humvee - as visualised by @LlamameIshmael and most recent transfer noticed by @RaoKumar747.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Ministry of Defence: 1000 killed and 2000 injured are the losses of the armed groups during the recent battles in #Aleppo #Syria

Also the rebels lost 200 tanks, 3K rifles, and 120 commanders. 7 Afghans were martyed.

JFS's #Konkurs strike vs tank near Cement Factory in S. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-eFGdgfWxE …

Rebels thwarted another attempt by pro-Regime forces to advance on Cement Factory Front in #Aleppo. http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.149380&lon=37.142115&z=14&m …

4 Afghans of #IRGC's Fatemiun brigade killed in Aleppo,Syria, buried today in Qom, Iran.

First Regiment shelling #Nayrab Airbase with Katyusha rockets, #Aleppo.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.182364&lon=37.222023&z=13&m …

Ahrar Al-Sham fired more Grad rockets towards #Hama Airbase.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVsFLsroEBg …

[OUTLAW 09]

Very interesting TASS article claims that alleged Wagner employees in recent Sky News piece were paid actors
http://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/3525965 …
Reference Russian mercenaries working for a Russian PMC

[OUTLAW 09]

Schools & markets were attacked in air strikes on 10 towns in #Idlib province.
Dozens of dead civilians.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia: "From now on we will attack Aleppo's hospitals, school and markets for only 21 hours per day."

UPDATE: U.N. aid chief says willing to consider Russia's proposed Aleppo truce, but 48-hour pause needed to meet humanitarian need

There is a ceasefire for #Aleppo & the rest of #Syria since almost 6 months.
Russia just acknowledges it ignores it.


BREAKING: Russian Defense Ministry says three-hour per day Aleppo ceasefire for aid convoys will start Aug. 11

[OUTLAW 09]

Entire #Damascus can see how #Assad bombs the #Jobar quarter.
How can they sleep at night?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA4pQePGqZE …

Also in #Ariha, the Russian jet targeted a roundabout and the #market around it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkaRtKqYJU4 …

Syrian rebel ATGM hits pro-#Assad tank,trying to close the corridor S of #Ramouseh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-eFGdgfWxE …

MASSACRES!
#Assad & #Putin let their killers fly dozens of attacks on civilians in #Idlib.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osVIl5lbeTg …

Markets, #mosques and residential areas targeted by #Russia ind #Idlib city.
https://www.facebook.com/ShaamNetwork.Arabic/videos/vb.165780076805908/1240813149302590/?type=2&theater …

[Azor]

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=45692&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=381&cHash=64b9344e614f870b242abb2d5d9c2bf5#.V6t7WLsrKU k

Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 138
July 29, 2016 04:51 PM Age: 12 days
By: Roger McDermott

As Russia’s military operations continue unabated in Syria, despite an earlier order to commence withdrawing deployed forces, the conflict has certainly succeeded in changing how the Russian Armed Forces are perceived both at home and abroad. Indeed, the intervention in Syria, marking Moscow’s first experience of expeditionary warfare beyond the former Soviet space since its withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, permitted the top brass to test and showcase some of the advances in modern military hardware and weapons systems. This has been by no means a cheap exercise in the use of hard power. And yet, Russia’s operation in Syria has promulgated a one-sided view of the transformation of its Armed Forces: that of Moscow making significant progress toward developing 21st century warfare capabilities. However, this oversimplified assertion is challenged by ongoing problems linked to military manpower (Voyennya Mysl, No. 1, 2016).

President Vladimir Putin has revamped the assertion that Russia retains “one million” men under arms, despite evidence of undermanning in the Armed Forces. In December 2015, the Ministry of Defense confirmed that it is on schedule to achieve its aim to recruit sufficient numbers of contract personnel (kontraktniki) based on annual targets and boasted that it passed the milestone of possessing more contract personnel than conscripts. The defense ministry’s official figure for the number of kontraktniki serving in the Armed Forces was 352,000, noting that the target for 2016 was set at recruiting an additional 31,000 and proclaiming that its units were 92 percent manned (RIA Novosti, December 24, 2015).

While the kontraktniki numbers in the military consistently increased in recent years, there is stony silence from the defense ministry on the thorny issue of the number of contract personnel annually leaving the Armed Forces—thus, removing any reliable way to measure overall retention levels. Moreover, there is even less information released on the issue of the quality of recruits and progress in combat training. One worrying indicator that all is not as well as officially presented came from the Main Military Investigation Directorate (Glavnoye Voyennoye Sledstvennoye Upravleniye—GVSU). According to the GVSU, the number of crimes in the Armed Forces increased by 20.9 percent in the first six months of 2016. By itself, the statistic should cause concern for the top brass. But to make matters worse, the GVSU also reported that the crime figures increased by 40 percent based on the same period in 2015; corruption-linked crimes increased by 1.5 times, and crimes perpetrated by individuals while intoxicated or using narcotic substances grew by 1.4 times (Arms-expo.ru, July 22).

The role of Russia’s Armed Forces in operations in Syria, meanwhile, received closer scrutiny recently with the publication of a book by Colonel (retired) Anatoliy Tsyganok, the director of the Center for Military Forecasting. Voyna v Sirii i yeye posledstviya dlya Blizhnego Vostoka, Kavkaza i Tsentral'noy Azii: russkiy vzglyad (The War in Syria, and its Implications for the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia: a Russian Opinion) examines a broad range of factors related to Moscow’s involvement in the conflict. Tsyganok argues that Russia’s military operations constitute a new form of warfare, but he also suggests that the military requires further force integration in terms of communication systems and a fundamental review of the theory of using aviation, naval power and special forces (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, July 19).

Vladimir Gundarov noted in Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye that the Russian defense ministry recently confirmed the acceptance of 47 Kalibr cruise missiles for the Navy. Referring to the combat use of this missile type by the Russian Navy to support operations in Syria, Gundarov attempted to estimate the costs involved. In October 2015, the Caspian Flotilla fired 26 Kalibr missiles, striking 11 targets in Syria, while the following month an additional 18 were launched against seven targets. Based on sales of the export version of this missile to India, Gundarov suggests each Kalibr cost $6.5 million; but he concludes that the 44 missiles sold domestically to the Russian defense ministry and fired off last October amounted to 2.7 billion rubles ($41 million—approximately $980,000 per missile) (Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, July 22). Other than testing or advertising the missile capability, some of which landed in Iran, there was no real underlying military purpose for using Kalibr missiles in Syria. Either way, the process was certainly expensive.

If there is, in fact, an underlying need to display these weapons, then it perhaps lies in promoting an image of the Russian Armed Forces as more advanced than they are in reality. Moscow’s interest in using such opportunities to showcase its most advanced systems was repeated in its efforts to strengthen air defenses following the November 2015 Turkish Air Force downing of an Su-24M after the latter breached Turkish airspace. But with the recent improvement in Moscow’s relations with Ankara, some commentators expressed surprise at the extent of Turkish top brass involvement in the attempted military coup on July 15 (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, July 19).

However, Moscow’s concerns about Turkey, or its efforts to rebuild damaged bilateral relations with Ankara pale in comparison to growing attention to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) military exercises. As always, these are presented in the Russian media as potentially threatening to Russia. One analysis in the military media tried to assess the NATO strategy underpinning the Poland-based exercise Anaconda 2016. The author makes the following claims:

• it emphasized indirect action, using economic, financial, technological and informational tools against the enemy;

• military actions were rehearsed in pursuit of economic interests with a widespread use of information and communication technologies;

• it practiced avoiding a decisive clash with the main factions of the armed forces of the enemy, using detachments of insurgents from the local population and mercenaries and supplying them to attract allies and partners;

• it exercised targeted destabilization of administrative-political, socio-economic, cultural and ideological spheres of the enemy state.

The author alleges that NATO strategy is to rehearse a form of “hybrid warfare” against Russia (Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, July 24).

Moscow’s military response to these perceived developments is to strengthen units and reorganize the disposition of forces in the Western and Southern Military districts. It also places great emphasis on the role of stand-off weapons systems, including Kalibr, to help build a response to US/NATO missile defense (Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, July 22). These response measures are by no means complete, but what is clear from some of the reporting in the military media and supported by the GVSU is that Moscow has not yet resolved deep and systemic issues within its military. And these serve as a long-term barrier to building a modern network-enabled military.

[OUTLAW 09]

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=45692&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=381&cHash=64b9344e614f870b242abb2d5d9c2bf5#.V6t7WLsrKU k

Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 138
July 29, 2016 04:51 PM Age: 12 days
By: Roger McDermott

As Russia’s military operations continue unabated in Syria, despite an earlier order to commence withdrawing deployed forces, the conflict has certainly succeeded in changing how the Russian Armed Forces are perceived both at home and abroad. Indeed, the intervention in Syria, marking Moscow’s first experience of expeditionary warfare beyond the former Soviet space since its withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, permitted the top brass to test and showcase some of the advances in modern military hardware and weapons systems. This has been by no means a cheap exercise in the use of hard power. And yet, Russia’s operation in Syria has promulgated a one-sided view of the transformation of its Armed Forces: that of Moscow making significant progress toward developing 21st century warfare capabilities. However, this oversimplified assertion is challenged by ongoing problems linked to military manpower (Voyennya Mysl, No. 1, 2016).

President Vladimir Putin has revamped the assertion that Russia retains “one million” men under arms, despite evidence of undermanning in the Armed Forces. In December 2015, the Ministry of Defense confirmed that it is on schedule to achieve its aim to recruit sufficient numbers of contract personnel (kontraktniki) based on annual targets and boasted that it passed the milestone of possessing more contract personnel than conscripts. The defense ministry’s official figure for the number of kontraktniki serving in the Armed Forces was 352,000, noting that the target for 2016 was set at recruiting an additional 31,000 and proclaiming that its units were 92 percent manned (RIA Novosti, December 24, 2015).

While the kontraktniki numbers in the military consistently increased in recent years, there is stony silence from the defense ministry on the thorny issue of the number of contract personnel annually leaving the Armed Forces—thus, removing any reliable way to measure overall retention levels. Moreover, there is even less information released on the issue of the quality of recruits and progress in combat training. One worrying indicator that all is not as well as officially presented came from the Main Military Investigation Directorate (Glavnoye Voyennoye Sledstvennoye Upravleniye—GVSU). According to the GVSU, the number of crimes in the Armed Forces increased by 20.9 percent in the first six months of 2016. By itself, the statistic should cause concern for the top brass. But to make matters worse, the GVSU also reported that the crime figures increased by 40 percent based on the same period in 2015; corruption-linked crimes increased by 1.5 times, and crimes perpetrated by individuals while intoxicated or using narcotic substances grew by 1.4 times (Arms-expo.ru, July 22).

The role of Russia’s Armed Forces in operations in Syria, meanwhile, received closer scrutiny recently with the publication of a book by Colonel (retired) Anatoliy Tsyganok, the director of the Center for Military Forecasting. Voyna v Sirii i yeye posledstviya dlya Blizhnego Vostoka, Kavkaza i Tsentral'noy Azii: russkiy vzglyad (The War in Syria, and its Implications for the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia: a Russian Opinion) examines a broad range of factors related to Moscow’s involvement in the conflict. Tsyganok argues that Russia’s military operations constitute a new form of warfare, but he also suggests that the military requires further force integration in terms of communication systems and a fundamental review of the theory of using aviation, naval power and special forces (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, July 19).

Vladimir Gundarov noted in Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye that the Russian defense ministry recently confirmed the acceptance of 47 Kalibr cruise missiles for the Navy. Referring to the combat use of this missile type by the Russian Navy to support operations in Syria, Gundarov attempted to estimate the costs involved. In October 2015, the Caspian Flotilla fired 26 Kalibr missiles, striking 11 targets in Syria, while the following month an additional 18 were launched against seven targets. Based on sales of the export version of this missile to India, Gundarov suggests each Kalibr cost $6.5 million; but he concludes that the 44 missiles sold domestically to the Russian defense ministry and fired off last October amounted to 2.7 billion rubles ($41 million—approximately $980,000 per missile) (Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, July 22). Other than testing or advertising the missile capability, some of which landed in Iran, there was no real underlying military purpose for using Kalibr missiles in Syria. Either way, the process was certainly expensive.

If there is, in fact, an underlying need to display these weapons, then it perhaps lies in promoting an image of the Russian Armed Forces as more advanced than they are in reality. Moscow’s interest in using such opportunities to showcase its most advanced systems was repeated in its efforts to strengthen air defenses following the November 2015 Turkish Air Force downing of an Su-24M after the latter breached Turkish airspace. But with the recent improvement in Moscow’s relations with Ankara, some commentators expressed surprise at the extent of Turkish top brass involvement in the attempted military coup on July 15 (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, July 19).

However, Moscow’s concerns about Turkey, or its efforts to rebuild damaged bilateral relations with Ankara pale in comparison to growing attention to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) military exercises. As always, these are presented in the Russian media as potentially threatening to Russia. One analysis in the military media tried to assess the NATO strategy underpinning the Poland-based exercise Anaconda 2016. The author makes the following claims:

• it emphasized indirect action, using economic, financial, technological and informational tools against the enemy;

• military actions were rehearsed in pursuit of economic interests with a widespread use of information and communication technologies;

• it practiced avoiding a decisive clash with the main factions of the armed forces of the enemy, using detachments of insurgents from the local population and mercenaries and supplying them to attract allies and partners;

• it exercised targeted destabilization of administrative-political, socio-economic, cultural and ideological spheres of the enemy state.

The author alleges that NATO strategy is to rehearse a form of “hybrid warfare” against Russia (Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, July 24).

Moscow’s military response to these perceived developments is to strengthen units and reorganize the disposition of forces in the Western and Southern Military districts. It also places great emphasis on the role of stand-off weapons systems, including Kalibr, to help build a response to US/NATO missile defense (Nezavisimoye Voyennoye Obozreniye, July 22). These response measures are by no means complete, but what is clear from some of the reporting in the military media and supported by the GVSU is that Moscow has not yet resolved deep and systemic issues within its military. And these serve as a long-term barrier to building a modern network-enabled military.

Azor...there is a theme that has been ongoing since the Russian military annexation of Crimea and eastern Ukraine....due to their own heavy, heavy and even more heavy info warfare ie their own propaganda they have created a "fiend bild" (enemy image) meaning they have literally inhaled their very own propaganda and no longer have a true sense of the reality around them.

They fully believe,
1. NATO wants to destroy Russia
2. the US wants to destroy the Russian leadership
3. the US wants Russian regime change

Everything they now write spins around these three ideas....I tend to call this "an altered state of reality"....and that is seriously dangerous in that if one does not have a clear and concise understanding of the opponent then he will make a fatal mistake at some point...and Putin in on that path...

BTW...why I use the term "altered state of reality".....the Russian MoD had almost unlimited exposure to the Polish NATO 2016 exercise via their observer team so the assessments made above do not match reality...it should be noted that the Russian military has had 10 snap exercises since 2014 that should have been registered with OSCE thus allowing foreign observers.....which Russia did not allow....

AND surprise surprise the exercise was very similar to those run by NATO in the 70/80s....defensive in nature, moving into denied areas and a breakout.....the Russia officers doing the observations should have seen that as it was fully explained to them by NATO.

[OUTLAW 09]

Opp sources: SAA & allies capture several sites inside Ramouseh, JF/FH launch counter in order to regain the positions lost

[OUTLAW 09]

Heavy clashes this morning between rebels & Assad/Iranian backed militias in the Ramouseh area in #Aleppo

Humanitarian Relief ‏@IHHen
Humanitarian aid route to #Aleppo is now open. We have already started our relief works.

[OUTLAW 09]

AND again the entire West says not a single word....second Assad/Putin chlorine CW attack inside one week largely against civilians......

From the Assad chlorine gas barrel bomb attack in Zubaidia in #Aleppo a little while ago
https://youtu.be/1l2HKxACHm8

Footage
@SyriaCivilDef working at the aftermath of the #Assad/#Putin #CW attack on #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bHvZBVuTSI …

1 woman & her child killed & 20 suffocation cases reported in an Assad barrel bomb chlorine gas attack in the Zubaidia area in #Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

Maarat al-Numan, a center of civil resistance against extremism, burns tonight after Assad regime incendiary airstrikes

Like everyday, at least 35 civilians were killed yesterday in Russia/Assad airstrikes across Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Damascus, Homs & Deir Ezzor

[OUTLAW 09]

Potatoes and tomatoes.. Thank you Idlib as we're together, We don't need the @UN food or boxes
Keep it for #Assad

As the hapless UN food relief distribution network sends supplies to Assad regime instead of those 780,000 he besieges

[OUTLAW 09]

The #Russian-announced 3-hour "ceasefire" begins in 43 minutes.
#Putin's jets buzz over the city NOW,securing it...

[OUTLAW 09]

AND again the entire West says not a single word....second Assad/Putin chlorine CW attack inside one week largely against civilians......

From the Assad chlorine gas barrel bomb attack in Zubaidia in #Aleppo a little while ago
https://youtu.be/1l2HKxACHm8

Footage
@SyriaCivilDef working at the aftermath of the #Assad/#Putin #CW attack on #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bHvZBVuTSI …

1 woman & her child killed & 20 suffocation cases reported in an Assad barrel bomb chlorine gas attack in the Zubaidia area in #Aleppo

YES, it probably was an #Assad regime helicopter.
And YES: #Russia controls all flight missions by the Syrian air force now.


Rebels now are answering within minutes the use of CWs by Assad.......
WHILE the West remains silent......they shelled Assad held areas immediately after the first use of chlorine CWs this week ....

Extremely graphic #footage
#Russian state TV reports 12 dead in rebel shelling of W #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wf6IwvqLOk …

Shelling must have happened around the same time, #Assad attacked the east of the city with gas.
Nothing about it on SANA so far ...

Chlorine gas injuries are now climbing from initial reports.....in German....70 injured, 10 were children and 25 were babies
70 Verletzte, darunter 10 Kinder und 25 Kleinkinder in GAS-Angriff der kombinierten #Putin/#Assad-Luftwaffe.

[OUTLAW 09]

This is the Russia that somehow the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH seems to think they can work with in Syria....the very same Russia that has massively escalated the fighting in eastern Ukraine.....and all the Obama WH does it talk...as if talking will take them to November 2016...without having to take any form of military action either in eastern Ukraine and or Syria...it is now all about the image of their legacy....

Graphic!
5 hrs after #Russia's announcement of more "ceasefires" for #Aleppo, it orders GAS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l2HKxACHm8 …

Rama, 6 years old, 1 of the chlorine attack victims. Came 2 the hospital screaming "I cant breathe"

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels repelled an important assault launched by pro-Regime forces on Ramoussah in early morning and seized back all lost buildings. #Aleppo

Clashes on #Kinsabba axis after Regime takeover & incoming fire (at 2:39), N. #Latakia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdXOzMgvL40 …

Al Sawfah Battalions destroyed with a #Fagot a 23 mm gun in Al-Assad suburb, W. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OOjy_rKtO4 …

Rebels thwarted another attempt by pro-Regime froces to advance on Cement Factory Front in #Aleppo. http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.149380&lon=37.142115&z=14&m …

[OUTLAW 09]

Opposition sources: Most of the recent killed pro-Regime fighters in South #Aleppo and Artillery College were Lebanese & Afghans.

Key FSA Fatah Halab factions claim intent to commit to IHL & to cooperate with UN for access & aid work in #Aleppo:

Mulham Al amid, Fastaqem Union, FSA @BBCNews rejects UN ceasefire, as a "chance for the regime to catch its breath"

Inherent problem w. local/temporary ceasefires: combatants do *not* see them as tactically or strategically viable.

[OUTLAW 09]

Common perception in #Syria: While the West dithers, "the extremists...can...get things done".
http://thebea.st/2b8tcEs

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton So much in #Syria and well beyond depends on the West being a better partner to the population than al-Qaeda.

We're failing, obviously.

[OUTLAW 09]

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan
Al Hayat's @ibrahimhamidi confirms that the Syrian rebels received increased aid for the Aleppo battle http://www.alhayat.com/Edition/Print/16814571/%D8%B9%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA--%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A9--%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A8----%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D 8%AA%D9%87%D8%A7 …

[OUTLAW 09]

FDD's Iran Project
‏@FDD_Iran
Recent video suggests Qassem Soleimani may have suffered a hand injury. It's bandaged & he seems unable to close it.

BUT WAIT...he was recently inside Syria before the Aleppo fighting and again just recently in Iraq outside Mosul......so where did he get injured??

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels now are answering within minutes the use of CWs by Assad.......
WHILE the West remains silent......they shelled Assad held areas immediately after the first use of chlorine CWs this week ....

Extremely graphic #footage
#Russian state TV reports 12 dead in rebel shelling of W #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wf6IwvqLOk …

Shelling must have happened around the same time, #Assad attacked the east of the city with gas.
Nothing about it on SANA so far ...

Chlorine gas injuries are now climbing from initial reports.....in German....70 injured, 10 were children and 25 were babies
70 Verletzte, darunter 10 Kinder und 25 Kleinkinder in GAS-Angriff der kombinierten #Putin/#Assad-Luftwaffe.

REMEMBER this famous Putin public quote....

March 14 2016: "... Putin says the "main part" of Russia's armed forces in Syria are to leave."

These aircraft that are now bombing Syria were withdrawn from Syria 150 days ago today

Appears the Russian words for "main part" really means "no part".....

REMEMBER this famous Obama public quote from 2014.....right after Crimea and the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine.....

"We will judge Putin by his actions not his words"......

AND now????

[OUTLAW 09]

Iran announced the deaths of 8 more troops in #Aleppo, including 2 IRGC officers.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia editing footage of their war planes in #Syria to remove evidence of incendiary weapons via @bellingcat https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2016/08/08/new-incendiary-attacks-in-syria-linked-to-russian-bombs/ …

[OUTLAW 09]

This is the first indication that evidently the purposed joint venture with the Russians as proposed by Kerry and company is not going anywhere fast and verified from the Russian side.

Russian Mission UN
✔ @RussiaUN #Ryabkov on the cooperation between US-led coalition with the Syrian opposition forces @Interaffairs

He basically states openly..."give us the information on all the anti Assad forces, who leads them and where are they located SO we can talk to them....AND THEN we can work closer together"....if my Russian is correct......

APPEARS Russia is setting preconditions on Kerry before they even state talking about the so called joint venture Kerry is pushing....

The old style Russian FP tactic of "two stepping"....IF ...THEN....and nothing happens....

[OUTLAW 09]

Remarks to the press by Ambassador V.Churkin following the #UNSC consultations on #Syria —
http://russiaun.ru/en/news/cm_srcn

Churkin: We want to make sure that humanitarian assistance can go into #Aleppo at all times including through #CastelloRoad

BTW..notice no mentioning of the Russian proposed so called three humanitarian corridors....Castello Road was never proposed.

Churkin: It’s up to the Syrians ultimately to settle the conflict themselves

Churkin: We absolutely support the inclusion of the Syrian #Kurds in the talks

Churkin: Turkey needs to understand that including #Kurds in the discussion should be important in terms of territorial integrity of #Syria

BTW....Turkey will never drop that demand and notice Erdogan and Putin while making sweeping comments on Syria basically said nothing and thus nothing was achieved as the Russians wanted Erdogan to stop funding and weapons flows.....

Churkin: I do hope the situation around #Aleppo will improve but we dont believe there needs to be any preconditions

[OUTLAW 09]

Remember the Russian statements yesterday about those so called four hour ceasefires for humanitarian aid to flow......WELL forget about the Russian ever holding to them.....just as they do not hold to a single point in Minsk 2..

Fighting continues in #Aleppo more than an hour into Russia’s 3-hour ceasefire: Reuters -

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia to expand Hmeymim airbase in Syria, build "full military town" for personnel.
http://izvestia.ru/news/626524

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Regime counter-offensive w/ 4 assaults: trying to advance in W. and implement new siege by taking Ramoussah

Breaking. Russian supersonic bombers Tu-22 struck #ISIS-held Raqqah.

Palestinian militia Al-Quds released 1st death toll (9 killed) from Ramoussah confirming direct involvement, #Aleppo

Rebel groups restored all positions siezed by Assad/IRGC militias this morning in #Aleppo corridor.

[OUTLAW 09]

EVIDENCE
The #RUS air force - AS ALWAYS - ignored the self-declared "ceasefire" for #Aleppo and cont. its attacks. https://twitter.com/MahmoudRashwani/status/763637326639616000 …
10:17 Am The Russian dropping bombs on the civilian neighborhood of #Aleppo

BUT WAIT.....Russian response to their own violation of their very own ceasefire....."those so called civilians were JaN (AQ)".......

[OUTLAW 09]

As you can see, "#Assad" forces (Iranians, Afghans, Lebanese, Iraqis) occupied the Ramouseh garage, southern gas plant & 1070 for few hours.

Rebels say "dozens" were killed.
Pictures will prove who is right and who is in control of these areas now.

The rebels are sitting on a massive munitions set of warehouses...so I doubt they will be having any munitions problems in the coming days of fighting...and they were relatively/easily able to get reinforcements into Aleppo for the coming counter attacks......

W/the start of the #RUS "ceasefire" #Assad forces started a offensive to re-besiege #Aleppo.
They failed.

The good thing about Russia/Assad ceasefires is that you know when to expect the massive ground offensive and bombing

Not as if the Russians have done the exact same thing in everyone of their so called ceasefires...they do the same in eastern Ukraine.

Fighting in Aleppo persists despite Russia ceasefire announcement: rebels
http://reut.rs/2b0Qlpb

[OUTLAW 09]

According to your own reports, there is nothing but oil depots, military convoys and terrorists in Syria. https://twitter.com/EmbassyofRussia/status/763663861723570176 …

Translation: That means more hospitals and civilians were bombed

Six Russian #Tu22M3 destroy #ISIS oil depots & training facilities near #Raqqa #Syria
http://goo.gl/jGGC4r

[OUTLAW 09]

Found unexplded barrel after the helicopter attack on #AlRastan in the N countryside of #Homs last night .

[OUTLAW 09]

REMEMBER right after Erdogan apologized for the SU24 shot down and his FM made a statement that they Russian could fly from the NATO base....but then he massively backtracked his statement after NATO raised warnings....LONG before the coup.....

NOW......

BREAKING: Turkey offers Russia joint operations against #ISIS in Syria: foreign minister - AFP

Erdogan is seriously risking a break with NATO and the millions in funds he gets from both NATO and the US.....

He is attempting to blackmail both the US and the EU and he just might actually fail....

[OUTLAW 09]

And of course the besieged #Damascus suburb of #Daraya starts the day with at least 12 Assad barrel bombs this morning

Civilian casualties reported in multiple Russian/Assad airstrikes in Sarmada & al-Dana in north rural #Idlib, #Syria this morning

Oppo forces need to go on the offensive soon in S. #Aleppo otherwise it'll be all about sustaining 1 attack after another by Assad/Iran/Hezb

Aftermath of the Assad regime bombing Aleppo with chemical weapons that the @OPCW say they don't have anymore.

Jaish Al-Tahrir shelled with mortars Regime military positions & reinforcements (incl. Iraqis) in Bashkuy & Castello Road in N. #Aleppo.

BUT WAIT this road was suppose to be a humanitarian aid route as per the Russian MoD so what are regime forces doing sitting on it?????

[OUTLAW 09]

New #FSA group formed in Aleppo City called the "First Squad of Aleppo" Founded to repel Gov't attack on Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

SO now it appears as if the Kerry/Obama purposed joint intel/bombing effort with the Russians HAS actually morphed into the joint Turkish/Russian intel/bombing....WAS this by accident or planned?????

BREAKING: Turkey offers Russia joint operations against #ISIS in Syria: foreign minister - AFP

So Erdogan just managed to do what CIA/FSB/NASA/MSM never could: Find the moderate opposition in #Syria

Turkey will inform #Russia about the locations of civilians&moderate opposition groups in #Syria

Actually it was #Lavrov talking more about #Syria's moderate opposition than anyone else.

[OUTLAW 09]

The #FSA in #Aleppo fights Iraqi troops w/ brand-new Yugoslavian M57 62 mm mortars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMqnUPuhFa8 …

Same group with "new" 82 mm launchers and rounds of the same origin north of #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy8sEahd_QY …

[OUTLAW 09]

So true it hurts.......

At this point, if anyone asks me to explain anything about Syria I'll require wall-size whiteboard, 15 colored markers & 8 bottles of arak

AND this is exactly way...Russia lies every single minute of the day and the West and the UN actually believes everything they say....

Russia announced daily ceasefires, 10:00 to 13:00 to allow aid in #Aleppo
Russia/Assad have escalated their attack
http://reut.rs/2b0LzYK

Bombs are still dropping and ground fighting are still ongoing in the middle of the so called ceasefire...all by Russia and the Assad mercenary militias.....which somehow did not get the Russian news about a ceasefire in place.....

[OUTLAW 09]

Visual confirmation: Rebels retook Ramoussah Municipal Bldg, #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.165354&lon=37.129304&z=16&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldv8Lk3E6As …

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels killed many #Hezbollah fighters, including a commander, in Southern #Aleppo today.

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels killed many #Hezbollah fighters, including a commander, in Southern #Aleppo today.

Just now M-2 hospital in besieged #Aleppo is targeted by #Russian/Assad airstrikes. Chaotic scenes unfolding @CNN
Russia just keeps on air striking hospital after hospital....in full violation of international humanitarian law and UNSC Resolutions....AND the entire West says not a single word.....

Khaled Omar, @SyriaCivilDef #Aleppo Hero, who only yesterday was saving #Chlorine attack victims, reported #KIA 2day

Very rare #ATGM (Metis) strike by Faylaq Rahman vs Regime troops in Ayn Terma, E. #Damascus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbP5XPXaTZo …

Regime soldiers in #Aleppo Citadel blew up part of S. wall (fearing a Rebel infiltration?).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khhl-e5SMyE …

Pro-Regime forces deploying all their firepower to take back areas they lost in SW. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCHcEZsg_I4 …
BUT all assaults failed....totally failed....

Fatah Halab pounded Regime in #Mallah area with several Lava Missiles in N. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrvFewMH3mE …

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaish Al-Fateh's convoy with elite fighters & prominent leader Sh. Mohaysini reached #Aleppo defying Russia & Regime

ISIS relics around #Marea from repeated failed attempts to seize it from Rebels, N. #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBuNOzjaoi8 …

North. Div. shelling w/ Gvozdika pro-Regime forces inside Ramoussah Cement Factory, #Aleppo. http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.152049&lon=37.144003&z=15&m …

Regime still shelling same 1070 Project's area since 6th Aug #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.163310&lon=37.093470&z=16&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGDNusxn6u4 …
MAYBE they only have one set of coordinates they are working from and no forward observer?????

[OUTLAW 09]

Appears that now the famous leader of IS al Baghdadi has some competition for his leadership position...not sure he would appreciate this......

Trump calls Obama "most valuable player" of ISIS. Yep. He's calling POTUS a terrorist.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/11/politics/donald-trump-hugh-hewitt-obama-founder-isis/index.html …

At last, thanks to The Donald, we learn why Obama missed so damn many votes as a freshman US Senator back in 2006. HE WAS OUT WORKING IN IRAQ FOUNDING ISIS!

Former Ambassador to Syria......
Michael McFaul
✔ @McFaul BTW, Trumps line that Obama founded ISIS echoes exactly a myth propagated by Russian state-controlled media and bloggers.

[OUTLAW 09]

Tartus: 100+ killed ##Assad fighters arrived in #Tartus, #Latakia, today. Rebels killed them in Southern #Aleppo.

Aleppo: #Hezbollah fighter Qassem Sheimsani, recruited a few weeks ago, killed by rebels in Southern #Aleppo.

[OUTLAW 09]

Deadly #FSA TOW attack vs. pro-#Assad ATGM position south of #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcEfwI-JFNU …

Hezbollah's elite #Radwan battalion and Harakat Hezbollah al-#Nujaba arrived in #Aleppo -
http://washin.st/2aK4ggq

[OUTLAW 09]

Well worth reading this well known Syrian SME......

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
During the Iraq invasion, #Assad sent thousands of jihadis to IS's predecessor. Nusra/JFS leader seems to be one.

Did Assad Recruit the Leader of Al-Qaeda in Syria?
https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/did-assad-recruit-the-leader-of-al-qaeda-in-syria …

[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
“Prove that you are the friend of #Syria”
15 doctors in #Aleppo condemn US inaction in preventing siege:

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
#Obama admin response via @clarissaward:
“The US repeatedly condemned indiscriminate bombing…”
[That’s not enough]

"Silence, apathy, indifference & inaction aren’t going to make it go away”
#Syria #Aleppo
http://nyti.ms/2bkxGn9

[OUTLAW 09]

Appears that now the famous leader of IS al Baghdadi has some competition for his leadership position...not sure he would appreciate this......

Trump calls Obama "most valuable player" of ISIS. Yep. He's calling POTUS a terrorist.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/11/politics/donald-trump-hugh-hewitt-obama-founder-isis/index.html …

At last, thanks to The Donald, we learn why Obama missed so damn many votes as a freshman US Senator back in 2006. HE WAS OUT WORKING IN IRAQ FOUNDING ISIS!

Former Ambassador to Syria......
Michael McFaul
✔ @McFaul BTW, Trumps line that Obama founded ISIS echoes exactly a myth propagated by Russian state-controlled media and bloggers.



Searching our profile of Islamic State for that mention of Obama which eluded me first time around
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-29052144 …

[davidbfpo]

An Israeli think tank paper 'The establishment of the Fateh al-Sham Front in place of the Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria: reasons and implications':http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/Data/articles/Art_21048/E_143_16_43106582.pdf

A key passage:
Does the establishment of the new framework really and truly mean that the Fateh al-Sham Front is severing its ties with Al-Qaeda? The ITIC is not of this opinion. The new move is basically a direct consequence of the pressure exerted on the Al -Nusra Front and the fundamental ambition of Al-Julani (supported by the leadership of Al-Qaeda) to improve his organization’s survivability in the long campaign that awaits it. On the ideological level, the Fateh al-Sham Front continues to adhere to Al-Qaeda’s Salafist-jihadi ideology (as reflected in the charter published by the Fateh al -Sham front). Moreover, in the ITIC’s assessment, the new framework will continue to maintain its ties with Al-Qaeda’s leadership, although the nature of these ties is still unclear.

[OUTLAW 09]

What is it these doctors "get" that the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH does not "get"?

'Last doctors of Aleppo' write letter to Obama: 'We need action'
http://read.bi/2aNavQG

[OUTLAW 09]

The ME especially Syria is relatively easy to understand if one understands this.....

“If my daughter is being gang-raped in front of me, I would prefer the person taking revenge to wear a Green Beret, but am I going to object if he instead arrives in a long black beard?”

Why does the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry think that the ME especially Syria is difficult to fully and truly understand.....it really is not.

It just takes a little courage and self motivation to sit down and read and listen.

[OUTLAW 09]

Graphic report
50 civilians killed by combined #Putin/#Assad air strikes on #Idlib in 2 days
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKyorfbZqMg …

[OUTLAW 09]

Sheikh Muhaisni's advice to the mujahideen entering #Aleppo. Also addresses how to deal with the Christians there.

He stated to not steal, damage shops and to protect the Christians in the city as they have not stood by the Assad regime.....was an interesting speech....especially the part on the defense of the Christians.....using Koranic quotes to back up his statements so that there was no misunderstandings to his fighters......

[OUTLAW 09]

125 people were killed by #ISIS', #Assad's and #Putin's forces across #Syria on Thursday incl. 19 women and 13 children.
- LCC

[CrowBat]

Simply amazing... really fascinating what's going on in Aleppo these days.

Following an 'unexpected' (see: de-facto announced since months) offensive of the JAF on 'Loyalist' (see: IRGC/Hezbollah-corsetted NDF) positions in southern Aleppo - described in detail here: The Race to Aleppo (https://warisboring.com/the-race-to-aleppo-60043703a71f#.n5zc84r5v), all the possible Assad-fans were announcing a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig counter-offensive, arrival of reinforcements etc.

Especially so yesterday.

Today, all that's left from all the reports about 'multi-prong', 'Loyalist' counter-offensive in southern Aleppo, even reports about re-capture (https://twitter.com/theatresofwar/status/763684614934294528) of District 1070, is that the JAF re-captured (https://twitter.com/QalaatAlMudiq/status/763788700509667329) the Ramousseh Garages, while Faylaq ash-Sham reported (https://twitter.com/badly_xeroxed/status/763843056365924352) destruction of one BMP-1, 6 Afghans KIA, and advance on Tel Muharakat.

That said, Fawj al-Awal (The First Regiment) announced (https://twitter.com/alfaoj_alaooal/status/763620958645223424) to have beaten-back all the 'Loyalist' attacks already yesterday in the morning - but, hand on heart: I didn't believe that amid al the reports by regime fans. Indeed, this morning it transpired the JAF has kicked all the IRGC thugs out of the Gas Storage area too.

Meanwhile, Assadist and their geroic Russian allies keep on pounding Idlib City - 'instead' of the frontlines in southern Aleppo: Over 50 Civilians killed in Idlib in 2 Days (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKyorfbZqMg). 'Huraaaa'...

Amazingly enough, this woke up even some of talking-heads in the USA, then the FP-magazine reports: The War on Syria's Doctors (http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/11/the-war-on-syrias-doctors-assad-medicine-underground/)

For five years, the Assad regime has relentlessly targeted medical workers in rebel-held territory. This is the story of their desperate fight to stay alive - and save lives.
...

It is a war crime under international law to deliberately target hospitals, doctors, and nurses. In early May, after a series of airstrikes in Aleppo, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution condemning what Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described as “surgical strikes … hitting surgical wards.” But like so many other U.N. declarations about Syria, it had no teeth —there was no risk of punishment for violating the resolution. By the end of that month, two more hospitals were damaged as a result of air raids on rebel-held Idlib and Aleppo.
...

From the idealistic uprising in 2011 to the dystopian violence of 2016, Syrian health care workers have found ways to survive, adapt, and treat those wounded in horrific fighting, as well as to deliver babies and treat ordinary illnesses. Dodging arrest and torture, then missiles and snipers, they have built a clandestine health care system out of the one their government destroyed.
...
...and that is why they are bombed.

And since they're (supposedly, i.e. at least according to all the possible regime-fans) 'short on manpower', and 'out of steam', not to talk about 'unprecedentedly bombed' by the VKS, the JAF - that is: Jaysh an-Nasr and Harakat Bayan (both FSyA) - then launched an advance towards East further south, namely on the road connecting Khan Nasser with as-Safira, captured (https://twitter.com/badly_xeroxed/status/763932675065253892) a regime camp in Mahmiat al-Ghazlan (west of Khan Nassir), and appear to be advancing with intention of cutting off (https://twitter.com/theatresofwar/status/763868614864822272) that road.

[CrowBat]

And because I'm lacking time to follow that battle too, here another piece in Stephane Mantoux's excellent series of studies of Daesh's videos, tactics etc: Mourir pour le califat 37/Progrs de la bataille dans la ville de Manbij-Wilayat Halab (http://historicoblog3.blogspot.co.at/2016/08/mourir-pour-le-califat-37progres-de-la.html) (in French).

Ah yes, and an interesting comparison in precision of US and Russian air strikes on the same target, is available here (https://twitter.com/JakeGodin/status/763756281345769473).

[OUTLAW 09]

Eliot Higgins @EliotHiggins
Shame even when the OPCW says chlorine is dropped from helicopters in Syria nothing is done anyway https://twitter.com/P4HR/status/763843096568172545 …

AND that Obama "red line" on the use of CWs against civilians.....?????

[OUTLAW 09]

Footage (corrected)
Assad air force Su-24 bombed Idlib yday.
https://youtu.be/PMGnKwEALYk

[CrowBat]

Another 'ah yes' post... Namely, since most of US-Americans I happen to know are so firmly convinced it's the 'al-Qaida' that's running this counter-offensive against 'Loyalist' (see: IRGC/Hezbollah) forces in Aleppo area, I would recommend them - and everybody else with similar standpoints - to take a closer look at the following link.

List of names of 242 (84 from Idlib province) rebel militants killed during their offensive in south Aleppo 31/07/2016 – 09/08/2016 (https://www.reddit.com/r/syriancivilwar/comments/4x4r5t/update_list_of_names_of_242_84_from_idlib/?)

Namely, somebody was so kind to summarize all the reports about JAF's (Jaysh al-Fateh; a coalition of JAN-cum-JFS, Ahrar ash-Sham, Faylaq ash-Sham and several FSyA units) casualties in Aleppo area, from 31 July (start of the offensive) until 9 August. And that on name-by-name basis.

Certainly enough, such research is nothing in comparison to all the authoritative reporting about '2000 KIA' by Assad/Putler-fans, published on Twitter. But, sigh, it might be worth some attention. Especially because there are so few JFS-Jihadists listed: on the contrary, majority of casualties are Syrians fighting for various insurgent- and not Jihadist-groups. 84 of them were from Idlib.

Who knows, perhaps the story with 'al-Qaida-linked, US-supported, NATO-terrorists' might be wrong, after all...

[OUTLAW 09]

Obama/Kerry's new found Russian friend Putin just keeps on bombing hospitals as it there is not a single international law on the protection of hospitals and a number of UNSC Resolutions on the same exact subject.....

With a friend like Putin...the US FP can go along way these days...towards creating even more destruction.......

BreakingReport
Opposition media reports the destruction of the #KafrHamra children's hospital by #Russian jets.

Appears the current US FP on the protection of those who commit genocide and war crimes is working fine.....

[OUTLAW 09]

Talbisah in #Homs province was under night time air strikes last night
Ppl blame #Russia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28Elm02spzE …

Probably a correct assumption as the Syrian AF does not have night ime bombing abilities....

Syrian rebels took Mahmiat al-Ghazalan south of #Khanaser.
This did NOT cut the #Aleppo supply road.

[OUTLAW 09]

Who says the former JaN (AQ) now JFS are friends with IS?????
Breaking: A JFS base in Al Baadiyah was hit with a suicide bombing by the dogs of hell-fire...

Clashes continue & Opp. storming Kinsibba axis under artillery support, first assadist lines in Tel Rasha broken.

[CrowBat]

At the risk of (further) offending any of Assad- and/or Putler fans here (not to talk about entire hordes of SVP-24-fans around the internet), can't resist posting this... precious link: Comparison of precision of US and Russian Air Strikes - on the same target in Syria (https://twitter.com/JakeGodin/status/763756281345769473)

Viewers are left to draw their own conclusions.

[OUTLAW 09]

We have DOCTORS from the UK willing to use their skills to save lives by going to hospitals in #Syria.
They're NOT legally allowed to enter!

Drs have to be smuggled in & out of Syria through back doors. It could have consequences on their jobs when returning. Shouldn't be the case

To the inactive Muslims, fear Allah, there are non muslims risking themselves to offer medical skills,while you sit.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express....three naval vessels on one day


Russian Navy's Ropucha Class Large Landing Ship Minsk 127 southbound on the Bosphorus towards Syria under full load

Russian Navy BSF's Buyan-M Cls Guided Missile Corvettes Zeleny Dol 602 & Serpukhov 603 southbound on the Bosphorus

[OUTLAW 09]

"Very concerned" US abdicates entirely, knowing full well that Russia only marginally fights IS. Disastrous. https://twitter.com/timesofisrael/status/763936592851378178 …

[OUTLAW 09]

JaI reports destroying an Assad T-72 tank & a bulldozer in failed attempt by Assad to advance into Hawsh Nasri, rural #Damascus

A local market (al-Hal) was also targeted in Oram al-Kubra in west rural #Aleppo this morning

Intense Russia/Assad airstrikes in #Aleppo this AM targeting many areas inc. Kafrnaha, Oram Kubra, Qubtan Jabal & Kafrhamra

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria: Fresh chemical attack on Aleppo a war crime | Amnesty International
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/08/syria-fresh-chemical-attack-on-aleppo-a-war-crime/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=article&utm_term=&utm_campaign=social …

UN: Chlorine bombs in #Syria would be a 'war crime'
http://dw.com/p/1Jgqo?tw via @dwnews
Make that another war crime.

Robert Ford ‏@fordrs58
the Obama administration and its apologists would say that at least these were not sarin bombs this time.

[OUTLAW 09]

Over Half of Hospitals in Liberated Areas Destroyed in #Russia & #Assad AF. Airstrikes
http://ow.ly/6Otn3039gPL #Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

Holocaust Museum Calls for Help to #Aleppo, #Syria
https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/11/holocaust-museum-wades-into-syria-debate-with-calls-to-help-aleppo/

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaish Al-Mujahideen destroyed with a #Fagot a 14.5 mm gun in Hamdaniyah, W. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlcLQBlb22k …

Pro-Regime forces tried again to take over the Municipal Building of Ramoussah but were ambushed by Rebels. #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.165181&lon=37.129283&z=16&m …
with reported high loses among the attackers

Rebels took Mahmiat Ghazalan, located ~5 km from Regime supply route (through Khanasser) for #Aleppo. http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.659388&lon=37.519341&z=12&m …

Ahrar Al-Sham inter ‏@ahrar_alsham_en · Aug 11
Islamic Front in a week [102] 11-8-2016
https://youtu.be/jJ_hTLIxYdQ

Assad media reports for a second day, "#Ramouseh almost taken, terrorists flee".
Rebels report heavy fighting in the area.

[OUTLAW 09]

Recent insightful article by @LabibAlNahhas - insists we need more evidence of ‘complete’ Nusra split from AQ:
http://www.ahraralsham.net/ar/news/337

This article has sparked quite the controversy in certain circles in #Syria...

Take 3mins to watch this.
#SaveSyria
Produced by @HolocaustMuseum
https://youtu.be/vkto2QxKhvA

[OUTLAW 09]

Hospital in Kafr Hamra, Aleppo was completely destroyed as result of RuAF airstrike
http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2016/12-august-hospital-in-kafr-hamra-aleppo-was-completely-destroyed …

Manbij: #YPG reporting that 100s of #ISIS fighters & 2000+ civilians broke through the #YPG siege of #Manbij & arrived #Jarabulus. #Aleppo

Heavy air strikes on #Talbisah (#Homs province) today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tthTc0KLIZE …

Syrian rebels recaptured all points in northern #Ramouseh district.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zMkS6KuoCo …

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian AF attacked Aleppo again during their so called three hour ceasefire....in German....

+EIL+
Auch heute MASSIVE LUFTANGRIFFE #Russland|s whrend der von #Putin ausgerufenen 3-stndigen Feuerpause fr #Aleppo
Mindestens 8 Tote

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaish Al-Islam thwarted a Regime attempt to capture Tell Ferzat, 600 m N. of Marj As Sultan Airbase, E. #Ghouta.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=33.508767&lon=36.469803&z=14&m …

Footage showing involvement of Iraqis & Iranians on #Latakia front where their presence was so far less documented.
In video published by Iraqi Shia group Al-Nujaba,Latakia,Syria,Iranian #IRGC says in Farsi:"He was shot in the face"

Jaish Nasr took out w/ #Fagot a bulldozer near Tulisiyah, E. #Hama.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.366096&lon=36.916809&z=11&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7U3m2og5hQ …

Faylaq Al-Rahman precise strike with Omar cannon inside Regime dormitory in Irbeen #Damascus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK6JXVsGo5Y …

Ahrar Al-Sham's #ATGM strike vs Konkurs launcher in Huways, S. #Aleppo. Unclear if hit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF5wPIHylSM …

First Regiment took out with a #Fagot a tank in Sheikh Said, S. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaZzCDpwwVo …

JFS double tap with #Konkurs on mounted 23 mm gun on Cement Factory front, #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL9K1dwQpsc …

[OUTLAW 09]

Extremely graphic video of civilians massacred by air strike in in Hayan, Aleppo countryside by regime aircraft
https://youtu.be/FW2fq3533m8

Yesterdays attacks didnt achieve liberation of the axis, but assadists took lots of casualties, Opp. artillery on target hit few groups.

Fagot #ATGM strike on 14.5 mm machine gun reported within Yarmouk Battle Tuoma village Jabal al-Akrad #Latakia

First Aid convoy filled with aid from Qatari, Turkish, and other NGOs entering #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/wp1h1vSzlpg
Despite heavy attacks on the way into rebel held #Aleppo, Syrian Civil Defense was able to bring aid into the city.

Demonstration by IDPs in North Aleppo against the YPG, asking rebels to liberate towns controlled by them.

Strange, Russian air force actually hits a military target and destroy a military factory in #Homs countryside.
https://youtu.be/I_TYwumHWJg

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo markets seeing a lot of traffic after the siege is broken and food has started to come in
https://youtu.be/hBK5LVKyo4s #Aleppo

The US Kurdish proxy YPG is again attacking FSA held areas......evidently without or maybe with US support.....who knows exactly the US is supporting these days....

Levant front in Northern Aleppo repelled an attack by YPG in Azaz area #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/J7d6IMjKw2Q

Rahman Corps firing an Omar cannon into the dormitory in a regime garage on #Arbin Front. #Damascus
https://youtu.be/TK6JXVsGo5Y

[OUTLAW 09]

6 civilians dead and 10 wounded after Russian aircraft drop cluster bombs around Cardamom market near W. #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/0MAmnNz90Pg

Massive airstrike on the city of #Anadan in Northern #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/3NfbNMBzeYQ

Third graduating group from Fastaqem Union's Training Camp in #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/CJ42tRjAjBw

Report from JFaS reporting from Dabaghat axis and Ramouseh about repelling regime forces there, new footage.
https://youtu.be/bPPDWwShhmU

[OUTLAW 09]

Baladi News reporter touring Ramouseh neighborhood after regime forces are repelled from the area again. #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/1zMkS6KuoCo

Dead being picked after rocket attack on Heb Al Kaba neighborhood in #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/mhHp-9JX66U

Jaish al Nasr firing mortars on Gazelle reserves before its capture yesterday. Near #Khanasir, s. #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/8_g-a0iUdBs?t=53

Noor Nahas ‏@NoorNahas1 ·
Harakat Bayan firing machine guns and artillery on Gazelle Reserve before its capture yesterday, southern #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/wrhC7v_WFj4

[OUTLAW 09]

Saying Obama "founded" #ISIS isn't "SARCASM" -- it's tinfoilery like "Jews did 9/11" & "My cat is the Illuminati."
http://observer.com/2016/08/no-obama-is-not-the-founder-of-isis/ …

[OUTLAW 09]

Germany the biggest donor of humanitarian aid in #Syria
Meanwhile #Russia destroying entire infrastructure of the country

Russia supplied 620 tons of aid to #Syria, but World Food Programme WTF supplied the country in the same time with 2 million! tons

Entering the first #aid convoy to the besieged city of #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/wp1h1vSzlpg

[OUTLAW 09]

SYRIA: Another Russian soldier confirmed killed in fighting, taking total number of Russian military deaths to 20.
http://ria.ru/syria/20160812/1474243233.html

Погибший на задании в Сирии военнослужащий награжден орденом Мужества

16:2312.08.2016
(обновлено: 18:20 12.08.2016)

РИА Новости
http://ria.ru/syria/20160812/1474243233.html#ixzz4H8vB4iWG

[OUTLAW 09]

Iranians just launched a Twitterstorm with hashtag #4Syrians, to show their anger about crimes against Syrians.

This #4Syrians hashtag, launched by Iranians, in solidarity with Syrian people against Bashar al-Assad and allies' war crimes.

[OUTLAW 09]

Unconfirmed reports of 200 #IS fighters & families arriving in #Jarabulus,rural #Aleppo-not clear if they crossed through YPG-PKK lines

18 Dead in Airstrikes on Another Hospital and Market in #Aleppo & this After Russia Proposed #ceasefire

[OUTLAW 09]

In 2015 482 #Syria'n #refugees tried to get asylum in #Russia, but not a single one accepted


So much for being great supporters of the Syrian people.....

[OUTLAW 09]

JFS destroyed with a #Konkurs a BMP in S. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztiD8-24cAs …

Jaish Al-Nasr targeted with Grads Tell Sharib, near Nayrab, #Aleppo.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.139816&lon=37.240219&z=12&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pw7C51nd68 …

[OUTLAW 09]

Sky News: 600 Russian military contractors have been killed in Syria
http://uawire.org/news/sky-news-600-russian-military-contractors-have-been-killed-in-syria …

[OUTLAW 09]

Khanaser, South #Aleppo | #Syria.
Opposition advanced toward Regime supply Rd.
HD https://goo.gl/XsWIxO

Iran has sent militias to defend one of the holiest Shia shrines; the Aleppo cement factory.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia is withdrawing from Syria by establishing a permanent base in Syria. "We've always been at war with Eurasia"

[OUTLAW 09]

Graphic Videos: 1 child killed, & 3 injured (1 critical) after their home was hit by a barrel bomb in Rastan, #Homs
https://youtu.be/0ln64Q5pwbM

Damascus Countryside. Enemy's fortifications are destroyed on the front of Damascus-Homs Highway.

Children overcome with emotion after learning their brother was killed by airstrike on #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/CW6Vni7Anjs

The world watches Russia and Assad as these kind of gross violations continue to go unpunished
https://youtu.be/b3ME6K5J3lU

Looks like it was a TOW ATGM and not a grad rocket that destroyed the 23 mm rocket.
https://youtu.be/X_gjHljlPpI #FSA

[OUTLAW 09]

Worth reading.....

Rao Kumar ‏@RaoKumar747
My article for @Conflicts about a shadowy guerrilla group fighting ISIS from within the heart of the "caliphate."

http://www.conflict-news.com/articles/the-ghosts-of-the-desert-fighting-isis-from-within



One U.S. backed Sunni-Arab group known as the “Ghosts of the Desert” (GotD) has formed with the goal of disrupting and fighting ISIS from within.

Resistance inside of ISIS held territory is not unheard of. A Syrian group called the “White Shroud” waged an insurgency against ISIS in 2014. But White Shroud was eventually stamped out by ISIS, mostly due to poor organization and a lack of external support.

The Ghosts of the Desert are different. First appearing in the city of al-Qaim, Iraq in late March of 2016, they soon spread into Eastern Syria where their sleeper began infiltrating the cities of Mayadeen and al-Bukamal.

Continued.....

[OUTLAW 09]

bellingcat @bellingcat
Reports of Chlorine Gas That Targeted Civilians in Aleppo via @bellingcat
https://www.bellingcat.com/uncategorized/2016/08/13/reports-of-chlorine-gas-that-targeted-civilians-in-aleppo/ …

[OUTLAW 09]

The #FSA hit a T-72 tank at the South end of the humanitarian corridor to #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9YODMtLfWQ …

Nonstop #Russian Su-34 air strikes on densely populated areas N of #Aleppo today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l-SViMC2cE …

Daraya W of #Damascus today.
Countless #Assad bombs from helicopters hit the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdbbNVMx7MA …

More (drone) #footage
Syrians protest to recapture #TelRifaat and other towns from the #YPG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKW4-Ws0wNA …

A Syrian rebel ATGM destroys a regime 23 mm gun in the Al-Assad suburb of #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P_BNZI1qGI …

BreakingFootage
Brutal #Russian air strikes on #AlJeineh in the western #Aleppo countryside
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6imJqBZsvdM&feature=youtu.be …

1 civilians killed & 10 wounded in air strike on #school in #Maarata (#Idlib prov.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJzO6ZbMV8k …

Syrian rebels (Ahrar a-Sham) shot down a #RussianArmy Orlan-10 UAV in #Homs province today.

LIFE returns to E #Aleppo as AID reaches the city through the REBEL humanitarian corridor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62whHpLuPV8 …

Just another child,killed in air strikes on #Talbisah mins ago.

[OUTLAW 09]

There are more Iraqi Shia militias fighting in Aleppo area fighting anti Assad forces than are fighting against IS in either Syria and or Iraq...why is that...one would think that after getting a ransom of 400M USDs in cash they might have decided spending it is better than fighting OR the 400M USDs is being used to fund and equip shia militias fighting in Syria....

Ivan Sidorenko ‏@IvanSidorenko1 (proAssad/Russian commenter)
#Syria #Syr #Aleppo #Iraq #Iraqi Imam Ali Brigade / Imam Ali Battalions & Leadership Back in #Aleppo Region.

[OUTLAW 09]

Appears that the US is openly supporting the YPG/PKK/SDF in connecting all cantons along the Turkish border into a single Kurdish state WHICH is directly counter to what the Turks have repeatedly stated they will not allow....PLUS a large number of the towns/villages taken by the YPG/PKK/SDF is in fact Arab Sunni areas....NOT Kurdish areas......

It is VERY GOOD that #SDF fully liberated #Manbij from #ISIS today.
But when I read "next goal is to connect cantons", I expect more war crimes.
No, I did not forget that #YPG forces captured around 20 towns with #Russian air cover und #Iranian ground support.
And so should the world.

More (drone) #footage
Syrians protest to recapture #TelRifaat and other towns from the #YPG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKW4-Ws0wNA …

Each of the #YPG-occupied towns has its own history..namely Arab and Sunni...not Kurdish....

News
Syrian IDPs&locals north of #Aleppo demand the #FSA to forcefully retake illegally occupied areas by the #YPG.

[OUTLAW 09]

Another tank blown up near Ramoussah Cement Factory by an Ahrar Al-Sham's #Kornet.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.151633&lon=37.144604&z=14&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9YODMtLfWQ …

Jaish Al-Islam fighters (with M79 Osa) heading to the frontline in Hawsh Nasri in E. #Ghouta
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=33.556560&lon=36.472549&z=13&m …

Safwah Battalions took out with a #Fagot a 23 mm gun in Al-Assad suburb in W. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P_BNZI1qGI …

Attrition of pro-Regime forces increasing as more #ATGM strikes reported & all attemtps to recapture positions in #Aleppo were so far foiled

Fagot strike by Jaish Al-Tahrir vs T-72 near Ramoussah's Cement Factory in S. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9YODMtLfWQ …

Rebels captured an officer in Ramoussah, cmdr of Christian unit sent from Homs 2 fight in #Aleppo
Ramouseh has become a mousetrap as regime insanely attempts to retake it.

Insane number of Russian airstrikes on #Idlib today, no less than 30-40 airstrikes targeted over 15 villages/towns, many civilian casualties

Rebels continues fight against #IS-offshoots in western #Daraa province of southern #Syria
https://youtu.be/00jaKRD98TM

[OUTLAW 09]

LiveUpdatesFromSyria
‏@liveupdatesyria
#Aleppo: We've been hit by FOUR airstrikes so far this morning! They're specifically targeting hospitals!!
PLEASE RT

British aid worker Tox & his team were repeatedly hit by bombs while asleep in a HOSPITAL this morning in #Aleppo!

We can sense something big is about to happen.. Please keep all the injured & innocent in your prayers. Signing out
Live from #Aleppo city

All the windows have been smashed at the hospital. We went to help people after the first airstrike but they double tapped and hit us again

URGENT! OUR HOSPITAL IS UNDER ATTACK! They've completely taken out the generators & aiming 4 emergency vehicles & the main building

We don't know if we're gonna make it out of #Aleppo alive but we want to show the world what is happening while we're still breathing PLS RT

[OUTLAW 09]

Germany call for "#Aleppo- airlift" to carry supplies to #Syria's biggest city

"Our silence is shaming"
@guardian on #Assad's continued blatant use of chlorine in #Syria
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/12/the-guardian-view-on-assads-use-of-chemical-weapons-our-silence-is-shaming?CMP=share_btn_tw …

[OUTLAW 09]

The second US Presidential Candidate using the exact Russian verbiage on Syria.... from the Green's Party and who has been a number of times in Moscow recently to attend Russian Today dinners and speeches......

By an odd coincidence, @DrJillStein sounds just like the Kremlin: says U.S. weapons kept #IS in control of #Manbij.

"The #1 place [an al-Qaeda leader] is safe...is inside #Iran"
— @thomasjoscelyn on @batchelorshow [5.25 - 11:00]
https://audioboom.com/boos/4860758-al-qaeda-welcome-in-tehran-thomasjoscelyn-followfdd

[OUTLAW 09]

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
Wrote about the "Syrian Arab Coalition" last October: gives US deniability with PYD/PKK.
http://bit.ly/1NDQ1pR

.@OIRSpox confirms to me: "The loss of #Manbij to the SAC and SDF will be strategically significant to Da'esh"

The US-led Coalition continues to be the only one who uses the term SAC "Syrian Arab Coalition"

[OUTLAW 09]

Tiger Forces Commander, Amr Shaghri, killed by rebels

Daraya : Regime helicopters mistakenly drop two barrel bombs on their own forces killing several of them.

[OUTLAW 09]

Regime despised our sons sacrifices and blood: pro-Assad families SYRIA NEWS | ZAMAN ALWSL -
https://en.zamanalwsl.net/news/17396.html?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=socialnetwork


(Zaman Al Wasl)- A wave of anger have spread among regime loyalists in the countryside of Latakia and Tartus when representative of the Syrian regime gave families of soldiers killed in the Syria conflict the national flag as a compensation for the life of their beloved sons.

At the event of handing the Syrian flag to families of killed soldiers, representative of the Syrian authority said: “this is a present from the state and the Arabic Syrian Army, an we give it on behalf of the General commander of the Armed Forces Bashar al-Assad, General Suhail al-Hasaan and the donated by al-Bostan association.”

Loyalist dismissed regime’s representatives an prevented them from attending the funerals of their sons who were killed in the battle of Aleppo and the countryside of Latakia, especially when the regime’s representative gave families a piece of fabric coloured with the Syrian flag in a showing-off gesture with the presence of the Syrian TV, because they considered that act was nothing more than disregard of the lives of their sons.

The regime’s representative of First Assistant rank, who accompanied the body of an officer in Draikish town was dismissed from th village, while (Ali al-Ali), the father of the officer, swore to the representative and demanded him to leave the village after telling him: “is that our value to your leadership, you might ask us for the cost of transporting the body of our sons from hospitals to graveyards, do not sent us pieces of fabric,we do not need them, moreover, your leadership did not find a rank higher than First Assistant, where are the officers, are they enjoying summer at the sea”.

The notable point in these events was that regime’s representatives tended to mention the name of the Bashar al-Assad accompanied by Suhail al-Hasan and al-Bustan Association at funerals, which provoke people who considered their sons died to defend the country, not for few people.

A retired colonel Munif Ali commented on that: “Who is Suhail al-Hassan to give gifts in his name? And why is the name al-Bustan Association is inserted in all occasions. Which security branch gave the orders to do that, he asked.

"he added: “they disparage our minds and the blood of our sons, we do not sacrifice for the officers, or for the association owned by Rami Makhlouf, the thief of the country sources, who harnessed our sons to work with him, they have nothing to give to us more than a piece of fabric that lost its symbolism.

The retired colonel wondered about reasons behind marketing for Suhail al-Hassan, and wondered if they prepare him to become the alternative to the President. "I know him very well, he cannot say a two useful sentences, a clumsy flighty, horribly sadist and criminal, I know him from the Air Force Intelligence Branch who used to torture detainees".

It worth mentioning that the regime has downwardly brought the aid and compensation given to families of the killed soldiers and officers .

In the beginning , the regime gave families of killed members of the army an amount of money equal to $ 2,000 , then the amount was changed into a cow for families in Latakia and Tartus, then the value dropped to a goat then slipped to a number of cans of matteh and box of cigarettes, then a wall clock, and the latest value is piece of fabric printed with the colours of the regime’s flag.

As a response to what has happened, regime’s loyalist shout: :”enough is enough, we fed up with death, we want to live”, especially in the latest weeks associated with breaking siege over Aleppo, and clashes taking place in the countryside of Latakia, as the death toll rises

[OUTLAW 09]

Madaya residents say U.N. ban wounded people exit

https://en.zamanalwsl.net/news/17378.html


(Zaman Al Wasl) Field sources in the village of Madaya al-Riwaya confirmed the United Nations are setting as a condition the evacuation of the villages of Kefrya and al-Foaa (Idlib countryside) for it to evacuate a child in need of an urgent operation after she was shot by a Hezbollah sniper.

In her talk with Zaman al-Wasl, the sources described the equation as one in exchange for one which the UN is committed too as a rule with the international organization on the basis it is committed to the truce agreement text. Based on the rule, the UN will not turn to any humanitarian case in Madaya and al-Zabadani (Damascus countryside) if there is no similar case in the villages of Kefrya and al-Foaa.

This rule has led to widespread and reoccurring disappointment among the people of Madaya and al-Zabadani with the appearance of cases that require emergency assistance, but the besieged avoid criticizing the United Nations team directly either on the basis it represents a weak and beaten link in the chain or because the people do not want to sever their ties with only gate for the passage of aid and reception of requests. Despite the narrowness of the door and its low ceiling, its team are strictly committed to the agreement texts, and do not try to break any of those texts, even if it places the life of a young child at danger.

Regarding the health situation of the injured child Ghina Quwyder, who is around 9 years old, sources said the child is still suffering intense pain from the sniper shot, and she is being treated with painkillers due to the lack of medicine and necessary equipment to confront such injuries.

Madaya has been suffering an intense siege for around a year, imposed especially by the mercenaries of Hezbollah, by placing checkpoints, placing mines on all the roads and exits that overlook the village to prevent the exit of any human being regardless of his situation.

Around 40 thousand persons live in the besieged town amid low living standards in terms of food and medicine, as it is not possible to bring in any essential products except through UN which the residents complain about the scarcity of its assistance and the long duration of time between its convoys coming to the town.

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels' Aleppo gains improve our negotiating hand: Syria opposition

2016-08-12

https://en.zamanalwsl.net/news/17386.html


Rebel gains which have broken a Syrian government siege in the city of Aleppo will strengthen the opposition's hand should a new round of peace talks go ahead, an opposition negotiator told Reuters.

Previous rounds collapsed earlier this year when the opposition objected to the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian allies continuing to bomb and besiege rebel-held areas while the Geneva talks were seeking a political solution to the Syrian conflict.

Bassma Kodmani, a member and spokeswoman of the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said Damascus and Moscow had to recognize that last week's advance in Aleppo had changed the facts on the ground.

"Before this offensive (the Russians) believed they could bring us to their negotiating table and impose a national unity government with Assad remaining in power," she said in an interview.

"The message from the ground was: we are not going to let this happen. You do not strangle and suffocate a whole city and use it to impose your view of what a political solution should be," she added. "I think it has given a little bit more leverage to the opposition."

An Aug. 1 deadline for establishing a transitional authority for Syria that would lead to elections in 18 months has come and gone, but United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura said he now hopes to reconvene talks in late August. Russia and the United States say they are discussing how to reduce violence in the country before any negotiations.

Kodmani said a deal was as remote as ever. "We are nowhere close to even drawing what a political transition should look like," she said.

The rebel assault broke the month-long siege of rebel-held eastern Aleppo where about 250,000 people are living in deteriorating humanitarian conditions.

It set back Assad's hopes of using Russian air strikes to reclaim what was Syria's most populous city before the war, attend peace talks in a militarily strong position and speed the end of the five-year conflict with him still in power.

Kodmani said the HNC still wants a political solution, but the plight of those in bombarded eastern Aleppo had compelled moderate rebels to cooperate with more radical groups in breaking the siege.

"There was no reaction from the international community (to the siege)...the whole world was watching in silence what was going on," she said.

The HNC is pressing for the restoration of a 'cessation of hostilities' deal brokered in February by Washington and Moscow, but which collapsed due to the escalating violence centered on Aleppo.

"We wanted to see a restoration of the cessation of hostilities because that would allow (the HNC) and the opposition to immediately see that the moderate groups can organize life, communities and security," Kodmani said.

"The more radical groups would be marginalized because their value resides in their firepower. Instead what we saw was exactly the opposite... the moderate groups (were left) with no choice but to join forces with those who can, together, lead an offensive of some significance."

By far the rebels' biggest coordinated assault since the conflict began in 2011, the Aleppo offensive united around 6,000-8,000 fighters from disparate groups.

These ranged from the Islamist alliance Jaish al-Fateh, which includes Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, known as the Nusra Front until it cut ties with al Qaeda two weeks ago, to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), vetted and backed by the West.

The HNC will present in the next couple of weeks its detailed vision for a political transition, but Assad's government is not willing to negotiate, Kodmani said.

"We need a lot of heavy lifting between Russia, the U.S., the U.N. and other players ... On the regime side we have not seen so far any willingness to engage in good faith, so at the moment I think intensive international consultations need to take place."


"CYNICAL" CEASEFIRES


Although some food has entered in recent days, eastern Aleppo continues to suffer heavy air strikes.

Russia said on Wednesday that daily three-hour ceasefires would be declared to allow deliveries of aid supplies, but there has been no let up in the air strikes.

Kodmani said this move, like the Russian offer two weeks ago of 'humanitarian corridors' for people to leave the city, was a cynical and unilateral move which was not discussed with opposition groups.

"The purpose of the humanitarian corridors was to evacuate people, to force people to get out. It was basically: 'leave the city or be bombed'. It was not about bringing relief into the eastern part of the city."

The U.N. said three hours was not enough and it wanted a 48-hour weekly halt to the violence to deliver aid and evacuate the sick.

Kodmani welcomed the U.N. calls for a longer pause in fighting, but said this was not a long-term solution. "These measures are again only a way of relieving in a very provisional way, momentarily, a disastrous situation."

[OUTLAW 09]

AL-ALAM TV CLAIMS THE SYRIAN REGIME CRIMES TO THE OPPOSITION
http://verify-sy.com/ViewArticle/443/en … …
http://twitter.com/taaqad/status/764093994242420736/photo/1pic.twitter.com/pIuHUyKe0V

[OUTLAW 09]

Those who have triggered the crisis with carpet-bombing campaigns, all the while offering unsafe escape routes, are playing “a cynical game forcing people to make a cruel choice and, ultimately, ruling out any prospect of resuming the Geneva talks on Syria” F.M. Steinmeier

"Russia now had a duty 2 halt the Syrian regime, impose a ceasefire in Aleppo and work with the United Nations." Foreign Minister Steinmeier

[OUTLAW 09]

Big increase of #ATGMs fired by Rebels in Aug (56). Absolute record of October 2015 so far broken & already highest ever nbr of #Fagot used.

Another #Fagot strike vs Hamdaniyah: this time a sniper nest cleared by Jaish Al-Mujahideen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei-ZLW9XnX4 …

Idlib : Remnants a ballistic missile that killed six civilians in #Saraqeb city.

Ahrar al-Sham | Kornet #ATGM strike on regime militia tank Cement Plant front #Aleppo:
https://youtu.be/BzSF19t_i-c

[OUTLAW 09]

#BREAKING: Ibrahim Biro, head of the Kurdish National Council (#KNC, #ENKS) arrested by #Asayesh in Qamishli, #Rojava.

[OUTLAW 09]

Really worth reading the long article as this writer knows Syria and the players of the area.......

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
As IS is pushed out of Manbij, a look at the allies the West has deputized to take over, in theory and in practice

https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2016/08/13/the-wests-kurdish-allies-in-syria-cant-escape-their-authoritarian-legacy/

The West’s Kurdish Allies in Syria Can’t Escape Their Authoritarian Legacy

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on August 13, 2016


The Islamic State (IS) was driven from the city of Manbij yesterday, a key supply route to the Turkish border in northern Syria, the conclusion of an operation launched on 1 June by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a front-group for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), represented in Syria by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG). The SDF was backed by U.S. airstrikes. It is difficult not to see the defeat of IS as a positive development. It is, however, worth more closely examining the forces that are being enabled by Western power to fasten their rule across northern Syria, whose vision is deeply problematic—even in narrow terms of the fight against IS.

The PKK in Syria

The constitution for the Rojava-Northern Syria Democratic Federal System—to which we can be sure Manbij will be added—passed on 1 July 2016 and declares Qamishli its capital. The Federal System is controlled by Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM), which is a political coalition dominated by the PYD.

The PYD was founded in 2003 as the Syrian wing of the PKK. There remain those who deny that this is what the PYD is, the State Department among them, no doubt for reasons to do with the PKK’s presence on the list of foreign terrorist organizations. But the evidence—available in this report and these articles—is clear. The public admission by the U.S. Defence Secretary of at least “substantial ties” between the PYD and the PKK provided additional evidence, as did the reported death of Fehman Hussein (Bahoz Erdal) inside Syria on 9 July.

Hussein is reported dead semi-regularly, and supposedly denied his demise this time to Al-Jazeera. What is important here is that while Abdullah Ocalan remains the formal head of the PKK from his Turkish prison cell on Imrali Island, the day-to-day control of the organization is in the hands of three men: Hussein, Murat Karayilan (Cemal), and Cemil Bayik (Cuma).

Hussein, a Syrian Kurd from Kobani, was reported to be inside Syria as early as the summer of 2012 and to be leading the military side of the PYD/YPG, while the more political aspects were left in the hands of Saleh Muslim Muhammad, who is himself close to Karayilan. Hussein is also believed to be the commander of the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), a cut-out for the PKK that has claimed some of the more atrocious, civilian-focused terrorist attacks of late.

Just as Jabhat al-Nusra—or Jabhat Fatah al-Sham—is no less al-Qaeda for having a local focus, there can be no doubt that the PYD/YPG is fully subordinate to the PKK’s leadership in the Qandil Mountains. The PYD/YPG is led on the ground by the PKK’s military commanders and includes a not-insignificant number of PKK troops from and elsewhere. The PYD/YPG—and thus the SDF, whose Arab detachments are clearly subordinate and intended to stay that way—is also a totally integrated part of the PKK’s transnational political structure, the so-called Group of Communities in Kurdistan (KCK).

Democratic Confederalism

Even when it is conceded that the U.S.-led Coalition is supporting the PKK in Syria, an argument has been made that the organization has undergone a transformation away from the Stalinist-chauvinist cocktail of its founding. At the time of the March declaration of the Federal System, a spokesman for the TEV-DEM said it would be based on “Democratic Confederalism“. This ideology is the brainchild of Abdullah Ocalan, who is also known as “Apo” (hence the PKK’s ideology has been called “Apoism”).

The PKK at its founding in November 1978 was a Marxist-Leninist organization, even if this ideology was “secondary to the PKK’s nationalist drive” (p. 244) and the cult of its leader. By the 1990s Ocalan was said to have already showing signs of looking beyond Bolshevism and nationalism after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In prison, Ocalan’s evolution accelerated and Apoism formally abandoned outright separatism—indeed abandons the demand for a state at all—and adopts a hodgepodge vision of environmentalism, anarchism, and radical democracy.

Ocalan was arrested in Kenya on 15 February 1999, soon after being kicked out of Syria, and quickly demonstrated (p. 286-88) how firmly in control he remained on the ground. At the Seventh Conference in January 2000, the PKK formally renounced separatism, a bitter blow for many of the PKK old guard, and a number quit altogether and sought asylum in Europe.

In a book written in prison and published in 2011—originally submitted as part of an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights and then adopted as a manifesto at the 2002 Congress—Ocalan distanced himself from Communism and offered ideological self-criticisms (“The PKK’s founding manifesto reflected the Zeitgeist of the time … [but] did not … allow for a realistic approach … Real socialism has collapsed and the democratic civilization has proved its advantages”) and even some practical ones, conceding that the PKK ignored “signs coming from the Turkish authorities that a solution could be reached,” and fought on believing it was a “virtue to resist … compromise”. What began as self-defence ended as an “offensive” by the PKK, says Ocalan, “where we killed the best of our own comrades” and plunged into a “dirty, brutal war”. And for all that the status quo still held.

The final theoretical break of Apoism from the tyrannical Stalinism of its inception came in 2005, when Ocalan announced his conversion to an eco-anarchist form of direct democracy, inspired by Murray Bookchin (1921-2006), an American author whose youthful Communism had given way to “libertarian socialism”—a version of communitarian anarchism.

After reading a number of Bookchin’s books, Ocalan and Bookchin began corresponding in 2004 and in March 2005 Ocalan issued his formal declaration abandoning Marxism-Leninism in favour of Democratic Confederalism and renouncing the idea of creating a Kurdish state:


The only way out of this situation is to establish a democratic confederal system … Democratic confederalism of Kurdistan is not a state system, but a democratic system of the people without a state. … It is based on the freedoms of political, social, economic, cultural, sexual and ethnic rights.

Ocalan called for the establishment of a Koma Komalên Kurdistan (KKK), a prototype for the KCK that would be formed in 2007.

Expanding on this, Ocalan published a short book simply called Democratic Confederalism (2011). Ocalan rejects the nation-state entirely as an instrument representing the “national governor of the worldwide capitalist system,” rather than the common people, and which provides pressure toward homogenization that “leads into assimilation and genocide.”

It is rather notable that Ocalan situates himself away from rationalism, and instead takes up a position at the point where religion and New Age dogma intersect, rejecting “positivist science” and secularism as forms of superstition divorced from the spiritual needs of the people.

Ocalan situates his struggle within anti-capitalism rather than nationalism. “Without opposition against the capitalist modernity there will be no place for the liberation of the peoples. This is why the founding of a Kurdish nation-state is not an option for me,” Ocalan writes. Democratic Confederalism is an “anti-nationalist” concept that aims to proceed “without questioning the existing political borders,” since only “the ruling class or the interests of the bourgeoisie” desire a Kurdish nation-state.

In defining Democratic Confederalism, Ocalan says it is a “non-state social paradigm” that is in practice “a democracy without a state,” which is “multi-cultural, anti-monopolistic and consensus-oriented,” is opposed to centralization and hierarchy, based on community and grassroots democracy, and has “ecology and feminism [as] central pillars.” Still, Ocalan does conclude that “overcoming the … nation-state, is a long process,” and a “total rejection” of the state in the short-term is unwise.

This structure, according to Ocalan, could begin with a federation of the four Kurdish-majority zones—in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran—and then democratize the entire Middle East. Indeed, “global confederalism is not excluded”.

The PYD has used exactly this argument to contend that its Federal System can be expanded to allow local, democratic rule across all of Syria. This has naturally met with some scepticism given how the PYD has actually behaved.

The PKK in Practice

While Ocalan gives every indication of having undergone a genuine intellectual evolution and having formally imposed this on the PKK, the PKK in practice has shown itself bound by its founding. “Nothing much changed when the [Bashar al-Assad] regime withdrew … and the PYD took over,” a local resident of Efrin told Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila al-Shami in their book Burning Country. Kurdish journalist Hussein Omer compared the PYD’s rule, in its seizure of the various branches of society, to the Ba’ath Party’s.

Continued........



In prison, the PKK's leader seems to have genuinely transitioned away from Stalinism. Different on the ground.

[OUTLAW 09]

http://observer.com/2016/08/russia-hints-it-might-hide-nukes-in-syria/

Russia Hints It Might Hide Nukes in Syria

Senior Russian security official: We can't find common ground with the West, so we strengthen relations with Syria, Iran and Iraq

By Mikhail Klikushin • 08/12/16 2:15pm


Russia plans to build a full-scale military airbase and to deploy a permanent contingent of aircrafts in Syria, Izvestia newspaper reported on Wednesday. The paper’s source at the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed the existing infrastructure of Khmeimim—Russia’s current air base in Syria—will be expanded substantially, enabling the deployment of heavy aircrafts from Khmeimim in the near future.

Khmeimim will be surrounded by ramparts to protect against enemy fire and bombing. The base will be outfitted with new radio-technical equipment—including an air traffic control system—and a full-fledged military town for the Russian troops stationed there.

The Russian Defense Ministry source told Izvestia that, although Khmeimim’s expansion has been planned since the end of 2015, the deal wasn’t official until two days ago. Last Tuesday, Moscow and Damascus signed an agreement giving Khmeimim to Russia in perpetuity, free of charge and out of the jurisdiction of the Syrian government.

Russian experts believe their military presence will benefit the region, despite some inevitable pushback from nearby Arab monarchies.

According to the source, blueprints of the new Khmeimim include a loading dock for Antonov An-124 Ruslan heavy military transport aircrafts.

Franz Klintsevich, a Russian State Duma senator and first deputy chairman of the Committee for the Defense and Security, told the newspaper:

“When Russian air forces first entered Syria, Syrian armed forces were demoralized. Our support has helped restore their military capabilities. Russia understands that if we do not take these necessary measures, large-scale terrorist threats will eventually be a reality. We must do something—but we are not able to find common ground with the West on joint actions. Therefore, we strengthen relations with the regional players: Syria, Iran and Iraq.”

He continued: “Khmeimim will be the base for Russian armed forces and appropriate infrastructure will be built there. Our soldiers will live in dignity. Military air forces will be increased [in the future] in accordance with the bilateral agreement [between Russia and Syria] but, so far, in terms of solving the problems that exist [at the base], there are enough forces and means there.”

Klintsevich told the newspaper that “[for now] the nuclear weapons and heavy bombers will not be placed there on a permanent basis, because it would be in violation of international agreements and would create very severe problems.”

The words ‘on a permanent basis’ were immediately emphasized by the media. “Russia Will Not Deploy at Khmeimim Nuclear Weapons on a Permanent Basis” read a RIA Novosti headline.

Nurhan el-Sheikh, a Cairo University professor and member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs (ECFA), admitted to the newspaper that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have been unhappy with Putin’s decision to maintain a presence in Syria—they have their own vision for the future, which Russia is violating.

Now that Buzzfeed has helpfully determined that I do indeed exist, the notion of Russia placing nukes in the heart of the most volatile place on earth represents the gravest Russian threat to world security since one lowly writer in New Jersey. (It was funny to me that Buzzfeed, in its article confirming my existence, pointed to “his name, unusual in Russian, has raised eyebrows.” In fact, around a hundred Klikushins were killed during WWII; there is a Judge Klikushin serving on the Russian Supreme Court and my nephew Ivan Klikushin just enlisted in the US Army. So much for my family’s low profile!)

Meanwhile, the additional ‘surprise’ from the Russian president regarding the possible deployment of Russian nukes from Khmeimim—albeit on a ‘rotational basis’—will no doubt be met with zero enthusiasm by all regional players.

[OUTLAW 09]

One of the many #AssadPutin air strikes on #Aleppo today hit a #pharmacy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZDozPMbrd4 …

#Aleppo/#Idlib: #Russia|n and #Assad airstrikes killed over 40 civilians in #Aleppo and #Idlib today

The Western media repeat reports from #YPG within 1 hour & without any proof, but nearly no reports from rebels in #Aleppo even with proof.

Where is the media coverage about rebels breaking the siege, liberating #Aleppo from #Assad & foreign Shia militias and sending food & aid?

Rights group reporting that 60+ #Syria|n children younger than 18 were recruited by #YPG & its female branch. #Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

Hezbollah chief Nasrallah approvingly quotes Trump: "Even the Republican leader said Obama and Clinton founded ISIS"


Nasrallah is begging Sunni #Jihad|is to lay down their weapons (while #Hezbollah & other #Khomeini|s keep their own).

A desperate #Nasrallah tells Sunni #Jihad|is: Your SVBIED ops are suicide, not martyrdom

Nasrallah pumps #Khomeini's #Shia w/ pride, makes them forget that now it's the Shia—not #Israel—who're facing an existential threat.

Nasrallah invokes Ashura's spirit so that the mobs can be emotionally charged w/ shouts of "Far away from us is humiliation!"

Very important today:#Nasrallah claims #Hezbollah defeated the New #MiddleEast Project in '06; dude ignores that much of the #ME is on fire.

Nasrallah is *desperately* trying to convince the listeners that #Israel was deeply wounded even in its soul during '06 War w/ #Hezbollah.

[OUTLAW 09]

Second posted comment on the use of an unusual incendiary device similar to napalm......

Suspected napalm (or some sort of incendiary) barrel bomb attack in #Daraya today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1-spwXekl4 …

Still no identification as to what it is exactly......

Earlier this month, @DarayaCouncil uploaded another video of a suspected napalm/incendiary attack in #Daraya:
https://youtu.be/bDa96yZ0RsA

[OUTLAW 09]

Hezbollah chief Nasrallah approvingly quotes Trump: "Even the Republican leader said Obama and Clinton founded ISIS"


Nasrallah is begging Sunni #Jihad|is to lay down their weapons (while #Hezbollah & other #Khomeini|s keep their own).

A desperate #Nasrallah tells Sunni #Jihad|is: Your SVBIED ops are suicide, not martyrdom

Nasrallah pumps #Khomeini's #Shia w/ pride, makes them forget that now it's the Shia—not #Israel—who're facing an existential threat.

Nasrallah invokes Ashura's spirit so that the mobs can be emotionally charged w/ shouts of "Far away from us is humiliation!"

Very important today:#Nasrallah claims #Hezbollah defeated the New #MiddleEast Project in '06; dude ignores that much of the #ME is on fire.

Nasrallah is *desperately* trying to convince the listeners that #Israel was deeply wounded even in its soul during '06 War w/ #Hezbollah.

"Threats"? It's an ongoing #Sunni genocide by #Assad and all of his allies. The Sunnis will never forget or forgive.

[OUTLAW 09]

Nighttime Russian airstrikes continue, from Hayan in #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/vmWbppEK7Ec

Damascus: #Assad regime losses in #Darayya in 2 months:
• 150+ fighters killed
• 200+ fighters wounded
• 2 tanks, 10 BMPs, 3 mine sweepers

[OUTLAW 09]

Listen in!
Around #Aleppo tonight.
A living HELL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmWbppEK7Ec …

Air strikes continue all around #Aleppo right now.
99% of the targets: #Civilians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER7miTSr1m4 …

Around #Aleppo this evening.
#AssadPutin don't laugh at the west. The spit at us!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdpYq4HmJ5U …

Syria 45+ towns/villages were hit by dozens of Russia/Assad airstrikes/barrel bomb attacks in Aleppo, Idlib, Damascus, Homs & Hama today

In the besieged #Damascus suburb of #Daraya alone at least 35 barrel bombs were dropped by Assad helicopters

[davidbfpo]

Shashank Joshi, of RUSI, has a commentary on the taking of Manbij:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/13/manbijs-liberation-is-a-big-step-in-the-long-war-against-isil/? (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/13/manbijs-liberation-is-a-big-step-in-the-long-war-against-isil/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter)

From my faraway armchair the Syrian Civil War is far more than the Assad coalition -v- ISIL -v- the opposition coalition; in many respects it is similar to the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina of the 1990's, with so many "interested" parties.

[OUTLAW 09]

The IRGC says 400 of its fighters - half of them Afghan - have been killed fighting for Iran in Syria Large number were officers
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article95505532.html …

[Azor]

Great video of rebels breaking the siege:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bUqmTCm8X_c

On the Ground News (OGN) has some interesting interviews with rebels post-battle:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ITnlYLtASIg

It is clear that the rebels are well aware of their situation, and a rebel mentioned Iranian and Shia militia involvement, chemical weapons, and Obama's infamous "red lines".

[OUTLAW 09]

Shashank Joshi, of RUSI, has a commentary on the taking of Manbij:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/13/manbijs-liberation-is-a-big-step-in-the-long-war-against-isil/? (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/13/manbijs-liberation-is-a-big-step-in-the-long-war-against-isil/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter)

From my faraway armchair the Syrian Civil War is far more than the Assad coalition -v- ISIL -v- the opposition coalition; in many respects it is similar to the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina of the 1990's, with so many "interested" parties.

David...in some aspects it is similar but in other ways it is not...IMHO it has moved now into a full scale Sunni Shia conflict between Iran on one side and KSA/allies and Turkey on the other side and the US having played their proxy hand with SDF/YPG/PKK has not fully realized just what they may have unleased....a Sunni/Kurdish clash that both do not need right now.

The article of Orten posted here is a critical piece when referring the US failure to understand the ground players....

IMHO the article also linked here concerning the possible stationing of Russian nukes in Syria also needs to be a major piece within SWJ discussions....this might in fact have explained just why suddenly Putin submitted to the Duma AFTER they went home their need to ratify the Russian Syrian SOFA....a strange move actually for Putin but one needed if in fact nukes are to be stationed......as the signatures of both parties is enough under Russian thinking to carry the weight of an actual treaty...BUT if nukes are involved then Putin would need the illusion of having Duma authority...

Remember he went into Crimea and eastern Ukraine using the announced authority granted him by the Duma.....remember all Russian actions somehow have to have the illusion of being "democratic".....and internationally "legal".....

[Azor]

Shashank Joshi, of RUSI, has a commentary on the taking of Manbij:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/13/manbijs-liberation-is-a-big-step-in-the-long-war-against-isil/? (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/13/manbijs-liberation-is-a-big-step-in-the-long-war-against-isil/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter)

From my faraway armchair the Syrian Civil War is far more than the Assad coalition -v- ISIL -v- the opposition coalition; in many respects it is similar to the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina of the 1990's, with so many "interested" parties.

Yes, and not unlike the Thirty Years War. When I see people simplifying the war as Assad vs. terrorists or Assad vs. freedom fighters, I shake my head.

[davidbfpo]

David...in some aspects it is similar but in other ways it is not...IMHO it has moved now into a full scale Sunni Shia conflict between Iran on one side and KSA/allies and Turkey on the other side and the US having played their proxy hand with SDF/YPG/PKK has not fully realized just what they may have unleased....a Sunni/Kurdish clash that both do not need right now.

IMHO the article also linked here concerning the possible stationing of Russian nukes in Syria also needs to be a major piece within SWJ discussions.

This article:http://observer.com/2016/08/russia-hints-it-might-hide-nukes-in-syria/ struck me as odd. In part as I do not know this online Observer website, then the author is a Russian, now resident in the USA and some of his previous articles have IMHO odd titles. The only source for the nukes was:
Franz Klintsevich, a Russian State Duma senator and first deputy chairman of the Committee for the Defense and Security...

With one exception long ago, Cuba, neither the USSR or Russia has based nuclear weapons outside its national territory and those of its satellites. It is worth recalling during the intense Soviet relationship with Egypt and Syria, with a strong active military presence nukes were not deployed.

Even as a symbol of undying support for the Assad coalition nukes would be of little value. Will Syrians alter their loyalty and readiness to die knowing they are there? No.

As for the regional impact would nukes deter the other "interested" parties? I think not. It will be interesting to see how Israel reacts.

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Ballistic missile loaded with cluster bombs targeted residential neighborhoods in the city of Saraqeb #Idlib
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsIFukKQuq8 …

Damascus: Rebels killed 50+ pro-#Assad forces east of #Dumayr since last night and still advancing along the #Damascus-#Baghdad Highway.

Syria Statement of #SDF military leader for #Manbej
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MImQ7gpIy0Y&feature=youtu.be …

[OUTLAW 09]

A very valid comment.....

LiveUpdatesFromSyria @liveupdatesyria
#ALEPPO: Our hospital & nearby areas were hit atleast 16 x this AM! These are WAR CRIMES!

WHY IS THE WORLD SILENT!?

[OUTLAW 09]

This article:http://observer.com/2016/08/russia-hints-it-might-hide-nukes-in-syria/ struck me as odd. In part as I do not know this online Observer website, then the author is a Russian, now resident in the USA and some of his previous articles have IMHO odd titles. The only source for the nukes was:

With one exception long ago, Cuba, neither the USSR or Russia has based nuclear weapons outside its national territory and those of its satellites. It is worth recalling during the intense Soviet relationship with Egypt and Syria, with a strong active military presence nukes were not deployed.

Even as a symbol of undying support for the Assad coalition nukes would be of little value. Will Syrians alter their loyalty and readiness to die knowing they are there? No.

As for the regional impact would nukes deter the other "interested" parties? I think not. It will be interesting to see how Israel reacts.

Would agree largely with your comments about the strangeness of the writer and his location but I have also learned that these single one off comments do not represent any particular Russian info warfare comments but are being used to actually post a single view or comment coming directly to the West...
coming straight out of Moscow.

There is another single commenter who does have solid ties to Moscow who also sits and posts from the West who also picked up this narrative in a single comment as he knows he is being monitored....

This move is a valid military move if one takes the view that Russian FP for the ME know covers the protection of the Iranian State until such time as they have their own nuclear weapons abilities which if one looks at the Iran Deal if we believe what the Obama WH says....will be there in less than 10 years.

Signally their intent is a old line Soviet/Russian tactic......during the 1973 Suez fighting when it was the darkest for the IDF and they were being pushed back.....the Israeli's "parked several of their nuclear weapons" on a runway just in time for the US satellite flyover......."signally" their intent if they continued to be losing......

When then the IDF was getting close to encircling and destroying the Egyptian attack forces the Soviets/Russians parked an entire Soviet Airborne unit next to their transport aircraft with their jet engines running just in time for another US satellite flyover

Signal was clearly received and suddenly the IDF came to a stand still......

Signaling intent used to be a "way of life" in the Cold War days...we just got out of practice.....

BTW the nuclear practices of the Soviet days is not what it is now under Putin and his revised Nuclear Doctrine of 2013/2014 which basically eliminated MAD. He really does think he can fight and win a tactical nuclear exchange....as it is built around "de-escalation" meaning fire ....immediately settle equals win all......before the retaliation occurs...

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaish al Islam announces 2nd part of "Dhat al-Riqa" offensive. Will attack regime & check points in E. #Qalmoun.

FSA Liwa Shuhada al-Islam reports that for first time, Russian Officers were involved in an offensive on #Darayya:

Harvest time in Eastern Ghouta's farms
https://youtu.be/GF0UoDyRfMM #Syria

Jaish al Sunnah targeting kurdish unit (#YPG) strong holds with mortars. possibly in north #Aleppo.
https://youtu.be/TN1YuBVCKKA

Originality and Dev. Front firing a Recoilless rifle (modified m40?) on regime positions in a military camp in #Homs
https://youtu.be/kppWLyZXb-s

Fatah Halab Artillery Battalion firing a make#### BM-21/Grad Launcher at regime forces on Thahabiya and Chgab Hill
https://youtu.be/LgzqVcAIj2g

Aleppo: Several civil defense members were wounded by regime airstrikes on a Civil Defense building in Orm Kubra town.

FSA Liwa Shuhada al-Islam report on last 70 days of CoH covered regime offensive losses against City of #Darayya:
• 3 armored mine sweepers
• 2 tanks
• 10 BMPs
• 150 KIA
• 185 wounded

Mutasim Brigade targeting Islamic State in Tel Mald & Herbel with a SPG9 rifle in North #Aleppo #FSA

Russian air force kills 5 civilians including women and children after they hit Qubtan Jabal village in N. #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/qOCFrA90Znk

Mujahideen Army kill a group of snipers in Tourism District of Hamdaniyah neighborhood, #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/Ei-ZLW9XnX4

Teacher in North #Aleppo sending a message to the international community in English:
https://youtu.be/0jPvxNChpGw

Second Coastal Division video memorial for their fighters killed in action.
https://youtu.be/Hw1gcc5teKk

Fuel being brought into the Suleiman al-Halabi water pump station and water is running for residents of E. #Aleppo

Girl faces leg amputation after @UN will not remove girl in #Madaya because they didn't receive approval from regime
https://youtu.be/YC7JFdPUHbc

[OUTLAW 09]

Regime artillery, ~3.5 km from Ramoussah front, #Aleppo h/t @etkmkao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieM4R_68oPQ …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.133161&lon=37.167091&z=14&m …

Regime fired on populated #Saraqeb a ballistic missile Tochka-U with inaccuracy up to ~90 m.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRBR3BGwEZQ …

Aleppo: again several attempts by pro-Regime forces to advance in Souq Jibs, 1070 Project, Mahrouqat hill & quarries with #RuAF aircover.

N. #Homs operation room announces pro-Regime assault on S. #Hama front (Harbinafsah-Zara) is repelled.

Jaish Al-Islam reportedly advancing on Damascus-Baghdad highway & infiltrated Artillery base
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=33.690067&lon=36.898270&z=12&m …

Clashes & BMP destroyed as pro-Regime forces launched another assault on Harbinafsah & Zara fronts in S. #Hama http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=34.940267&lon=36.656055&z=13&m …

Hizb Allah Al Nujaba Militia Supporting the Regime in Southern #Aleppo based in #Rasm_Bakru
https://goo.gl/XQulPm

#Correspondent of @BBCPersian:Defenders of Shrine sacrificing their lives,why attack them?didthey wrong iranian ppl?
A cement factory is a "Shia Shrine"...?????

[OUTLAW 09]

Hama Clashes & airstrikes continues around Al Zara Thermal Power Plant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgL5c1pFWgI …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=34.953775&lon=36.665497&z=14&m=b …

Syria Rebels shelling regime hold areas in south eastern #Aleppo with Grad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKzH0_mFdE8 …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.135171&lon=37.222967&z=14&m=b …

Merge of some rebel forces in southern #Syria
https://youtu.be/PElY5zFZMNo

At least 105 Syrians killed, 250 injured & 2 hospitals destroyed in heavy airstrikes on rebel-held areas across Aleppo & Idlib since Friday.

Syria #Idlib: #Russia'n airstrikes with cluster bombs on villages in al-Zawiya mountains
https://youtu.be/TuSXLNi_YRw

[OUTLAW 09]

Also in #Rastan (besieged #Homs prov.), air strikes continued this morning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbLSNTIQSnE …

Reference more firings of SS21s....
Targets of the missiles, according to the rebels.
Significant change in strategy, imo.

The 2 locations targeted are W. (Al-Dahabiyah) & E. (Tell Sharib) from that area:
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.143004&lon=37.219620&z=13&m=b …

New #Grad missiles in #Aleppo
Rebels fire missiles at #Assad regime positions E of the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKzH0_mFdE8 …

Evidence
The #AssadPutin genocidal alliance fires OTR-21 Tochka at civilians in #Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRBR3BGwEZQ …

Not just dozens of air strikes, but also ballistic missiles hit #Saraqib today.
https://www.facebook.com/qasioun.news.agency/videos/vb.400834690063586/680918032055249/?type=2&theater …

8 incendiary bombs have dropped on Daraya since the early morning
http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2016/14-august-8-incendiary-bombs-have-dropped-on-the-city-of …
pic.twitter.com/NsSPNcrgh7

[OUTLAW 09]

The White Helmets @SyriaCivilDef
The Orem al Kubra @SyriaCivilDef was targeted today. Two volunteers injured. Center and ambulance destroyed.


Hezbollah the so called "party of God" sends drugs disguised as charcoal to Kuwait.

Idlib city is far from front-lines, only possible military goal - to create more refugees and to punish them for supporting the rebels
https://twitter.com/Liveuamap/status/764809135812648960 …

[OUTLAW 09]

83 civilians were killed across #Syria by #Putin and #Assad yesterday, incl. 10 children and 13 women.
#Aleppo: 45
#Idlib: 17
- LCC

[OUTLAW 09]

Absolute must-read: Did Assad Recruit the Leader of Al-Qaeda in Syria?
https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/did-assad-recruit-the-leader-of-al-qaeda-in-syria/ …
via @KyleWOrton

From former US Syrian Ambassador....
Robert Ford ‏@fordrs58 · Aug 11
connecting dots and raising again questions about Syrian intelligence connections to extremists

George Casey Iran responsibility for the bombing of the Samarra shrine in 2006
https://youtu.be/r6GIrb6mpFE

This is interesting in that AQI claimed the attack but the US/Iraqi ISF never captured nor killed any AQI member that carried out the attack and since we now know how deeply Iran has been supporting both AQ.....

In 2011, #Assad freed 100s of Islamist prisoners, while continuing to arrest/kill secular demonstrators.

Robert Ford ‏@fordrs58 · Aug 11
absolutely true.

[OUTLAW 09]

RuAF drops food and munitions today to Foa and KafrRaya in #Idlib rif.

Syria news as reported for 14/08/2016: RuAF destroys children hospital at Urem alKobra #Aleppo
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2016/08/14/syria-news-as-reported-for-14082016-ruaf-destroys-children-hospital-at-urem-alkobra-aleppo …

Syria|#AlHassakeh #Qamishli| PYD roylities have become a burden to the citizens
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2016/08/14/syriaalhassakeh-qamishli-pyd-roylities-have-become-a-burden-to-the-citizens …

Syria|AlHassakeh|Map of the KNC location in #Qamishli
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2016/08/14/syriaalhassakehmap-of-the-knc-location-in-qamishli …

1 Assad soldier who must be in the Cement Factory says that Assad has taken them to a situation (blurred), iranians are not doing anything

Former detainees recount torture and organ harvesting in Syria’s prisons
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2016/08/13/former-detainees-recount-torture-and-organ-harvesting-in-syrias-prisons …

[OUTLAW 09]

Putin, the Arabs' friend, destroys Idlib market bcz
they were the first to send food to E.Aleppo,so starving ppl can continue to resist

Syria|Maarat Numan 154 days of demonstrations aking JAFalSham to accept a Sharia Court and…
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2016/08/13/syriamaarat-numan-154-days-of-demonstrations-aking-jafalsham-to-accept-a-sharia-court-and-hands-back-the-fsa-division-13-arms …

[OUTLAW 09]

Syrian Opposition Factions in the Syrian Civil War via @bellingcat
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2016/08/13/syrian-opposition-factions-in-the-syrian-civil-war/ …

[OUTLAW 09]

Sham Legion - Homs Division firing mortar on regime forces trying to advance on #Zara front, #Homs
https://youtu.be/SmAV5x3UonU

Homs Operation room repel the most recent attacks in Hirbnafsah and Zara area.

Homs Operations destroy a regime BMP during their attack on Hirbnafasah and Zara in #Homs.

Liwa al Haq able to repel "Iranian Mercenaries" (Afghani militias most likely) From 1070 apt., inflicting losses.

Jaish al Isam firing Konkurs ATGM at regime 23 mm in E. #Qalmoun. Video cuts early.
https://youtu.be/0bb2Nn-WIgA

Ahrar al Sham is targeting regime forces in the S. #Aleppo town of Al wahdiha الوضيحي with Grad rockets.

Sham Legion firing rockets at regime militias in Zahra Assocation #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/bcd9tsaeb04

Photos of the car bomb Ahrar used in al Zahra against regime militias before attacking it. Looks remotely controlled

First pics of Rebel offensive on Jamiyah Az-Zahraa: Lava missiles by Sham Front & car-bomb (VBIED) by Ahrar Al-Sham.

The next phase in the battle for #Aleppo has begun with rebels taking Manha Housing and the Water-Facility

Jund Badr 313's #ATGM strike vs a BMP on Zara front, S. #Hama.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqBTxOwv_j8 …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=34.944347&lon=36.658115&z=13&m …

While 1st Rebel gains reported on Jamiyah Az-Zahra fornt, Jaish Al-Fateh started preemptive shelling on Huways in S.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.091557&lon=37.100487&z=13&m …

Jaish Al-Fateh detonated 1st VBIED in Jamiyah Az-Zahra & destroyed 2 guns with ATGMs. #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.226827&lon=37.094736&z=14&m …

Breaking. Jaish Al-Fateh announces pre-emptive shelling on Jamiyah Az-Zahra in NW. #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.227727&lon=37.132330&z=14&m …

As Regime assault on Souq Al-Jibs failed, Rebels now directly striking Al-Assad suburb w/ Elephant missiles, #Aleppo

Jaish Al-Islam fired a #Konkurs vs 23 mm gun in its assault in E. #Qalamoun. Unclear if hit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bb2Nn-WIgA …

Intense airstrikes & shelling on #Kabana as pro-Regime forces renew attempt to advance, Jebal Al-Akrad, N. #Latakia.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.718155&lon=36.233082&z=14&m …

Pro-Regime claims took 25 buildings in 1070 Project with pics taken from positions they hold since days now. #Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaish al-Fath launched simultaneous attacks on Assad/IRGC positions in Jamiyat al-Zahraa NW Aleppo and Huwayz/Wadihi villages south Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Phase 4 of the #Aleppo offensive is in full swing. Rebels advancing in Western #Aleppo.

REMEMBER the rebels announced that it would be a full six phases and we have two to go......

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Rebels have captured Mahna Housing and Water Storage Facility and are now inside #Zahraa District.

Aleppo: Rebels advancing in #Zahraa District and captured 5 #Hezbollah fighters.

[OUTLAW 09]

Sham Legion - Homs Division firing mortar on regime forces trying to advance on #Zara front, #Homs
https://youtu.be/SmAV5x3UonU

Homs Operation room repel the most recent attacks in Hirbnafsah and Zara area.

Homs Operations destroy a regime BMP during their attack on Hirbnafasah and Zara in #Homs.

Liwa al Haq able to repel "Iranian Mercenaries" (Afghani militias most likely) From 1070 apt., inflicting losses.

Jaish al Isam firing Konkurs ATGM at regime 23 mm in E. #Qalmoun. Video cuts early.
https://youtu.be/0bb2Nn-WIgA

Ahrar al Sham is targeting regime forces in the S. #Aleppo town of Al wahdiha الوضيحي with Grad rockets.

Sham Legion firing rockets at regime militias in Zahra Assocation #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/bcd9tsaeb04

Photos of the car bomb Ahrar used in al Zahra against regime militias before attacking it. Looks remotely controlled

First pics of Rebel offensive on Jamiyah Az-Zahraa: Lava missiles by Sham Front & car-bomb (VBIED) by Ahrar Al-Sham.

The next phase in the battle for #Aleppo has begun with rebels taking Manha Housing and the Water-Facility

Jund Badr 313's #ATGM strike vs a BMP on Zara front, S. #Hama.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqBTxOwv_j8 …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=34.944347&lon=36.658115&z=13&m …

While 1st Rebel gains reported on Jamiyah Az-Zahra fornt, Jaish Al-Fateh started preemptive shelling on Huways in S.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.091557&lon=37.100487&z=13&m …

Jaish Al-Fateh detonated 1st VBIED in Jamiyah Az-Zahra & destroyed 2 guns with ATGMs. #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.226827&lon=37.094736&z=14&m …

Breaking. Jaish Al-Fateh announces pre-emptive shelling on Jamiyah Az-Zahra in NW. #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.227727&lon=37.132330&z=14&m …

As Regime assault on Souq Al-Jibs failed, Rebels now directly striking Al-Assad suburb w/ Elephant missiles, #Aleppo

Jaish Al-Islam fired a #Konkurs vs 23 mm gun in its assault in E. #Qalamoun. Unclear if hit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bb2Nn-WIgA …

Intense airstrikes & shelling on #Kabana as pro-Regime forces renew attempt to advance, Jebal Al-Akrad, N. #Latakia.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.718155&lon=36.233082&z=14&m …

Pro-Regime claims took 25 buildings in 1070 Project with pics taken from positions they hold since days now. #Aleppo


Aleppo: Rebel killed dozens of pro-#Assad forces with a car bomb at #Assad Intelligence Center in #Zahraa District.

[OUTLAW 09]

Homs/#Hama: Rebels repelled regime assault north of #Hirbnafsah and #Zahra villages and killed 20+ pro-#Assad forces today.

Aleppo: Another attempt by pro-#Assad forces to advance in Southern #Aleppo failed today. #Ramouseh

Damascus: Rebels killed 50+ pro-#Assad forces east of #Dumayr since last night and still advancing along the #Damascus-#Baghdad Highway.

[OUTLAW 09]

I remember when people argued in Jan 2012 that military action against Assad would make things worse. 5000 had been killed. Now it's 470,000.

The perfect example of how doing nothing is actually doing something.

[OUTLAW 09]

Sham Legion firing machine guns and firing a M72 Law at regime positions during attack on Zahra Association
https://youtu.be/ybnj7ICAhYY

Rebels have launched an assault on cement factory ( led by TIP) and Wadeihi as well. #Aleppo #Syria

Among panic and destruction, resident & @SYRedCrescent looks for bodies after a regime air strike hits #Idlib city
https://youtu.be/lPZt0nPYP2A

Video of more aid from Qatari aid organizations after their convoy first entered #Aleppo after the siege was broken
https://youtu.be/k1CFk8OBUwk

FSA Al-Ezzah Army TOW #ATGM strike reported on 14.5 mm machine gun at regime Checkpoint Tel Black Rif E #Hama

BREAKING: Another Syrian Rebels' Attack on Wadihia in southern #Aleppo entrance.

$1500 is what #Iran pays sectarian Shia Iraqi mercenaries to come to #Syria to fight & die for Assad.

[OUTLAW 09]

Really worth reading the long article as this writer knows Syria and the players of the area.......

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
As IS is pushed out of Manbij, a look at the allies the West has deputized to take over, in theory and in practice

https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2016/08/13/the-wests-kurdish-allies-in-syria-cant-escape-their-authoritarian-legacy/

The West’s Kurdish Allies in Syria Can’t Escape Their Authoritarian Legacy

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on August 13, 2016

[/B]In prison, the PKK's leader seems to have genuinely transitioned away from Stalinism. Different on the ground.

Syria: #SDF has announced the creation of the al-Bab military council, meaning a offensive on al-Bab is imminent

This move may in fact seal the coming clashes between the YPG/PKK and the anti Assad forces and JFS....

Syria:this #SDF-backed al-Bab military council is set up weeks after the creation of a #FSA-backed military council

Syria: #FSA rebels announce set up of a military council for the city of al-Bab (#Aleppo)
https://youtu.be/Q6yGv0Qemp4

Clash is coming......as more and more Arab Sunni's under YPG control are calling for FSA and JFs to take back over the YPG controlled Arab Sunni towns and villages originally captured with Assad/Russian CAS and troops...

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebel commanders in W #Aleppo announce the next phase of the liberation of the city
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKtW4cLvLgQ …


Syria #Aleppo #JaF drive vehicle bomb into regime fortifications of
Zahraa district
https://youtu.be/IyGtw-Nr1hE

[OUTLAW 09]

Abu Saeed Al-Halabi @Saeed__Saeed01
Breaking || The first offensive to liberate #Aleppo city has begun. Multiple fronts opened by JaF. JFS goes for the Cement Factory.

When the cement factory and industrial district including the water facility falls, Assad/IRGC can kiss SW #Aleppo goodbye for good.

Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra) is tweeting in English now
Shift in communication strategy.
https://twitter.com/JFS_Eng/status/764862621761806336 …

Rebel capture of the #Aleppo Cement Factory would be quite a victory. It has been turned into an Assad fortress
https://twitter.com/NorthernStork/status/764863215339700225 …

Sham Legion firing Elephant rockets into the cement plant before storming it #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/DBT6JtzEl1w

Jaish Fatah al Sham is reporting that they killed a "senior Hezbollah leader" in operations against the cement plant

Sham Legion firing rockets into cement plant during the preparation for storming the compound
https://youtu.be/eYmtlRNpixA #Aleppo

Jaish Fatah al Sham is reporting that regime ranks in the cement factory are collapsing extremely quickly. #Aleppo

JFS ‏@JFS_Eng
Breaking
#Aleppo
Mujahideen have just stormed the 'cement factory', 1 of the biggest military compounds of the regime

Breaking. Jaish Al-Fateh's Inghimasi are storming the Cement Factory in S. #Aleppo.

JFS ‏@JFS_Eng · 13m13 minutes ago
Breaking
#Aleppo Mujahideen assume complete control of 'cement factory'. Search and secure underway.

[OUTLAW 09]

Minister of Local Administration and Syrian Interim government to form a provincial council over #Quneitra councils
https://youtu.be/_t84U_LhxTs

Mutasim Brigade targeting Islamic State fighters with Mortars in Ahtimlat town in northern #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/vRKLIZA_jag

Nearly 40 air strikes target the towns of Hirbnafsah and Zara during the regime's (failed) attempt to take the area
https://youtu.be/wgL5c1pFWgI

Fire breaks out in #Darayya after regime drops incendiary/napalm barrel bombs on residential areas
https://youtu.be/ar-IwIDzKKs

[OUTLAW 09]

Abu Saeed Al-Halabi @Saeed__Saeed01
Breaking || The first offensive to liberate #Aleppo city has begun. Multiple fronts opened by JaF. JFS goes for the Cement Factory.

When the cement factory and industrial district including the water facility falls, Assad/IRGC can kiss SW #Aleppo goodbye for good.

Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra) is tweeting in English now
Shift in communication strategy.
https://twitter.com/JFS_Eng/status/764862621761806336 …

Rebel capture of the #Aleppo Cement Factory would be quite a victory. It has been turned into an Assad fortress
https://twitter.com/NorthernStork/status/764863215339700225 …

Sham Legion firing Elephant rockets into the cement plant before storming it #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/DBT6JtzEl1w

Jaish Fatah al Sham is reporting that they killed a "senior Hezbollah leader" in operations against the cement plant

Sham Legion firing rockets into cement plant during the preparation for storming the compound
https://youtu.be/eYmtlRNpixA #Aleppo

Jaish Fatah al Sham is reporting that regime ranks in the cement factory are collapsing extremely quickly. #Aleppo

JFS ‏@JFS_Eng
Breaking
#Aleppo
Mujahideen have just stormed the 'cement factory', 1 of the biggest military compounds of the regime

Breaking. Jaish Al-Fateh's Inghimasi are storming the Cement Factory in S. #Aleppo.

JFS ‏@JFS_Eng · 13m13 minutes ago
Breaking
#Aleppo Mujahideen assume complete control of 'cement factory'. Search and secure underway.

Rebel capture of the #Aleppo Cement Factory would be quite a victory. It has been turned into an Assad fortress

[OUTLAW 09]

Footage: heavy clashes inside Jamiyah Az-Zahra in NW. #Aleppo.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.225165&lon=37.099285&z=13&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HC1SLh9aNY …

Jaish Al-Izza blew up with a #TOW a 14.5 mm gun in Tell Aswad, E. #Hama.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUvTbTjHjJM …

Sham Front's preemptive shelling with Lava Missiles on Jamiyah Az-Zahra, NW #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RblMstIxoKA …

[OUTLAW 09]

Abu Saeed Al-Halabi @Saeed__Saeed01
Breaking || The first offensive to liberate #Aleppo city has begun. Multiple fronts opened by JaF. JFS goes for the Cement Factory.

When the cement factory and industrial district including the water facility falls, Assad/IRGC can kiss SW #Aleppo goodbye for good.

Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra) is tweeting in English now
Shift in communication strategy.
https://twitter.com/JFS_Eng/status/764862621761806336 …

Rebel capture of the #Aleppo Cement Factory would be quite a victory. It has been turned into an Assad fortress
https://twitter.com/NorthernStork/status/764863215339700225 …

Sham Legion firing Elephant rockets into the cement plant before storming it #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/DBT6JtzEl1w

Jaish Fatah al Sham is reporting that they killed a "senior Hezbollah leader" in operations against the cement plant

Sham Legion firing rockets into cement plant during the preparation for storming the compound
https://youtu.be/eYmtlRNpixA #Aleppo

Jaish Fatah al Sham is reporting that regime ranks in the cement factory are collapsing extremely quickly. #Aleppo

JFS ‏@JFS_Eng
Breaking
#Aleppo
Mujahideen have just stormed the 'cement factory', 1 of the biggest military compounds of the regime

Breaking. Jaish Al-Fateh's Inghimasi are storming the Cement Factory in S. #Aleppo.

JFS ‏@JFS_Eng · 13m13 minutes ago
Breaking
#Aleppo Mujahideen assume complete control of 'cement factory'. Search and secure underway.

Breaking. The Cement Factory is under full control of Jaish Al-Fateh, S. #Aleppo.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.153816&lon=37.144518&z=14&m …

Rebel capture of the #Aleppo Cement Factory would be quite a victory. It has been turned into an Assad fortress

[OUTLAW 09]

http://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/syrien/why-assad-putin-and-erdogan-wont-fight-is-47304924.bild.html

Why Assad, Putin and Erdogan won't fight ISIS in Syria

by @KyleWOrton, exclusive in @BILD.

14.08.2016 - 18:46 Uhr


The Islamic State is a threat to the entire world, but it is not always a state's primary threat, and for some states ISIS's existence is actually a benefit.

For the regimes of Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin, IS has been a godsend: it allows them to present a binary picture of Syria where the choice is the Assad dictatorship or ISIS. This situation would allow them to rehabilitate Assad internationally.

Both Assad and Putin see their primary enemy in Syria as the mainstream armed opposition (and its supporters) whom they have worked assiduously to crush—sometimes in tandem with ISIS.

Russia's intervention last September actually led to an expansion of the Islamic State in areas of Aleppo after Russia bombed rebels out of the way, and Russia has targeted not only U.S.-backed rebels who are fighting Assad but U.S.-backed Syrian forces whose only mission is to fight ISIS.

It is difficult to describe this as anything but Russia acting as ISIS's air force, which makes sense within the framework of Russia's attempt to eliminate all opposition to Assad except IS.

Turkey has different priorities

Turkey has been accused of supporting ISIS. This is false. What keeps the accusation alive outside of conspiracy theory circles is that Ankara had clearly had other priorities inside Syria—two of them, in fact.
rkey's primary concern, above the fight against ISIS, was the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and this had led to Ankara even turning a blind eye to the flow of foreign fighters across its border into Syria for some time, allegedly in part to help counterbalance Kurdish state-building efforts in northern Syria.

The PKK is a grave internal security threat to Turkey, as is a PKK-run-statelet on its border that would be a base for infiltration and terrorism.

The Turks also (correctly) assess that the Assad regime is a greater threat to regional order than ISIS, which feeds off the chaos and atrocities of the regime.

The ISIS threat has manifested very seriously within Turkey's borders and Turkey understands that ISIS cannot be defeated while the Assad regime remains in place, which has made its removal even more of a priority.

Ankara has at times aspired to a wider regional role, but the security threat in Syria led to mended relations with the Gulf states and Turkey now works more in partnership than competition with them to support the Syrian insurgency, even in the case of groups close to Turkey, like Ahrar al-Sham, that the Saudis and others had shunned previously.

US policy foundered

The Obama administration's attempt to pursue a narrow counter-terrorism policy in Syria, focused only on ISIS, has foundered in large measure because it has tried to adopt a military policy and ignore these political complexities.

ISIS might be the U.S.'s greatest threat in Syria, but that is not the assessment of all other actors, especially when the offered alternative to the caliphate is a government controlled by Iran, the lead state-sponsor of terrorism.

[OUTLAW 09]

PYD Security force arrested Ibrahim Bero, the head of Kurdish National Council, in #Qamishli #Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

An actual headline on @SputnikInt

"Russia Poised to Rival US-Dominated World Order Using Hard and Soft Power"

[OUTLAW 09]

Up to 20 people were killed in the terrorist bombing that targeted FSA and civilians at Atmah border crossing
BREAKING Death toll rises #rebels in the bombing of the #Atmah border crossing to more than 30 mostly from #Faylaq_Alsham & #Mountain_Hawks

Symbol of failed attempt to advance in S. #Hama: Regime blew up its own armor left on the battlefield.

Update
The Cement Factory base is fully back in #Hezbollah and #IraqiMilitia hands after rebel withdrew under fire in the early morning.

Abu Saeed Al-Halabi ‏@Saeed__Saeed01
JFS and TIP retreated from the Cement Factory in W-Aleppo after not being able to take full control of it.

Jaysh Tahrir also targets group of "Hezbollah" with Fagot ATGM in night operations SW #Aleppo

Another #ATGM strike by Jund Badr 3131 vs a T-72 in S. #Hama. Clear miss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y32r7UId7g …

[OUTLAW 09]

This was being carried by the ANHA News Agency.......

Hopefully CENTCOM, CIA, the entire NSC and the Obama WH have listened to this statement.....this is the US massively supported Kurdish proxy....AND yes they are tied directly to the terror group PKK....this confirms it as nothing else does....from their fighters on the ground....that is the ground reality.....

شبكة الثورة السورية
‏@RevolutionSyria
YPG/PYD/SDF fighters dedicate the "liberation" of #Manbij to the "leader" founder of #PKK terror group.

REMEMBER this was an Arab Sunni town and was never Kurdish and the YPG/SDF "promised" it would be governed as such.....wait and see????

BUT WAIT has not DoS stated a number of times there is no connection between YPG/PYD/SDF to PKK????

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA 1st Coastal Division | Fagot #ATGM strike on 14.5 mm machine gun al-Qurmal #Latakia:
https://youtu.be/YxzmsCG4sto

Nour al Dein al Zenki targeting regime forces in New #Aleppo front with Mortars and hell cannons
https://youtu.be/W4zIACkDroE

[OUTLAW 09]

Well so much for those so called Iranian "moderates" the Obama WH Iran Deal was to motivate....

Leaked video from #Iran lead Shiite forces inside cargo plane on their way to #Syria to support the #Assad regime
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAgDLlvbkeI

Their pay was to be 1500 USDs per month....most were killed in later fighting.

[OUTLAW 09]

The target of the air strike: Syrian children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM0J4w0MopY …

Syrian rebels hit pro-#Assad position in #Hama with the TOW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaPanPyIMMA …

Daraya this morning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84exkou1SGw …
Now it is nothing but pure genocide

Syria Rebels partly retreated from Cement Factory in southern #Aleppo after intense #Russia'n airstrikes....they are waiting out the RuAF and then will attack again ..........in the process constantly wearing down the Shia militias and Iranian mercenaries who simply cannot match the fighting willpower.

Proves fighting for a cause motivates far more than money.....

[OUTLAW 09]

Never has there been a more accurate comment posted on Syria lately.....

TOW has become this conflicts' direct fire heavy weapon (tank) w/o the high visibility or instant maneuverability...

Second most accurate comment.....

Followed by the Russian ATGMs.....

[OUTLAW 09]

ISIS, #Assad and #Russia killed 81 people across #Syria yesterday, among them 7 children and 8 women.
#Aleppo: 27
#Idlib: 17
- LCC

Just another day in the hell #Daraya west of #Damascus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQvOyJmcbq4 …

[OUTLAW 09]

BREAKING
#RUS war minister Shoigu says Russia in "very active phase of negotiations" on bombing civilians w/ #USA.

Does Obama even get the simple fact that now virtually all rebel forces are so intermingled you cannot tell them about in their fight against Assad, Iraqi Shia militias, Hezbollah and Iranian IRGC/her mercenaries?????

If in fact this is true then the entire ME Arab Sunni societies will actually now firmly believe the US, Russia and Iran are waging war against them...and then call for more jihadists from around the world which they already have at an average flow rate of 100 per day since the first jihad call went out....

[OUTLAW 09]

Pro-#Assad forces are back in control of the burning Cement factory barrier this morning.

The #FSA is once again back at the outskirts of #ISIS-occupied #Rai town.
#Aleppo #Syria

The #IranianAirForce dropped more supplies over besieged #Fuah and #Kefraya.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kssB2Pg_Seg&feature=youtu.be …

BUT nothing can be air dropped to starving and besieged Arab Sunni's...all 780,000 of them.......

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian disinformation even twists the press conference words of the German FM today.....

I just checked back.
RT added the word "terrorists" in its "translation".
#Steinmeier did NOT say this.
30:15
https://youtu.be/BTjXSLuuLjM

In German.in the above press conference that the Russians altered the words on......first time Germany has gone from a neutral position to speaking out against the Russian mercenaries and for support to the civilians in Syria in Russian press conference.

Das ist das erste mal, dass ich mich entsinnen kann, dass Deutschland von einer Neutralitt zu einer Anti-Rebellen-Haltung switcht.

Jetzt auch im deut. O-Ton
#Steinmeier spricht sich tatschlich klar FR eine berwachte Nichtbewaffnung der Opp aus!

BUT then the Russian side spoke:
Lavrov: "To extend the ceasefires in & around #Aleppo,we must make sure the terrorists are dealt with & nobody supports them."

Lavrov says,the UNSC has to make sure,no "weapons are coming to the terrorists in eastern #Aleppo".
Then the #Castillo road will be opened.

BUT WAIT......aid and food is still coming via the rebel routes that they captured.......Castillo road is still under control of the Kurdish YPG...those same Kurds WHO are not fighting IS but are fighting FSA with Russian CAS....

[OUTLAW 09]

Seems Rebel tactics evolving on Al-Rai front: entrenchments newly erected to protect infantry & vehicles. N. #Aleppo

N. #Aleppo: Rebels captured the Grain Silos (1st defense line) from #ISIS in Al-Rai.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.618008&lon=37.443209&z=14&m …

Jaish Al-Islam storming Hawsh Nasri in E. #Ghouta. #Damascus.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=33.557775&lon=36.471648&z=15&m …

Barrier protecting SW side of Ramoussah Cement Factory (fuel tank still on fire), #Aleppo.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.146859&lon=37.1400
65&z=17&m …

Ahrar Sham's 106 mm rifle, T-55 & Elephant Missiles shelled Jamiyah Az-Zahra in NW. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvW8tbRTEwE …

Jaish Al-Izza destroyed with a #TOW a Regime position inside Zlin checkpoint in N. #Hama.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrywMaCmfkA …

First Coastal Division blew up with a #Fagot a 14.5 mm gun in Qarmil, N. #Latakia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxzmsCG4sto …

[OUTLAW 09]

Transport plane+ escort over Idlib
http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2016/15-august-transport-plane-escort-over-idlib …
pic.twitter.com/BVeZJzHIaj

[OUTLAW 09]

BREAKING
#RUS war minister Shoigu says Russia in "very active phase of negotiations" on bombing civilians w/ #USA.

Does Obama even get the simple fact that now virtually all rebel forces are so intermingled you cannot tell them about in their fight against Assad, Iraqi Shia militias, Hezbollah and Iranian IRGC/her mercenaries?????

If in fact this is true then the entire ME Arab Sunni societies will actually now firmly believe the US, Russia and Iran are waging war against them...and then call for more jihadists from around the world which they already have at an average flow rate of 100 per day since the first jihad call went out....

Well just maybe the Russian side was in a vodka moment.......



Russia and the United States are close to starting joint military action against militants in Syria's Aleppo, Russian news agencies on Monday cited Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying.

Fighting for control of Aleppo has intensified in recent weeks and there have been some gains for rebel groups battling Syrian government forces.

Shoigu's statements come as a surprise because Russia and the United States back different sides in the conflict while participating in talks to try to find a political solution.

"We are now in a very active phase of negotiations with our American colleagues," the RIA news agency cited Shoigu as saying.

"We are moving step by step closer to a plan - and I'm only talking about Aleppo here - that would really allow us to start fighting together to bring peace so that people can return to their homes in this troubled land."

Shoigu said about 700,000 people were still living in Aleppo and that those living in the eastern part of the city were "hostages of armed groups".

Russia backs Assad in the five-year-old Syria conflict, while the United States wants to see Assad step down.

Earlier on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Syrian militants had used a temporary ceasefire around Aleppo to regroup.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia should play a more active role in helping to resolve the Syria crisis.

"(They should) sit down at the table and negotiate," Bogdanov told the RIA news agency, saying he would meet representatives of the Syrian opposition in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Aug. 16.

[OUTLAW 09]

Just another day in #Aleppo city.
#PutinAssad air strikes on civilians keep coming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xo67DyBGIE …

Syrian rebels never fired at humanitarian convoys towards regime-held areas.
Same would apply now via Castillo or rebel territory, I'm sure.

Instead, #USA is in negotiations to help Russia closing the only #HumanitarianCorridor to E #Aleppo to then allow goods in at #RUS's will.

[OUTLAW 09]

ISIS is burning tires in al-Rai in N Aleppo to confuse coalition jets. Heavy Turkish artillery fire in support of the #FSA offensive.

T-90, Safir Jeeps w/ MRL & 106 mm rifle, BMP w/ Mirage-1 used 2 repel #JaF in Cement Factory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asBN1qUEUTk …

This defensive fire came from the IRGC-Iraqi held axis south of Cement Factory i.e. Sabqiyah, Amriyah, Waddihi ?

Jund Badr 313: surprisingly well-equipped unit in N. #Homs pocket: several kinds of #ATGMs (Metis-M & MILAN) & M-72.

Latakia : Regime Military Security randomly arrest 50 young men in the city of #Jabla and sent them to the front lines.

Rebels assassinate high-ranking #Syria general outside #Suweida
http://mme.cm/HKBW00

Syria The Waraqa cultural centre meant to preserve #Aleppo’s heritage was destroyed by Russia/Assad airstrikes

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Defense Minister says Moscow prevented NATO from launching 624 cruise missiles against Syria by proposing a chemical weapons deal
@yurybarmin http://www.ng.ru/news/551966.html …

What the heck????

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria journalist Hadi Abdullah: "US essentially stole vast swathes of Syria," gave it to YPG
http://bit.ly/2btejZX

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey expects Syrian Kurdish forces to withdraw after Manbij operation: Turkish FM
http://reut.rs/2b9jC1h

Appears the Turks are now issusing their "red line".......



Turkey expects Syrian Kurdish fighters to withdraw east of the Euphrates river after they and other U.S.-backed forces seized control of the Syrian town of Manbij from Islamic State last week, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday.

The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, said on Friday they had seized full control of Manbij near the Turkish border, in a significant strategic blow to Islamic State.

Turkey views the Kurdish YPG militia as a hostile force, an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group which has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey's southeast, and which is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union as well as by Ankara.

"Of course we have an expectation," Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara. "The U.S. promised that the (Syrian Kurdish) forces within the coalition and democratic forces there would move east of the Euphrates again following the Manbij operation."

The operation, in which U.S. special forces played a significant role, marks the most ambitious advance by a group allied to Washington in Syria since the United States launched its military campaign against Islamic State two years ago.

U.S. officials have said once the Manbij operation is completed, it would create the conditions to move on the militant group's de facto capital of Raqqa.

[OUTLAW 09]

Trump Campaign Manager Demanded Media Cover “Terror Attack” That Didn’t Happen

Paul Manafort, speaking on CNN, said that a NATO base in Turkey came under attack. Russian outlets have pushed a similar storyline.


Paul Manafort, campaign chair for Donald Trump’s campaign, said on Sunday that a NATO base in Turkey came under attack by terrorists within the last week, something that did not happen.

Manafort was defending his campaign by pointing to what he claimed were stories that went uncovered last week thanks to the media’s focus on Trump’s statements.

“You had — you had the NATO base in Turkey being under attack by terrorists,” Manafort told CNN’s Jake Tapper during his appearance on State of the Union. “You had a number of things that were appropriate to this campaign, were part of what Mr. Trump has been talking about.”

It’s unclear precisely what Manafort was referring to as no terror attack had been claimed or reported on Incirlik air base in Turkey, last week or ever. The base is the staging area for US military operations against ISIS.

Flights out of Incirlik were halted during the coup attempt last month, during which power to the base was temporarily cut. Protesters also marched in late July to demand that the US turn over Muhammed Fethullah Gülen, the exiled Turkish figure the government blames for the coup. And on August 10, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter offered condolences to victims of terror attacks in Turkey — but the attacks were nowhere near Incirlik.

Manafort did not immediately respond to a BuzzFeed News email asking that he clarify his comments, or reveal the source of his information.


Several Russian sites, however, have been quick to report on potential terrorist attacks on NATO bases in Turkey. In late July, Sputnik and RT — both Russian state-controlled media outlets — pointed to a fire near a NATO base in western Turkey as potential sabotage.

Sputnik has also pushed stories about how Incirlik base, where nuclear weapons are stored for NATO sharing purposes, should be shut down amid the threat of possible attacks. But there’s been nothing about attacks within the last two weeks.

A NATO official, who spoke to BuzzFeed on the condition of anonymity, was puzzled by the claim.

“We have a Spanish air defense unit at Incirlik, and an Italian air defense battery in Kahramanmaras — their work continues uninterrupted,” the official said. “NATO personnel and units were safe and secure during the events in July.”

. @GenFlynn - you say Russia's gov't-sponsored media is just as bad as US networks - kindly show me 240 US examples.
https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/746000081854337024 …

Reference former DIA Chief....retired General Flynn.....who was recently in Moscow for a major Russia Today celebration.....and he has not stated what he received for payments.....

Nearly the entire national security establishment has rejected Trump—except for this man
http://wpo.st/gs4s1

[OUTLAW 09]

Air Force Freak @AlRFORCEFREAK
BREAKING: #RUAF Tu-22Ms deployed to Hamedan Iran
https://twitter.com/WarfareWW/status/765248392113037312 …

Exclusive: #Russian AF deployed to Hamedan airbase in #Iran being prepared for airstrikes on terrorists in #Syria
Russia is out of money to fly over Caspian Sea

Syria, a catalyst for Turkey's break with the West. Why the coup only makes things worse
http://bit.ly/2bsBkMP

[OUTLAW 09]

This is a remarkable Trump speech.
Bashing Iraq War he didn't oppose.
Bashing Libya war he supported.
Bashing Egypt overthrow he supported

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Rebels killed #Hezbollah commander Hussain Ali Ma'aneqi in Southern #Aleppo.

Aleppo: Rebel have #Ramouseh and they will recapture Castillo Road soon. No more dirty deals with #Putin, #Assad and #Iran!

Aleppo: #UN and weak Western politicians: "If the rebels stop fighting, maybe #Russia will open the Castillo Road." Dream on, you fools!

Idiots like #Steinmeier talking about Castillo Road. They have no clue that rebels delivering food & medicine through #Ramouseh to #Aleppo

Some Western politicians saying it would be a good idea to stop deliveries of arms to the rebels, because #Russia requested it.

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey expects Syrian Kurdish forces to withdraw after Manbij operation: Turkish FM
http://reut.rs/2b9jC1h

Appears the Turks are now issusing their "red line".......

Meanwhile #YPG commanders: "We will capture #Jarabulus, #Al_Bab and all towns between #Afrin and #Manbij." #Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Rebels killed Ali Diyoub, #Assad fighter of "Tiger Forces" & a very close "friend" of Suheil Al Hassan.

Damascus: Rebels in Eastern #Ghouta have captured #Hawsh_Nasri village from pro-#Assad forces today.

An activist, poet and blogger describes life in Syria’s second-largest city
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/13/syria-aleppo-siege-diary-air-strikes-mahmoud-rashwani …

A sprinkle of cold water on the hype that a major Turkish-Russian realignment is under way
http://atfp.co/2aWEmtb

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia requests Iran & Iraq open their air space so it can fire more cruise missiles into Syria. I mean, "exercise."

Ah...the power of social media open source analysis....
We analyzed more than 23 million tweets to understand #ISIS support and opposition networks. Here's what we learned:
http://r.rand.org/2gho
Actually worth reading....

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels (at least 'did') control areas in #Zahra during their offensive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zasnyCghX00 …

Same procedure as every day: Heavy #AssadPutin air strikes on N of #Aleppo today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl-1upKOns4 …

If #RUS strategic bombers cross #US-controlled Iraqi air space on their daily bombing missions to #Syria, #USA becomes directly complicit.

Below from well informed Russian commenter outside of Russia
Yury Barmin
‏@yurybarmin
Tu-22m3 deployment to Iran means that Moscow plans to step up fight against ISIS whom these long-range bombers targeted previously

Deployment of Tu-22m3 to Iran reduces the flying time to target by 60%, will allow for more flexibility and higher intensity of strikes

In light of numerous rumors about Iran-Russia disagreements over Syria deployment at Hamedan could also be a confidence-building measure

[CrowBat]

I'm watching these photos... and simply can't believe what I see.

The regime in Tehran... the same one that didn't do anything at all for its own air force ever since 1979... the same one that was suspecting the IRIAF as 'disloyal' for most of the last 37 years... the same regime that was arresting and executing various of IRIAF commanders, and forcing so many of its pilots into early retirement...

...but also the same one that strictly forbade basing of foreign troops on own soil (see paragraph 147 of the IRI Constitution)...

...and the IRGC... which did everything possible to dismantle, or at least weaken the IRIAF (if not replace it with its own flying service) - and that to a degree where the latter is de-facto grounded...

...are now in such need of Russian air power, they let the VKS to one of IRIAF's 'holy grails', the TFB.3/Nojeh AB...

They must be beyond 'desperate': so much so, they're not even ashamed of actions of this kind any more.

Some here might wonder over all of this, then most of Westerners think 'Iran + Russia = Allies', at least since 1990s. And I'll admit: understanding what I mean with 'shame' and 'desperate'... indeed, what I mean with absurdity of this development - requires plenty of understanding of the 'Islamic Republic of Iran' too.

That system is supposed to be born out of 'distaste' for 'foreign meddling into Iranian issues' (see the CIA removing Mossadegh, Shah's cooperation with USA), and Iranian insistence on 'can do everything on our own'. And that's 'just for the start'.

That system was also born out of supposed distaste for militarism: right after the (supposedly) 'Islamic Revolution' of 1979, the new regime nearly disbanded the entire military (prior to occupation of the US embassy nobody else but Khomeini's son was negotiating the sale of Iranian F-14s with the UK and Turkey), etc., etc., etc.

It must be understood from the history of Russo-Iranian relations, which is including not only centuries-old antagonism, but also a mass of recent, and very negative Iranian experiences - all of which created a very negative image of Russians in Iranian minds (see the Russians botching-up with construction of reactors in Busher; see the Russians refusing to permit Iranians to move their GOSPs to the Caspian Sea via Russian rivers + channels system; see the Russians pocketing billions for S-300s then not delivering any etc., etc., etc.).

It requires the most basic understanding/knowledge of IRGC's history too - the history of a 'military' service that at least sin ce Kerbala-4 or -5 (back in 1987) was preaching, 'we do not need any air power; can do on our own, with religious zeal and infantry', etc., etc., etc.

Finally, it must be observed from the standpoint of a 'proud Iran', a 2,500-years old 'country of Fars', 'sometimes defeated but never conquered' etc., etc., etc.

But now, after 37 years of Mullah + IRGC rule... Iran not only has next to no air force capable of supporting its military intervention in Syria; on the contrary, it needs Russian air force to 'win' there?

And win what? We are yet to see Russians flying at least one combat sortie in support of IRGC's troops in Aleppo area: so far, their Tu-22s were flying only show strikes against Daesh.

Bottom line: Tehran granting permission - even inviting - Russians to deploy their troops in Iran, is the same like if after 9/11 the USA would've requested Mexico to help defend the US airspace.

[OUTLAW 09]

British aid worker risks his life to save ppl in Aleppo, Syria 15/8/16

Exclusive: British aid worker risks his life to save people in Syrian city of Aleppo - ITV News
http://www.itv.com/news/2016-08-15/exclusive-dangers-of-posed-to-aid-convoys-reaching-syria-exposed/

From a well known proAssad/Putin commenter...confirming more Iraqi Shia militias in Aleppo.....no wonder the Peshmerger have to attack Mosul as there is no more Iraqi Shia available as they are all in Syria....

Ivan Sidorenko ‏@IvanSidorenko1
#Syria #Syr #Aleppo #SouthernAleppo #IRQ #Iraq #Iraqi Imam Ali Brigade / Imam Ali Battalions

[OUTLAW 09]

PKK/#YPG militias detain Hasan Salih, famous anti-Assad syrian kurdish politician in #Qamishli

Aleppo doctors reporting that warplanes have dropped incendiary substance on Zubdiya:

Incredible, horrifying, moving story on the amazing @SyriaCivilDef - saving lives amid #Syria devastation
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/witness/2016/08/syria-white-helmets-160812150421487.html

[CrowBat]

Another 'priceless moment' in this conflict: somebody's Twitter exchange (https://twitter.com/John_III_tg/status/765210622388740096) with Elijah J Magnier, leading PRBS-itter of Assad.

Apparently shocked by figures, EJM is blaming 'remote VBIEDs' for losses; stresses the Cement Factory is 'under SAA' (read: IRGC), but then comes the particularly interesting moment:

- Numbers of killed exaggerated. There were few (several) "friendly fire Air Strikes" against SAA allies.

...and 'clears' this with:

- There were 72 in the first day. Many SAA also were killed by Air strikes.

Means: the NDF in Aleppo suffered at least 70 KIA on the first day of the JAF offensive alone (31 July), and then many more to SyAAF air strikes (there is still no evidence Russians have flown even 1 air strike in support of IRGC's troops in southern Aleppo).

[OUTLAW 09]

I'm watching these photos... and simply can't believe what I see.

The regime in Tehran... the same one that didn't do anything at all for its own air force ever since 1979... the same one that was suspecting the IRIAF as 'disloyal' for most of the last 37 years... the same regime that was arresting and executing various of IRIAF commanders, and forcing so many of its pilots into early retirement...

...but also the same one that strictly forbade basing of foreign troops on own soil (see paragraph 147 of the IRI Constitution)...

...and the IRGC... which did everything possible to dismantle, or at least weaken the IRIAF (if not replace it with its own flying service) - and that to a degree where the latter is de-facto grounded...

...are now in such need of Russian air power, they let the VKS to one of IRIAF's 'holy grails', the TFB.3/Nojeh AB...

They must be beyond 'desperate': so much so, they're not even ashamed of actions of this kind any more.

Some here might wonder over all of this, then most of Westerners think 'Iran + Russia = Allies', at least since 1990s. And I'll admit: understanding what I mean with 'shame' and 'desperate'... indeed, what I mean with absurdity of this development - requires plenty of understanding of the 'Islamic Republic of Iran' too.

That system is supposed to be born out of 'distaste' for 'foreign meddling into Iranian issues' (see the CIA removing Mossadegh, Shah's cooperation with USA), and Iranian insistence on 'can do everything on our own'. And that's 'just for the start'.

That system was also born out of supposed distaste for militarism: right after the (supposedly) 'Islamic Revolution' of 1979, the new regime nearly disbanded the entire military (prior to occupation of the US embassy nobody else but Khomeini's son was negotiating the sale of Iranian F-14s with the UK and Turkey), etc., etc., etc.

It must be understood from the history of Russo-Iranian relations, which is including not only centuries-old antagonism, but also a mass of recent, and very negative Iranian experiences - all of which created a very negative image of Russians in Iranian minds (see the Russians botching-up with construction of reactors in Busher; see the Russians refusing to permit Iranians to move their GOSPs to the Caspian Sea via Russian rivers + channels system; see the Russians pocketing billions for S-300s then not delivering any etc., etc., etc.).

It requires the most basic understanding/knowledge of IRGC's history too - the history of a 'military' service that at least sin ce Kerbala-4 or -5 (back in 1987) was preaching, 'we do not need any air power; can do on our own, with religious zeal and infantry', etc., etc., etc.

Finally, it must be observed from the standpoint of a 'proud Iran', a 2,500-years old 'country of Fars', 'sometimes defeated but never conquered' etc., etc., etc.

But now, after 37 years of Mullah + IRGC rule... Iran not only has next to no air force capable of supporting its military intervention in Syria; on the contrary, it needs Russian air force to 'win' there?

And win what? We are yet to see Russians flying at least one combat sortie in support of IRGC's troops in Aleppo area: so far, their Tu-22s were flying only show strikes against Daesh.

Bottom line: Tehran granting permission - even inviting - Russians to deploy their troops in Iran, is the same like if after 9/11 the USA would've requested Mexico to help defend the US airspace.

CrowBat.....BUT WAIT was not the Obama WH Iran Deal designed to help the "moderate" Iranians.......

That must be some kind of "rare bird" in Iran as I do not think they even exist regardless of what the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH keep telling us......

[OUTLAW 09]

CFR Verified account 
‏@CFR_org
How did #Syria's civil war begin?
http://on.cfr.org/2aWhEEl

[OUTLAW 09]

This is just how badly complicit this Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH has become in allowing war crimes and genocide to continue since 2012.....WHEN they could have early on stopped it....but choose to "do nothing stupid"....which in the end contributed to 470,000 killed.

[/B]DOAM ‏@doammuslims
#Syria - With limited medical supplies @DrShajulIslam & his team cannot use anesthesia to treat this poor baby girl.

With limited medical supplies, we cannot use anesthesia to treat this poor baby girl. So it takes 3 of us to hold...
http://fb.me/2Q45YQXBK

AIR SIREN! I hate the noise of the air siren. But this time , we just got hit soon after not far from the...
http://fb.me/7cWLbJ8Pq

NOTICE that even the US UNSC Ambassador Power has basically stopped saying anything....

[OUTLAW 09]

Daraya : A Regime helicopter drops more barrel bombs on the town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQvOyJmcbq4 …

A wave of revenge arrests on civilians has started in Hasakah between NDF and Assayish forces. #Hasakah
https://youtu.be/jKlqeG5tZH0

Rockets being fired on #Darayya on civilians areas by the regime today.
https://youtu.be/84exkou1SGw

From proRussian commenter outside Russia
Yury Barmin
‏@yurybarmin
Russian Defense Minister says Moscow prevented NATO from launching 624 cruise missiles against Syria by proposing a chemical weapons deal

BUT WAIT.....Russia continues support for the continued proliferation and use of chemical weapons in Syria...especially chlorine gas

BUT WAIT.....That time we saved Syria from cruise missiles only to hit it with cruise missiles 3 years later:

Regime forces removing injured from an army checkpoint after they were hit by a TOW ATGM. Zlin barrier, #Hama
https://youtu.be/J4O3dXhjP7k

FSA Conquest brigade targeting regime forces in Zahra Association with a 57 mm cannon
https://youtu.be/AO5Rrw9cEgI #Aleppo

Jaish al Islam gopro footage of them fighting regime forces during dhat al riqa phase 3.
https://youtu.be/T2Bgv-fLZpk

Harakat Bayan promo video for the operation that took Ghazelle reserve, near Khanasir, #Aleppo.
https://youtu.be/rD8OW0O2H6Q

Jaish al Islam claims to have destroyed a BMP and killed 6 militia fighters during recent Dhat al-Riqa operations.

Dude to issues with shelling and inability to move hives, #honey production is suffering in Khan Sheikhun, #idlib
https://youtu.be/4ShW5EWKxoM
BTW...honey is an important commodity in the ME....MAYBE his bees are having an air space control issue with so many Russian and Assad jets in the skies over them...???

Even in the middle of a major war...farming still has to go on....somehow.....
Farmers in Ghab Campaign begin a campaign against voles and pests destroying alot with the LCC. #Hama
https://youtu.be/PkFKkLa8qJ4

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaish al Islam targeting Islamic State fighters during operations in "Black Stone". Possibly in N. #Aleppo?
https://youtu.be/3E1o1VePHPM

Women's work training center in Southern #Idlib finishes its fourth course, with 70 women graduating.
https://youtu.be/X3UOz8ehtG4

Rahman Corps sniping a regime Lt. Colonel Issa Mohamed Issa
https://youtu.be/SNvOGTzu5ss

[OUTLAW 09]

As an American living, working and paying taxes in Germany I personally take offense with Trump's comments.....

RealityCheck
@realDonaldTrump says crime has reached an unprecedented level due to Germany's #WelcomeRefugees policy from 2015 until now.

BY THE WAY....over 1,000,000 US citizens have been killed by guns ...ACTUALLY far more than the total number of recent refugees that arrived in Germany.......

THEN....
In fact, the US gun laws he supports kill more people on one day in the US than 1 million refugees combined murdered in Germany so far in the last two years...which is actually based on the latest Federal Police statistics...NONE.....

My rant for the day.......

Old German political saying...."one should think before engaging one's mouth"......

[OUTLAW 09]

Most Americans inside the CIA, CENTCOM, DoD and the Obama WH do not seem to fully and completely understand the minefield they are stepped into by the open and complete support to their Kurdish YPG/PYG/PKK/SDF proxies....in the coming months.....especially in the coming fight for al Bab WHICH is both Arab Sunni and a main target for the anti Assad forces FSA.....

US defence secretary thanks fighters in Manbij which was a 'a key transit point for ISIL fighters' to Syria and Iraq
http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/914947/statement-by-secretary-of-defense-ash-carter-on-the-liberation-of-manbij …

Especially after the Turkish FM issued his not so subtle warning to the US to ensure the YPG pulls back to their original bases east of Manbij.....WHICH the US promised Turkey would happen...

THIS was the verbalization by the FM of the Turkish "red line" ...it will be interesting to see if the US "understood the message"....??

[OUTLAW 09]

EU Mythbusters
✔ @EUvsDisinfo Another summer #longread: @STRATCOMCOE report on social media as a tool of hybrid warfare:
http://goo.gl/n7fa2U

[OUTLAW 09]

GoPro combat footage: Jaish Al-Islam counter-offensive with T-72 in E. #Ghouta. #Damascus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2Bgv-fLZpk …

Syria Heavy #US airstrikes on #IS hold al-Bab city in eastern #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.368291&lon=37.510414&z=14&m=b …
a dozen so far

NOTICE that the USAF flies CAs for the Kurds while they attack IS....BUT when FSA is directly fighting IS on numerous occasions......nothing...absolutely nothing....

[OUTLAW 09]

Daraya repeatedly bombed with incendiary bombs as Regime ground offensive stalling via @DarayaCouncil.

Appears to be a napalm like substance being used not the normal Russian thermite incendiary cluster munitions......

Heavy clashes as Rebels try to expel #ISIS from Al-Rai with support of airstrikes & Turkish artillery, N. #Aleppo.

Amidst 1st reports of #RuAF Tu-22M bombing Rebel-held territory, activists say very high nbr of airstrikes last 12 hrs in Aleppo-Idlib Prov.

Breaking Russian warplanes carried out airstrikes in #Syria from #Iran after Tu-22 bombers arrived at Hamadan AB

[OUTLAW 09]

US-led Coalition destroyed 1,271 #ISIS targets to support 73 days-offensive by #SDF/#YPG on #Manbij, N. #Aleppo.

HOW many US/coalition CAS strikes were flown in the same time period for the FSA who was also attacking IS........especially now?????

Virtually NONE......

Does that actually surprise anyone as to where the clear interests of the US lies inside Syria...certainly not with the Arab Sunni's.....

Another clear indicator of the FULL US tilt to Iran and Russia inside Syria....

WHILE the US spent 73 days attacking only IS...the core problem actually being Assad not IS...the opposition and the rebranded AQ JFS was attacking and being attacked by Hezbollah, Iraqi Shia militias, AFG Shia militias, the IRGC and it's surrogates......AND IS along the way.....AND relieved the siege on Aleppo WHILE the West led by the US simply stood around and talked and talked and then talked some more about the problem in Aleppo.....

[CrowBat]

Sputnik claims (https://twitter.com/SputnikInt/status/765463151345270784) the first air strike of VKS' Tu-22M-3s based in Iran.

Target?

'Daesh ammunition storage site near Aleppo'.

As expected: Iranian government violates own constitution to let the Russians in, and these are bombing Daesh in order to score PR-points...

[CrowBat]

CrowBat.....BUT WAIT was not the Obama WH Iran Deal designed to help the "moderate" Iranians.......

That must be some kind of "rare bird" in Iran as I do not think they even exist regardless of what the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH keep telling us......
This entire affair is meanwhile so much beyond 'ridiculous', indeed, even going beyond 'absurd'... I simply don't know where would I start if trying to explain.

BTW, just completed working on a related article for WIB (I'll post a link as soon as it's out): was LOL-ing all the time while typing it (and that didn't take longer than 20 minutes). :D

[OUTLAW 09]

Daraya repeatedly bombed with incendiary bombs as Regime ground offensive stalling via @DarayaCouncil.

Appears to be a napalm like substance being used not the normal Russian thermite incendiary cluster munitions......

Heavy clashes as Rebels try to expel #ISIS from Al-Rai with support of airstrikes & Turkish artillery, N. #Aleppo.

Amidst 1st reports of #RuAF Tu-22M bombing Rebel-held territory, activists say very high nbr of airstrikes last 12 hrs in Aleppo-Idlib Prov.

Breaking Russian warplanes carried out airstrikes in #Syria from #Iran after Tu-22 bombers arrived at Hamadan AB


Today's attacks are just another step in (not really) secret increasing alliance between @POTUS & @KremlinRussia_E.

[OUTLAW 09]

Outside a lot of dust being created.....nothing to confirm the Russians actually hit anything other than their own word for it, which cannot be trusted anyway....

From Interfax today.
11:15
RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY: 5 LARGE ARMS DEPOTS, TRAINING CAMPS NEAR ALEPPO, DEIR EZ-ZOR DESTROYED, LARGE NUMBER OF MILITANTS ELIMINATED AS RESULT OF TU-22M3 AND SU-34 PLANES' STRIKES ON TERRORISTS

11:14
TU-22M3 AND SU-34 BOMBERS BACK TO BASE AIRFIELDS UPON FULFILLMENT OF COMBAT MISSION, SU-30SM AND SU-35S FROM HMEIMIM BASE GAVE THEM SUPPORT - RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY

[OUTLAW 09]

A glimpse of honesty.
Ruptly - different from RT - does not mention #ISIS in its reporting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIHMXM3dvn0 …

[OUTLAW 09]

Outside a lot of dust being created.....nothing to confirm the Russians actually hit anything other than their own word for it, which cannot be trusted anyway....

From Interfax today.
11:15
RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY: 5 LARGE ARMS DEPOTS, TRAINING CAMPS NEAR ALEPPO, DEIR EZ-ZOR DESTROYED, LARGE NUMBER OF MILITANTS ELIMINATED AS RESULT OF TU-22M3 AND SU-34 PLANES' STRIKES ON TERRORISTS

11:14
TU-22M3 AND SU-34 BOMBERS BACK TO BASE AIRFIELDS UPON FULFILLMENT OF COMBAT MISSION, SU-30SM AND SU-35S FROM HMEIMIM BASE GAVE THEM SUPPORT - RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY

BreakingPictures
Airborne bomb attacks on #DaratIzza shortly ago.
Doesn't look like from Tu-22 tbh.
#Aleppo #Syria

NOT sure exactly what the Russians were aiming to hit BUT it sure looks like they deliberately targeted civilian residual housing areas.....NOT IS positions as they claimed...based on the early photos coming out of the strike zone....

Here we go
First reports of massive civilian casualties in #DeirEzzor & west of #Aleppo in #RUS bombing raids

The Russian claims of "large numbers of militants killed" in their air strikes is starting to match the USAF rhetoric from VN days....

[OUTLAW 09]

More than 200 airstrikes have hit Aleppo city and province since yesterday evening

Airstrikes hit market Tareeq al-Bab neighborhood of #Aleppo.
Lots of dead

Picture of air strike on #AlBab quarter(!) in #ALEPPO city.
More than 20 civilians killed.

[OUTLAW 09]

Daraya repeatedly bombed with incendiary bombs as Regime ground offensive stalling via @DarayaCouncil.

Appears to be a napalm like substance being used not the normal Russian thermite incendiary cluster munitions......


Confirmed now to be a form of napalm.....long ago outlawed by international law ....but Assad and Putin do not care about international law, nor does the Obama WH......

[OUTLAW 09]

Is it part of the new Turkish-Russian friendship to place #ISIS in #Idlib province and west of #Aleppo?! https://twitter.com/HDNER/status/765501848237252608 …

Very valid question with the latest Russian PR bombing reports?????

[OUTLAW 09]

Heavy rebel-#ISIS fighting for #AlRai.
ISIS built strong fortifications in its N-W.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT-jJhCgVnY …

UPDATE
#Russia now says it hit #Saraqib in #Idlib province with the bomb carpets.
Waiting for footage from the ground ...

The #Russia|n MoD says, its Tu-22 bombers attack „Jabhat al-Nusra“ in #Idlib and #Aleppo prov. from #Iran.

UPDATE
#Russia now says it hit #Saraqib in #Idlib province with the bomb carpets.
Waiting for footage from the ground ...

Iran-Russia-USA - the new axis of ...and that is now what the US FP is going to be viewed as by the Arab Sunni's in the ME....that so called "Golden Handshake" that many have stated "happened months ago between Obama and Putin and Khamenei"......

HAS now been effectively proven to them......

DeirEzzor: #Russia|n airstrikes destroyed a bakery and killed 30+ civilians in #DeirEzzor City

In fact, our ground troops, which are not in Syria, are on the ground with a laser designator for every one of these bombs. True story.

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Massive #Russia|n and #Assad airstrikes killed 60+ civilians in #Aleppo since the morning. Market and bus with civilians hit.

Aleppo: #Russia|n airstrike destroyed a bus carrying displaced people in #Ramouseh and killed 20+ civilians.


Russia AF is using their highly precision bombing again...basically free fall dumb iron bombs for precision strikes....

[OUTLAW 09]

CrowBat...anything on your end on this info blackout.....??

Heavy information blackout now in effect for the last 24 or so hours in Aleppo...total silence ........

Aleppo: There are no official rebel reports from #Aleppo. It's like a new media blackout.The calm before the storm.

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria #Aleppo Operations room commander for Rashedin denies any presence of #Assad forces inside 1070 Project
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.160746&lon=37.098169&z=15&m=b …

Syria: Likely Russian planes hit civil district of Aleppo
http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2016/16-august-air-strike-on-albab-quarter--in-aleppo-city-more …

RuAF has killed more "terrorists today".....out of Russian MoD....
Syria Killed children after #RUS airstrikes on #Aleppo city today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o5vn9fO51Q …

Aleppo’s double siege and the need for humanitarian corridors #Syria
http://mme.cm/LKBW00 via @NOW_eng

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels entered Al-Rai. Ongoing fierce street fighting with #ISIS. N. #Aleppo.

Rebels targeting #ISIS from outskirts of Al-Rai. Huge flag visible.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.614908&lon=37.444925&z=14&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT-jJhCgVnY …

[OUTLAW 09]

I'm watching these photos... and simply can't believe what I see.

The regime in Tehran... the same one that didn't do anything at all for its own air force ever since 1979... the same one that was suspecting the IRIAF as 'disloyal' for most of the last 37 years... the same regime that was arresting and executing various of IRIAF commanders, and forcing so many of its pilots into early retirement...

...but also the same one that strictly forbade basing of foreign troops on own soil (see paragraph 147 of the IRI Constitution)...

...and the IRGC... which did everything possible to dismantle, or at least weaken the IRIAF (if not replace it with its own flying service) - and that to a degree where the latter is de-facto grounded...

...are now in such need of Russian air power, they let the VKS to one of IRIAF's 'holy grails', the TFB.3/Nojeh AB...

They must be beyond 'desperate': so much so, they're not even ashamed of actions of this kind any more.

Some here might wonder over all of this, then most of Westerners think 'Iran + Russia = Allies', at least since 1990s. And I'll admit: understanding what I mean with 'shame' and 'desperate'... indeed, what I mean with absurdity of this development - requires plenty of understanding of the 'Islamic Republic of Iran' too.

That system is supposed to be born out of 'distaste' for 'foreign meddling into Iranian issues' (see the CIA removing Mossadegh, Shah's cooperation with USA), and Iranian insistence on 'can do everything on our own'. And that's 'just for the start'.

That system was also born out of supposed distaste for militarism: right after the (supposedly) 'Islamic Revolution' of 1979, the new regime nearly disbanded the entire military (prior to occupation of the US embassy nobody else but Khomeini's son was negotiating the sale of Iranian F-14s with the UK and Turkey), etc., etc., etc.

It must be understood from the history of Russo-Iranian relations, which is including not only centuries-old antagonism, but also a mass of recent, and very negative Iranian experiences - all of which created a very negative image of Russians in Iranian minds (see the Russians botching-up with construction of reactors in Busher; see the Russians refusing to permit Iranians to move their GOSPs to the Caspian Sea via Russian rivers + channels system; see the Russians pocketing billions for S-300s then not delivering any etc., etc., etc.).

It requires the most basic understanding/knowledge of IRGC's history too - the history of a 'military' service that at least sin ce Kerbala-4 or -5 (back in 1987) was preaching, 'we do not need any air power; can do on our own, with religious zeal and infantry', etc., etc., etc.

Finally, it must be observed from the standpoint of a 'proud Iran', a 2,500-years old 'country of Fars', 'sometimes defeated but never conquered' etc., etc., etc.

But now, after 37 years of Mullah + IRGC rule... Iran not only has next to no air force capable of supporting its military intervention in Syria; on the contrary, it needs Russian air force to 'win' there?

And win what? We are yet to see Russians flying at least one combat sortie in support of IRGC's troops in Aleppo area: so far, their Tu-22s were flying only show strikes against Daesh.

Bottom line: Tehran granting permission - even inviting - Russians to deploy their troops in Iran, is the same like if after 9/11 the USA would've requested Mexico to help defend the US airspace.

CrowBat....western MSM take on the Iranian/Russian bombing efforts....

Military first for Iran as Russian bombers based on its territory launch air strikes on Syria
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/16/russian-bombers-launch-syria-strikes-from-iran/ …

[OUTLAW 09]

More Russian air strike footage from today.......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXuSGkPssF4 …


Syria Airstrikes &artillery shelling on #Talbiseh in northern #Homs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZONT38kecXg …

Syria'n Network for Human Rights: 2704 civilians incl 746 children & 514 women killed by #RUS airstrikes in 1 year

Syria #SAA General of brigade 87 Riyad Asif Younis killed SW of #Hama during battle at Zara Thermal power plant battle

Assad-forces try to storm "Fuel hill" &
Al-'Amiriyyah in southern #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.115413&lon=37.110722&z=16&m=b …

[CrowBat]

CrowBat....western MSM take on the Iranian/Russian bombing efforts....

Military first for Iran as Russian bombers based on its territory launch air strikes on Syria
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/16/russian-bombers-launch-syria-strikes-from-iran/ …Plenty of blahblah, by somebody who got over-impressed by this development.

Sputnik was the first toclaim (https://twitter.com/SputnikInt/status/765463151345270784) the first air strike of VKS' Tu-22M-3s based in Iran.

Target?

'Daesh ammunition storage site near Aleppo'.

As expected: Iranian government violates own constitution to let the Russians in, and these are bombing Daesh in order to score PR-points - 'instead' of providing air support to IRGC (and few Russian) troops in Aleppo area...

I can't even take this seriously any more. Only feel sad for all the civilians still living in Daesh-controlled parts of Syria (and Iraq).

[OUTLAW 09]

Eliot Higgins @EliotHiggins
Another view of the shell used in today's alleged chemical attack in Marea via @yasseralhaji1

Syria Hundreds of people trapped in #Hasaka city center bc clashes btw regime & kurds

N. #Aleppo: Al-Hamza Brigade, 13th Division & Tajamu Fastaqem on the Al-Rai's front vs #ISIS before the storming.

Reports the #ISIS military commander of Al-Rai killed in clashes.

REPORT: Syria/Russia: Incendiary Weapons Burn in Aleppo, Idlib - @hrw
https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/08/16/syria/russia-incendiary-weapons-burn-aleppo-idlib …

FSA take large parts of al-Ra'i village north #Aleppo fro #IS.

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Footage from #RUS airstrikes on Dara Aza town in western #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaTOAAxOE5o&feature=youtu.be …

Terrible Casualties In Aleppo, Idlib And Deir Ez-Zor As Russia Begins Strikes From Iran
http://www.interpretermag.com/syria-august-16-2016/ …

Syria Footage from Huraytan northern suburb of #Aleppo after weeks of #RUS airstrikes
https://youtu.be/eov5IqQJ0zc

China wants to work closer with #Assads "army" and sends "humanitarian aid". Maybe Chinese fighting for butcher #Assad soon.

Rebels killed #Assad Brigadier General Riad Asif Yunis, commander of 74th Battalion, in Southern #Aleppo.

In Amiriyah neighbourhood, Rebels are 560 m from Hamdaniyah, #Aleppo http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.171521&lon=37.126493&z=16&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbEzrNjGcnA …

First Regiment took out with a #TOW a T-55 on Al-Harablah's front, SE. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISePwaBfXHk …

[Azor]

Does this violate Iran's Constitution?

Article 146: "The establishment of any kind of foreign military base in Iran, even for peaceful purposes, is forbidden."

US shared bases under other countries' administration seem to count as US bases (e.g. Incirlik)...

[OUTLAW 09]

SAA is dead, it is primarily featured in literally all #Hezbollah's media.
Forward all complaints to @Presidency_Sy.

Daraya : an Explosive Barrel Bomb dropped down from #Assad's helicopters in front of the camera man 16/8/2016
https://youtu.be/L5HWwaRA7MU

LiveUpdatesFromSyria ‏@liveupdatesyria
The road in/out of #Aleppo is also being targeted so not safe for anyone 2 enter enter/leave right now. Hosps URGENTLY need more medical aid

Syria’s White Helmets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnu7HUreOdA …
We don't just save lives under rubble. Here a team member fixes electricity. Damascus, 16 Aug 16

Summery of the Syrian News on Tuesday 16th August 2016
http://stepagency-sy.net/en/archives/109213 …

[OUTLAW 09]

China wants to strengthen its cooperation with Assad's forces - they're experts at suppressing peaceful movements

China says seeks closer military ties with Syria
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2016/Aug-16/367427-china-says-seeks-closer-military-ties-with-syria.ashx?utm_content=buffer9800b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

[OUTLAW 09]

Why US must change its failed policy in Syria @CNN
http://cnn.it/2bnjOIq