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davidbfpo
12-31-2016, 01:34 PM
Created for 2017. The previous thread from September-December 2016 had 2683 posts and 64.2k views:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=24539

OUTLAW 09
12-31-2016, 04:02 PM
Damascus: #Russia|n TV shows #Assad regime & #Hezbollah attacks on #Wadi_Barada. #Hezbollah fighter is laughing.

Fighting is still ongoing as of 31 DEC and still no real ceasefire in place...just like the Ukraine Minsk 2 ceasefire is working with ongoing attacks there today and actually everyday...

UNSC set to applaud the so called ceasefire agreement which really is not a ceasefire agreement as long as Assad and Iran keep right on attacking.....

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 09:26 AM
AND that so called Turkish Russian ceasefire...just like Minsk 2 ceasefire..constantly violated by both Russia and her allies.....

Local activists reported at least 10 airstrikes targeted west Aleppo countryside today in day two of #Ceasefire

MORE deliberate air strikes on schools AGAIN....

SCHOOLS=AIR STRIKES=CEASEFIRE....makes sense to anyone other than Assad...Iran...Turkey and Putin????????

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 12:26 PM
Russian SOF in Syria.....

At the start of the video we see them driving down to Joureen from Slinfah
https://youtu.be/WSjKXDQQBVg
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=35.611831&lon=36.222332&z=16&m=b#


RuSOF driving past an empty cluster rocket warhead on Jabal al Akrad @ 1:04 https://youtu.be/WSjKXDQQBVg?t=1m4s#… http://wikimapia.org/#lat=35.683871&lon=36.243950&z=17&m=b#…

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 01:45 PM
Syria #Russia'n Special Forces are now in northern #Hama's Ghab plain

Damascus: New #Assad airstrikes and heavy artillery shelling on #Wadi_Barada.
There are no #JFS fighters in #Wadi_Barada. They have left the valley in 2015.

Russia’s #Hmeimem military operations centre: "#JFS is excluded from the #ceasefire. We can attack them everywhere."

Russia’s #Hmeimem military operations centre: "#Assad regime attacks against #Wadi_Barada don't violate the #ceasefire." #Damascus

What about Ghouta? JaI signed the agreement, regime still attacking.

Russian ceasefires are always "fragile". But why does the media play along and pretend they exist?

Six airstrikes on #WadiBarada right now, seems they stopped the attacks yesterday only bcz of the storm and weather

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 01:56 PM
And the West was once again naive enough to praise #Russia's mock @UN resolution.
Some people never learn, it seems ...


Ceasefire, Russian way.
1 day after @UN PR stunt, #Russian jets resume air strikes on schools&civilians across #Syria.
"You cease, we fire."

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 02:03 PM
E. Qalamoun: BM-21 Grad makes a surprise appearance in a Forces of the Martyr Ahmad Abdo convoy. Neither Ahmad Abdo or Usud al-Sharqiya

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 04:49 PM
And the West was once again naive enough to praise #Russia's mock @UN resolution.
Some people never learn, it seems ...


Ceasefire, Russian way.
1 day after @UN PR stunt, #Russian jets resume air strikes on schools&civilians across #Syria.
"You cease, we fire."


Syria #Assad forces shelling rebel neigborhoods of #Daraa city with mortars

Rebels killed in #WadiBarada #Iran|ian Brig. General Gholam Ali Kalizada who fought Iran-Iraq war while "on duty in #Syria 4 Zeinab Shrine".

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 05:07 PM
#Latakia: #Russia|n airstrikes on Jabal al-Akrad in Northern #Latakia.

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 05:08 PM
Duplicated post

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 05:17 PM
Chechen military police in #Aleppo

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 05:18 PM
WHAT Russian Turkish ceasefire....AND the UNSC says what again??????

Heavy regime shelling in nearly all rebel areas.

Assad/#Russia|n airstrikes in:
- Western #Aleppo
- Northern & Western #Hama
- Northern #Latakia
- #Wadi_Barada

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 07:33 PM
Russian SOF Syrian combat videos.....

Russian ССО ВС РФ (SSO) squad operator Roger in #Syria. The dude with Hezbollah insignia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl9cIlFggp4#

Full frontal of Плохой (Bad), commander of covert #Russian ССО ВС РФ (SSO) squad in #Syria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k4iGRxmSpo#

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 07:35 PM
Interesting comment reference the crashed Syrian bound Russian TU-154...

Aviation expert asks why the Russian Defence Ministry's Tu-154 was far more damaged than planes in similar c-stances (Link is in Russian):http://www.newizv.ru/society/2016-12-31/250710-eshe-odna-strannost-v-tragedii-s-tu-154.html#

OUTLAW 09
01-01-2017, 07:39 PM
In Aleppo, airstrikes by regime/Russia hit Atareb, Brigade 46, Icarda, and several villages in the southern countryside

CrowBat
01-01-2017, 10:06 PM
As expected, 'cease-fire, Russian style': good for Steinmeyer and similar dummies, who can now say, 'there's a cease-fire, and it's only a lil bit violated'...

BTW, the VKS was flying nearly two times as many sorties a day during the last few days of 2016, than the average for most of the year...

OUTLAW 09
01-02-2017, 05:38 AM
As expected, 'cease-fire, Russian style': good for Steinmeyer and similar dummies, who can now say, 'there's a cease-fire, and it's only a lil bit violated'...

BTW, the VKS was flying nearly two times as many sorties a day during the last few days of 2016, than the average for most of the year...

Kind of undermines the public statements by both Russia and Turkey that they are the guarantors of the so called "ceasefire"....

Same exact Russian sleight of hand as with the Ukrainian Minsk 2 ceasefire that they have never implemented a single point of the 11 points ....and still average 30-55 attacks a day on UAF positions

OUTLAW 09
01-02-2017, 06:22 AM
FSA Liwa Shuhuda al-Qaryatayn | banner seen on technical fighting #ISIS along with other groups #EasternQalamoun:
https://youtu.be/n7s5y4-J72A

OUTLAW 09
01-02-2017, 11:52 AM
Reference the crashed TU-154....heading to Aleppo...

This is the second indicator that just might be the core indicator of an onboard explosion of some type......

Debris being pulled out is indicating far far more damage that is normal for a stalled crash.....

Official #Tu154 salvage operation is over. Not a single seat has been recovered. Very few intact bodies recovered.

Slow stalls at lower altitudes and a slow crash into the sea should be producing far more intact bodies....but an explosion even at low altitudes would explain this....

There was a single comment posted immediately after the crash that there had been a small device planted next to the gears of one of the engines...

OUTLAW 09
01-02-2017, 12:03 PM
Picture of eastern #Aleppo today, published by the Russian Army.
No words, just disgust.

OUTLAW 09
01-02-2017, 12:48 PM
In 2016 Regime lost 10 Major Generals, 75 Brig. Generals, 71 Colonels & 35 Lieutenant Colonels (documented names).
http://www.syrianfreearmy.net/showthread.php?t=20782#

OUTLAW 09
01-02-2017, 03:14 PM
Western #Aleppo after the "liberation" of the east.

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 06:01 AM
Nouri al-Maliki: Hashd al-Shaabi may go to Syria if necessary
http://v.aa.com.tr/719062

All Syrian rebels groups refuse to begin so called "peace talks" due to the continued Assad attacks on them WHICH was suppose to stop under the Russian Turkish so called ceasefire.....

REMEMBER Turkey and Russia both claimed to be the guarantors of the ceasefire plan....

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 08:56 AM
Russian Syrian Express....

AnotherDayAnotherRopucha The first Ropucha to pass through the Turkish Straits in 2017 is [drum roll] Alexander Shabalin.

BUT WAIT...Russian MoD announced they would be now leaving Syria....not sending more in....

BМФ #ВФ aux fleet cargo vessel Dvinitsa-50 observed in Novorossiysk next to Russia flag tanker Tigran Martirosyan

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 08:57 AM
Key point for US media: A lie is not an alternative point of view– Lithuania combats Russia propaganda
http://nyti.ms/2iDtBgi

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 09:15 AM
When the Trump voiced concept of FP (meaning tweeting with no thoughts and knowledge) especially for the ME....Iran...Russia becomes the standard we are all in serious trouble....REMEMBER his new spokesperson stated that "all major Trump announcements will be made by Twitter"....we just saw it today with his NK/China tweet.....

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 09:42 AM
Declaration by Thwar alSham and the Army of the Mujahideen as reply to #Moscow, to clarify that they didnt join the national reconciliation.

So did Russia and Turkey lie about who actually joined the ceasefire????

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 09:52 AM
Russian Army Publishes Pictures of Aleppo Ruins:
https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/russian-army-publishes-pictures-of-aleppo-ruins-56716#

Images leave little doubt as to the hellish nature of existence during the final days inside this anti-Assad enclave.
Jan 2, 2017 — 20:09

REMEMBER it was actually the Russian Syrian Ambassador in Damascus in a public interview who stated..."Assad has no plans to attack Aleppo...that is nothing but rebel propaganda"....



The Russian Ministry of Defense has published sobering images of eastern Aleppo after what they describe as its “liberation.”

The pictures show Russian military engineers and de-miners working in an abandoned city. Singed shells of cars, collapsed multiple story buildings, and a collection of rockets, mortars and mines leave little doubt as to the hellish nature of existence during the final days inside this anti-Assad enclave.

It was reported that 80,000 people remained trapped in these districts during the last days of intense bombardment in November and early December
The city was finally taken by Russian-backed forces in the second week of December.

According to the U.N., over 400,000 people died in Aleppo during the 5 years and 9 months of fighting.#At least 463 civilians, and 62 children, were killed in the eastern districts since mid-November alone, says the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Russian military support, firepower and planning were central in Assad’s assault on the city. For much of the battle, the Russian authorities, and sympathetic news stations, asserted that only "terrorists and their sympathizers" remained behind in the eastern part of the city. This was disputed by other regional powers, including Turkey.

There have been reports of war crimes on both sides, but particularly by advancing regime forces. The U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon highlighted “credible” cases of over 80 alleged executions of civilians by regime forces in the hours and days after rebel forces left the city. The evidence the U.N. claimed to have suggested that they were killed using handguns.

Both Russia and the Assad regime have denied the executions.



Russian EOD spent their time largely destroying Russian munitions not IEDs planted by the rebels...

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 10:00 AM
Russia repeating the same exact tactics they used on Aleppo now on Idlib...their next target as declared by Assad....

Heavy #Russian overnight air strikes on civilian infrastructure in #Idlib city.
Ongoing right now

The #Russian air force conducts air strikes south west of #Aleppo as we speak.

Russian/regime jets continue bombing rebels in Idlib, Rif Dimashq on 4th day of ceasefire. #Isis meanwhile, continues to advance in Homs

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 10:03 AM
Russia Today is stepping up it's propaganda and disinformation against Germany using their media outlet based in Germany.....

Auch dieser „virale“ @RT_Deutsch-#Propaganda-Versuch zu Syrien lässt sich problemlos widerlegen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFciy1IhYkU#…

IT actually appears that a single German MSM media outlet BILD is the only German media outlet actively confronting Russian disinformation and propaganda...every single German propaganda/disinformation article that RT and Sputnik publish is actively countered by BILD......

THIS is exactly how one pushes back on active Russian info warfare....

The German neo right party AfD has shown a proRussian side in their statements supporting Crimea/Putin and support for Assad
They claim when confronted about this ad...it is a single case....they are lying to cover it up....this type of ad has appeared in a number of German locations...

Right now AfD is tracking at 12% nationwide...will weaken CDU/CSU but not derail Merkel....

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 10:09 AM
WadiBarada: massive airstrike on Ain Al-Fijah. Area of ~400 m targeted & main water facility supplying #Damascus nearly hit (again).

Air strikes on the #Barada village which #Russia says is not part of the nationwide ceasefire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgoE1jiI2EA#…


Russian AF and Turkish AF flying now joints attacks on al Bab....USAF still flying attacks for Kurdish YPG/PKK....how much more convoluted can this get now...enter Trump on 20 JAN and it will get interesting in a hurry....

As #Turkey & #Russia perform intense air & artillery strikes on #ISIS-held al-Bab, more & more pix emerge,similar to what we saw in #Aleppo.

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 10:19 AM
Syria's armed opposition ceases all consideration of attending #Astana peace negotiations due to regime's consistent ceasefire violations:

THIS is a "calling out of Turkey and Russia as they signed up to be guarantors" and have not done a single thing except state things are going well considering.....

AND the UNSC.....lost in space and shopping somewhere inside New York city...AND they signed up to support this so called ceasefire....

According to @snhr, the #Assad regime & #Russia were responsible for 75% of civilian deaths in #Syria in 2016.
(12,703 of 16,913 total)

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 10:26 AM
Hardline clerics are piling pressure on Ahrar al-Sham to merge with JFS & others - leaking internal advocates & publicly calling for unity:

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
I'm told by Ahrar al-Sham insiders that opponents of a JFS merger are being threatened w their lives unless they change their position.

According to one of those [leadership] sources, JFS is actively trying to "force" the merger, but "it still won't happen."

An apparent US drone strike killed several senior JFS/AQ figures in #Idlib today, inc. Abu Omar al-Turkistani; a lead figure in unity talks.

SO is the US actively trying to derail any unity talks??????

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 10:30 AM
Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
The last two major speeches from #IS leaders have singled #Turkey out as the primary target because of Ankara's war against #IS.

When #IS's caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, last spoke, on 2 NOV 2016, he said #Turkey was a "priority for your jihad"
https://goo.gl/fLC5UN

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 10:32 AM
Foreign Policy ‏@ForeignPolicy
The arc of history is long, but it won't ever judge Obama's Syria policy kindly.
http://atfp.co/2hBkW0w

ISW ‏@TheStudyofWar Jan 1
US interests in #Syria include preventing expansion of Iranian/Russian sphere of influence -

Syria #Assad's SyriaTel Mobile communications back in eastern #Aleppo & #Raqqa after 3 years

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 10:36 AM
Hacking warning......
How smartphones can be turned into spying devices with a simple app available on the net.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-01-01/world/spyware-app-turns-phone-thiefs-life-into-movie-g9r5s7rgn#

CrowBat
01-03-2017, 10:36 AM
An apparent US drone strike killed several senior JFS/AQ figures in #Idlib today, inc. Abu Omar al-Turkistani; a lead figure in unity talks.

SO is the US actively trying to derail any unity talks??????If so, it's the first sane US decision related to Syria since...

...hm...since King-Crane Commission's findings of 1919...?

(EDIT: <= filles a memorandum to remind himself of the story that 'even' a broken watch is showing correct time twice a day....)

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 10:41 AM
Woman killed, 3 civilians including a child injured, in #Russian air strikes on #KhanShaykhun, #Idlib province.

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 10:45 AM
What the heck is this........Egypt now out of control..???????

Egyptian anchor non-sarcastically announces a US-UK-Iran-Turkey-ISIS-Hezbollah-Hamas-JS conspiracy vs Egypt security

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 11:11 AM
Russian Army Publishes Pictures of Aleppo Ruins:
https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/russian-army-publishes-pictures-of-aleppo-ruins-56716#

Images leave little doubt as to the hellish nature of existence during the final days inside this anti-Assad enclave.
Jan 2, 2017 — 20:09

REMEMBER it was actually the Russian Syrian Ambassador in Damascus in a public interview who stated..."Assad has no plans to attack Aleppo...that is nothing but rebel propaganda"....




Russian EOD spent their time largely destroying Russian munitions not IEDs planted by the rebels...

MORE Russian Aleppo EOD photos..

Azor
01-03-2017, 03:51 PM
But political settlement comes with some big catches (https://warisboring.com/after-the-syrian-regime-recaptures-a-neighborhood-the-reconciliation-begins-820a7bf9146e#.haxy4smtq)

by BENEDETTA ARGENTIERI

In early November 2016, Syrian regime officials were clear. “Once Aleppo is retaken, there is going to be a turn in the war,” a source said on the sidelines of a conference organized by the British Syrian Society at Damascus University.

“President Bashar Al Assad is ready to start a peace process throughout the country,” the source continued.

The turning point for Al Assad came in September 2015, when Moscow decisively boosted its support of the Syrian regime. Without Russians troops, Al Assad would have lost the country.

Now it’s the opposite. Now he’s winning the war.

But to actually bring Syrian territory back under full state control, Al Assad must embark on some kind of political reunification process. It’s already beginning.

On Dec. 23, 2016, the Syrian Arab Army retook Aleppo. A week later, Moscow and Damascus brokered a new, albeit fragile, ceasefire with rebel forces. Russian president Vladimir Putin was even able to convince Turkey and Iran to back the ceasefire.

Russia claimed the ceasefire was part of the reconciliation process.
While Syrian and Russian forces advanced and recaptured swathes of the country, the Ministry of National Reconciliation — established in 2012 — worked behind the scenes to hash out compromises and end the fighting in some neighborhoods.

“There can’t be peace without a political solution,” Elia Samman, a political advisor to Minister of National Reconciliation Ali Haider — who is also the leader of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party — told War Is Boring.

The SSNP, which has also branches in both Lebanon and Palestine, was established in 1932. Historically right-wing — although in 1967 the party made an ideological shift toward the left — the SSNP is secular and advocates for a unified Syria. The group fought in Lebanon during that country’s civil war.
In fact, the first female suicide bomber in the region was affiliated with the SSNP. Sixteen-year-old Sana’a Mehaidli blew herself up among Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon in 1985, killing two people.

According to Samman, in 2011 the party took to the streets in Syria with the anti-Al Assad protestors — although some critics claim that’s a lie. When violence broke out, the SSNP decided to back the regime and the much-hated Ba’ath party. No fewer than 6,000 SSNP fighters have fought on the side of the Syrian regime.
Nonetheless, most of the SSNP’s detractors believe the group is a regime puppet. “They do nothing without the regime’s permission,” one informed source said on condition of anonymity. People are still getting arrested, some disappeared. The reconciliation ministry has forced young men to enlist in regime forces.

Yes, the minister is an opposition leader. But the ministry’s bureaucrats are all from the regime’s dominant Ba’ath Party. “This reconciliation process is a farce,” the source said.

The ministry’s description of the reconciliation process is, well, different — needless to say. “Since I started working in the ministry, I’ve had at least four attempts on my life by terrorists who didn’t want us to succeed,” Haider said at the Damascus conference.

The reconciliation ministry claims to have worked with two million people inside of Syria — and likes to tout examples of its self-described “success.”
One is the town of Qudsaya, which the Syrian army recaptured in mid-October 2016 following a five-year siege. The neighborhood is a 20-minute drive from the center of Damascus. Several checkpoints control the uphill road that leads into the neighborhood.

Although granted permission by the Defense Ministry to visit, War Is Boring was refused entry at the last checkpoint. Soldiers claimed there were security problems. In fact, it’s likely the refusal was the result of some internal power struggle.

As part of the reconciliation process, some moderate and secular rebels man checkpoints alongside the Syrian police. According to the ministry, this arrangement gets sorted out on a local basis. As military pressure intensifies on a neighborhood, special envoys from the ministry work to forge a local peace agreement.

As leverage, the ministry offers to restore electricity and water services. In Modamayeh in the Damascus suburbs, the reconciliation deal included the promise that “the city will become like paradise after the settlement and will be serviced with everything,” according to the regime.

“In normal circumstances the process for the fighters is divided into three parts,” Samman explained. The first step is for combatants to stop fighting. Then the regime offers offer amnesty to secular rebels who aren’t under suspicion of committing war crimes. Islamist fighters supposedly get safe passage to Idlib.

In recent years, the regime has extended 50,000 pardons, according to Samman. On a few occasions rebels have begun working alongside Al Assad’s police and army. They also get a government stipend of $50 a month.

Displaced civilians from reconciled communities must go through a background check, after which the regime allows them to return to their homes.

The real problem is for men between the ages of 18 and 25. Since 2011, the Syrian government has extended the standard, two-year military conscription to five years. A stop-loss policy is also in place — preventing, on an emergency basis, conscripts from leaving military service.

The only way to avoid military service is to enroll in a school or university. Education in Syria is free, technically — but space in any given institution is limited. As a result, young men with money rush to register at one of Syria’s private schools. Thousands more young men simply leave the country to avoid conscription.

The regime gives young men six months to sort out their education status — after which they’re subject to arrest if they don’t enlist.

One of the most controversial aspects of the reconciliation process is the safe passage to Idlib that the Syrian government claims to offer to Islamist rebels. Safe passage was the brainchild of U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Staffan De Mistura, who originally fought to get Al Nusra fighters in Aleppo a way out of the city. “I am ready to physically accompany you,” De Mistura said on Oct. 6, 2016.

The regime decided to extend the same invitation to all rebels in Aleppo — and indeed, even organized several convoys of green school buses. Idlib became a sort of haven for Islamic fighters. Many others fled Aleppo for nearby Turkey.

“They can either going to Idlib and be killed later or fight and be killed now,” Fares Shehabi, Aleppo representative in Syria’s parliament, told War Is Boring during the regime’s siege of the city in the fall of 2016.

In Aleppo a Syrian general, a Russian general and a local sheikh jointly oversee the reconciliation process. Before the end of the fighting, the regime compelled all the civilians in East Aleppo to go to Jebrin, just outside the city. The government transformed empty hangars into security centers where Syrian intelligence agencies and the army ran background checks on everybody.

Some people were arrested. Several men got drafted into the military.
In parallel with the regime’s main efforts, Russia has been running its own, allegedly more aggressive, reconciliation process. While the Syrian government claims to have closed 76 reconciliation deals in four years, the Russian government says its own tally is much greater.

“The total number of inhabited areas, the leaders of which had signed reconciliation agreements, remained 1077,” the latest Russian informational bulletin claimed. “The number of ceasefire application forms signed with leaders of armed groups remained 94.”

Experts in Damascus said they are skeptical of the number, although none dared challenge the statistics in public.

But even Samman admitted that reconciliation is, at best, a band-aid. A permanent peace requires changes to the Syrian constitution, he said. “Otherwise in two years’ time, we will have a new conflict.”

Still, Samman said he’s confident Al Assad’s regime will negotiate any fundamental legal changes from a position of strength. “On the political level, nobody has a chance of beating Assad and the Baath Party,” Samman said. “After winning the war, he will be a national hero.”

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 04:28 PM
But political settlement comes with some big catches (https://warisboring.com/after-the-syrian-regime-recaptures-a-neighborhood-the-reconciliation-begins-820a7bf9146e#.haxy4smtq)

by BENEDETTA ARGENTIERI

In early November 2016, Syrian regime officials were clear. “Once Aleppo is retaken, there is going to be a turn in the war,” a source said on the sidelines of a conference organized by the British Syrian Society at Damascus University.

“President Bashar Al Assad is ready to start a peace process throughout the country,” the source continued.

The turning point for Al Assad came in September 2015, when Moscow decisively boosted its support of the Syrian regime. Without Russians troops, Al Assad would have lost the country.

Now it’s the opposite. Now he’s winning the war.

But to actually bring Syrian territory back under full state control, Al Assad must embark on some kind of political reunification process. It’s already beginning.

On Dec. 23, 2016, the Syrian Arab Army retook Aleppo. A week later, Moscow and Damascus brokered a new, albeit fragile, ceasefire with rebel forces. Russian president Vladimir Putin was even able to convince Turkey and Iran to back the ceasefire.

Russia claimed the ceasefire was part of the reconciliation process.
While Syrian and Russian forces advanced and recaptured swathes of the country, the Ministry of National Reconciliation — established in 2012 — worked behind the scenes to hash out compromises and end the fighting in some neighborhoods.

“There can’t be peace without a political solution,” Elia Samman, a political advisor to Minister of National Reconciliation Ali Haider — who is also the leader of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party — told War Is Boring.

The SSNP, which has also branches in both Lebanon and Palestine, was established in 1932. Historically right-wing — although in 1967 the party made an ideological shift toward the left — the SSNP is secular and advocates for a unified Syria. The group fought in Lebanon during that country’s civil war.
In fact, the first female suicide bomber in the region was affiliated with the SSNP. Sixteen-year-old Sana’a Mehaidli blew herself up among Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon in 1985, killing two people.

According to Samman, in 2011 the party took to the streets in Syria with the anti-Al Assad protestors — although some critics claim that’s a lie. When violence broke out, the SSNP decided to back the regime and the much-hated Ba’ath party. No fewer than 6,000 SSNP fighters have fought on the side of the Syrian regime.
Nonetheless, most of the SSNP’s detractors believe the group is a regime puppet. “They do nothing without the regime’s permission,” one informed source said on condition of anonymity. People are still getting arrested, some disappeared. The reconciliation ministry has forced young men to enlist in regime forces.

Yes, the minister is an opposition leader. But the ministry’s bureaucrats are all from the regime’s dominant Ba’ath Party. “This reconciliation process is a farce,” the source said.

The ministry’s description of the reconciliation process is, well, different — needless to say. “Since I started working in the ministry, I’ve had at least four attempts on my life by terrorists who didn’t want us to succeed,” Haider said at the Damascus conference.

The reconciliation ministry claims to have worked with two million people inside of Syria — and likes to tout examples of its self-described “success.”
One is the town of Qudsaya, which the Syrian army recaptured in mid-October 2016 following a five-year siege. The neighborhood is a 20-minute drive from the center of Damascus. Several checkpoints control the uphill road that leads into the neighborhood.

Although granted permission by the Defense Ministry to visit, War Is Boring was refused entry at the last checkpoint. Soldiers claimed there were security problems. In fact, it’s likely the refusal was the result of some internal power struggle.

As part of the reconciliation process, some moderate and secular rebels man checkpoints alongside the Syrian police. According to the ministry, this arrangement gets sorted out on a local basis. As military pressure intensifies on a neighborhood, special envoys from the ministry work to forge a local peace agreement.

As leverage, the ministry offers to restore electricity and water services. In Modamayeh in the Damascus suburbs, the reconciliation deal included the promise that “the city will become like paradise after the settlement and will be serviced with everything,” according to the regime.

“In normal circumstances the process for the fighters is divided into three parts,” Samman explained. The first step is for combatants to stop fighting. Then the regime offers offer amnesty to secular rebels who aren’t under suspicion of committing war crimes. Islamist fighters supposedly get safe passage to Idlib.

In recent years, the regime has extended 50,000 pardons, according to Samman. On a few occasions rebels have begun working alongside Al Assad’s police and army. They also get a government stipend of $50 a month.

Displaced civilians from reconciled communities must go through a background check, after which the regime allows them to return to their homes.

The real problem is for men between the ages of 18 and 25. Since 2011, the Syrian government has extended the standard, two-year military conscription to five years. A stop-loss policy is also in place — preventing, on an emergency basis, conscripts from leaving military service.

The only way to avoid military service is to enroll in a school or university. Education in Syria is free, technically — but space in any given institution is limited. As a result, young men with money rush to register at one of Syria’s private schools. Thousands more young men simply leave the country to avoid conscription.

The regime gives young men six months to sort out their education status — after which they’re subject to arrest if they don’t enlist.

One of the most controversial aspects of the reconciliation process is the safe passage to Idlib that the Syrian government claims to offer to Islamist rebels. Safe passage was the brainchild of U.N. Special Envoy to Syria Staffan De Mistura, who originally fought to get Al Nusra fighters in Aleppo a way out of the city. “I am ready to physically accompany you,” De Mistura said on Oct. 6, 2016.

The regime decided to extend the same invitation to all rebels in Aleppo — and indeed, even organized several convoys of green school buses. Idlib became a sort of haven for Islamic fighters. Many others fled Aleppo for nearby Turkey.

“They can either going to Idlib and be killed later or fight and be killed now,” Fares Shehabi, Aleppo representative in Syria’s parliament, told War Is Boring during the regime’s siege of the city in the fall of 2016.

In Aleppo a Syrian general, a Russian general and a local sheikh jointly oversee the reconciliation process. Before the end of the fighting, the regime compelled all the civilians in East Aleppo to go to Jebrin, just outside the city. The government transformed empty hangars into security centers where Syrian intelligence agencies and the army ran background checks on everybody.

Some people were arrested. Several men got drafted into the military.
In parallel with the regime’s main efforts, Russia has been running its own, allegedly more aggressive, reconciliation process. While the Syrian government claims to have closed 76 reconciliation deals in four years, the Russian government says its own tally is much greater.

“The total number of inhabited areas, the leaders of which had signed reconciliation agreements, remained 1077,” the latest Russian informational bulletin claimed. “The number of ceasefire application forms signed with leaders of armed groups remained 94.”

Experts in Damascus said they are skeptical of the number, although none dared challenge the statistics in public.

But even Samman admitted that reconciliation is, at best, a band-aid. A permanent peace requires changes to the Syrian constitution, he said. “Otherwise in two years’ time, we will have a new conflict.”

Still, Samman said he’s confident Al Assad’s regime will negotiate any fundamental legal changes from a position of strength. “On the political level, nobody has a chance of beating Assad and the Baath Party,” Samman said. “After winning the war, he will be a national hero.”

Let's just see where one is to begin with this so called article....

1. there is no "current ceasefire that is actually working"...was just a distraction to allow Assad and Iran using Russian support to continue fighting

2. to believe Assad with the current level of troops which are largely Iranian ...Iraqi Shia militias and Hezbollah can recapture the entire country is an outright farce of a myth

3. even if Assad took the cities all the country through which the LOCs to each of those towns would be rebel controlled and open game for a true guerrilla war that would last decades

4. the country is so destroyed as well as the critical infrastructure and agriculture it would take BILLIONS to reconstruct BILLIONS ehich neither Iran and or Putin have to spend on Syria when they need every dime they have themselves....

5. Assad and his merry band will eventually be charged with war crimes under ICC and if they ever stepped foot in a Western country they would be arrested...

6. so exactly how is FSA then to reconcile with Assad....actually never.....

The two core issues removal of Assad a genocidal dictator and a one sided Constitution is not discussed in this article.....

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 04:42 PM
Why did you WikiLeaks withhold key Russian documents in the Syria files?
http://gizmodo.com/wikileaks-may-have-withheld-key-russian-documents-from-1786445992#

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 05:19 PM
Damascus: Rebels have repelled all #Assad regime attacks on #Wadi_Barada and killed many pro-#Assad forces today.

BTW...there is not a single JFS and are IS in this town.....

The #Wadi_Barada rebels are tough fighters.

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 05:33 PM
Latakia: #Russia|n airstrikes on Jabal al-Akrad in Northern #Latakia this evening.

Palmyra: #ISIS has repelled another #Assad regime attempt to recapture #Sharifah village. Heavy fighting at #Tiyas Airbase. #Homs

Idlib: Heavy #US airstrikes on #JFS Headquarters near #Sarmada in #Idlib Province today. Many were killed.

Damascus: #Russia|n TV shows #Assad regime attacks on #Wadi_Barada during the "#ceasefire".

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 05:35 PM
Idlib: Rebels shelling #Fuah and #Kefraya with Grad rockets after nonstop #ceasefire violations by the #Assad regime.

Hama: #Assad airstrikes have destroyed a mosque in Northern #Hama today.

OUTLAW 09
01-03-2017, 05:48 PM
Russian Syria Express.....

Russian Navy Ropucha class landing ship Aleksandr Shabalin 110 southbound on the bosphorus, heading towards Syria.

Azor
01-03-2017, 06:08 PM
Let's just see where one is to begin with this so called article....

1. there is no "current ceasefire that is actually working"...was just a distraction to allow Assad and Iran using Russian support to continue fighting

2. to believe Assad with the current level of troops which are largely Iranian ...Iraqi Shia militias and Hezbollah can recapture the entire country is an outright farce of a myth

3. even if Assad took the cities all the country through which the LOCs to each of those towns would be rebel controlled and open game for a true guerrilla war that would last decades

4. the country is so destroyed as well as the critical infrastructure and agriculture it would take BILLIONS to reconstruct BILLIONS ehich neither Iran and or Putin have to spend on Syria when they need every dime they have themselves....

5. Assad and his merry band will eventually be charged with war crimes under ICC and if they ever stepped foot in a Western country they would be arrested...

6. so exactly how is FSA then to reconcile with Assad....actually never.....

The two core issues removal of Assad a genocidal dictator and a one sided Constitution is not discussed in this article.....

Note that I didn't post this article because I necessarily agreed with it...

RE:

1. It seemed to me that the latest abortive ceasefire was never adhered to by either Damascus or Teheran, despite their supposed inclusion, and that this was merely a political stunt by Ankara and Moscow to embarrass the United States.

2. Agreed. In hindsight, the only faction capable of conquering Sunni Arab Syria and perhaps all of Syria, was Daesh. I say this strictly from the perspective of organization and resources (Iraqi manpower, eastern Syrian oil and gas), as Daesh's ideology was its own undoing. Now, I can't see any one faction succeeding, although there is a coalition of sorts between the secular or moderate Sunni Arabs and the Islamist ones, on the basis of oppression by Alawites and Shias on the one hand, and Kurds on the other. I doubt that the opposition will be able to mobilize enough undecided Christians and Druze, or turn those on Assad's side...

3. Also agreed. Assad couldn't hold both the cities and lock down the borders to prevent supplies aiding a rural insurgency.

4. Remember the "Pottery Barn rule"? I hope that Russia and Iran have been contributing to a reconstruction fund...

5. Which is why if he steps down, he will be offered asylum in Iran most likely.

6. There is no one capable of imposing a ceasefire in Syria in order for truth and reconciliation to begin, and certainly neither Iran nor Russia want to deal with the truth of the matter that Assad is dependent upon foreign support...

OUTLAW 09
01-04-2017, 05:49 AM
Note that I didn't post this article because I necessarily agreed with it...

RE:

1. It seemed to me that the latest abortive ceasefire was never adhered to by either Damascus or Teheran, despite their supposed inclusion, and that this was merely a political stunt by Ankara and Moscow to embarrass the United States.

2. Agreed. In hindsight, the only faction capable of conquering Sunni Arab Syria and perhaps all of Syria, was Daesh. I say this strictly from the perspective of organization and resources (Iraqi manpower, eastern Syrian oil and gas), as Daesh's ideology was its own undoing. Now, I can't see any one faction succeeding, although there is a coalition of sorts between the secular or moderate Sunni Arabs and the Islamist ones, on the basis of oppression by Alawites and Shias on the one hand, and Kurds on the other. I doubt that the opposition will be able to mobilize enough undecided Christians and Druze, or turn those on Assad's side...

3. Also agreed. Assad couldn't hold both the cities and lock down the borders to prevent supplies aiding a rural insurgency.

4. Remember the "Pottery Barn rule"? I hope that Russia and Iran have been contributing to a reconstruction fund...

5. Which is why if he steps down, he will be offered asylum in Iran most likely.

6. There is no one capable of imposing a ceasefire in Syria in order for truth and reconciliation to begin, and certainly neither Iran nor Russia want to deal with the truth of the matter that Assad is dependent upon foreign support...

Azor.....seems we agreed across the board for a change....hope your slide into the New Year was great.

Here is the kicker....Russia has a standard battle tactic whether in eastern Ukraine or Syria......get the other side to talk and talk and talk and then get them into a ceasefire which usually they tend to try to hold to in order then to not be accused by Russia and often the US of violating the so called ceasefire.......

We see that right now in eastern Ukraine where Russia claimed a Christmas ceasefire BUT the attacks have been massive and often and the UAF has been attempting to hold to it...

The same thing for the FSA right now...for the first three days the FSA held strictly to the Russian/Turkish ceasefire while within hours Assad with support from Hezbollah and RuAF started immediately to attack FSA positions.

IF and this is a big IF...if Russia and Turkey were truly interested in holding the ceasefire.....both could simply bomb Hezbollah and Assad positons a few times and you would see a sudden stop of the attacks....

BUT here is the next kicker...Russian and Assad positions are the same...they both are interested in destroying FSA regardless of how sweetly Russia talks at the UN about peace in Syria....

REMEMBER it was the Russian Damascus Ambassador who before the Assad attack on Aleppo publicly stated in a major interview that Assad would not be attacking Aleppo and then surprise surprise Russian bombed and attacked as much as Assad Aleppo....

I call this Russian tactic....simply "the talking attack".........

OUTLAW 09
01-04-2017, 10:09 AM
From a great social media open source analysis group....bellingcat......

Wadi Barada – What Happened to Damascus’s Water? via @bellingcat
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/01/04/wadi-barada-happened-damascuss-water/#

OUTLAW 09
01-04-2017, 10:16 AM
Russian Syrian Naval Express

Project 733S, #ВМФ Okhtenskiy class rescue tug BSF #ЧФ SB-5 transits Bosphorus towards Black Sea after 70 days Mediterranean deployment

It was deployed to tow the Russian aircraft carrier if it broke down.....

Rumors persist that the Russian aircraft carrier will be returning to Russia at the end of this month....

OUTLAW 09
01-04-2017, 10:20 AM
HERE comes the Russian Chechen intervention into Syria....started with their so called MP BNs....but now "special BN troops".....

Chechen Special Battalions Sent to Syria as Reinforcements #Russia
https://jamestown.org/program/chechen-special-battalions-sent-syria-reinforcements/#

They only answer to the leader of Chechnya .....as they are his own personal Pretorian Guard units.....

OUTLAW 09
01-04-2017, 10:24 AM
Turkey growing a backbone....seriously doubt it...they got fooled as much as the FSA did by Russia and now must live with the consequences of a typically failed Russian ceasefire plan they signed onto...

Turkish foreign minister calls on Iran to stop truce violations in Syria
http://reut.rs/2iGXGiX

The only thing that will get Assad's....Khamenei's and Putin's attention is if Turkish forces directly bombed Hezbollah and Assad positions as a warning that they are violating the ceasefire....

OUTLAW 09
01-04-2017, 05:22 PM
"Back to normal".
Four towns bombed in #Hama today.
Prequel to the pro-#Assad forces offensive northwards, I would say.

"In response to the ceasefire violations", rebel fired Grad missiles vs. pro-#Assad forces in #Jurin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0F6ZpPF7q8#

AND Russia really cares about their own ceasefire....not really as they are participating in those attacks by not stopping them as their are one of the ceasefire guarantors...

Idlib: #Assad helicopters dropped barrel bombs on #Khan_Shaykhun in Southern #Idlib.

Air strikes also hit #Hama province today. Morek seen in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymegGvN-ENo#

126th #SyriaCeasefire violation: regime helicopters drop large explosive containers on Kafrzeta in north rural Hama (6 hrs ago).

127th #SyriaCeasefire violation: regime artillery attack of 3 towns (Hazarma, Zreikia, & Hush al-Salhiye) in rural Damascus (5 hrs ago).

OUTLAW 09
01-04-2017, 05:31 PM
Russian Syrian Express....

Supposedly Haifa-bound but going to #Tartus #Syria , Russia flag Ro-Ro Alexandr Tkachenko transited Bosphorus carrying military trucks

Azor
01-05-2017, 03:40 AM
Azor...seems we agreed across the board for a change...hope your slide into the New Year was great.

And you as wel!


Here is the kicker...Russia has a standard battle tactic whether in eastern Ukraine or Syria...get the other side to talk and talk and talk and then get them into a ceasefire which usually they tend to try to hold to in order then to not be accused by Russia and often the US of violating the so called ceasefire...

I would say that the Russian ceasefires, as evident in Ukraine and now Syria, are seen by the Russians as a form of conditional surrender. Russia is amenable to these ceasefires only when its adversary is losing, and offers them when it is close to winding down its participation in the conflict, having achieved most of its objectives.

None of the ceasefire talks in question convinced an adversary to delay or abort what would have been a successful offensive; they are not ruses of war. Rather, these ceasefires mark the beginning of Russia consolidating its gains.


We see that right now in eastern Ukraine where Russia claimed a Christmas ceasefire BUT the attacks have been massive and often and the UAF has been attempting to hold to it...

In this case, Russia is deterring Ukraine from launching an offensive, which would be reported as violating the ceasefire. Ukraine is in no position to make major gains against the insurgents, without a devastating response from Russia.

Unfortunately, the Russians not making a drive for Mariupol-Odessa-Transnistria and living with the daily fire from the insurgents are the best that Ukraine can hope for currently.

Since when does Russia believe in fair ceasefires?


The same thing for the FSA right now...for the first three days the FSA held strictly to the Russian/Turkish ceasefire while within hours Assad with support from Hezbollah and RuAF started immediately to attack FSA positions.

I gather that the Iranian-led forces broke the ceasefire first, presumably because Teheran and Damascus believe that all of Syria can be reconquered, whereas Moscow would not be unhappy with a friendly Alawite enclave in Latakia.


IF and this is a big IF...if Russia and Turkey were truly interested in holding the ceasefire...both could simply bomb Hezbollah and Assad positons a few times and you would see a sudden stop of the attacks...

If Turkey did not intervene against the Assadists prior to Russia’s intervention, why would they do so now?


BUT here is the next kicker...Russian and Assad positions are the same...they both are interested in destroying FSA regardless of how sweetly Russia talks at the UN about peace in Syria…

REMEMBER it was the Russian Damascus Ambassador who before the Assad attack on Aleppo publicly stated in a major interview that Assad would not be attacking Aleppo and then surprise surprise Russian bombed and attacked as much as Assad Aleppo....

I call this Russian tactic...simply "the talking attack"...

I see this as private disagreement among the participants in the Assadist coalition, that is manifested in contradictory public statements and military actions.

I gathered from CrowBat’s commentary that the Syrians were flying almost all of the missions over Aleppo city while the Russians were concentrating elsewhere…

Regardless, Putin’s had his small war but Iran isn’t finished, so a smooth operator would exploit their differences…

OUTLAW 09
01-05-2017, 09:15 AM
Azor....we differ on the true Russian response if push comes to shove....


In this case, Russia is deterring Ukraine from launching an offensive, which would be reported as violating the ceasefire. Ukraine is in no position to make major gains against the insurgents, without a devastating response from Russia.


Right now yes the Russians use their own mercenaries to agitate in eastern Ukraine and to conduct direct ground offensives...supply the tanks....ammo and fuel for those attacks......

BUT check the last Russian planned mercenary led offensive in the Svitlodarsk salient....a total failure and high loses on the Russian side.....

The UAF had picked up intel wise a large Russian military buildup in the area aimed at taking more "Minsk 2 grey zone territory" and basically ran a major ground offensive first taking the area from under the noses of the Russians and then defended it successfully.

While the fighting was truly heavy the Russians said not a single word....and tried to get their so called Christmas ceasefire in place to stop UAF actions.....

With every major Russian mercenary heavy ground attack in 2016....they basically went nowhere and the mercenary loses are now always high.

What many forget in 2014 when the Russian local separatists mad their moves to take Donbass...the UAF basically a low quality ill trained and equipped force starting to actually defeat the separatists and were on the verge of actually winning militarily....THEN the Russian military started massive cross border artillery attacks using everything in their artillery up to 152mm and BM21/BM27/BM30s and tactical missiles....

AND when that did not slow down UAF they opted for a Russian army ground invasion....

UAF has been basically totally rebuilt...rearmed and is now quite capable of defending itself and launching quickly large scale ground offensives when the opportunity presents itself......

Ukraine has largely held back attempting this because the IMF loan requirements indicates their loans cannot be made to a country at or in a "war".....and IMF then rewrote the regs to include the current fighting in eastern Ukraine as "not a war" in order to make the loans...

AND at the same time to appease the EU for Association Status and visa free travel......

UAF though does now have the capacity to go full out on the offensive and the Russians know it and do not want to risk an all out war.....when sanctions are hurting them badly....

BTW...all current Russian agreements and ceasefires are strictly as you point out..."for show only"....

Take their OPEC agreement made with great fanfare across the globe.....Russian oil figures released today indicate the Russians are pumping oil at a level never seen in the last five years....AND surprise there has been no cut back only production increases AFTER the so called OPEC agreements......in this case the Russians were trying to drive up the oil prices above 50 USDs which their announcement did in fact achieve as we are at now a price of 55 USDs...but slowly sinking again....but at least they get an earning bounce for their short fall budget....

OUTLAW 09
01-05-2017, 10:14 AM
Syria Regime dropped 4 Chlorine gas bombs on Barada Valley villages in western #Damascus

OUTLAW 09
01-05-2017, 04:45 PM
Highly recommended reading here on the Idlib situation in comparison with Aleppo:
https://twitter.com/AbuJamajem/status/816970906857865216#

Syria Reports: Shiite militias from #Iraq gathering at border for assault on huge Omar oil field btw #Hasaka & Euphrates river

OUTLAW 09
01-05-2017, 05:18 PM
Number of TSK soldiers deployed for al-Bab to increase to 8,000 (up from 3,000). Three garrisons to be built inside.
http://m.yenisafak.com/dunya/8-bin-asker-emir-bekliyor-2591721#

Car bombs in regime-held #Jableh (left pix) & opposition-held #Azaz (right pix) kill & injure dozens.

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 10:18 AM
Syria First proof that #YPG control Jaber castle in #Assad reservoir
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.896872&lon=38.481073&z=15&m=b#

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 10:53 AM
AFP news agency

@AFP
#BREAKING Russia says starting to scale down Syria military deployment: agencies

WHEN and WHERE....have we heard this before....????

Looks like Russians read the maps wrong once again, mistakenly moving military equipment to Syria instead of withdrawing it here we go again with more Russian lies....

They claim the start will be the withdrawal of their very poorly underperforming aircraft carrier that will smoke it's way home with the two tugs in tow.....

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 10:58 AM
Stop Fake @StopFakingNews
How to find information about a website and its owner
#StopFakeTools

http://www.stopfake.org/en/how-to-find-information-about-a-website-and-its-owner/#

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 11:03 AM
In #Qamishli, 800 more #US-supported ... well ... #SDF ... or #YPG ... or #PKK or something in between ... began their duty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJnzhhnC97s#

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 11:04 AM
CrowBat ......something for you.....

In the 'Random number generator'-category: #Russia claims 14 aircraft flew an average of 30 combat sorties each
https://sputniknews.com/military/201701061049313217-russian-naval-aviation-syria-results/#

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 11:05 AM
MORE Russian SOF video footage.....

Russian Special Forces (near the T4 ?) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fx7atZNlNc#

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 11:08 AM
Russian marines of the 879 Air Assault BN got lost inside Syria instead of being stationed as normal inside Russia proper....


Marineinfanteristen des russischen 879. Luftsturmbataillons in #Syrien:
https://informnapalm.org/de/marineinfanteristen-des-russischen-879-luftsturmbataillons-in-syrien/#

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 01:37 PM
Azor...something referring to our discussions of Russian nuclear tactical usage...doctrine.

Israeli Satellite Imagery Shows Russian Nuclear-Capable Missiles in Syria
http://ow.ly/Gpx9508i0Jg

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 01:50 PM
Social media has long known this SO why did not Obama and Rhodes shout this daily inside the UNSC....

Russia has done nothing to help defeat Islamic State in Syria, outgoing Defense Secretary Ash Carter tells WSJ
http://on.wsj.com/2hZQIUX

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
Reported drone strike in Taftanaz against #JFS/#AQ
Been more strikes recently. Not working, even in narrow CT terms

Rebels repelled an ISIS attack in E. Qalamoun last night, just when rebels started targeting Dumair & Nasiriya regime airbases in E Qalamoun

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 01:51 PM
CrowBat....anything on your end on this rebel defection?

I guess the defection story in #Wadi_Barada is true, loyalist group reporting the defecting fighters were in militia Dara Qalamoun. #Syria

Or just proAssad best thinking?????

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 01:55 PM
Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
This is good >> The Soviet Union's unmerciful suppression of Islam led to the radicalization of believers.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/05/how-the-ussrs-effort-to-destroy-islam-created-a-generation-of-radicals/?utm_term=.12c353131a4d

How the USSR’s effort to destroy Islam created a generation of radicals

Just add: the KGB was all over these radical networks, manipulated them even after USSR fell
https://goo.gl/OeN03n

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 01:58 PM
Check the date of this article.....and the entire western MSM did what with it in 2014....largely ignored it.....to include Obama/Rhodes and Kerry.....


Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
#Assad secret police: "We don't attack [jihadis] immediately. Instead, we embed ourselves in [their networks]."

The Assad Regime’s Collusion With ISIS and al-Qaeda: Assessing The#Evidence
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton)#on March 24, 2014

https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/assessing-evidence-collusion-assad-isis-qaeda/

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 02:00 PM
Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
NEW:

Obama has tied the hands of his successor on #Syria. Whether he takes that as an indictment or a compliment …

Analysis: ‘A Counterterrorism Policy in Syria That Helps Terrorists’

WELL worth reading........
http://henryjacksonsociety.org/2017/01/05/analysis-a-counterterrorism-policy-in-syria-that-helps-terrorists/


The Iran nuclear deal was sold in the “narrowest possible terms” as an arms control agreement, but there were “grander ambitions” behind this well-orchestrated public diplomacy. The reality is that the Iran deal was a facilitation mechanism for a U.S. drawdown in the region. In place of U.S. hegemony would be a self-enforcing concert system. To get there, however, the nuclear issue would have to be neutralized with a paper agreement. Hence, it was Tehran that always seemed to hold the upper-hand in negotiations; the U.S. needed a deal as a gateway to its real ambitions and the Iranians did not.

The real-world consequences of this policy were that the Iranian revolution was granted “equities” that had to be respected—specifically Syria, which meant building a viable alternative to Iran’s proxy regime was off the table—and the U.S.’s Gulf allies were told to find a way to “share” the region—by definition empowering the Islamic Republic, and Russia into the bargain, which moved to underwrite this Iranian sphere of influence, returning to the Middle East after its eviction in the 1970s.

The fall of Aleppo to the pro-Assad coalition is by no stretch of the imagination the end of the war, but the objectives of the Syrian revolutionary forces, which the U.S. claimed were its allies and which allied governments supported, have now been defeated. This means that—whatever Donald Trump’s inclinations—Obama has severely limited the President-elect’s options. One wonders only if Obama takes that as an indictment or a compliment.

NOTE: The fall of Aleppo.....was this fully intended to happen and pushed even by the US.....the defeat of the Syrian "Arab Spring"?????

APPEARS to be so......

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 03:18 PM
Important development between the two.....

Al-Qaida leader denounces Islamic State 'liars' in new message
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/06/al-qaida-leader-denounces-islamic-state-liars-in-new-message?CMP=share_btn_tw#

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 05:20 PM
Rastan in #Homs province was also today shelled by pro-#Assad forces.
Mortars vs. civilians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHA9lPPM9lY#…

Time to say good bye to the apparatus belli that downed twice as many Russian air force jets as ISIS, "Nusra" and Turkey combined.
Пока!

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 05:21 PM
Leaked Kerry tape admits admin saw ISIS growth as leverage to get Assad to negotiations table.
http://theresurgent.com/john-kerry-admits-the-us-saw-isis-growing-and-chose-to-do-nothing/#

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 05:38 PM
The nonstop #Assad/#Hezbollah assault on civilians in #WadiBarada continues.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sK3mg4aXgw#…

A "cluster bomb" attack on a town in #EastGhouta injured several people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugM25karI1k#…

The #SyriaExpress over the past 12 hours: An Iranian air force Jumbo from Tehran and an #Assad Ilyushin with a big problem.

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 05:39 PM
Forces, identifying themselves as the #YPG, advance under @CJTFOIR air strikes & take Al Dahlan, 32 km N of #Raqqa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTUA7kaqaFc#…

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 05:42 PM
More clearly #US-armed & trained #SDF/#YPG 'hybrid' special forces graduate in northern #Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amTk6oxyQ9M#…
@CJTFOIR denies it.

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 05:50 PM
Kyle W. Orton

@KyleWOrton
#Assad supported "Carlos the Jackal" even after the Soviets wearied of him, housed in Mezze, same street as Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner.

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 05:58 PM
Russian media cites MoD official figure of #Syria|n campaign - 25 KIA.
Denies any ground troops involvement.
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3185493

Russian KIAs occurred after they were eating at a local military mess hall...must have been a badly prepared meal.....sure.....

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 06:03 PM
BREAKING #Russian media publicly admit #Syrian campaign became from quick & easy victory to long & dragging war.
http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3185493

Russia's @mod_russia on major outcome of Russia's military effort in Syria:
http://www.rusemb.org.uk/fnapr/5929

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 06:53 PM
Russia tested in Syria:

precision munition
strategic aviation
ССО ВС РФ
AA complexes
new comms, intel, recce equiphttp://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3185493

OUTLAW 09
01-06-2017, 07:15 PM
Russian army campaign has stretched & exhausted them to such extent, Moscow is begging Trump to side /w them on the issue of Syria.http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3185493

Azor
01-07-2017, 06:47 AM
Azor...something referring to our discussions of Russian nuclear tactical usage...doctrine.

Israeli Satellite Imagery Shows Russian Nuclear-Capable Missiles in Syria
http://ow.ly/Gpx9508i0Jg

Well, to be fair the US uses nuclear-capable platforms on the daily, including B-52s...

These are likely conventional Iskanders.

OUTLAW 09
01-07-2017, 10:23 AM
Well, to be fair the US uses nuclear-capable platforms on the daily, including B-52s...

These are likely conventional Iskanders.

Israeli sources are in fact saying...true nuke capable and there are indications the missiles being seen are probably exact copies of the nuke capable missile...everything is real except no warhead OR at least none have been seen and or detected.......

Appears Russian MoD is trying to gather overseas combat experience in the deploying of nuke capable Iskanders...interestingly ...it is possibly true actually since it would be a perceived Russian counter to the 60-70 or so US nuclear weapons sitting in Turkey...

OUTLAW 09
01-07-2017, 11:04 AM
Syria #Aleppo 2 dozen dead after explosion of car bomb in #Azaz

Syria Airstrikes on Abu ad-Duhur in eastern #Idlib

Syria Helicopter dropped barrel bombs on northern #Hama towns

Helicopter dropped barrel bombs on rebel held villages in Lejat area of southern #Syria

Kyle W. Orton

@KyleWOrton
#Assad used #IS against the West in #Iraq, and then used them in #Syria to defeat the opposition
https://goo.gl/eG1tqf

davidbfpo
01-07-2017, 11:46 AM
Israeli sources are in fact saying...true nuke capable and there are indications the missiles being seen are probably exact copies of the nuke capable missile...everything is real except no warhead OR at least none have been seen and or detected.......

Appears Russian MoD is trying to gather overseas combat experience in the deploying of nuke capable Iskanders...interestingly ...it is possibly true actually since it would be a perceived Russian counter to the 60-70 or so US nuclear weapons sitting in Turkey...

Could this also be a ploy by Russia to repeat the Kennedy-Khrushchev deal on removing the Jupiter IRBM from Turkey after the Cuba Crisis? The US nuclear warheads are all bombs and some have argued for their removal recently, IIRC in WoTR. An astute move if true.

OUTLAW 09
01-07-2017, 04:03 PM
Could this also be a ploy by Russia to repeat the Kennedy-Khrushchev deal on removing the Jupiter IRBM from Turkey after the Cuba Crisis? The US nuclear warheads are all bombs and some have argued for their removal recently, IIRC in WoTR. An astute move if true.

David...actually a very valid point....side effect is keeping Israel in check as an assistance to protect Iran....

Question is.......are their really warheads in side Syria....if so then it cements Syria into the Russian influence zone with all associated rights...military basing...military cooperation...more Russians stationing there..

What is worrying even for the US....the Khomeini "Green Crescent" now covers a corridor starting in AFG....over Iran...over Iraq...over Syria and on into Lebanon and cements Iran as the reigning regional hegemon...

OUTLAW 09
01-07-2017, 04:11 PM
FSA News @FSAPlatform
#Breaking || Rural #Damascus
Regime bombard #Madaya & remaining besieged areas in rural Damascus with heavy artillery

OUTLAW 09
01-07-2017, 05:14 PM
ISIS destroyed two #Assad regime Aero L-39 'Albatros' jets at #DeirEzzor airport today with ATGM.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpPEPUk8ISU#…

The #Assad regime fired artillery on the village of Jenin in #Daraa province.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6XI9nRUHQ0#…

The #Assad air force bombed the city of #Morek in #Hama province despite the ceasefire agreement.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbI8cuRvd6Q#…

Terrible news from suicide attack in #Azaz
The death toll rose up to 65.
150 people got injured.

Extremely #graphic footage from #Azaz
Burning people, dead children. Be warned!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zjP1DdIOt8#…

Azor
01-07-2017, 11:02 PM
Israeli sources are in fact saying...true nuke capable and there are indications the missiles being seen are probably exact copies of the nuke capable missile...everything is real except no warhead OR at least none have been seen and or detected...

I don't think that anyone can determine which version it is, as Jane's noted in May 2016 (http://www.janes.com/article/59182/iskander-missile-launcher-spotted-in-syria).

I'm sure what version Debka File believes, however...

Rest assured that the Israelis and NATO are paying close attention.


Appears Russian MoD is trying to gather overseas combat experience in the deploying of nuke capable Iskanders...interestingly ...it is possibly true actually since it would be a perceived Russian counter to the 60-70 or so US nuclear weapons sitting in Turkey...

Considering that these have been transferred to Romania and possibly elsewhere since the failed coup d'etat, I doubt it.


Question is.......are their really warheads in side Syria....if so then it cements Syria into the Russian influence zone with all associated rights...military basing...military cooperation...more Russians stationing there...

Washington and Tel Aviv would scream bloody murder if they were nukes, especially because of the danger of an accident or theft in what is a warzone.


What is worrying even for the US...the Khomeini "Green Crescent" now covers a corridor starting in AFG...over Iran...over Iraq...over Syria and on into Lebanon and cements Iran as the reigning regional hegemon...

Yes, and the Green Crescent army is incapable of defeating the rebellion in Syria despite all that the Russians and Iranians have thrown at it...

davidbfpo
01-08-2017, 11:38 AM
Citing Azor in part:
Not only are the bombs being withdrawn to Romania due to the coup d'etat attempt

Thanks for this update, I'd missed that being announced. Somewhat surprised Romania was chosen given Russian sensitivity about "NATO on our borders" and will the USAF deploy the strike aircraft to deliver the nukes? Somehow I doubt the Rumanian AF has capable aircraft, let alone the training needed.

Have you got reference(s) for this move?

OUTLAW 09
01-08-2017, 12:31 PM
At least 10 Assad airstrikes targeted Ein al-Fijeh in Wadi Barada & 3 targeted Bassimeh + IRAM rockets & heavy artillery shelling

Multiple Assad airstrikes target Wadi Barada as Hezbollah & regime renew gound assault & try to advance from multiple directions

SCD RifDimashq @SCDrifdimashq
Statistics attacks of Assad's military forces on #WadiBarada area in #RifDimashq from the 22/12/2016 and up to the 1/1/2017

OUTLAW 09
01-08-2017, 12:33 PM
Excellent infographic on Iraq's Hashd published in Iranian press. Covers leadership structure, subgroups, training, weapons, battles

OUTLAW 09
01-08-2017, 12:53 PM
AND the US is not training the PKK....a US named terrorist group for years....

Kyle W. Orton

@KyleWOrton"If we [Arab anti-IS fighters] did not agree [with PKK's ideology], we would not be in training now [with the U.S.]"http://wapo.st/2i3zNNY

Damascus: 13 #Assad airstrikes on #Wadi_Barada today. #Hezbollah trying to advance again.

BUT WAIT did not Russia state it was a guarantor of their own proposed ceasefire????

Damascus: Video shows rebel ATGM strikes against #Assad bulldozer and excavator in #Wadi_Barada.

Daraa: Rebel TOW strike against #Assad regime tank.

Daraa: Rebels shelling pro-#Assad forces in #Lajat area with artillery today.

Daraa: Heavy fighting in #Daraa Province. Rebels destroyed 2 regime tanks with ATGM strikes and killed several pro-#Assad forces.

OUTLAW 09
01-08-2017, 12:57 PM
An Assadist went on Faisal al-Qassem's show with a photoshopped image & claimed #Assad was in TIME

OUTLAW 09
01-08-2017, 01:06 PM
Aleppo: #Russia|n airstrikes have wounded several children in #Abu_Taltal south of #Al_Bab today.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.336285&lon=37.522774&z=13&m=b#…

OUTLAW 09
01-08-2017, 01:07 PM
Interestingly MSM misses it again and again when it comes to Syria....

For the most Western media it is complete unclear who destroyed the water facilities for #Damascus.

davidbfpo
01-08-2017, 08:45 PM
Azor,

Thanks for the far from confirming links.

These are the WoTR articles I spotted. In June 2016, before the coup attempt, there was this one:https://warontherocks.com/2016/07/nuclear-weapons-in-turkey-are-destabilizing-but-not-for-the-reason-you-think/

In July 2016, after the coup, this:https://warontherocks.com/2016/07/are-nuclear-weapons-stored-in-turkey-under-threat/

davidbfpo
01-08-2017, 09:51 PM
A helpful BBC story on this aspect of the war:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38532338

Plus a map:http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/13D4F/production/_93213218_damascus_area_control_30_12_2016_624map. png

OUTLAW 09
01-09-2017, 05:03 AM
A helpful BBC story on this aspect of the war:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38532338

Plus a map:http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/13D4F/production/_93213218_damascus_area_control_30_12_2016_624map. png


FSA operation expelled IS from ~2000 sq km in Syria's Badiya and east Qalamoun mountains

OUTLAW 09
01-09-2017, 07:28 PM
#YPG Kurdish militia new attempt to advance to Kaljibrin and Kafr Khashr villages under #FSA control north #Aleppo. Map via @CivilWarMapAR

OUTLAW 09
01-09-2017, 08:03 PM
Damascus: Rebels have destroyed 2 #Assad tanks near #Hazrama village today.

U.S., Russian pilots play risky game over Syria. Near misses despite the US-Russian mechanisms meant to prevent them
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-pilots-see-close-calls-with-russian-jets-over-syria-1483978574 …

OUTLAW 09
01-09-2017, 08:11 PM
FSA News @FSAPlatform
#FSA || Rural #Damascus

"Reasserting Dominance" Battle began with heavy weapons & wont rest til East #Qalamoun areas are cleansed of #Daesh

OUTLAW 09
01-09-2017, 08:20 PM
Evidence That Russia Is Deploying New Vehicles, Preparing For New Offensives in Syria
http://www.interpretermag.com/putin-middle-east-pivot-january-6-2017/#15882 …

Azor
01-09-2017, 08:51 PM
https://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2017/9-january-ypg-attacking-fsa-positions-at-kafr-khanasir-south

YPG attacking FSA positions at Kafr Khanasir South to Azaz

Source: https://twitter.com/firatkkalkani/status/818520607247704067

OUTLAW 09
01-10-2017, 10:19 AM
U.S. increases support for Turkish military operations in Syria
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-increases-support-for-turkish-military-operations-in-syria/2017/01/09/08760aae-d6be-11e6-9f9f-5cdb4b7f8dd7_story.html?utm_term=.4ed6b35bc7fa#

BUT strangely only after the Russian flew air strikes for Turkish troops and FSA...

OUTLAW 09
01-10-2017, 10:45 AM
Russian Syrian Express...


Bosphorus Observer @YorukIsik
#ВМФ #ВФ AUX Fleet cargo vessel Kyzyl-60 transits Bosphorus en route to #Tartus #Syria. 3 cargo containers carried above deck

OUTLAW 09
01-10-2017, 10:47 AM
Overnight Russian airstrikes targeted Kafarhalab & Sheikh Ali in west rural #Aleppo, civilian casualties reported.

FSA News @FSAPlatform
#FSA || Rural #Damascus

#Video: Free Syrian Army blows up Hezbollah tank on Kafir aZeit front, #WadiBarada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiecdLaZ5Ks#

FSA #Southern_Front Liwa al-Muhajireen Wal Ansar [@althawraarmy] | TOW #ATGM strike on Assad regime tank #Daraa:
https://youtu.be/RVy4uUBgGJ0

BUT WAIT..this area was not to be bombed as per the Russian ceasefire...as there is no JFS or IS there????

Seems Russia did not tell Assad and or Iran....

OUTLAW 09
01-10-2017, 02:58 PM
Russian Syrian Express...


Bosphorus Observer @YorukIsik
#ВМФ #ВФ AUX Fleet cargo vessel Kyzyl-60 transits Bosphorus en route to #Tartus #Syria. 3 cargo containers carried above deck

Russian #Syrian Express fleet in #Sevastopol is morally & technically so obsolete 2 sailors got killed on voyages.
https://informnapalm.org/31909-sirijskij-ekspress/#

davidbfpo
01-10-2017, 03:41 PM
President Assad was interviewed by French TV and amidst his comments was this:
There’s breaching of that ceasefire on a daily basis in Syria, including Damascus, but in Damascus mainly because the terrorists occupy the main source of water of Damascus where more than five million civilians are deprived from water for the last three weeks now.The role of the Syrian Army is to liberate that area in order to prevent those terrorists from using that water in order to suffocate the capital.Link:http://eaworldview.com/2017/01/syria-daily-assad-draws-line-against-his-departure/

OUTLAW 09
01-10-2017, 06:29 PM
President Assad was interviewed by French TV and amidst his comments was this:Link:http://eaworldview.com/2017/01/syria-daily-assad-draws-line-against-his-departure/

BUT WAIT...Russia and Assad AFs have bombed that facility....APPEARS Assad is lying as much as Putin does....EVEN though controlled by the rebels they never allowed it to stop providing water to all sides UNTIL it was bombed.....

OUTLAW 09
01-10-2017, 06:32 PM
Damascus: All #Assad regime attacks in Eastern #Ghouta failed. Rebels have killed several pro-#Assad forces today.

A shilka is destroyed by a #TOW #ATGM

Putin’s Pivot To The Middle East: Russia Has Filled The Vacuum Left By The Exit Of US Leadership
http://bit.ly/2iBEzn1

OUTLAW 09
01-10-2017, 06:47 PM
Reference the crashed TU-154 heading to Syria.......

Today
https://m.lenta.ru/news/2017/01/10/konashenkov/#
… they deny mistake, pilots were experienced.

Russia has initially sited possible pilot error as the cause of the crash.....

Tu154 crash has made different siloviki clans on war footing by accusing via scapegoats each other in the accident.
https://lenta.ru/news/2017/01/10/konashenkov/#

OUTLAW 09
01-10-2017, 06:48 PM
Video uploaded by pro-oppo @SMARTNewsAgency on Jan. 10, 2017 seems to show Su-25s returning (h/t @Defence_blog)
YT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8m94ujv-0M#

OUTLAW 09
01-11-2017, 07:08 AM
Heavy air strikes and artillery on rebel-held Anadan, Rashideen & Kahn al-Asal W of #Aleppo.

OUTLAW 09
01-11-2017, 11:21 AM
Reference the crashed TU-154 heading to Syria.......

Today
https://m.lenta.ru/news/2017/01/10/konashenkov/#
… they deny mistake, pilots were experienced.

Russia has initially sited possible pilot error as the cause of the crash.....

Tu154 crash has made different siloviki clans on war footing by accusing via scapegoats each other in the accident.
https://lenta.ru/news/2017/01/10/konashenkov/#

Russian Komsomolska Pravda: Sochi Tu-154 could be destroyed cause of "damage inside luggage compartment"
http://russia.liveuamap.com/en/2017/11-january-russian-komsomolska-pravda-sochi-tu154-could-be#

There was a single solitary lone by itself comment that alluded to the fact that a lot of Russian hybrid warfare experience was destroyed with the crash....SO who was exactly on the plane when it went do that is not being reflected on the passenger list....???

OUTLAW 09
01-11-2017, 07:37 PM
SAMS

@sams_usa
SAMS launches new report documenting 172 attacks on healthcare in #Syria - June-Dec 2016
http://bit.ly/2jveZjM

SAMS

@sams_usa
June-December 2016: 42% of attacks on medical
facilities & personnel in
#Syria took place in #Aleppo
http://bit.ly/2jveZjM

Azor
01-11-2017, 09:38 PM
#SAA began the regular artillery attack/airstrikes in East Aleppo CS.
This means a new offensive in #SAA's literature

https://twitter.com/NatDefFor/status/819265450555088896

Originally from: https://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2017/11-january-saa-began-the-regular-artillery-attackairstrikes

CrowBat
01-12-2017, 09:44 AM
CrowBat ......something for you.....

In the 'Random number generator'-category: #Russia claims 14 aircraft flew an average of 30 combat sorties each
https://sputniknews.com/military/201701061049313217-russian-naval-aviation-syria-results/#
Thanks - and sorry for my absence, was busy getting some rest, finalizing this one (https://www.amazon.com/Wings-Over-Sinai-Egyptian-During/dp/1911096613), and setting up a new website/forum...

Anyway, that Russian statistics is misleading: since Kuznetsov carried about 20 combat aircraft, they actually flew about 20-25 sorties each - over a span of two months...

CrowBat
01-12-2017, 09:46 AM
Interestingly MSM misses it again and again when it comes to Syria....

For the most Western media it is complete unclear who destroyed the water facilities for #Damascus.
Oh, you should've seen the ORF (Austrian State TV channel) proudly announcing 'liberation of Aleppo from Islamist fundamentalists' and then 'Damascus announcing it's going to rebuild Aleppo', few days later... :rolleyes:

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 02:23 PM
Syria today
The call this a "ceasefire" ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPAGx_BcTBA#

MFA Russia

@mfa_russia
#Zakharova:Russia will keep a close eye on the @OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism on investigating the use of chemical weapons in #Syria


MFA Russia

@mfa_russia
#Zakharova: We regret attempts by #Syria’s frenemies to politicise the situation around Syria’s chemical dossier in order to discredit Assad

MFA Russia

@mfa_russia
#Zakharova: Chemical disarmament of #Syria is almost finished,resulting from Syria’s commitment to opt out of its chemical warfare programme

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 02:30 PM
Also in besieged #Homs province, the "ceasefire" collapses even further.
Daily air strikes on civilians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hrr7W3FHyA#

Idlib today: The terrorist #AssadPutin air force bombs civilians across the city.
[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANL1nndKoTU#

Idlib today: The terrorist #AssadPutin air force bombs civilians across the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANL1nndKoTU#…

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 02:33 PM
What is left of the "#SyriaCeasefire" collapses as #AssadPutin jets attack multiple cities across N-W #Syria.
Ignored by the @UN.

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 02:43 PM
WadiBarada: backed by intense shelling/airstrikes pro-Regime forces reached Baseema & took control of some buildings. Heavy clashes ongoing

Mistura:5 villages in Wadi Barada valley have come 2 agreement with govt,2 villages have not, including al Fijeh which holds source of water

"Have come to agreements with govt."
= Surrendered to the genocidal #Assad regime.
The @UN supports exactly this kind of "reconciliation".

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 02:49 PM
Map. IS broke #SDF siege on them in NW #Raqqa. Possibly allowing their evacuation of the pocket.

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 02:52 PM
The #AssadPutin air force attacked civilian homes in #Babikh
8 killed,6 of them children,15 injured
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUpFcHA40Bc&feature=youtu.be#…

Also the peaceful town of #Rastan in #Homs province was attacked by multiple #AssadPutin air strikes yday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8BECrXt-VE&feature=youtu.be#

Multiple children murdered & more injured in an #AssadPutin air strike on #Babikh, south west of #Aleppo.

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 03:01 PM
WadiBarada yesterday.
The @UN calls this a "mostly holding ceasefire", "chance" & "hope" for #Syria.
It's not.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbC89_zUJeY#…

28 people were killed across #Syria on Wednesday incl. 3 children & 3 women.
8 of them in #WadiBarada & 5 in #Aleppo province.
- LCC

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 03:03 PM
Two #Assad Il-76T from Tehran approaching Damascus now.
The #SyriaAirExpress in full swing.

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 03:12 PM
Possible influence of the Nazi criminals #Assad sheltered? The unfit murdered before they ever enter jail.
https://goo.gl/aRXBqW

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 03:13 PM
Jaysh al-Izza TOW strike on regime technical north of Souran, Hama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxeGFc-INpI&feature=youtu.be#

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 05:42 PM
Fighting rages in Wadi Barada #Damascus western countryside&Syrian army takes strategic Basime town as capital enter3rd week without water

Samantha Power
Verified account
‏@AmbassadorPower
Leaders behind #Syria chemical weapons attacks must be held accountable. Today we sanctioned them:
http://go.usa.gov/x9Pju

OUTLAW 09
01-12-2017, 06:35 PM
CIT (en) @CITeam_en
Here's what we know about Russia supposedly increasing (or reducing) its air group in Syria:
https://en-gb.facebook.com/CITeam.org/posts/720949261391387#

OUTLAW 09
01-13-2017, 05:51 AM
Guess #Israel stepped up the game in #Syria and once more the world saw how useless the #Russia S-systems are
http://www.timesofisrael.com/damascus-airbase-said-bombed-by-israeli-planes/#

OUTLAW 09
01-13-2017, 11:26 AM
Pure gold from @mod_russia's Syria guidebook: "If a local is trying to harass or cheat you, say "Mukhabarat", this usually scares them".

CrowBat
01-13-2017, 12:42 PM
Yup, one needs such things in Syria - to make sure.

Just like Russians have to fly air strikes because there's a cease-fire in Syria. So, for example, they were 'forced' to fly 56 registered strike sorties on 11 January (plus 4 recce and at least 6 by UAVs), and another 58 registered strike sorties (plus 3 recce and 15 by helicopters) yesterday, on 12 January... :rolleyes:

OUTLAW 09
01-13-2017, 03:32 PM
FSA News @FSAPlatform
#Breaking || #WadiBarada

Engineering team enter Wadi Barada under protection of #FSA to fix Spring water facility. Work to begin within hrs

CrowBat
01-13-2017, 04:17 PM
The next update for Truppendienst, this time detailing the current organization of native and pan-Arab-forces fighting for, in the name of, or on behalf of the Assad-Regime in Syria (https://www.truppendienst.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Einzelbeitraege/2016/Syrien/13_01_17_Update/Assad_Streitkraefte_Jan17.pdf) is now online (as usually, in German).

An update on IRGC, Hezbollah/Lebanon, Hezbollah/Iraq, Hezbollah/Syria and various native and other foreign Shi'a militias is to follow next (in a few weeks).

Overall, Truppendienst is now providing quite a nice summary of the SCW, in form of extensive articles to following topics:

Summary of Developments from 2011 until 2016 (https://www.truppendienst.com/themen/beitraege/artikel/der-syrische-buergerkrieg-wie-alles-begann/)

Combat Operations in Period June-August 2016 (https://www.truppendienst.com/themen/beitraege/artikel/der-syrische-buergerkrieg-update-15-08-16/)

Combat Operations in Period August-October 2016 (https://www.truppendienst.com/themen/beitraege/artikel/der-syrische-buergerkrieg-update-20-oktober-2016/)

Combat Operations in Period October-Dezember 2016 (https://www.truppendienst.com/themen/beitraege/artikel/der-syrische-buergerkrieg-update-15-12-2016/)

Backgrounds of different Developments as of November 2016 (https://www.swp-berlin.org/fileadmin/contents/products/sonstiges/20161201_Hintergrund_Syrien.pdf)

Geo-Political Relevance of the 'Battle for Aleppo' (http://www.bundesheer.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/ifk_monitor_37_die_schlacht_um_aleppo_rupp_nov2016 .pdf)

OUTLAW 09
01-13-2017, 04:22 PM
Exclusive: Assad linked to Syrian chemical attacks for first time
http://reut.rs/2istUNM

OUTLAW 09
01-13-2017, 04:29 PM
Russian Syrian Express.....

Russian Navy's Ropucha Class LLC Tsezar Kunikov 158 on northbound transit literally surrounded by a Turkish box of 4 Turkish security escort vessels....

There must be some serious intelligence on the safety of Russian military vessels' transit through Tr straits. The security level is v high.

OUTLAW 09
01-13-2017, 04:42 PM
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4906642,00.html


US intel sources warn Israel against sharing secrets with Trump administration

Israeli intelligence officials fear that top-secret information that has been exposed to the United States will be leaked to Russia—and from Russia to its close ally, Iran.

Ronen Bergman |Published:# 12.01.17 , 14:12


Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration as the next president of the United States is causing Israeli intelligence officials to lose sleep as well. Discussions held in closed forums recently raised fears of a leakage of Israeli intelligence top-classified information, clandestine modus oprandi and sources, which have been exposed to the American intelligence community over the past 15 years, to Russia – and from there to Iran.

The cause of concern are the suspicions of unreported ties between the president-elect or his associates and the Kremlin, whose agents are also associated with intelligence officials in Tehran.
#
These fears, which began upon Trump’s election, grew stronger following a meeting held recently between Israeli and American intelligence officials (the date of the meeting is not mentioned to protect the sources of the report). During the meeting, according to the Israelis who participated in it, their American colleagues voiced despair over Trump’s election, as he often lashes out at the American intelligence community. The American officials also told the Israelis that the National Security Agency (NSA) had “highly credible information” that Russia’s intelligence agencies, the FSB and GRU, were responsible for hacking the Democratic Party (DNC) servers during the elections and leaking sensitive information to WikiLeaks, which hurt Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The American officials further added that they believed Russia President Vladimir Putin had “leverages of pressure” over Trump – but did not elaborate. They were apparently referring to what was published Wednesday about embarrassing information collected by the Russian intelligence in a bid to blackmail the president-elect.
#
The Americans implied that their Israeli colleagues should “be careful” as of January 20, Trump’s inauguration date, when transferring intelligence information to the White House and to the National Security Council (NSC), which is subject to the president. According to the Israelis who were present in the meeting, the Americans recommended that until it is made clear that Trump is not inappropriately connected to Russia and is not being extorted – Israel should avoid revealing sensitive sources to administration officials for fear the information would reach the Iranians.
#
If Israel’s secrets are indeed not kept confidential, this is a serious danger to the state’s national security: Since the early 2000s, the cooperation between the Israel and US intelligence communities has been intensified. It was led by the head of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate (AMAN) at the time, Aharon Ze’evi Farkash (who even received a citation from the NSA Chief General Michael Hayden), late Mossad chief Meir Dagan and his successor, Tamir Pardo, who served earlier as the commander of one of the secret operational units that cooperated with the Americans.
#
Most of the joint operations between the two countries’ intelligence communities were directed, according to reports, against Iran, and a small part of them – against Hezbollah and Hamas. The ties became even tighter in the previous decade on the backdrop of Primes Ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert’s close relations with US President George W. Bush.
#
In 2008, the intelligence cooperation between Israel and the US received a sort of authorization in the form of an official agreement for comprehensive cooperation and exposure of sources and methods of action, which was defined by a senior state official as “complete mutual striptease” between Bush and Olmert. The deep cooperation, which went on for years, led to impressive results, including the disruption of the Iranian nuclear program.
#
These operations were led, according to the media outside of Israel by Operation Olympic Games, which included the creation of computer viruses such as Stuxnet, which badly damaged the Iranian nuclear program. Non-Israeli media outlets even reported that the Mossad and the CIA collaborated in the assassination of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah in Damascus in 2008.
#
When the secret talks between the US and Iran over a nuclear agreement began in 2013, President Barack Obama put an end to any offensive activity against Iran. However, this did not stop the depth of Israel’s intelligence exposure vis-à-vis the US. A leakage of some of these secrets could cause great damage. Israel is not just afraid of Russia – but also of Iran.

In their meeting with their Israeli colleagues, the American intelligence officials were able to point to information included in the Snowden documents about specific highly secret American operation in Iran.

The Americans are convinced that Edward Snowden handed the information over to the Russian intelligence – as part of the deal for receiving political asylum – and that parts of it were handed over to Tehran as part of Putin’s policy to increase Iranian dependence – not just Syrian dependence – on Moscow, all aimed at serving one final purpose: To restore Russia’s position as the influential world power in the region.

OUTLAW 09
01-13-2017, 05:15 PM
Damascus: Pro-#Assad forces are shelling #Wadi_Barada again. Repairmen have left Ayn al-Fijah & were unable to repair the water facilities.

Also today, the #SyriaCeasefire was widely ignored by #AssadPutin and #Iran.
Air and artillery strikes on towns west of #Aleppo & in #Idlib.

Air strike-destroyed water facility in #WadiBarada & heavy regime materials to repair it.
NRC_Egeland still claims, it was "sabotaged"?!

So to re-open the water line to #Damascus, "rebels closed" in #WadiBarada, the regime has to send heavy repair equipment?!

OUTLAW 09
01-13-2017, 05:25 PM
Hezbollah & #NDF document their #WarCrimes in #WadiBarada.
Because they know, nobody cares.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUcDMFqBUGQ#
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4yTz4C0bu0#

Assad advancing
markets as targets
children under the rubble
Iran supplying regime areas
Just another "ceasefire".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4gMZL1SYj0#…

Massive Turkish air strikes on #ISIS-held towns around al-Bab as TK-backed forces try to advance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc3o325u3-I#…

71 civilians including 19 children were killed by #AssadPutin (+few by Turkey) across #Syria yesterday.
- LCC

OUTLAW 09
01-13-2017, 05:30 PM
A "Rus bunker buster bomb" or a ballistic missile hit #Saraqib in #Idlib province today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_AbRK6d4yA&feature=youtu.be#…

OUTLAW 09
01-13-2017, 05:54 PM
At the end, Turkish SOFs+FSA could separate Qabasin from IS-held al-Bab today. A big achievement but note there is still a lot to do..

OUTLAW 09
01-13-2017, 06:05 PM
Iran's policy in Syria is one of ethnic cleansing of Sunnis:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/13/irans-syria-project-pushing-population-shifts-to-increase-influence?CMP=share_btn_fb#

Obama's wanted to ensure US wasn't pushing a colonial agenda in the Middle East. Now a colonial power has taken over
http://bit.ly/2iBEzn1

Azor
01-13-2017, 07:41 PM
Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-chemical-weapons-idUSKBN14X1XY?feedType=RSS&feedName=newsOne

http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20170113&t=2&i=1168650638&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=780&pl=468&sq=&r=LYNXMPED0C12K

By Anthony Deutsch

International investigators have said for the first time that they suspect President Bashar al-Assad and his brother are responsible for the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian conflict, according to a document seen by Reuters.

A joint inquiry for the United Nations and global watchdog the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had previously identified only military units and did not name any commanders or officials.

Now a list has been produced of individuals whom the investigators have linked to a series of chlorine bomb attacks in 2014-15 - including Assad, his younger brother Maher and other high-ranking figures - indicating the decision to use toxic weapons came from the very top, according to a source familiar with the inquiry.

The Assads could not be reached for comment but a Syrian government official said accusations that government forces had used chemical weapons had "no basis in truth". The government has repeatedly denied using such weapons during the civil war, which is almost six years old, saying all the attacks highlighted by the inquiry were the work of rebels or the Islamic State militant group.

The list, which has been seen by Reuters but has not been made public, was based on a combination of evidence compiled by the U.N.-OPCW team in Syria and information from Western and regional intelligence agencies, according to the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Reuters was unable to independently review the evidence or to verify it.

The U.N.-OPCW inquiry - known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) - is led by a panel of three independent experts, supported by a team of technical and administrative staff. It is mandated by the U.N. Security Council to identify individuals and organizations responsible for chemical attacks in Syria.

Virginia Gamba, the head of the Joint Investigative Mechanism, denied any list of individual suspects had yet been compiled by the inquiry.

"There are no ... identification of individuals being considered at this time," she told Reuters by email.

The use of chemical weapons is banned under international law and could constitute a war crime.

While the inquiry has no judicial powers, any naming of suspects could lead to their prosecution. Syria is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), but alleged war crimes could be referred to the court by the Security Council - although splits among global powers over the war make this a distant prospect at present.

"The ICC is concerned about any country where crimes are reported to be committed," a spokesman for the court said when asked for comment. "Unless Syria accepts the ICC jurisdiction, the only way that (the) ICC would have jurisdiction over the situation would be through a referral by the Security Council."

The list seen by Reuters could form the basis for the inquiry team's investigations this year, according to the source. It is unclear whether the United Nations or OPCW will publish the list separately.

'HIGHEST LEVELS'

The list identifies 15 people "to be scrutinized in relation to use of CW (chemical weapons) by Syrian Arab Republic Armed Forces in 2014 and 2015". It does not specify what role they are suspected of playing, but lists their titles.

It is split into three sections. The first, titled "Inner Circle President" lists six people including Assad, his brother who commands the elite 4th Armoured Division, the defense minister and the head of military intelligence.

The second section names the air force chief as well as four commanders of air force divisions. They include the heads of the 22nd Air Force Division and the 63rd Helicopter Brigade, units that the inquiry has previously said dropped chlorine bombs.

The third part of the list - "Other relevant Senior Mil Personnel" - names two colonels and two major-generals.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, an independent specialist in biological and chemical weapons who monitors Syria, told Reuters the list reflected the military chain of command.

"The decisions would be made at the highest levels initially and then delegated down. Hence the first use would need to be authorized by Assad," said de Bretton-Gordon, a former commander of British and NATO chemical and biological defense divisions who frequently visits Syria for professional consultancy work.

The Syrian defense ministry and air force could not be reached for comment.

CHLORINE BARREL BOMBS

Syria joined the international Chemical Weapons Convention under a U.S.-Russian deal that followed the deaths of hundreds of civilians in a sarin gas attack in Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus in August 2013.

It was the deadliest use of chemicals in global warfare since the 1988 Halabja massacre at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, which killed at least 5,000 people in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Syrian government, which denied its forces were behind the Ghouta attack, also agreed to hand over its declared stockpile of 1,300 tonnes of toxic weaponry and dismantle its chemical weapons program under international supervision.

The United Nations and OPCW have been investigating whether Damascus is adhering to its commitments under the agreement, which averted the threat of U.S.-led military intervention.

The bodies appointed the panel of experts to conduct the inquiry, and its mandate runs until November. The panel published a report in October last year which said Syrian government forces used chemical weapons at least three times in 2014-2015 and that Islamic State used mustard gas in 2015.

The October report identified Syria's 22nd Air Force Division and 63rd Helicopter Brigade as having dropped chlorine bombs and said people "with effective control in the military units ... must be held accountable".

The source familiar with the inquiry said the October report had clearly established the institutions responsible and that the next step was to go after the individuals.

Washington on Thursday blacklisted 18 senior Syrian officials based on the U.N.-OPCW inquiry's October report - some of whom also appear on the list seen by but not Assad or his brother.

The issue of chemical weapons use in Syria has become a deeply political one, and the U.N.-OPCW inquiry's allegations of chlorine bomb attacks by government forces have split the U.N. Security Council's veto-wielding members.

The United States, Britain and France have called for sanctions against Syria, while Assad's ally Russia has said the evidence presented is insufficient to justify such measures.

A Security Council resolution would be required to bring Assad and other senior Syrian officials before the International Criminal Court for any possible war crimes prosecution - something Russia would likely block.

Azor
01-13-2017, 08:27 PM
1. The Turkish Air Force struck 10 Daesh targets in Suflaniyah and Bzaah, and Turkish armor struck 177 in and around Al Bab

https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/819884056846467073/pu/img/nn8JeEmIh6mcEhG7.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2DyYVqXUAAxJRm.jpg

Video Footage: https://twitter.com/AkEl_Saruman/status/819884416394792961


2. Clashes near Selfaniye
https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/819918824556339201/pu/img/zzAh2SlB45PNZp1q.jpg

Video Footage: https://twitter.com/SonKaleTurkiye2/status/819920050069110786

3. Turkish AFVs are being used by the FSA
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2D3EJQWEAAC75Q.jpg


3. Daesh claims to have repelled FSA attacks near Seflaniyeh and that the Russian Air Force attacked the town after the FSA retreated

davidbfpo
01-13-2017, 10:11 PM
An Israeli paper 'Iranian Concerns Grow Over Russia's Syrian Policies', which concludes:
In all probability,Iran and Russia's common interests bind them strongly enough so that they will continue cooperating with one another in Syria. Their most pressing common concerns are to prevent Syria from falling into the hands of jihadist rebels or Islamists hostile to both Iran and Russia, and to prevent the West from gaining influence in Syria. Therefore, as long as the war in Syria continues unabated, Iranian-Russian military and political cooperation can be expected to continue, even if there is occasional friction. Nevertheless, the two states also have disagreements caused by both sides' aspirations to influence or even hegemony in Syria, and by their different views of the relations between regional countries (including Israel). In all probability, their disagreements will worsen and rise to the surface as contacts continue for a political arrangement that will determine the fate of President Assad, whose continuing as head of Syria is regarded by Iran as of supreme importance
Link:http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/21129

OUTLAW 09
01-14-2017, 07:14 PM
Syria Reports: #IS assault try to cut #Assad regime supply lines in #DeirEzzor city from airbase
According to locals it's even the biggest #ISIS offensive in #DeirEzzor since nearly 1 year.
DeirEzzor: Several reports that large numbers of #ISIS reinforcements arrived in #DeirEzzor and Eastern #Homs during the last days.

Pro-#Hezbollah media films the air strike-destroyed water facility in #WadiBarada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j70qX1V0S7s#

Consistent w/ @bellingcat findings

OUTLAW 09
01-14-2017, 07:18 PM
New terror attack in Syria, province Idlib. Russian military bombed the market, 10 killed, 21 wounded.

The sectarian cleansing (displacement to #Idlib province) of all Sunnis in #WadiBarada begins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLqg5Z823Ds#

OUTLAW 09
01-15-2017, 01:41 PM
Damascus: Pro-#Assad forces are slaughtering civilians with tanks in #Wadi_Barada now. 12 confirmed killed, dozens more wounded.

DeirEzzor: Location of the captured Officers Housing:
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.300381&lon=40.170565&z=15&m=b#

OUTLAW 09
01-15-2017, 01:44 PM
So just how Trump going to handle his friend Putin about this key Russian geopolitical goal.....

"We all know the Russians' dreams have always been to have military bases in the Mediterranean” #Libya #syria
https://euobserver.com/foreign/136537

OUTLAW 09
01-15-2017, 01:52 PM
Rebels regained points in Wadi Barada (blue)

Syria #Damascus #Assad-forces overlooking Wadi Barada
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwYzDpO0dx0&feature=youtu.be#

OUTLAW 09
01-15-2017, 02:11 PM
DeirEzzor: #ISIS is advancing and has captured many more positions from #Assad regime since the morning, including Engineers Housing.

Damascus: Rebels launched a counter-offensive in #Wadi_Barada and recaptured most lost areas from #Assad regime and #Hezbollah.
Rebels regain positions lost to Hezbollah/regime in counterattack last night in Bassimeh & Ein al-Khadra & heavy clashes in Ard al-Dahr

OUTLAW 09
01-15-2017, 02:43 PM
The #Assad regime & #Hezbollah KEEP SHELLING the water facility in #Fijeh,#WadiBarada
THEY drain #Damascus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF4O-5I1LhM&feature=youtu.be#…

OUTLAW 09
01-15-2017, 02:47 PM
32 civilians were killed across #Syria on Saturday.
15 of them in #Russian air strikes on #Idlib province, 7 in #WadiBarada.
- LCC

CrowBat
01-15-2017, 05:27 PM
Iran repopulates Syria with Shia Muslims to help tighten regime's control (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/13/irans-syria-project-pushing-population-shifts-to-increase-influence)

New communities are settling in areas where Sunnis have fled or been forced out as Tehran seeks an arc of control stretching from its borders to Israel

In the valleys between Damascus and Lebanon, where whole communities had abandoned their lives to war, a change is taking place. For the first time since the conflict broke out, people are starting to return.

But the people settling in are not the same as those who fled during the past six years.
...
Mind: people doing this are the same people who cry crocodile tears about Palestinians and the 'Zionist entity' displacing Arabs and replacing them with Jews...

...or about an Arab invasion of their own turf (in 1980) and an 'imposed war' that destroyed most of the Khuzestan Province (which, BTW, Tehran didn't repair until today)...

OUTLAW 09
01-15-2017, 06:32 PM
Russian Air Force Su-27/Su-30 observed by a targeting pod of a US Navy Hornet/Super Hornet

OUTLAW 09
01-15-2017, 07:02 PM
Today #Hezbollah tanks shelled a banquet hall housing displaced civilians north of #Damascus. This is the aftermath.
https://youtu.be/wQAPnYbl7Tg

Russian Defense Ministry surprised by lack of assistance to Aleppo civilians from UN
http://tass.com/politics/925071

BUT WAIT..both Assad and Putin would not allow UN into Aleppo....

OUTLAW 09
01-15-2017, 07:21 PM
Absolutely incredible stuff, reports now rebels have regained control of Ein al-Khadra in Wadi Barada from Hezbollah/regime forces

Assad forces retreat from Turdah Mountain
/Tal Kroum & Panorama Roundabout south of #DeirEzZor city
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.287946&lon=40.081043&z=14&m=b&search=Idlib#

DeirEzzor: Reports that #ISIS has captured the #Assad Hospital, Al Fourat University and that they are attacking the Police Academy.

47 Afghans of #IRGC's Fatemiun brigade killed in Syria(mostly in Aleppo,some in Tadmur)buried during last 3weeks in different cities of Iran

Reports several regime & Iranian officers were killed in the Israeli airstrikes. #Damacus
Airstrikes reportedly targeted ammo depot + signal/radar building in Mezzeh AB + 4th div positions in Qasioun + air defence system in Yafour

W. #Aleppo: Jaish Al-Mujahideen destroyed with a #TOW a mini van used by Iranian militias on Menyan front.

N. #Hama: 2nd #TOW strike by Jaish Al-Izza blowing up a pick-up reportedly carrying Regime officers.

N. #Hama: Jaish Al-Izza wiped out with a #TOW a group of pro-Regime forces in Shaliut.

Killed in the car bomb explosion are Mil Intel Brig Gen Munthir Haydar & NDF militants Jumaa Wasouf, Uthman Aboud, Hitham Ismail & others

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister Jan 11
So far, #Russia’s “withdrawal” from #Syria has seen the *additional* deployment of:
- 12 Su25 jets
- Multiple heavily-laden transport ships

WadiBarada: Rebels destroyed with a Metis #ATGM a position with a tank overlooking the valley:

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 11:48 AM
DeirEzZor: #IS took ceramic factory & cut road btw airbase &
Harrabesh neighborhood
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.305687&lon=40.166295&z=16&m=b#

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has destroyed several regime vehicles, including a bus full with pro-#Assad forces.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS is advancing in #Harabesh District, on the Cemetery and along the N-7 Road.

DeirEzzor: #Assad regime defence lines are collapsing in several areas of #DeirEzzor.

#DeirEzzor: Unconfirmed reports: #IS took brigade 113 base on #Damascus road
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.311396&lon=40.086944&z=16&m=b#

Homs: Clashes between #ISIS and pro-#Assad forces in Eastern #Homs.

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 12:27 PM
Just another shocking video from "al-Qaeda heartland" #Idlib province (Khan Shaykhun city).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWoMh3Jpk0k#

FSA News ‏@FSAPlatform
#Syria || NEW @SNHR #Report

> 318 Total #Ceasefire Violations

Breakdown:
- 277 Regime forces
- 34 Russian forces
- 7 Opposition forces

56 people were killed across #Syria on Sunday.
30 of them by Turkish artillery in al-Bab and ISIS mines while trying to flee.
- LCC

CrowBat
01-16-2017, 12:30 PM
A short summary of developments of the last few days on principal battlefields of the SCW:

Dayr az-Zawr
There are reports that the Daesh launched a biggest offensive on 'regime' forces in this city (nearly half of 'regime' is meanwhile actually Hezbollah). It should be a very serious, and substantiated attack - and making quite some progress, too (blue-marked areas on the map below).

Correspondingly, the Daesh at least reached - although failed to capture - the Assad Hospital, but seems to have reached the Police School, and it certainly captured Engineers Housing (https://twitter.com/worldonalert/status/820700611524100098). It should have cut off the road between the air base and the ceramic factory, as well as the Harrabesh Neighbourhood. BTW, Daesh claims, a SyAAF air strike hit own troops (https://twitter.com/Jacm212/status/820656272601182209) somewhere in Dayr az-Zawr area.

Aleppo
Because of IRGC's unsurpassed ability to learn, the JAM TOWed another (https://twitter.com/Paradoxy13/status/820705031884312578) - already the fifth - group of IRGC-thugs on exactly the same point along some road in Aleppo in a matter of three weeks. Of course, contrary to dozens of similar videos posted by the IRGC and Hezbollah, that video was removed from YouTube. 'Violation of terms of service'...

T-4/Tiyas - Palmyra Area
Hezbollah fans (https://twitter.com/MmaGreen/status/820365595686342656) are reporting a counter-offensive launched on 9 January with the aim of widening the perimeter. Supposedly involved is the 11th 'Tank' Division and its 67th Brigade. Latest report by...ho-hum!... al-Masdar also cites the arrival of that much-famed V Legion (aka 'Corps') (https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/russian-trained-5th-legion-arrives-west-palmyra/) in this area. However, the BMP-2s seen there (https://twitter.com/MmaGreen/status/818518094314373121) and sand-coloured T-72s (https://twitter.com/MmaGreen/status/818519274734153728) (ex mounts of the Republican Gaurds) are operated by Hezbollah already since early 2014. Indeed, other units identified as deployed there include the 800th Battalion RG (https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/813816472707485698), the IRGC's Liwa Zulfiqar (https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/816025521591111681), and the Liwa Imam Rida (https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/816032833802272768), too. To make sure nobody runs away, all of them are controlled by the Dir al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya (https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/816025521591111681) (Air Force Intelligence Shield, centrepiece of the Quwwat Nimr).

Certainly enough, they're receiving plentiful support from SyAAF and VKS helicopters (https://twitter.com/MmaGreen/status/820658833693536258).

Damascus
First things first: while most of people on anti-regime side can't stop claiming it's only Hezbollah that's assaulting the Wadi Barada pocket, and all possible Assad-fans can't stop babbling about 'Syrian Arab Army' doing so, it transpires it's not only Hezbollah but also the Arab National Guard and Quwwat al-Qalamoun (https://twitter.com/MmaGreen/status/818174909541187584) that are fighting there. Regime's contribution consists of the Quwwat Nimr's (aka 'Tiger Force') Quwwat Shahin (https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/820046149331644416) (aka '3rd Battalion').

BTW, the latter are survivors from the gang that recently got smashed by Daesh and then kicked out in a high loop out of Palmyra... Seems, Col Botox (Brig Gen Hassan, of course) considers the place safer for them.

Talking about that topic - and particularly important because all the possible Assad/Putler fans can't stop screaming they're fighting 'al-Qaida, IS, and allies' in Wadi Barada: this pocket is defended by following insurgent factions:

- Abdal ash-Sham (Basima militia): perhaps 300
- Liwa al-Qadissiya (from Rankous), perhaps 200
- Ahrar ash-Sham: perhaps 230

Then there are various minor militias known only by their commanders:

- Abdullah al-Alwani: perhaps 200
- Badr ad-Din al-Khatib: perhaps 150
- Safy Alam ad-Din: perhaps 60
- Qutayba al-Khatib Abu Muslim: perhaps 40
- Ala'a Yassin: perhaps 40

Anyway... some 3-4 days ago, Hezbollah & Co KG GesmbH attempted to exploit the confusion caused by negotiations that revolved around water supply to Damascus. Namely, the chief regime negotiator for the area, Maj Gen Ahmad al-Gahdban, supposedly reached an agreement along which a team of regime forces would've been granted permission to enter Bassimeh and Fijeh, and repair the damage caused by Assadist aerial bombardment.

The insurgents might have agreed with this (reports are very contradictive), but what happened next was that the Hezbollah (and the ANG, and the Quwwat al-Qalamoun, and the Quwwat Shahin etc.) attempted to exploit this opportunity to launch another assault.

Approximately around the same time, and true to best Assadist traditions, Brig Gen Qais al-Farwa got so mad about Ghadban, he field-executed (https://twitter.com/Paradoxy13/status/820428723942031362) the nifty traitor-negotiator - and this in front of gathered local mayors, several ministers and notable figures from northern Damascus area.

Anyway... so, Hezbollah & Co... attacked and entered Bassimeh - and then attempted to continue its advance on Ein al-Khadra, and Ard ad-Dahr too. Behind the troops fighting for them, what Joshua Landis loves to call the 'sole acceptable solution' - also known as Assadists - began burning and looting Bassimeh, and arresting whoever was left there.

For a while, it appeared local insurgents couldn't stop this advance. But, alas: this morning it transpired that Landis' 'disunited Syrian Jihadists' dared smash that attack and push the Hezbollah back to most of its starting positions. That is: they regained control of Ein al-Khadra and Wadi Barada, but Bassimeh remains under Hezbollah control (https://twitter.com/MmaGreen/status/819982043895447552).

Overall, the Assadist/IRGC/Russian cease-fire goes on, obviously.

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 12:34 PM
Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
Assad’s Atrocities Help Al-Qaeda Recruit#Westerners https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/2017/01/16/assads-atrocities-help-al-qaeda-recruit-westerners#…

Well worth reading....

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
This week, U.S. sanctioned 18 #Assad officials for chemical attacks
Three years after "deal" to stop them

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister Jan 11
The #AQinSyria report is out!

*The result of months of discussions by multiple #Syria experts & an event tomorrow:
https://timep.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Combating-al-Qaeda-in-Syria.pdf#…

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 12:37 PM
Despite heavy pressure from #Turkey, #Syria’s opposition has not yet agreed to attend #Astana talks on Jan 23 - conditions issued.

Opposition conditions incl:

- more secure ceasefire
- guaranteed humanitarian aid flow
- heavier political opposition representation

.@zaak05349775481 of Fastaqm/FSA:
#Russia seeks talks w. military factions… [to form] a joint military force… as step towards a solution'

Strong calls for #Syria opposition unity process to succeed - “Merger Under the Umbrella of the Revolution”

10 key non-JFS groups involved:

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has cut the #Assad regime supply towards #DeirEzzor Airport.

CrowBat
01-16-2017, 12:51 PM
Reading your posts citing Russians, Outlaw, brought me to their amazing military capabilities that are so ably demonstrated in Syria, every single day.

By side the fact that the bad weather forced the VKS to drop the number of its air strikes from more than 50, back on 12 January, to less than 25, yesterday...

More importantly, and as we all know so well, it is so that Russia has 10 reconnaissance satellites (http://tass.ru/en/science/837273) in orbit over Syria, and its armed forces are at least 'experimenting with net-centric warfare.

See:https://jamestown.org/program/russias-network-centric-warfare-experiment-in-syria/#.Vxf0vnB%20_ there too.

And this is not to mention that each single of Russian bombs is scoring a 100% hit, no matter how dumb (or consisting of hundreds of even dumber bomblets from CBUs the VKS is 'not' deploying in Syria at all, no-no...)... By now, we should also know that the Keystone Cops in Moscow (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612221048867683-russia-jets-syria-campaign/) (see: Russian MOD) announced they've flown 71,000 combat sorties there (appears to actually be the number of dumb bombs they've released), 'eliminated 35,000 terrorists' (primarily Syrian civilian terrorists), etc.

....nah, now I'm on the best way of going off-topic.

The actual point is: because of all that incredibly precise intelligence acquired by Russian intelligence services, and because of that super-turbo precision of SVP-24-equipped fighter-bombers of the VKS, so far they failed to kill even one of top figures of the al-Qaida, or at least the JFS in Syria.

Nyet. Such dumb job should be done by US UAVs. Attached below is an informative illustration in this regards: guess, if the CIA goes on like this for another 20 years, the USA might even win this war...

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 03:17 PM
CrowBat....and they definitely are fighting IS which is why Trump wants to work with Putin in order to lift sanctions......:D

DeirEzzor: Pro-#Assad media confirmed that #ISIS controls the road to the Airport. First time that they confirmed territorial losses

Remember they really really big victory in Palmyra.....

Syria All air-focus on #IS today?
100+ airstrikes around #Homs Tiyas Airbase (T4) & #DeirEzzor -battlefield

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 06:10 PM
CrowBat...Iran is apparently totally nervous about something these days......

Over reaction: MiG-29s of #IRIAF #Iran Air Force took-off during QRA from #Mehrabad to shoot-down a small UAV in #Tehran's No-Fly Zone area!

IRIADF #Iran Air Defense Force ZU-23 and Sky Guard/ Oerlikon AA gun sites fired at an Unknown Object #UFO over #Tehran #Iran seconds ago.

BUT WAIT........
They accidentally shot the Mahdi.

Iranian officials: the drone or quadcopter just changed its heading & disappeared after AA Guns fired at it over #Tehran No-Fly zone #Iran!

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 06:32 PM
#Breaking #IRGC Quds Force ranking officer MGen Masjedi confirms being appointed as #Iran Ambassador in #Iraq.

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 06:56 PM
Sources to @DeirEzzor24 [who you should be following]: #IS is using elite units from Deir Ezzor itself and Ninawa against Deir Ezzor City.

If #IS is redeploying better troops from #Iraq, and #Assad coalition losing this badly at a time of relative calm: there are lessons therein......

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan
Very interesting:
The clashes in Deir Ezzor are being spearheaded by elite brigades coming from #Nineveh, according to @DeirEzzor24.

Syria: as 1000s in #DeirEzzor r at risk the regime continues to push #WadiBarada. Assad prefers crushing resistance over fighting terrorism

Syria #DeirEzzor #IS took over tank battalion near brick factory -seized tanks & ammo store

Syria Reports: #IS fighters infiltrated Jura & Al-Qussour neighborhoods in #DeirEzzor city -unconfirmed-
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.341315&lon=40.122221&z=16&m=b …

Syria #IslamicState split Regime area in #DeirEzzor in 2 parts

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 07:05 PM
Russia is having a tough time of it in Aleppo.......

Local activists: bodies of 3 Russian soldiers found in Tariq al-Bab district inside east Aleppo, Assad forces searching and arresting people

Soldiers likely military police brought to Aleppo to provide security, in fact to put Assad/Iran militias on the leash as agreed with Turkey


FSA News
‏@FSAPlatform
#WadiBarada || #WarCrimes
Today regime helicopters dropped c.20 barrelbombs on Ain Fija + artillery shells &rockets on edge of Deir Muqaran

FSA News ‏@FSAPlatform || #WadiBarada
Regime still preventing humanitarian aid from entering to provide medical service & food to besieged civilians

FSA News
‏@FSAPlatform
#FSA || #WadiBarada
Free Syrian Army fighters take on regime & Hezbollah in intense clashes on several axis in Wadi Barada, rural #Damascus

Free Syrian Army forces blow up a regime tunnel in Jobur, #Damascus

Free Syrian Army forces in Damascus province & rural areas

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 07:12 PM
Sources to @DeirEzzor24 [who you should be following]: #IS is using elite units from Deir Ezzor itself and Ninawa against Deir Ezzor City.

If #IS is redeploying better troops from #Iraq, and #Assad coalition losing this badly at a time of relative calm: there are lessons therein......

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan
Very interesting:
The clashes in Deir Ezzor are being spearheaded by elite brigades coming from #Nineveh, according to @DeirEzzor24.

Syria: as 1000s in #DeirEzzor r at risk the regime continues to push #WadiBarada. Assad prefers crushing resistance over fighting terrorism

Syria #DeirEzzor #IS took over tank battalion near brick factory -seized tanks & ammo store

Syria Reports: #IS fighters infiltrated Jura & Al-Qussour neighborhoods in #DeirEzzor city -unconfirmed-
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.341315&lon=40.122221&z=16&m=b …

Syria #IslamicState split Regime area in #DeirEzzor in 2 parts

Suddenly all of the SAA trolls who cheered the siege of #Aleppo are crying for the civilians in #DeirEzzor. Are we supposed to believe them?

Palmyra was just the key milestone for #ISIS to their final goals #DeirEzzor City and more areas in #Homs Province.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has confirmed captured the Cemetery, Workers area and the Garages area from the #Assad regime.

DeirEzzor: The #Assad regime in #Damascus has probably no clue what their forces control in #DeirEzzor and what is under #ISIS control.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has captured the Tank Battalion, seized tanks and tons of ammunition from the #Assad regime.

Palmyra: #Assad regime losses at #Tiyas Airbase since Saturday: - 30+ pro-#Assad forces killed - 3 bulldozers + 1 technical - tank damaged

Palmyra: #ISIS blowing up pro-#Assad forces near the #Tiyas Airbase with SVBIED. #Homs

I thought #Assad's key allies are #Russia and #Iran and not #US? Why should the #US help #Assad?
ARE they now counting on Trump??????

DeirEzzor: Pro-#Assad accounts blaming: - #Obama ("he bombs for #ISIS") - #Merkel ("she spies for #ISIS) - #Putin ("he don't bomb enough")

DeirEzzor: Pro-#Assad accounts blaming the #German Luftwaffe for the regime failure in #DeirEzzor. Hilarious!:D

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 07:16 PM
DeirEzzor: 100+ #Assad and #Russia|n airstrikes were not able to stop the #ISIS offensive.

Shabab al Sunna @shabab_sunah fighting regime forces in Wardat village, Lajat area
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dai16Vm478c …

Idlib council meets with representatives of aid orgs in Jisr al Shugur
https://youtu.be/F5SFyjCSDfY

Euphrates Shield fight against IS in Qabr al Muqri village in the outskirts of al-Bab, #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI3dyD4cvZg …

15 killed and 12 people wounded after Jeb al braz village near al-bab was targeted by IS
https://youtu.be/80cvB5lsi90

Liwa Tawhid al-Jnoob fighting with regime on Manshia front
https://youtu.be/PLdv4f_2X44

Graphic video of civilians killed by regime in Deir Qanoun, Wadi Barada yesterday
https://youtu.be/wQAPnYbl7Tg

Video from the aftermath of an IS car bomb that targeted Anyfia village in #aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjcBpKKpY2o …

While #ISIS advances in #DeirEzzor, Hezb/regime continue assault on Wadi Barada w/ arty shelling, rocket fire & barrel bombs. Priorities.

OUTLAW 09
01-16-2017, 07:28 PM
Opposition groups that have reportedly agreed to not attend/send delegates to Astana talks:
Ahrar al-ShamSuqour al-Sham
Faylaq al-Rahman
Thuwar al-Sham
Jaish Idlib
Jaish al-Mujahidin
Faylaq al-Sham
Sultan Murad
Shamiya Front
Jaish al-Izza
Jaish al-Nasr
1st Coastal Div
Liwa Shuhada al-Islam
Tajamu Fastaqim
Jaish al-Islam

To end factionalism among #Syria rebels, a new group called "Syrian National Army" will be created with #Turkey support

FSA Mujahidin Army take out another group of regime Shia militias with ATGM in Assad suburb west of #Aleppo

Azor
01-17-2017, 05:38 AM
Opposition groups that have reportedly agreed to not attend/send delegates to Astana talks:
Ahrar al-ShamSuqour al-Sham
Faylaq al-Rahman
Thuwar al-Sham
Jaish Idlib
Jaish al-Mujahidin
Faylaq al-Sham
Sultan Murad
Shamiya Front
Jaish al-Izza
Jaish al-Nasr
1st Coastal Div
Liwa Shuhada al-Islam
Tajamu Fastaqim
Jaish al-Islam

To end factionalism among #Syria rebels, a new group called "Syrian National Army" will be created with #Turkey support

FSA Mujahidin Army take out another group of regime Shia militias with ATGM in Assad suburb west of #Aleppo

That's unfortunate. I was hoping that the 1st Coastal Division would be included...

CrowBat
01-17-2017, 09:43 AM
DeirEzzor: 100+ #Assad and #Russia|n airstrikes were not able to stop the #ISIS offensive.Don't trust any such claims.

I went through Sentry Syria's reports (https://www.facebook.com/Sentry.Syria/) for yesterday, just about one hour ago, and there is no trace of evidence for such claims (indeed: there is not even trace of evidence for claims about '60' or 'non-stop' air strikes on Dayr az-Zawr).

Yesterday, 16 January 2017, just one sortie was launched during the entire night - by Russians, around 01.37. This hit Atarib.

The next one signalled the start of the usual morning wave: 07.38, 07.45 - but was apparently interrupted by bad weather. Nearly two hours later, one more take-off, at 09.25.

Assadists woke up at 10.09, and launched a single Su-24 from Tiyas AB, and one helicopter from as-Safira at 10.33.

Then Russians launched one helicopter at 10.42, and a fighter bomber at 10.44.

Then one Su-24 from Shayrat AB at 10.45 and another at 11.02.

An An-30B overflew Atarib at 11.27.

Another Su-24 was launched from at 11.28, and one VKS fighter-bomber from Hmemmem AB at 11.37, followed by another at 11.40, one at 11.44 (this bombed Hreitan), 12.31, another at 12.31, and one helicopter from as-Safira at 12.55.

Then came something like a 'big wave': a MiG-23 was launched from Shayrat at 13.12, another at 13.20 (this bombed Talbiseh), a Su-24 from Shayrat at 13.27, another from Tiyas at 13.29, a helicopter from as-Safira at 13.33, a Su-24 from Shayrat at 13.49, one Russian fighter-bomber from Hmemmem at 13.52, another Su-24 from Tiyas at 13.53, Su-22 from Shayrat at 14.09, and a Su-24 from Tiyas at 14.10. Even then, some of these air strikes have hit Talbiseh (https://twitter.com/m_alaloush/status/820976239561371649) (in the Ra'astan-Talbiseh Pocket, north of Homs).

More Russian take-offs followed at 14.16, 14.21 (bombed Latamina), 14.30, 14.33, 14.46 (bombed Jishr ash-Shughour), 15.48, and at 16.00.

One Su-24 was launched from Shayrat at 16.01, and one from Tiyas at 16.06.

At 16.09, an unknown aircraft was sighted over Jishr ash-Shughour: could be a US-made UAV or even an A-10.

One L-39 launched from Kweres in NE direction at 16.12, a Su-24 from Shayrat at 16.31, another L-39 from Kweres at 16.57, Su-24 from Tiyas at 17.05, and a L-39 from Kweres at 17.06. All of these flew in NE direction and no air strikes anywhere else were reported the next 20 minutes, so I assume these all flew attacks on Daesh in Dayr az-Zawr. This is little surprising, considering Daesh claimed to have captured the base of the 119th Artillery Battalion (https://twitter.com/markito0171/status/821080994275086338), and overrun the bus station (https://twitter.com/markito0171/status/821081722372636674), and it attempted to enter the Tahtuh and Harrabesh Districts from North. Sina'a District was hit by a VBIED (https://twitter.com/JohnArterbury/status/821108486050369541), and up to 40 Assadists captured and beheaded (https://twitter.com/markito0171/status/821132195318419457). With this, the pocket was split into two (as can be seen 'even' by maps readied by Assad-fans, see below).

Russians became active again around 18.27, launching two fighter bombers; then another at 19.24, one at 19.24, and another at 19.46.

A sole Su-24 launched from Tiyas at 20.44, one L-39 from Kweres at 21.08, another at 21.27, and one at 23.08.

Then Russians flew for the rest of the evening, but not particularly intensivelly: one take-off at 21.09, another at 21.15, one at 22.17, one at 22.44, another at 22.55, then one at 23.27, and one at 23.34 (this one killed a woman and 4 of her kids in Aniq Bajra, Eastern Hama (https://twitter.com/Paradoxy13/status/821133442914156545)). That's it.

Totals:
SyAAF
L-39: 6
helicopters: 3
MiG-23: 2
Su-22: 1
Su-24: 14

VKS: 30
helicopters: 1
recce: 1

Overall: this was not a particularly intensive day - Russians were launching as many as 60 sorties a day just about a week ago - probably because of bad weather over most of Syria. Even if the Sentry Syria might have missed some, say, 20% of air strikes - it's still no indication of 'non-stop air strikes'.

Except somebody there is counting every 'bomb' as 'air strike'. Namely, Russians do make bombing runs, one by one: i.e they drop two bombs, turn around and then drop the other two (they seldom carry more than four bombs). Assadists, on the contrary, release all of their bombs at once.

For those who ask themselves how many troops the regime has in Dayr az-Zawr: precise numbers are unknown, but my estimate is, 'less than 2,000 left'. Assad fans are reporting (https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/status/821263013403447296) that the local garrison consists of the 'Republican Guard' (the 104th Brigade), '17th Division' (actually: only whatever was left of the 137th Brigade and that was not much already back in 2012), Quwwat al-Jalil (Galilee Force, Palestinians), and Hezbollah, plus police, air force intel and military security (see: Quwwat Nimr/Tiger Force, to watch over everybody else). Means: they've certainly flown in some reinforcements over the last few months, which is why they might have 'less than 2,000 (otherwise it would be much less). And while the governor of Dayr az-Zawr is smiling on the TV (https://twitter.com/Paradoxy13/status/821103406815346690), and explaining that 'all is nice and fine', there are reports the regime thugs are storming civilian houses/appartments (https://twitter.com/Paradoxy13/status/821106430816174080) in Joura, Qusour and Harabesh, and dragging males to the frontlines.

CrowBat
01-17-2017, 09:47 AM
That's unfortunate. I was hoping that the 1st Coastal Division would be included...
...and surprising, too. The 1st Coastal is supposed to be supported by Turkey, and Turkey is supposed to be the primary force behind this 'drive to unite'.

If they 'fell out', then... why?

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 09:51 AM
Syria Warplanes & Helicopters bombing rebel held villages in Wadi Barada west of #Damascus

BUT WAIT...the Russian FM is hitting the vodka to much today......
Russian FM Lavrov accuses US of viewing #ISIS as a "moderate" force to bring down #Assad govt.

IF Russia was as he himself stated at the UNGA destroying IS he would not have to be attacking the US with an utter myth.....

BUT WAIT...they have virtually abstained from attacking IS these days and are losing to IS badly...

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 10:17 AM
SOHR Clashes on #Damascus – #Homs highway and in the eastern outskirts of Damascus

Warplanes kill 6 persons at least in a village east of #Hama and shelling on #Daraa city

Explosion in town at #Qameshly countryside &shelling targets the outskirts of #Aleppo and clashes north of it

ISIS was able to repel regime forces’ attempt to advance near #T4 airbase, causes casualties&injuries #Homs

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 10:21 AM
This article reinforces what CrowBat recently posted on this subject....

Iran repopulates Syria with Shia Muslims to help tighten regime's control

New communities are settling in areas where Sunnis have fled or been forced out as Tehran seeks an arc of control stretching from its borders to Israel

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/13/irans-syria-project-pushing-population-shifts-to-increase-influence



In the valleys between Damascus and Lebanon, where whole communities had abandoned their lives to war, a change is taking place. For the first time since the conflict broke out, people are starting to return.
But the people settling in are not the same as those who fled during the past six years.
The new arrivals have a different allegiance and faith to the predominantly Sunni Muslim families who once lived there. They are, according to those who have sent them, the vanguard of a move to repopulate the area with Shia Muslims not just from elsewhere in Syria, but also from Lebanon and Iraq.
The population swaps are central to a plan to make demographic changes to parts of Syria, realigning the country into zones of influence that backers of Bashar al-Assad, led by Iran, can directly control and use to advance broader interests. Iran is stepping up its efforts as the heat of the conflict starts to dissipate and is pursuing a very different vision to Russia, Assad’s other main backer.In articles that I published as early as 2007/2008 I have been talking about the Khomeini expressed dream of the "Green Crescent".....Shia controlled areas ranging from Pakistan over AFG....Iran....Iraq....Syria and on into Lebanon....

WELL Obama made it possible and Trump will contribute even more to that "Green Crescent"....

Got laughed at every single time....

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 10:25 AM
...and surprising, too. The 1st Coastal is supposed to be supported by Turkey, and Turkey is supposed to be the primary force behind this 'drive to unite'.

If they 'fell out', then... why?

There is some discontentment among some of the groups even in the Turkish sponsored ones about the role of Turkey and Russia after the fall of Aleppo......some feel that turkey has basically sold them out for Turkish main interests.....meaning they have "sold out Sunni's"....although Sunni themselves.....

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 10:42 AM
DeirEzzor: #Assad regime child soldiers in #DeirEzzor.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has killed the #Assad Brigadier General Ali Fares in #DeirEzzor. He is from #Jableh, #Latakia Province.

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 10:51 AM
Syria Last night #Russia & #Assad regime dropped all kinds of bombs on the #DeirEzzor cementery (Cluster bombs, incendiary ammo etc)

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 05:03 PM
Russia attacks credibility of UN-OPCW panel co-created by Russia to identify Syrian CW users, after it fingers Assadhttp://tass.com/politics/925365

Azor
01-17-2017, 05:45 PM
CSIS Panel: Russia's Intervention in Syria: Lessons Learned (January 13, 2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtCYXk9R95I

Panelists:


Ruslan Pukhov – Director, Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Moscow
Michael Kofman – Global Fellow, Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center, Washington, D.C.


On Russia’s adventure in Syria

Pukhov:


The Russian Navy has undergone “Kalibr-zation” given that the use of sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles was deemed a major success
Rather than relying upon elite pilots, the Russian Air Force has rotated as many pilots as possible (50%) to Syria for training and experience
Collateral damage has been caused by the fact that Russian bombs, both smart and dumb, are too heavy (500 lbs or more)
Basically, Russia will take a second look at the US SDB and smaller ordnance for urban situations
There was also difficulty hitting moving targets from the air, and often pilots had to simply ignore them
A major problem has been a lack of targeting intelligence, which apparently plagued France and Italy during Operation Odyssey Dawn
Initially, the Russians relied upon Israeli targeting intelligence and then sourced it from Iran
Russia is very concerned about the challenged posed by “lean and mean” air forces such as those fielded by Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands
Overall, the Russians assess that their use of PGMs/smart weapons is on par with Operation Desert Storm, and they recognize that they are 20-years behind
Russia relied upon Israeli-supplied UAVs, but US pressure has cut off that supply
The Wagner Group is not a PMC “in the Western sense”, but a “hybrid” organization channeling “people outside of the regular military who wish to fight”
Russia has had no experience working with allies, and coordinating with the Syrians, Iranians and Iraqis (he specifically mentions Hezbollah and Quds) was “invaluable”


Kofman:


Very few PGMs were used, and those that were weren’t precise
The SVP-24 only improves accuracy at low altitudes, but MANPADs forced the Russians to fly at medium or high altitudes
Primarily, Russia is relying upon 1950s-era dumb bombs, even from the Tu-22s which were launched with only a 25% loadout
There were no accidents with the fixed-wing assets of the air force, but various helicopters “fell out of the sky”, especially the Mi-28
3-4 Russian naval aircraft were lost off the Kuznetsov
The “Syrian Express” relied upon LSTs 25-50-years old, but bringing in commercial transport was a useful adaptation
50-100 Russians were killed who were part of PMCs, including Wagner
Russia still lacks domestic UAV capabilities
Russia was able to produce sortie rates on par with the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria
“What percentage of the time did the Russian Air Force actually know what it was hitting? That’s very debatable…”
The breakdown of allied coordination at Palmyra was embarrassing as was the diplomatic furor over the brief use of Iran’s Hamadan Air Base. However, working with allies is difficult even if they speak the same language and use similar equipment


Other Comments of Interest

Pukhov:


Russia’s main lessons have been learned in Ukraine not Syria
Russia undertook “5 waves of mobilization” to intervene in Ukraine, and the poor results necessitated changing the structure of the army (e.g. the reactivated divisions)
The “return of Crimea” was a return to normalcy ("macro-historical norm")
The desire of Yeltsin and then Putin initially for Russia to be a partner of the West was an aberration, which the Americans dismissed out of hand (especially Robert Gates, who Pukhov had admired)
“Putin’s speech at Munich in 2007 was a cry from the soul…he said in 2001 why not be in NATO? He thought the same as Yeltsin, but thought that he could do it smarter and better…”
“Kaliningrad was largely de-militarized and our main concern was Islamism in Algeria…”
Now, Kaliningrad is militarized, and Russia fears regime change from the West and to a lesser extent conflict with Japan over the Kuriles or with China, however, there is a bias toward the European theater


Kofman:


“Ranking the order of threats to Russia from their perspective: 1. Ukraine, 2. NATO…it will be over Belarus…it’s not the Baltics…Russia cares about Belarus…3. Central Asia…all of the best commanders are in Central Asia, so that tells you something, and they all make it to the top of the general staff…4. the Pacific…the US and Japan…but Russia assumes that this would be the horizontal movement of a conflict that started in Europe…”

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 06:20 PM
Reports in Arabic social media that regime helicopters attempting to land reinforcements in Deir Ezzor were driven off by IS antiair

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 06:42 PM
Pentagon preparing aggressive proposals to combat #ISIS, including 1: putting 4,000 troops on ground to support #SDF in Syria

BUT WAIT... boots on the ground is going to go over big with the families of the 4000 in Syria...right.....

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 06:53 PM
Syria today.
Instead of fighting #ISIS & saving #DeirEzzor, #Assad & #Hezbollah attack civilians in #WadiBarada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNNxKHyjB8#…

It's really time, @CJTFOIR admits, the #YPG is part of the #SDF and gets the same support as the other groups in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QN5OjksbmQ#…

Terrible scenes from #Talbisah hospital after #Assad regime air strikes on the city yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jfa2TNpZjk#…

Interesting read....
#Russia's role in the region from the Gulf perspective: its alliance with #Iran/#Hizballah and #Assad
https://goo.gl/95wbXs#

Even more interesting comment from Russian FM....
Damascus was 2-3 weeks from falling when #Russia intervened: #Lavrov

240 mm 3-O-10 Nerpa cluster mortar shells, not uncommon in Ghouta

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 07:04 PM
DeirEzzor: #Assad regime gave the order: "Victory or death". Regime refused to evacuate anyone with helicopters from #DeirEzzor.

DeirEzzor: High-ranking officers asked the military in #Qamishli if they could send helicopters to evacuate them. The answer was no.

Say the guys who are begging for #US airstrikes AND green buses.
https://twitter.com/RanemBlida/status/821435586045210624#

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has captured the customs administration & taxes building in #DeirEzzor from #Assad regime.

DeirEzzor: Heavy fighting at 137th Artillery Base and Al-Fourat University.

Damascus: Fierce clashes in #Wadi_Barada. Rebels have destroyed 2 #Assad tanks today.

Idlib: #US airstrikes near #Binnish in #Idlib Province. A #US B-52 was seen in the area.

Palmyra: #ISIS has repelled another regime attempt to advance near #Tiyas Airbase today. 20 pro-#Assad forces were killed. #Homs

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has killed the personal assistant of #Assad Major General Issam Zahreddine in #DeirEzzor.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has killed #Assad Brigadier General Samer Amin Ali in #DeirEzzor.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has wounded #DeirEzzor Governor #Assad Major General Mohammed Samra & #DeirEzzor police chief.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has killed #Assad Colonel Ayham Ahmed Suleiman in #DeirEzzor. He is from #Safita, #Tartus Province.

OUTLAW 09
01-17-2017, 07:33 PM
Aleppo: Several civilians were killed or wounded by heavy #Russia|n airstrikes on towns and villages in Western #Aleppo.

Charles Lister

@Charles_Lister
An important read from @FredericHof, on the challenges ahead for #Trump re. #Syria & #ISIS:

“Tillerson on #Syria”

http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/syriasource/tillerson-on-syria#.WH4mjVjh_ks.twitter#

CrowBat
01-17-2017, 09:41 PM
CSIS Panel: Russia's Intervention in Syria: Lessons Learned (January 13, 2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtCYXk9R95IWith exception of few details (that with 500lbs/250kg bombs being 'too heavy' is simply nonsense) - this reads like somebody's either following this, or the ACIG.info forum, perhaps WarIsBoring.com too - or all of that - and that since at least a year.

Azor
01-17-2017, 10:03 PM
With exception of few details (that with 500lbs/250kg bombs being 'too heavy' is simply nonsense) - this reads like somebody's either following this, or the ACIG.info forum, perhaps WarIsBoring.com too - or all of that - and that since at least a year.

Well, I'm sure that Puhkov and Kofman have their own sources. At least it is confirmation that your own sources are correct. As WIB noted, the Russians are now being very careful to avoid the appearance of having committed war crimes, so perhaps that plays into the "dumb heavy" bombs being used as an excuse. However, it is also true that Russian ordnance was never designed with collateral damage in mind...

Personally, I've followed CSIS and WIB for a few years now, and find the former to be the most knowledgeable and measured of the think tanks when it comes to defense studies. CSIS has been adept at both conveying Russia's concerns and perceptions, while not pulling any punches when it comes to Russian aggression and propaganda.

I tried to distill the best comments from both Puhkov and Kofman, and I particularly agree with Kofman's assertion about Belarus. I do believe that Putin is more anxious about NATO expanding to include Sweden, Finland and possibly Belarus, than he is about the fate of Russophones or ethnic Russians in the Baltic republics. The Baltics would have to become authoritarian and markedly anti-Russian for him to act. Besides, there are millions of Russians in northern Kazakhstan, which is neither part of the EU nor NATO. Belarus is considered at least as important to Russia as Crimea is, which is no doubt why Lukashenko is very careful about sending feelers out to Brussels.

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 04:46 AM
CSIS Panel: Russia's Intervention in Syria: Lessons Learned (January 13, 2017)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtCYXk9R95I

Panelists:


Ruslan Pukhov – Director, Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, Moscow
Michael Kofman – Global Fellow, Kennan Institute at the Wilson Center, Washington, D.C.


On Russia’s adventure in Syria

Pukhov:


The Russian Navy has undergone “Kalibr-zation” given that the use of sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles was deemed a major success
Rather than relying upon elite pilots, the Russian Air Force has rotated as many pilots as possible (50%) to Syria for training and experience
Collateral damage has been caused by the fact that Russian bombs, both smart and dumb, are too heavy (500 lbs or more)
Basically, Russia will take a second look at the US SDB and smaller ordnance for urban situations
There was also difficulty hitting moving targets from the air, and often pilots had to simply ignore them
A major problem has been a lack of targeting intelligence, which apparently plagued France and Italy during Operation Odyssey Dawn
Initially, the Russians relied upon Israeli targeting intelligence and then sourced it from Iran
Russia is very concerned about the challenged posed by “lean and mean” air forces such as those fielded by Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands
Overall, the Russians assess that their use of PGMs/smart weapons is on par with Operation Desert Storm, and they recognize that they are 20-years behind
Russia relied upon Israeli-supplied UAVs, but US pressure has cut off that supply
The Wagner Group is not a PMC “in the Western sense”, but a “hybrid” organization channeling “people outside of the regular military who wish to fight”
Russia has had no experience working with allies, and coordinating with the Syrians, Iranians and Iraqis (he specifically mentions Hezbollah and Quds) was “invaluable”


Kofman:


Very few PGMs were used, and those that were weren’t precise
The SVP-24 only improves accuracy at low altitudes, but MANPADs forced the Russians to fly at medium or high altitudes
Primarily, Russia is relying upon 1950s-era dumb bombs, even from the Tu-22s which were launched with only a 25% loadout
There were no accidents with the fixed-wing assets of the air force, but various helicopters “fell out of the sky”, especially the Mi-28
3-4 Russian naval aircraft were lost off the Kuznetsov
The “Syrian Express” relied upon LSTs 25-50-years old, but bringing in commercial transport was a useful adaptation
50-100 Russians were killed who were part of PMCs, including Wagner
Russia still lacks domestic UAV capabilities
Russia was able to produce sortie rates on par with the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria
“What percentage of the time did the Russian Air Force actually know what it was hitting? That’s very debatable…”
The breakdown of allied coordination at Palmyra was embarrassing as was the diplomatic furor over the brief use of Iran’s Hamadan Air Base. However, working with allies is difficult even if they speak the same language and use similar equipment


Other Comments of Interest

Pukhov:


Russia’s main lessons have been learned in Ukraine not Syria
Russia undertook “5 waves of mobilization” to intervene in Ukraine, and the poor results necessitated changing the structure of the army (e.g. the reactivated divisions)
The “return of Crimea” was a return to normalcy ("macro-historical norm")
The desire of Yeltsin and then Putin initially for Russia to be a partner of the West was an aberration, which the Americans dismissed out of hand (especially Robert Gates, who Pukhov had admired)
“Putin’s speech at Munich in 2007 was a cry from the soul…he said in 2001 why not be in NATO? He thought the same as Yeltsin, but thought that he could do it smarter and better…”
“Kaliningrad was largely de-militarized and our main concern was Islamism in Algeria…”
Now, Kaliningrad is militarized, and Russia fears regime change from the West and to a lesser extent conflict with Japan over the Kuriles or with China, however, there is a bias toward the European theater


Kofman:


“Ranking the order of threats to Russia from their perspective: 1. Ukraine, 2. NATO…it will be over Belarus…it’s not the Baltics…Russia cares about Belarus…3. Central Asia…all of the best commanders are in Central Asia, so that tells you something, and they all make it to the top of the general staff…4. the Pacific…the US and Japan…but Russia assumes that this would be the horizontal movement of a conflict that started in Europe…”


Pukhov:...he is actually wrong.......the French and Italians had not a single issue with targeting...in fact the core problem was ...eventually a lack of targets forcing tanks to become targets.....and then drones were largely used and one drone was credited for killing a SAM 8 site....

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 04:50 AM
Wow....first Russia deliberately blocks all humanitarian aid to anyone anywhere inside Syria.....after they bombed everything into the ground as they did in Chechnya

SYRIA Rus MoD calls upon the international organizations to provide real humanitarian help to the Syrian population
http://s.mil.ru/2k2YfEW

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 05:16 AM
Putin's political godfather was the architect of Soviet support for Islamic terrorism, Yevgeny Primakov.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.rferl.org/amp/27100746.html?client=safari#

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 09:41 AM
NOW US directly supporting Assad...as many felt was the indirect goal of Obama for a long while now......

Syria #US confirm they conducted several airstrikes since Saturday on #IS in #DeirEzzor to support regime-destroyed 12 vehicles & 1 barrier

BUT WAIT...this really cements UN intentions in Syria.......
Syria Since 2016 #UN dropped 177 times relief supplies by air into regime held part of #DeirEzzor city
This never happened for rebel towns

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 10:06 AM
Syria Clashes at #DeirEzzor cementery at southern city outskirts -seems new attacks by #IS this morning

FSA || Rural #Damascus
Regime General Raafat Ibrahim Nasif killed after FSA forces exploded a regime military tunnel in Harasta

Syria #DeirEzzor #SAA Brigade General Bashar al-Hallak killed in battle with #IS

Regime shelling #Daraa city in southern #Syria with artillery

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 10:08 AM
Russian Syria Naval Express.....

Russian Navy's Aux. Amur class repair ship "PM 138" southbound on the İstanbul Strait en route to Tartu/ Syria (8:40 am local)

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 10:11 AM
Russian Syrian Express.....

Russian Navy's Tapir class LST "NIKOLAI FILCHENKOV" 152 southbound on the İstanbul Strait en route to Tartus/Syria (8:20 am local)

She is riding actually a tad high for such previous supply runs....

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 10:45 AM
Russia has failed to comply with three major armored reductions ie destruction rounds that all other OSCE members did in fact complete....first Russia argued they were fighting in Chechnya and could not comply and then Georgia came along and then silence from Russia....

THESE tanks were part of the required 3000 that needed to be destroyed but were not.....

Based upon new picture from the port of Tartus, @mod_russia is “destroying” tanks T-62 by transferring them to Assad
https://www.facebook.com/CITeam.org/posts/723960994423547#

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 11:01 AM
In 2015, did China build a mock-up of Osama Bin Laden's compound?
41°38'59.65"N 86°21'25.55"E

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 11:26 AM
NOW US directly supporting Assad...as many felt was the indirect goal of Obama for a long while now......

Syria #US confirm they conducted several airstrikes since Saturday on #IS in #DeirEzzor to support regime-destroyed 12 vehicles & 1 barrier

BUT WAIT...this really cements UN intentions in Syria.......
Syria Since 2016 #UN dropped 177 times relief supplies by air into regime held part of #DeirEzzor city
This never happened for rebel towns

Increased US air support to Assad comparing to zero support to Turk/FSA forces fighting IS recently. Still think Russia kept Assad in power?

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 11:27 AM
Syria #DeirEzzor: #IS took power plant near airbase

Heavy clashes continue between rebels & Hezbollah/regime in Ein Fijeh, Wadi Barada this morning, shelling & rocket attacks haven't stopped

Damascus: FSA Video shows a destroyed #Assad tank in the outskirts of Ayn al-Fijah village in #Wadi_Barada today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw56wJIF5_Q#…

FSA || Rural #Damascus
Lightly armed FSA forces repel Hezbollah artillery attacks on Ain Al-Fija amidst regime airstrikes on the area

Regime & Hezbollah attacks on Wadi Barada for the 28th consecutive day, completely disregarding #ceasefire agreement

Woman in Othman Bin Affan IDP camp on border with #turkey talks about the bad conditions due to winter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xTgzU_38Ro#…

45 Women in Town of Kafr Halab participate in first aid course, part of a campaign in #Idlib and #aleppo countryside
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRZeG-YK2yU#…

Despite the war, raising pigeons and birds remains a special part of some Syrian's lives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3ZkMNLgYdU#…

Qasioun news @QasiounNewsAR video of a drone that allegedly targeted a JFaS car
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98dw2qeGnd8#…

Graphic: Aleppo civil defense remove bodies of people killed in airstrike on town of Kafr Halab, #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IGhimmLkSo#…

Takaful Charity distributes firewood to poor and families of those killed in al-Waer, #homs
https://youtu.be/236MCp9xMgk

Regime artillery fire on Kafr Zeit, Wadi Barada and it's surroundings earlier today
https://youtu.be/GdNNxKHyjB8

Qasioun news @QasiounNewsAR tour front lines in Qaboun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14VBIF2x50g#…

Residents of Besieged al-Waer, #homs suffer under winter weather conditions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKZ--RywQHY#…

Rahman corps fighters discuss repelling regime attacks on fronts where there was a ceasefire declared
https://youtu.be/QM11ys9NKTc

‘People can’t stand it any longer:’ Regime supporters in Latakia fed up with 1 hour of electricity per day.
http://bit.ly/2jVi0dd#

IDPs in Marj, #ghouta complain of having to move from place to place due to regime attacks and conditions of camps.

Baladi news @baladinews_en report from an #idlib local council voting site as residents of the city cast votes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o93pedClNf8#…

Elections for #Idlib local council last 13 days with 1435 votes being submitted by people of the city
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVHU_kWC3pM#…

Despite lacking the most basic supplies, nearly 300 students register for school in al-Rai after 3 yrs of no school
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o50irKNvfhE#…

First Coastal Division opens specialist hospital in North #Latakia countryside
https://youtu.be/X3IIjiIj9r0#

Free #idlib army firing 120 mm mortar at Kinsibba, #latakia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QWiFNWGTcc#…

Speed net expands ADSL network to Sermin, #idlib. Cost of internet is six USD a month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6MNqXb40VU#…

Video from Baladi news of an alleged Israeli aircraft entering Syrian airspace in #Quneitra
https://youtu.be/h3rWUYnvZ3M

iHH opens a university in N. Syria for students who dropped out during the war to continue their education
https://youtu.be/lcnWmnCuyPw

Jaish al Islam fighting on multiple fronts in E. #ghouta

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 03:39 PM
Russia & Turkey bomb ISIS in al-Bab,
the US & Assad bomb them in Deir Ezzor.
As if we never had any differences on fighting terror ...

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 03:51 PM
DeirEzzor: #ISIS has killed #Assad Lieutenant Osama Mohammed Noman Jliti from #Baniyas, #Tartus Province.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has captured a regime field hospital northwest of the #DeirEzzor Airport.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has captured 17 pro-#Assad forces since the morning. Reports they could be from the Republican Guard.

DeirEzzor: Pro-#Assad forces are searching for more civilians they can send to the frontline. Many were arrested since the morning.

Democratic rep. Tulsi Gabbard just back from Damascus, aides decline question over whether she met with Assad:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/18/democratic-rep-gabbard-makes-secret-trip-to-syria/#

She still has not stated she accepts the fact that Assad is a genocidal dictator...and she was in the US military......

@TulsiGabbard violated the US law by visiting Assad regime who committed countless war crimes. Potential 3 y Jail
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/953#

Charles Lister

@Charles_Lister
Advocates of #Russia in #Syria, here’s something to warp your mind:
- Russian strikes aided Ahrar al-Sham & Zinki’s fight vs. #ISIS today.

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 05:14 PM
Syria #DeirEzzor Unconfirmed Reports: #IS launch now major assault on airbase from several axis

Syria #DeirEzzor Seems #SAA General Issam Zahreddine still alive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI42cxxHXY0&feature=youtu.be#

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has killed #Assad Colonel Mahmoud in #DeirEzzor.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has killed #Hezbollah fighter Zayn Bakjaja in #DeirEzzor.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS is advancing and has nearly reached the #Harrabesh Roundabout.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.308541&lon=40.163677&z=16&m=b#


Russia gives Turkey influence in Syria and the right to crush a YPG-initiated Kurdistan. In return Turkey weakens NATO.

Russia and Turkey "mount first joint air strikes on IS"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38667895#
Trying to get Turkish/Nato confirmation

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 05:16 PM
DeirEzzor: #ISIS has killed the #Assad Republican Guard fighter Raja Hassan Almoudi in #DeirEzzor.

Damascus: #FSA Colonel Hamoud Douka was killed in the battle in #Wadi_Barada today. 1 woman & 1 child were killed by #Hezbollah.

All claims of "precise airstrikes" today unlikely

Azor
01-18-2017, 05:28 PM
Pukhov:...he is actually wrong.......the French and Italians had not a single issue with targeting...in fact the core problem was ...eventually a lack of targets forcing tanks to become targets.....and then drones were largely used and one drone was credited for killing a SAM 8 site....

Yes, when you run out of targets on your UNSCR to enforce a no-fly zone, it makes perfect sense to intervene in the civil war on behalf of the rebels, and fly CAS for them and their Qatari friends from out of town...

EDIT: Oh, and I believe that this is what Puhkov meant, that the Russian Air Force lacked sufficient targets.

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 06:26 PM
Well worth reading.....

Independent #Russia|n Analysts Argue Moscow Secretly Cooperating With #ISIS
https://jamestown.org/program/independent-russian-analysts-argue-moscow-secretly-cooperating-islamic-state/#

SO is Trump now going to work with Assad and Putin against IS...BUT WAIT if true then Trump is working together with IS...Russia...Assad and Iran...

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 06:33 PM
DeirEzzor #IS killed #NDF commander of Al Jufrah named Adel Aziz (village at northern entrance of airbase)
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35.298192&lon=40.193546&z=16&m=b#…

Syria #Homs #IS try to regain Sharifa village west of Tiyas Airbase (T4)

Syria #Assad-forces expelled #IS from this location in eastern #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36.219003&lon=37.326651&z=15&m=b#…

Syria #DeirEzzor: #IS took power plant near airbase

Fate of artillery base south of airport unclear

Syria #DeirEzzor #IS advance into Shuhada neighborhood

WFP airdrops to #DeirEzzour suspended, bad news for the civilians trapped in the middle of the current situation.

Syria Current battle map for #DeirEzzor city
(blue = new areas gained by #IS today)

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 06:54 PM
Charles Lister

@Charles_Lister
To clarify, Ahrar al-Sham refused to attend #Astana because:

1) Ceasefire failure & attacks on #WadiBarada
2) Russia jets still bombing
3) Military dynamics governing the conference
4) To prevent internal opposition conflicts & to avoid isolating factions not going, incl. JFS

Intriguingly, Ahrar al-Sham says that its decision not to go to #Astana “could be wrong” & that “we support” all those who are going.

Latakia: Rebel snipers have killed 2 pro-#Assad forces on #Turkmen_Mountain in Northern #Latakia today.

First report about a deadly rebel attack against the regime in Latakia since a while.

Charles Lister

@Charles_Lister
JFS/AQ has just claimed killing 16 #Russia military advisors in a suicide operation in Kafr Souseh, #Damascus, on Jan 12th.

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 07:07 PM
After heavy pressure, Jaish al-Fateh has turned over #Idlib's governance to an elected civil council.

85 people stood; 25 were elected.

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 07:09 PM
DeirEzzor: #ISIS has killed #Assad Lieutenant Osama Mohammed Noman Jliti from #Baniyas, #Tartus Province.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has captured a regime field hospital northwest of the #DeirEzzor Airport.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has captured 17 pro-#Assad forces since the morning. Reports they could be from the Republican Guard.

DeirEzzor: Pro-#Assad forces are searching for more civilians they can send to the frontline. Many were arrested since the morning.

Democratic rep. Tulsi Gabbard just back from Damascus, aides decline question over whether she met with Assad:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/18/democratic-rep-gabbard-makes-secret-trip-to-syria/#

She still has not stated she accepts the fact that Assad is a genocidal dictator...and she was in the US military......

@TulsiGabbard violated the US law by visiting Assad regime who committed countless war crimes. Potential 3 y Jail
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/953#

Charles Lister

@Charles_Lister
Advocates of #Russia in #Syria, here’s something to warp your mind:
- Russian strikes aided Ahrar al-Sham & Zinki’s fight vs. #ISIS today.

Reference Gabbard

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 07:11 PM
RUAF MEDEVAC Il-76 86906 departed #Latakia Syria

RUAF MEDEVAC Il-76 86906 departed #Latakia 0840Z and returned back 1415Z. Where was she? Hamedan? Damascus?

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 07:34 PM
Charles Lister

@Charles_Lister
To clarify, Ahrar al-Sham refused to attend #Astana because:

1) Ceasefire failure & attacks on #WadiBarada
2) Russia jets still bombing
3) Military dynamics governing the conference
4) To prevent internal opposition conflicts & to avoid isolating factions not going, incl. JFS

Intriguingly, Ahrar al-Sham says that its decision not to go to #Astana “could be wrong” & that “we support” all those who are going.

Latakia: Rebel snipers have killed 2 pro-#Assad forces on #Turkmen_Mountain in Northern #Latakia today.

First report about a deadly rebel attack against the regime in Latakia since a while.

Charles Lister

@Charles_Lister
JFS/AQ has just claimed killing 16 #Russia military advisors in a suicide operation in Kafr Souseh, #Damascus, on Jan 12th.

Astonishing: Ahrar al-Sham says it won't attend Astana because, among other reasons, it doesn't want to isolate Al Qaeda's Fateh al-Sham JFS

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 07:36 PM
DeirEzzor: Reports that Major General Issam Zahreddine and his son Yaroub are on the #DeirEzzor Airport.

OUTLAW 09
01-18-2017, 07:38 PM
Charles Lister

@Charles_Lister
To clarify, Ahrar al-Sham refused to attend #Astana because:

1) Ceasefire failure & attacks on #WadiBarada
2) Russia jets still bombing
3) Military dynamics governing the conference
4) To prevent internal opposition conflicts & to avoid isolating factions not going, incl. JFS

Intriguingly, Ahrar al-Sham says that its decision not to go to #Astana “could be wrong” & that “we support” all those who are going.

Latakia: Rebel snipers have killed 2 pro-#Assad forces on #Turkmen_Mountain in Northern #Latakia today.

First report about a deadly rebel attack against the regime in Latakia since a while.

Charles Lister

@Charles_Lister
JFS/AQ has just claimed killing 16 #Russia military advisors in a suicide operation in Kafr Souseh, #Damascus, on Jan 12th.

JFS sends 2 Martyrdom operators to assassinate 16 Russian advisers/regime in meeting- Kafr Sosa #Damascus after 2 months of intel gathering.

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 08:03 AM
Multiple airstrikes conducted in Syria's Al-Bab, targeting #ISIS by Turkish forces, Russia, UK and USA — #Rudaw reporter in Ankara.

Assad with #YPG terrorists flags in #Aleppo, They displaced the people of the city and control it
Just to know who create the terrorists

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 08:08 AM
English report from #KafrHalab, where 4 people were killed by #AssadPutin air strikes last night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmr7ofhArlI#…

Also the town of Kermel was hit by unprovoked air strikes, ignoring the #Syria ceasefire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifJaohRX1C8#…

In #Hama province, #AssadPutin air strikes hit two opposition-held towns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Rci1LoLGk#…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfzEttvE_Ag

Only civilians lived in the hit area.
Again, many people lost their homes due to the #AssadPutin aggression.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsMVz5uX__E#…

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 08:09 AM
Also #Idlib city was hit by unprovoked #AssadPutin air strikes, injuring 8 civilians, inlc. 2 women.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQl6U2nwwiU#…

AssadPutin air strikes on towns west of #Aleppo killed & wounded several civilians today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEP55_lvvnE#…

As part of its Shia jihad in defense of "secular" #Assad, #Iran may have imported up to 18,000 Afghans.
http://bit.ly/2iKQ2zO#

Iran may now have 18,000 Afghan Shia militiamen fighting in #Syria in defense of #Assad.
Great work by @majidyar:
http://www.mei.edu/content/article/iran-s-recruitment-afghan-pakistani-shiites-further-destabilizes-south-asia#…

Update from @DeirEzzor24: About 200 pro-#Assad forces killed + 100 #IS jihadists, regime conscripting civilians

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 08:24 AM
DeirEzzor: #ISIS has killed #Assad Lieutenant Osama Mohammed Noman Jliti from #Baniyas, #Tartus Province.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has captured a regime field hospital northwest of the #DeirEzzor Airport.

DeirEzzor: #ISIS has captured 17 pro-#Assad forces since the morning. Reports they could be from the Republican Guard.

DeirEzzor: Pro-#Assad forces are searching for more civilians they can send to the frontline. Many were arrested since the morning.

Democratic rep. Tulsi Gabbard just back from Damascus, aides decline question over whether she met with Assad:
http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/18/democratic-rep-gabbard-makes-secret-trip-to-syria/#

She still has not stated she accepts the fact that Assad is a genocidal dictator...and she was in the US military......

@TulsiGabbard violated the US law by visiting Assad regime who committed countless war crimes. Potential 3 y Jail
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/953#

Charles Lister

@Charles_Lister
Advocates of #Russia in #Syria, here’s something to warp your mind:
- Russian strikes aided Ahrar al-Sham & Zinki’s fight vs. #ISIS today.

Now Gabbard's staff is even unwilling to admit AFTER they stated it themselves that Gabbard was in Syria....a direction legal violation with a 3 yr penalty BTW....

Gabbard's been advocating against anti-Assad sanctions, too.

During the Saddam years, most anti-sanctions agitators were paid by the regime

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
Out of 38 responses to my tweet on @TulsiGabbard’s #Syria trip, 30 (80%) are by anonymized accounts with few followers.
All 38 are abusive.

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 08:47 AM
Russia's Lavrov says moderate rebels like Jaysh al-Islam and the United States may attend upcoming Syria peace talks
http://www.albawaba.com/news/russia-says-us-jaysh-al-islam-invited-syria-peace-talks-astana-927324#


BUT WAIT...Iran has voiced a no to the US invite....

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 10:03 AM
Madaya this morning.
Heavy #Assad/#Hezbollah artillery attacks on the town's residential quarters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcosupLUVZ8#

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 10:05 AM
Last week US DOD said there's no evidence of Russian-Turkish joint military ops in #Syria. Today Moscow announced it
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/us/politics/russia-turkey-syria-isis.html#

AND Obama knew nothing about this?????

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 10:30 AM
Aleppo24 @24Aleppo
IMPORTANT: Clashes between #Assad forces & #Daesh east of Khanaser town S #Aleppo.

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 10:34 AM
"We oppose American neocon imperialism."
- Vladimir Putin, 19.7.2016
#Aleppo, #Syria, January 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vxmYR6QQkI#

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 10:47 AM
Check this released CIA document, from Syria 1982 before the Hama massacre -- remarkable!

Check the MB numbers and the fighting in Aleppo 1980 and Hama 1982......

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 10:49 AM
172 attacks on healthcare in #Syria (June-Dec 2016) documented by SAMS in a new report #BreakingAleppo #NotATarget:https://foundation.sams-usa.net/press_release/press-release-sams-launches-report-documenting-2016-dangerous-year-healthcare-syria/

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 12:57 PM
Hezbollah shelling #Madaya in rural #Damascus today
https://youtu.be/LCwSosoHVWI

Severe #Assad air force attacks on #ISIS around #DeirEzzor airport.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf_byq15WUI#…

Assad just called #Astana a step towards “reconciliation” deals.
Until now in Assad/Putin speak, “reconciliation” in #Syria has meant siege & surrender.:D

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 01:00 PM
JFS has attacked several Ahrar al-Sham checkpoints and a local HQ in/around Khirbet al-Joz in #Idlib.
Several prisoners taken by JFS.

More JFS attacks on Ahrar al-Sham positions in #Idlib being reported - in/around Darkoush and Bdama.
Casualties & more prisoners taken.

Note: Ahrar’s statement announcing its rejection of #Astana yesterday focused on avoiding isolating “any” faction in #Syria, including JFS.

JFS now controls Ahrar al-Sham’s HQs in Khirbet al-Joz and Al-Zayniya, plus several more positions near Jisr al-Shughour, Bdama & Darkoush.

Well-known Ahrar al-Sham member, on JFS’s attacks on its positions in #Idlib today:

“JFS betrays Ahrar al-Sham for the thousandth time!"

Worth noting that some in #Idlib have blamed Ahrar al-Sham members of collusion in the recent escalation in U.S. drone strikes in #Idlib.
So is the US via their drone strikes actively provoking this clash?????

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 01:04 PM
WHAT ceasefire are the Russians talking about here...?????

MFA Russia

@mfa_russia
#Zakharova: We expect that the international talks on Syria in #Astana on January 23 will help to consolidate the ceasefire in #Syria

MFA Russia

@mfa_russia
#Zakharova: The ceasefire in Syria imposed on December 30, 2016, has been generally observed across all of #Syria

Definitely not being observed by either Russia...Assad...Hezbollah and Iran....the last time I check about 10 minutes ago.....

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 01:24 PM
#Erdogan just said that after the capture of #alBab,"we will fight PYD/YPG elements with the same determination".
#Manbij would be bloody...

If Donald #Trump really wants to "stick with the Kurds" in #Syria, both countries are heading for confrontation.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/01/us-resumes-airstrikes-syria-support-turkey.html#


Hizbullah media: UN delegation enters #Wadi_Barada to discuss deal involving rebel withdrawal from the area in the suburbs of Damascus

"For the full compliance with the regime of silence (ceasefire)" Putin's earplugs.....:)

OUTLAW 09
01-19-2017, 05:00 PM
Homs Clashes btw #Assad-forces & #IS continues around Sharifah west of Tiyas Airbase (T4)
#IS destroyed tank
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=34.516741&lon=37.506466&z=13&m=b …

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 07:40 AM
Russian Syrian Naval Express....


Russian Navy's large mooring/buoy tender/rescue ship Project 141 KIL-158 is approaching Istanbul strait's South entrance

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 09:09 AM
Footage
A #Russian air strike on a fuel station west of #Aleppo injured 3 civilians overnight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NAev-LjG9E&feature=youtu.be#

3 civilians were killed in an #AssadPutin overnight air strike on Rasm al-Eis, south west of #Aleppo.

Wadi_Barada : Regime forces and Hezbollah are trying to storm the village of #Ain_al_Fijah from several directions.

Every new ceasefire in a ceasefire in a ceasefire in a ceasefire ... just a lie by #Assad and his allies.

Regime source: "35.000 were besieged in #Aleppo, 80.000 are in #DeirEzzor.Show me the intl. news&pressure.
(False) numbers are interesting.

Breaking
Air strikes on unknown rebel group's ammo depot in #Taftanaz, #Idlib prov.
Activists say "Russian"

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 09:12 AM
MORE: Trump to keep Brett McGurk as U.S. envoy for countering Islamic State - spokesman.
http://reut.rs/2iWEDjZ

This is significant!
>There is no #YPG in #Manbij and advancing on #Raqqa< B.#McGurk to advice D.#Trump on #ISIS / northern #Syria policy.

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 09:15 AM
Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
More
Here’s some of my thoughts on JFS’s attacks on Ahrar al-Sham today & what might be behind them…

[It’s complicated]

https://www.facebook.com/CharlesRLister/posts/1045123842280693:0#…

Just FYI - Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki formally lost its U.S. vetted status at least 16 months ago.
Interesting - Three Zinki fighters have been killed in a U.S. drone strike, which targeted their local HQ in #Aleppo’s western countryside.

50+ killed in airstrike (conflicting reports: US or Russian) that hit a joint JFS-Zinki training facility in #Aleppo's western countryside.

Reports: The Free Idlib Army & Jaish al-Mujahideen have agreed to join #Syria talks in #Astana, after additional pressure from #Turkey.

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 09:19 AM
Syrian American Council angrily responds to Ben Rhodes’s “callous” defense of Obama’s Syria policy in this interview....... :D http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/obama-foreign-policy-legacy-ben-rhodes-donald-trump-china-iran-214642#…

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 09:22 AM
Formal pieces of #Syria being taken by #Iran, IRGC monitoring all communications in Assad's realm. "Pushback" indeed
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-iran-idUSKBN1531TO



Iran's government and entities close to the elite Revolutionary Guards have signed major economic contracts with Syria, reaping what appear to be lucrative rewards for helping President Bashar al-Assad regain control of parts of his country from rebels.
An opposition group condemned the telecommunications and mining deals signed with Iran, Damascus's main regional ally, as "looting" of the Syrian people and the country's wealth by the "Iranian extremist militias".
Syria's economy is shrinking fast as industrial and agricultural output falls after six years of civil war, and almost two-thirds of the population lives in extreme poverty.
Five memorandums of understanding were signed during a visit by Syrian Prime Minister Emad Khamis to Tehran on Tuesday, including a license for Iran to become a mobile phone service operator in Syria, and phosphate mining contracts.
Syrian state news agency SANA quoted Khamis as saying the deals reflect the special relationship between the two nations.
"We greatly appreciate Iran's major role in combating terrorism and standing by the Syrian people in every way, politically and economically," he said.
Syria will give Iran 5,000 hectares of land for farming, and 1,000 hectares for setting up oil and gas terminals, according to Iran's state news agency IRNA. A deal was also signed on providing lands for animal husbandry.
Analysts said the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a military force that runs a powerful industrial empire in Iran, would benefit from the deals, especially on the mobile network contract. IRGC largely controls telecommunications in Iran.
"Telecoms are a very sensitive industry. It will allow Iran to closely monitor Syrian communications," said Karim Sadjadpour, senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Middle East program.
More than 1,000 soldiers deployed by the IRGC to Syria have been killed on front lines of the conflict in recent years.
Apart from military assistance, Syria is increasingly indebted to Iran financially: Tehran opened a $3.5 billion credit line in 2013, and extended it by $1 billion in 2015, which economists say has helped keep the Syrian economy afloat.
SANA quoted Iran's vice president Eshaq Jahangiri as saying Tehran was ready to "implement a new credit line between Syrian Trade Bank and Export Development Bank of Iran" to help trade.
Tehran and Damascus also signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in a phosphate mine in Syria's al-Sharqiya, according to IRNA.
Syria is among the world's largest exporters of the rock phosphate, a raw material used in the production of phosphatic fertilizers, although the war has marred its ability to mine and market its supply.
### In 2015, Islamic State militants seized al-Sharqiya mine,#one of the largest in the country, located#50 kilometers (30 miles) southwest of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, the Syrian Observatory for Human rights monitoring group reported.#
### Syrian government forces backed by Iran's IRGC drove Islamic State out of Palmyra in March 2016 but the militants recaptured the city in December.

WAR-TORN ECONOMY
In a meeting on Wednesday with Ali Akbar Velayati, the top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader, Syrian premier Khamis called for investment in reconstruction projects in Syria, as "the infrastructure has been destroyed by war".
Tehran has already shown interest in helping Syria rebuild its roads, airports, power stations and ports - potentially benefiting the Revolutionary Guards, which own the biggest construction firms in Iran.
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But not all Syrians have welcomed what Tehran and Damascus hailed as "a new page" for economic ties.
One political opposition group called the deals "illegal and unacceptable" under any circumstances.
"These agreements represent further a blatant violation of Syria's sovereignty as they are meant to reward an occupation force in return for its involvement in shedding the Syrian people's blood and attempting to break their will," the Syrian National Coalition said in a statement on its website.
SANA reported that Tehran and Damascus aimed to sign a deal within two weeks to pave the way for investments by Iranian companies in a Syrian port, although it did not say which one.
"Iran increasingly treats Syria as one of its own provinces," Sadjadpour said. "They saved Assad from falling, and now seem to feel entitled to help themselves to the Syrian economy."
The Iranian energy minister was also quoted as saying by SANA that Tehran was ready to sign a long-term agreement with Damascus in energy sector.
Iranian firms are already involved in a series of electricity generation projects worth $660 million in Syria, according to state media in the Islamic Republic.
Iran aims to export electricity to Syria and create the biggest power network in the Islamic world by hooking up Iran's national grid with those of Iraq and Lebanon.

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 09:23 AM
Another great piece by @HaidHaid22: airstrikes alone on #JFS are not going to work, risk assisting them long-term.
https://goo.gl/U3Hzzl

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 09:28 AM
Rough sketch of area JFS attacks on Ahrar:

-Orange: high JFS presence
-Yellow: low JFS presence

JFS attempting to isolate moderate rebels

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 09:32 AM
Incidentally, the #Assad regime is hardly shy about having de-prioritized #IS

http://henryjacksonsociety.org/2017/01/06/analysis-the-assad-regime-admits-to-manipulating-the-islamic-state/#

Assad + #IS will fight full-force once binary
Meanwhile, some heaviest fighting actually in areas of closest co-op
http://bit.ly/1IuiXPr

"you fight and kill...to influence the deal..BUT the deal does not end".......
Assad's ultimate goal is reconquering the country; building IS up short-term helps that, though he has to fight them in some areas.

Not difficult, but every scuffle (Palmyra, Kuweris, Deir Ezzor) is taken as "proof" they're full-bore enemies *now*.

WONDER if Trump and his will to work with Assad/Putin/Iran understands this Assad/IS game and in the end he is actually then supporting IS....

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 12:21 PM
Pro-#FSA & pro-#YPG sources report: #Turkey builds "military base" near #Kaljibrin.
Fighting direction of such base would be clear.

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 12:23 PM
4 #US-designated terror groups openly operate in #Syria.
By fighting 2 and ignoring 2, extremism gets boosted on all sides.

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 12:31 PM
Multiple Russian airstrikes this morning targeted Ma'arat al-Artiq & Hayan in north rural #Aleppo

"Shia owes you today";delivering eulogy in funeral of 2Pakistanis of #IRGC Zeinabiun brg killed in Aleppo,Syria,buried yesterday in Qom,Iran

PalmyraRev1
More
#ISIS destroyed the #Tetrapylon and part of the Roman Theater in #Palmyra
T4 area heats up as ISIL responds to SAA counter-offensive with multiple SVBIEDs and ATGM strikes.

Syria #FSA "Alaza Army" took out regime car near #Soran in northern #Hama with TOW
https://youtu.be/DlEJ75OYW04

Reports: #Germany & its Envoy to #Syria (@AndreasK1848) have secured a ceasefire/repair deal for #WadiBarada.
Bombing has now stopped.

Syria Next attempt by rebels to take Suflaniyah south of Qabbaseen/ #al_Bab from #IS

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 12:35 PM
Heavy clashes continue between rebels & regime/pro-regime forces on Hazrama, Nashabiya & Mohamadiya fronts in the Marj area in E. Ghouta

All rebel groups... including Ahrar al-Sham agree to go to Astana
http://www.orient-news.net/en/news_show/130817/All-groups-including-Ahrar-al-Sham-agree-to-go-to-Astana#…

Reports FSA Suqour al-Jabal commander Khalid al-Adel was also arrested by JFS/JAA in Kinsafra, Jabal al-Zawyia today

A day after JFS attacks Ahrar positions, Jund al-Aqsa does the same in Jabal al-Zawyia & arrests several members

Access #Turkish reinforcements to #Kaljibrin village in the countryside north of #Aleppo & start construction military base
#Step_News #SYR

Multiple Russian airstrikes this morning targeted Ma'arat al-Artiq & Hayan in north rural #Aleppo

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 04:03 PM
#Russia & #Syria signed a treaty on leasing Hmeimim #airbase to Russia for 49 years (with 25 year expansion):
http://m.tvzvezda.ru/news/forces/content/201701201740-62pm.htm?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#

Russia and Syria sign agreement for deployment of Russian Navy in vicinity of Tartus port for 49 years.

Exactly as they did with their Black Sea Fleet base and Ukraine and then they militarily annexed Crimea....

DeirEzzor: Reports about #ISIS gains at 137th Artillery Brigade.

Aleppo: Photos show the #ISIS VBIED attack with BMP against Turkish troops and #FSA near #Suflaniyah village today. #Al_Bab
Aleppo: #ISIS SVBIED has killed 5 Turkish soldiers & wounded 9 more near #Suflaniyah village northeast of #Al_Bab today.

OUTLAW 09
01-20-2017, 04:12 PM
Nothing like Turkey selling out it's own FP statements......just to have a meaningless deal with Russia..notice no additional economic help outside of a vague pipeline deal...

"We can no longer insist on a settlement without Assad. We want US to be at the table. We want them to be involved" - Turkish Deputy PM: