Syria in 2017 (January-April)

[CrowBat]

Another map shows more gains by #FSA in #Daraa
Sadly, that's not the FSyA - but HTS, ex-JFS, ex-JAN - aka 'Nusra'...

The Southern Front FSyA was double-blocked from any kind of offensive operations - by the USA, and by Jordan, in February last year, after that silly 'first cease-fire'.

[OUTLAW 09]

LIVE RIGHT NOW

Launch of #BreakingAleppo now streaming (warning for disturbing evidence of war crimes...)

WATCH LIVE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSa3viOnrWo …

[CrowBat]

Sadly, that's not the FSyA - but HTS, ex-JFS, ex-JAN - aka 'Nusra'...

The Southern Front FSyA was double-blocked from any kind of offensive operations - by the USA, and by Jordan, in February last year, after that silly 'first cease-fire'.
As expected: JAI, AAS, HTS etc. - i.e. Islamists, Salafists and Jihadists (respectivelly), see here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I87khfywF5Q

EDIT: what IS confusing me, is that the journo to the left is mentioning the al-Bunyan al-Marsus Operations Room.

Now, for him - who is relatively fresh out of Aleppo, and thus relatively new to this (southern) part of Syria - this might appear a new organization.

For me, it's none of that (if somebody needs evidence, see my summary of insurgent and jihadist groups posted on Truppendienst's website, back in December (https://www.truppendienst.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Einzelbeitraege/2016/Syrien/15_12_16_Update/Aufstaendische_Syrien_12_2016.pdf)). Al-Bunyan al-Marsus OR was originally established in early 2016 as a Saudi-supported group of FSyA units, including Furqat al-Hamzah, al-Fawj al-Awwal Madfa'a, Liwa Usud as-Sunnah, Liwa Tawheed Januub etc., and only three small AAS units (rather 'groups').

So, it is kind of puzzling to hear it would now consist of JAI, AAS and HTS units. Indeed, so much so, it's much less puzzling to hear these are working together: JAI, AAS and HTS in _southern Syria_ never had any kind of serious problem to work together (which is why I think that journo's opinion about this being some kind of indication for 'improved cooperation' is simply wrong).

That is: except all the reports about mass desertions from the Southern Front FSyA from the last summer and autumn - reportedly caused by the 'blockade' of its offensive ops against the regime, imposed by Washington and Amman - are truth. In such case, of course, no surprise al-Bunyan al-Marsus is now full of Islamists, Salafists and Jihadists, and attacking...

[OUTLAW 09]

New Visual Evidence about Chlorine Gas Attacks in Eastern Ghouta via @bellingcat
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/02/14/new-visual-evidence-chlorine-gas-attacks-eastern-ghouta/#

[OUTLAW 09]

"The History and Adaptability of the Islamic State Car Bomb"
https://zaytunarjuwani.wordpress.com/2017/02/14/the-history-and-adaptability-of-the-islamic-state-car-bomb/#

[OUTLAW 09]

Liwa al-Aqsa's territorial reach seems to be rapidly contracting

To those asking regarding reports of executed FSA fighters by Liwa Al-Aqsa, it is true. Around 60 killed so far.

Al-Tamana'ah : HTS
Tala'as : HTS
Skeek : HTS
Haysh : Engagement
Khan Shiekhoun : Liwa Al-Aqsa
Morek : Liwa Al-Aqsa

[OUTLAW 09]

Daraa: New map shows military situation in #Manshiyah District of #Daraa.

If this goes on, rebels should be in control of entire Manshiyah District tomorrow. #Daraa

Daraa: Rebels have captured the #Manshiyah Mosque. Clashes at the Water Tower now.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=32.615566&lon=36.092105&z=17&m=b#

Unbelievable.
Rebels claim to have captured the #Manshiyah mosque and water tower.
They overran the entire district, if visually confirmed.

[CrowBat]

Liwa al-Aqsa's territorial reach seems to be rapidly contracting

To those asking regarding reports of executed FSA fighters by Liwa Al-Aqsa, it is true. Around 60 killed so far.

Al-Tamana'ah : HTS
Tala'as : HTS
Skeek : HTS
Haysh : Engagement
Khan Shiekhoun : Liwa Al-Aqsa
Morek : Liwa Al-Aqsa
And Russians were all the time flying 'close air support' for jihadists of the Liwa al-Aqsa. Here just one example (from yesterday or the day before):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApT97jX7hro

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria View from #Assad-forces (NW outskirts) on #Daraa Manshiyah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjr-IHkbYO8#

Snipers in Water Tower?!

[CrowBat]

So, the next update for Truppendienst's online coverage of the SCW is now available as Der Syrische Brgerkrieg - Update 15 02 2017 (https://www.truppendienst.com/themen/beitraege/artikel/der-syrische-buergerkrieg-update-15-02-2017/)

Also updated was the... well, I still call it a 'write up' on Assad-Regime and various allied forces fighting on its side. This is now available as Streitkrfte des Assad-Regimes, Februar 2017 (https://www.truppendienst.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Einzelbeitraege/2016/Syrien/15_02_17_Update/Assad_Streitkraefte_Feb17_1.pdf) (PDF).

Sadly, due to (another) loss of a very good source in Syria, I wasn't able to put up a current ORBAT for Russian armed forces deployed in the country.

Anyway, one of the things to update in the future is an entry for the: 42nd Brigade/4th Armoured Division (https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/831732405887258625). After participating in assault on Wadi Barada, this was kicked out of Damascus (by Russians) and sent to fight Daesh in Dmeyr area (guess, that's meanwhile a sort of 'punishment' there).

By its composition and total strength (perhaps 300 combatants, 3-4 T-72s, few ZSU-23-4s, 15-20 other vehicles) the unit actually deserves a designation like '42nd Company/4th Division', but well...

Should anybody wonder what are these and other 'soldiers' of the 'Syrian Arab Army' doing in their off time, please check the Twitter-chain here (https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/831610610857156608).

'Shabbiha'? 'Thugs' - colloquial description for all sorts of criminals but especially those from within 'outside circles' of the Assad-clan involved in smuggling of all sorts before the war and driving big black Mercedes sedans around.

Nowadays, up to 90% of 'elite units' of the 'SAA' - especially such like Quwwat Nimr ('Tiger Force'), Liwa as-Suqour Sahra and similar - are staffed by them. ...which in turn is making reactions by characters like Sidorenko and Gadziev - i.e. their biggest Twitter-fans outright absurd (and they know it).

[OUTLAW 09]

SW. #Damascus: Ahrar Al-Sham seized over Al-Dahr Al-Aswad and its ammo warehouse, incl. Malyutka #ATGM|s.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=33.295884&lon=35.914049&z=14&m#

Also captured by Ahrar al-Sham: A 120 mm cannon, machine guns and missiles.

Damascus: Rebels have captured much ammunition from the #Assad regime near Mount #Hermon today.

"Russian jets pound Syrian city of Deraa after rebel gains"
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-deraa-idUSKBN15T2XY?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews#

See this for background:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/
02/jihadists-and-other-rebels-assault-syrian-regime-positions-in-southern-city.php#

[OUTLAW 09]

Heavy Russian air strikes in #Daraa continue.
Not on rebel, but on civilians all across the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN8LUeFwKlc#

Rebels claim that they have killed 50 pro-#Assad forces during a raid near Mount #Hermon this morning.

Sources say Soleimani is visiting Moscow to express displeasure over Russia's relationship w Arab states, mainly regarding weapons deals.

NE #Latakia: #FSA First Coastal Division destroyed with a #TOW a truck carrying ammunition.

Pic from #Homs /Jouret al-Shayyah
- taken Feb. 2017 + Khaled ibn al-Walid mosque in background
3 year after rebels left city

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA News
‏@FSAPlatform
#Breaking #Syria
Senior Iraqi Shia militia leader Mohamad Bakkor Suleimani of Assa'ib Ahal al-Haq killed by #FSA forces in #Aleppo today

And behold the pale horse...

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian MOD inadvertently reveals size of total Syria deployment over time (20,000) with order for medals
https://lenta.ru/news/2017/02/14/medals/#…

WHEN this was pointed out to Russia they suddenly lowered the number to 2,000

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to WoTR for this article on thugs, looting and the civil war - with its effect on one small, rebel-held suburb in Homs:https://warontherocks.com/2017/02/what-a-syrian-neighborhood-can-teach-us-about-the-talks-to-end-the-civil-war/

Towards the end:
If the regime allows ordinary residents and former rebels to live their lives relatively unmolested, provide functioning municipal and security services in these areas, and prevent militiamen from committing abuses, war fatigue might just trump people’s desire for retaliation. But after years of false hope, Waer’s residents are convinced they cannot fully trust any purported truce or reconciliation.

[OUTLAW 09]

If the #Assad regime is overwhelmed with Daraa, Eastern and Western #Ghouta, imagine what happens if the rebels start in Hama.

[Azor]

From War on the Rocks: https://warontherocks.com/2017/02/what-a-syrian-neighborhood-can-teach-us-about-the-talks-to-end-the-civil-war/


A week before the Astana talks resulted in renewed international momentum for a political solution to the Syrian conflict, a journalist in the neighborhood of Waer – the last rebel-held pocket of Syria’s Homs City – took to the streets to survey public opinion.

“I really have no idea” about the talks, responded one woman, glancing sideways at the interviewer with her eyebrows raised. “I don’t know about them … I don’t follow the news,” quipped a younger man.

But if residents of Waer have not heard of the negotiations that recently concluded in the Kazakh capital, representatives in the next round of expected talks at Geneva would do well to understand what has happened in Waer. At a local level, the encircled neighborhood has been confronting some of the thorniest questions surrounding Syria’s future while negotiating its own settlement for more than two years.

The Waer negotiations are part of Damascus’s strategy of securing “reconciliations.” These are agreements that are wrested from besieged populations through starvation and bombardment, entailing a return of Syrian state control to rebel-held areas. Local reconciliations are a key part of the government’s military roadmap. It is pursuing these agreements in remaining rebel held pockets of Syria concurrent with developments on the international stage. Even if anticipated talks in Geneva result in the beginning of a comprehensive political solution, Russia has indicated it wants to formalize local truces within the framework of such a deal.

If the United States and other Western powers still intend to have a say in the future political dispensation of Syria, it is crucial for their policymakers to understand the nature of these negotiations and agreements. Using messaging apps, Skype, and email, we interviewed six Waer residents and two journalists from Homs in order to piece together, in detail, the truce process there and determine what it could tell us about reconciliations moving forward.

As forces backing the Syrian government leverage their newfound military edge in the conflict, Waer illuminates the government’s years long use of siege tactics and military escalation to extract significant concessions from its weaker negotiating partners. Specifically, Waer’s experience calls into question the regime’s intention and ability to address an issue likely to play a central role in future agreements: detainee release.

This key matter, in turn, reveals that the Assad regime is determined to pursue a deal on its own terms, even if that means defying, or at the very least ignoring, Russian intercessions. Even when a deal seemed on the verge of success, and when Russia brings pressure to bear on the Assad regime, government representatives consistently refused to release prisoners from Waer, opting instead for escalation.

Waer’s story also shows us that even if the government signs a deal in good faith, its implementation can be compromised by networks of war profiteers who have cropped up on both sides of the conflict. In Waer, spoilers to the truce have gone so far as to kill civilians in government-held areas to rile up public opinion against a deal. Finally, the Waer truce process brings into relief the key question concerning reconciliations: In a post-conflict Syria where violence has polarized communities along sectarian lines, how can hostile neighbors return to peaceable coexistence?

Two Years at the Table

Waer began serious negotiations with government representatives after rebels departed Old Homs in mid-2014, leaving it the last holdout district of Homs City. By then, years of conflict with the regime and militias manned by their former neighbors, combined with a continuous siege, had left Waer’s residents exhausted but still capable of defending themselves. The government has since utilized military escalation to whittle down the opposition’s demands, from partial control of the neighborhood and the release of thousands of civilian detainees, to a full surrender and the release of a few hundred.

Over the past two years, the two sides have several times reached what they refer to as a comprehensive agreement. A 15-person negotiating committee represents Waer (their identities are too sensitive to disclose). Dib Zietun, head of the general security directorate, led the regime’s negotiating efforts from late 2014 through fall 2016. In late 2016, Russian negotiators began talking to the Waer delegation, and then the regime authorized Wael Aqeel, deputy of Assad confidante Bassam al-Hassan, to head the most recent round of talks that began in December.

Any chances Waer rebels may have had for military victory dimmed through 2015 and 2016 as the armed opposition lost momentum in northern Homs and Syria more broadly. Hundreds of fighters in Waer have managed to keep regime forces at bay, but amid evacuations and gradual demobilization they have become increasingly unable to mount offensives outside of the neighborhood. Today, only forces loyal to the government are able to inflict damage on their adversary, and the only real leverage the Waer negotiating committee has is the presence of an estimated 50,000 residents in the neighborhood.

Negotiators first signed a truce in December 2015. The multi-faceted agreement centered on prisoner exchanges, the staged surrender of weapons, and a loosening of freedom of movement, leaving ambiguous any long-term vision for the return of state control over the district. University students, retired government employees, and laborers were able to intermittently travel outside of Waer into the city proper, granting some economic relief and creating an intermittent, if bizarre, sense of normalcy.

But the December 2015 agreement and subsequent ones have fallen apart when the government is forced to address the detainee clause. In the early stages of truce talks, the Negotiating Committee demanded the release of 7,530 detainees from all over Homs Province. Both sides agree this is the most controversial element of the truce. Beyond the Syrian government’s inability to account for all 7,530 names, it is also wary of the negative press resulting from freed detainees telling stories of torture and does not want to set a precedent to be repeated in future truce deals across Syria.

“If the regime agrees to the detainee release clause, it will make that a ‘legitimate’ or ‘essential’ demand for any other area negotiating a truce,” Osama Abu Zeid, a journalist from Homs, told us over Facebook from Turkey. The government tends to base local truces off the conditions of prior deals: it tried to leverage agreements in the Damascus suburbs of Mohadhamiyat al-Sham and Darayya, which rebels evacuated without securing detainee releases in August and October, to pressure Waer to do the same. The regime is therefore hesitant to implement the detainee release clause in Waer for fear that other rebel-held areas like Douma City could use that to legitimize their own demands during reconciliation talks.

Amid the back and forth over the detainee clause, a pattern emerged. When talks faltered, the government responded with force. “Every time we get to a stage where the government needs to deal with the clause on detainees…it puts pressure on the neighborhood,” Jalal al-Tallawi, a media activist in Waer, told us over Skype. This pressure takes the form of launching shells into the area, sniping civilians, and tightening the siege by restricting freedom of movement and preventing humanitarian access.

In May 2016, state security forces briefly detained the Waer negotiators themselves as they approached a checkpoint. After the event, says Jalal, the truce process begun in December 2015 “froze.” The regime tightened the siege, and before long residents were seeking hospital care for malnutrition.

With no coherent path forward after an additional nine months of violence and hunger, Waer’s negotiators returned to the table in August. This time, important terms of the deal had changed – the violence worked. While the December 2015 agreement allowed for elements of the armed opposition to remain and left the future of Waer vague, now rebels would no longer be permitted to stay in the district after they relinquished their heavy weaponry. All fighters would either leave for Idlib, or live as civilians under Syrian state authority. Roughly 250 fighters departed the neighborhood in the wake of the August 2016 agreement, following 300 who had left as part of the December 2015 deal.

But even an agreement modified in the regime’s favor didn’t last long. As summer turned to fall, a familiar cycle repeated itself: Whenever it became time for the government to document detainee locations, it turned up the violence. When talks resumed in November, a Russian mediator was now the key government interlocutor, and promised opposition negotiators to work on the detainees problem. But in December, the government issued the neighborhood a new ultimatum: Surrender or face another round of military escalation.

In 2017, Waer continues to oscillate between violence and calm. On Wednesday last week, government airstrikes and shelling on the neighborhood killed 11, including 3 children, according to al-Tallawi, the local media activist...

Elizabeth Parker-Magyar and Daniel Wilkofsky are Syria Analysts at Navanti Group, LLC, a commercial research company focused on development and stabilization issues.

[OUTLAW 09]

The White Helmets @SyriaCivilDef
Until the end of January 2017, our teams were able to rescue 82.280 civilians from under rubble. Hoping for the day when we won't need to.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express

ВМФ Ropucha class LSTM #Cф #NF Georgiy Pobedonosets 016 returns from 1st #Syria deployment in 2017 & transits Bosphorus towards Black Sea

Interestingly she is riding a tad low for a returning logistics trip..they normally ride higher on the waterline.....what was she carrying....??

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria : Add #Tunisians to the long list of those fighting for the #Assad Regime.
https://en.zamanalwsl.net/news/23345.html

[OUTLAW 09]

Pentagon pick out former Tabqa airbase near #Raqqa for possible main base of #US ground troops in #Syria?

With 90% of #alBab still held by #ISIS, this is an epic #AlternativeFact by the Turkish Armed Forces command.
https://www.dailysabah.com/war-on-terror/2017/02/16/al-bab-operation-complete-turkeys-chief-of-staff-says#

[OUTLAW 09]

TASS
Verified account
‏@tassagency_en
#Assad says West has no right to choose #Syria’s future
http://tass.com/world/931165

BUT WAIT...Russia and Iran do have that right????

Footage from the first hospital, the murderous Russian regime attacked today.
2nd tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqv8galFB6Q&feature=youtu.be#…

Echoing its ruthless campaign of torched earth, #Russia attacked a 2nd hospital in rural #Daraa prov. today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCR0LYKYHzA#…

MORE Assad aircraft from Russia....
Putin's last "giveaway" for #Syria's dictator #Assad: A dozen Su24 Fighter Jets to destroy the rest of the country

[CrowBat]

Pentagon pick out former Tabqa airbase near #Raqqa for possible main base of #US ground troops in #Syria?

With 90% of #alBab still held by #ISIS, this is an epic #AlternativeFact by the Turkish Armed Forces command.
https://www.dailysabah.com/war-on-terror/2017/02/16/al-bab-operation-complete-turkeys-chief-of-staff-says#
Well, '90% of al-Bab held by Daesh' is also an epic 'alternative fact': it's the other way around. The Daesh began melting there; though many people dislike this.

Kurds in particular: this morning they launched an assault on the western flank of the Op Euphrates Shield again.

[CrowBat]

MORE Assad aircraft from Russia....
Putin's last "giveaway" for #Syria's dictator #Assad: A dozen Su24 Fighter Jets to destroy the rest of the country
There are - unconfirmed - reports about Russian donation of 12 additional Su-24s to the SyAAF.

Though, the photo in question is showing one of VKS' Su-24M2s being evacuated back to Russia (apparently after some sort of issue technicians can't solve at Hmemmem AB).

'Problem': Russians can't just hand over their Su-24M2s or Su-24M-SVP-24s to Syrians like that. These are nuclear-capable, and thus 'A-wired'. Even Keystone Cops are not as crazy as to give such aircraft to a party that's de-facto under Iranian control.

[OUTLAW 09]

Aftermath of intense #Russian air strikes on #Naemeh east of #Daraa last night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLXnrjbws2I#

[OUTLAW 09]

Posting as not confirmed...source of info is iffy......

Turkish forces commit a massacre in al-Bab city and kill 24 civilians the majority of them were children and women
http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=60955

Have not seen anything similar being reported on FSA side...

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria First official map of Rebel gains the past days in #Daraa city

[OUTLAW 09]

Leaders of Ingushetia and Chechnya Provide Details on Police Battalions From Their Republics Sent to Syria
http://www.interpretermag.com/february-15-2017-2/#16119#

Rumors have them being used in the coming Palmyra offensive....

[OUTLAW 09]

In Astana, Alloush says rebels proposed a commission led by Turkey & Russia could inspect conditions in Syrian jails. Text in Arabic:https://www.alsouria.net/content/%D9%85 %D9%81%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%87%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%85-%D8%A8%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%83-%D9%88%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B4-%D9%87%D8%B0%D8%A7-%D9%85%D8%A7-%D9%82%D8%AF%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%87-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B3-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AA#

[OUTLAW 09]

Islamic State-linked Liwa al-Aqsa executes more than 150 mostly FSA rebels in western Syria:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/scores-of-rebel-fighters-killed-by-islamic-state-linked-militants-says-monitor/2017/02/16/cac8701c-f42b-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html?utm_term=.d73bb159594e#

[OUTLAW 09]

Damascus: Rebel offensive in #Daraa took pressure off Eastern #Ghouta. No serious regime attempts to advance there during the last days.

Raqqa: #ISIS attacks #YPG positions in Northern #Raqqa.

Aleppo: #ISIS SVBIED attack against pro-#Assad forces in #Shuwaylekh village east of #Kuweires Airbase.

Great article on the T-55(A)MV in Syrian service: Syrian T-55 Upgrades: T-55AMV & Viper-55
http://within-syria.blogspot.com/2017/02/syrian-t-55-upgrades-t-55amv-viper-55.html#

[OUTLAW 09]

Daraa: #FSA commanders confirmed that the #MOC in #Jordan is pressuring them to stop their offensive against #Assad.

[OUTLAW 09]

Latakia: Free #Idlib Army shelling pro-#Assad forces with Grad rockets today.

[OUTLAW 09]

500 Chechen military police deployed to Syria, scheduled to return by March, now have to stay until August.
http://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/297864/#

Syria 2dead & lots injured after airstrikes on #Homs besieged suburb #alWaer

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Pics from Battlefield west of #Palmyra /Hayan gas facilities
#Assad forces with #RuAF CAS

Because Putin-Assad keep targeting hospitals, Syria is probably the most dangerous place in the world to be a doctor
http://bit.ly/2m09cUu

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria 3 airstrikes on Um Mayatheen west of #Daraa city

Syria 7 airstrikes on Al-Naimah west of #Daraa city

#RuAF bombing ancient roman town of #Bosra in southern #Syria with a 11! airstrikes

Hama: #Assad airstrikes have hit #Kafr_Zita in Northern #Hama today.

Syria Airstrikes on #Raqqa village killed 14 people

Russia continues airstrikes on southern #Syria's #Daraa. 1500 families fled the city.

Syria Child killed by #YPG mortar shelling on Marea town in northern #Aleppo

The morning in #Syria's #Idlib province.
#AssadPutin air strikes on innocent civilians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EeBZ4jo02I#

Assad bombt mit Einwilligung Putins Eingekesselte in Homs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RptinJYiFK8#…

Too many air strike videos to post them all ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQEAgpneAWg#…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI-9b7VDfsk#…

Massive #AssadPutin air strikes on three Syrian provinces today.
Multiple casualties among the population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMQaJqQGF3Q#…

The morning in #Syria's #Idlib province.
#AssadPutin air strikes on innocent civilians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EeBZ4jo02I#…

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express...Vessel of Interest.....

Ship of Interest: Coming from Varna, Togo flag bulk carrier Zara transited Dardanelles en route to #Tartus #Syria 10:30GMT

[OUTLAW 09]

Under the rubric of a somewhat strange association......

A "Rex Go Home - peace protest" near the #G20 summit in in #Bonn.
A mix of Pro-Russians and #PKK supporters.
Odd ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSDw8hLB4g4#…

[OUTLAW 09]

43 civilians were killed across #Syria today, among them 11 women and 9 children.
Most were killed by #Turkey in #alBab.
- LCC

The poor boy who lost his both legs in an #AssadPutin air strike on al-Habit, #Hama province, today, is still alive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qen8YYsrcoo#…

[OUTLAW 09]

Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Nour severely injured in Daraa after air strike. Horrific photo taken by doctor shows arm before amputation

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Dr. "Mahmoud Abu Huzaifa" field executed by #Assad-forces when stormed As-Sukkari district in #Aleppo city Dec 2016

[OUTLAW 09]

MSF inquiry indicates Russia was behind hospital bombing in Syria

https://www.theguardian.com/global-develop ment/2017/feb/17/msf-inquiry-indicates-russia-was-behind-hospital-bombing-in-syria-medecins-sans-frontieres?

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: All #Al_Bab districts are under #ISIS control again. #EuphratesShield forces are still in Silos, Bakery, Youth-Housing, Sheikh Aqil

Aleppo: #ISIS ATGM strike against Turkish army tank on #Sheikh_Aqil today. #Al_Bab
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.368049&lon=37.506917&z=16&m=b#

Homs: #ISIS shelling pro-#Assad forces east of #Tiyas Airbase with heavy artillery.

One 122mm D-30 howitzer in the hands of #ISIS is enough to stop the pro-#Assad forces. They know what they are doing.

W. #Palmyra: direct hits by #ISIS camouflaged howitzer on Regime camp with artillery & BM-21 Grad near Baydah Sharqiyah, then evacuated.

[OUTLAW 09]

5 of the most powerful non-nuclear explosives ever
http://read.bi/2m4R0ZL

Aleppo: #EuphratesShield forces firing at the Automatic Bakery (#Al_Bab) today. So #ISIS has recaptured #al_Hikma Hospital and the Bakery.

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Heavy clashes at #alBab town & suburbs #Qabasin, #Bzaah btw #FSA & #IS

EU Mythbusters
✔
@EUvsDisinfo
Conspiracies: the bread & butter of pro-Kremlin disinformation. Don't be deceived & read #DisinfoReview:
http://eepurl.com/cB_J9P

[OUTLAW 09]

Heavy #Russian air strikes on #Daraa city in south #Syria
More than 10 raid since the morning.

[OUTLAW 09]

Life under the Kurdish YPG in#Syria
By Kyle Orton(@KyleWOrton) on February 17, 2017

https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2017/02/17/life-under-the-kurdish-ypg-in-syria/

Long read...well worth reading it though.....


Three days ago, Chapo Trap House, a Left-wing politics and humour podcast, hosted Brace Belden, known to Twitter as “PissPigGranddad,” a 27-year-old from San Francisco who has joined the Syrian Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units (YPG). It was very interesting and informative on the state of play in northern Syria.
The YPG is run by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) front of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The most amusing part of the interview is Belden’s formal maintenance that the YPG, while fraternal comrades to the PKK and admirers of their ideology, have absolutely no organizational links at all, while at the same time letting the audience in on the fact that the YPG and indeed the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition that it controls are parts of the PKK structure. Belden describes joining the YPG by first linking up with the PKK at its headquarters in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq, before being spirited across the border into Syria.
Belden gives a very interesting glimpse of the YPG’s method of governance. The YPG calls its rule “libertarian socialism,” says Belden, but it’s “pretty much a Stalinist state”. Belden describes the ascetic nature of the true believers in the PKK’s ideology—of which he, clearly, is not one—and the collectivized nature of life. Among other things, everyone is subjected to struggle sessions of the kind associated with Mao or the Khmer Rouge.
The foreign fighters that join the YPG were, initially, “psychopaths that wanted to come kill people,” says Belden, but the YPG expelled these people once it realized what they were and has now refined its recruitment model to bring in a flow of hard-Left Westerners.
Belden says he believes the Americans will abandon the YPG in favour of Turkey and that he believes it will be Turkey and her allies that go to Raqqa to evict the Islamic State. Belden favours this outcome, believing it would be a “bloodbath” if the YPG tries to take Raqqa City. Belden concludes though that there will soon be a peace agreement between the pro-regime coalition, Turkey, and the YPG—and that after that the Turks will attack the YPG in Efrin and elsewhere. Belden says that the YPG retains the ability to strike back, with many men under arms and “lot of friends up north”. YPG have previously stated that their focus is on Syria for now but they will move onto Turkey next. “[E]veryone is just hoping the civil war spreads north,” says Belden, meaning the recommencement of large-scale PKK insurgent activity inside Turkey.
The suspicion of America is not just borne of history, where America has from the Treaty of Sevres onward, semi-regularly made promises to the Kurds that it then dashes; nor is just that the U.S. is aligned with Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds, whom the YPG “hate”. Anti-Westernism is integral to the YPG, says Belden: “We get ideology lessons a lot and they are not exactly pro-American”. Belden notes that this spills over from theory to practice: relations between the Kurdish rank-and-file and the American and British Special Forces embedded with the YPG as “tense”. Belden adds that it is “pretty bad that they’re here,” referring to Western Special Forces, and says they are not that much use to the YPG.
***
Belden is interviewed from the Jazira canton of “Rojava”. Asked about the Rolling Stone#profile of him this week, Belden says it is “pretty ####ing ridiculous”. He was especially displeased at their description of him as “a lowlife punk and petty criminal with a heroin habit”.
Belden says that he has just spent three months on the frontline and is now at the rear of the fight, receiving “advanced training”. Describing how he got to Syria, Belden says he just emailed someone (he is deliberately vague) and they invited him over. He then landed in Sulaymaniya, in the part of Iraqi Kurdistan along the Iranian border run by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and then rendezvoused with the PKK in the Qandil Mountains.
Belden is elliptical about this because the formal position of the U.S. government, in order to circumvent its own terrorism laws, is that the YPG is unconnected to the PKK. Throughout the interview, Belden hints at this absurd fiction. “There is an organization that is fraternal to us but of course we disavow any connection. It’s called the PKK. … And they have a couple of guns, which I guess they let us borrow,” says Belden at one point. “We have a lot home-made stuff,” Belden explains. “We’ll just make it in the mountains and ####. Not that we have any connections to the mountains. But sometimes people make them there.” Describing his drift into Left-wing politics, Belden says, “In 2012, I started reading about the PKK a lot—who, again, have no connection to us …” After Kobani, says Belden, “A lot of fighters came from other parts of Kurdistan, if you know what I mean.”
The PKK model operates as a series of fronts, in Syria and Turkey particularly, and to a lesser-extent in Iraq and Iran, so the same individual who is a PKK fighter in Turkey is a YPG fighter in Syria and a PJAK fighter in Iran. These groups have some degree of tactical autonomy but share a huge proportion of their fighters, and answer to one ideology and one leadership.
Belden says he first come across Rojava when Matthew VanDyke’s Sons of Liberty and some Christian ex-soldiers were in the news for fighting alongside the YPG against the Islamic State. This took a slight sideways turn when these good Christian men found that the organization they had joined was staffed by “damn Reds“. After meeting his handlers in Sulaymaniya, Belden made the trip across the border into Syria—with considerable difficulty, in the dead of night, because the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), run by Massoud Barzani’s Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), has closed the border.
Belden notes that the YPG had come into possession of its areas initially when “the Assad regime kinda just left,” and when he entered these YPG-run areas he underwent two weeks of ideology and language training. Describing the nature of regime the YPG is running, which it calls “Democratic Confederalism,” Belden says: “Technically they call it libertarian socialism, but it’s pretty much a Stalinist state, which is ####ing tight.”
Belden gives a description of life under PYD/YPG rule. He notes its rigour and ideological collectivism, but disavows all comparisons with Cambodia (or “Democratic Kampuchea”) under the Khmer Rouge. Doubtless, however, his description of Rojava, notably the struggle sessions, will suggest comparisons to some:
Life is—there’s a few different versions of it. There’s, like, civilian life, which is pretty normal. I mean everyone’s kinda poor but, like, it’s not that bad honestly, And there’s the PYD—our civilian wing—it’s socialist so they cover, like, a lot of food, fuel for people, they help people out with housing. So for the people that can’t afford, like, you know, like, people who aren’t refugees essentially—and the refugees we have from the rest of Syria—they put ’em up, they feed them. That’s pretty well taken care of except there’s an embargo so they can’t really get new things.
But the party life is really, really, really ascetic. Like, they don’t have any personal property whatsoever. In fact, like, if I ever looked at my phone or anything like that they’d just be like, “Capitalist, put that away!” … Everything’s communal. There’s no real—there’s commanders and stuff but, like, they have to do the same #### we do.
So, it’s a bit jarring, honestly. But, like, their whole mentality it is that you can’t build a socialist society without living a completely socialist life. So everything is shared. There’s no—so if somebody wants something you have, like, you’re pretty much gonna give it ’em.
And there’s a lot of self-criticism sessions, which aren’t so great, but they’re not like North Korea or—what do you call it?—Cambodia or anything.
Everyone takes turns cooking, including the commanders. Everyone takes turns doing watch. It’s pretty ####ing—I guess, egalitarian, even though, like, we have nothing. People don’t have any personal property, except for books. …
There’s some of [the trappings of Western post-modernism]. Some people have phones and stuff. I mean there’s internet and there’s TV. But it’s a lot of just, like, especially in the party, like if you’re in the party, you’re in it basically for life. In that sense, it’s really different [to the West]. Pretty much you just sit around and talk and work on things, like help each other do ####. It’s pretty—I don’t really know how to explain it but it’s wild.
Outside of that, there’s a pretty heavily involved civilian wing of the party that like builds, for instance, they have women build women’s houses in every, like, little village where just women meet and men can’t go, which, of course, ladies, I am completely in favour of.
That’s another aspect of it, like the sexual relations between men and women. Not, like, actually ####ing but, like, just the way that women are treated now, from what I hear, extremely different from before. Like, there were honour killings, people had several wives, and now, like, if people hear about, like, doing an honour killing, they’ll just come and kill you. And it’s illegal to marry more than one person now. But yeah. It’s different, really different from the West. In a lot of good ways and in some ways they’re confusing. … It’s pretty much illegal to jack off here.

Continued...

"We get ideology lessons a lot and they are not exactly pro-American"
— American fighter with the Syrian Kurdish YPG

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA #Southern_Front and allied #Syrian-n Opposition forces taking part in the Battle #Death_Over_Humiliation #Daraa

[OUTLAW 09]

Cruise missile strike carried out by Tu-95MS strategic bomber on command centre of insurgents’ detachment near Raqqa

Family life in #Syria...
A father kisses his boys good bye after massive #Assad regime air strikes on al-Waer, Homs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR4Rj8bTE5E#

[OUTLAW 09]

The tiny & defenceless pocket of #alWaer this morning.
#Assad tries to kill who is left.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNxkjzAEsXI#…

Meanwhile in #Syria, massive #Assad regime air strikes lead to multiple casualties among the local population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zj8xB_Le7g&feature=youtu.be#…

Pro-Assad fired Volcano rocket from #Daraa's residential area geolocated in Sahari distr., 5m from Mosque, 40m frm Hospital & 60m frm School

[OUTLAW 09]

"No, we won't let @Amnesty come here. Under no circumstances & for#no reason," says Assad
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201702161050734551-assad-amnesty-observers-visit/#

Was interestingly a Russian proposal....

[OUTLAW 09]

Cruise missile strike carried out by Tu-95MS strategic bomber on command centre of insurgents’ detachment near Raqqa

Family life in #Syria...
A father kisses his boys good bye after massive #Assad regime air strikes on al-Waer, Homs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR4Rj8bTE5E#

There are less than 100 rebels left in the tiny pocket and #Assad has thousands of troops around, not even trying to capture the area.

Important to notice.
Air strikes on #Waer have NO MILITARY AIM.
They are to terrorise & exterminate the population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xii8UZ8tG38#

[OUTLAW 09]

The White Helmets @SyriaCivilDef
Intensive rocket artillery and artillery bombardment at Al Qaboun in Damascus today. 13 civilians were killed and 32+ injured.

Daraa: Rebels have killed #Assad regime commander Shadi Yahya Hasan and several of his fighters in #Daraa City.

[OUTLAW 09]

Al-Hamza Brigade declares control on W. districts of Al-Bab after expelled #ISIS. Picture showing Al-Qublia & area of Al-Hakima Hospital.

ll BREAKING ll
TR Army + Opposition Groups has sized Al-Raie Roundabout after clashes with ISIS in Al-bab enter south.

Despite 'ceasefire' Syrian opposition claim Regime has destroyed six hospitals in bombing of Daraa
http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/syrian-regime-destroys-six-hospitals-in-daraa-city/752251?utm_source=Syria+Deeply&utm_campaign=e3687bb3cb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_02_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d84f3fd103-e3687bb3cb-117426945&mc_cid=e3687bb3cb&mc_eid=64760dbf42#

Damascus: #Assad regime committed a massacre in besieged #Qaboun. 13 civilians were confirmed killed and dozens more wounded.

Raqqa
SDF advances to 4km from the city
They are outside the 17th Divison army base.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian military Magamurov Vadim previously fought at Donbas, recently killed in Syria
http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2017/18-february-russian-military-magamurov-vadim-nazifovich-maga#
…

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad questioning this verified photo during this interview. It shows torture victims in Military Hospital 601.
https://youtu.be/BODuOLs0YkA

[OUTLAW 09]

With YPG/SDF primed for #Raqqa, #Turkey presents new plan for Turkish-FSA-U.S offensive via Tel Abyad.
Let’s see.
http://reut.rs/2kTzveT

A harrowing account of the more than 200 rebels and civilians reportedly executed at the hands of Liwa al-Aqsa

Anti-America American fighting for American-backed #YPG says its building "pretty much a Stalinist state” in #Syria

Fascinating:
- @RollingStone on Western anarchists & communists fighting for #Syria’s PKK affiliate vs. #ISIS:
http://rol.st/2l4fLGp

The Socialist-influenced #YPG also attracted Western evangelical Christians, inc. “Tim” who "was once seen gnawing on a severed foot."
"Arabs in #Syria’s #Manbij call on #Turkey to release #PKK leader”
[But to clarify, the #YPG is still not the PKK]
http://aranews.net/2017/02/arabs-in-syrias-manbij-call-on-turkey-to-release-pkk-leader-ocalan/#…

Opposition offensive in SW #Deraa city continues slowly today, revealing important dynamic: it has *no* international backing at all.

The #Deraa offensive is tribally influenced, bringing in linked units of FSA, Jaish al-Islam, Ahrar al-Sham & #HTS.

Most tribally-linked factions involved pre-agreed *not* to publicize progress, but #HTS was quick to [falsely] claim its leading role.

[OUTLAW 09]

Staggering lack of awareness shown by some members of House Foreign Affairs Committee in opening remarks on #Syria.
https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-defeating-terrorism-syria-new-way-forward/#…

[OUTLAW 09]

SDF/YPG control as much as half of Syria's agricultural land. Huge implications.

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Drone flight above #Aleppo northern suburbs after 1 year of #Russia'n bombardment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a699WfvbPi4#
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk6wY712uao#

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syria Express....

ВМФ BSF #ЧФ Ropucha class LSTM Yamal 156 returns from its 1st #Syria deployment in 2017, transits Bosphorus towards the Black Sea 21:15GMT

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Sham Legion rebels killed 5 #Assad regime fighters while they tried to advance in Southern #Aleppo today. 14.5mm gun destroyed.

[OUTLAW 09]

Damascus: #Assad airstrikes have killed 1 woman and her child in #Douma today. Many children were wounded.

SW areas of Al-Bab controlled by #EuphratesShield forces: Hakima Hospital, Wedding Hall & Fuel Station taken back from #ISIS.

[OUTLAW 09]

Well worth reading....

HybridWarfare
Released: Handbook of Russian Information Warfare.
@NATO_DefCollege
http://www.ndc.nato.int/news/news.php?icode=995#

[OUTLAW 09]

MQ-9 Reaper drone in the sky of #Raqqah (7 Jan 1017)
https://www.terraserver.com/view?lat=35.940725&lng=39.037610#

[OUTLAW 09]

Hassan Hassan حسن
✔
@hxhassan
The two routes Turkey proposed to the Americans to dislodge Isis from Raqqa -- via @A_Ozkok, h/t @AliBakeer

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express.....

Russian Navy's Tapir Class BDK "NIKOLAY FILCHENKOV" (152) southbound on the İstanbul Strait en route to Tartus Syria (6:00 pm local)

Actually she is riding high in the bow area....unusual for a resupply run....

[OUTLAW 09]

Israel's defense minister says Iran wants to undermine Saudi Arabia

http://reut.rs/2lwFQ3c

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad regime air strikes on #KhanShaykhun city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9vqyyZIX3o#…

A rebel car bomb hit a regime barrier in #Daraa's #Manshiyah district.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U507kAuzV3M#…

While #Hezbollah launches large-caliber rockets on liberated quarters of the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-MW4yesr2w#…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXzl67MRMwE#…

Giant explosion south of the city.
Unclear what / who it was so far. :confused:
WAS a FSA SVIED against Assad forces....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7PHJ7zwETg#…

We now have a conflicting story on this explosion...or just possible two major explosions on one day in two different towns?
Syria Explosion of ammo truck belonging to #IS allied Liwa al-Aqsa
Khan Shaykhun/#Hama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7PHJ7zwETg#

[OUTLAW 09]

4 civilians killed, more wounded, in #Assad regime air strikes on #Qaboun, east of #Damascus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmbBet5Nf0o#…

EuphratesShield forces stormed #alBab's south western al-#Zamzam district.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_7tDG9kKng#…

[OUTLAW 09]

The western fuel station barrier and the southern #Tadef roundabout were also liberated by #EuphratesShield.

[OUTLAW 09]

Today's #EuphratesShield advances into the center of #alBab, geolocated.

Please keep in mind that the map represents the situation in Monday morning. More advances are taking place now. .

[OUTLAW 09]

How the heck is this possible!?!
Why is neither Israel nor Jordan helping the FSA to eradicate these ISIS-affiliates from their border?!

Syria NOT CONFIRMED JKhW advance in west Daraa, taking advantage of Opposition battle against the Regime in Daraa city.

[OUTLAW 09]

Interesting account of prisoner swap involving women taken by rebels in Latakia & wives of rebels held in Damascus:
http://syrianobserver.com/EN/Features/32354/Three_Years_Captive_the_Story_the_Prisoners_the_Co ast/#

[OUTLAW 09]

CIT (en) @CITeam_en
4 Russian soldiers killed, 2 wounded in a vehicle explosion by remote-controlled IED on the way from T4 AFB to Homs, Syria - @mod_russia

4 Russian militairy advisors died in Syria by a remote controled landmine, says Rus Mindefence
https://meduza.io/news/2017/02/20/v-sirii-pogibli-chetyre-rossiyskih-voennyh-sovetnika?

Syria is slowly turning into "new Afghanistan" for Moscow
https://twitter.com/lummideast/status/833658519056445440#

[OUTLAW 09]

Daraa: #ISIS has captured #Tasil and several villages from #FSA since last night. Dozens of #FSA fighters were killed.

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria #FSA seized Zamzam mosque in #alBab town
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muS6v7YggE4#

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has destroyed an #Assad regime gun with ATGM at the 137 Brigade Base west of #DeirEzzor.

Syria Street fight on road (south western axis) lead into #alBab town
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMvxZ4QByok#

Damascus: 2 woman and 2 children are among the 7 killed civilians in #Qaboun/#Barzeh today. Most of the wounded are also women & children.

[OUTLAW 09]

CIT (en) @CITeam_en
Two Russian officers killed in Syria were buried today, could be among killed servicemen reported by @mod_russia:
https://en-gb.facebook.com/CITeam.org/posts/742145525938427#

Daraa : #FSA retake #Talin from pro-ISIS Khaled Bin al Walid fighters who committed an atrocity at the field hospital yesterday.

Syria New "official" map fpr #alBab town
#FSA claim control #Tadef roundabout (I'am skeptical)

[OUTLAW 09]

Damascus : Regime helicopters have dropped 16 barrel bombs on the #Beit_Jann area so far today.

[CrowBat]

Assad regime air strikes on #KhanShaykhun city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9vqyyZIX3o#…...rather amazingly, if not targeting the Jaysh an-Nasr/FSyA, this one might have hit the Liwa al-Aqsa...

(Note: I made error while using 'Jund al-Aqsa' and naming Liwa al-Aqsa's Jihadists 'Chechens' until quite recently.

Actually, Liwa al-Aqsa is a Qatari-supported outfit consisting of all sorts of thugs, primarily those from Western Europe. It was founded and seems to be led by Abu Abdul-Azziz al-Qatari (http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/11/analysis-jund-al-aqsas-deep-gulf-roots.php)', a Palestinian that fought with Zarqawi in Iraq before being sent to Syria to help Jolani with Nusra, back in 2012.

In comparison, the main Chechen group in Syria used to be Jaysh al-Muhajireen wa'l Ansar. This split into four groups during the insurgent counteroffensive on Daesh, in late 2013 and early 2014:

- Omar ash-Shishani joined the Daesh with majority of the group;

- Sayfullah ash-Shishani joined the Nusra and was then killed in attack on the Aleppo Central Prison;

- Sallahaddin ash-Shishani led the remnants until forced to leave, and these joined Nusra, in 2015, as Liwa al-Muhajireen, which remains 'Russian staffed' until today. Sallahaddin then formed the Jaysh al-Usrah, which is still a part of the Nusra/JFS/HTS.

- Muslim ash-Shihani's Jund ash-Sham was meanwhile destroyed by Ahrar ash-Sham.)

[CrowBat]

Damascus : Regime helicopters have dropped 16 barrel bombs on the #Beit_Jann area so far today.
Not sure if the same place is meant, but Bayt Jinn was a major battlefield during the second/late phase of the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Syrians defended the place against an Israeli onslaught for nearly two weeks: the IDF pushed in direction of Damascus, further south, but defences of Bayt Jinn held out. Quite a number of air combats took place above that village (meanwhile a town) too.

*************

Here something that should be a must read for every visitor of this thread: What western ‘experts’ get so wrong about the conflict in Syria (http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/what-western-experts-get-so-wrong-about-the-conflict-in-syria#full)

...Even for someone who was born and raised there, such as myself, the situation cannot be packaged in a 1,000-word newspaper article. If a Syrian cannot provide a pithy assessment of the country, what does that say about someone who makes grand claims based on a short tour with government forces?

A number of general slogans have made the rounds among those who are supposed to be helping the western reader to understand the conflict and are often called "Middle East experts".

Here I analyse some of them:

"It is a regime change conspiracy through a non-existent revolution sponsored by the US."

Given a brief history of the Syrian government, you will understand that this was never a regime-change conspiracy and Syrians had every reason to revolt against the Asaad government.

Hafez Al Assad, the father of Bashar Al Assad, came into power in 1970 after a military coup. After his death in 2000, Bashar became president.

So, for almost 60 years, Syrians have not known what it is like to vote. My generation, and the past several generations, don’t know what it’s like to have a choice of candidate. Syria was always Syria Al Asaad.

Those who accuse the opposition to Mr Al Asaad of being puppets of the West don’t know what it is like to grow up in a police state where you believe that the walls have ears and anything you say might lead you to jail.

It’s very important to note here that the first chants of the Syrian uprising called for fair elections and reformation of the system.However, the police brutality and the killing of protesters escalated the situation and people started to call for overthrow of the government. Then they started to take up arms to defend themselves and their towns.

"It’s extremist Islamism against a secular government. Who do you want to rule? Al Qaeda?"

Islamists are so strong today because the government has fostered them. During the early days of the revolution, it released the most hardened jihadists from prison. It targeted the secular opposition while allowing ISIL in Iraq and Syria to grow. Worse, it has colluded with it, buying oil and other commodities. Its scorched-earth policies favoured the most extreme groups that called for a war of extermination against the Alawis. This was all part of its grand plan to paint the revolution as a binary conflict between a secular government willing to work with the international community and jihadists bent on destroying it.

Examples of activists who were detained and killed by radical groups are always absent from such arguments.

Ahmad Al Abdo, for example, was detained by the Syrian government in 2012, when he was filming a protest in his hometown, Jisr Al Shughur. In 2015, he was detained for almost 90 days by former Al Qaeda affiliates Jabhat Fateh Al Sham.

Al Abdo was one of the lucky ones who was released, but hundreds of activists remain detained in Jabhat Fateh Al Sham’s prisons. Nobody even knows if they’re alive.

Those who revolted against the government in 2011 also revolted against Al Qaeda and ISIL.

When the dust settles and the fighting stops, Syrians will not welcome anyone who wouldn’t support what they stood up against since the very beginning. Every time there is a ceasefire, protests against extremists groups and the Assad regime spread around the country.

But for some reason, these protests are considered either "fake" or non-existent, because some experts don’t think our testimonies are valid.

"I visited Syria and many Syrians support Assad."

In America, president Donald Trump has many supporters. The Egyptian government also has supporters. It does not mean that the entire population supports them or even that half of it does. Similarly, to claim that all Syrians oppose Mr Al Assad is a reductionist view that has little merit.

Under Mr Al Assad’s rule, only government supporters can voice opinions. You can hear their voices easily: just turn on state TV. Or read the newspapers. But dissenters have no public space. Instead, they have been detained and face violent intimidation. This is not a post-2011 phenomenon but a staple of Baath politics for the past 54 years.

During the revolution, the Baath party upped the stakes. No longer did it threaten dissidents with imprisonment. Government supporters responded with the slogan "Assad or we burn the country" and the regime followed up by unleashing its most lethal weapons. What the Syrian revolution called for was for a system that allows all voices to speak equally, and participation in politics.

"No secular opposition exists and those in exile don’t count."

This is akin to saying that Palestinians in the diaspora have no right to protest Israeli policies. It is unjust to write-off exiles merely because a repressive government forces them to leave their country with the threat of imprisonment and even death.
...

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express....


Russian Navy's Cargo ship "DVINITSA-50" southbound on the İstanbul Strait en route to Tartus Syria (11:20 am local)

She is looking a tad ragged.....was previously Turkish owned and then reflagged as Russian naval vessel....

Again strange that she is riding high on a resupply run????

Russians are notorious for this lack of ship maintenance and they are sailing them into the water right now...

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria #FSA try to advance deeper into #alBab town
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuvTrsTm1r0#

Location of Water Tower on map?

[OUTLAW 09]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-rebels-idUSKBN1601BD

Exclusive: CIA-backed aid for Syrian rebels frozen after Islamist attack - sources


CIA-coordinated military aid for rebels in northwest Syria has been frozen since they came under major Islamist attack last month, rebel sources said, raising doubts about foreign support key to their war against President Bashar al-Assad.
Rebel officials said that no official explanation had been given for the move this month following the jihadist assault, though several said they believed the main objective was to prevent arms and cash falling into Islamist militant hands. But they said they expected the aid freeze to be temporary.
The halt in assistance, which has included salaries, training, ammunition and in some cases guided anti-tank missiles, is a response to jihadist attacks and has nothing to do with U.S. President Donald Trump replacing Barack Obama in January, two U.S. officials familiar with the CIA-led program said.
The freeze reflects the troubles facing Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels in the almost in the almost six-year-old revolt against Assad, who now appears militarily unassailable in his core western region largely thanks to direct intervention on his side by Russia and Iran.
"The reality is that you have changes in the area, and these changes inevitably have repercussions," said an official with one of the affected FSA rebel groups. He said no military assistance could "enter at present until matters are organized. There is a new arrangement but nothing has crystallized yet".
The support funneled to vetted FSA factions has included contributions from Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia - states that have opposed Assad. It is one of several foreign aid channels to rebels. Others still function.
The CIA declined comment on the reported freeze in support. A Qatari official said his government had nothing to say on the matter. Turkish officials said only they could not discuss "operational details". There was no word from Saudi Arabia.
Reuters confirmed the freeze with officials from five of the FSA groups that have been recipients of financial and military support from the so-called "MOM operations room". It was also confirmed by two other senior FSA figures briefed on the matter.
They spoke on condition of anonymity given the covert nature of the CIA-backed program and the sensitivity of the subject.
Several rebels believed the aid halt was temporary, with new arrangements expected, but there was no clarity yet. Confirming the freeze, two senior FSA sources said donor states were aiming to send the aid to one, unified fighting force - a coherence that has eluded rebels throughout Syria's civil war.
One of the FSA officials said he did not expect the rebels to be abandoned as they represent the best hope for blocking a further expansion of Sunni jihadist influence in Syria, and to fight back against the growing role of Iran there.

DECLINING REBEL FORTUNES
Idlib and nearby areas of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces are among the last footholds of the anti-Assad insurgency in western Syria - the part of the country where he has shored up his rule by holding onto the main cities and the coast.
Islamists have long been seen as the more formidable insurgent force in the northwestern Idlib area though a dozen or more U.S.-vetted FSA groups have also operated there and nearby.
Last month's militant assault on the FSA groups was launched by a group formerly known as the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's official affiliate in the war until last year when it formally cut ties and renamed itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
The jihadist onslaught led several FSA groups to merge with the powerful Islamist faction Ahrar al-Sham, widely believed to be backed by Assad's foreign adversaries in the region.
That will likely give pause to foreign donors: Ahrar al-Sham is set apart from the FSA factions by a strongly Sunni Islamist ideology and it has previously fought alongside the Nusra Front.
Military aid to rebel groups has ebbed and flowed throughout the life of the program, U.S. officials said, as Washington and its allies have kept a close eye on any leakage to more militant factions, something one official called "a constant problem".

TRUMP'S SYRIA POLICY NOT YET CLEAR
Before assuming office, Trump suggested he could end support for FSA groups and give priority to the fight against Islamic State (IS), whose well-armed jihadists hold large tracts of eastern and central Syria.
But Trump's administration has yet to declare a firm policy toward Syria and Iraq, despite his repeated vows to eradicate IS, so it has been "business as usual" with covert and overt training and military support programs, one U.S. official said.
Some FSA groups hope Trump's animosity toward Iran could yet result in enhanced U.S. support.
Jihadist forces attacked while FSA envoys attended Russian-backed Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan, accusing the rebels of conspiring with Moscow and Washington against Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. The United States has carried out a deadly series of air strikes against Fateh al-Sham in Idlib this year.
MOM-backed rebels had suffered a heavy blow in December when Syrian government forces ousted them from eastern Aleppo with decisive help from the Russian air force and Iranian-backed militias. Eastern Aleppo had been seen as an FSA stronghold.
An official with an FSA group that has received MOM aid said none came this month "and there are no signals". Another said a regular meeting of the MOM had been canceled this month.
"I expect a reorganization," he said, adding that there were still around 15,000 combatants with FSA groups in the northwest.
The CIA-backed program has regulated aid to the rebels after a period of unchecked support early in the war - especially from Gulf states - helped give rise to an array of insurgent groups, many of them strongly Islamist in ideology.
A similar program continues to operate in southern Syria with Jordanian backing. Some of the FSA groups backed through the MOM in the north continue to receive Turkish support as they participate in the Turkey-led Euphrates Shield offensive against IS and Kurdish groups to the northeast of Aleppo.
FSA groups have long complained that the aid provided falls far short of what they need to confront the better armed Syrian army. Their demands for anti-aircraft missiles have been consistently rebuffed.
U.S. intelligence and military officials said the leakage, sale and capture of U.S.-supplied and other weapons from units of the FSA to Islamic State, the Nusra Front, and other splinter militant groups have been a concern since the CIA and U.S. military began arming and training a limited number of rebels.
From the start, said one of the officials, some U.S.-backed rebels have migrated from groups that were battered by Syrian government forces to others such as IS that were seizing and holding territory at the time. Aid has slowed or stopped in Idlib and nearby areas, officials said, amid fears the pattern may be continuing after rebels lost ground there.
Another U.S. official said FSA groups continue to mount significant challenges to Assad. "Despite the setbacks and no assistance in fighting back against a brutal Russian onslaught, the fact is they remain a viable fighting force," the official said.

[OUTLAW 09]

Homs: All recaptured gas facilities are useless for the #Assad regime, because #ISIS destroyed them.

Syria #IS tunnel in #alBab town
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRrWurr3Qrg&feature=youtu.be#

IS has developed into the worlds greatest tunnelers....everywhere they are so goes the tunnels....

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Footage from RB near Sports Center of #alBab town
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5RQgaP6aSY#
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.363760&lon=37.509009&z=18&m=b#

[OUTLAW 09]

Idlib: #Assad airstrikes have killed 5 civilians and wounded dozens in #Maarrat_Misrin today.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.011339&lon=36.671677&z=12&m=b#

Aleppo: Aftermath of #YPG shelling on #Kaljibrin village today. The victims are children, women and old men.

Homs: Most of the Red Crescent aid for #Al_Waer was stolen from #Assad regime fighters. Last aid arrived #Al_Waer 5 months ago.

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria #IslamicState's "Khaled Ibn al-Walid Army" killed/executed about 110 #FSA fighters in western #Daraa province -dozens missed

Iranians are picking up their pace now in the ME...

Iran's Supreme Leader calls on Palestinians to pursue intifada against Israel:
http://reut.rs/2lrj2Qf

SDF captured Budayan, Naflah, Mukhkhah, Bir Qurat, Tal Sha’er, Qaryat Sukkar, Mastur, Kuwaytar and Pipelines
Map:
http://syriancivilwarmap.com

[OUTLAW 09]

Latest from BIRN and OCCRP: Croatia Profits from War in Syria? -

http://goo.gl/alerts/ywVaB

[OUTLAW 09]

Taken from an article carried by Bretbart.com an alt right white nationalist sometimes anti-Semitic blogsite Trump WH NSC member Bannon help create and followed by Trump WH.....

http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2017/02/21/syrian-official-will-partners-hezbollah-future-conflict-israel/


The Jerusalem Post reports: A Syrian official#vowed to back Hezbollah in any future conflict that the Lebanese terror group may have with Israel, in an interview with Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai on Monday.
“We will be partners with Hezbollah in any future war against Israel,” the unnamed official, whom the newspaper labeled “one of the senior decision-makers in Syria,” said. The comments came after Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah warned last week that the group’s missiles were capable of hitting Israel’s nuclear reactor in Dimona.
The official stated that Hezbollah and Syria “share a destiny” and will work together against any attempt to “harm the proxies of Iran in the Middle Eastern arena.”

[OUTLAW 09]

EuphratesShield forces captured the security complex (former Assad intel, housing, courthouse) from #ISIS in #alBab.

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Video shows clashes between #EuphratesShield and #ISIS east of #Sheikh_Aqil in Western #Al_Bab today.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.369323&lon=37.511916&z=18&m=b#

REALLY......??????
AFP news agency
✔
@AFP
#BREAKING Russia has asked Syria to halt bombings during talks: UN envoy

[OUTLAW 09]

Entire #FSA "Southern Front" should wake up before next #IS push
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hhbKeoZNLQ#

No progress in western #Daraa province against #IslamicState

Syria #FSA claim control 70% of #alBab town now

Main geolocated positions seized today by #EuphratesShield forces in Al-Bab.

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria #SDF reached #Euphrates river east of #Raqqa

Syria Footage: Street battle at #alBab security box
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7dHWsLdbFU#
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.369239&lon=37.511817&z=19&m=b#

Daraa: Deadlock also between rebels and pro-#Assad forces in #Daraa City. Rebels need SVBIEDs or tunnel bombs to advance again.

[OUTLAW 09]

Daraa city today.
Same procedure as so often:
#ISIS attacks from the west, #AssadPutin from the air.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qgp95m6S2Ac#

IS and Assad now fighting clearly together....

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Liwa Al Aqsa burned their Heavy gear before left northern #Hama toward #IslamicState

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad regime barrel bomb attacks on civilians in West Ghouta today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbKGGvfgPUU#…

Russian" air strikes on #Daraa today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k0JEgVhP4I#…

Intense #Assad regime air strikes across #Syria today.
Most on #Hama and E+W #Ghouta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpdcOxKeQGg#…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNF8aHxsOHo#…

But also on #Idlib province and other place.
He spits on any kind of "ceasefire".
As always.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3aTqyKkUs0#…

[OUTLAW 09]

Daraa: #ISIS used sleeper cells in #FSA towns/villages, seized #FSA depots and is highly motivated to fight.

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Heavy airstrikes on northern #Hama province

Syria VBIED explosion in Mansheya neighborhood of #Daraa city
Heavy clashes + airstrikes

Russia and Assad still having problems with IS in Palmyra...

Syria #Assad-forces pushed back on #Palmyra road toward #Homs after #IS counter assault

[OUTLAW 09]

Regime Colonel Mohamed Abed has been killed by the Opposition in #Manshiyah Daraa.

Mahmoud al-Hamwi records over 22 airstrikes on various towns in #Hama today. Significant rise in attacks on towns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK3f2De6v_4#

[OUTLAW 09]

SVBIED operation as Al-Bunian Al-Marsous op. room opened a new front and started assault on W. part of Al-Manshiyah
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=32.611291&lon=36.089541&z=17&m#

[OUTLAW 09]

HYPOCRISY PURE.....first they bomb it to the ground and then want the West to pay for it.....

There is that old china shop saying......"if you break it you own it"....

Russia asks world powers to pay for Syria reconstruction
https://www.ft.com/content/47933554-f847-11e6-9516-2d969e0d3b65#

[OUTLAW 09]

Pro-#Assad forces near the #Tiyas Airbase are also under pressure by #ISIS since yesterday.

EuphratesShield on the Freedom Square in northeastern #Al_Bab.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.373630&lon=37.520843&z=18&m=b#

Drone footage: #alBab after its liberation by Euphrates Shield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEwMRITVpBo#

EUPHRATESSHIELD FORCES, BACKED BY THE TURKISH ARMY, LIBERATED #ALBAB FROM #ISIS.

Latakia: Rebels blowing up pro-#Assad forces with ATGM in Northern #Latakia today

Daraa City today: Brutal #AssadPutin air strikes on the civilian population while #ISIS pushes from the ".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBkVU78eFAo#…

NOT A SINGLE Assad air strike on an advancing IS formation....

[OUTLAW 09]

Iran: IRGC Ground Force Unveils New Anti-Chopper Mine in Drill
....From Bulgaria with love ? )
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13951205000759#

[OUTLAW 09]

Daraa: Video shows #ISIS attacking rebels in Western #Daraa.

Hama Mass grave in Khan Shaykhun outskirts -execution conducted by "Liwa al Aqsa" #IS offshoot b4 fled province toward #IslamicState

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Southern #alBab suburb #Tadef demilitarized zone?

Aleppo: Map shows the military situation in #Aleppo Province after the latest #EuphratesShield gains.

[OUTLAW 09]

Putin claimed that up to 4,000 citizens of #Russia & 5,000 citizens of #CentralAsia countries joined #IslamicState:
https://ria.ru/syria/20170223/1488675479.html#

Clashes btw #Assad-forces & #IslamicState near Hayan Petroleum Company ~35km west of #Palmyra
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=34.603188&lon=37.901030&z=14&m=b#…

Syria #FSA control #alBab suburb #Qabasin
Only #Tadef still missing

FSA dismantle VBIED left behind by #IS in #alBab
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9uwDMA12L8#

SOHR: number of #FSA prisoners executed by Jund al-Aqsa reached 172 in Hama and Idleb!

A military resource: #FSA liberated Qabbaseen town from #ISIS in the eastern countryside of #Aleppo

Syria Seems hundred of #IS fighters fled #alBab & its suburbs southwards #DeirHafer -to block #Assad-forces advance

[OUTLAW 09]

BREAKING: Netanyahu will travel to Moscow to warn Putin Israel will not accept Syria deal leaving Iranian troops on Israeli border.

Russia airstike targeted FSA post south Aleppo killed 17 fighters

Syria 15 #US airstrikes on Tabqa airbase near #Raqqa
-preparation for...?

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria #FSA take over last #alBab suburb #Tadef south of highway

If you set a red line on chemical weapons and don't enforce it, that lesson isn't only taken by Assad:
http://henryjacksonsociety.org/2017/01/13/analysis-international-taboo-on-chemical-weapons-frays-as-u-s-steps-back/#
VX used by NK for example in killing an opponent...

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria 45 dead after IS detonate car bomb in Sousiyan NW of #alBab

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA News @FSAPlatform
#Infographic || #Syria

List of foreign jihadi Shia militia groups fighting for the #Assad regime in Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA News @FSAPlatform
#Infographic || #Syria

Complete updated list of militia groups fighting for the #Assad regime in Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

Updated Control #Map #Syria 24 Feb 2017 by @Nawaroliver
#Data Shows % of Gains & Loses in the last 41 Days PDF:
https://goo.gl/s7i6Ls

[OUTLAW 09]

With Turkey in control of al-Bab, US's best bet is still the Jazira strategy, which @hxhassan and I lay out:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/07/how-to-salvage-syria.html#

Interesting read.....

BUT WAIT...then the US gets it all wrong again......
To push them away from al-Qaeda, the US stops arming rebels -- who then get attacked by al-Qaeda:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/al-qaeda-is-eating-us-syrian-rebels-are-losing-out-to-extremists/2017/02/23/f9c6d1d4-f885-11e6-aa1e-5f735ee31334_story.html?utm_term=.3ee84f159c99#

BUT WAIT...maybe this is exactly what the US wants....?????

Exactly what is happening and the US caused this......
FSA Jaish Al-Nasr released a statement & names of its 71 fighters & officers executed 10 days ago by Liwa Al-Aqsa in S. #Idlib countryside.

[OUTLAW 09]

SYRIA: Iraqi govt carried out strike on IS in Albu Kamal & Husseibeh in e. Syria on Friday, @AFP reports

SYRIA: Source close to foreign ministry in Damascus tells Al-Watan #Iraq'i raid was carried out in "total coordination" with Assad regime

[OUTLAW 09]

RUSSIA’S TOP 260 LIES – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

http://www.russialies.com/russias-top-260-lies-international-edition/#

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia/Putin seems to be doing anything and everything just to try to get a conversation going with Trump so Trump can then say the Russians are friendly thus I am lifting sanctions.....

"Dear Bashar, we're doing this." There's your coordination.
http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-open-us-plan-create-safe-zones-syria-bashar-assad-involved-lavrov-tillerson/28326280.html#

BUT WAIT confirmed now by US side...seems Lavrov and Tillerson talked about this at Munich Security Conference...

Syrian Safe Zone-Lite: Trump exploring creation of informal "interim de-escalation areas" in Syria:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-to-add-some-muscle-to-u-s-strategy-to-fight-islamic-state-1487895661#

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Reports that #EuphratesShield will launch the offensive against #YPG in #Manbij in the coming days.

[OUTLAW 09]

5 HTS fighters stormed HQs of general and military security branchs in # Homs killed dozens including head of military security

Attack raid was far larger than first reported...six attackers were killed in the raid BUT

2 Generals killed + lot of officers

Syria 35 dead after several explosions hit Military Security Branch in #Homs city. Its chief killed.

Number killed now stands at 42..all military....

[OUTLAW 09]

Also on Friday,the murderous #Assad regime fully ignored the #Syria "ceasefire", bombing multiple rebel areas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek_9hUll0ZQ#…

108 people killed (or found dead) across #Syria on Thursday.
Most of them by Islamist extremist groups.
- LCC

[OUTLAW 09]

5 HTS fighters stormed HQs of general and military security branchs in # Homs killed dozens including head of military security

Attack raid was far larger than first reported...six attackers were killed in the raid BUT

2 Generals killed + lot of officers

Syria 35 dead after several explosions hit Military Security Branch in #Homs city. Its chief killed.

Number killed now stands at 42..all military....

Assad media now confirms the killing of the Homs Security Chief.....

Most of victims documented in #Caesar report were tortured to death on the order of this criminal, former head of section 215 Hassan Daboul

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey reduced/suspended military aid to Idlib rebels and invested almost everything in north Aleppo operation, could be a strategic mistake

[OUTLAW 09]

CENTCOM tried to deter Turkey from moving on Manbij by claiming it is their Arabic fighter recruitment center.....

Manbij?

to YPG: very important for Rojava

to US CENTCOM: Arab recruiting ground and to keep Turkey on leash

to Turkey: a matter of national security

Which one will win out.....?????

US saying Manbij is off limits, Turkey in tricky situation east Euphrates

BUT this after Obama WH openly declared that the YPG had to pull out as it is ethnically Arab not Kurdish area...

SYRIA: "We'll quit Raqqa & fight in Manbij if Turkey/FSA attacks" YPG officials tell US military - @KomNewsCom
http://bit.ly/2mtN3OP

[OUTLAW 09]

Iran...Syria....Lebanon...it is all tied together.....

Elliott Abrams: The U.S. is flirting with danger in Lebanon
http://bit.ly/2lOCmcl

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Regime infightings reported from #Hama city

[OUTLAW 09]

Some light humor...

Independent Swedish defense advisor appears on @FoxNews to explain why Trump was right about #lastnightinsweden

[OUTLAW 09]

The European Stork Air Traffic Control Center....based in Strasbourg France home of the EU....

Safely guided in the first ten older and young storks coming in from southern France.....their are a tad heartier in colder weather than their very warm blooded feathered cousins eventually coming from Africa by way of Turkey....they had it easier than normal as they rode the tailwinds of two major low pressure zones westerly winds exceeding 60-70mph...landings were a little rough due to the massive crosswinds in their favorite open fields...

Spring has made it to Berlin/Brandenburg....

BTW....in 2003 Jihadists tried to blown up the Strasbourg Cathedral twice due to it being the starting point for the Crusaders headed to the ME..the eight attackers still are sitting in French prison.....

[OUTLAW 09]

Hama: Rebels (Jaish al-Izzah) blowing up #Assad regime BMP with #TOW in Northern #Hama.

Rebels with #US equipment in desert of SE #Syria fighting against #IS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nRDy6HkdAc#

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad media now confirms the killing of the Homs Security Chief.....

Most of victims documented in #Caesar report were tortured to death on the order of this criminal, former head of section 215 Hassan Daboul




HTS rebels have killed the #Assad Regime Generals and war criminals Hassan Daboul and Hassan Darwish in #Homs.

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA News @FSAPlatform
#Breaking || #Homs
4 regime warplanes simultaneously dropping airstrikes on besieged #Waer neighborhood, more than 20 airstrikes so far

Syria #IS shelling Ebla gas plants in eastern #Homs
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=34.569624&lon=37.196274&z=13&m=b#

Syria #Assad-forces continues advance to connect to
#Manbij/#SDF area south of #alBab
#EuphratesShield stopped advance?!

[OUTLAW 09]

IslamicState continues advance in SW #Syria & took over
Jallin village. #Jordan, #Israel, #US, #Russia accept it.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=32.756530&lon=35.992756&z=13&m=b#

SCD Rif-Dimashq @SCDrifdimashq
Many civilians injured by #Assad surface-to-surface missiles on #AlMarj area, #Damascus countryside.

Via @NPR: Russian Defense Minister Says His Military Has Tested 162 Weapons In Syria
https://n.pr/2lKK0nV

[OUTLAW 09]

Daraa: #ISIS is advancing in Western #Daraa and has captured today:
- #Jallin
- #Kfar_Thamer

Daraa: #ISIS has captured the Cattle Farm Base. Fighting between #ISIS and rebels near #Jisr_al_Ashari village now.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=32.760970&lon=36.016746&z=15&m=b#

[OUTLAW 09]

Killed in Syria
Posted on February 25, 2017

https://russiandefpolicy.blog/2017/02/25/killed-in-syria/


Sadly for their loved ones, four Russian military advisers died on February 16 when a radio-controlled IED destroyed their vehicle.
This week#TASS published a backgrounder on Russians killed in action since Moscow joined the Syrian conflict in September 2015.
Twenty-seven Russians have died in Syria, and Russian forces have lost two Mi-8 and one Mi-28N helicopters, and one Su-24 fighter-bomber.
Click here for the essential details of the news agency’s report. #Some names and info not given by TASS#are provided.
The first death was a non-combat casualty. #TASS didn’t mention the 64 members of the MOD’s Aleksandrov Ensemble who perished in a plane crash en route to Syria on December 25. #They didn’t die in Syria, but might not have died if Russian troops weren’t in Syria.

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad media now confirms the killing of the Homs Security Chief.....

Most of victims documented in #Caesar report were tortured to death on the order of this criminal, former head of section 215 Hassan Daboul


Photos of the HTS raid....

[OUTLAW 09]

Damascus: Heavy #Assad airstrikes have killed 6 civilians and wounded dozens more in #Douma, Eastern #Ghouta, today.

[OUTLAW 09]

Damascus: #Assad regime attack on #Hazrama in Eastern #Ghouta failed. Many pro-#Assad forces were killed or wounded and 3 tanks destroyed.

Aleppo: Turkish artillery shelling #YPG positions at #Tal_Rifaat.

Aleppo: #YPG shelling #Mare. Many people were wounded.

HTS was never invited to #Geneva "peace talks" and #Assad & #Russia never stopped their attacks, so...

Assad can kill civilians everywhere in #Syria but when #HTS kills #Assad fighters in #Homs it's called a "setback for the peace talks."

The Western double standards:
Airstrikes against hospitals = no terror attacks
Vehicle bombs against military targets = terror attacks

[OUTLAW 09]

Damascus: #Assad regime attack on #Hazrama in Eastern #Ghouta failed. Many pro-#Assad forces were killed or wounded and 3 tanks destroyed.

Aleppo: Turkish artillery shelling #YPG positions at #Tal_Rifaat.

Aleppo: #YPG shelling #Mare. Many people were wounded.

HTS was never invited to #Geneva "peace talks" and #Assad & #Russia never stopped their attacks, so...

Assad can kill civilians everywhere in #Syria but when #HTS kills #Assad fighters in #Homs it's called a "setback for the peace talks."

The Western double standards:
Airstrikes against hospitals = no terror attacks
Vehicle bombs against military targets = terror attacks

Whoever calls the attack in #Homs a "setback for the peace talks" has understand nothing during the last 6 years. :mad:

[OUTLAW 09]

Amad News publish photos of #MahanAir planes used by #IRGC to carry injured fighters from #Syria, #Yemen to #Iran.

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Heavy clashes between #FSA and #YPG southwest of #Azaz. The Turkish army helps #FSA with heavy artillery.

[CrowBat]

Turkey reduced/suspended military aid to Idlib rebels and invested almost everything in north Aleppo operation, could be a strategic mistake
If so - neither more or less than it was a strategic mistake for the entire West.

[CrowBat]

Amad News publish photos of #MahanAir planes used by #IRGC to carry injured fighters from #Syria, #Yemen to #Iran.
Must be a morale-bolster for all the injured Shi'a 'martyrs' when they enter that cabin: 'please, don't spit any of your blood on the seats, they're brand new'...

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria #Assad forces seized Tadef southern suburb of #alBab

Assad's slaughterhouse #Syria TODAY!
#WarCrimes.
Un(der)reported by the international media.
Ignored by the @UN and world leaders.

[OUTLAW 09]

SCD Rif-Dimashq @SCDrifdimashq
#BREAKING || #Assad warplanes drop incendiary #NAPALM on #Damascus’ #Douma

Breaking || Eastern #Ghouta
3 regime warplanes drop napalm bombs on Douma city, causing fires to break out in civilian neighborhoods

Regime forces strike Qaboun & Teshreen neighborhoods with ground-ground missiles

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Blackout in #Damascus bc IS shelling on Gas plants in eastern #Homs. Only Hotels with Power (Generators)

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkish tweeps & Syrian "rebels" are slowly realising,they were tricked.
The #PutinErdogan deal gives #Assad much more than #EuphratesShield

Rebels will not reach #Raqqa and are trapped in an (admittedly) larger pocket than before.
Also #YPG will have bridge between their cantons.

A deal (between Erdogan and Putin for Assad) is a deal.
No matter what Turkish tweeps said would happen for the last 2 months.
#Tadef

What #Turkey forgot when signing the deal: The regime "bridge" between the cantons will make #YPG's "United Rojava" dream come semi-true.

[OUTLAW 09]

While #EuphratesShield took #alBab, pro-#Assad forces made sure, the #Turkey-#Russia deal (rebels won't reach #Raqqa) became true.

[OUTLAW 09]

Just in #Idlib prov., 14 civilians got killed (incl. 4 children) and 50 injured in 10+ air strikes on #Ariha and #KhanShaykhun before eve.

Pro-#Hezbollah TV showing and praising "20+" #Assad regime air strikes on the tiny, 99% civilian pocket of #Waer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU3NlmUff2o#…

In #Ariha, suspected #Russian jets destroyed a residential area near a fruit market.
9 civilians killed, 15 wounded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtoX6MmC4K0#…

Daraa: Rebels have killed #Hezbollah commander Khalil Marji in #Manshiyah District of #Daraa.
He was also called the "Southern General".

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia will veto if UN votes to impose sanctions on Syria
http://uawire.org/news/russia-will-veto-if-un-votes-to-impose-sanctions-on-syria#

[OUTLAW 09]

On 8th day of shelling on #Qabun pro-Regime forces started ground assault in orchads (N. part) and Rebels destroyed a T-72.

List of 26 military & security elements killed by #HTS today in Mil. HQs in #Homs. Nearly 75% were from Homs & Hama, h/t @HomsDocumentary.

Clashes reached Kaljibrin where #FSA repelled an infiltration attempt by #SDF/#YPG.

ISIS retreated from Tadef. Only remaining question is who between #EuphratesShield or pro-Regime forces will enter first (likely tomorrow).

Russia decided: Tadef is for pro-Regime forces.

Hazrama front witnessing fiercest clashes since weeks. Jaish Al-Islam claims 2 Regime tanks taken out since morning.

The #Russian air force is back to targeted attacks on #hospitals west of #Aleppo.
B/c why not?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WdU2iy2yZU#

[OUTLAW 09]

Barsaya Mount before and after: #YPG even cut down forest to improve sight from its defenses overlooking city of #Azaz.

[OUTLAW 09]

Example of ditch and earth barriers preceding the defensive wall built by #YPG on #Barsaya Mount. http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.637484&lon=37.034440&z=17&m#…

[OUTLAW 09]

YPG built a large defensive wall with watch towers and ditches on top of #Barsaya Mount overlooking #Azaz. http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.633989&lon=37.029591&z=14&m#…

[OUTLAW 09]

And for those doubting the numbers: Yes!
The @UN reports, 75.000 civilians are trapped & bombed in an area of the size of #Aleppo AIRPORT!

[OUTLAW 09]

CIT (en) @CITeam_en
Fighters from Yakutia, Russia on cite of Russian base in Palmyra, likely right after the city was taken in 2016
https://youtu.be/UveVrAirlsc

CIT (en) @CITeam_en
#PT: Operator speaks in Yakutian and in Russian: "Those are the buildings they showed on TV!"; "And they say Syrians won the war? Bull####!"

FSA confirm they foiled an Assad army attack on two villages north Aleppo and killed 20 attackers

[OUTLAW 09]

Reports of clashes erupted between #Euphratessheild forces and Assad/IRGC near al Bab north #Aleppo - @Step_Agency

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: Reports that #EuphratesShield has captured #Tadef from the #Assad regime. #Al_Bab

Aleppo: #EuphratesShield has captured 3 pro-#Assad forces in #Tadef.

Aleppo: Fierce clashes between #EuphratesShield & the #Assad regime in #Tadef. 22 pro-#Assad forces were killed & a regime tank destroyed.

Russia's state TV: Putin is pleased w/ brave service of Russian ships, supporting Assad regime in waters patrolled by far-from-friendly NATO
https://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=2860116&cid=7#

FSA Hawar Kilis Operations Room report 22 regime militia KIA in clashes at #Tadef South of al-Bab #Aleppo

FSA Brigade Samarkand repost w/ message "we promised the people of Syria & now we're delivering on that promise":
https://youtu.be/fQZHRxlvaaI

FSA Brigade Samarkand posted these clashes at #Tadef with regime forces before quickly deleting

Syrian Civil Defense: Many civilians are experiencing suffocation symptoms after regime forces targeted Harasta with chlorine gas.
At least 4 chlorine gas attacks by government forces in Damascus since the start of the year, no UN action so far has prevented its use.

FSA News @FSAPlatform
#Breaking || #Harasta
Cases of civilian suffocation after regime dropped toxic gas bombs on west Harasta, rural #Dasmascus, half hour ago

Aleppo: No #Assad or #Russia|n airstrikes against advancing #EuphratesShield forces so far. #Al_Bab #Tadef

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: #EuphratesShield forces advancing against the #Assad regime south and southeast of #Al_Bab.

Aleppo: Reports that #EuphratesShield has captured #Tadef from the #Assad regime. #Al_Bab

[OUTLAW 09]

Charles Lister
✔
@Charles_Lister
HUGE news via source:
Al-Qaeda deputy leader Abu al-Khayr al-Masri has been killed in a U.S drone strike near Al-Mastoumeh in #Idlib.

Interestingly the Hellfire did not detonate and the impact of the missile just hitting the car killed him....



Aleppo: Turkish artillery is shelling #YPG positions at #Maranaz southwest of #Araz tonight.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.555706&lon=37.020493&z=13&m=b#

Aleppo: #EuphratesShield forces have destroyed a second #Assad regime tank in #Tadef and killed the crew.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet destroyer "Smetlivy" trailing USS George HW Bush carrier strike group in the Med:
http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/fight-against-isis-nbc-nightly-news-visits-u-s-s-bush-in-the-mediterranean-sea-884536899867#

[OUTLAW 09]

CNN International
Verified account
‏@cnni 2h
2 hours ago
"The White Helmets" wins best Documentary (Short Subject) #Oscars
http://cnn.it/2mtJjO7

'The White Helmets.' @michaeldweiss on the remarkable organization saving lives in Syria & the Oscar-winning doc.
http://thebea.st/2dEBwNg

[OUTLAW 09]

CNN International
Verified account
‏@cnni 2h
2 hours ago
"The White Helmets" wins best Documentary (Short Subject) #Oscars
http://cnn.it/2mtJjO7

'The White Helmets.' @michaeldweiss on the remarkable organization saving lives in Syria & the Oscar-winning doc.
http://thebea.st/2dEBwNg

Assadists are the quintessential sociopaths
Notice the number of retweets and likes...this is exactly who a twitter bot network works to spread info

Ratio is interesting one tweet and 580 retweets......

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express...

ВМФ #ЧФ BSF Ropucha LSTM Tsezar Kunikov 158 returns from its 2nd #Syria deployment in 2017, transits Bosphorus in fog towards the Black Sea

Again as with the recent other return sightings...she is riding high and not carrying anything on her return...in the first year they would come back carrying something and riding much lower...

[OUTLAW 09]

Homs City (al-Waer quarter) today
An #Assad regime air strike on an eight-story residential building collapses the civilian infrastructure.

[OUTLAW 09]

At least the Admiral Kuznetsov is good for roller hockey.

Has to be the world's most expensive roller hockey game...

[OUTLAW 09]

Pro-#Assad map shows the aim of their push east of #Aleppo
It's not primarily to fight #ISIS but to trap Turkish-led forces & connect w/#SDF

[OUTLAW 09]

The White Helmets‏@SyriaCivilDef
When "The White Helmets" was announced a winner of the academy award, our team in Ariha, Idleb was rescuing a child. And that's the real win

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Naval Syrian Express....

Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich heads to Mediterranean on Syria mission

[OUTLAW 09]

Working w Russia in #Syria is "anathema to SecDef Mattis"
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/26/us/politics/jim-mattis-isis.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share#

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria TODAY:

#Assad incendiary & barrel bombs
#Putin bunker busters
#Hezbollah ballistic missiles

No reason to act for anyone outside ...

[OUTLAW 09]

"After Al Bab is about to be over, the period following that will be Manbij and Raqqa."

4 km until #Erdogan's promise is history.

[OUTLAW 09]

Valdai club graphic on all the weapons Russia has 'tested' in Syria.
http://valdaiclub.com/multimedia/infographics/testing-new-types-of-weapons-in-Syria/#

[OUTLAW 09]

EuphratesShield forces captured Umm Shkayf and Zammar, east of #alBab.
#Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian state propaganda goes full retard. Says the White Helmets got the Oscar for well staged scenes.
https://twitter.com/Inga_Kudracheva/status/836197865995272192#

Well the Russian know a thing or two about "staging"....BUT WAIT...all those Russian air strikes on Syrian hospitals in and around Aleppo did not occur either...right????

[OUTLAW 09]

Al-Waer: Another case study why not to trust Assad

http://www.orient-news.net/en/news_show/132761/0/Al-Waer-Another-case-study-why-not-to-trust-Assad#

[OUTLAW 09]

UNSC Draft resolution blacklists 11 military commanders, officials over #ChemicalWeapons attacks; seeks ban on sale/supply of copters to #Syria

Will be interesting to see if Russian veto's this one...

So when Russia does veto the UN resolution on Syrian CW use they're actively involved in the continued use of chemical weapons in Syria

So it's quite clear the use of chlorine as a chemical weapon in Syria isn't going to stop by itself, and Russia must know that.

In addition to those attacks there's also been at least 4 chemical attacks reported in Damascus this year
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/02/14/new-visual-evidence-chlorine-gas-attacks-eastern-ghouta/#

Seems those trying to attack the UN chemical weapon Syria sanctions are missing the UN/OPCW confirmed Syrian gov forces used CW in 2014/15

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad regime recruiting child soldiers into the NDF.
https://twitter.com/sharqiya__voice/status/836148773692796928#

Footage
Same procedure as every day.
#Iran's C-130 supplies #Fuah and #Kefraya with arms and food supplies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxj04Hi_UYU#

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia #MFA mocks #Oscar2017 winner #WhiteHelmets. Right. #Aleppo is funny to them. Just an "imitation of a tragedy".

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: New Turkish artillery strikes against #YPG in #Arima west of #Manbij.
Last year's Russian adventure in the Mediterranean: :D http://cigeography.blogspot.fr/2016/11/Kuznetsov.html …

[OUTLAW 09]

Reports of US soldiers and armoured vehicles deployed in Mabij near border lines with #EuphratesShield and Assad Army NE Aleppo @Step_Agency

Latest map of east #Aleppo shows Assad/IRGC are couple of villages away from Manbij line. #EuphratesShield also advancing SE from al Bab.

[OUTLAW 09]

Approximate land-holdings over the N #Aleppo region. This time last year nearly the whole canvas was ISIS controlled.

[OUTLAW 09]

YPG spox "Assad army and allies reached our Manbij controlled territory, they will not fight us, now the road is open from Mabij to Aleppo".

To block #EuphratesShield from Raqqa and avoid attack on Manbij, YPG will try every trick in the book including an alliance with Assad/IRGC.

Hizbollah's been helping Assad & is on the US Terror list since 1997 yet the US hasn't targeted them. Why?
http://ogn.news/uds/

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkish Army deploy reinforcements to north Aleppo territory.

What's next?

[CrowBat]

So, the last Daesh pocket between al-Bab and Dayr Hafer (see the map below) was overrun - by the Turkey-supported FSyA. Nothing left of it.

More importantly: Assadists have reached the PKK/PYD positions further east. With this, we are now going to see very clear 'limits' of the Operation Euphrates Shield.

Namely, while this enterprise is resulting in military advantages for specific parts of the Syrian insurgency, no doubt about this - it is a Turkish-run operation, heavily dependent on provision of fire-support and supplies by Turkey. And, it is an operation undertaken primarily with Turkish national security interests in mind - not those of involved Syrian insurgents.

Crucial between these (Turkish national security interests) is prevention of establishment of a continuous, PKK-controlled 'enclave' in northern Syria along the border to Turkey. Pushing the Daesh away from the Turkish border was 'only' a secondary objective.

I.e. Turkey launched the operation on al-Bab because its interest in this regards happens to be the same like that of insurgents: i.e. prevent the PKK/PYD from capturing al-Bab and force the Daesh out of the town.

...which means that expecting Turkey might start acting in interests of Syrian insurgents 'only', is... 'naive' (to put it mildly).

Clearly, Turkey and insurgents have a similar, common interest in regards of Manbij and 'few other areas further east'. But, that's where this commonality ends: namely, while Turkey might have a similar interest in regards of Manbij etc. like insurgents clearly have, Turkey is not in a position to launch an open 'aggression' on PKK/PYD-held areas, for an entire conglomerate of reasons, including:

- US-support for Kurdish terrorist organization PKK;

- Assadist - and thus Russian - interests, and

- their support for Kurdish terrorist organization PKK.

This conglomerate of reasons makes it impossible for Turkey to launch something like a direct attack on Manbij, even if it should be perfectly clear that Ankara must have immense concerns alone over the possibility of Assadists and the IRGC joining their lines with the PKK/PYD-controlled areas NW of Raqqa, after defeating the Daesh in Dayr Hafer area. Indeed, the Assadists establishing connection with the PKK/PYD in between al-Bab and Dayr Hafer, has made this option completely pointless.

Namely, Turkey is already internationally isolated; it cannot even count on support from its NATO allies. Because of this, Turkey was forced to enter a sort of military cooperation with Russia. This in turn means it must tolerate Assadists and the IRGC too, plus the PKK/PYD's hegemony over most of northern Syria.

Thus, while - from the Turkish POV - not only the PKK/PYD's hold of Manbij, but also the Assadist offensive on Dayr Hafer are a 'threat', the Turks cannot be expected to do anything significant beyond helping secure al-Bab. And with Turks unable to do anything more, I do not expect the insurgents to do anything on their own.

Unless Erdogan decides to go 'all out' against the PKK in Manbij, which I do not expect him to do because he's not in suitable position to do so, this is the end of that enterprise, i.e. the TSK/FSyA are now going to be limited to securing the pocket stretching from Azaz in NW to al-Bab in the south and Euphrates in NE.

[CrowBat]

'Precisely as expected', following the HTS hit on the Assad-Regime in Homs, the psychotic mass-murderers that are so happily supported by Iran and Moscow, and declared as 'lesser of two evils' by all their possible fans in the West - are 'hitting back' in their typical fashion: by bombing civilians in insurgent-held parts of Idlib and Aleppo governorates (not even in HTS-held areas)...

Few observations in this regards...

Time and again, I see Syrian insurgents, Syrian civilians in insurgent-held areas posting on Twitter and Facebook, but also foreign journalists filling reports in all sorts of online media about 'Russian air strikes', and these hitting this or that. Here one of newest examples (https://twitter.com/QalaatAlMudiq/status/836336646706630656) by 'nobody else' but Qalat Mudiq.

After analysing all the related reports I can only conclude that, no matter how 'precise' specific air strikes flown in Syria over the last, say, 13 months have been, nearly all of those hitting insurgent headquarters, but especially those hitting hospitals, nurseries, bakeries, etc. have been flown by that 'Syrian Arab Air Force' (SyAAF; meanwhile known as 'Assadist air force' foremost between its own ranks, not to talk about thousands of officers and other ranks that defected from it). Not by Russians.

Despite all of their bragging and PR-nonsense, Russians have so far proven anything but as precise as the SyAAF.

This is likely to take many by surprise. Namely, the SyAAF is generally 'renowned' as neither effective, nor precise or else, and foremost as being beaten by the Israelis at every single opportunity.

Well, sorry, but related affairs are anything but that one-sided. By side the fact that the SyAAF was anything than 'beaten by the Israelis at every opportunity', or that - in the case where it was - there were plenty of good reasons for this happening (curiously, most of these were related to 'commanding practices' and 'political interests' of certain Hafez al-Assad, former officer and pilot of the SyAAF, and then its commander in period 1965-1970), but...

At least since July 2012, there is a handful of pilots in the SyAAF that have shown they can hit with extreme precision - 'even' when flying such... well, actually 'wreckage' like 30+ -years old Aero L-39 Albatross light strikers (actually: training jets), not to talk about fighter-bombers like MiG-23s or Su-24s. Several of pilots in question used to serve in the Yemen Air Force: most of them flew MiG-29s there.

In this regards, let me remind you...

- of insurgent headquarters deep inside Eastern Aleppo hit by L-39s up to four times a day, no matter how often they have been relocated, back in July and August 2012...

- or of that 'famous' air strike flown by a single MiG-23MF, that hit the HQ of the Liwa Tawhid with a single Kh-23 (AS-7 Kerry), radio-command missile, back in October (or was it November?) 2013, killing its commanders and eventually causing its collapse.

Mind just this: as most of readers here should know (or I guess they know), the Kh-23 is one of earliest Soviet-made guided missiles and rather primitive. Most of air forces that ever bought it have trashed it soon afterwards, because it proved too problematic to use. Indeed, it proved as impossible to use under serious combat conditions. Reason is that the pilot of a single-seat aircraft usually deploying it has to guide the missile into the target during its entire flight. For duration of that flight, he's obviously pre-ocuppied with guiding the missile but to fly evasive manoeuvring on his own (indeed: sometimes so preoccupied with this task that some flew their aircraft straight into the ground) - which means that the aircraft launching a Kh-23 is quite likely to get shot down if attacking any kind of a target protected by serious air defences.

In other instances, the SyAAF deployed 'more primitive' methods to score direct hits on insurgent headquarters. For example, the attack that killed Zahran Alloush, back in December 2015 - was flown by two Su-24MK2s, using FAB-250M-62 general-purpose bombs. And: the crews in question were actually underway to hit some other target when the Air Force Intelligence obtained information about Alloush's meeting with commanders, called the crews on the radio, and re-directed them to bomb the place in question.

Similarly, back in December last year, a SyAAF Su-24 killed three top commanders of the FSyA in the Ra'astan-Talbiseh pocket, when bombing the funeral they attended.

Russians never managed anything similar.

Indeed, SyAAF's Su-24s - and not Russians - have flown nearly all of air strikes on different hospitals in Aleppo and Idlib governorates since May 2016. But, because all the Western 'intelligence agencies' are so dumb and so full of prejudice, they have convinced themselves that 'SyAAF can't fly by night and isn't doing so', therefore, they blame the Russians. In turn, Russians have the advantage of 'plausible denial', and can always say, 'it wasn't us' - and then add their PRBS to the story.

Actually, since spring of 2016, the SyAAF also has a unit of L-39s flown by crews trained to deliver precise air strikes by night - usually using B-8M pods for calibre 80mm unguided rockets of type S-8, or their calibre 23mm cannons, but sometimes with 'light' (calibre 100kg) bombs. They are often cited as 'machine-gun-armed jets' in reports by Sentry Syria. These L-39s were involved in destruction of the UN/Syrian Arab Red Cross convoy in Urum al-Kubra, back in October, and they flew the air strike that killed Turkish troops, back in November.

In each case, USA have blamed Russians for their attacks - and, as can be expected, Moscow had it easy to deny being involved. Why should Russians point out it was Assadists that attacked, if Americans are too dumb to find out that the SyAAF is flying by night?

Overall, people should stop gauging culprits behind some air strikes by their precision alone. SyAAF is often striking far more precisely than Russians can dream about. Reason is that it has got far more precise targeting intelligence - simply because there are still so many informants within ranks of insurgency, or at least in areas controlled by insurgents.

...and the other way around: here people say 'Assad cluster bombs' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn3m_yRsKp8).

The only air force using cluster bombs (i.e. 'cluster bomb units', or 'CBUs') - like RBK-500s - in Syria is the Russian AirSpace Force ('VKS').

There is not a single photo or video of any kind of SyAAF aircraft armed with or deploying CBUs since 2012 (perhaps since 2013, but certainly not ever since).

Means, sorry, but this was a VKS air strike.

[OUTLAW 09]

So, the last Daesh pocket between al-Bab and Dayr Hafer (see the map below) was overrun - by the Turkey-supported FSyA. Nothing left of it.

More importantly: Assadists have reached the PKK/PYD positions further east. With this, we are now going to see very clear 'limits' of the Operation Euphrates Shield.

Namely, while this enterprise is resulting in military advantages for specific parts of the Syrian insurgency, no doubt about this - it is a Turkish-run operation, heavily dependent on provision of fire-support and supplies by Turkey. And, it is an operation undertaken primarily with Turkish national security interests in mind - not those of involved Syrian insurgents.

Crucial between these (Turkish national security interests) is prevention of establishment of a continuous, PKK-controlled 'enclave' in northern Syria along the border to Turkey. Pushing the Daesh away from the Turkish border was 'only' a secondary objective.

I.e. Turkey launched the operation on al-Bab because its interest in this regards happens to be the same like that of insurgents: i.e. prevent the PKK/PYD from capturing al-Bab and force the Daesh out of the town.

...which means that expecting Turkey might start acting in interests of Syrian insurgents 'only', is... 'naive' (to put it mildly).

Clearly, Turkey and insurgents have a similar, common interest in regards of Manbij and 'few other areas further east'. But, that's where this commonality ends: namely, while Turkey might have a similar interest in regards of Manbij etc. like insurgents clearly have, Turkey is not in a position to launch an open 'aggression' on PKK/PYD-held areas, for an entire conglomerate of reasons, including:

- US-support for Kurdish terrorist organization PKK;

- Assadist - and thus Russian - interests, and

- their support for Kurdish terrorist organization PKK.

This conglomerate of reasons makes it impossible for Turkey to launch something like a direct attack on Manbij, even if it should be perfectly clear that Ankara must have immense concerns alone over the possibility of Assadists and the IRGC joining their lines with the PKK/PYD-controlled areas NW of Raqqa, after defeating the Daesh in Dayr Hafer area. Indeed, the Assadists establishing connection with the PKK/PYD in between al-Bab and Dayr Hafer, has made this option completely pointless.

Namely, Turkey is already internationally isolated; it cannot even count on support from its NATO allies. Because of this, Turkey was forced to enter a sort of military cooperation with Russia. This in turn means it must tolerate Assadists and the IRGC too, plus the PKK/PYD's hegemony over most of northern Syria.

Thus, while - from the Turkish POV - not only the PKK/PYD's hold of Manbij, but also the Assadist offensive on Dayr Hafer are a 'threat', the Turks cannot be expected to do anything significant beyond helping secure al-Bab. And with Turks unable to do anything more, I do not expect the insurgents to do anything on their own.

Unless Erdogan decides to go 'all out' against the PKK in Manbij, which I do not expect him to do because he's not in suitable position to do so, this is the end of that enterprise, i.e. the TSK/FSyA are now going to be limited to securing the pocket stretching from Azaz in NW to al-Bab in the south and Euphrates in NE.

CrowBat...one thing about Erdogan..expect him to do the unexpected and non logical .....

BREAKING: Erdoğan: Now that al-Bab has been cleared from Daesh, YPG terrorist-held Manbij is Turkey's next target - @DailySabah

No reports of clashes between #ES, #SDF, #Assad and #ISIS so far today in eastern #Aleppo province.
Tense calm (before the storm?!) ...

[OUTLAW 09]

BreakingFootage
Intense #Assad regime MiG-23 and Su-24 air strikes on villages in southern #Idlib province.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_b24dIO12s&feature=youtu.be#

Daraa: #ISIS released gruesome photos of around 15 killed rebels at Tell al-Jumou in Western #Daraa. Several were beheaded.

[OUTLAW 09]

China joins Russia in protecting the Syrian government's ongoing use of chemical weapons on civilians..

By vetoing today’s resolution, [#Russia & #China] have undermined the credibility of this Security Council.”

Russia has vetoed for the 7th time on #Syria in 5 years.

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: #Assad regime will not attack #YPG and the #YPG will not attack the #Assad regime, so both groups blocking each other. #Manbij

Near Manbij today

[OUTLAW 09]

ISIS lost more ground to #Assad and #SDF/#YPG forces west of the Euphrates today.

[OUTLAW 09]

Red Line Redux: How Putin Tore Up Obama’s 2013 Syria Deal
http://tcf.org/content/report/red-line-redux-putin-tore-obamas-2013-syria-deal#
…
new report on the politics of poison gas & broken promises

[OUTLAW 09]

Palmyra: #ISIS shelling pro-#Assad forces west of #Palmyra with a T-72 and mortars today.

Russian newest Uran-9 tracked unmanned combat ground vehicle spotted in Syria

Aleppo: #EuphratesShield offensive to recapture #Tal_Rifaat from #YPG could also start very soon.

[CrowBat]

CrowBat...one thing about Erdogan..expect him to do the unexpected and non logical .....

BREAKING: Erdoğan: Now that al-Bab has been cleared from Daesh, YPG terrorist-held Manbij is Turkey's next target - @DailySabah

No reports of clashes between #ES, #SDF, #Assad and #ISIS so far today in eastern #Aleppo province.
Tense calm (before the storm?!) ...
There are simply limits for what 'even' Erdo can do. Attacking US/Russia/Assad/Iran supported PKK is certainly one.

Plus, just imagine all the outcry from Europe: lovely non-religious and pluralist Marxist PKK's thugs are currently 'stars of the war on IS' here - even if ethnically cleansing thousands of Arabs from northern Syria, executing own oppositionals, forcefully recruiting Arabs that don't want to join them (and to whom they promised they would not recruit them), or remaining in Manbij while they - and certain Joe Biden (said to have been some ex-US Vice-President) - promised they would withdraw from there already back in August last year.

[OUTLAW 09]

Reuters: Syrian helicopters dropped chlorine bombs on east #Aleppo "throughout 2016" - UN

UN Syria Commission
✔
@UNCoISyria
Our specially mandated report on human rights situation in #Aleppo has been released and now online:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/IICISyria/Pages/IndependentInternationalCommission.aspx#

UN states both sides committed war crimes in Aleppo.

New UN report shows Russia lied repeatedly about Syria's bombing of the UN aid convoy
After a #Russian drone followed the @UN convoy west of #Aleppo for hours, #Assad's jets got night vision and targeting to hit it ...
.
Russia lie #2: "hospitals weren't bombed in #Aleppo". #UN disagrees, says airstrikes "repeatedly" struck health-care facilities.

The UN details multiple attacks on M10 hospital, which Russia denied occurred, but @Bellingcat proved did happen
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2016/11/09/fact-checking-russias-claim-didnt-bomb-another-hospital-syria/#

BREAKING: Incredible. UN says that evacuation deal of #Aleppo - overseen by ICRC - is a war crime. #Syria
Ethnic cleansing is ethnic cleansing simple as that...with or without force.

SyAAF used cluster bombs, OFAB 250 (identified by @CITeam_en and @bellingcat) and anti-personnel rockets to target aid workers.

[OUTLAW 09]

Just like we said they would | Away from Iraq’s front lines, the Islamic State is creeping back in#
https://wpo.st/UGVe2

Palmyra: #ISIS detonated 2 SVBIEDs against pro-#Assad forces west of #Palmyra today. Dozens of pro-#Assad forces were killed or wounded.

[OUTLAW 09]

FSA News @FSAPlatform
#Infographic || #Syria
Origins of militia coming from across the Middle East to fight for the #Assad regime in Syria.

[OUTLAW 09]

Reuters: Syrian helicopters dropped chlorine bombs on east #Aleppo "throughout 2016" - UN

UN Syria Commission
✔
@UNCoISyria
Our specially mandated report on human rights situation in #Aleppo has been released and now online:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/IICISyria/Pages/IndependentInternationalCommission.aspx#

UN states both sides committed war crimes in Aleppo.

New UN report shows Russia lied repeatedly about Syria's bombing of the UN aid convoy
After a #Russian drone followed the @UN convoy west of #Aleppo for hours, #Assad's jets got night vision and targeting to hit it ...
.
Russia lie #2: "hospitals weren't bombed in #Aleppo". #UN disagrees, says airstrikes "repeatedly" struck health-care facilities.

The UN details multiple attacks on M10 hospital, which Russia denied occurred, but @Bellingcat proved did happen
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2016/11/09/fact-checking-russias-claim-didnt-bomb-another-hospital-syria/#

BREAKING: Incredible. UN says that evacuation deal of #Aleppo - overseen by ICRC - is a war crime. #Syria
Ethnic cleansing is ethnic cleansing simple as that...with or without force.

SyAAF used cluster bombs, OFAB 250 (identified by @CITeam_en and @bellingcat) and anti-personnel rockets to target aid workers.

Kyle Orton
✔
@KyleWOrton
Let it be remembered who was President when #Aleppo was massacred and the survivors expelled by #Assad-#Russia-#Iran without any hindrance.

Obama/Rhodes/Kerry all carry that legacy....

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria #Assad-forces reached the outskirts of #Palmyra

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkish-backed #EuphratesShield forces captured #Qarah and #TallTurin from #SDF/#YPG.
Clashes ongoing acc. to both sides.

[CrowBat]

The UN is now very, very kind: they have released a report by the UN Commission of Inquiry (https://www.reddit.com/r/SyrianRebels/comments/5wx4cy/un_commission_of_inquiry_attack_on_un_aid_convoy/), showing the attack on the UN/SARC convoy near Aleppo was "meticulously planned & ruthlessly carried out" - by (drums) Syrian Arab Air Force -

- thus confirming what I reported 2 months ago in Assad's Nighttime Killers (https://warisboring.com/al-assads-nighttime-killers-6323ceb3577d#.qnm750g99)

[OUTLAW 09]

The UN is now very, very kind: they have released a report by the UN Commission of Inquiry (https://www.reddit.com/r/SyrianRebels/comments/5wx4cy/un_commission_of_inquiry_attack_on_un_aid_convoy/), showing the attack on the UN/SARC convoy near Aleppo was "meticulously planned & ruthlessly carried out" - by (drums) Syrian Arab Air Force -

- thus confirming what I reported 2 months ago in Assad's Nighttime Killers (https://warisboring.com/al-assads-nighttime-killers-6323ceb3577d#.qnm750g99)

They are just as usual a number of months late and several hundreds of thousands of dollars short....

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: #EuphratesShield ATGM strike against #YPG from #Afrin.
TOW fired from the top of an US M113....

CrowBat...another Russian "friendly fire".....

Aleppo: #Russia|n warplanes bombed #YPG southwest of #Manbij "by mistake".
AFP news agency
✔
@AFP
#BREAKING Russian jets accidentally bombed US-backed forces in Syria: US general

US: "Several #US-backed fighters (#YPG) were killed or wounded by #Russia|n airstrikes."#US troops were just 5 kilometers away."

EuphratesShield operations vs #SDF/#YPG in areas S.-SW of Arima. Tall Turin after its takeover by FSA.

[OUTLAW 09]

NEW MAP: East #Aleppo | #Syria
#FSA #EuphratesShield advancing against #SDF toward #Manbij.
https://goo.gl/MYEJsT

[CrowBat]

Aleppo: #EuphratesShield ATGM strike against #YPG from #Afrin.
TOW fired from the top of an US M113....

CrowBat...another Russian "friendly fire".....

Aleppo: #Russia|n warplanes bombed #YPG southwest of #Manbij "by mistake".
AFP news agency
✔
@AFP
#BREAKING Russian jets accidentally bombed US-backed forces in Syria: US general

US: "Several #US-backed fighters (#YPG) were killed or wounded by #Russia|n airstrikes."#US troops were just 5 kilometers away."

EuphratesShield operations vs #SDF/#YPG in areas S.-SW of Arima. Tall Turin after its takeover by FSA.
Well, call me a thug, but can't say I'm sorry: the Russians finally hit some 'terrorists' in Syria - though those of the PKK, with which they and the USA love to cooperate.

*************

EDIT Ah yes, in regards of my earlier post with the link to the UN report on that SyAAF attack on the UN/SARC convoy in Urum al-Kubra... My only mistake (if you want to blame me): early on (2-3 days after that air strike), I misunderstood one of my sources, and wrote that this air strike was flown by SyAAF Su-24s (https://warisboring.com/syrias-su-24-bombers-have-become-its-most-proficient-hospital-destroyers-81a26c1444ba#.ogcpeic5e). Actually, it was flown by L-39s.

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey deploys elite commando units in Syria

https://www.dailysabah.com/war-on-terror/2017/03/01/turkey-deploys-elite-commando-units-in-syria


The Turkish Naval Forces Command announced on Wednesday that elite commando troops from the navy have been deployed across Syria [under the scope of Operation Euphrates Shield] as well as to eastern Turkey in the ongoing counter-terror operations carried out against Daesh, the PKK, and the People's Protection Units (YPG) which is the PKK's Syrian affiliate.
The statement said that commando units from the Amphibious Marine Brigade, the Underwater Defense (SAS) and the Underwater Offensive (SAT) operations units, who are known to be among Turkey's elite commando corps, are currently operating in Syria and Turkey against terror groups.
The release also noted that the commando units in question have the capabilities to operate under all ground, air and sea circumstances.
The Naval Forces Command also published the photographs that depict the SAT, SAS, and Amphibious Marine Brigade commandos operating on the ground.
Turkey consistently and simultaneously fights multiple terrorist groups across the country's east and in the northern parts of Syria.
The PKK, which is officially listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the EU, resumed its decades-long campaign against the Turkish state in July 2015.
Since then, the terrorist group has murdered over 800 security personnel and 300 civilians, while also losing some 10,000 militants, who were either killed or apprehended in anti-terror operations.
On Aug. 24, 2016, Turkey launched Operation Euphrates Shield, declaring that is was exercising its right to self-defense, codified under the U.N. Charter Article 51.
A National Security Council press release on November 30, 2016 stated that the operation's objectives were to maintain border security and to confront Daesh terrorism within the framework of the U.N. charter; it also emphasized that the PKK terrorist organization, as well as its affiliates the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and People's Protection Units (YPG), would not be allowed to establish a corridor of terror on Turkey's doorstep.
On February 23, Turkish army and FSA units cleared the northern Syrian town of al-Bab from Daesh terrorists in a successful advanced. On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that Turkey's next target in Syria is the YPG-held town of Manbij.

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: #ISIS has killed #Assad Brigadier General Abdelkarim Yussuf Mohamed in Eastern #Aleppo.


Eliot Higgins‏
Verified account
#@EliotHiggins
How Russia misuses satellite imagery to cover up war crimes committed by itself and its allies
https://medium.com/@DFRLab/lie-in-the-sky-224186b6e98c#.ye2c8u3wd#…

[CrowBat]

They are just as usual a number of months late and several hundreds of thousands of dollars short....
And not only they: I would love to meet any of the US and British intel 'experts' on Syria, who told all the possible talking-heads on the Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and in London, that 'SyAAF can't fly by night'.

Ditto in regards of Russians, of course (Lavrov, for example, made such statements).

Namely: that was one of major 'couldn't have been Syrians' arguments at the time - but also the reason why Moscow had it rather easy with its 'plausible denial'.

[OUTLAW 09]

As predicted, #Turkey appears to be backing an opposition attack on land captured by #YPG in Jan-Feb ’16. Heavy strikes on Tel Rifat today.

[CrowBat]

Yup, seems the Turks - and the FSyA - are going for Manbij, perhaps for Tel Rifa'at too, after all. And AFAIK, that would be impossible without Trump giving at least his 'OK'.

The FSyA already claimed the first village - Tel Turin (https://twitter.com/Conflicts/status/836942357555777537) - for liberated. Some say, Qarah (https://twitter.com/CivilWarMap/status/836951024648740864), too.

Rather sad to see few naive Americans tried to drive in between (https://twitter.com/Furiouskurd/status/836961394000023552) - to no avail, of course.

Also 'of course': Kurds are already complaining about heavy attacks from the TSK/FSyA 'and' the Daesh (https://twitter.com/servankobane/status/836932352689459203) at the same time.

Ironically, when they were cooperating with Daesh and Assadists and Russians to attack the FSyA in the former Azaz pocket, they were not complaining...

Anyway... here an interesting video showing a TSK M113-mounted ATGM-team in action against the PKK (https://twitter.com/op_shield/status/836929140372701184) (i.e. PYD/YPG).

[OUTLAW 09]

The list of senior/prominent jihadis released from prison by #Assad who went on to take leading roles in Nusra, AQ & #ISIS is growing:

[OUTLAW 09]

Did the US use a new, smaller & “extreme precision” weapon to kill AQ Deputy leader in #Syria?

- @Aviation_Intel

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/7914/was-a-new-type-of-drone-launched-weapon-used-to-kill-al-qaedas-2-man?xid=twittershare#…

Photos of the missile strike showed no explosion evidently the kinetic impact of a 400mph missile was enough though....

Interesting is the missile being carried on the Shadow UAV....normally not a long range UAV....such as the Reaper and Predator....and Shadow can be heard far easier and seen far easier....

[OUTLAW 09]

Bound for disaster: The US heavily supplies the YPG in #Manbij, while Turkey deploys tanks, artillery and thousands of rebels to crush them.

[OUTLAW 09]

QUOTE of the day......

We accidentally bombed US-backed rebels who had deliberately placed themselves under our aircraft.

Just like #Russian mechanized brigades "accidently" crossed into #Ukraine and "accidently" engaged Ukrainian forces in massive tank battles.

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: #YPG will divert weapons & fighters from the #Raqqa offensive towards #Manbij, but they can't win against airstrikes & artillery.

US supplied some #Humvees to #YPG in #Manbij. They have also ATGMs. Nothing to worry about. #ISIS had SVBIEDs, ATGMs and IEDs.

Aleppo: Turkish artillery shelling #YPG in villages west of #Arima. #Manbij

Aleppo: Turkish F-16 warplanes bombing #YPG positions west of #Manbij.

[OUTLAW 09]

Interesting article....well worth reading in light of the recent suicide attack in Homs....

Pro-Assad forces compromised. Been the case since 2012.
http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/what-daabuls-death-says-about-jihadism-in-syria#full#

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey has threatened #US to close the #Incirlik Airbase for #US warplanes, if the #US continues to support the #YPG in #Syria.

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: #EuphratesShield forces have killed 7 #YPG fighters in #Hutah village south of #Arima. Fierce clashes ongoing.

Aleppo: Heavy #Assad & #Russia|n airstrikes on #ISIS-held villages in Eastern #Aleppo, including barrel bombs and incendiary ammunition.

[OUTLAW 09]

Turkey has threatened #US to close the #Incirlik Airbase for #US warplanes, if the #US continues to support the #YPG in #Syria.

US caving now.....?????

[CrowBat]

It's not only that neither Americans nor Russians are 'in control' of the situation there (in NE Aleppo governorate): Russians actually have no clue what's up, and by all of their bragging about their high tech and whatever else, they are also proving unable to follow developments at the necessary speed.

But, meanwhile I'm getting an ever stronger feeling that now the CENTCOM is on the best way of falling for its own illusions.

Such feelings are reinforced by such twitter-chains like this one (https://twitter.com/jseldin/status/836985606349729793):

#Around #alBab "all the forces that are acting in #Syria have converged literally w/in hand grenade range of one another"-OIR's LTG Townsend

Well, your 'SDF'-allies they have withdrawn from there, and that was back in August last year. Your Vice-President repeated their promise three times ever since. So, what are they still doing there?

#Russia, #Syria regime aircraft bombed villages "where some of our Syrian Arab Coalition forces" were, per @CJTFOIR's LTG Stephen Townsend

'Syrian Arab Coalition forces'? Is that a new designation for that SDF, i.e. your PKK/YPG/PYD conglomerate?

#ISIS had been in area but LTG Townsend says #Syria|n Arab Coalition forces moved in when #ISIS moved out as regime, #Turks advanced

So, the Russians bombed the 'Syrian Arab Coalition Forces' - because 'ISIS moved out as regime, Turks advanced'? Is he on some sort of dope when making statements of this kind in the public?

"We're considering what it might take to do #safezones" in #Syria, per OIR's Lt Gen Townsend "We haven't been directed to establish any"

"My first question would be #safezones for who from what," says LTG Townsend re: #Syria

How long is the CENTCOM present in Syria? Since yesterday, the day before - or could it be slightly longer?

How long is it monitoring the situation there? But, it still doesn't know the answer?

How about firing them - and suing them too, at least for incompetence, and then for squandering billions of tax-payer's money over all these years - and then finding somebody who knows the answers?

[Azor]

Syria (July 2016)
https://production-tcf.imgix.net/app/uploads/2016/07/25121703/mappy.png?h=592&w=1024



Germany (1618)
http://www.zonu.com/images/0X0/2011-05-23-13739/Germany-at-the-commencement-of-the-Thirty-Years-War-1618.jpg


Perhaps in 350 years students of history will find the Syrian Civil War as chaotic and confusing as the Thirty Years War...

[Azor]

It's not only that neither Americans nor Russians are 'in control' of the situation there (in NE Aleppo governorate): Russians actually have no clue what's up, and by all of their bragging about their high tech and whatever else, they are also proving unable to follow developments at the necessary speed.

But, meanwhile I'm getting an ever stronger feeling that now the CENTCOM is on the best way of falling for its own illusions.

Such feelings are reinforced by such twitter-chains like this one (https://twitter.com/jseldin/status/836985606349729793):

#Around #alBab "all the forces that are acting in #Syria have converged literally w/in hand grenade range of one another"-OIR's LTG Townsend

Well, your 'SDF'-allies they have withdrawn from there, and that was back in August last year. Your Vice-President repeated their promise three times ever since. So, what are they still doing there?

#Russia, #Syria regime aircraft bombed villages "where some of our Syrian Arab Coalition forces" were, per @CJTFOIR's LTG Stephen Townsend

'Syrian Arab Coalition forces'? Is that a new designation for that SDF, i.e. your PKK/YPG/PYD conglomerate?

#ISIS had been in area but LTG Townsend says #Syria|n Arab Coalition forces moved in when #ISIS moved out as regime, #Turks advanced

So, the Russians bombed the 'Syrian Arab Coalition Forces' - because 'ISIS moved out as regime, Turks advanced'? Is he on some sort of dope when making statements of this kind in the public?

"We're considering what it might take to do #safezones" in #Syria, per OIR's Lt Gen Townsend "We haven't been directed to establish any"

"My first question would be #safezones for who from what," says LTG Townsend re: #Syria

How long is the CENTCOM present in Syria? Since yesterday, the day before - or could it be slightly longer?

How long is it monitoring the situation there? But, it still doesn't know the answer?

How about firing them - and suing them too, at least for incompetence, and then for squandering billions of tax-payer's money over all these years - and then finding somebody who knows the answers?

Of course the official US line makes no sense because they are interfering while trying to avoid intervening, trying to contain the spillover of the war without solving it, trying to get the various actors on board with their objectives while ignoring those actors' objectives, and trying to create temporary arrangements of convenience without impacting long-standing alliances.

[Azor]

Did the US use a new, smaller & “extreme precision” weapon to kill AQ Deputy leader in #Syria?

- @Aviation_Intel

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/7914/was-a-new-type-of-drone-launched-weapon-used-to-kill-al-qaedas-2-man?xid=twittershare#…

Photos of the missile strike showed no explosion evidently the kinetic impact of a 400mph missile was enough though....

Interesting is the missile being carried on the Shadow UAV....normally not a long range UAV....such as the Reaper and Predator....and Shadow can be heard far easier and seen far easier....

Well now the ride has a sunroof. What's the problem?

[CrowBat]

Of course the official US line makes no sense because they are interfering while trying to avoid intervening, trying to contain the spillover of the war without solving it, trying to get the various actors on board with their objectives while ignoring those actors' objectives, and trying to create temporary arrangements of convenience without impacting long-standing alliances.
...all of which is a perfectly logical consequence of decades-old policy of either supporting or stubbornly ignoring the actual disease (oppressive dictatorships), while trying to cure the effects of disease.

[CrowBat]

And now comes the - perfectly expected but completely insane - thing: BREAKING: Manbij MC reaches agreement w/ Russia to transfer areas of W. #Manbij to gov. forces (https://twitter.com/Conflicts/status/837239500686376960)

The YPG - that self-declared 'People's Protection Units' - is supposed to be protecting the Kurds ('and others'). But, in this case they simply hand over Manbij to the regime who OPRESSED them, i.e. was and still is slaughtering Kurds by hundreds?

If there is anybody still having any doubts about the fact that the PYD/YPG are the PKK, here you have it. The PKK has 30 years of history of cooperating with Assadists, so no surprise it acts this way (and this after suffering hundreds of casualties - primarily Turkish citizens - while 'liberating' Manbij).

In turn, this means that now the open for the TSK to launch an all-out advance on Manbij. Except Erdo might be happy to see the Quwwat Nimr reach the place as first.

(I would just like to see the faces of all those Syrian Arabs naive enough to let the USA convince them into a cooperation with that 'SDF' comedy: they'll be the first to get slaughtered by Assadists...)

[OUTLAW 09]

Of course the official US line makes no sense because they are interfering while trying to avoid intervening, trying to contain the spillover of the war without solving it, trying to get the various actors on board with their objectives while ignoring those actors' objectives, and trying to create temporary arrangements of convenience without impacting long-standing alliances.

Strange how the #Al_Bab battle was more or less ignored by the Western media.

[OUTLAW 09]

Palmyra: Map shows military situation in and around #Palmyra in Eastern #Homs.

Palmyra: Pro-#Assad forces have confirmed recaptured #Palmyra from #ISIS.

[OUTLAW 09]

And now comes the - perfectly expected but completely insane - thing: BREAKING: Manbij MC reaches agreement w/ Russia to transfer areas of W. #Manbij to gov. forces (https://twitter.com/Conflicts/status/837239500686376960)

The YPG - that self-declared 'People's Protection Units' - is supposed to be protecting the Kurds ('and others'). But, in this case they simply hand over Manbij to the regime who OPRESSED them, i.e. was and still is slaughtering Kurds by hundreds?

If there is anybody still having any doubts about the fact that the PYD/YPG are the PKK, here you have it. The PKK has 30 years of history of cooperating with Assadists, so no surprise it acts this way (and this after suffering hundreds of casualties - primarily Turkish citizens - while 'liberating' Manbij).

In turn, this means that now the open for the TSK to launch an all-out advance on Manbij. Except Erdo might be happy to see the Quwwat Nimr reach the place as first.

(I would just like to see the faces of all those Syrian Arabs naive enough to let the USA convince them into a cooperation with that 'SDF' comedy: they'll be the first to get slaughtered by Assadists...)

The #US proxy #SDF will hand over areas near #Manbij to #Assad so Turkish-backed rebels don't conquer them.
Approved by @CJTFOIR?!?

THAT threat against the US airbase...rally worked did it not?

[OUTLAW 09]

MAP: Manbij Military Council and #Russia make an alliance on western #Manbij (#SDF and #SAA are going to work together !)

Aleppo: No changes on the ground west of #Manbij so far. Another bluff by #YPG? They did the same in #Tal_Rifaat.

So all these villages (in orange) were captured with @CJTFOIR help FOR #ASSAD?!!!
@OIRSpox should consider to react.

[OUTLAW 09]

Erdogan has said today: "#Turkey's new target in #Syria is #Manbij. #Manbij is a city which belongs to Arabs."

AND he is actually correct...was never Kurdish...

[OUTLAW 09]

As a matter of fact the retaking of Palmyra is almost a US-Russian joint operation, just check a sample of reports in the last 10 days

[OUTLAW 09]

Infographic #FSA #Southern_Front Operations Room founded 2017-02-28 & their #ISIS-affilate opponent Khalid ibn al-Walid Army #Daraa #Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express...


HEAVY: #ВМФ Ropucha class LSTMs Cф NF Georgiy Pobedonosets 016 & BSF #ЧФ Yamal 156 transit Med-bound Bosphorus en route to #Tartus #Syria

Following Adm.Grigorovich 494 towards the Med.

ВМФ #ЧФ BSF Ropucha LSTM Tsezar Kunikov 158 returns from its 2nd #Syria deployment in 2017, transits Bosphorus in fog towards the Black Sea

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Naval Syrian Express....

ВМФ Project 862/II Yug class hydrographic survey vessel Donuzlav returned from 133days Med deployment & transited BlackSea-bound Bosphorus

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Naval Syrian Express....


Russian Navy BSF's проекта 11356Р/М Frigate Admiral Grigorovich 494 southbound on the Bosphorus after waiting for 2 days due to heavy fog.

Off to Eastern Med to shadow the US carrier group. Delayed for two days due to the fog in Istanbul. Shows the need for RUS a base in Med.

Close-ups from the Kalibr capable frigate Adm. Grigorovich 494

[OUTLAW 09]

As a matter of fact the retaking of Palmyra is almost a US-Russian joint operation, just check a sample of reports in the last 10 days


Assad's retaking of Palmyra comes after 23 coalition airstrikes on city over the last 8 days - APPEARS to be that Trump is now flying air support for both Assad and Russia....main change of US air campaign under Trump.

[OUTLAW 09]

MAP: Manbij Military Council and #Russia make an alliance on western #Manbij (#SDF and #SAA are going to work together !)

Aleppo: No changes on the ground west of #Manbij so far. Another bluff by #YPG? They did the same in #Tal_Rifaat.

So all these villages (in orange) were captured with @CJTFOIR help FOR #ASSAD?!!!
@OIRSpox should consider to react.


Manbij villages will be handed to Syria government in coming days: local official
http://reut.rs/2lDN82o

SO it appears that in fact the US is now working hand in hand with Assad and Putin...on Trump's orders....

[OUTLAW 09]

Syria Kurdish protests against #Assad -now hand over territory to regime
2004
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEu_LpzQ3oM#
2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIxMn47xOsw#


Charles Lister
✔
@Charles_Lister
This is a big deal:

After very long-drawn out talks, the US-backed SDF have agreed (!) to hand #Manbij's western villages to #Assad regime.

Aleppo: #YPG sends reinforcements from #Raqqa Province to #Manbij and from #Manbij to #Afrin.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian special forces fighter Nefedov Mikhail killed in east Homs @SyriaCasualties (no Russians fighting on the ground apparently)

[OUTLAW 09]

Very strange and unconfirmed reports about clashes & tensions between #HTS and #Ahrar_al_Sham.

[CrowBat]

Reports have it, the 'SAA' - read: Liwa Fatimioun, 4th Division, and Russians - have recovered Palmyra today. I.e. the Daesh didn't even fight, but just evacuated the place.

Ah yes, and I can't stop wondering about PKK's decision to abandon Manbij to Assadists. This is such a completely mindless decision - and a nail in the coffin of the SDF. Brigades like Abu Leyla were fighting Assad long before they joined the SDF to fight the Daesh...

On the contrary: the PKK - i.e. this PYD/YPG comedy - was always an Assad's proxy. It's only so that so far it played the role of 'revolutionary' and 'progressive' (vs. 'Islamist') element for the sake of getting US support, which - as Outlaw correctly observed - is meanwhile support for Assadists too. In the meantime, it ethnically cleansed dozens of thousands of Sunni Arabs from northern Syria, exterminated 14 other political parties of Syrian Kurds, and imposed itself in power over everybody else in that part of Syria.

Without the PKK, Syrian Kurds would almost certainly follow the line of Iraqi Kurds, who are meanwhile in good relations with Turkey. But now, the PKK is going to deliver them to Assad, renowned for decades of racist policies and terror against Kurds...

Now mind this: the primary objective of the OES was always to curb the PKK, i.e. the PYD/YPG. Daesh was 'only' a secondary aim. But, the PKK now places Assad as 'protector of Kurds' - and Assad is so incredibly stupid as to think that Erdogan would back off just because 'Quwwat Nimr' is holding few hamlets around Manbij, and this after Erdogan send the TSK to fight inside Syria because of the PKK...?

BTW, this is an instant recipe for the another, future disaster too - and indeed one that is the actual tragedy in this story. This, namely, will be that this is again going to foster inter-Kurdish differences - perhaps bloody warfare too, as so often in the past. And it's going to expose Syrian Kurds to enmities of local Arabs (in addition to those of Assadists), as double, if not tripple- or more traitors: they'll now not only be blamed as traitors of the revolution, but also for siding with Assad, then with Daesh, then with Americans, and then again with Assad.

This is such a completely dumb, stupid, idiotic idea - but again: so typically PKK.

[Azor]

...all of which is a perfectly logical consequence of decades-old policy of either supporting or stubbornly ignoring the actual disease (oppressive dictatorships), while trying to cure the effects of disease.

Well, hold on.

Both Arab nationalism and Sunni Arab fundamentalism emerged around the same time and place. These movements were caused by the stagnation and decline of the Ottoman Empire as well as European and Christian ascendancy, including colonialism as well as intellectual influences.

The West, including the United States, wanted stability and access to oil, irrespective of whether these conditions were created by monarchs or dictators, Western-oriented advisors or fundamentalist clerics, nationalists or supra-nationalists.

Yet if elements of liberal democracy existed in the Arab world, it was because they were imposed by monarchs and dictators at gunpoint. When Arab nationalism was clearly victorious over Sunni Arab fundamentalism, its energies were wasted on attacking Israel and on establishing kleptocratic dictatorships that were harsher than the monarchies they had originally replaced.

There is no "model" democratic Muslim-majority country, let alone an Arab one. Perhaps post-revolutionary Tunisia will be the first, but that remains to be seen.

The moderate Muslim Sunni Arab democrats are simply too small in number and/or too weak. This is also true of Syria. Even assuming that the Free Syrian Army is comprised fully of moderate and democratic Sunni Arabs, would it have the strength to defeat Assad (without Iranian and Russian support), defeat Nusra, defeat Daesh and impose stability on the country? Or is victory a long-shot and even then, the FSA would be dealing with a disruptive insurgency?

As for the disease, consider that the Western Allies imposed liberal democracy in Germany, Italy, Greece, and Japan, and restored it in France, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Despite considerable Western influence and support (material, organizational), liberal democracy took over 30 years to develop in South Korea, and over 40 in Taiwan, Portugal and Spain.

It was a monumental effort not to have these various countries come under totalitarian rule, and the Arab countries are culturally far more distant from the West than any of the aforementioned...

[OUTLAW 09]

Well, hold on.

Both Arab nationalism and Sunni Arab fundamentalism emerged around the same time and place. These movements were caused by the stagnation and decline of the Ottoman Empire as well as European and Christian ascendancy, including colonialism as well as intellectual influences.

The West, including the United States, wanted stability and access to oil, irrespective of whether these conditions were created by monarchs or dictators, Western-oriented advisors or fundamentalist clerics, nationalists or supra-nationalists.

Yet if elements of liberal democracy existed in the Arab world, it was because they were imposed by monarchs and dictators at gunpoint. When Arab nationalism was clearly victorious over Sunni Arab fundamentalism, its energies were wasted on attacking Israel and on establishing kleptocratic dictatorships that were harsher than the monarchies they had originally replaced.

There is no "model" democratic Muslim-majority country, let alone an Arab one. Perhaps post-revolutionary Tunisia will be the first, but that remains to be seen.

The moderate Muslim Sunni Arab democrats are simply too small in number and/or too weak. This is also true of Syria. Even assuming that the Free Syrian Army is comprised fully of moderate and democratic Sunni Arabs, would it have the strength to defeat Assad (without Iranian and Russian support), defeat Nusra, defeat Daesh and impose stability on the country? Or is victory a long-shot and even then, the FSA would be dealing with a disruptive insurgency?

As for the disease, consider that the Western Allies imposed liberal democracy in Germany, Italy, Greece, and Japan, and restored it in France, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Despite considerable Western influence and support (material, organizational), liberal democracy took over 30 years to develop in South Korea, and over 40 in Taiwan, Portugal and Spain.

It was a monumental effort not to have these various countries come under totalitarian rule, and the Arab countries are culturally far more distant from the West than any of the aforementioned...

What keeps getting mostly forgotten by western MSM and here outside of CrowBat is the simple fact that where FSA has had long term control a form of basic democracy has in fact taken hold with for the ME relatively free and fair local elections..and local governments have in fact been ale to provide the basic community needs and establish a relatively good functioning school system built around secularism.

The key for the ME is actually a Islamic government form built around secularism...that is the path that Tunisia is taking and working hard at making work...coupled with their first attempts at good governance and the rule of law....

Regardless of what one thinks about Turkey right now..that is what drove Turkey almost into the EU before Erdogan jerked to the right nationalism AKP built around an true Islamic state with no secularism....

In Muslim areas that are largely secular you find a high level of tolerance of other religions as well...

[CrowBat]

Well, hold on.

Both Arab nationalism and Sunni Arab fundamentalism emerged around the same time and place. These movements were caused by the stagnation and decline of the Ottoman Empire as well as European and Christian ascendancy, including colonialism as well as intellectual influences.
Strictly speaking, Sunni Arab fundamentalism pre-dated the raise of Arab nationalism.

Fundamentalism can be traced back to at least the Mahdists of Sudan and spread of Sauds and Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia, of 19th Century. In turn, at least the ideology of the latter can be traced back to the 14th Century.

Arab nationalism developed in Syria and then Egypt, of the 19th Century.


The West, including the United States, wanted stability and access to oil, irrespective of whether these conditions were created by monarchs or dictators, Western-oriented advisors or fundamentalist clerics, nationalists or supra-nationalists.It could even be said the USA insisted on local self-determination, while British and French blindly followed their imperialist ambitions and screwed up wherever they only could (see findings of the King-Crane Commission and various of President Willson's demands from 1919-1920 and compare these with Sykes-Picot agreement and all the related nonsense).

So far, 'everything's clear'. What really went wrong was what happened afterwards. The British and the French created a number of states that simply can't survive on their own (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, just for the start), the USA then took over the role of 'protector' of most of these (plus Saudi Arabia and GCC states etc.), while other states were intentionally destabilized (see Yemen).

Of course, all of this supposedly 'in interest of peace and stability', i.e. 'maintenance of status quo' - which is the biggest piece of nonsense in the entire drama. Namely, one can't 'maintain peace and stability' if the fundaments of the situation are oppressive dictatorships. These are only a guarantee for anything else but 'peace and stability'.


Yet if elements of liberal democracy existed in the Arab world, it was because they were imposed by monarchs and dictators at gunpoint.Sorry Azor, but this is really nonsense.

Demands for liberal democracies came into being parallel with revival of the Arab nationalism in the 19th Century. This is obvious in Syrian Arabs forcing Ottoman Sultan to establish a parliament, Egyptians forcing their king to establish a parliamentary monarchy...hell, even the British-imposed king of Kingdom of Syria (existent but never officially acknowledged by the West in period 1919-1920) introduced a parliamentary monarchy etc.

Problem is that most of related developments were never reported in the West at all - or if, that related reporting remains entirely unknown in the West. Just for example: theoretically, I can't know but I'm still 100% sure and perfectly comfortable to say, you have never read Michael Provence's 'The Great Syrian Revolt'.


When Arab nationalism was clearly victorious over Sunni Arab fundamentalism, its energies were wasted on attacking Israel...Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong, all the way.

When this happened (see Egypt of 1952-1955) this Arab nationalism was moronically declared for 'dangerous' and 'destabilizing' and attacked and invaded or involved in nonsensical wars at every possible opportunity.

Nasser was anything but perfect, and certainly a dictator, but few things about him are not 100% but 1000% certain. He smashed the Moslem Brotherhod (i.e. Sunni fundamentalism), and certainly did not want a war with Israel (like none of Arab governments of the 1950s wanted any): he entered peace negotiations with Sharet's government, requested economic aid from the USA, and the British to treat him as equal. What happened in return? USA tried to force him to join a NATO-like METO; British PM cited him to the British embassy on his arrival in Cairo, and Ben Gurion and his 'Hawks' (foremost Dayan) instigated one massacre of Arab civilians after the other, plus a campaign of terror attacks in Egypt (see Lavon Affair) - and publicly preparing a war.

What should Nasser have done in that situation?

Put up a white flag and capitulate?

He requested arms from the USA and the UK in order to protect Egypt. He offered an alternative to the METO in form of a defence pact between Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria. And even then, he did so within the frame of negotiations related to economic development of his country - i.e. the construction of the High Dam in Aswan.

What did he get in return? British continued BS-itting and did their best to spoil that Egypt-SA-Syria pact - simply because it was not their idea; Americans conditioned their aid with basing rights for their military - while France meanwhile entered direct military cooperation with Israel, including deliveries of jet fighters and development of nuclear weapons, and Israel reinforced its attacks on Egypt (and Jordan). In a situation where he just concluded negotiations for a British withdrawal from Egypt, there was simply no way Nasser could accept such conditions. That's what even Dulles said to Eisenhower.

Means: he was left without solution but to order arms from Soviets. And when he did that, he was simply declared for 'Soviet client', although everybody - but especially the USA and the British - knew very well that he was a staunch anti-Communist too (and has completely destroyed the Egyptian Communist Party).

So, instead of continuing negotiations with him, the USA and the UK cancelled their aid for the High Dam, leaving Nasser without solution but to nationalise the Suez Canal in order to finance that project.

BTW, by that time Ben Gurion was already neck-deep in preparations to launch another war, i.e. a land-grab. And in that situation he was contacted with the British and French that were keen to remove Nasser, i.e. invade Egypt and 're-occuppy' the Suez Canal...

This is actual flow of developments there, this is what actually happened, i.e. this is all and undisputedly supported by official documentation - in the USA, in Israel, in Egypt, in the ex-USSR and in the ex-Czechoslovakia.

This is, however, anything but the usual legend we've been taught by the media ever since.

That was the last - golden opportunity - to sort out the things in the Middle East and really create an atmosphere of 'peace and stability'. Instead, Arabs were attacked and attacked, again and again. They were taught that their nationalist governments wouldn't be tollerated, that their anti-Communist governments would be attacked, that their pro-Soviet governments would be attacked, that their monarchies would be de-stabilized etc., etc., etc.

Nothing was 'good enough' for the West. What a surprise then, they returned to fundamentalism... :rolleyes:

And BTW: just because you (don't worry, you're not alone: 99% of other observers of this war are doing the same) prefer to ignore over 400 local councils in Syria - all of them now governed by freely elected representatives and, of course, functioning in areas NOT ruled by Assad (but all the time terrorised by his thugs) - it doesn't mean they do not exist, or are not functional or not important.

EDIT: I've posted a collection of links describing their organization, elections, functions and every-day work at ‘Good Guys’ in Syria: Collection of Links about Civic Authorities (https://medium.com/@x_TomCooper_x/good-guys-in-syria-collection-of-links-about-civic-authorities-in-syria-e54fdaf4c7c9#.yujfi2npw). Please, kindly inform yourself.

[OUTLAW 09]

W. #Aleppo: pro-Regime forces started again offensive on Rebel positions, from Al-Zahra District to Suq Al-Gibs after last attacks failed

[CrowBat]

I've typed my answer to Azor, posted above, in quite some rush, this morning - and also addressed only something like 50% of what he said. Thus, here something like 'Part 2'...


The West, including the United States, wanted stability... Wrong (too).

The West does want oil, but anything else than stability.

How do I come to the idea to say something of that kind? Not because I would be some kind of leftist (or 'liberal' as you call them in the USA). But because there is so much evidence for this. Read Curtis' 'The Unpeople', Provence's 'The Great Arab Revolt', Green's 'Taking Sides', or Barr's 'A Line in the Sand'... if nothing else: get yourself a copy of David's 'Arabs & Israel for Beginners'.

You're going to find literal loads of examples, really no end of instances where all possible Western powers did everything possible to destabilize even friendly governments. Best of all: all these works are more than 'well-supported' by official documentation. Actually, they are based on official documentation.


Yet if elements of liberal democracy existed in the Arab world, it was because they were imposed by monarchs and dictators at gunpoint.There is not a single Arab monarch that ever imposed liberal democracy - at gun point or in any other fashion. There are few upon whom some democracy was imposed by certain 'bimbos' (see Jordan and Kuwait).


There is no "model" democratic Muslim-majority country...Man, Azor... I refuse to believe you're this clueless.

Even if we limit that list to 'functioning and practicising democracies', i.e. take out countries like Morocco or Pakistan... but have you ever checked the demographic composition of democracies like Bangladesh (Islam = state religion, majority of population Moslems), Indonesia (Islam = one of 6 state religions, majority of population Moslems), Malayasia (Islam = state religion), Tunisia... (do I need to go on)...?

Where's the problem? They're not producing enough jihadists for the media you follow to pay attention?


The moderate Muslim Sunni Arab democrats are simply too small in number and/or too weak. This is also true of Syria.Wrong. Simply wrong.

It's wrong whether in regards of Islam in general, or in the specific case of Syria. Majority of fundamentalists or extremists in Syria have been imported - and then primarily by 'private interest groups' of such 'staunch/most important non-NATO US allies' like Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, etc.

Sure, the leader of the HTS (ex-JFS, ex-JAN, ex-AQI etc.) is a Syrian. And yes, he fought in Iraq on Zargawi's side, and was arrested by Assad when returning to Syria. But, before that, he was sent by Assad to Iraq to join the AQI and fight the USA, and after that he was further extremised in Assad's jail - only to then be unleashed upon Syrian secularists.

And, what a surprise (I guess), over the last six years not only his JAN/JFS/HTS is all the time attacking Syrian secularists (and this with wholehearted support of Turkey, Qatar, Kuwait, USA etc.) but so also the Assadists, the IRGC, the Russians, and the Daesh are attacking them (Syrian secularists) first and foremost. Everybody is united in attacking them - and the West in ignoring them.

But, these damn, f...g Syrian secularists just don't want to die away! Instead, they dared organizing free elections for 400 of their local councils, they dared kicking out the JAN/JFS/HTS out of Idlib City, they dare protesting against Assadists whenever Russians stop bombing them, and meanwhile they were as brazen as to write a new constitution of a pluralist, tolerant, and secularist Syria.

Man, considering the history of the US and European foreign policy in general, it's no wonder our governments don't want to even hear about them. I'm actually just waiting for such like Trump to finally nuke them - or let Putler do so.


Even assuming that the Free Syrian Army is comprised fully of moderate and democratic Sunni Arabs, would it have the strength to defeat Assad (without Iranian and Russian support), defeat Nusra, defeat Daesh and impose stability on the country? Or is victory a long-shot and even then, the FSA would be dealing with a disruptive insurgency?
Thanks to all the efforts of the USA, the EU, IRGC, Russia, Assadists and all the other of consorts, this is meanwhile such a distant possibility, that I do not believe it's ever going to happen.

Namely, let's - just for the sake of this discussion - say: some kind of wonder does happen, and somebody there starts supporting the FSyA. For them to defeat Assad and then all the extremists gangs in the country, i.e. with the war and end it, somebody would also have to:

- seriously curb, if not outright block Qatari, Kuwaiti, Saudi, Turkish etc. support for jihadists;

- block the IRGC's military intervention in Syria (at best force the IRGC out of Syria);

- block the Hezbollah's military intervention in Syria (or kick them out), and

- force the Russians to withdraw.

In your opinion: who is in a position to do all of this?

I do not know anybody.

Even if, say (and still: just for the sake of discussion) Trump would be serious about all the nonsense he's babbling without an end: he might be 'anti-Iran', but he and his aides are searching for Iranians in Yemen (where there are none), while entirely unable to find them in Syria. Means: they are either unable of connecting the dots, or can't do so because of their own commercial interests. But foremost: he's entirely out of position to tell the Gulf Arabs to go f... themselves somewhere else (than in Syria). And, how shall he kick the Russians out, please?

Fact is: the situation in Syria is the way it is because there is nobody - and I'll repeat this to emphasise: NOBODY - interested in a pluralist, democratic and free Syria.

Except Syrians, of course (and bar Assadists). But, who and why should anybody care about Syrians?


It was a monumental effort not to have these various countries come under totalitarian rule, and the Arab countries are culturally far more distant from the West than any of the aforementioned...And plenty of other countries around the world did so on their own, and without any kind of 'monumental efforts'. So what?

They 'don't matter because we don't know about them'...?

[OUTLAW 09]

CrowBat...this is major.....he was being accompanied though by Spetsnaz from which we have not heard about any of their loses in the IED strike..there were loses but announced occurring in the Aleppo area....

Russian General blown up in IED blast in Palmyra last week - report
Russian general-mayor Petr Milyukhin seriously wounded in Palmyra a week ago ...lost two legs and one eye so it appears the vehcle are physically targeted...
General was chief of training/study of Russian Western Military District(located from Voronezh to Murmansk)

http://m.fontanka.ru/2017/03/03/101/

[OUTLAW 09]

What #Putin Is Up To
http://www.defenseone.com/threats/2017/03/what-putin/135859/?oref=d-skybox

[OUTLAW 09]

Everyone's attention on #Manbij,gave #Iran the time needed to plan & execute the attacks on #Aleppo western Rural #Map via @abdulwahab2070

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: #EuphratesShield has captured 4 pro-#Assad forces near #Al_Bab today. Another #Assad fighter was killed.

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: #Assad regime attacks in Western #Aleppo failed. Pro-#Assad forces fled the battlefield after rebel counter-attack.

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express....


ВМФ Ropucha cl LSTM #Бф BF Korolev 130 returns from its 3rd #Syria deployment, departs Aegean &transits Marmara-bound Dardanelles

She has returned heavily loaded though...