Syria in 2016 (July-September)

[OUTLAW 09]

Mother nature update....reference my previous posting that our two local stork families with four young birds had left for Africa.....appears they might have made it to Mariupol Ukraine on their way to Turkey before crossing to Africa.....amazing birds if you think about it....

6 storks slept on the roof of a house in Mariupol.

[OUTLAW 09]

Even in the harshest of conditions, kids should remain kids. Hear the moving story of the 'toy smuggler' #Aleppo
http://bbc.in/2bG0gTT

The White Helmets gathering up Russia's latest delivery of free cluster munitions to locals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhwF1z0AnH4 …

Some Regime armor knocked out by Rebels during N. #Hama offensive: T-72, T-62 & Shilka

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian info warfare hard at work....

Nice headline today from Russia’s newspaper @ru_rbc : “Russia leads in US presidential race”

[OUTLAW 09]

Sometimes it appears that the US senior leadership (both political and military) are "total space cadets"......

US decision maker after allowing #Turkey to "fight terror" in northern #Syria: "Who did they say was that Pekaykay guy, they didn't like?!"

CrowBat...we seem to have now US CAS flying for the Kurds and Turkish CAS flying for FSA....

SDF/YPG with Coalition airstrikes capture Harbul & Um Hosh after clashes with IS in north Aleppo countryside


Michael Weiss
✔ @michaeldweiss I'll say. Turkish offensive on Islamic State caught U.S. off guard.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/turkish-offensive-on-islamic-state-in-syria-caught-u-s-off-guard-1472517789 … via @WSJ

[OUTLAW 09]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/turkish-offensive-on-islamic-state-in-syria-caught-u-s-off-guard-1472517789 …


When Turkish ground forces delivered a lightning strike on Islamic State fighters in Syria last week, the Pentagon hailed what it described as close U.S.-Turkish coordination.

But behind the scenes, cooperation between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization partners broke down at senior levels, according to officials on both sides. The two countries weren’t as aligned on the operation as their public statements indicated.

While the White House was preparing to consider a secret plan to have American special forces join the Turks, Ankara pulled the trigger on the mission unilaterally without giving officials in Washington advance warning. When clashes started between Turkish and Syrian Kurdish fighters—who are directly backed by U.S. Special Forces—the Pentagon issued unusually blunt calls for both to stand down.

U.S. officials say the Turks’ decision undercut a behind-the-scenes effort to clear rival Syrian Kurdish elements out of the conflict zone first and created a prickly, new challenge for the U.S. as two of its most important partners in the campaign fight each other instead of Islamic State. The breakdown in coordination adds a new layer of tensions between Washington and Ankara on top of those sparked by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown since the July coup attempt in Turkey.

Officials in Washington said they warned their Turkish military counterparts Monday that the U.S. won’t provide air support to Turkish forces pushing southward, deeper into Syrian territory. The U.S. will continue to provide air support to Turkish forces moving westward, into the border area threatened by Islamic State.

Likewise, U.S. officials told the Kurds that U.S. air support hinged on their forces moving east of the Euphrates River and on advancing south toward Islamic State’s self-declared capital, Raqqa, to ensure they wouldn’t come into conflict with the Turks, according to the officials. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday that the Kurdish forces had begun to move eastward, easing the friction between the two sides.

Turkey has long accused the main Syrian Kurdish militia of being an extension of the Kurdish separatist group that uses car bombs and suicide attacks in Turkey as part of a two-decade-old fight for more rights and autonomy.

A reconstruction of events leading up to Turkey’s ground intervention, based on interviews with U.S. and Turkish officials and Syrian rebels involved in the offensive, shows discussions between the U.S. and Turkey over a joint operation along the Turkish-Syrian border date back to the spring of 2015.

Under the original Turkish proposal, which Mr. Erdogan discussed with his top generals in June 2015, his government would have sent as many as 2,000 troops across the border. Turkish officials were so convinced of the political will to launch the operation that they had drafted news releases announcing the military decision.

In addition to Turkish forces, Ankara wanted the Obama administration to commit to sending in U.S. commandos, but the White House was cool to the idea, according to U.S. officials. Instead of using foreign ground forces, the U.S. and Turkey agreed to use air power and artillery to support thousands of Syrian rebel fighters who would move in to clear a 60-mile stretch of the border.

Turkey shared the names of the Sunni rebel units that it wanted to spearhead the ground operation, allowing U.S. intelligence agencies to vet them for any possible terrorist ties. One of the largest groups on Turkey’s wish list for the operation—Ahrar al-Sham—was rejected by the Americans as too extreme.

But talks between the U.S. and Turkey over the joint operation bogged down last summer as Pentagon leaders and some Turkish generals raised doubts that Ankara would be able to mobilize enough rebels to carry out the proposed mission.

The proposed operation was shelved as unfeasible when Russia intervened in Syria last year to shore up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, especially after a Turkish jet shot down a Russian warplane on the Turkey-Syria border. Many of the Turkish-backed rebel groups were too busy trying to fend off Mr. Assad’s resurgent forces in Aleppo to join Turkey on another front against Islamic State.

Talks renewed in the winter during a short-lived cease-fire. Then, in March, Turkey provided the U.S. with a list of 1,800 Syrian rebel fighters it had identified to lead the operation, a senior Turkish official said.

July’s attempted military coup against Mr. Erdogan ratcheted up tensions with the U.S. But top military officials on both sides said they didn’t want to let the discord affect cooperation against Islamic State.

After Mr. Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 9, Turkey sent a high-level military delegation to Russia to discuss its planned operation into Syria. The Russians assured Turkish officials that Moscow wouldn’t target Ankara’s forces if Turkey moved across the border, according to senior Turkish officials.

Turkey’s plans progressed after Aug. 13, when Kurdish-led forces backed by U.S. commandos seized control of the Syrian town of Manbij, which sat on Islamic State’s strategic supply route between Raqqa and the Turkish border.

That next week, alarm bells sounded in Ankara and Washington when some of those Kurdish units started to push north toward the Turkish border. Turkey had agreed to the U.S.-backed operation to liberate Manbij from Islamic State after receiving assurances from Washington that the Syrian Kurdish forces spearheading the fight would leave the largely Arab town once the jihadist group was defeated and move back to the east side of the Euphrates.

By Aug 17, Turkey was calling in Syrian rebel militias who were part of the battle plan, according to people familiar with the matter. Turkish security forces began transporting those friendly fighters to staging grounds along the Turkish border.

At the same time, Kurdish elements were taking more villages around Manbij, and not retreating as they had promised the U.S. Some Kurdish leaders also indicated that their next military objective would be Jarablus, a Syrian town on the Turkish border, instead of Raqqa. U.S. officials said the main Kurdish forces they backed never threatened to go to Jarablus.

By Aug. 20, Turkey had a new reason to launch its attack: A suspected Islamic State bomber targeted a wedding celebration in Gaziantep, a city of about two million near the Syrian border. At least 54 people were killed.

Turkish and American officials said the Turkish military wanted to look decisive and to show loyalty to Mr. Erdogan, particularly after the coup.

With their Syrian rebel allies massing, the Turkish military briefed their American counterparts based in Turkey on their plans.

They asked for a contingent of U.S. Special Operations forces to enter Jarablus alongside Turkish commandos, according to U.S. and Turkish officials. U.S. commandos would help call in airstrikes and coordinate with rebel fighters on the ground.

Pentagon leaders backed the plan, which called for deploying at least 40 U.S. commandos. Then, early last week, they began talks with the White House about the proposed joint ground operation.

The Pentagon was looking for a speedy answer. Instead, the White House—cautious about putting American troops on another front inside Syria—told the Pentagon that it wanted certain questions answered before proceeding. Specifically, the White House wanted to know how Special Operations forces would be protected given the presence of al Qaeda-linked fighters in the area, officials said.

Military officials said the White House’s request for more information amounted to a rejection of the plan because they knew the Turks wanted to move quickly.

As White House officials awaited answers to their questions, the Pentagon pressed Ankara to give U.S. deliberations more time. Meanwhile, U.S. officials were trying to get Kurdish forces to leave areas where Turkish forces would deploy.

Late on Aug. 23, the White House told the Pentagon that it was prepared to convene a high-level meeting the next day to consider the Pentagon’s proposal to insert U.S. Special Operations forces as part of the Turkish operation.

But overnight, Turkey launched its offensive without giving officials in Washington advanced warning. The proposal never reached President Barack Obama’s desk, according to a senior administration official.

While Turkey publicly cast the campaign as a joint operation with the U.S.-led military coalition, the first airstrikes carried out by Turkish jets on Jarablus were done unilaterally, not under the coalition umbrella.

Turkish aircraft fired from Turkish airspace, not Syria’s, according to U.S. officials.

When U.S. military commanders in the region realized that Turkish forces had launched their operation without the Americans, the head of the U.S. military’s Central Command, Gen. Joe Votel, used existing authorities to have U.S. forces in the region provide the Turks with limited air support via drones, F-16s and A-10s.

Instead of participating at the front line, U.S. Special Operations forces took up positions on Turkish soil overlooking Jarablus to try to help direct U.S. strikes from the sidelines. But officials said the commandos could do little from the distance.

The battle for Jarablus, which U.S. officials thought would take days or even weeks, was over within hours as Islamic State militants pulled back without putting up much of a fight.

Continued....

[OUTLAW 09]

Waer truce talks ongoing after weeks of heavy airstrikes & siege; sources tell us current regime proposal looks a lot like the last one.

I was told today by people inside #Madaya that 'Daraya style' negotiations have started there too #surrenderorstarve

Negotiations tomorrow between #Moadamiya committee & the #Syria-n military 4th Division to decide their fate. No @UN @ICRC_sy mediation.

Assad "ethnic cleansing" goes on with UN and western approval......

SNC petitions ISSG members not to let Al-Waer come to the same fate as #Darayya. Requests stop to attacks, unfettered access for aid.

[OUTLAW 09]

SW. #Aleppo: pro-Regime forces (& Palestinian Al-Quds) renewed assault on Technical College after intense shelling.

[OUTLAW 09]

CrowBat....anything to this field comment??
Seems #FSA backed by #Turkey army stopped their advance from #Jarablus toward #SDF/#YPG held #Manbij town

Appears that publicly the US has been supporting Turkey and the FSA moves especially their comments directed at SDF/YPG to move back east towards the Euphrates....BUT some reports are coming out today concerning NATO that senior US types are not happy in the least with the Turks/FSA...this I think reflects the CENTCOM input to NATO and that CENTCOM is betting on YPG/SDF not the CIA choice FSA.....

This article seems to imply this disconnect.....
wsj.com/articles/turkish-offensive-on-islamic-state-in-syria-caught-u-s-off-guard-1472517789 …

BUT this is important.....the US did not see this coming...another total intel failure...it is almost as if they simply do not "hear" what people say to them....Erdogan as much as I disagree with him...has been unusually clear in his statements about Assad and the Kurds....

JUST as they did not see the military annexation of Crimea coming full at them AND they certainly did not see the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine coming full at them.....I mean how can you "missed" 14,000 troops and over 500 tanks and IFVs.....not to mention the cross border shelling attacks prior to the invasion...US taxpayers paid billions for new ISR equipment and technology so apparently none of it works?????

JUST what does the US intel community see these days?????

BreakingReport
#US and #Turkey agree to full #SDF withdrawal to east of the #Euphrates & no more clashes with rebels and the Turkish army.

Will be interesting to see if the blustering statements made by senior PKK leaders continue in the face of this...

BUT a commenter posted this....right away the announcement.......

Again.........

......actually the commenter is correct as the US had stated this twice publicly before.... once using VP Biden for emphasis....

Al Arabiya English Verified account 
‏@AlArabiya_Eng
BREAKING: Turkish, Kurdish forces in Syria agree to 'stop shooting at each other': US official

Another commenter then posted this.......

Take out the popcorn...this is just the intermission ......

BUT THEN......
Turkish-backed rebels said to be in last preparations for 2nd phase - cross Sajur River to border #Manbij.

2nd phase will be much harder it seems.
"They withdrew to E of the Euphrates"-SDF establishes strong defence lines.
https://youtu.be/YIAuuEFdyNI

[OUTLAW 09]

More pro-#Assad troops dying due to rebel ATGM attacks S-W of #Aleppo city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIg1t-Y8uEU …

Devastating Faylaq al-Sham ATGM attack on pro-#Assad forces w/ammo boxes in #Qarsi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8cZlecdS54&feature=youtu.be …

1st ever full BM-21 Grad volley on pro-#Assad forces in #Handarat N of #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhhzGIHi2Ac …

Russians fighter jets are helping the pyd fighting isis in two villages um housh and herbel south of marea now...notice poster used the term PYD...fig leaf cover name for PKK

[OUTLAW 09]

MORE Russian Kerry Geneva "clarity" rained down on civilians today......

Terrible #footage
The #AssadPutin air force bombed a vegetable market in #Idlib prov today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czBSGEPSGlU …

They used cluster ammunition to kill more innocents.
No central bomb crater - death and destruction and many places across the market area.

BUT WAIT...Russia has virtually declared all Arab Sunni's "terrorists" and Kerry largely supports that view as well since he and Obama say absolutely nothing about this type of deliberate Russian targeting of civilians...

Heavy air strikes on rebel-held towns between #Aleppo and #Turkey today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHFUPLirArE …

[OUTLAW 09]

Syrian rebel "air defence" unit in #Hama.
Lots of fire power,no means to down jets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbkiF7PWyDA&feature=youtu.be …

Ahrar al-Sham recaptured #Qaras village S-W of #Aleppo after 15 hours of battles vs. pro-#Assad forces.

N. #Aleppo: Suqur Jebal shelled N. #Mallah with 10s of Grad rockets
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.293613&lon=37.142372&z=14&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhhzGIHi2Ac …

EuphratesShield: #FSA about to launch the next stage of the Battle aiming at defeating #ISIS W. of #Jarablus.

N. #Latakia: 1rst Coastal Div. wiped out w/ #Fagot a hideout w/ 14.5 mm gun in Jebal Turkman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz-tcQrNbt4 …

N. #Hama: Jaish Al-Izza waiting for Regime targets with a camouflaged #TOW-2A.

Jaish Al-Fateh improving positions w/ artillery & cover to cope w/ relentless Regime/#RuAF airstrikes (S. #Aleppo).

GoPro: Jaish Izza Inghimasi storming Al-Zilaqiat checkpoint w/ up-armored bull. in N. #Hama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmr1jfQvTzU …

S. #Aleppo: Rebels destroyed a tank with an #ATGM on Al-Qarassi front while Iranian-led militias tried to advance.

[OUTLAW 09]

US Special Envoy on #Syria corrects premature reporting on US-#Russia negotiations & #Aleppo policy:
Basically states there is no agreement with Russia on anything...whereas Russian propaganda plays the Geneva meeting like a great victory over the US......

WHY does this action by the UN in Syria really surprise anyone....the very same UN delegation that stayed in 4Star hotels in Damascus while Darayya was bombed and starved into submission with a single UN small aid convoy in three years....

Shocking.
The UN has paid [at least] $31.5m to US/EU-sanctioned bodies in #Syria.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/29/un-pays-tens-of-millions-to-assad-regime-syria-aid-programme-contracts?CMP=share_btn_tw …

Leaked ISIS Documents Show Internal Chaos @michaeldweiss
http://thebea.st/2cnE6GH
via @thedailybeast

[OUTLAW 09]

How is that great Obama/Rhodes/Kerry Syrian FP of "doing nothing stupid" working out in the face of years of experience with Iranian "revolutionary Islam" as designed by Khomeini and further supported by Khamenei...and the soon to be named replacement for Khamenei....

WHO did not see this coming needs to take a long vacation in the ME and catch up on "real Politik".....


http://www.voanews.com/a/iran-launch-shia-army-escalate-sectarian-tensions/3485547.html

Iran's Launch of Shia Army Threatens to Escalate Sectarian Tensions


The Iranian government's launch of a "United Shia Liberation Army" is sending signals that Tehran wants to expand its political and military role in Middle East conflicts along sectarian lines, analysts say.

"Using a sectarian Shi'ite identifier with the title of the new army will inflame sectarian tensions in the region," Talha Abdulrazaq, a researcher at the University of Exeter's Strategy and Security Institute, told VOA. "Iran is asserting itself as a regional or even an imperialistic power."

The new force, announced Thursday by a veteran military commander who leads Iranian forces in Syria, is designed to fight in Arab countries and would recruit heavily from non-Iranian Shi'ite Muslims across the region.

In an interview with Mashregh news agency, Mohammad Ali Falaki, a leader in the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guard's (IRGC), said the focus of the new force would center on three fronts — Yemen, Syria and Iraq. He said the IRGC already leads Shi'ite dominated forces in Syria comprising fighters who come from Pakistan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

"The forces that belong to this army are not Iranians only. In any place where there is a fight, we organize and recruit local people of the area," said Falaki, a veteran of the Iran-Iraq worker who retired but then returned to command Iranian-led forces in Syria.

Declaring war, analysts say

By forming a sectarian army, Tehran is declaring a war on its regional neighbors — such as Sunni-dominated countries like Saudi Arabia who have long been at odds with the Iranian regime over religion and politics — and preaching its ideology to Shi'ites across the globe, analysts say.

"It is an announcement that they are basically declaring that they are going to continue to use foreign fighters to spread sectarian violence, extremism and terrorism across the region," Abdulrazaq told VOA in a phone interview

The Gulf Coordination Council (GCC) countries, headed by Saudi Arabia, has accused Iran of inciting sectarian violence and conflicts in the region, including Iran's backing of Shi'ite Houthi rebels in war-torn Yemen. Saudi Arabia has not commented publicly on the Iranian move.

"Tehran and Riyadh have locked horns for months now and this could be a muscle-flexing gesture by Iran, giving a signal to Saudis that Iran might use all of its potentials in that fight," said Rasool Nafisi, a Middle East affairs expert in Washington.

‘Exacerbate the conflict’

Houthi rebels are at odds with the Sunni-dominated Yemeni government. The Houthis have been seeking greater rights for the Shi'ite minority in Yemen and already receive support from Iran.

"The formation of such an army would only exacerbate the conflict in Yemen. Houthis are one of the most organized groups in the Yemeni war and any additional support would empower them on the ground," Cairo-based Yemeni affairs analyst Maysaa Shuja Aldeen told VOA.

Iran would also widen its influence in the Syrian war, where Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah have been fighting for years in support of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Iran has allegedly sent thousands of Afghans living in Iran to the Syrian front lines and has recruited Pakistani nationals as fighters.

"Iranian commanders lead the battles in defending the Damascus regime. Syrians and other fighters from Lebanon and Afghanistan are fighting under their command," Sardar Kazemi, an Afghan fighter who defected from Syria and sought refuge in UAE, told VOA.

In Iraq, the Iraqi's People's Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as Hashd Shaabi, is supervised by Qasim Soleimani — an IRGC commander, according to Yasser Haidari, a former Iraqi provincial government adviser, who went against Iranian involvement in Iraq.

A larger Iranian-led force in Iraq will also likely inflame regional tensions, analysts say.

"Putting a new badge on this army as an independent army from IRGC with wider goals … could be more than a provocative act to Saudis and other Sunni states in the region and could be in line with Iran's further ambitions in the region," Nafisi said.

So far, though, Iran's announcement is short on specifics and, in the long run, may amount to little more than posturing on Iran's part, some analysts say.

"Saudi Arabia and the region's Sunni states are fully aware of Iran's foreign agenda," Abdulrazaq said. "The GCC countries are not going to be surprised by this announcement. … They would not do anything more than what they are already doing to counter Iran's regional ambitions."

REMEMBER the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry Iran Deal was designed to do two things.....

1. support moderates...which it has not

2. allow Iran to expand as a regional actually the only regional hegemon...AND that is working it seems....

[OUTLAW 09]

How is that great Obama/Rhodes/Kerry Syrian FP of "doing nothing stupid" working out in the face of years of experience with Iranian "revolutionary Islam" as designed by Khomeini and further supported by Khamenei...and the soon to be named replacement for Khamenei....

WHO did not see this coming needs to take a long vacation in the ME and catch up on "real Politik".....


http://www.voanews.com/a/iran-launch-shia-army-escalate-sectarian-tensions/3485547.html

Iran's Launch of Shia Army Threatens to Escalate Sectarian Tensions


REMEMBER the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry Iran Deal was designed to do two things.....

1. support moderates...which it has not

2. allow Iran to expand as a regional actually the only regional hegemon...AND that is working it seems....

Who in CENTCOM and the Obama WH plus the entire NSC...WHO failed to sit down and completely read all the written works of Khomeini from the 60s up to 1979 on what he called "revolutionary Islam"...it was clearly and concisely explained.....SO who missed that small critical point WHEN Obama fully tilted to Iran as the coming regional hegemon???

WHO missed the term "Green Crescent" often used by Khomeini when talking about "revolutionary Islam".....

That single decision maybe the worst FP decision ever made by a sitting US President in the ME in the last 70 odd years....a looming Sunni Shia war cannot be the legacy that Obama/Rhodes/Kerry wanted for historians to study...

BECAUSE that is exactly what Obama/Rhodes/Kerry have put into motion....

[OUTLAW 09]

If they part their hair to the left we'll call them SDF, to the right they're YPG
https://twitter.com/jseldin/status/770646869387206656 …

Hama: Rebels have captured the #Suman barrier northwest of #Taibat_al_Imam and advancing also south of #Helfaia at #Btaysh village.

[OUTLAW 09]

Words for thought........

Obama's Middle East legacy is absolutely catastrophic. What Bush did through misguided action, Obama achieved through misguided inaction.

[OUTLAW 09]

Words for thought........

Obama's Middle East legacy is absolutely catastrophic. What Bush did through misguided action, Obama achieved through misguided inaction.

[OUTLAW 09]

Mountain Hawks Brigade promo of them fighting during #Euphrates_shield
https://youtu.be/NymsQMNIVyU

Large airstrike by Russian air force in western #Aleppo countryside
https://youtu.be/bggXaa2TrUg

Smart News Agency touring #Halfaya, #Hama after capture showing civilians in the town and fighters celebrating
https://youtu.be/3C7Xn0XXv7w

Video of Sons of Sham capture al-Masaasna village in north #Hama
https://youtu.be/nqW0-_cdORE

Jaish al Nasr preparing for and starting the initial attack on al-Buayda village in North #Hama operations
https://youtu.be/CI0VyOBXm80

SNN @shamnews showing a unexploded Metis ATGM, mistaken for cluster munition. al Waer #Homs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrAK-Uz4zks …

Sultan Murad brigade battling on the outskirts of Jarabulus and Sajur river, fighting and evacuating civilians
https://youtu.be/YIAuuEFdyNI

Jaish al Aza capture a BMP from regime forces in Halfaya from inside the #Hospital during N. #Hama operation
https://youtu.be/t4oICCxJk2w

Rebels took Nasiriyah in northern #Hama

Hama Rebels took Btaysh village
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.230056&lon=36.628418&z=14&m=b …

Hama: Rebels have captured an #Assad Shilka in #Buwaydah village.

Rebels destroyed an #Assad tank with ATGM inside Syriatel barrier, Northern #Hama.

FSA has captured Zughrah,Hafirah,Qunli from ISIS

[OUTLAW 09]

BREAKING
Taibat Al-Imam is fully captured!

When you think, you've seen it all ...
Rebels take Tayyibat al Imam and more towns in #Hama province.

Hama: Rebels shelling #Hama Military Airport with Grad rockets today.

One more T-62 seized from Regime this evening S. of Helfaya.

[OUTLAW 09]

CNN Trk ENG
✔ @CNNTURK_ENG BREAKING Turkish MFA: US comments on scope and targets of #EuphratesShield op in Syria are unacceptable.

US/CENTCOM actions on the verbal side and the WSJ article today is turning the Turkish/FSA offensive now into a real down to earth pis......ing contest.....

WHICH will end badly for the US/YPG as the Turks are now on the ground inside Syria and that is something they have been pushing for months to do but were held back by the US just as the Obama WH has held back TOWs when the FSA did not heel to their wishes and the Southern Army is still sitting in the desert under Jordanian/US MOS orders.....when they are urgently needed to attack Assad forces in their area of responsibility.

You will notice that in the WJS article posted here today...the WH caused some of the problems by simply not responding to DoD inputs/requests in a timely manner thus the WH tried to run the clock out on the Turkish offensive against IS AND YPG....AND the Turks had seen this before and simply did not wait for the Obama non response....they went.

PART of the Obama full tilt to Iran in his interview was that he wanted the ME countries to start doing things on their own...WELL Turkey started and surprise surprise that is not what the US wanted them to do....

WHEN one allows a massive ten foot snowball to roll down hill it is a tad to late to get in front of it WHEN you realize that it is not exactly going where you wanted it to go.....

THERE has been some small trial balloons floated over the last few days that speak of 15,000 Turkish troops ready to cross into Syria if needed..that could in fact still occur if they are needed and there is nothing the Obama WH can say and or do to hinder that.....

[OUTLAW 09]

CNN Trk ENG
✔ @CNNTURK_ENG BREAKING Turkish MFA: US comments on scope and targets of #EuphratesShield op in Syria are unacceptable.

US/CENTCOM actions on the verbal side and the WSJ article today is turning the Turkish/FSA offensive now into a real down to earth pis......ing contest.....

WHICH will end badly for the US/YPG as the Turks are now on the ground inside Syria and that is something they have been pushing for months to do but were held back by the US just as the Obama WH has held back TOWs when the FSA did not heel to their wishes and the Southern Army is still sitting in the desert under Jordanian/US MOS orders.....when they are urgently needed to attack Assad forces in their area of responsibility.

You will notice that in the WJS article posted here today...the WH caused some of the problems by simply not responding to DoD inputs/requests in a timely manner thus the WH tried to run the clock out on the Turkish offensive against IS AND YPG....AND the Turks had seen this before and simply did not wait for the Obama non response....they went.

PART of the Obama full tilt to Iran in his interview was that he wanted the ME countries to start doing things on their own...WELL Turkey started and surprise surprise that is not what the US wanted them to do....

WHEN one allows a massive ten foot snowball to roll down hill it is a tad to late to get in front of it WHEN you realize that it is not exactly going where you wanted it to go.....

THERE has been some small trial balloons floated over the last few days that speak of 15,000 Turkish troops ready to cross into Syria if needed..that could in fact still occur if they are needed and there is nothing the Obama WH can say and or do to hinder that.....

THIS proves the YPG/PKK has not in fact pulled back to the east of the Euphrates as the Us had indicated they would in fact do.....they are as the PKK senior commander stated engaged in fighting the Turks in what one could in fact safely state "are largely populated Arab Sunni lands".....

BREAKING Turkish military sources tell @cnnturk Turkish tank hit by rocket in west of #Jarablus, 3 soldiers wounded.

BUT THEN the US government is so far behind the ground reality.......

From yesterday.....
WH: We do not support & we would oppose Turkey's efforts to move south & engage in activities agst SDF we support.

Today
BREAKING White House: US welcomes overnight calm between Turkish mil forces and other counter-ISIL forces in Syria.

Today..this evening ..Turkish tank hit by YPG/SDF.....

[OUTLAW 09]

APPEARS the Obama WH is quick to critique the Turkish offensive and to warn them to not attack SDF/YPG.......and that the agreement is for SDF/YPG to move out of Manbij....which is largely Arab Sunni populated.

BUT THEN...one gets this statement from the US Kurdish proxy......

Kurdish official told me our people would not accept to give up Manbij to the Turks, after we had over 200-300 'martyrs'

BUT WAIT supposedly those loses were SDF fighters that in theory were Arabs...now suddenly they are Kurds....

BUT WAIT all those SDF fighters either killed or captured by FSA have been wearing the SDF uniform but carrying YPG IDs and uniform logos praising the PKK imprisoned leader.....

[OUTLAW 09]

Jarablus M C in Statement: " We declare that we have reached to a temporary #ceasefire under the auspices of the international coalition".

PROBLEM....here the term Jarablus MC refers to the YPG/SDF BUT they did not capture Jarablus the Turks and FSA did SO why do they speak as if they control the town?????

Jarablus M C St: "ceasefire has started last midnight with Turkish army &that not mean we are accepting Turkish occupation for Syrian land"

There is an old imperialist saying...those that control the land control everything..and that is 99% of the battle...and YPG simply did not control Jarablus....

A top YPG official ..........
1. The groups backed by Turkey are Islamists, with other names than ISIS
BUT WAIT "Islamists" are not necessarily jihadists......

2. The groups backed by Turkey cannot take Raqqah. Without us, Raqqah will not be taken in a few years
BUT WAIT.....Turkish armor, 15,000 troops and FSA can in fact take Raqqa....AND Turkish CAS....and artillery....

3. If US wants they can cooperate with groups like Faylaq al-Sham, Ahrar as-Sham, Zenki, but they can't take Raqqah

4. He also says the world knows how Turkey took Jarabulus, not one bullet was fired by the Turkish army against ISIS

This particular YPG spokesperson has a small tendency to over estimate YPG abilities.....without US CAS they would not be where are they are...FSA has been fighting IS without US CAS for a lot longer than YPG has......

[OUTLAW 09]

This is major..........

Hama: Rebels are just 9 kilometers away from #Hama City.

Military checkpoint (Point 50), North of Khattab Munitions Depot is captured by rebels.
#Hama

Phase 2 completed, 1 town and 12 barriers were captured, Sawran town is next.

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels killing a third group of pro-#Assad forces with ATGM in #Qarassi, Southern #Aleppo, today.

Syria #Hama Looks like disaster week for #Assad Regime. Lost 2 towns & 7 villages + lots of barriers in only 2 days:D

Rebels&the Turkish Army also took three more villages from #ISIS, advancing further west along the border.

[OUTLAW 09]

THIS proves the YPG/PKK has not in fact pulled back to the east of the Euphrates as the US had indicated they would in fact do.....they are as the PKK senior commander stated engaged in fighting the Turks in what one could in fact safely state "are largely populated Arab Sunni lands".....

BREAKING Turkish military sources tell @cnnturk Turkish tank hit by rocket in west of #Jarablus, 3 soldiers wounded.

BUT THEN the US government is so far behind the ground reality.......

From yesterday.....
WH: We do not support & we would oppose Turkey's efforts to move south & engage in activities agst SDF we support.

Today
BREAKING White House: US welcomes overnight calm between Turkish mil forces and other counter-ISIL forces in Syria.

Today..this evening ..Turkish tank hit by YPG/SDF.....

Turkish Armed Forces does not blame YPG for now. And it says 'Turkish tank is hit in West of Jerablus.'
So, it ought to be ISIS attack?

[OUTLAW 09]

This is major..........

Hama: Rebels are just 9 kilometers away from #Hama City.

Military checkpoint (Point 50), North of Khattab Munitions Depot is captured by rebels.
#Hama

Phase 2 completed, 1 town and 12 barriers were captured, Sawran town is next.

EVEN IF the RUS aim in #Syria was to fight islamist extremist rebel groups, the strategy terribly failed.
They are stronger than ever today.

[OUTLAW 09]

Sorry Obama admin: S-300 can be used for offense & defense. Russian transfer to Iran violates 3 sanctions laws.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/243784-making-sense-of-iranian-s-300s …

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey's Syria incursion is a turning point in the anti-ISIS fight — via @TheStudyofWar
http://read.bi/2bzkVqU

[OUTLAW 09]

ISIS suicide attack in Kuliya (Qunli) west of #Jarablus targeted FSA rebels, 2 Turkish tanks also reportedly destroyed by ISIS ATGMs

Extensive Russian incendiary cluster attacks on Idlib and Binish last night....

Aleppo intense Russian airstrikes on the Ramouseh area, outskirts of 1070 & academy complex, reports pro-regime militias are advancing

Aleppo Heavy clashes ongoing between rebels & pro-regime militias trying to advance on Talet Mahrouqat & Jamiyat under Russian CAS

IRGC cmdr that was killed in #Aleppo according to Iranian media; Brigadier General Ahmad Ghulami

Syria Rebels use again same way Khattab -> #Hama
Last battle failed here 4 FSA 2014?, but best way bc pass by
2 mountains with artillery
THIS time much better prepared and FSA is combined with Salafists both making a good combination on this attack...

Hama Rebels seized Rahbet Khattab Army Base at northern town entrance (not for the first time)

From last night.....
Daret Izza in west rural #Aleppo was also hit by Russian jets with cluster munitions a little while ago

Reports now of Russian airstrikes with incendiary munitions targeting liberated Tibat al-Imam in rural #Hama

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaish al-Izza rebels send Assad's Zalaqiyat barrier in rural #Hama to kingdom come
https://youtu.be/o3jQmgL-fV4

Syrians forced to use mud to treat children burned by Assad's napalm as regime escalates attacks in #Homs

[OUTLAW 09]

Reference the killing of a senior IS leader........BTW....IS has only one left from their first generation leadership....

BREAKING: #ISIS 'Amaq reported that ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad al-'Adnani was killed in #Aleppo

Adnani was one of the last two alive out of the 43 founders of the Islamic State.

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan
Isis says he was killed in Aleppo during clashes -- imagine if the rebels killed him!!

Several reports floating around that #ISIS spokesman Adnani was killed by a drone strike this morning at al-Bab in #Aleppo

Posted here in the last day that two nights ago there was extensive and long US surveillance flights all night long over al-Bab...

[OUTLAW 09]

Graphic scenes from Ma'arat Misrin, #Idlib where at least 5 civilians were killed by a Russian cluster bomb attack on the marketplace
https://youtu.be/czBSGEPSGlU

Devasting strikes on militias. At least 20 KIA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8cZlecdS54 …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIg1t-Y8uEU …

Hundreds of pro-#Assad foreign fighters are advancing S-W of #Aleppo city, reportedly took several points.

Rebels move into #Khattab on its way to #Hama (best way)
Clashes at entrance of #Soran town

Mass escape of #Iran lead militias from al-Qrasi in southern #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6ooHEhOgcU …
MORE amazing drone footage of the attack...
Assad sent almost 100 troops to capture areas S-W of #Aleppo.
They died or ran away.

Use in combining drones with the actual attack is showing a remarkable combined arms attack ability....infantry, armor and artillery....

[OUTLAW 09]

49 people killed across #Syria on Tuesday, incl. 10 children and 6 women.
Most people died in (29),
followed by #Aleppo (10)
- LCC

Major....
Rebels forces took #Khattab, Khirbet al-Hijama and cut the #Hama-#Muhrada road.

Syrian rebels captured the bridge barrier west of #Souran and now stand on the city's edge.

3 Turkish soldiers were wounded on Tuesday after their tank came under fire west of the Syrian border town of #Jarabulus

[OUTLAW 09]

An #Assad air force Mil Mi-8 dropped barrel bombs on #Aleppo yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AP4dSL0z4M …

Bloody day for #Assad forces.
Another multiple KIA ATGM hit on pro-regime troops in #Qarsi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWQe1LxgWkQ …

Syrian rebels hit another #Assad forces tank in #Hama with the TOW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9fahgAqA0k …

Furious air strikes during the rebel offensive in #Hama.
Not on rebel troops but on their families behind the front.
https://youtu.be/EgGKYGd605M

[OUTLAW 09]

Sorry if duplicate battle videos are being posted....right now there is literally a virtual flood of videos being carried by multiple commenters...and it is hard to screen everything before posting......

Example...this video was posted by five different commenters...

N. #Hama: very precise #TOW strike by Jaish Nasr vs a tank (likely T-72) in Syriatel barrier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9fahgAqA0k …

Interesting is the fact that virtually nothing is being posted from the proAssad/Putin commenter side which is a major indicator that they are taking combat beatings everywhere they are engaged....

[OUTLAW 09]

N. #Hama: massive Jund Al-Aqsa SVBIED detonated N. of Taibat Al-Imam yesterday.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.291870&lon=36.701546&z=12&m …

Interesting comments concerning this particular video which I am trying to get a url link on...

1. the HME and or military grade explosives or combination thereof being used in the SBVIED packs a punch not seen before during the US military time in Iraq.....based on the size of the VBIED being used....lately equaling from the videos... in the range of a 2 or 3 ton bomb impact
In late 2006 IS started using dump trucks carrying the equivalent of over 10 tons...in HME (home made explosives) which Is had gotten extremely good at doing as had a number of the Sunni insurgent groups...by 2010...they were producing literally tons of HME....

2. the departure celebration of the SVBIED driver is the same as seen in Iraq in the 2005/2006 timeframe

3. the Salafists have copied IS's use of the SVBIED as a tactical weapon....ie a human cruise missile used to destroy a key tactical point in the Assad defense lines....and lately hugely successful when employed in that tactical role...as it has led to a number of highly successful break throughs

4. since the opposition fighters have also been hit by the same IS tactic they have lately been very good at spotting and then destroying the IS inbound SVBIED...evidently using a sort of an anti SVBIED recon team....

When I have some spare time I will post comments on these individuals who volunteer on their own with no pressure to be a SVBIED driver taken from my interview experiences with them in Iraq....

[OUTLAW 09]

Seems CENTCOM and the Obama WH in their selection of the YPG to be their "favorite" proxy in Syria overlooked this very fine point........APPEARS to prove that both failed to notice that a tiger never loses it's stripes........

Polat Can: once in the mountains with the PKK, now leads America's favorite anti-terrorists
http://bit.ly/2byTvD3

Obama and CENTCOM have taken us back to the 60s when Che was beating the bushes and PLO/PFPL and RAF were on the war path in the ME and Europe...."one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter"


One Man’s Terrorist …

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on August 30, 2016


Over the last twenty-four hours, as fighting has escalated between Turkey and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), in northern Syria, an YPG/PYD operative has taken to Twitter to protest. Polat Can is the PYD’s representative to the American-led international coalition ranged against the Islamic State (IS), and his missives have sought to inform the coalition who and what terrorism is, which can be broadly summarized as: the Turkish government. Can himself, however, might easily be considered a terrorist since he is an allegedly-former member of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a registered terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, and Turkey.

Polat Can was the PYD’s spokesman before taking up his current post after the U.S. began using the PYD as its primary anti-IS instrument inside Syria after the Kobani battle.

Turkey’s relationship with the anti-IS coalition has been troubled, primarily because of the PYD’s involvement (more below), but in the early morning of 24 August the Turks intervened directly in northern Syria to help a consortium of mainstream rebels drive IS from Jarabulus.

The timing of Turkey’s intervention was determined by an IS suicide bombing in Gaziantep on 20 August, but the intervention intended to serve the dual purpose of degrading the IS threat and forestalling the PYD creating a contiguous statelet all along her border. There have since been clashes between Turkish and allied forces with the PYD, and Turkey has launched still-controversial airstrikes against PYD positions.

This was Can’s first tweet last night:

Polat Can 1

To say the rebels Turkey backed in taking Jarabulus “no different from ISIS” is ridiculous. Most of them vetted by the U.S. and under the Free Syrian Army (FSA) brand.

This morning Can added:

Polat Can 2

While Turkey has not supported IS, she has pursued policies that mean IS is stronger now than it otherwise would be. The reticence to be more aggressive against IS is largely a function of the government having other priorities, rather than any desire to see IS remain. There is little appetite in Turkish public opinion for greater involvement in Syria, and the U.S.-enabled expansion of PYD-held areas on Turkey’s border was seen as more threatening, not least because it is more durable. The world will accept a PYD statelet; it will not accept IS’s statelet. The U.S.’s refusal to act against Bashar al-Assad, whom the Turks wish to see toppled, likewise took precedence for a long time. This distance with Washington, experienced by many regional allies, is the cause of many of the more destructive decisions.

Can’s lecture on “eliminating terrorism,” however, is audacious. Can was a member of the PKK, and his being one of the founders of the YPG is not a testament to his moving on but to the PYD’s nature. The official U.S. position is that “the YPG is not connected to the PKK,” but this is unsustainable upon even a cursory look at the facts.

The PYD was set up in 2003 by the PKK as its Syrian branch under the control of its transnational political structure, the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). The PYD claims that it only draws inspiration from the PKK’s founder, Abdullah Ocalan (“Apo”), and his ideology, “Democratic Confederalism,” but has no material link to the PKK. In reality, the PKK is not only in political but physical control of the PYD/YPG.

Several thousand PKK fighters moved from the Qandil Mountains to Syria in 2011-12, likely initially under a deal with their old ally in Damascus to sow dissent in the anti-Assad ranks, and then to fortify the PYD-held areas once the regime drew back from them. There are certainly many more PKK operatives in YPG ranks now, many of them Syrians from the time the PKK was an instrument of the Assad regime against Turkey and was allowed to widely recruit in the country, though a recent visitor to northern Syria said the presence of Turkish PKK troops was visible in many areas.

The PYD-regime relationship is complicated but overall very clearly more conciliatory than confrontational, even with recent events in Hasaka City. The regime has retained a considerable presence in PYD-held areas that has only recently been challenged, but the reliance of the PYD on regime services remains. The regime has also not engaged in wholesale aerial bombardment of PYD-held areas, as it has rebel-held areas, an indication that just as the regime saw benefit in IS holding territory, so it is with the PYD.

It was alleged in 2012 that Fehman Hussein (Bahoz Erdal), one of the triumvirate that leads the PKK, was leading the military wing of the PYD. Hussein was reported to have been killed in Syria in July. Hussein is probably alive and also probably in Syria. Hussein is additionally accused of leading the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), which gives the PKK deniability for the more gruesome terrorist attacks in Turkey.

In short, if you believe the PYD and the PKK are unconnected, there could very well be beachfront property in Chad in your future.

The PYD’s nature will sometimes be conceded, but its local focus will be highlighted as a mitigating factor. There are two problems with this. One, as Sam Heller has pointed out, is the troubling parallel it raises with Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda in Syria, which has now rebranded itself as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS) to further its local integration—and al-Qaeda’s agenda. Second, it ignores the unguarded statements of PYD members, who are clear that the PKK’s transnationalism is at best paused: they are starting with Syria but Turkey specifically is next and then all Kurdish-majority areas. In just the last few hours, a pro-PYD journalist, Hussein Omer, has reported that the PKK will begin a wave of attacks inside Turkey if she continues confronting the PYD in Syria, and a PKK leader, Duran Kalkan (Selahattin Abbas) has publicly threatened the same.

Given this, Turkey’s extreme anxiety about a PYD-run statelet on its border looks less irrational—it is not some racist, anti-Kurdish vendetta, but a security concern that any Turkish government, of any ideological character, would share. Same with the annoyance Ankara felt when Brett McGurk, the U.S. representative to the anti-IS coalition, met publicly with Polat Can in northern Syria.

Maybe the PKK should be taken off the terrorism list. Maybe the PYD’s authoritarian governance, which inter alia regards information put out without the approval of the PYD Media Center as “an attempt to deliver information to terrorists,” and its dubious methods of warfare, are just prices we have to pay to defeat IS. Maybe providing political extremists with weapons to fight jihadists that they use against NATO partners and other assets like Syrian rebels should come with some kind of penalty.

There are trade-offs on all points, and supporting the PYD to keep IS out of Kurdish-majority areas is clearly necessary, not least because the PYD have ensured there is no other option. But honesty about the PYD is the starting point analytically, even if political front-groups and legal obfuscation is required operationally.

PYD fighter captured by Faylaq al-Sham, 28 AUG 2016. Patch is a picture of PKK's Abdullah Ocalan ("Apo"), reads: "Apo the Leader".

It should be recognized that while Turkey has taken a dark turn, internally and with some deeply problematic allies and proxies in Syria, this current round of chaos was something Ankara tried hard to avoid. Since June 2015, Turkey tried diplomatically to have the U.S. restrain the PYD’s maximalism, and the PYD serially violated these agreements with no U.S. sanction, even when the PYD employed Russian airstrikes to attack U.S.-supported rebels. Manbij was the final straw and after the White House slow-rolled again earlier this month—either to prevent the operation altogether or to keep the U.S. out of it—Turkey acted alone to enforce her red lines.

The flare-up was inevitable once it reached this point, but the U.S. could have arrived at a sensible PYD-Turkey modus vivendi—and prevented this intervention, whose complications it now decries—had it heeded the concerns of its ally earlier. Still, the U.S. has ratified Turkey’s fait accompli and the situation appears to be stabilizing—albeit with the PYD now making moves from Efrin.

In the meanwhile, the irony can be savoured that the U.S. ignored her own laws against terrorism to invite a PKK operative into a counter-terrorism coalition, and he then accused her allies of being terrorists.

[OUTLAW 09]

Obama's Iran policy has effectively underwritten the Syria conflict, writes @JSchanze

http://nypost.com/2016/08/30/team-obamas-appalling-smugness-on-syrian-refugees/


State Department spokesman John Kirby sang the praises of President Obama’s Syria policy on Monday. And boy, was he tone deaf.

Kirby tweeted out proudly: “Today we reached [Obama’s] goal of welcoming 10k of the most vulnerable refugees fleeing the Syria Conflict . . .” He also lauded this purported milestone in a statement that appears on the State Department Web site.

Never mind that this accounts for less than 1 percent of all 4.8 million externally displaced Syrian refugees since the conflict began. The real issue here is that the White House Syria policy has been an unmitigated dumpster fire.

The death toll in Syria has exceeded 400,000 and it’s still climbing. Internally displaced Syrians total 6.6 million.

The Obama administration could’ve stopped the bloodshed early on. In late 2012, the president declared that the use of chemical weapons by Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime would constitute a “red line” prompting American action. Yet when Assad’s army carried out a chemical-weapons attack the following year, he prevaricated and ultimately demurred.

To be clear, he didn’t need to lead the country to war. He could’ve imposed a no-fly zone or created safe havens. He did neither.

Sickeningly, Obama later said of this decision, “I’m very proud of this moment.”

In a recent interview, Wall Street Journal reporter Jay Solomon offered an explanation for the president’s 180. He noted that both Iranian and US officials warned Obama that if he took action against the Assad regime, it could scuttle his ongoing nuclear diplomacy with Iran, Assad’s patron.

The president’s decision to stand down opened the door for the regime’s continued slaughter of the Syrian people, which included the use of additional chemical weapons, the introduction of crude “barrel bombs,” mass starvation, ethnic cleansing and other unspeakable acts of brutality.

The decision also served as a green light for Iran to upgrade its involvement in Syria. Thousands of Iranian troops, advisers and fighters from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (a designated terrorist organization) are now fighting in Syria. This also includes hundreds of fighters from Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias, not to mention thousands of fighters from the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, the administration’s Iran policy has effectively underwritten the Syria conflict. The return of an estimated $100 billion in escrowed oil funds, along with the highly controversial provision of $400 million in cash and an additional $1.3 billion in interest (both tied to previously frozen funds), has made it easier for Iran to continue to fund the Syrian regime. And this doesn’t even include the billions of dollars Iran has reaped through other US and European sanctions relief.

Not surprisingly, the slaughter of Sunni Syrians and the emergence of an empowered Iran inspired a surge of jihadist groups into Syria. There was an early moment when the Obama administration could have backed moderate fighters, and many of the president’s advisers exhorted him to do so. But he made a deliberate decision to not threaten Iran’s “equities” in Syria.

With little to no support from the West, the relative moderates were soon eclipsed by extremists. With the rise of the Islamic State, even al Qaeda suddenly seemed less genocidal by comparison. The Islamic State has since gravitated well beyond Syria, having conquered territory in Iraq, Libya and Egypt, and launching a spate of terrorist attacks in Western cities from Brussels to Orlando.

The Syrian war now includes Russia fighting alongside the Assad regime and Iran. In fact, Moscow just gave Iran advanced S-300 missile defenses and Russian jets recently flew sorties from Iran to bomb Assad’s enemies. The Obama administration has bristled at Russia’s intervention, but done little more.

Turkey also bristled at Moscow’s intervention and even shot down a Russian jet fighter last November. But now, this NATO ally has made peace with Putin, and has since made the plunge into Syria. Except the Turks aren’t fighting the Islamic State. They’re fighting the Kurds. In other words, we’ve entered yet another bloody phase of this war.

The sheer complexities of the conflict will inevitably prompt some to say the president was wise to limit US involvement. But it was the president’s decisions that invited this mess.

With cities flattened and casualties mounting, Syria can only be described as a nightmare. When this administration takes a victory lap for a meaningless benchmark, it deliberately distracts from the atrocities that continue to occur on its watch.

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad regime forces meaning Iraqi/AFG/ Shia militias, Palestinian militias, Hezbollah and IRGC are taking major beatings since the opposition forces started their Aleppo offensive...AND all the Russian civilian bombings and CAS is absolutely having no impact on the battlefield right now.

Syria Most #Assad-forces from checkpoints in #Hama city ordered to fight at northern frontlines. Clashes in #Souran town continues.

[OUTLAW 09]

BUT WAIT this is the same Russia that openly double taps first responders, bombs hospitals and markets and drop incendiary munitions on civilians YET denies "it was us" suddenly claiming "it was us"?????

ABSOLUTELY no reporting's even by IS of Russian air craft in and or near al Bab....

BUT there was from Flightradar reporting posted here that a US surveillance AC flew over al Bab at 23,000 for hours as well as over Jarablus in the same timeframe of the drone strike.........

Russia claims it killed Adnani. When the US ties itself in knots disclosing its role in strikes, why not?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russian-claims-airstrike-that-killed-senior-islamic-state-leader/2016/08/31/4b551701-c880-4c0c-ac92-24df06c1195c_story.html?postshare=1761472645850656&tid=ss_tw …

[OUTLAW 09]

Tthis is the same Turkey the Russian FM is talking about...that has told Putin to remove Assad for the last five years....the same Turkey right???

SO now the Russian FM "expects them, hints to them or outright tells them to talk to Assad"....sure......

Russia is just stirring the pot and trying to act in the same manner as the US DoS to look "superpower like"....at least in words....

MFA Russia Verified account 
‏@mfa_russia
#Zakharova: We urge Turkey to coordinate its military actions in #Syria with Damascus, refrain from attacking opposition and ethnic groups



Really coordinate Turkish military actions and goals with Assad......???

Russia defines opposition/ethnic groups to mean ALL Assad regime forces including YPG/PKK....definitely not FSA....

[OUTLAW 09]

Incredible! Rebels claim Souran has been completely liberated! #Hama

Kurds are bluffing again as CENTCOM would never place USA SF between to opposing armed forces......Kurds are just trying to slow down Turkey and FSA from approaching Manbij....WHICH they still have not withfrawn from as ordered by the US and Turkey....

Jarablus military council says US special forces deployed in area between Turkey & PYD forces to prevent clashes

SO are US SF being deployed to Azau and Mare as well as the Turks/FSA are heading that way as well??

BTW Jarablus MC which is Kurdish is still trying to speak for Jarablus even though they are not in Jarablus.......they honestly think they have a right over something they did not capture which is BTW Arab Sunni.....

[OUTLAW 09]

EuphratesShield Scenes of FSA rebels advancing on #ISIS villages west of #Jarablus
https://youtu.be/_XgeSvJg_bA

Aleppo FSA Central Div rebels take out a regime dozer w/ a TOW missile on the Qarrasi front
https://youtu.be/jIWNjtvrbLE

Aleppo Ahrar al-Sham rebels report pro-regime BMP vehicle trying to advance towards Tal Jamiyat has been destroyed by ATGM

Hama Regime attempt to advance towards Nasiriyah has been foiled by rebels, reports many regime killed/injured

Hama Rebels captured multiple regime CPS N & NW of Souran, reports 3 tanks captured & heavy clashes west of #Souran

Syria regime threatens besieged Damascus town with “total war”
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/567318-syria-regime-threatens-besieged-damascus-town-with-total-war …
BUT WAIT...Assad has thrown just about everything except CWs and grandmothers bath tub

AND the Aleppo "killing field" just keeps on sucking in Assad troops to their deaths.....
All regime attempt to advance to Aeronautical college were repelled so far.
Regime never attacked from Souq Al Jibs.

From eight hours ago......
Aleppo situation update after regime huge offensive :
Regime captured :
1) Tal Mahruqat
2) Amarah/Amiriyah

From now.....
Rebels recaptured from regime's advance last night :
1) Jamiyaat
2) 15+ buildings in 1070
3) Qarassi and it's outskirts

[OUTLAW 09]

Statistic of the airstrikes on the N rural of #Homs #Syria
August
42 Talbiseh
34 AlHoula
30 AlWaar
29 AlRastan

The regime is threatening Moadamiya in Damascus rif
After meeting with Brigadier General Ghassan Bilal, the team of negotiators went back to Damascus......offer was rejected

Syria Seems #Assad-forces in northern #Hama without help from #Russia
-only focused to bomb #Aleppo & supply route from #Idlib

Hama media center now: correspondent: rebel battalions able to enter the entire town of #Soran

Syria #Hama Rebels took 2 barriers east of Buwaydah
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.322654&lon=36.714721&z=15&m=b …

Syria #Hama Report from Taybat al-Imam town after seized by rebels
https://youtu.be/le7aX9M2v04

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebel artillery and missile forces have vastly improved in munition quantities available to them, accuracy and increased drone usage with artillery and mortars.......just inside the last four weeks it seems....

In S. of Arti Base same outcome than in Technical College: mass retreat due to Reb artillery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu7_b18ZaoI …

S. #Aleppo: Tajamu Fastaqem fired a #Fagot vs a BMP inside Technical College.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5tU1H9aH7w …

EuphratesShield: village after village #FSA advancing vs #IS towards SajurLake W. #Jarablus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgeSvJg_bA …

S. #Aleppo: Rebels turned Tell Oum Qara into a kill zone for pro-Regime forces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1uO4Z_BVUE …

Syria #Hama Footage from Tell al-Nasiriyah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkEGsHbYPL8&feature=youtu.be …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.233491&lon=36.653910&z=15&m=b …

Syria Clashes reported btw local militias (fled from #Souran) now in Shi'ite town of Qomhana near #Hama

[OUTLAW 09]

EuphratesShield (updated map via @IUCAnalysts): 23 km left to link #Jarablus w/ Al-Rai. HD:
http://i.imgur.com/QlPogHQ.png

N. #Hama: Rebels took 2 additional barriers N. of #Souran: Syriatel & Mafraq Lahaya.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.328991&lon=36.710300&z=13&m …

N. #Hama: Jaish Al-Izza is shelling with artillery the Power Plant of #Mahardarh in retaliation for airstrikes.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.263842&lon=36.584473&z=13&m …

N. #Hama: Regime counter-attack on #Souran is foiled. City under full Rebel control.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.291589&lon=36.745148&z=12&m …

N. #Hama: for the 2nd day in a row, Jaish Al-Izza pounded #Hama Airbase with Grad rockets.

N. #Hama (updated map): Rebels seized over 75 km² & in 3 days & more than 20 militiary positions. Offensive widening

N. #Hama: inside barrier of Tell Nasiriyah seized by Jaish Al-Izza.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.234122&lon=36.657944&z=13&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiH8ZZt4P0I …

S. #Aleppo: Safwah Battalions shelling Cement Factory (Regime base) with a SPG-9.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wr-mJZPq5c …

[OUTLAW 09]

S. #Aleppo: Regime armor increasingly using Iranian jamming system Mirage-1 & up-armoured to cope w/ #ATGMs threat

[OUTLAW 09]

BUT WAIT this is the same Russia that openly double taps first responders, bombs hospitals and markets and drop incendiary munitions on civilians YET denies "it was us" suddenly claiming "it was us"?????

ABSOLUTELY no reporting's even by IS of Russian air craft in and or near al Bab....

BUT there was from Flightradar reporting posted here that a US surveillance AC flew over al Bab at 23,000 for hours as well as over Jarablus in the same timeframe of the drone strike.........

Russia claims it killed Adnani. When the US ties itself in knots disclosing its role in strikes, why not?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russian-claims-airstrike-that-killed-senior-islamic-state-leader/2016/08/31/4b551701-c880-4c0c-ac92-24df06c1195c_story.html?postshare=1761472645850656&tid=ss_tw …

US kills ISIS senior figure in Syria.

Russia claims it was responsible.

US says that’s “a joke”

= Prospects for US-Russia cooperation?

.@pentagonpresssec: "no info to support #Russia's claim" on #Adnani, hasn't "devoted much effort" to ISIS ldrs or used precision weapons

Does the defense official realize that this "joke" is being published in full-length news articles in RU media?

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey vows to keep attacking U.S.-backed Syrian Kurd forces

Turkey on Wednesday vowed to keep attacking a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia inside Syria, saying it will never negotiate with what it considers to be a "terrorists"…
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/31/turkey-denies-cease-fire-deal-kurdish-rebels-syria/


ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey on Wednesday vowed to keep attacking a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia inside Syria, saying it will never negotiate with what it considers to be a “terror organization.”

The defiant rhetoric is likely to set back U.S. expectations of a halt in the fighting between Washington’s two allies in the region, both of whom are also fighting the Islamic State group in Syria.

Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish force an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, a domestic group that Ankara has declared a terrorist organization.


Turkey denies any US claim that there is in effect a ceasefire between Turkey and YPG.....

[OUTLAW 09]

Loot captured from Regime forces in #Hama. Noticed the multiple @UNHCR tents used by SAA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkEGsHbYPL8 …

Russian incendiary munition strikes targeted Taftanaz village in #Idleb -

[OUTLAW 09]

Twitter is playing the proAssad/proPutin game again with their accounts....they suspended a number of quality reporting and commenting accounts and the question is WHO pushed the suspension and WHY did Twitter react....there has been solid "rumors" of heavy Russian oligarch black investments into Twitter.....

Oh my God @twitter @Support what have you done. Of all users to suspend you killed @KyleWOrton? @Dalatrm @BlogsofWar


During the height of the heavy 2015 fighting in eastern Ukraine Twitter suspended over 10,000 accounts that were commenting from a proUkraine perspective.....AND they are at it again......

[OUTLAW 09]

PKK/SDF Use a Child for Propaganda Videos. Child fired on Rebel held areas West of #Mare. #Aleppo

Syria #Hama 3 barriers & Tell Bizam taken south & west of #Maan so far

Now Jaish Tahrir, Faylaq Sham, Division 101 & Jaish Mujahiden join offensive in N.Hama, taking 6 barriers n. of Souran town

[OUTLAW 09]

N. #Hama: massive Jund Al-Aqsa SVBIED detonated N. of Taibat Al-Imam yesterday.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.291870&lon=36.701546&z=12&m …

Interesting comments concerning this particular video which I am trying to get a url link on...

1. the HME and or military grade explosives or combination thereof being used in the SBVIED packs a punch not seen before during the US military time in Iraq.....based on the size of the VBIED being used....lately equaling from the videos... in the range of a 2 or 3 ton bomb impact
In late 2006 IS started using dump trucks carrying the equivalent of over 10 tons...in HME (home made explosives) which Is had gotten extremely good at doing as had a number of the Sunni insurgent groups...by 2010...they were producing literally tons of HME....

2. the departure celebration of the SVBIED driver is the same as seen in Iraq in the 2005/2006 timeframe

3. the Salafists have copied IS's use of the SVBIED as a tactical weapon....ie a human cruise missile used to destroy a key tactical point in the Assad defense lines....and lately hugely successful when employed in that tactical role...as it has led to a number of highly successful break throughs

4. since the opposition fighters have also been hit by the same IS tactic they have lately been very good at spotting and then destroying the IS inbound SVBIED...evidently using a sort of an anti SVBIED recon team....

When I have some spare time I will post comments on these individuals who volunteer on their own with no pressure to be a SVBIED driver taken from my interview experiences with them in Iraq....

Link for SVBIED attack video.....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10cCz9OhMFc

[OUTLAW 09]

Stunning rebel advances in #Hama province continue.
Despite massive regime reinforcements, it lost #Souran.

Russian Deputy FM stated today that US and Russian military were meeting to hammer out whatever the joint concept is to be.....EVEN though DoD "claims" they were against the joint venture....????

BUT WAIT.....
Russia is under extreme pressure.
It either closes the rebel corridor to E #Aleppo or it has NOTHING to offer.

THAT is exactly WHY Putin and Assad are literally throwing armor and troops into a grinding "killing fields" environment and Assad regime troops are losing counterattack after counterattack with armor wrecks everywhere and in the end just weakening their overall fighting abilities in Aleppo....

That rebel held corridor is here to stay and is the political alternative to the Russian controlled Castello Road....

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad air force attacks on civilians in al-Ghantu (#Homs province) today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FccuRjO5ccg …

Pro-#Assad forces blocked the #Ramouseh corridor for some time.
Unclear if still.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu7_b18ZaoI …
Block was cleared....

[OUTLAW 09]

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
My obituary for Taha Falaha (Abu Muhammad al-Adnani), one of #IS's most important members:
http://bit.ly/2bZqkbO

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels gains in #Hama show more #Assad benefit from @UN / @UNHCRinSYRIA aid ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HQ7KHtrO-o …

SDF/#YPG attack on Umm Hosh (north of #Aleppo) w/ #Russian air cover yday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9cBUzCoEfU …

Jaish Al-Nasr activist :
"We captured a warehouse full of ammo and light/medium weapons"

Syria Exodus from regime held villages north east of #Souran after more rebel-forces enter northern #Hama battle

[OUTLAW 09]

Ajnad al sham annouce they have captured Bizam hill, West of Ma'an in northern #Hama

Sham Legion seems to have been involved with the capture of Bizam hill as well. Seems more and more groups joining.

Sultan Murad and other forces continue to push with the Turkish army against IS. Turkish armor shown firing.
https://youtu.be/_XgeSvJg_bA

North Division #FSA destroy a regime bull dozer on al-Qrasi front with a TOW ATGM #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIWNjtvrbLE …

Heavy regime shelling/airstrikes on the Village of #Skaik
https://youtu.be/DDUMUmo-2Bo

Engineering and Missle Batallion target #Daraa courthouse with a 122 mm cannon.

Red Crescent enters Houla in Northern #Homs with aid for residents
https://youtu.be/r4BQrKEpXr0

Charities begin project to turn abandoned and empty land inside of E. #Aleppo into farm land to relieve food shortages
https://youtu.be/UCPb5hKfvPQ

[OUTLAW 09]

Hezbollah is frustrated, they say they're Assad's vanguard, and they're losing battles in Aleppo
https://twitter.com/ajaltamimi/status/771043275134398464 …

Syria #Hama Rebels seized ammo/weapons depot ~5km NE of #Souran

[OUTLAW 09]

Secret exemptions in the 'Iran deal'. I guess Putin is not the only one bluntly lying to the public.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-exemptions-exclusive-idUSKCN1173LA?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuter s+World+News%29 …

Huge regime attack on rebel held parts of south-west #Aleppo yesterday didn't show much results. They'll try again.
EVEN after almost human wave like ground attacks...they barely moved forward.

Not that anyone cares but the only bakery in Taftanaz that provides bread to 12K+ people was also directly bombed by the Russian airstrikes
Footage of the Russian attack with incendiary munitions in Taftanaz, rural #Idlib earlier today
https://youtu.be/EwKWPThnTsA

Multiple Russian airstrikes with incendiary & cluster munitions targeted civilian areas in Taftanaz & Binish in rural #Idlib

Looted Darayya furniture for sale in streets of neighboring town
http://syriadirect.org/news/looted-darayya-furniture-for-sale-in-streets-of-neighboring-town/ …
Looting and ethnic cleansing...go hand in hand in Assad/SDF controlled areas AND the WEST says nothin....

[OUTLAW 09]

Battle for Ma'an started.

Groups involved for this operation :
Ajnad Al-Sham
Jaish Al-Fateheen
Faylaq Al-Sham
Central Division

Ajnad al Sham showing off weapons captured in Ma'an surroundings #Hama

Rebels captured 4 positions West of Ma'an and also captured Tal Bazam fully.

[OUTLAW 09]

Regime forces flee from the town Maa’rdis and the factions advance to about 11 km away of #Hama city
http://www.syriahr.com/en/?

IS retook Wesiyê & Umm Qurah from #SDF/#YPG in orthern #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.377828&lon=37.224598&z=14&m=b …

N. #Hama: Jaish Al-Nasr took out with a #TOW an armored vehicle w/ 23 mm gun N. of #Souran. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EMeruTK5hc …

Syria TOW hit regime BMP in northern #Hama
https://youtu.be/mjqD49RsOFo

Hama Rebels destroyed tank at Ma'ardas entrance
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.254451&lon=36.755705&z=14&m=b …

Syria Truce now in #Homs suburb al-Waer

Hama al-Tarabee' Checkpoint south of #Halfaya taken by rebels
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.240887&lon=36.603806&z=16&m=b …

Syria Rebels storm barrier in northern #Hama
https://youtu.be/aiyrXONdGp8

Russian jets used cluster bombs vs. civilians in #Lataminah, far from the front.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yum9T_MO8Pg …

*relatively far.
Lataminah is 12 km from Souran.
Also crops near Kafr Zita, 15 km from Souran, were bombed.
https://youtu.be/gb2VjL9oSso

Su-24 bombs rebel troops north of #Souran.
Didn't help much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGnfYAGGym8 …

The manpower ratio in the Hama battle was between 1:5 to 1:10 in favor of pro-#Assad forces.
Determination is everything in that war ...

N. #Hama: some spoils made by Rebels today including several #ATGMs + launcher (#Metis-M & #Malyutka).

N. #Hama: Jaish Al-Nasr destroyed with a #TOW a moving BMP on highway N. of #Souran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjqD49RsOFo …

[CrowBat]

The manpower ratio in the Hama battle was between 1:5 to 1:10 in favor of pro-#Assad forces.
Determination is everything in that war ...

I'm not sure if the manpower ratio was that high: the regime's side of this frontline is held by what is officially called '11th Armoured Division'. This is actually the HQ of the former 11th Armoured Division, controlling two 'brigade-like' formations (officially designated as the 66th and the 87th) consisting of IRGC-recruited & trained 'NDF battalions', that are actually militia of the SSNP.

In essence, these are Christian militias from north-western Hama, corsetted by whatever was left of the 11th AD after this was smashed in Idlib, in spring 2015.

'However'... While the 87th Brigade is including no less but three armoured and two infantry battalions, the tank battalions in question were down to about 20 vehicles each already by the time Russians rushed them into that offensive in October-November last year, in which they were decimated (mind the famous 'tank-slaughter' in northern Hama, back then). Similarly, the 66th Brigade is only about 1,000 strong.

Although the '11th' should still have its (depleted) artillery regiment, other units of that 'division' - such like the 47th Brigade or the 555th (Reserve) SF Regiment - were re-deployed elsewhere already in December last year.

That was one of major reasons why the second line of defence (the one about 9-15km north of Hama, and running, roughly, in west-to-east direction) is protected by elements drawn from the Russian 28th, 32nd, and the 34th Motor Rifle Brigades, and the 810th Marines Brigade.

Insurgents and Jihadists might have pitted as many as 4,000 own combatants against them. And the JAA blasted the way open by at least one massive VBIED, causing such a panic, that some of defenders are still running away, four days later.

So, I would say the balance of forces is quite equal, actually.

...or at least it was - until the regime began hauling all the additional gangs of its 'Volkssturm' into the area, two days ago (supposedly, they should now come under the command of Brig Gen Sohail 'Tiger' Hassan)...

...or at least until the Jaysh al-Izza, Jaysh an-Nasr, and Jund al-Aqsa (meanwhile reinforced by contingents from the Central Division, Faylaq ash-Sham and Ajnad ash-Sham) run into Russians, of course.

BTW, the latter is the probable reason for rumours (http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/syria/russia-offers-to-send-ground-troops-to-syria-s-aleppo-1.1887139#.V8QvrxR42hI.twitter) about Russians 'offering ground troops' (to IRGC-controlled 'loyalists'). Namely, I guess, Moscow needs an 'excuse' to officially get its army involved in ground fighting (of course, actually, this is involved in ground fighting at least since battles in NE Lattakia, in November last year).

EDIT: for better understanding of what am I talking about here, below a map prepared back in November last year, and based on a Russian 'military map', officially released by Keystone Cops in Moscow (see: 'MOD'). It's a 'lil bit obsolete' by now, because some of mentioned units are not there any more, but essences of the 'loyalist' defence system in northern Hama are still the same.

[CrowBat]

...this is almost as when Rommel advanced in direction of Alexandria, after the VIII Army lost nerves at Marsa Matruh, back in July 1942...

Namely, after reports that the regime forces fled from the town Maa’rdis and the factions advance to about 11 km away of Hama city (http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=50101), there are meanwhile reports about the military telecom base atop Jebel Zain al-Abideen coming under 'heavy shelling' (by insurgents).

Mind: this is a dominant feature about 5km otuside of Hama (city limits).

Guess, somebody will have to rush plenty of (exhausted) forces from Aleppo, then even three battalion groups of the Russian Army might not be enough to stop this (all provided they're still where they used to be as of March-April this year).

Otherwise, Jaysh al-Izaa, Jaysh an-Nassr, Jund al-Aqsa & CO KG Gesmbh are going to drive all the way down to Hama...

[OUTLAW 09]

Is the UN in fact supporting Assad, Putin and Khamenei in a large scale ethnic cleansing of Arab Sunni's to change the demographics of Syria?????

Syria's opposition HNC on how the local truces are a cover for ethnic cleansing
THIS is exactly what the HNC is stating what the UN is up to.....

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian airstrikes also targeted a convoy of displaced civilians on the Souran Latamna road in rural #Hama, many killed inc. large number of children.

WILL NOT POST video and or photos....the children are burned beyond recognition as are their parents.....

Graphic & horrible photos of the aftermath of Russian airstrikes targeting displaced civilians today in rural #Hama

Airstrikes hit convoy of displaced people from #Soran town in northern #Hama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-c5Zj3lHEc …

[OUTLAW 09]

...this is almost as when Rommel advanced in direction of Alexandria, after the VIII Army lost nerves at Marsa Matruh, back in July 1942...

Namely, after reports that the regime forces fled from the town Maa’rdis and the factions advance to about 11 km away of Hama city (http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=50101), there are meanwhile reports about the military telecom base atop Jebel Zain al-Abideen coming under 'heavy shelling' (by insurgents).

Mind: this is a dominant feature about 5km otuside of Hama (city limits).

Guess, somebody will have to rush plenty of (exhausted) forces from Aleppo, then even three battalion groups of the Russian Army might not be enough to stop this (all provided they're still where they used to be as of March-April this year).

Otherwise, Jaysh al-Izaa, Jaysh an-Nassr, Jund al-Aqsa & CO KG Gesmbh are going to drive all the way down to Hama...

WOW....not confirmed....CrowBat..anything on your end on this field comment...looking for some sort of confirmation......

Rebels have completely liberated Ma’ardas in N rural #Hama & reports now that the Russian missile battalion in NE Ma’ardas has been captured

Syria #SAA Major General Ali Sharaf Makhlouf Commander of mech. brigade 87 (former in Wadi Deif base /Maart) killed in northern #Hama
Rebels shelling fortification on Mount Zayn al-Abdeen -protecting #Hama city behind
note Shiite Shrine on top

[OUTLAW 09]

Large number of Russian/Assad airstrikes across Hama, Aleppo, Idlib & Homs this morning

In #Idlib & suburbs Jisr al-Shugour, Bashiriya, Khan Sheikhoun, Kafr Sijna & Sheikh Mustapha were targeted. Even a sheep market was bombed.

Retired #Syria intelligence official murdered outside #Latakia
http://mme.cm/1LBW00

Map update2: North #Hama province Rebel offensive, #Syria #سوريا #حماة
http://mediafire.com/convkey/45c1/m5ttd7v8cres6ptzg.jpg …

Syria Rebels took silos near Mare' town in northern #Aleppo from #IS
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.503220&lon=37.214384&z=16&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels started shelling Mt. Zayn al-Abdeen. IF the mountain base falls, liberation of #Hama can start.
Hama: Rebels heavily shelling Regime positions on Mount Zayn Al-Abdeen 5 km N. of #Hama
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.182788&lon=36.765747&z=13&m …

S. #Aleppo: no Regime gain in 1070 Project & Artillery Base. Tells Oum Qara & Mahrouqat under pro-Regime control.

Syria #Hama Rebels took mills camp south of Ma'ardas

Syria #Assad regime lost 4 towns, lots villages & bases north of #Hama city -only in 4 days

Propaganda: pics of Regime forces in Arti Base from same vid showing them retreat under fire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXK2XC4CC6M …

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels fired 118 #ATGMs in August (2nd highest ever), 75% in #Aleppo prov.
1. #Fagot (1st time) 2. #TOW 3. #Konkurs.

Main targets are armor (32%), machine guns (24%) & infantry (21%).

[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister Verified account 
‏@Charles_Lister
Source:

#ISIS’ Adnani was assassinated by an IED hidden in his car on Monday night by those loyal to senior Syrian ISIS leader “Abu Luqman”

The source claims (I cannot confirm) that Abu Luqman (Ali Moussa al-Hawikh) was maneuvering himself to become #Baghdadi’s successor.

The source claims #Baghdadi dispatched Adnani to #Syria to muscle out Abu Luqman (former #Raqqa emir) - sparking the assassination.

Worth noting that Abu Luqman was released by #Assad in 2011 prison amnesties & had been ID’d as 1 of 3 possible #Baghdadi successors.

*If* this claim has anything to it, it'd place #ISIS’ ID’ing of #Adnani as a Qurayshi (& thus more legit) in an interesting light.

[OUTLAW 09]

EuphratesShield: #FSA backed by TR airstrikes stopped #ISIS assault & clashing in Shaynah. http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.721549&lon=37.795029&z=12&m …

YPG/PKK......claim that their ethnic cleansing is justified under tribal rules...naturally those of the Kurds not the Arab Sunni's in those Sunni areas they captured.....AND they are being supported by CENTCOM and USA SF....who apparently have not reported that to CENTCOM or CENTCOM is simply ignoring it......

YPG cmdr justifies "mass expulsions" of Arabs in the @WSJ



.

[OUTLAW 09]

N. #Hama: Rebels started pre-emptive shelling on major barrier-village of #Maan.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.359516&lon=36.797161&z=13&m …

S. #Hama: Ahrar Al-Sham sniped 6 Regime fighters in the same barrier on #Zara front.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b7hnckZrA8 …

Syria #FSA advance on Sajur Lake btw #Jarablus & northern #Aleppo

Syria Footage from stormed barrier that protected Ma'an-"fortress"
in northern #Hama
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.358746&lon=36.793213&z=14&m=b …
https://youtu.be/NioHNgyfpOI

Syria Rebels took silos near Mare' town in northern #Aleppo from #IS
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.503220&lon=37.214384&z=16&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo Pool Season,
September 2016

LEFT: West/regime
RIGHT: East/opposition

Now does the Obama WH want to explain their Syrian "do nothing stupid" FP after viewing these photos???

And the killing of Arab Sunni civilians just keeps on keeping on...under the rain of Assad and Putin air strikes....

Western MSM urgently needs to use their collective brains before claiming "all people in Syria suffer the same" or "rebels and the government both cause equal suffering".

Simple quiz....which photo epitomizes the opposition to Assad????

[OUTLAW 09]

EuphratesShield: hybrid force (TR armor-#FSA troops) at work to seize #ISIS-held villages
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lATQs_NRABY …

This tactic surprises many commenters but it is really just a form of combined arms maneuver (CAM)...but this time just not with regular troops but irregular troops.....BUT to make it successful requires irregular troops who are use to working with armor....and who have solid command and control.....

EuphratesShield: #FSA seized over 4 villages from #ISIS, now 6 km from Sajur Lake.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.720999&lon=37.795715&z=12&m …

[OUTLAW 09]

Shia militiamen pray in a Sunni Syrian town (w a Christian minority) ethnically cleansed of all of its inhabitants https://twitter.com/bdrhmnhrk/status/771374327124090880 …

Aleppo: #FSA rebels will connect #Jarabulus pocket with #Azaz pocket this weekend.

Aleppo: #FSA rebels have captured #Shuaynah, #Aş_Şābūnīyah & #Tal_Aghbar villages from #ISIS. Rebels are 5 kilometers away from #Sajur Dam

Rebels still control the whole Armament/Artillery/Aeronautical base. Regime does NOT have a position they can hold.All regime does is send BMPs & tanks along w/100+ fighters North of the Base. They attempt to advance & fail. They repeat again. They fail.

There was one small regime break through but in the night JFS retook the position....

Syria Rebels blow up T-72 tank in northern #Hama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEDXT2XtEJo …

[CrowBat]

[B]WOW....not confirmed....CrowBat..anything on your end on this field comment...looking for some sort of confirmation.....Yes, it's 'confirmed' meanwhile - kind of.
Namely, 'loyalists' - read: Assad-fans - are babbling about 'launching a counter-attack' on Ma'ardas.

Why should they do so if the place is still in their hands?

Indeed, some are babbling about 'Tiger Force' there - and not in southern Aleppo, where it is all the time.

...all of which is lots of baloney, anyway, then nobody else is reporting any kind of trouble - fighting or else - at Ma'ardas. Most likely, characters in question are mixing Ma'ardas with Ma'an - which is where the SSNP should've launched some counterattack, supposedly even with support of the flying Assadists (SyAAF), and before they fled the battlefield there (too).

[OUTLAW 09]

"Pushing back, actually waging #SpyWar [is] the only language Putin understands, & Obama doesn’t speak a word of it" http://observer.com/2016/09/why-obama-is-to-blame-for-russias-spywar-on-america/ …

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels shelling Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (army base) with Grad rockets
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.169949&lon=36.649661&z=15&m=b …
https://youtu.be/tuc4_PtTln4

Maan & Kawkab in north #Hama still under regime control
Ma'ardas 10km north of #Hama city is controlled by rebels
other news false

Syria: ongoing tensions between the #YPG and #SDF aligned Liwa al-Tahrir (#FSA) which forced Liwa al-Tahrir to withdraw from Tall Abyad

Syria Tahrir Brigade threatens with the withdrawal from #SDF.
Now #YPG besiege them inside Al Qantari /northern #Raqqa.
Reports of clashes

Mohammad al Hamwi touring the Syriatel check point in #Hama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBAWQjMHXBA …

ANOTHER Russian air strike on a hospital...
Hama : #Russian airstrikes target the #Kafr_Zita Specialty Hospital putting it out of service.

Hama : Opposition seize 100 Grad missiles stored inside the #Russian Missile Battalion.

Hama Close view to Mount Zayn al-Abdeen during rebel shelling on its fortifications
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxUMF_TE4wY&feature=youtu.be …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.200043&lon=36.767464&z=14&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

Jaish al-Fath fighters inside 1070 housing project after repelled yesterday's Assad/IRGC attack - @thiqanewsagency

S. #Aleppo: Ahrar Al-Sham destroyed with a #Konkurs a BMP on Tell Mahrouqat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=647A2aAgsUA …

Liwa Fatimyoun (Shia Afghani militia) now arrived at Hama. 4 buses (200+ fighters) entered Qumhana.

Regime attempted to advance to Ma'ardas from Iskandariah and rebels repelled the attack. 10+ killed and several vehicles destroyed by ATGMs.

[OUTLAW 09]

CrowBat....can you confirm on your end??

Iran's elite Shia division of the IRGC "Liwaa kibbeh nayyeh" has just arrived in Damascus with 6,000 men.

MAYBE only disinformation....strange that the comment was made public.....

In 2016 #Iran|ian-led militas lost at least 786 fighters (Iranians-Hazaras-Pakistanis) in #Syria (mainly in #Aleppo)

This is the leader of 'Liwa Al Hussein', an Iraqi Shiite militia, after the residents of Daraya were expelled

[OUTLAW 09]

Hama province today.
War planes overhead but rebels outside towns are in no fear...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKI7rYiAcoU …

Large drone over #Hayyan, north of #Aleppo, today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIOOfUwvN0M …

The Turkish Army and Syrian rebels captured villages from #ISIS west of #Jarabulus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRweMJA4ulM …

Many air strikes on #refugee #convoys from #Hama province burned people to death.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHntdJ8zZII&feature=youtu.be …

[OUTLAW 09]

CrowBat....have you heard anything about this....???

Usually a solid proRussian commenter....and well informed..

Yury Barmin
‏@yurybarmin
Source tells a Russian paper that a private military company (Russia's Wagner?) may be used to liberate Aleppo.
In Russian
https://lenta.ru/news/2016/09/01/syria/

Article clearly talks of a local PMC, citing SDF success, meaning Russia aims to create a pet army eastern Ukraine Donbas-style.

[OUTLAW 09]

IRGC 10th Seyyed ol Shohada Division releases statement denying BG Ahmad Qolami's death in Aleppo, claiming he's in coma after shot to head.

Confirmed dead, the IRGC commander deployed to Syria last month and has been to Iraq several times in past 6 months.

[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
Graphic - #Assad regime used incendiary weapons near #Souran in #Hama today. Most victims were children.

[CrowBat]

CrowBat....can you confirm on your end??

Iran's elite Shia division of the IRGC "Liwaa kibbeh nayyeh" has just arrived in Damascus with 6,000 men.

MAYBE only disinformation....strange that the comment was made public....
This is even 'genuine' news, i.e. the IRGC is in the process of deploying its own Liwa Kibbeh Nayyeh to Syria (with 'its own' I mean a 'regular' IRGC brigade, staffed by Iranians).

However, as its designation is indicating, this is a 'brigade', and it's probably not more than 600 strong.

[OUTLAW 09]

After 2 days of tensions, Liwaa al-Tahrir defected from #SDF and joined #FSA's Euphrates Shield in #Jarablus.

Syria 50+ fighters from Liwa al-Tahrir (arab part of #SDF) arrived in #Jarablus + gear & now part of #Turkey's "Operation Euphrates Shield"

Liwaa al-Tahrir leader (SDF/#FSA): "We fought with #YPG 3 years to liberate North #Syria, now they want to end us".

Liwaa al-Tahrir, Liwaa Thuwar al-Raqqah and Sanadid are the only Arab groups in SDF, and they did not fight the FSA.

Syria: Unconfirmed reports saying that Liwaa al-Tahrir (SDF/#FSA) leader trying to flee to #Turkey after #YPG attempts to arrest him.

Liwaa al-Tahrir leader (SDF/#FSA): "Syrian Democratic Forces (#SDF) is supposed to be for all Syrians, but it seems #YPG is against this".

Liwaa al-Tahrir leader (SDF/#FSA): "#YPG ended the food supply to Sanadid group, and now trying to end us and Liwaa Thuwar al-Raqqah".

Clashes now in villages near Ain Issa after arab fighters from #SDF captured a dozen kurdish #YPG fighters

Syria #Raqqa Tensions rising btw arab fighters in #SDF & kurdish #YPG in
Ain Issa & Tell Abyad. #YPG set up road blocks.

Syria "Liwa Ahrar #Raqqa" (#SDF?) expelled #YPG from 5 villages at Ayn Issa: al-Qadriyah, al-Hamdanat, Kardushan, al-Duraybiyah & Abo Tabat

FSA & Arab components had no options but #YPG dominated #SDF to fight #IS before #EuphratesShield that changed the dynamics north #Syria.

[OUTLAW 09]

US made three public statements one y VP Biden directed at SDF/YPG to pull back east of the Euphrates and give up Manbij.....WHICH they have not done thus provoking a serious confrontation with the Turkish forces and FSA......

SDF/YPG reportedly raised the US flag on top of a mosque in al-Jat north of #Manbij on front lines with FSA

[OUTLAW 09]

Increased levels of Aasi river at Taqsis bridge in S rural #Hama, regime using river to split own towns & rebel ones
Syria #Assad forces opened #Rastan dam & flooting Orontes river to cut off rebel
held towns in #Hama -old tactic used also in 2014

Only 108 Syrians were killed by Russia, Assad & ISIS across the country yesterday including 19 children & 13 women

Turkish Military-backed FSA recaptures Agbar and Sabuniye towns. #EuphratesShield #

Maan (N. #Hama): a village turned into fortress defended by four main fortifications.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.357976&lon=36.797848&z=13&m …

[OUTLAW 09]

CrowBat.....are we now seeing Arab Sunn's rising up in the Kurdish occupied regions of N Syria??????

Syria New founded #FSA group called "Sons of #Hasaka" declare to free province from #YPG & #IslamicState

Syria Hazm Movement, Jabhat Thuwar Syria and Jabhat al-Haq join "Euphrates Shield" in #Jarablus

Liwaa al-Tahrir defected from #SDF and joined #FSA's Euphrates Shield in #Jarablus.

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebel forces regain old Air Defence Base east of Ibtaa north of #Daraa from #Assad-forces

Syrian Turkmens welcome Turkish Military-backed FSA soldiers with tears of joy

Heavy clashes south of Ma'ardas 10km north of #Hama city continues

Assad-forces wake up #FSA "Southern Front" in #Daraa province with massive shelling on all frontlines

Syria #Jarablus From battle against #IslamicState east Sajur Lake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUHBdU3qoXs …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s08vyINOcA4 …

500 people incl 108 children killed past month in #Syria's biggest city #Aleppo -mainly by #Russia'n airstrikes

[OUTLAW 09]

IRGC 10th Seyyed ol Shohada Division releases statement denying BG Ahmad Qolami's death in Aleppo, claiming he's in coma after shot to head.

Confirmed dead, the IRGC commander deployed to Syria last month and has been to Iraq several times in past 6 months.

SECOND IRGC General killed in the last week.......
Iranian #IRGC General Dorosti killed by Rebels in Tell Nasiriyah in N. #Hama (& not in #Aleppo as claimed).

[OUTLAW 09]

N. #Hama: Mount Zayn Al-Abdeen heavily shelled with Grad rockets by Rebels, now incl. Ahrar Al-Sham, for a 2nd day.

N. #Aleppo: clashes on 3rd #FSA-#ISIS front near Marea (Tilalayn).
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.531433&lon=37.201767&z=12&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSRMc1amJOM …

SW. #Aleppo: Rebels fended off another attempt by pro-Regime forces to control Technical College in Artillery Base.

N. #Daraa: taking advantage of calmness in S. #Syria, Regime attacked yesterday Rebel-held Daraa & today the Air Defense Base East of Ibta.

Syria Report from rebel held Ma'ardas 10km north of #Hama city
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOMI3kBUePM&feature=youtu.be …

EuphratesShield: clashes b4 seizure of more #ISIS-held villages.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.730217&lon=37.778549&z=13&m …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUHBdU3qoXs …

[OUTLAW 09]

Binish in #Idlib.
Thanks to #AssadPutin air strikes, more&more towns look post-apocalyptic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofgcZysYzAc …

[OUTLAW 09]

Graphic!
Many civilians killed in #AssadPutin air strikes on #Douma city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyV5blzoN14 …

Syrian regime air strikes on civilians in southern #Daraa city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNhp-n3626I …

Happy civilians in N #Aleppo province greet #FSA/Turkish Army liberators in their villages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pS9kuw6Frs&feature=youtu.be …

[OUTLAW 09]

.@RT_Erdogan: Kurdish forces have not retreated east of Euphrates
http://goo.gl/MYk9N1

Hm...
Maybe he didn't get the Kurdish PKK memo about US Special Forces posing as human shields for SDF south of the Sanjur?! ...

[OUTLAW 09]

CrowBat......heads up.....it was a clear kill by a TOW.....was hovering and moving slowly.....when it was hit...

Syria Shot down of modern #Russia'n attack helicopter in northern #Hama
https://youtu.be/EaFBkAD5UGY

Appears to be a French Gazelle....not Russian and the linked photo indicates that maybe Suheil Hassan was reconing the area as he favored this copter type?

Loyalist page suggests helicopter downed in Hama was recently used by Suheil
https://facebook.com/Division11.Tanks/posts/1124485950964893 …

NOTE...the proAssad FB posting been taken down in the last hour....
FB page that @JohnArterbury posted (with info on Suheil in #Hama) has been taken down in the last half hour. #Syria

N. #Hama: Rebels reportedly destroyed an helicopter with a #TOW near Khattab.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.206215&lon=36.660347&z=13&m …

Breaking. #TOW strike confirmed by Jaish Al-Izza claiming it was a Russian helicopter.

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA took Qundarah from #IS
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.738747&lon=37.741899&z=14&m=b …

Weeding in regime stronghold Mezze #Damascus -
only 2km away from this pic (#Darayya)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clQkxiVWz-A …\

Opposition fighters firing on Regime positions in Zayn al-Abdeen Mountain, north of #Hama city.

[OUTLAW 09]

Well worth reading the entire article.......an excellent Syrian SME.....

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
New post: supporting #PYD to keep #IS out of the Kurdish areas was necessary. Support beyond that was dubious:
https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2016/09/01/of-kurds-and-compromises-in-syria/

Of Kurds and Compromises in Syria


By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on September 2, 2016


Having written extensively about the authoritarian structure in the areas run by the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), in northern Syria, and the problems of media, local and Western, in covering this, it was very interesting to see a report in The Wall Street Journal underlining some of these points.

The Journal notes that the PYD and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), have engaged in a ruthless consolidation of power within a single party, despite claims to be governing in a democratic way. This has included: heavy pressure on all non-pro-PYD media via various Soviet-style accusations of subversion; demographic engineering by a refusal to allow Arab inhabitants to return to homes or actively expelling them; forced conscription, including of children; the imposition of an ideological curriculum in schools; and the suppression and/or expulsion of all opposition.

As the Journal puts it:

[A]s Rojava gets mightier and realizes long-held ambitions of self-rule for Kurds, some of its own people feel alienated by what they claim are heavy-handed tactics that feel reminiscent of the Syrian regime. …
Since late 2014, at least 6,000 young Syrian Kurds have been compelled to serve in the military … In addition, … Rojava officials have arrested and forced into military service a total of 1,178 civilians, including 217 minors and 69 women. …

Opposition parties say Kurdish leaders have arrested and beaten dissenters and shut down rival party headquarters. Rojava officials also banned two independent media outlets from operating freely. Elections originally scheduled for 2014 have been repeatedly postponed.

“Anything that has the hint of not working for their benefit, they ban it,” says Imaad Omar Yusuf, general coordinator for the opposition Kurd Youth Movement. “Seventy percent of Kurds are against them.”

On Aug. 13, Rojava’s police force arrested the president of the Kurdish National Council, … deported him to Iraq and threatened to kill him if he returns …

Sinam Mohamad, foreign representative for Rojava, … [says that] people detained or deported were guilty of criminal offenses … The independent media outlets were engaged in “intelligence gathering” and “antagonizing the autonomous administration,” Ms. Mohamad adds. “And this is against the law.”

In some villages, Sunni Arab residents who fled as the YPG pushed out the … Islamic State have been banned from returning to their homes … Officials defend the ban on the grounds that Rojava is vulnerable to continuing attacks from Islamic State sleeper cells and sympathizers. Mass expulsions also are justified under tribal customs if one or two people in a family are members of Islamic State, say some Kurdish administration officials. …

Marwan Hussein says his sister was lured into joining the [all-female] YPJ by friends when she was 15. She was taken to the Qandil Mountains in Iraq, where the … PKK maintains a base. … She was allowed to come home for a visit late last year, and Mr. Hussein took his sister into hiding. YPG officials have said minors joined the militia without parental consent, though some were fleeing unstable homes. …

At the start of the 2015-16 school year, the Kurdish administration instituted a new curriculum mandating that Kurds, Arabs and Assyrians all be taught in their native language.

Most teacher salaries are still paid by the Syrian regime, though, and it told teachers not to follow the new curriculum. … Teachers say they signed in every day during the school year to get paid but didn’t teach any students. Syrian Kurdish officials brought in replacement teachers, but they were poorly trained. … Salha Abdulrahman, the mother of Jude Hamo, who fled to Germany to avoid the draft, says the Kurdish curriculum hurts students because universities across Syria still teach solely in Arabic. …

Even with her son safely in Germany, the family has continued pushing back against what they call the authoritarian Kurdish administration.

All of these points were raised in the post a couple of weeks ago:

The fleeing of civilians from combat zones is inevitable, but the PYD has taken steps toward preventing the return of Arab inhabitants, sometimes by threats of live fire, more often by demolishing homes. Amnesty International has also reported incidents of direct ethnic cleansing of Arabs …

Anti-PKK Kurdish demonstrations have been violently quelled by the PYD. Journalists face stern restrictions in PYD-held areas. Political opponents are arrested and there is torture in the prisons to extract confessions. Aid is exploited as a means of social control. Conscription is enforced, including for child soldiers. Artefacts are looted.

Continued.....

[OUTLAW 09]

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan
"From an obliterated Syrian town to Iraq's Hashd al-Shaabi with love"
https://www.facebook.com/HassanHassanBlog/posts/641606526016483 …


New @WSJSolomon book: Iran sent Al Qaeda fighters into Syria during in 2013-2014 to target US-backed forces while nuke talks picked up.

[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
Pushing back against the grain:

- 10 ideas for those following/writing about #Syria's opposition & its allied jihadi factions.

1. Military unity & cooperation does *not* equal ideological affinity.

2. Short-term priorities (military) far outweigh long-term (political, ideological) considerations, most of the time.

3. Once a [... fill: faction/ideological current] does *not* mean always a [... fill: faction/ideological current].

4. You *cannot* understand underlying drivers & dynamics of insurgents & armed actors using Twitter & YouTube.

5. Ignoring complex nuance visible only to 1st-hand research & producing generalizations = dangerous/flawed self-fulfilling prophecy

6a. Our enemies (whether state or sub-state) are not supremely smart actors devoid of internal divisions or conflicting visions.

6b. Our allies and/or their civilian base are not supremely ignorant & incapable of discerning short/long-term and good/bad.

7a. Combating/isolating/undermining oppressive terrorist actors *can* be done utilizing a military-heavy approach.

7b. Combating/isolating/undermining socially-embedded terrorist actors *cannot* be done utilizing a military-heavy approach.

8. You *cannot* draw an inference from behavior of (a) 1 man out of 10,000 or (b) 1 faction out of 100 as representing the totality

9. Sometimes, people in #Syria don't see things like you do in #Washington DC/#London/#Paris etc.

10. A lot of complexity/difference of opinion happens behind the scenes & rarely is revealed in the open - so dig a little…

[OUTLAW 09]

Looks like the Russian MoD is a tad sensitive these days.....

Russia’s MoD *not* happy about U.S. “joke” claims re. #Adnani.

- Insists strike was Russian
- Belittles US intel

They got called out on their propaganda and do not like it .....

[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
For how AQ used #Syria as a new test-case, see my paper:

“Profiling Jabhat al-Nusra”

http://brook.gs/2aiMH7c

Well worth reading .......

[OUTLAW 09]

Enforced disappearances in #Syria

- #Assad regime: 71,533
- #ISIS: 1,479
- JFS/AQ: 892
- YPG: 397
- FSA: 306

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160831-nearly-75000-syrians-forcibly-disappeared-since-2011/#.V8hgjxvw-Os.twitter

[OUTLAW 09]

Important article, laying out normally concealed truths inside “#Rojava”
by @RajaAbdulrahim & @DionNissenbaum
http://www.wsj.com/articles/syrias-kurds-have-carved-out-a-statelet-adding-new-snags-to-a-complex-region-1472661321

Kurds Carve Out a Home in Syria, Testing U.S. Ties With Turkey

Rojava has four million people and its own constitution, alarming Turkey and some of its own people

Assad pays civil salaries
- Media suppression
- Child soldiers
- Force family expulsions
- Ideological curricula

[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
Important developments near Tel Abyad; Liwa al-Tahrir looks to defect from YPG-led SDF coalition, sparking clashes.

Some LaT now in #Turkey

Crucial - but often missed - nuance in #Syria:

Military interdependence does *not* always = ideological unity.

[Look beyond the obvious]

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Rebels killed many pro-#Assad forces and destroyed a T-72 tank in Southern #Aleppo today.

Hama: Rebels have repelled #Assad regime counter offensive south of #Maardas and killed 14+ pro-#Assad forces and captured 7 more.

Ma'an currently under attack in north #Hama, with Central Division involved in artillery support

Group of SAA and a BMP hit by a @fkounion ATGM at the entrance of air technical college, #Aleppo

Ahrar al Sham preparing to fire Grad rockets at #hama military airport @Ahrar_lens

Fastaqem Union destroy a regime BMP in air technical school area, entrance of #Aleppo artillery college
https://youtu.be/qPJm_Edc0u0

Ahrar al Sham photos of dead pro-regime militias after multiple failed attacks on Jamiyat Hill, #Aleppo

Campaign to feed the poor and displaced distribues food to people in Western #Ghouta
https://youtu.be/ifq1FOm2z14

Al Rahman Corps snipers kill 3 pro-regime fighters on #Arbin front.

[OUTLAW 09]

Looks like the Russian MoD is a tad sensitive these days.....

Russia’s MoD *not* happy about U.S. “joke” claims re. #Adnani.

- Insists strike was Russian
- Belittles US intel

They got called out on their propaganda and do not like it .....

Who Killed Adnani? An Open Source Survey via @bellingcat
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2016/09/02/killed-adnani-open-source-survey/ …

[OUTLAW 09]

CrowBat......heads up.....it was a clear kill by a TOW.....was hovering and moving slowly.....when it was hit...

Syria Shot down of modern #Russia'n attack helicopter in northern #Hama
https://youtu.be/EaFBkAD5UGY

Appears to be a French Gazelle....not Russian and the linked photo indicates that maybe Suheil Hassan was reconing the area as he favored this copter type?

Loyalist page suggests helicopter downed in Hama was recently used by Suheil
https://facebook.com/Division11.Tanks/posts/1124485950964893 …

NOTE...the proAssad FB posting been taken down in the last hour....
FB page that @JohnArterbury posted (with info on Suheil in #Hama) has been taken down in the last half hour. #Syria

N. #Hama: Rebels reportedly destroyed an helicopter with a #TOW near Khattab.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.206215&lon=36.660347&z=13&m …

Breaking. #TOW strike confirmed by Jaish Al-Izza claiming it was a Russian helicopter.

Today from a proPutin/Assad commenter referencing the shot down yesterday and who was onboard.....outside of the crew

Ivan Sidorenko @IvanSidorenko1
#Syria #Hama #NorthernHama Mystery Continues

The crew onboard that were killed reportedly include Pilot Brigadier General Mohammed Ali Habib & Lieutenant Colonel Alaa Ahmad Deeb

NOTICE there has been no mention if anyone else was onboard ..............

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA #Southern_Front Al-Karamah Brigade | 3 TOW #ATGM strikes on regime forces abandoned area of ​​E #Abtaa [ابطع]

Is the Southern Front finally awakening out of their Jordian/US desert imposed isolation???

[OUTLAW 09]

Differences in North Hama offensive compared to previous ones besides limitless heavy weapon supply and organization? Rebels aren't stopping

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA News ‏@FSAPlatform
#Breaking
#FSA forces @alaza_army kill IRGC Commander Darwish Darsati in Naasria Hill in #Hama. They also have his corps

House IDPs from Palmyra are staying in in Ma’arat Misrin, rural #Idlib hit by Russian airstrikes today

[CrowBat]

[B]CrowBat......heads up.....it was a clear kill by a TOW.....was hovering and moving slowly.....when it was hit...Yes, it was a (French-made) SA.342 Gazelle helicopter, not 'Russian': Syria got about 60 Gazelles - with Saudi finanical backing - back in late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Gazelle in question was approaching for landing near al-Ahlia Oil Factory, approx 2km north of Hama (city limits).


Appears to be a French Gazelle....not Russian and the linked photo indicates that maybe Suheil Hassan was reconing the area as he favored this copter type?
Nope. Hassan is much too important but to fly recce. That one (or were there two?) photos of him next to a Gazelle mean absolutely nothing. If flying, he's transported around aboard a Mi-8P (VIP-transport/saloon helicopter), painted in white overall.

Anyway, nice thing about this shoot-down is an 'indirect' confirmation for a number of claims issued by IRIAA (Islamic Republic of Iran Army Aviation) AH-1-crews for TOW-kills against various Iraqi helicopters (usually cited as 'Mi-25') during the Iran-Iraq War.

Yes, ladies in gentlemen: 'this is possible' (and not only in specific video games).

[CrowBat]

Today from a proPutin/Assad commenter referencing the shot down yesterday and who was onboard.....outside of the crew

Ivan Sidorenko @IvanSidorenko1
#Syria #Hama #NorthernHama Mystery Continues

The crew onboard that were killed reportedly include Pilot Brigadier General Mohammed Ali Habib & Lieutenant Colonel Alaa Ahmad Deeb

NOTICE there has been no mention if anyone else was onboard ..............
Keep in mind the ranks:

- Sohail Hassan was meanwhile advanced in rank to at least Brigadier-General, if not Major-General too;

- Any SyAA pilot that gets KIA is 'instantly' advanced in rank (posthumously, of course); so 'Brigadier-General Mohammed Ali Habib', means he was a Colonel. Similarly, 'Lieutenant-Colonel Ala'a Ahmad ad-Deeb' (from a well-known clan with nearly 40 years of tradition of serving with the SyAAF; one of its members claimed an Israeli F-16 while flying a MiG-23 over Lebanon, back in 1982), was actually a Major.

[OUTLAW 09]

Damascus JaI advances in E. Ghouta & captures Fidaiya battalion & parts of Hawsh Nasri & Rihan fields from regime

20 km remaining & #IslamicState is pushed away from entire #Syria/#Turkey border

20 M60T Sabra tanks and 5 AFVs crossed to Syria's Al Rai region from Turkey's border province Kilis #EuphratesShield

Reported gains made by Turkish backed rebels as they push west in an attempt to link up with al-Rai.

Most interesting detail in the RuSOF supporting Shia militia or Hezbollah in Aleppo picture, blurred background to hinder geolocation (h/t @bm27_uragan)
RuSOF equipment seen in the photo Helmets (including one with BOA-tightening system), IR strobe, laser cut plate carriers and pelvic panel,... even the "pirates" patches
RuSOF kit matches with recent pics of them in Russian military competitions

Breaking. On 10th day of #EuphratesShield #FSA reached Sajur Lake after takeover of Arab Azah from #ISIS.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=ar&lat=36.737646&lon=37.693920&z=13&m …

Syria #FSA backed by #Turkey tanks advance east of Al-Ra'i in northern #Aleppo & seized Haddabat from #IS
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.621314&lon=37.505350&z=14&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

How crazy. Syrian rebel who beat & shot Anthony Loyd in 2014 "for being CIA spy" is now working with CIA.

Anthony Loyd was kidnapped and shot by Hakim Abu Jamal, who is now part of CIA-vetted al-Fawj al-Awal in #Syria
http://bit.ly/2bToUNZ

[OUTLAW 09]

Most interesting detail in the RuSOF supporting Shia militia or Hezbollah in Aleppo picture, blurred background to hinder geolocation (h/t @bm27_uragan)
RuSOF equipment seen in the photo Helmets (including one with BOA-tightening system), IR strobe, laser cut plate carriers and pelvic panel,... even the "pirates" patches
RuSOF kit matches with recent pics of them in Russian military competitions



Photo taken from proRegime commenter.....
Same BOA retention
Same VIPIR strobe
Same laser-cut plate carrier
Same 1-point sling
Same pattern in helmet cover

[OUTLAW 09]

Damascus: Rebels have killed dozens of pro-#Assad forces, destroyed or captured 5 #Assad tanks & captured many #Assad regime positions.

Damascus JaI advances in E. Ghouta & captures Fidaiya battalion & parts of Hawsh Nasri & Rihan fields from regime

JaI 4th stage of Dhat al-Riqa’a battle: 12 km front w/ regime, 200+ killed, 5 tanks destroyed, 6 arm vehicles damaged + 3 captured + weapons

EuphratesShield Arab Azzah west of #Jarablus confirmed captured from #ISIS

Reports FSA backed by TAF have captured Malhamiya, Lilwa, Fursan, Arab Izza & several fields in Ghandoura area from #ISIS west of #Jarablus

EuphratesShield ‏@EuphratesShield
Turkish Armed Forces sending more howitzers to Turkish-Syrian border on the 11th day of #EuphratesShield operation.

EuphratesShield FSA & TAF preparing military op against #ISIS in al-Rai towards #Jarablus
https://youtu.be/eOns4BEgA0A

ISIS launched a widescale attack on rebels in the E. Qalamoun area, multiple suicide bombers & VBIEDs, heavy clashes ongoing. #Damascus

Russian airstrikes with incendiary munitions targeting Rastan in #Homs at dawn today
https://youtu.be/-4VfK32SFZo

Jaish al-Islam advance east #Ghouta #Damascus and seize positions/weapons from Assad regime
https://youtu.be/In-aGa_NZ5M

Footage from rebels in Ma'ardas town 10km north of #Hama city
https://youtu.be/XASE7JKkQis

Syria #FSA now at east bank of Sajur Lake located on half way btw al_Rai (northern #Aleppo) & #Jarablus

Turkish tanks enter al-Ra'i as #EuohratesShield begins push to meet with Jarablus pocket, Aleppo

EuphratesShield: #FSA backed by TR armor opening new front from Al-Rai to secure last 25 km of border under #

[OUTLAW 09]

NEW #SYRIA INTERACTIVE MAP (Sept 2, 2016) / Click http://www.agathocledesyracuse.com/archives/826 #SyMap (incl. events since July 15)

Sons of Sham Drone footage from inside Mards city and the Russian Missile Base in #Hama
https://youtu.be/1edIQcRI8rU

Wow, Jund al Aqsa using a drone to drop explosives on government forces

Syria: #Assad Supporters Make Up A "Victory" Near #Aleppo
http://eaworldview.com/2016/09/syria-daily-assad-supporters-make-up-a-victory-near-aleppo/ …

E. #Ghouta: Jaish Al-Islam seized several Regime positions around Hawsh Al-Farah.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=33.566930&lon=36.472979&z=14&m …

Ahrar Al-Sham fired a TBG-7V thermobaric warhead vs a Regime position in #Daraa, via @AbraxasSpa.

EuphratesShield: #FSA reached Sajur Dam after takeover of Liluah from #ISIS.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=ar&lat=36.688519&lon=37.728853&z=14&m …

E. #Ghouta: Jaish Al-Islam deployed several armor to confront pro-Regime forces.

[OUTLAW 09]

N. #Hama: far from having recaptured Maardas, closest position of pro-Regime forces was 1.3 km South of the village.

SW #Aleppo: again pro-Regime forces launched multiple overnight assaults on all fronts (5 km long) from 1070 Project until Jamaiyat. Ongoing
Again it failed.....

N. #Daraa: 3rd #TOW strike by Al-Karamah Brigade vs Regime E. of Ibta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m21LaagGG6A&feature=youtu.be …

N. #Daraa: 2nd #TOW strike by Al-Karamah Brigade on Regime position E. of Ibta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxzWcJaZKd8 …

N. #Daraa: #TOW strike by Al-Karamah Brigade on Regime position E. of Ibta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my7zNZM7HaM …

Ahrar Sham shelling #Hama Airbase & Mount Zayn Al-Abdeen with Grads
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6ilfMgpRc …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzbZ98Cl0fM …

Aleppo: another #Fagot strike by Tajamu Fastaqem vs BMP & pro-Regime in Technical College.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBb4KQO8Dmo …

Syria #FSA convoy backed by #Turkey tanks advance from #Jarablus along border toward northern #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/0GrUGVM1kGo

[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
After Nusra’s rebranding, I wrote that an Ahrar merger was unlikely given difficulties:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/28/the-nusra-front-is-dead-and-stronger-than-ever-before/ …

Dovish guy in Ahrar Sham leaks interesting stuff on JFS merger proposal
http://aawsat.com/home/article/728756/%D9%85%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%84-%C2%AB%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D8%AD%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%85%C2%BB-%D9%88%D8%B6%D9%85%D9%87%D8%A7-%D9%84%D9%80%C2%AB%D9%81%D8%AA%D8%AD-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%85%C2%BB-%D9%88%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%B6%D9%87%D8%A7 …

Here’s a good summary (Ar) of the challenges inherent within the JFS-Ahrar merger debate. Threat of defections.

Some senior Ahrar al-Sham figures have threatened to defect if a merger goes ahead, as differences are seen as too big to resolve.

Nusra/JFS-Ahrar al-Sham unity talks in #Syria are proving [predictably] difficult & contentious

[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
@fordrs58 & I commented to @ForeignPolicy on prospects for US-#Russia cooperation:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/02/u-s-russia-talk-syria-but-pentagon-ready-to-walk/ …

@fordrs58 is the former US Ambassador to Syria at the start of the revolution.....

Senior US DoD official on #Russia talks:

"I don’t trust the Russians one iota… No one thinks any of this is actually going to come to pass"

[OUTLAW 09]

Faylaq al-Rahman clashing with the #Assad regime in Jobar, the rebellion's most advanced position in East Ghouta.

Ali Abu Al Zain #MediaActivist died in gov shelling while covering gov & opposition battles on Ma’an in #Hama,Sep 2

Syria: the rebellion has driven #IS from the villages around Sajur Lake, near Jarabulus.
https://youtu.be/65GU7m2z-2w

[OUTLAW 09]

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
The always-excellent @davidblairdt:
There can be no final victory over Isil while Assad reigns in Syria
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/31/there-will-be-no-final-victory-over-isil-while-assad-reigns-in-s/

[OUTLAW 09]

Eighteen foreign fighters [from outside Kurdish areas] have been killed fighting for te #PYD/#YPG
http://bit.ly/2cfXLE6

The regime's air power monopoly in Syria has been broken.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOi7SYoHYbo …

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan
My new piece for BBC on the second & third tier members who now almost exclusively lead IS -- a critical transition.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-37244146 …

FSA/TR also took now Weqfan from IS south of al_Rai
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.584589&lon=37.426558&z=14&m=b …

FSA took also Qabwiran east of al_Rai from #IS
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.600645&lon=37.509384&z=14&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkish army reinforces Kilis as another cross-border operation nears

I am guessing Turkish aim is to get to al-BAB & get connected with Aleppo. That will destroy @CENTCOM 's #YPG corridor

I salute Turkey and the Turkish army for doing what everyone said couldn't be done! On to Marea!

Yesterday coalition bombing isis position in telaleen 3km north of Marea..

FSA convoy backed by #Turkey tanks advance from #Jarablus along border toward northern #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GrUGVM1kGo …

[OUTLAW 09]

First Legion hit a group regime fighters with a TOW ATGM in Abtaa area, southern Syria
https://youtu.be/cNTsg5EtFpc #FSA #SouthernFront

Conqueror's army in the land of Sham targeting regime planes in the area around Ma'an #Hama
https://youtu.be/NcwZ2h25xj0

First Legion in Mahjoorah after capturing (possibly recapturing) it from regime forces southern Syria
https://youtu.be/_cTlvWgDj4c
#SouthernFront

Iran's Revolutionary Guard mourns Gen. Darius Darasti killed in #Hama and his body is with the #free_syrian_army

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria - As it retreats, #ISIS leaves 1000s of improvised explosive devices -
https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/op-eds/2016/09/02/as-isis-withdraws-land-mines-lurk-in-northern-syria …

[OUTLAW 09]

Idlib Regime airstrikes targeted & destroyed a medical facility in Khan Sheikhoun with cluster munitions today

The facility serves a large no. of people in Khan Sheikhoun & its surroundings, reports all equipment, ambulances, generators were destroyed

Idlib Several civilian casualties reported in regime airstrikes on Khan al-Subl & Idlib city

EuphratesShield al-Waqf south of al-Rai also captured from #ISIS by FSA/TAF

EuphratesShield FSA/TAF have also liberated al-Nahda & al-Mathmana east of al-Ra'i following clashes with #ISIS

EuphratesShield FSA backed by TAF have liberated Ras al-Joz west of #Jarablus from #ISIS

EuphratesShield Killis Ops Room - FSA backed by TAF has liberated al-Ithriya east of al-Ra’i from #ISIS

[OUTLAW 09]

UN airdrops to regime areas in #Idlib today while allowing oppo areas be starved-until-submission, zero drops there

BUT WAIT.......the UN paid millions of USDs from donor states for humanitarian aid that was never delivered BUT went into the corruption of Assad and his family....

UN talks a great game in Syria BUT never delivers on anything.....

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA backed by #Turkish tanks shrink the #IslamicState in northern #Syria
More than a dozen villages captured today

FSA seized Al Muthminah E- #al_Rai
Means #IslamicState lost a dozen villages today
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.617698&lon=37.551999&z=15&m=b …

N. #Hama: Rebels seized a new position ("Point 50") NW of Qomhana, somewhere here:
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.224728&lon=36.700001&z=13&m …

Syria #Hama Rebels expelled #Assad-forces from Iskandarīyah area south of Ma'ardas
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.240257&lon=36.761799&z=15&m=b
…

Pics shows (allegedly) convoy of #Turkey MRAP- enter #Syria at al-Rai/ N- #Aleppo
So far not seen on battlefield

Syria 30+ dead #Assad-forces after rocket attacks on #Hama airport,
Mount Zayn al-Abdeen & IED attack in #Hama city

S. #Aleppo: close view on cemetery of Regime armor in Technical College (again retreated).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-vd7YXev1Q …

N. #Hama: Jaish Al-Izza destroyed with a #TOW a 23 mm gun NW of Qomhana.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.199342&lon=36.731415&z=12&m …

Rebels/#FSA backed by Turkish army advance in E #al_Rai
#EuphratesShield #الراعي
map in http://bit.do/tutomap

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: #FSA rebels have captured #Lilawa village and #Sajur Dam from #ISIS.

Aleppo: Dozens of former #SDF fighters reached #Jarabulus since yesterday to join #FSA, 20 of them today.

Aleppo: 15+ Turkish tanks supporting 600+ #FSA rebels against #ISIS at #Al_Rai now.

Main areas gained by Opposition from Regime in North #Hama:
- Zallaqiyat
- Lahaya cross road
- Tarabee' checkpoint
- Bowaida
- Tall Bzam
Halfaya
- Taybat al-Imam
- Suran
- Maardas
- Masasinah
- Tal Nasriyah
- Btaysh

[OUTLAW 09]

Southern front rebels firing mortars at regime forces trying to sneak into the abandoned battalion base, #Daraa
https://youtu.be/pgz3dNTdaAQ

Daraa rebels firing on regime forces trying to advance on the abandoned mortar base with a technical
https://youtu.be/PLSarIyq3TU

Turkish aid org IHH brings a mobile kitchen to Jarabulus to feed the people living in the city
https://youtu.be/bUj5pabG7DA

SDF fighters showing a house filled with mines by Islamic State in Um Hosh
https://youtu.be/2gN1Wus1fsM

Jaish al Islam Sieze a BMP, Bulldozer, technical, and ammo during recent gains in Dhat al Riqa offensive.

Sultan Murad Brigade clearing villages on the way to al-Rai village. #Euphrates_shield
https://youtu.be/rCKjtQlTbLY

Mahmoud al Hamwi reporting from inside the city of Mardis in #Hama. City is still full in rebel control.

[OUTLAW 09]

Rahman Corps sniping regime positions with a 23 MM homemade sniepr rifle #Damascus
https://youtu.be/3mjeJO8VGsQ

Jaish al Tahrir fighting during #Euphrates_Shield operations, W. of Jarabulus. Dead IS fighters shown.
https://youtu.be/65GU7m2z-2w

Jaish al Islam chief of staff update about Dhat al Riqa battle 4 #Ghouta (arabic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLh_Fszuy5E …

Jaish al Islam have repelled an attack by Islamic State fighters to attack in east #Qalmoun

Another Liwa al-Karama (SF) TOW strike
https://youtu.be/CxzWcJaZKd8

Liwa al-Karama (Southern Front) TOW strike on SAA position [target unclear] | https://youtu.be/m21LaagGG6A

[OUTLAW 09]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3718583/Leaked-intelligence-dossier-reveals-location-secret-Iranian-spymasters-HQ-Syria-codenamed-GLASSHOUSE-Iran-fighters-ground-Assad.html#ixzz4JDFflkAJ

Inside 'the Glasshouse': Iran 'is running covert war in Syria costing BILLIONS from top secret spymaster HQ near Damascus airport'

Sources within Iran's Revolutionary Guards leaked intelligence to activists who passed it to MailOnline
Tehran 'runs operations in Syria from an HQ near Damascus airport', said to be nicknamed 'The Glasshouse'
The intelligence says there are 60,000 fighters under Iranian command in Syria, not 16,000 as was thought
Claims said to be 'credible' by intelligence experts, suggesting West has underestimated Iran's influence
Iran 'has spent billions - possibly as much as $100billion on hardware and support for Assad since 2011'
It comes a year after Western powers signed a controversial nuclear deal with Iran

By Jake Wallis Simons, Associate Global Editor, For Mailonline

Published: 15:01 GMT, 30 August 2016


Iran is shoring up the Syrian regime from a secret HQ in Damascus nicknamed ‘the Glasshouse’ - and commanding a huge covert army in support of Assad, according to leaked intelligence passed by activists to MailOnline.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) claims that the theocratic state's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has spent billions in hardware for its ally Bashar al-Assad in the last five years - and runs operations on the ground from a five-floor monolith near Damascus airport.

The Iranian HQ, which plays a pivotal role in supporting Assad's regime alongside Russia, contains intelligence and counterintelligence operations, and has vaults packed with millions of dollars in cash flown in from Tehran, claims the NCRI.

The allegations are contained in a dossier of reports apparently leaked by senior sources inside Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and collated by the dissident activists who oppose the Iranian regime.

The dossier – which could not be independently verified but was described as 'credible' by intelligence experts – makes the bold claims that Iran controls the biggest fighting force in Syria; has military bases throughout the splintered state; and has amassed a war-chest far greater than feared in support of the Syrian president.

REVEALED: HOW 'THE GLASSHOUSE' WORKS

The third and fourth floors are apparently occupied by the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence unit, which is in overall command of the HQ. These areas are off-limits to even the most senior army officers.

On the ground floor there is reportedly a cafe and a 20-bed private clinic for wounded senior military personnel, while the first floor houses the Revolutionary Guards’ propaganda department, rest area and prayer rooms, the leaked intelligence says.

The basement contains the counterintelligence and logistics departments and is said to hold millions of dollars in cash.

When Revolutionary Guard soldiers arrive in Syria, the HQ apparently issues them a white card containing a special code, which is handed back when they leave.

If the activists' claims are accurate, this would mean that the fundamentalist Tehran regime and its Shia proxies are far more powerful than has been estimated. Western analysts have so far placed the total Iranian-led Shia force at just 16,000.

The dissidents make the claim that Iran now commands about 60,000 Shia troops in Syria – 15,000 more men than Britain took into the 2003 Iraq war – while Assad's army has been reduced to just 50,000 soldiers.

In addition, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has an independent command structure but operates in close coordination with Iran, has about 10,000 troops in the country, they say.

The NCRI is the exiled Iranian opposition movement committed to the overthrow of the Shia regime in Tehran. It has leaked intelligence about the regime in the past, and, while not all of it has proved accurate, in 2002, it sensationally exposed the existence of secret nuclear facilities at Natanz and Arak, in central Iran, which made Western powers more cautious in negotiating with Tehran.

The suggestion that Iran has so many soldiers on the battlefield – 16,000 Iranian troops commanding 45,000 Shia mercenaries from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon as well as Palestinians and Baluchis, a minority group from Afghanistan – is likely to cause anxiety in the region and in the West, which is lifting sanctions on the regime after signing a controversial nuclear deal.

Kamal Alam, a research analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said that the leaked intelligence was 'entirely plausible'.

'I go quite regularly to Syria and visit the battlefields, and I've seen how the Iranians try to keep their operations as secret as possible,' he said.

'Their troops tend to speak Arabic rather than Farsi in public, and generally don't wear Iranian uniforms. This makes it very hard for observers to know how many are in the country.'

Analysts have been forced to use conservative estimates of troop numbers, Alam said, because Tehran – which is wary of causing alarm both at home and abroad – does not release reliable figures.

In addition, Syria's President Assad, who leads a secular administration, downplays Iran's support to avoid the impression that he is a puppet of the Islamist regime, he said.

The key claim by the activists is that Iran operates a major HQ close to Damascus airport, which the NCRI say is nicknamed The Glasshouse (Maqar-e Shishe'i in Farsi).

The 180-room building is said to be positioned very close to an airstrip that the NCRI say is nicknamed ‘Muhammad Ali’, making it easy for Iranian military chiefs to receive deliveries of troops, cash and equipment – and to escape should Damascus fall.

Anti-blast walls form a square around the perimeter, which is guarded by heavily armed troops. According to the NCRI, up to 1,000 personnel work at the secret base, and all must undergo an intensive security screening.

A number of departments are based inside, including counterintelligence, logistics, propaganda and foreign mercenary command (see box). The feared Iranian intelligence services, who are in charge of the base, are said to occupy the top two floors.

The building is also said to contain prayer rooms, a 20-bed private clinic for wounded senior officers, and facilities for holding millions of dollars in cash, which are reportedly kept in the basement.

Activists claim Tehran has divided Syria into five 'fronts' with bases in 18 locations from the north to the south - but this information could not be verified

The intelligence passed to MailOnline claims that Tehran has spent a staggering $100billion on the conflict since 2011, including hardware and support for Assad's regime.

The figure claimed by the NCRI has surprised Western analysts, who have so far estimated that Iran has spent just $15billion on the war in Syria.

Millions of dollars in cash is regularly delivered at the Iranian airstrip before being transferred to the HQ nicknamed 'the Glasshouse', the dissidents claim.

There it is allegedly stored in the basement under the auspices of head of logistics, Brigadier General Seyyed Razi Mousavi, formerly commander of the elite Quds Force in Syria, and is principally used to pay fighters’ salaries.

The revelations come after Tehran took the extraordinary step of allowing Russia to use its airbases to launch attacks in Syria, demonstrating its expanding role.

It also follows reports that Iran has deployed a Russian-made S-300 surface-to-air missile defence system at its uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, northwestern Iran.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman told MailOnline: 'Iran’s role in fostering instability in the Middle East, including ongoing support for proxy groups and the Assad regime, and the activities of the Quds force, remains a source of serious concern.'

The activists also claim Tehran is putting down military roots in 18 locations from northern to southern Syria (see map of the intelligence claims above), showing how it intends to control large swathes of the country even if Assad is defeated.

Iranian military planners – acting under Brigadier General Mohammad Jafaar Assadi, the recently appointed supreme commander of Iranian forces in Syria – are said to have divided Syria into ‘five fronts’, comprising the Northern Front, Eastern Front, Southern Front, Central Command Front and Coastal Front, the NCRI claims.

Revolutionary Guard bases have been established in each of the sectors, which the NCRI says can accommodate up to 6,000 troops, as well as heavy weapons, air power and anti-aircraft missiles.

Experts say Tehran is determined to protect and defend its supply lines to its ally Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and expand outwards from this core territory.

Dr Aniseh Bassiri Tabrizi, an Iran specialist at RUSI, said: 'It is very difficult to know about numbers because Iran is so secretive. It's something we struggled with throughout our research.

‘It’s no secret that Iran has a heavy presence on the ground that is not based exclusively on advisers and consultants. This data reinforces our assumptions and suspicions about Iranian involvement in Syria, but takes it much further in terms of numbers.

Continued.....

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkish military #TSK BMC-Kirpi Mine Resistant Armored Personnel Carrier in #Syria near al-Rai w/ #FSA Sultan Murad

Bab Lemon (باب ليمون) has been captured by #FSA/#VSO and #TSK east of Al-Rai.

New US/Turk backed #VSO #FSA group formed week ago in #Azaz pocket in N. Aleppo called Dhi Qar Brigade (named after the battle of Dhi Qar).

N. #Hama: Ahrar Al-Sham shelled for the 2nd day #Hama Airbase with Grad rockets.

N. #Hama: Jaish Al-Izza destroyed with a #TOW a 23 mm gun killing its crew NW of Qomhana.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZmOpiPtNSI …

E. #Ghouta: some spoils made by Jaish Al-Islam today during its (counter-)offensive, including a BREM-1.

[OUTLAW 09]

Opposition Gained 171kmsq #hama in 4 Days - Factions/ATGM monitoring by @badly_xeroxed
PDF
http://goo.gl/i6Dj1k

[OUTLAW 09]

Waqf (وقف), Al-Athariya (الاثرية), Hadabaat (هضبات), Shayk Yakub ( الشيخ يعقوب) under #FSA/#VSO/#TSK control.
Ayyash (عيّاش), Krasnlee (كرسنلي ), Khaleelya (خليلية), and Salsala (سلسلة) also under #FSA/#VSO/#TSK control. Source pretty good usually.

Reports of explosions in the Hama military airport following rebel Grad attack '
https://twitter.com/Hasan_Jneed/status/772131576599678976 …

Rebels began targeting Hama military airport with grad rockets, among the dead is pilot Col. Sharif Ali Shuntar.

Fourth report of a TOW launch in 2 days in Daraa

Deal in rebel-held pocket of al Waer, Homs: 300 rebels to leave, regime to release 140-200 detainees & roads to open

Jund al-Aqsa's ordnance-dropping drone is work of Abu al-Baraa, of improv SA-7 battery fame http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/world/middleeast/a-syrian-rebel-advance-off-the-battlefield-a-longer-lasting-rechargeable-battery-for-the-sa-7b-a-shoulder-fired-missile-system.html?_r=0 …

Jund AlAqsa showed some of their drones dropping bombs on regime targets..They should have kept this secret, & they arent the 1st to do this

Rebels reportedly take Iskandiriya in Hama

[OUTLAW 09]

Yes, it was a (French-made) SA.342 Gazelle helicopter, not 'Russian': Syria got about 60 Gazelles - with Saudi finanical backing - back in late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Gazelle in question was approaching for landing near al-Ahlia Oil Factory, approx 2km north of Hama (city limits).


Nope. Hassan is much too important but to fly recce. That one (or were there two?) photos of him next to a Gazelle mean absolutely nothing. If flying, he's transported around aboard a Mi-8P (VIP-transport/saloon helicopter), painted in white overall.

Anyway, nice thing about this shoot-down is an 'indirect' confirmation for a number of claims issued by IRIAA (Islamic Republic of Iran Army Aviation) AH-1-crews for TOW-kills against various Iraqi helicopters (usually cited as 'Mi-25') during the Iran-Iraq War.

Yes, ladies in gentlemen: 'this is possible' (and not only in specific video games).

CrowBat......a video has surfaced of him in a Gazelle......flying way under 500 feet flying recce and giving the pilot flight directions

@bm27_uragan Suheil al Hassan in a Gazelle over Palmyra

[OUTLAW 09]

John Arterbury
‏@JohnArterbury

'A Sacred Defense' -- my first academic work, exploring Iranian defense policy in Syria, now available here:
http://georgetownsecuritystudiesreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/GSSR-Vol.-4-Iss.-2.pdf …

[OUTLAW 09]

Footage: Jaish Al-Izza storming the Point 50 where it took out a 23 mm gun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j8vGQhwbdM …

FSA seized Shayk Yakub east of #al_Rai
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.664288&lon=37.503033&z=14&m=b …

Massive retreat/rout of regime forces in Flint Hill village in Eastern Ghouta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WghTuRc5jCQ&feature=youtu.be …
Great drone video

U.S. forces struck #ISIL targets near #Turkey's border in #Syria last night via newly deployed HIMARS system. https://twitter.com/usembassyturkey/status/772036923552632833 …

IRIAF C-130E/H over besieged Foua & Kefraya again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFBq78Z3_7M …

Surveillance Shahed 129 ( retractable landing gear variant) also spotted in Hama today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVFrbimqfI0 …

شام @ahlalsham3
Qumhana is getting attacked. Qumhana HQ requested backup and assistance.

Sources told me that Liwa Tahrir that joined Turkish-led operation wasn't part of SDF. They were part of the Jaish Al-Salam coalition.

Syria #FSA seized Shayk Yakub east of #al_Rai
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.664288&lon=37.503033&z=14&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

Unconfirmed reports of a coup in the Southern Front
https://twitter.com/AgencyNSR/status/772118219599519748 …

Comes following leaked recording of a SF commander violently threatening others to reactivate the Daraa front
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR4fWrg8Z1g&feature=youtu.be …

Abu Summiyah الخالدي @abu_summiyah
Reports of an uprising against Abu Usamah Al Jawlani, leader in Southern front, with roads cut off and checkpoints spread out...

Syria Regime shelling on Ramouseh in southern #Aleppo tonight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwUgC6fOGFw …

[OUTLAW 09]

Some important clarification regarding Aleppo and Hama in a few...

JFS has sent fighters to aide in Hama including a technical specialist after a Jund Technical specialist was martyred in a car accident

JFS has remained mainly in Aleppo because the most important thing for them is ensuring Aleppo isn't besieged again and they hold most Important ribaat fronts in Aleppo

For those claiming Ahrar isn't doing enough in Aleppo, Ahrar has the most casualties and wounded currently in Aleppo fronts...

Just to note the significance of the Aleppo front for JFS, they have even local leaders of branches doing Ribaat in some fronts

If the Hama front is reassed as the more important front, then the regime will be in serious trouble...

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria #Hama Rebels took point 30 northwest #Qamhana (after point 50)
somewhere here:
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.217260&lon=36.718712&z=15&m=b …

Jaish al-Izzah claims control of Point 30 northwest of Qamhana city in Hama

Video of JaI driving recently captured BREM-1 and a captured foreign militia fighter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In-aGa_NZ5M …

[OUTLAW 09]

Photo taken from proRegime commenter.....
Same BOA retention
Same VIPIR strobe
Same laser-cut plate carrier
Same 1-point sling
Same pattern in helmet cover

Location of geo-tagged Russian SF pics from #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/ijCVfKsLMOQ?t=4m47s …
Arrow shows loc of soldier in pic

[Azor]

Location of geo-tagged Russian SF pics from #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/ijCVfKsLMOQ?t=4m47s …
Arrow shows loc of soldier in pic

Can you translate the Cyrillic insignia?

He certainly doesn't look ethnic Russian. Could he be:

(a) a non-ethnic Russian RF citizen?
(b) a mercenary from say Tajikistan in Russian kit?
(c) a Syrian or non-Syrian Shia mercenary in Russian kit?

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels broke through the first defense line North of Qumhana.

Not only tanks/ACV 15 but plenty of TR military vehicles, incl. Otokar Cobra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tfnyEu7LTs …

Suqour al-Sham has formally split from Ahrar al-Sham amid internal differences over unity with Fateh al-Sham.

Residents of Qumhana fled to Hama. Rebel sources from Hama city report that Qumhana Shabihas are now at the Roundabout of Aleppo-Hama road.

Fastaqem kill a group of regime fighters, hitting them mortars at the entrance of the Aleppo artillery school front.

Idlib Civil Defense putting out fires in #idlib due to regime shelling on Naiyah Town
https://youtu.be/JgyauwmiYuc

Nour al Dein al Zenki clearing villages East of Al-Rai village in North #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/JaxuoIKwaJo

With support of @UNICEF Maram Org. holds a workshop on child
psychological support for teacher in Maart, #Idlib
https://youtu.be/hgIlhy17Cn8

Jaish al Aza firing Grad rockets at #Hama military airport
https://youtu.be/I9ziqgIkDX0

FSA forces take more control points on the outskirts of Ma'an, 500 m from it.
https://youtu.be/Q6-lshkq_RY

First Legion targeting regime forces in #Daraa with a T-55 E. Region in the abandoned battalion base
https://youtu.be/d-kQU4jkjYM

Lions of Sunna firing a 122 mm cannon at regime forces try to take abandoned mortar/battalion base in #Daraa
https://youtu.be/yE7WsxAGsCw

Martyrs Ahmed al-Abdo forces attacking Islamic State forces trying to push in E. #Qalmoun
https://youtu.be/YUSLCKSDn0U

Odd 14.5 mm gun captured by Jaish al Islam in recent gains in #Ghouta against regime forces. Possibly home made?
Look like a homemade and remote controlled "sniper" rifle made from used 14.5mm KPV MG.

Jund al Aqsa repels a second attempt by regime forces to advance on the village of #Mardis in n. #Hama

[OUTLAW 09]

Nourredine Zenki footage from today's captured towns E. of al-Rai, incl. GoPro
https://youtu.be/JaxuoIKwaJo

New Syrian Army (NSyA) release exclusive FLIR footage of coalition airstrike on IS vehicle
https://youtu.be/ykU1groREok

Assad regime looted #Darayya furniture for sale
http://ow.ly/2mS7303RrHp

[OUTLAW 09]

UN has paid millions in corruption payments to Assad regime, is staying in 4Star hotels in Damascus, cannot deliver for those besieged 780,000 humanitarian aid as they are tasked to AFTER paying the corruption fees AND now this.......

JUST how deep into the pockets of Assad does the UN sit????... valid question....

Shame on you UN...! In Syria they are helping a Bashar supporter in a wedding

From this photo one might in fact conclude that the UN inside Syria is not in the least bit "neutral"....

[OUTLAW 09]

Fatah Halab to attack the Castello road after 72 hours.

[CrowBat]

CrowBat......a video has surfaced of him in a Gazelle......flying way under 500 feet flying recce and giving the pilot flight directions

@bm27_uragan Suheil al Hassan in a Gazelle over Palmyra
I've got a video of me flying an ultralight - and that without a pilot licence. You can trust me: that one is more authentic. :D

There is PRBS, and there is reality. Videos showing a character with cult status like that of Hassan 'flying recce' is PRBS. He's meanwhile so well-guarded, that even his own troops are surprised when they get to see or approach him. Nobody wold let him fly recce in a Gazelle helicopter - except for propaganda purposes, of course.

[OUTLAW 09]

I've got a video of me flying an ultralight - and that without a pilot licence. You can trust me: that one is more authentic. :D

There is PRBS, and there is reality. Videos showing a character with cult status like that of Hassan 'flying recce' is PRBS. He's meanwhile so well-guarded, that even his own troops are surprised when they get to see or approach him. Nobody wold let him fly recce in a Gazelle helicopter - except for propaganda purposes, of course.

Here is the interesting point though....with so many "hot fronts" one would expect to physically be seeing him....but strangely he is "nowhere to be seen" at least for propaganda .....

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA took Ḩajj Wālī from #IS (8km)
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.714187&lon=37.600021&z=14&m=b …

Combined Turkish Army / Syrian rebel forces liberate Waqf, S of al-Rai, from #ISIS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f4rMq8dw0Q …

EuphratesShield: #FSA took over Al-Buraniyah from #ISIS W. of #Jarablus.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=ar&lat=36.703935&lon=37.777348&z=14&m=b …

E.#Qalamoun: Jaish Al-Islam counter-attacking after #ISIS assault. 1 tank, one 14.5 mm gun & ammo seized.

EuphratesShield: heavy pre-emptive shelling by TR armours to pave way 4 #FSA on Sajur Lake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL94IHh4Gtw …

N. #Hama: Rebels foiled a Regime attempt to recapture positions in #Maan outskirts.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.357836&lon=36.763859&z=13&m=b …

EuphratesShield: #FSA backed by Turkish vehicles (incl. Otokar Cobra) S. of Al-Rai.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f4rMq8dw0Q …

S. #Aleppo: Rebels destroyed a BMP with an #ATGM in Armament College as clashes raging to repel new pro-Regime attempt to seize it.

N. #Hama: Jund Al-Aqsa destroyed a tank with an #ATGM on Kafraa front, SE of Maardas.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.221783&lon=36.802998&z=13&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

Did in fact the Obama WH and Kerry honesty believe the Russians would follow through .....REMEMBER it was the Russian Syrian Ambassador that stated in public that Assad would not be attacking Aleppo.......

#US official accuses #Russia of "walking back" on previously agreed #Syria truce issues. No deal today.

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA rebels have captured #Silsilah, #Khalīlīyah, #Bab_Laymun and #Hajj_Wali villages from #ISIS.

EuphratesShield: #FSA took over Al-Buraniyah from #ISIS W. of #Jarablus.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=ar&lat=36.703935&lon=37.777348&z=14&m=b …

Syria #FSA advance on Al-Ghandurah & Ganamah
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.677437&lon=37.774429&z=15&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

REMEMBER there are over 8-10M Kurdish Sunni's living in Iran.......

To Iranian eyes, Kurdish unrest spells Saudi incitement
http://reut.rs/2cqggce

IslamicState nearly isolated from rest of the world (only 10km left)

IS suicide bomber and his wife carried out double attack east Azaz north Aleppo killed 17 people

FSA took Al Khalīlīyah & Bab Laymun from #IS
#IS only control 10km border to #Turkey
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.696434&lon=37.571096&z=14&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Rebels have declared #Castillo road & surrounding areas as a military zone & give civilians 72 hours before offensive starts.

Syria Jund al-Aqsa destroyed regime tank in Kafraa' 5km north east of #Hama
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.215332&lon=36.810551&z=14&m=b …

Aleppo: Rebels killed 50+ pro-#Assad forces and wounded 100+ in Southern #Aleppo since the morning.

Aleppo: The rebels have no choice. They must repell the #Assad regime offensive in Southern #Aleppo and start a counter-offensive.

Hama: Rebels advancing & destroyed 1 #Assad tank with ATGM at #Kafraa town.

Aleppo: Inghimasi rebel fighters repelling pro-#Assad forces in Artillery Base now.

[OUTLAW 09]

Rebels have made a public announcement to the Hama population.......

Rebels in #Hama: "We are not the opposition, we are the revolution. Safety of civilians is assured."

[OUTLAW 09]

Every Putin move in Syria binds more Russian resources and makes it less likely he regains influence in Ukraine

FSA and Turkish army expelled #IS from several villages along the borders and about to link #Jarabulus and #Azaz pockets for the first time

[OUTLAW 09]

US and @JohnKerry apparently still find it surprising that they can't trust the Russians on Syria (or anything).
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-russia-deal-in-jeopardy/ …

[OUTLAW 09]

Heavy heavy fighting in the Artillery and technical Colleges.....

Regime still did not advance to Technical college. Regime are focusing at Armament college and outskirts of Artillery college.

JFS, Turkestani and Ahrar Inghimasi fighters have entered & regained parts of Armament college now. Fierce fighting ongoing.

While regime advanced, they suffered huge losses. JaF activist report 40+ regime/militias killed and 90+ injured since early morning.

Aleppo situation :
Armament college is with the regime.
Air Technical college is with rebels - regime are at outskirts only.

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria #FSA cross Sajur river & took Qebbet al-Turkmen from #IS
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.688829&lon=37.727952&z=15&m=b …
Aleppo: 100+ #Russia|n & #Assad airstrikes on Southern #Aleppo today.

FSA & Turkish army, completely secured Jarabulus countryside(btw Sajur and Euphrates rivers)
http://syria.liveuamap.com

Hama: Rebels destroyed 1 #Assad tank in #Kawkab village east of #Souran town.

Turkey will never allow 'artificial state' in northern Syria, PM says
http://reut.rs/2cqyQks

Syria #FSA took entire border area to #Turkey over a length of 100km.
Northern #Aleppo to #Jarablus/Euphrates river

FSA rebels have 4 kilometers left to connect #Azaz pocket with #Jarabulus pocket.

Heavy fighting between advancing #FSA rebels and #ISIS in Northern #Aleppo today.

[OUTLAW 09]

Heavy heavy fighting in the Artillery and technical Colleges.....

Regime still did not advance to Technical college. Regime are focusing at Armament college and outskirts of Artillery college.

JFS, Turkestani and Ahrar Inghimasi fighters have entered & regained parts of Armament college now. Fierce fighting ongoing.

While regime advanced, they suffered huge losses. JaF activist report 40+ regime/militias killed and 90+ injured since early morning.

Aleppo situation :
Armament college is with the regime.
Air Technical college is with rebels - regime are at outskirts only.

NOT confirmed as of yet with conflicting reporting as JFS has mentioned nothing as of yet.....
S. #Aleppo: Rebels lost main parts of Artillery Base. E. #Aleppo on the verge to be besieged for a 2nd time 4 weeks after #JaF broke siege.

Intense clashes continue on the perimeter of the military colleges in Aleppo. A regime BMP was destroyed and many soldiers killed.

Seems Ramouseh Military Complex back in regime hand
-means siege on eastern #Aleppo continues
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.160746&lon=37.117095&z=15&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

EuphratesShield Over a dozen villages captured from #ISIS today by FSA, 2 villages left to link Jarablus w/ Rai

Major destruction caused by Russian airstrikes this morning targeting civilian areas in Kafrhalab, W. rural #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/1uKfDdWw5OI

Footage from afar of a Russian or Assad attack with incendiary munitions on Kafrzita in rural #Hama last night
https://youtu.be/vmhGPd4zmhQ

3 civilians killed including a child in a regime airstrike on a civilian house in Kafrnaha, west rural #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/uB59gidIgJg

FSA Ahmad al-Abdo Martyrs Brigade | countering #ISIS offensive #Eastern_Qalamoun:
https://youtu.be/YUSLCKSDn0U

JaI reports 18 #ISIS fighters killed in E. #Qalamoun counterattack & a tank + canon captured

FSA took Zilif from #IS
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.619110&lon=37.606802&z=14&m=b …

Rebels announce full assault on regime stronghold #Maan in northern #Aleppo (well fortified)

Syria #FSA took Al-Ghandurah & silos & control now entire area east of
Sajur river to #Jarablus (30km)

N. #Hama: Rebels started an assault to seize over the village-fortress of #Maan.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.358956&lon=36.797676&z=13&m=b …

N. #Hama: Jund Al-Aqsa destroyed a 2nd tank (this time in Kawkab) after being hit by a Gvozdika.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.301537&lon=36.801453&z=13&m=b …

EuphratesShield (day 11): after takeover of Al-Ghandurah from #ISIS #FSA now controls whole #Jarablus countryside.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.678883&lon=37.756920&z=12&m=b …

S. #Aleppo: powerful #RuAF airstrikes (thermobaric?) in Arti Base to back pro-Regime assault
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXj2tJf022E …

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA took Tal Mīzāb from #IS
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.708958&lon=37.646112&z=14&m=b …

Charles Lister
✔ @Charles_Lister Opposition-held eastern #Aleppo is back under siege, as of 1hr ago.
Map via @RadioHaraEngl
Beyond #Russia’s games, ground shifts around #Aleppo (today in the south) are also impeding any “deal.” The latter is v. much #Iran’s doing.

Reference the lack of a so called US/Russian Aleppo deal....
Extraordinary. This is the 3rd time an "agreement" has been reached and then #Moscow spoils.

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
Interesting reports of #Russia SOF in #Aleppo.
Recent US-Russian talks proposed permanent aid corridors in #Aleppo, poss. protected by SOFs

[OUTLAW 09]

Acc @DeirEzzor24, it was #Adnani who ordered #IS's retreat from Jarabulus to avoid Manbij-scale casualties.
http://bit.ly/2bUFco8

Report: Turki al-Binali and Ali al-Shawwakh (Abu Luqman) chief in the running to replace Adnani as #IS spokesman.

[OUTLAW 09]

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
In #Syria, the U.S. has used anti-IS options other than the workable one—the PYD, Shia militias, decapitation strikes—to diminishing returns

Churchill: "You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else."

[OUTLAW 09]

U.S., Russia labor over Syria truce deal but battles rage on
http://reut.rs/2coBqEH

TYPICAL Russian tactic....keeps the US "talking" while they continue to bomb and grind out the ground offensive ...leading always the US to "think Russia is honestly negotiating".....HOW many times since 2014 has Obama and Kerry fallen for this?????? MANY TIMES......

.@UN aid convoys ‘ready’ to enter #Aleppo, pending outcome of US-Russia meeting on truce
http://bit.ly/2bDhn4o

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA Sultan Murad Division | seizing villages [ft. #TSK tanks] W #Jarablus #EuphratesShield:
https://youtu.be/HL94IHh4Gtw

Aleppo: #FSA rebels and #YPG militias will meet each other west of #Manbij next week. There is no river to separate both groups.

[OUTLAW 09]

Heavy clashes inside Kawkab village South of Maan,with Jaysh Al-Nasr attacking Maan itself

JaF still have a good chance to break #siegeofaleppo if protected its positions in Ramousah & 1070 project/Musharfah

Aleppo city today.
Under which agreements does this happen, world?! ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LinjN3JF8E …

After 9 attempts and heavy losses, Iranian, Iraqi and Lebanese militias supported by intense Russian strikes took over the artillery school.

FSA has taken Al-Qadi village

Ghanmah and Suweida Shamali is under FSA control

Breaking: #Hara_FM reporter: #Syria\n rebels captured all towns on the TR-SY border connecting Azaz with Jarablus
Remember 9 months ago when some people thought Russian-backed Syrian forces would seal the Turkish border?

Islamic State T-55 '372' with a coaxial 14.5mm KPV captured by Jaish al-Islam in Eastern Qalamoun,

[OUTLAW 09]

http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/southern-front-rebels-are-at-risk-of-disintegrating

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan

Southern Front rebels are at risk of disintegrating

Hassan Hassan

September 4, 2016 Updated: September 4, 2016 05:27 PM


Reports emerged last Friday that a leader of one of the largest factions in southern Syria had been ousted by his comrades. The episode is part of a broader campaign that could unravel what is often cited as the most successful model for the rebels across the country.

According to reports from Deraa, the leader of the Syrian Revolutionary Front was pushed aside and replaced by Major Qassem Najm, a military defector.

A source close to the ousted commander confirmed the news and accused Ahrar Al Sham and its regional backers of engineering the move. Last Tuesday, six sub-factions of the revolutionary front issued statements declaring allegiance to Major Najm.

The Southern Front is a rare model for the Syrian rebels. Local groups generally lack a unified command centre, although they collaborate on the front lines throughout the country. Numerous social, political and military factions enabled the groups in the south to coalesce and work towards a relatively moderate and nationalist model under a joint command. Extremist groups largely failed to outperform nationalist forces there, as they did in the north.

Another key factor that differentiates the north from the south in terms of extremist dominance is that backers of the southern coalition have sought to strengthen national forces over Islamist factions. In the north, Turkey’s unbridled support for Islamists created the reverse situation. The two fronts had different sets of foreign backers over the course of the conflict. Qatar and Turkey, for example, had almost uncontested spheres of influence in the northern parts.

The involvement of different foreign backers has also had an effect on which rebel faction dominates where. An obvious example is Ahrar Al Sham, which has failed to establish a meaningful presence beyond the areas bordering Turkey. If the group is powerful, its organisational, ideological and political brand would have helped it attract a following elsewhere, especially since it is known for the financial and logistical support it receives from its backers.

The alternative for extremist groups and their backers is to play a different game. And that seems to be happening in the south, primarily through a campaign to shake up the Southern Front by accusing the rebels of inaction allegedly due to pressure from the United States-led military operations command.

To understand what happened on Friday, take the comments made by Saleh Al Hamwi, a former leader of Al Qaeda’s Jabhat Al Nusra, which was recently rebranded as Jabhat Fateh Al Sham.

Mr Al Hamwi, who is now close to Ahrar Al Sham and its sponsors, made a series of tweets in June, in which he called for a "soft coup" against the Southern Front.

He wrote: "Rebels in Deraa must push aside the notables who support the regime from their tribes. Rebel elites must do the same to the local council members who advocate peace and quiet [with the regime]. Islamist factions must reach out to the honest among the military operations command-backed factions."

Active battles in the south mean more refugees flow across the border into Jordan. So Amman has supported de-escalation in southern Syria, including an end to Russian airstrikes in rebel areas. Rebels in Deraa dispute the idea that they are prevented by their backers from fighting the regime, citing active fronts across the region.

Rebels there also note that a similar campaign targeted Jaish Al Islam near Damascus even though it does not receive funding from the military operations command. Jaish Al Islam is also rivalled by the same parties that attack the Southern Front.

[OUTLAW 09]

Pictures for #FSA members after meeting each other in Al-Qadi village after cleaning IS from the border line with #Turkey

REMEMBER in the nine months that Russia has been inside Syrian "fighting supposedly IS" they and Assad still did not close down the border nor did CENTCOM nor YPG as all were to busy fighting the Assad opposition.....FSA.

So it took Turkish SF, tanks, IFVs, artillery, CAS and a lot of FSA infantry and in 12 days they closed the border that Obama and company thought could not be done.....AND a lot of Toyota's

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express......

Unusual movement of a Russian tug.....maybe for their aircraft carrier which never seems to travel anywhere without a sea going tug....

Bosphorus: #ВМФ Goryn class tug SB-36 was built in Rauma-Repola shipyard in Finland

Project 714, #ВМФ Goryn class tug SB-36 transited Bosphorus towards Mediterranean. SB indicates a 'rescue tug'

[OUTLAW 09]

Sources inside Madaya say Hezbollah has shelled and fired into the town while the Red Crescent is inside

Jaish al Islam captured an Islamic State t-55 after they repel an attack in East Qalmoun. Tank #372

Rebels are currently 2 KM from mt Zain al-Abidine
https://youtu.be/zFNeuAmOGv8 #Hama

First Regiment hit a group of pro-regime fighters on Um al-Qara hill in southern #Aleppo with a TOW ATGM
https://youtu.be/854K7UqFex4

Graphic: Syrian Civil Defense rescuing injured and after an airstrike hits al-Ansari neighborhood in #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/1LinjN3JF8E

First regiment firing mortars on Om al Qara hill in #Aleppo in the morning
https://youtu.be/k0YpazvqtK0

Levant front preparing to take territory south of al-Rai in N. #Aleppo alongside Turkish forces
https://youtu.be/DqjKxAS66lg

Southern front (Shabab al Sunna) firing a tank at regime forces on Bard barrier
https://youtu.be/Mi44b0SlqnQ

Southern front firing artillery at regime forces on the bard 1 barrier https://youtu.be/CznNjtD3gwQ

Video of Nour al Dein al Zenki firing on IS in al-Ghundurat and Ghanema village in N. #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/DS9qLliWKl8

Rahman corps targeting regime forces with mortars
https://youtu.be/xo3TOFwBm3c

Clashes reported between Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa fighters in Ariha
https://twitter.com/m_j_n31/status/772480388178538496 …

[OUTLAW 09]

@FredericHof "Where Does It End?"
http://buff.ly/2cws0et #Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

ISIS Amaq claims a suicide bomb attack targeted opposition forces in al-Ameriya east of al-Rai in north rural #Aleppo

RFS reports heavy clashes between FSA & SDF on the outskirts of Azaz in north rural #Aleppo

Farms in rural #Idlib are drying up due to regime stopping Orontes river flow from Rastan Dam

Israeli military confirms that it's forces attacked Assad regime artillery positions in Quneitra in response to earlier mortar shelling.
Two sites hit: heavy artillery battery and mortar launching position

Reports Russian airstrikes w/ cluster & incendiary munitions targeting Sukayk in S. rural #Idlib & towns in N. rural #Hama (Latamna, Zakat…)

Idlib Suicide bomber targets Ahrar HQ in Binish & clashes between Jund al-Aqsa & Ahrar in Ariha

[OUTLAW 09]

OSCE SMM Ukraine @OSCE_SMM
Another impediment to SMM monitoring & Minsk violation: SMM auxiliary camera equipment stolen/destroyed at so-called “DPR”-ctrl Oktiabr mine

Russian cannot even ensure that OSCE SMM equipment is not stolen by their mercenaries SO exactly why do Obama/Kerry think Putin can be trusted on anything he says in Syria?????

[OUTLAW 09]

S. #Aleppo: pro-Regime forces attacking Ramoussah trying to secure E. flank of Artillery Base. Musharfah reportedly taken from #JaF.

N. #Latakia: 1st Coastal Division fired 2 #Fagot vs pro-Regime forces inflicting casualties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9uzCYB3kns …

Yesterdays's highlights
▪#Daesh lost last point with #Turkey
▪#Assad besieged E #Aleppo
▪ #SDF is preparing for next battle in #Khafsa

[OUTLAW 09]

The Assad regime targets the minaret of a mosque in #Syria
Even places of worship (mosques & churches) aren't spared

[OUTLAW 09]

This is an interesting proAssad regime commenter thread BUT not confirmed as he does not give his source so in fact could be nothing but propaganda but worth reading......WHAT he does not seem to refer to though is that the potential fall of eastern Aleppo is a "red line" both for Turkey and KSA and that has been stated many times over the last nine months.....KSA is letting Turkey currently take lead.....

EHSANI2 ‏@EHSANI22 · Sep 3
To get #Syria analysis right is 2 understand that Dam leadership will never give up the fight regardless of pressures or duration of crisis

Proposed R plan for #Aleppo is to avoid lengthy duration siege of #Daraya and instead focus on speedy evacuation of civilians under UN watch

The US-R negotiations over #Syria unlikely to produce results that optimists are looking for. "Devils in the details" principle is why

For Russia: Civilian evacuation under UN supervision and humanitarian corridor through Castello. No need 4 Syr AF meantime in area

For US: More complicated. Allowing R plan to go ahead as is will be seen as offering a win even if civilian lives end being saved

For US: On other hand, insisting on backing oppo is aligning with Jaish al Fatah and Muheisni. Not exactly an attractive partner for DC

Deal is stuck because when intricate details are reached, things get stuck and gaps in understanding become obvious.

The US may blame R and/or let the UN handle the matter from this point on. Grand credible deal between US & R seems unlikely at this point

[OUTLAW 09]

This is an interesting proAssad regime commenter thread BUT not confirmed as he does not give his source so in fact could be nothing but propaganda but worth reading......WHAT he does not seem to refer to though is that the potential fall of eastern Aleppo is a "red line" both for Turkey and KSA and that has been stated many times over the last nine months.....KSA is letting Turkey currently take lead.....

EHSANI2 ‏@EHSANI22 · Sep 3
To get #Syria analysis right is 2 understand that Dam leadership will never give up the fight regardless of pressures or duration of crisis

Proposed R plan for #Aleppo is to avoid lengthy duration siege of #Daraya and instead focus on speedy evacuation of civilians under UN watch

The US-R negotiations over #Syria unlikely to produce results that optimists are looking for. "Devils in the details" principle is why

For Russia: Civilian evacuation under UN supervision and humanitarian corridor through Castello. No need 4 Syr AF meantime in area

For US: More complicated. Allowing R plan to go ahead as is will be seen as offering a win even if civilian lives end being saved

For US: On other hand, insisting on backing oppo is aligning with Jaish al Fatah and Muheisni. Not exactly an attractive partner for DC

Deal is stuck because when intricate details are reached, things get stuck and gaps in understanding become obvious.

The US may blame R and/or let the UN handle the matter from this point on. Grand credible deal between US & R seems unlikely at this point

BTW no western MSM has even reported that Russia wants to "ethnically empty" eastern Aleppo......

[OUTLAW 09]

EHSANI2 ‏@EHSANI22
There will be a new thread here based on extensive conversation with senior source in #Damascus

BUT he does not identify the source who he claims is in senior management with Assad....remember this is not confirmed by any other source right now...

Set below is a summary of an extensive conversation with a S policy maker in #Damascus who is well versed in every facet of the Sy crisis

As I've been reporting, Dam is resigned 2 fact that this crisis may well last 15 yrs (recent NYT article said decade is avg of such wars)

While many noble attempts to solve this crisis will continue, they are unlikely to reduce the long inevitable expected duration of crisis

This 15-20y exp duration will dictate situation of having 2 conserve on key strategic assets vs having to employ them in tactical battles
NOTE: believe the source is referring to burning up any profits from oil and gas

This will inevitable mean conserving & locating such assets in larger more strategic cities versus employing them in smaller theaters

Moving away from military issue, other thrust of policy is 2 move as many civilians as possible from areas controlled by armed groups 2 GV
THIS is BTW...an actual Assad driven goal right now....AND ties possibly into that he referred to previously about Russia wanting to ethnically cleanse eastern Aleppo....

Such armed groups are seen as jihadists in nature. This adds to urgency of moving especially younger generation of Sy civilians from midst

Sy govt continued 2 pay salaries to this day 2 keep state connection w civilian centers when and if they are part of G side again

As for F policy issues, Dam views those against it as "insurgents" regardless of whether they are ISIL, Nusra or even secular kurds.

When any Govt in world faces insurgency, it does dosn't distinguish between a good/acceptable or bad/unacceptable insurgent

The west seems to have done just that. picked good/acceptable insurgents & then largely tried to force Dam to accept this pick

Since beginning of crisis, sustained attempt was made to paint Sy Govt in worst possible light when it comes to public opinion

Every attempt made to weaken Syr state resulted in an equal strengtehing of Jihadist networks. Such networks later moved operations 2 EU

Such recent trends convinced Dam more than ever before that #Syria stability is prerequisite for EU & W national security from Jihadists

Every Western politcian knows that Sy state would never hesitate to share intel info on any planned terror activity on w soil

It has been suggested that some extremist armed groups are part of "mainstream" in Syr & hence have right 2 exist & participate in politics

Dam strongly believes it is fighting religious fascism like world successfully & fought & defeated racial fascism.

[B]Many readers have every right to be skeptical of this thread. It is from an announymous twitter account quoting unnamed official

Dam has not been known for its proficient media skills. This certainly must not be seen as a new attempt to do so.

[OUTLAW 09]

EHSANI2 ‏@EHSANI22
There will be a new thread here based on extensive conversation with senior source in #Damascus

BUT he does not identify the source who he claims is in senior management with Assad....remember this is not confirmed by any other source right now...

Set below is a summary of an extensive conversation with a S policy maker in #Damascus who is well versed in every facet of the Sy crisis

As I've been reporting, Dam is resigned 2 fact that this crisis may well last 15 yrs (recent NYT article said decade is avg of such wars)

While many noble attempts to solve this crisis will continue, they are unlikely to reduce the long inevitable expected duration of crisis

This 15-20y exp duration will dictate situation of having 2 conserve on key strategic assets vs having to employ them in tactical battles
NOTE: believe the source is referring to burning up any profits from oil and gas

This will inevitable mean conserving & locating such assets in larger more strategic cities versus employing them in smaller theaters

Moving away from military issue, other thrust of policy is 2 move as many civilians as possible from areas controlled by armed groups 2 GV
THIS is BTW...an actual Assad driven goal right now....AND ties possibly into that he referred to previously about Russia wanting to ethnically cleanse eastern Aleppo....

Such armed groups are seen as jihadists in nature. This adds to urgency of moving especially younger generation of Sy civilians from midst

Sy govt continued 2 pay salaries to this day 2 keep state connection w civilian centers when and if they are part of G side again

As for F policy issues, Dam views those against it as "insurgents" regardless of whether they are ISIL, Nusra or even secular kurds.

When any Govt in world faces insurgency, it does dosn't distinguish between a good/acceptable or bad/unacceptable insurgent

The west seems to have done just that. picked good/acceptable insurgents & then largely tried to force Dam to accept this pick

Since beginning of crisis, sustained attempt was made to paint Sy Govt in worst possible light when it comes to public opinion

Every attempt made to weaken Syr state resulted in an equal strengtehing of Jihadist networks. Such networks later moved operations 2 EU

Such recent trends convinced Dam more than ever before that #Syria stability is prerequisite for EU & W national security from Jihadists

Every Western politcian knows that Sy state would never hesitate to share intel info on any planned terror activity on w soil

It has been suggested that some extremist armed groups are part of "mainstream" in Syr & hence have right 2 exist & participate in politics

Dam strongly believes it is fighting religious fascism like world successfully & fought & defeated racial fascism.

[B]Many readers have every right to be skeptical of this thread. It is from an announymous twitter account quoting unnamed official

Dam has not been known for its proficient media skills. This certainly must not be seen as a new attempt to do so.

MY COMMENTS...if we accept that this interview is in fact valid then it is interesting for a number of reasons......

1. it is a simple rehash of previous Assad senior regime member statements over the last five years
2. rolls in some of the more recent Russian statements
3. simply does not address the underlying causes of just WHY the revolution was started and until that is resolved then nothing
will be resolved
3. does not address the genocide and war crimes practiced by the Assad 100% Alewife focused security apparatus that has resulted in over 120,00 in prison, 50K disappeared, torture, rape, use of starvation, besieging, NOW the use of water as a weapon system, use of CWs, use of napalm, deliberate targeting of civilians by Assad and Russian AFs to include virtually all hospitals, mosques/churches/marketplaces and other critical civilian infrastructure........
4. does not address that simple fact that this individual as well as the Assad inner circle have virtually turned the revolution into a sectarian war using Iraqi/Syrian/AFHG Shia militias, Hezbollah, and IRGC troops to fight against 78% of the civilian population that is basically Arab Sunni...not counting the Sunni Kurd population.....
5.does not address the forced Arab Sunni ethnic cleansing.....
6. does not fully explain why Assad lied on stating he had no further CW weapons and that he uses them...

AND it certainly does address the low estimated 300B USDs needed to rebuild what Assad and Putin have bombed into dust......AND neither Putin NOR Khamenei have stated they will foot the bill....

IF valid this interview reflects senior Assad officials who are in a state of a "dream world" that is not based on ground reality.....

[OUTLAW 09]

Over the last several hours there have been ongoing reports of a series of explosions ie bombs going off in Tartus......and in three other Syrian cities

BREAKING: Twin blasts rock entrance to Tartus housing Russian naval base

BREAKING: Syrian state media: At least four separate bombs explode in different Syrian cities, casualties still undetermined.

Syria this morning:
-double bombing in Tartus
-motorcycle bombing in Hasaka
-suicide car bomb in Homs
-bombing in Saburra (near Damascus)

Explosions hit Al-Saboura and Yaafour is big news,very secured area where regime officials and their families live,a huge penetration

Area surrounded by huge regime bases(mostly 4th division)and rebels control some besieged areas with no way out so Damascus was hit from outside forces...
Another picture from the Tartus bombing

[OUTLAW 09]

Jund al Aqsa have attempted to assassinate a leader of Ahrar al Sham. the attack failed and Ahrar now besieges their HQ in Ariha

Syria fierce clashes between Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa(AlQaeda)in Ariha #Idlib,Jund al-Aqsa high-rank commander reportedly killed

The matter was solved accordingly to one of Ahrar's acc

I hope not. This is one of many transgressions by Jund against Ahrar.

Yeah the beef between both is old, but the tweet says it was given order to lift the siege & they will try to find an agreement

JAA in reality split off from originally JaN as they could not go down the path that JFS was taking and they were the ones yesterday that released the beheading of Assad soldiers photos.....they are still aligned largely with AQ.

JAA only got into the fight in Hama late to ensure they get a take of the captured munitions and weapons...

[OUTLAW 09]

Reports of an Operations Room created called "Jaish Hama" to coordinate battles in Hama province.

[OUTLAW 09]

EuphratesShield @EuphratesShield
TAF: "Today, FSA troops recaptured seven villages from Daesh, as part of #EuphratesShield operation."

Syria'n regime shot OTR-21 Tochka ballisic missile on As-Sukkari district of #Aleppo city
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.173946&lon=37.142673&z=15&m=b …

Charles Lister
✔ @Charles_Lister 24hrs after siege of E. #Aleppo re-emplaced, Ahrar al-Sham forces have re-penetrated Al-Amariyah in city's SW, capturing several positions.

[OUTLAW 09]

Over the last several hours there have been ongoing reports of a series of explosions ie bombs going off in Tartus......and in three other Syrian cities

BREAKING: Twin blasts rock entrance to Tartus housing Russian naval base

BREAKING: Syrian state media: At least four separate bombs explode in different Syrian cities, casualties still undetermined.

Syria this morning:
-double bombing in Tartus
-motorcycle bombing in Hasaka
-suicide car bomb in Homs
-bombing in Saburra (near Damascus)

Explosions hit Al-Saboura and Yaafour is big news,very secured area where regime officials and their families live,a huge penetration

Area surrounded by huge regime bases(mostly 4th division)and rebels control some besieged areas with no way out so Damascus was hit from outside forces...
Another picture from the Tartus bombing

IS claims string of deadly bombings across the country today. Tolls via state media:
Tartus: 35
Hasakeh: 8
Homs: 4
Damascus: 1

BUT WAIT......
In Tartus, which Bashar regime touted just days ago as a haven for tourism

[OUTLAW 09]

Al Jazeera News Verifizierter Account 
‏@AJENews
Turkish troops and Free Syrian Army fighters cleared territory between the Syrian towns of Azaz and Jarablus

My comment...now comes the "deep dive" towards Manbij, Aleppo and further to the East....pushing back Assad, the Kurds and IS.....

Hassan Hassan Verifizierter Account 
Turkey is on track to create what might look like a lasting offensive gesture into the YPG project in northern Syria
https://www.facebook.com/HassanHassanBlog/posts/642579289252540 …

But Turkish allies in Aleppo are also upset the campaign is diverting badly-needed resources.

Rebels, backed by #Turkey, took #TallAtiyah & #Maziji.
Possibly first towns of al-Bab push.
#Aleppo #Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

So who in the Obama WH and CENTCOM knew this?????...further continuance of the Assad and IS "business" relationship since 2006.....

Syrian foreign minister: 'Fighting IS not our prime concern', 'we have more important battles'
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/9/1/syrian-foreign-minister-fighting-is-not-our-prime-concern …

BUT WAIT......
Thriving business along Hama front, as government kingpins sell gas to rebel smugglers
http://all4syria.info/Archive/341569

[OUTLAW 09]

So who in the Obama WH and CENTCOM knew this?????...further continuance of the Assad and IS "business" relationship since 2006.....

Syrian foreign minister: 'Fighting IS not our prime concern', 'we have more important battles'
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/9/1/syrian-foreign-minister-fighting-is-not-our-prime-concern …


Kyle W. Orton Verifizierter Account 
‏@KyleWOrton
Who saw that coming?
JUST check the date on his article......

Really worth reading the entire article.......

Provocation and the Islamic State: Why Assad Strengthened the Jihadists

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on September 3, 2014


On August 25, Bashar al-Assad’s Foreign Minister, Walid al-Muallem, said: “Syria is ready for co-operation … to fight terrorism.” The week before Assad’s PR guru, Bouthaina Shaaban, told CNN that an “international coalition,” including Russia, China, America, and Europe, should intervene to defeat the “terrorists,” whom she says make up the rebellion in Syria.

Back in March I wrote a long post laying out the evidence that the Assad regime was deliberately empowering then-ISIS, now the Islamic State (IS), helping it destroy moderate rebels and even Salafist and Salafi-jihadist forces, with the intention of making-good on its propaganda line that the only opposition to the regime came from takfiris, which would frighten the population into taking shelter behind the State, seeing this madness as the only alternative, and would at the very least keep the West from intervening to support the uprising and might even draw the West in to help defeat the insurgency. These statements represent the culmination of that strategy.

At the time of that post, it was rather a minority view to say that Assad was bolstering IS but since then this view seems to have gone mainstream to the point where the French President called Assad “the de facto ally of jihadists.” People struggled to believe a regime could be that canny or cynical; to some it sounded too much like a conspiracy theory. But what Assad has done is not unique.

This tactic is called provocation (provokatsiya in Russian), and “simply means taking control of your enemies in secret and encouraging them to do things that discredit them and help you.” The KGB perfected this tactic, beginning with Operation TRUST, though Russia had invented it under the Tsar. The KGB’s successors have employed provocation in the last few months with the Ukrainian far-Right, which has done so much to discredit the new government in Kyiv; a sanguinary version of this policy was employed by the KGB-trained authorities in Algeria in the 1990s; and it has even been used in democratic countries, such as in America by the FBI against the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Panthers, and in Germany against the far-Right. (Germany is so good at this that the last time the effort to ban the neo-Nazi “National Democratic Party” got to court it was a fiasco because so many of the NDP’s leaders and members were German intelligence agents that it was impossible to say what the group’s true beliefs were.)

The best evidence that something of the kind has happened in Syria, a State where the security apparatus was schooled by the KGB, comes from Bassam Barabandi, a defector from Assad’s Foreign Ministry, who described the regime’s strategy in dealing with the uprising this way:


ISIS’s role in Syria fits into a plan that has worked for Assad on several occasions. When a crisis emerges, Assad pushes his opponents to spend as much time as possible in developing a response. … His favorite diversion is terrorism, because it establishes him as a necessary force to contain it. …

Assad renewed a version of this approach after non-violent protestors took to the streets demanding freedom and reform in 2011. … Assad needed to take steps that would pass time and prove himself as indispensable, both to the international community and to Syrians who fear retaliation from the Sunni majority. …

Assad first changed the narrative … to one of sectarianism, not reform. He then fostered an extremist presence in Syria … [and] facilitated the influx of foreign extremist fighters to threaten stability in the region. … The resulting international paralysis allowed Assad to present himself as an ally in the global war on terror, granting him license to crush civilians with impunity. …

Once the unrest shifted to an armed conflict, Assad’s choice of allies promoted sectarianism. … Today, the conflict has morphed into a sectarian regional proxy war. This is precisely how Assad envisioned it, and creates a dynamic that the internationals can dismiss as too complex or dissonant to Western interests.

The Assad plan also included allowing extremist Sunni groups to grow and travel freely in order to complicate any Western support for his opponents. The Assad regime and Iran have meticulously nurtured the rise of al-Qaeda, and then ISIS, in Syria. … Assad released battle-hardened extremists from the infamous Sednaya prison; extremists with no association to the uprisings. These fighters would go on to lead militant groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al Nusra.

In conjunction with the terrorist-release policy, Assad was sure to imprison diverse, non-violent, and pro-reform activists by the thousands … so that the influence of extremists would fill their absence. Assad was careful to never take any steps to attack ISIS as they grew in power and strength. …

Now that ISIS has fully matured, the Assad regime and Iran offer themselves as partners to the United States. For the first time, Assad is striking ISIS in Raqqa and locations inside Iraq, in a perverse harvest of the terrorist seeds he planted to quash the civilian-led reform movement. Assad will continue to make himself appear helpful by offering intermittent air strikes, details of fighters released from prison, and intelligence. …

The rise of ISIS in Iraq and events in Gaza and Ukraine have placed Assad’s war safely outside the headlines. Once again, the world is convinced it has higher priorities and may again conclude that Assad is a problematic, yet stabilizing dictator in a troubled region.

The Assad regime has perfected the role of being “at once an arsonist and a fireman,” as Fouad Ajami once put it; of creating problems and then exacting concessions from the West to solve them.

The simplest way of demonstrating that the Assad regime wanted to strengthen the Islamic State is to follow the money. IS has essentially five streams of revenue, which are:
1.Oil. IS controls the zones where Syria has oil—Raqqa and Deir Ezzor—and has added oil-producing regions of Iraq around Mosul to this. Estimates of daily intake vary between $1m, $1.8m, and $3m, but this is clearly one of IS’s most important revenue streams. It is also agreed by everybody, from our best journalists to the French Foreign Minister, that a not insignificant portion of this comes from the Assad regime buying the oil—handing over millions of dollars to IS that allow it to fund its fighters and military campaigns, and propagate its ideology to the captive population (estimated at between six and eight million people), while letting IS avoid the necessity of looting, a feature of the desperate FSA-branded rebels that has damaged their cause. IS also takes over other resources—notably grain silos in Syria and the wheat fields around Mosul—giving it total control of the population and allowing it to sell the excess.
2.Extortion (“Tax”). IS controls some non-Muslim minorities who pay the jizya, which is essentially a protection-racket. Other tribute is drawn as taxes from businesses (in the guise of zakat) and farmers. There are also charges for services like public transport. In total this is thought to bring in $5m per month or $60m per year. The Assad regime has avoided bombing IS-held areas as it does with rebel-held territory, allowing IS to exploit this revenue stream.
3.Kidnappings. The U.S. and Britain refuse to pay for the release of their citizens taken hostage but many European States do pay. Some estimates say IS has taken in $65m (£40m) from ransoms. This is plausible. (Al-Qaeda gained $165 over the last six years from European ransom payments.)
4.Antiquities. While IS has attracted attention for its obliteration of the region’s cultural heritage, it has a sideline in the sale of artefacts, specifically those looted from Nabuk in Qalamoun, which have given it at least $60m (£36m).


Continued.......

[OUTLAW 09]

Unimaginable firepower used by Russia & Regime during 4 weeks to make advances on SW. #Aleppo front.
Footage of TOS-1A impacts, incendiary cluster munitions, TOS-1A launches, combat around the military colleges,Aleppo

Aleppo: Ahrar Al-Sham's VBIED detonated inside Regime positions in Ameriya.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.170585&lon=37.129025&z=17&m …

First Regime fortified positions taken in Ameriya.

S. #Aleppo: Rebels ambushed pro-Regime forces on Musharfaf front & destroyed 2 pick-up.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.146331&lon=37.108984&z=14&m …

E. #Qalamoun: Jaish Al-Islam destroyed an #ISIS tank after being hit by a T-55.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyxfMQ7O7Zk …

#EuphratesShield: #FSA seized several villages from #ISIS E. of Al-Rai in a bid to secure further the Turkish border
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.646936&lon=37.661819&z=11&m …

E. #Damascus: on 3rd day of clashes with #ISIS in E. #Qalamoun Ahrar al-Sham destroyed a tank and a 23 mm gun.

[OUTLAW 09]

Ethnic_cleansing on an unprecedented scale’: Rebels, UN criticize #Assad tactics
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ethnic-cleansing-unprecedented-scale-rebels-un-criticize-assad-tactics-954614280 …

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA Al-Ezzah Army | night Fagot #ATGM strike on bulldozer E Muharrada [محردة] #Hama:
https://youtu.be/Z_9vkKD958U

Jaish al Islam captured 2 BREM-1s, bulldozer, & a technical after storming regime HQ in Dhat al Riqa Op.

Jund al Aqsa taking Saman Barrier in Northern #Hama
https://youtu.be/CuL5aeKROTM
The same BMP in a Jund al-Aksa video on Aug 31:

Fastaqem Union @FkoUnion hit a group of SAA & officers in art. college, air tech school with a Fagot ATGM

Sham Legion firing rockets at Um al Qara hill in southern #aleppo
https://youtu.be/pzpuKZUXVKk

Jaish al Islam destroy an Islamic State tank on E. #Qalmoun front. TOW launcher shown in the shot as well.
https://youtu.be/TyxfMQ7O7Zk

AlRahman_corps Sniping 3 Assad's militiamen in one shot by fighters of Al-Rahman_corps
http://alrahmancorps.com/3i6m

Hamza Division video of when fighters from al-Rai and Jarabulus met for the first time N. #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/WsNYuj999PQ

Due to shortages and lack of funding from aid orgs, Rastan most levy a tax to continue pumping water
https://youtu.be/ktUegj47ipc

1 civilians killed, 2 injured, in #AssadPutin air strikes on #KafrHalab, W of #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSiG-Oc_EA4 …

Another deadly #FSA TOW attack on pro-#Assad forces in the area S-W of #Aleppo today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=854K7UqFex4 …

Endless terrorism.
More #AssadPutin air strikes on civilians in #Aleppo city yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAeJ-i8sXTI …

AssadPutin air strikes on #Lataminah in #Hama province yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4RH_B8Nysw …

A #Russian air strike hit and destroyed the "Shif" hospital in #Saraqib yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1XYhNllwUs …

whitehelmets - idlib @whitehelmets_sy
Russian warplanes targeted the civil defense center in Maart alnoman in idlib by cluster bombs.

[OUTLAW 09]

.@JohnKerry manages to give comments on #Syria and #Aleppo without mentioning #Syria and #Aleppo ...
http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2016/09/261576.htm …



SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good afternoon, all, and thank you for your patience. I gather you’ve been waiting for a little bit. When our teams met – (inaudible) – when our teams met in Geneva, we left Geneva with documents that went back to both capitals to review. And Minister Lavrov and I scheduled time to meet today, which we did; we just met for a couple of hours and to review the review. And I think it’s fair to say that everybody knows from the President’s comments earlier today, which I thought were very much on point, how complicated this issue is because of how many different forces there are – different players, stakeholders, entities, and so forth.

And so we’ve been working very hard over these past months to see, if we can get something, that we get it right and that what we get is sufficiently pinned down that we both understand where we’re going. It’s fair to say that out of the review I think there are a couple of tough issues that we talked about today that he will go back and review, I will go back and review, and we’ve agreed to meet tomorrow morning and see whether or not it is possible to bridge the gap, come to conclusion on those couple of issues. And if not, we’re determined to do what I’ve said all along, which is take the time to make sure that we’re doing this in a way that gives it the best chance of success.

So we will meet in the morning. We’re going to review some ideas tonight, a couple things on these couple of tough issues, and come back together and see where we are. And I think that’s a wise and important thing to do. I’ve said all along we’re not going to rush and we’re not going to do something that we think has less than what we believe is a legitimate opportunity to be able to try to get the job done.

So my thanks to you for following it today, for being interested in it. We will meet tomorrow morning and we’ll give you a sense of where we are at that point in time. An awful lot of technical things have been worked out, a lot of things are clear, but there still remain, as I say, a couple of tough issues. We’ve got to figure out how to make certain both of us can be comfortable with the resolution to those issues, so that’s what we’re working on. Thank you all very much.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary --

QUESTION: Secretary, can you say what some of those tough issues are?

SECRETARY KERRY: I can’t. No, I want to keep faith with what I’ve said all along, which is not – because everything’s interconnected, and so we’ll let – we’ll give you a sense. Let’s see where we are tomorrow.

QUESTION: Do you think that (inaudible) this deal?

STAFF: Thanks, everybody. Sir, we’ve got to go meet the President. Thanks, everybody.

QUESTION: Is there any resistance to --

SECRETARY KERRY: Everybody’s signed off on what we talking about just now. We’re just trying to figure out how to solve a couple of problems. Thanks.

A five year could could have provided a more coherent answer than the DoS did.....

[OUTLAW 09]

The VBIED was a BVP-1 AMB-S seized from Regime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shvz4QMQ8RE …

Aleppo: Ahrar Al-Sham's VBIED detonated inside Regime positions in Ameriya.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.170585&lon=37.129025&z=17&m …

Rebels captured block building area in southern #Aleppo's Ameria after BMP blast

Rebels took "blue buildings" fortifications in Amiriyah neighborhood

This will make it very difficult for Assad/IRGC forces to move in and out of the artillery school and will expose the supply road to west Aleppo.

Heavy shelling in E Aleppo as regime responds to Ahrar push. Reem, 3, reportedly wounded by tank fire in Jebel Badro

[OUTLAW 09]

The VBIED was a BVP-1 AMB-S seized from Regime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Shvz4QMQ8RE …

Aleppo: Ahrar Al-Sham's VBIED detonated inside Regime positions in Ameriya.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.170585&lon=37.129025&z=17&m …

Rebels captured block building area in southern #Aleppo's Ameria after BMP blast

Rebels took "blue buildings" fortifications in Amiriyah neighborhood

This will make it very difficult for Assad/IRGC forces to move in and out of the artillery school and will expose the supply road to west Aleppo.

Heavy shelling in E Aleppo as regime responds to Ahrar push. Reem, 3, reportedly wounded by tank fire in Jebel Badro

Look at those cold fronts between Assad & ISIS in Aleppo, they could easily attack regime supply route...

Does Assad & ISIS have contractual agreements not to attack each other?

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan ·
Remember when this was a conspiracy theory?

Syrian foreign minister: 'Fighting IS not our prime concern', 'we have more important battles'
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/9/1/syrian-foreign-minister-fighting-is-not-our-prime-concern …

[OUTLAW 09]

CNN Trk ENG Verifizierter Account 
‏@CNNTURK_ENG
#BREAKING Turkish Pres. Erdoğan: I have proposed to set up a no-fly zone in northern Syria to Obama and Putin

Erdogan would not be proposing this if he felt he could not deliver on it......

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkish backed Syrian Rebels capture
-al'nenbgah Kabira
-al'nenbgah Sghirah
-Jeb al-Dem east of Al Rai after battles battles with ISIS

[OUTLAW 09]

IS claims string of deadly bombings across the country today. Tolls via state media:
Tartus: 35
Hasakeh: 8
Homs: 4
Damascus: 1

BUT WAIT......
In Tartus, which Bashar regime touted just days ago as a haven for tourism

Assad regime chief of propaganda for state run media is killed in Tartous blast

Assad regime General Muhsin Jabour killed in suicide attack in Tartous

[OUTLAW 09]

Hama: Zil military vehicle carrying pro Assad militiamen destroyed by Syrian Rebels

Aleppo: dozens of Hezbollah forces killed by rebels in South Sharfa

2 BMP's carrying regime fighters destroyed in Um Qara by rebels

Assad regime commander Basel Mahrouf Iys from Qardaha killed by rebels

Deraa: Rebels capture Jalin buildings

Ghouta: Rebels capture Hosh Farah Farms

Turkish Armor getting in position before capturing villages in N. #Aleppo. @SMARTNewsAgency
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbCsa9kB6JY …

Footage: #FSA fighting #Daesh forces today near al-Rai town in north rural #Aleppo province
https://youtu.be/PGcZaK82vQI

FSA's @AlrahmanCorps on their way to Moademiyah frontlines against the regime in south #Damascus Suburbs

FSA News ‏@FSAPlatform
MAP:
#FSA & armed opposition advances in #Aleppo today
http://fb.me/4FM9mO6g1

Breaking
3 Russian airstrikes hit the headquarters of #FSA brigade @ShamLegion in Kafernaha, west #Aleppo

Civil Defence team rescues a child hit by a Russian cluster bomb in rural #Idleb #Syria
fb.me/6hkJhQAOF

[OUTLAW 09]

S. #Aleppo: Artillery Base almost unrecognizable after 4 weeks of relentless shelling & airstrikes.

Unimaginable firepower used by Russia & Regime during 4 weeks to make advances on SW. #Aleppo front.

Footage of TOS-1A impacts, incendiary cluster munitions, TOS-1A launches, combat around the military colleges,Aleppo
https://youtu.be/MDPWD-eCDBE

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria: Jaish al-Islam - 4th phase of offensive near #Damascus kills 200+ pro-#Assad troops
http://eaworldview.com/2016/09/syria-daily-russia-regime-renew-siege-of-aleppo/#JAI …

Important Pro Assad militia commander Majid Assaf killed in Tel Sowan

Reference Assad regime loses in fighting in the Arty school area....
Well pro Assad media admitted that at least 348 of their men died
http://en.eldorar.com/node/3152

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: fighters from Tajamu Fastaqem heading to the battle in Ameriya.
Photo 1

Aleppo: Sham Front on Ameriya frontline.
Photo 2

Aleppo: 1st Regiment (Fatah Halab) involved in current offensive to seize district of Ameriya.
Photo 3

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: #ISIS destroying #YPG tank with ATGM at #Hosh village, south of #Marea. Was T72
That'd be the last tank Afrin YPG has left if my counts are correct.
So ISIL is busy with attacking Afrîn/Kurdistan while turkish backed FSA taking tens if villages from them.

Aleppo: #FSA rebels have captured #Nabghah village from #ISIS and are now 8 kilometers away from the next #YPG position west of #Manbij.

Damascus: Rebels destroying #Assad position in #Jobar with SPG-9 recoilless gun today.

Latakia: Al-Bassel Hospital in #Tartus today. Most of the 75+ killed and wounded are pro-#Assad forces.
Aleppo: #FSA rebels captured #Al_Ḩumayrah, #Aţ_Ţāfilīyah, #Jubb_ad_Dam & #Mazraat_Ḩaydar_Bāshā villages from #ISIS.

[OUTLAW 09]

TOS-1 was used by Russia to shell (thermobaric rockets) Artillery Base yesterday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXj2tJf022E …
https://youtu.be/iDGsrLZjMwA

WAS manned by Russian crew.........

[OUTLAW 09]

UN "Deeply alarmed" re cluster munition use in #Syria (by #Russia). I was really getting sick of "deeply concerned"

[OUTLAW 09]

BREAKING: @hawarturkce reporting that #YPG responded to Turkish army attack on civilians by killing a Turkish soldier on border w/ Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

CNN Trk ENG Verifizierter Account 
‏@CNNTURK_ENG
#BREAKING Turkish Pres. Erdoğan: I have proposed to set up a no-fly zone in northern Syria to Obama and Putin

Erdogan would not be proposing this if he felt he could not deliver on it......

MORE: Erdogan also says that Turkish military backed operation in N. #Syria do not threaten Syria's territorial integrity

[OUTLAW 09]

IRIAF C-130E/H in Idlib followed by a RuAF Su 34.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZG1X5Mvn1k …

Syria Qariyah/Soleimani IRAM (HQ-2 booster based ) used in Kokab, Hama.
https://youtu.be/mzDn9Q2tU4Y

Battle for Northern #Syria overview #map September 4 #Afrin #Aleppo #Manbij #Jarabulus
http://edmaps.com/html/syrian_civil_war_in_maps.html …

[OUTLAW 09]

Really........????? Who would have guessed that "doing nothing stupid" would suddenly change...????


U.S. Looks to Beat ISIS Before Obama’s Out -
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/02/u-s-looks-to-beat-isis-before-obama-s-out.html …

HOW and with WHAT?????

[OUTLAW 09]

From 2 Sept

Starting to see some push back from Iran against Turkey's op in Syria -
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/09/02/482881/Iran-Turkey-Syria- …

[OUTLAW 09]

Orient News report: Opposition breaks Assad-siege on residents of northern al-Quneitra countryside
https://youtu.be/I5oEGXUTelY

[OUTLAW 09]

Maah al Shami reports: 15 dead including women and children after @mod_russia strikes civilians in Maart #Idlib

Multiple Russian airstrikes also targeted Latamna in rural #Hama a little while ago, over 20 reported today

At least 7 killed in Russian airstrikes with regular & cluster munitions targeting Ma’arat al-Nouman in rural #Idlib

Aleppo #Breaking
#FSA free a number of buildings in Ameria area incl. water resources bloc. Violent clashes ongoing

Ahrar al-Sham continue to target the Hama military airbase with Grad rockets

[OUTLAW 09]

CrowBat............heads up a nuclear capable tactical ballistic missile has been spotted...that might in fact tie to the number of recent comments about Russia having nuclear devices in Syria.......uttered by of all people Russians themselves.

Iskander-M system at Hmeymim found on satellite imagery in July
https://twitter.com/el_temif/status/773001959636893696 …

[Azor]

Kyle W. Orton Verifizierter Account 
‏@KyleWOrton
Who saw that coming?
JUST check the date on his article......

Really worth reading the entire article.......

Provocation and the Islamic State: Why Assad Strengthened the Jihadists

By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on September 3, 2014

Good article. I reposted on Disqus.

[OUTLAW 09]

I wonder at times if the West ie it's leaders and MSM really "get" the Syrian revolution against Assad....we often tend to forget that it began as a totally peaceful series of demonstrations for basically the rule of law, and good governance and especially transparency.....and now we are here in 2016 with this below and the West remains utterly silent.......

With the targeted and deliberate killing of civilians by Assad, Putin, Hezbollah and the countless AFG/Iraqi Shia militias as well as the Iranian IRGC we totally forget that a large number of those being killed and wounded are women and children...and that this killing machine is called war crimes and genocide....

RevolutionSyria · Sep 4
You have the means to kill our children, twist the truth & mute our voice but will never kill our resolve. #Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

Obama's Syria strategy is now negotiating with (not pressuring) Russia as it kills civilians
http://bit.ly/2bQMlev

Now we finally see the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH "do nothing stupid FP" for what it is ...just talking and when talking fails then talk some more....

[OUTLAW 09]

E. #Qalamoun: after recent gains vs Rebels in Jebal Afai #ISIS trying now to get closer to Nasiriyah Airbase.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=33.882102&lon=36.947708&z=12&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad continues to use chlorine CWs, the UNSC releases a study indicating that he is in fact using CWs and the Russians deflect any discussions with the statement "prove it"....


Radio Hara - English @RadioHaraEngl
Breaking: #Hara_FM reporter: Suffocation cases reported after a regime airstrike on al-Sukkari area allegedly using Chlorine gas #Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Displaced residents of #Damascus suburb #Darayya accuse #Russia about bombing with Napalm & precision bombs
"no way to resist"

EuphratesShield: #FSA seized Sandi from #ISIS while Turkish Airforce striking nearby locations. http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.579971&lon=37.570839&z=12&m=b …

E. #Qalamoun: Faylaq Al-Rahman fired a very rare #TOW to destroy an #ISIS T-72 in ongoing clashes.

Syria Heavy clashes at all frontlines in southern outskirts of #Aleppp

From Sunday night, #Russia has been launching airstrikes in western Deraa. First time in months Moscow has struck southern #Syria.

Basically starved into submission and virtually abandoned by the West and the UN which promised repeatedly to deliver humanitarian aid....

Maadamiya surrendered yesterday: will be emptied of rebels and its inhabitants.
http://sobsrvr.com/8kz9vDrj

AND Assad just keeps on ethnically cleansing besieged Arab Sunni areas creating a "mostly Alewife like rump state" free of Arab Sunni's WHILE the UN and the US just complain.......

[OUTLAW 09]

hassan Hassan Verified account 
‏@hxhassan
Another amateur move by the US president's envoy, visiting the YPG in Syria -- sentimental & won't reverse course

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-envoy-visits-kurds-syria-amid-turkey-tensions-134957256.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw


Washington (AFP) - Washington dispatched a top envoy to meet with allied Kurdish forces inside Syria last week, a State Department official said Monday, following tensions after Turkey began operations in the war-torn country.

Washington found itself trapped between two key allies who are bitter foes -- NATO partner Turkey, and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, also taking part in the war against the Islamic State jihadist group but considered a "terrorist" group by Ankara.

A State Department spokesman told AFP that Brett McGurk, the special presidential envoy to the US-led coalition fighting IS, met with forces from the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces alliance.

The alliance is led by the YPG, and recently captured the town of Manbij from IS, prompting alarm in Ankara and demands that Kurdish forces withdraw east of the Euphrates river.

Ankara fears the Kurds will create a contiguous autonomous zone in northern Syria, emboldening Kurdish separatists inside Turkey.

The spokesman said McGurk pledged "ongoing US support for the SDF in the fight against ISIL (IS), while emphasising the need for strict adherence to prior commitments", a reference to demands the SDF withdraw east of the Euphrates.

"In all of his meetings, he encouraged unity of effort and de-confliction between all forces fighting ISIL in northern Syria," the spokesman said.

Last week, the Pentagon was forced to call on Turkey and Kurdish forces to avoid fighting each other, after clashes in northern Syria following the launch of Ankara's operation "Euphrates Shield", which is targeting both IS and the YPG.

McGurk also held talks last week in Turkey, the spokesman said.

"He met with senior Turkish officials to discuss US support for efforts to clear ISIL entirely from the border region... (and) also discussed planning for the Mosul campaign in Iraq‎, and closer US and Turkish cooperation to accelerate ISIL's ultimate defeat." ‎

On Sunday, Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels expelled IS from the last part of the Syrian-Turkish border under their control.

But much of the earlier work to push IS back from the border was done by the YPG and its allies.


Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
McGurk last time met a #PKK operative, who a week ago said Turkey was terrorist and US-vetted rebels were takfiris.

[OUTLAW 09]

A really great timely article..........read it and then reread it again and again.....

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton

The End of the Islamic State by Christmas?
https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2016/09/05/the-end-of-the-islamic-state-by-christmas …

Core comment by Kyle........


The Coalition’s Troubled War-Making

In speech in May, Falaha mocked the U.S. strategy of killing its leaders and expelling it from cities:

Do you think, O America, that victory is by killing one leader or another? … Or do you … consider defeat to be … the loss of land? … True defeat is the loss of willpower and desire to fight.

This might sound like self-consolation but it is actually the heart of revolutionary warfare: IS started with a cadre of ideological purists and expanded its network from there, concentrating on proselytization among recruits. When IS was defeated in 2008 and driven into the deserts its core held because they believed in the cause. The group simply reverted to an earlier stage of Maoist revolutionary war—namely insurgency and terrorism.

He confirms something I have written here at SWJ over and over and over.....and got virtually no real response on......

When the US military arrived in Baghdad in 2003 they did not know they had walked right into the middle of a Salafist ongoing Phase Two Guerrilla War as based on Mao....which had been ongoing since 1991 against Saddam ...when we arrived they just shifted gears and moved against the "near enemy" the US......

If you think about the article and look at the Turkish/FSA campaign against IS they are slowly but steadily taking back the rural villages and towns and pushing IS back into the larger towns...just the opposite of what is ongoing in Iraq.....

[OUTLAW 09]

Actually when you think about it....there is a little US hysteria when it comes to discussing jihadi's in the media....

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister

Jihadi immigrants kill 2 Americans/year, compared to:

-21 armed toddlers
-69 lawnmowers
-11,737 by another American

[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
Important summary of recent Ahrar-Jund al-Aqsa tensions.

- Investigation “proves” communication with #ISIS cells:
https://justpaste.it/y23n

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister

In response, an Ahrar al-Sham figure says:

“Jund al-Aqsa has exceeded all limits… time to eradicate this cancer”

[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
24hrs after siege of E. #Aleppo re-emplaced, Ahrar al-Sham forces have re-penetrated Al-Amariyah in city's SW, capturing several positions.

[OUTLAW 09]

Appears the TAF is getting serious about building that so called NFZ that the Russians and US do not want.....If I were IS, YPG/PKK and the Assad regimes forces around Aleppo I would be paying close attention to this news item.......especially since the Turkish AF has been flying far more aggressively over the TAF/FSA forces......inside Syria with Assad/RuAFs giving them a wide berth.....

Turkey sending Leopard 2 tanks to northern #Syria
#EuphratesShield

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Barrel bomb + several cylinders which contained Chlorine gas
-dropped totay on #Aleppo 120+ residents injured

More than 80 suffocation cases, incl. children, after regime dropped chlorine barrel bomb on Sukari district, Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

Iran's Qassem Suleimani (a designated terrorist) now in #Aleppo advising pro-#Assad Iraqi Shia militia:

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton ·
Opposition lesson from Darayya: no matter the terror the #Assad regime visits, the world won't act.
http://bit.ly/2c19Gqa

EuphratesShield: #FSA foiled an #ISIS counter-attack on Waqaf S. of Al-Rai & destroyed a carbomb.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.585209&lon=37.425270&z=12&m=b …

Damascus: Rebels promised to send reinforcements and calling on civilians to carry weapons and fight against #ISIS. #Qalamoun
Damascus: #ISIS advancing fast in #Qalamoun now.

Damascus: #ISIS has captured Jabal al-Afai from rebels and preparing to attack #Nasiriyah and #Jairoud.

Aleppo: Rebels gunned down groups of pro-#Assad forces with heavy MG fire at #Ramouseh Artillery Base.

Rebels killed #Assad Captain Ali Salloum in #Aleppo City yesterday. He was from #Latakia.

Latakia: 3 more #Assad intelligence officers, Saleh Hussein, Ayman Ali & Bassem Khalil, were also killed in #Tartus

Latakia: The #Assad intelligence officers Salah Issa and Ibrahim were also killed in the #Tartus blasts.

[OUTLAW 09]

Media ignoring #Assad & #Putin crimes, the #Hama offensive & the #Aleppo battle, but they report when #ISIS kills #Assad forces in #Tartus.

CNN reports about #Syria are really strange. They reported about the revolution 5 years ago and now they repeating #Assad propaganda.

Have the rebels bombed hospitals, schools and markets? NO! Have they gassed 1600 civilians? NO! Have they massacred Shia civilians? NO!

[OUTLAW 09]

Jund Badr Brigade #FSA firing rockets at regime forces in Zara Thermal Station in response to bombing of civilians
https://youtu.be/jQBK7VHBbvw

Video of Mountain Hawks Brigade fighting during the offensive in al-Amiriyah
https://youtu.be/axUdx7VRbOA #Aleppo

One dead and 11 wounded after regime hits #Rastan with shelling over night #Homs
https://youtu.be/Jb6P2Iti4GU

While residents of #Jarabulus are happy to return to their city, basic services remain in need
https://youtu.be/qFe5s6elwY4

Jaish al Islam tanks targeting regime HQ in Housh al Farah in East #Ghouta
https://youtu.be/MaKRRPzobq0

Rahman Corps destroy a Islamic State T-72 on East #Qalmoun front with a TOW ATGM
https://youtu.be/xRCa47IoQLw

IS assert full control over Jabal Zubaidi, Nakab area & now Jabal al-Afa'i, rebels in Ruhaybah announce full mobilization of their forces

Two more Iranian fighters announced killed in #Syria: Akbar Nazari and Hossein Alikhani, both from Kermanshah

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey deploys MIM-23 Hawk to the border, expecting someone with aircraft to oppose their operation in Syria?

Not so subtle warning to Assad/Putin and Khamenei.....

[OUTLAW 09]

An updated map of the "Azaz to Euphrate" area, as of Sept. 6th (via @comcen76)
http://cpie.lima-city.de/info1.html

IS claims to have destroyed 2 Turkish tanks near al-Waqf in north Aleppo countryside

FSA backed by Turkish tanks capture al-Waqf, al-Humaira, Haidar Basha and al-Musana on al-Ra'i axis, Aleppo

FSA repelled IS attack on al-Waqf

2 Turk soldiers killed and 5 wounded in north Aleppo - .@SkyNewsArabia_B

Reporter Taj el-Deen Sawma' was killed by an IED in al-Waqf

Northern rural #Hama operations
#FSA destroy regime military vehicle with a TOW missile

FSA capture Rawda and Tell al-Hawa

Census Office in #Arbin attempts to preserve and protect records despite regime airstrikes on the building
https://youtu.be/6IKua7Iga6A

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkish backed rebels capture al-Rawda and Tal al-Hawa east of Al Rai after clashes against ISIS

Anyone notice how ISIS are attacking rebels in Qalamoun & avoiding regime yet again? Their fanboys are silent about that again

Iranian revolutionary guard general Adel Saad, killed by rebels in Aleppo

General in Iraqi hezbollah Ahmed Hassan killed in Aleppo

Iranian media: 2 Iranian generals killed in Syria one of them is with the Basij

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Solidarity UK ‏@SyriaUK
Statement regarding the forced evacuation of the people of Daraya
http://www.syriauk.org/2016/09/a-statement-regarding-forced-evacuation.html …

Protect the civilians from Daraya, forced to other areas under bombardment, to the closed border, to the refugee camps, to the sea crossing…

… Uphold the rights of the people of Daraya to their land and property… return the people to Daraya through political and legal means…

Break the sieges: redeem the constant broken promises on airlifts and airdrops to all remaining besieged areas…

Call on the UN to put its warehouses where they are needed: in the besieged areas…

Call on the UN to put their administrative hubs where they are needed: in the besieged areas, not the Four Seasons Hotel.…

[OUTLAW 09]

Al Arabiya English Verified account 
‏@AlArabiya_Eng
#Syrian rebel commander says Kurdish forces have not withdrawn from #Manbij city, expects confrontation soon


On Tuesday, a spokesman for Erdogan said Turkey insists that all elements of Kurdish militia YPG must be cleared from Syria’s Manbij.

Manbij city, which was a former ISIS stronghold, is located near the battleground city of Aleppo in northern Syria. Ankara claimed that Kurdish militia forces had attempted to seize more territories following the liberation of Manbij from ISIS.

This has propelled Turkey to warn the Kurds to leave the area and intensify its backing to Syrian rebels.

On Tuesday, a Syrian rebel commander said Kurdish militia forces have not withdrawn from Manbij, warning that he expects confrontation soon.

[OUTLAW 09]

Appears the TAF is getting serious about building that so called NFZ that the Russians and US do not want.....If I were IS, YPG/PKK and the Assad regimes forces around Aleppo I would be paying close attention to this news item.......especially since the Turkish AF has been flying far more aggressively over the TAF/FSA forces......inside Syria with Assad/RuAFs giving them a wide berth.....

Turkey sending Leopard 2 tanks to northern #Syria
#EuphratesShield

Some of the armoured units in #Istanbul are now being dispatched to Islahiye under operation #EuphratesShield

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad's ethnic cleansing hard at work.......and the West wonders why they are being swamped by refugees....problem is relatively easy to address....remove Assad and end the fighting......

Syria'n regime starts "demographic change"
300 Shiite families from #Iraq to repopulate areas of displaced Sunnis
https://smartnews-agency.com/ar/wires/197255/%D8%B5%D8%AD%D9%8A%D9%81%D8%A9-%D9%86%D9%82%D9%84-%D9%85%D8%A6%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A7?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=smartnewsagency …

Damascus is majority Sunni; has the regime expelled that population?

Not yet, they did it already to the entire town of Qusayer..Iraqis did it in Baghdad..& Europeans complain about refugees

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria: #Russia diverts from bombing near #Aleppo, accuses US of not holding back rebels
http://eaworldview.com/2016/09/syria-daily-russia-regime-renew-siege-of-aleppo/ …

WHAT the heck has the Russian FM/MoD been both smoking and drinking lately......definitely ends any proposed joint efforts and points to the fact that Russia never intended to do a joint op anyway.....ANOTHER Obama WH failure to see this coming right a them????

Bizarre assertion from Russia: 'Only Syrian air force operates in #Aleppo, US must coordinate w/ them there, not us' http://izvestia.ru/news/629674

So the RuAF has never dropped a single bomb or cluster munitions on Aleppo whatsoever......if you believe this Russian statement I truly have a bridge to sell you in the Sahara...

Really appears that Putin thinks that Obama needs a "win" before leaving office and is trying to force Obama to formerly recognize and deal directly with Assad......

[OUTLAW 09]

Hama: Rebels destroying #Assad bulldozer with TOW at #Khattab frontline today.

[OUTLAW 09]

Iran's Qassem Suleimani (a designated terrorist) now in #Aleppo advising pro-#Assad Iraqi Shia militia:



It's possible that this is in preparation for restarting the IRGC led offensive in south Aleppo towards Fuah-Kafraya

Syria pro-regime accounts saying regime+Shia militias massing troops to break siege on Kafraya and Fuaa in #Idlib

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA backed by Turkish forces clash with IS in Baraghida

FSA capture al-Ayubiyah east of al-Ra'i

NOT confirmed as it is from proAssad commenter....
Reports that SAA/NDF regained control of Batish and entered west neighbourhood of Ma'radas in north Hama countryside

Ex TSK chief of staff I.Başbuğ says it seems PKK's Bahoz Erdal, who Turkish media said was killed, is commanding PYD

N. #Hama: Jaish Al-Izza blew up with a #TOW a bulldozer on Khattab front.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG5IoEJiIsU …

You know urban warfare is hot and heavy when the fighting against armor is within RPG ranges.....
S. #Aleppo: Tajamu Fastaqem damaged a BMP near Armament College with a RPG.

[OUTLAW 09]

"More #Hezbollah terrorists have been killed in #Syria than in clashes with #Israel in 30 years"Avi Dichter said the head of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee at the Knesset"1600 #Hezbollah killed in #Syria,about 5,000-6,000 wounded"

Syria source in #Qalamoun saying #ISIS is massing troops to attack al-Ruhaibah Valley
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=tr&lat=33.885807&lon=36.914749&z=11&m=b&show=/30919072/al-Ruhaibah-Valley …

[OUTLAW 09]

Remember Obama's "Red Line"? Assad has used chemical weapons almost 200 times since his so called "Red Line".........was evidently just a PR joke with no real intent behind it.......

From today
Reports of a new Assad chlorine gas attack an hour ago in Ein Tarma, eastern Ghouta, #Damascus. Multiple suffocation cases, 1 fatality.

From yesterday
Aleppo 71 suffocation cases inc. 37 children & 10 women admitted to hospital following Assad chlorine gas atk today

As Assad was bombing civilians w/ chlorine gas in #Aleppo yesterday Russia was bombing mosques. Anadan al-Kabir mosque destroyed ...

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria : Baladi News reports that the Opposition will unify FSA, Ahrar al Sham and Fateh Al Sham into one force.
NOW this move greatly complicates the Russian point of view that AAS is a terrorist organization as it would be now a moderate group....


OCHA Syria Verified account 
‏@OCHA_Syria
The @UNReliefChief travelled to the berm to assess the humanitarian situation of people on #Syria-#Jordan border

@PalmyraRev1
Here live the people of #Palmyra displaced. After the exodus by #Russia, #Assad and #ISIS of their city. #Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

Nothing like a heads up warning to both IS and YPG of what's comin their way....

Syria #Aleppo #FSA declare areas north & east of Al-Bab (->Arima) to "military zone"

[OUTLAW 09]

8 villages were besieged by #TAF backed #FSA and a number of other IS villages have now been completely encircled as well.

[OUTLAW 09]

Remember Obama's "Red Line"? Assad has used chemical weapons almost 200 times since his so called "Red Line".........was evidently just a PR joke with no real intent behind it.......

From today
Reports of a new Assad chlorine gas attack an hour ago in Ein Tarma, eastern Ghouta, #Damascus. Multiple suffocation cases, 1 fatality.

From yesterday
Aleppo 71 suffocation cases inc. 37 children & 10 women admitted to hospital following Assad chlorine gas atk today

As Assad was bombing civilians w/ chlorine gas in #Aleppo yesterday Russia was bombing mosques. Anadan al-Kabir mosque destroyed ...

Eliot Higgins Verified account 
‏@EliotHiggins
The gas cylinders used in yesterday's chlorine barrel bomb attack are the same type used in a previous attack
With Russia effectively blocking any UNSC actions the only way to stop these attacks is to destroy all Assad helicopters.

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
Only days after UN-OPCW report on #Syria chemical weapons use, alleged regime chlorine attacks have reached nearly x1/day.
Today, 2 so far.

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
Watch @BilalKareem reporting from & assisting victims at site of chlorine gas attack in #Aleppo earlier today:
https://youtu.be/UY4Nisvqd6Q

[OUTLAW 09]

AFP news agency
✔ @AFP #BREAKING: Iran president calls on Muslims to punish Saudi 'crimes' ahead of hajj

BUT ahead of the Haji....Iran does not state it is killing Sunni's in large numbers and is participating in the starving and genocide of besieged Sunni's....wonder why they failed to mention that????

Iran judicially massacred 20 Sunnis, most of them Kurds, for apostasy (opposition to the Islamic Republic) on 2 AUG

Without Iran there would be no Assad for Russia to prop up
http://ow.ly/1VmT303U9oX