Sadly, that's not the FSyA - but HTS, ex-JFS, ex-JAN - aka 'Nusra'...
The Southern Front FSyA was double-blocked from any kind of offensive operations - by the USA, and by Jordan, in February last year, after that silly 'first cease-fire'.
Printable View
LIVE RIGHT NOW
Launch of #BreakingAleppo now streaming (warning for disturbing evidence of war crimes...)
WATCH LIVE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSa3viOnrWo …
As expected: JAI, AAS, HTS etc. - i.e. Islamists, Salafists and Jihadists (respectivelly), see here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I87khfywF5Q
EDIT: what IS confusing me, is that the journo to the left is mentioning the al-Bunyan al-Marsus Operations Room.
Now, for him - who is relatively fresh out of Aleppo, and thus relatively new to this (southern) part of Syria - this might appear a new organization.
For me, it's none of that (if somebody needs evidence, see my summary of insurgent and jihadist groups posted on Truppendienst's website, back in December). Al-Bunyan al-Marsus OR was originally established in early 2016 as a Saudi-supported group of FSyA units, including Furqat al-Hamzah, al-Fawj al-Awwal Madfa'a, Liwa Usud as-Sunnah, Liwa Tawheed Januub etc., and only three small AAS units (rather 'groups').
So, it is kind of puzzling to hear it would now consist of JAI, AAS and HTS units. Indeed, so much so, it's much less puzzling to hear these are working together: JAI, AAS and HTS in _southern Syria_ never had any kind of serious problem to work together (which is why I think that journo's opinion about this being some kind of indication for 'improved cooperation' is simply wrong).
That is: except all the reports about mass desertions from the Southern Front FSyA from the last summer and autumn - reportedly caused by the 'blockade' of its offensive ops against the regime, imposed by Washington and Amman - are truth. In such case, of course, no surprise al-Bunyan al-Marsus is now full of Islamists, Salafists and Jihadists, and attacking...
New Visual Evidence about Chlorine Gas Attacks in Eastern Ghouta via @bellingcat
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena...stern-ghouta/#
"The History and Adaptability of the Islamic State Car Bomb"
https://zaytunarjuwani.wordpress.com...ate-car-bomb/#
Liwa al-Aqsa's territorial reach seems to be rapidly contracting
To those asking regarding reports of executed FSA fighters by Liwa Al-Aqsa, it is true. Around 60 killed so far.
Al-Tamana'ah : HTS
Tala'as : HTS
Skeek : HTS
Haysh : Engagement
Khan Shiekhoun : Liwa Al-Aqsa
Morek : Liwa Al-Aqsa
Daraa: New map shows military situation in #Manshiyah District of #Daraa.
If this goes on, rebels should be in control of entire Manshiyah District tomorrow. #Daraa
Daraa: Rebels have captured the #Manshiyah Mosque. Clashes at the Water Tower now.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=32...2105&z=17&m=b#
Unbelievable.
Rebels claim to have captured the #Manshiyah mosque and water tower.
They overran the entire district, if visually confirmed.
And Russians were all the time flying 'close air support' for jihadists of the Liwa al-Aqsa. Here just one example (from yesterday or the day before):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApT97jX7hro
Syria View from #Assad-forces (NW outskirts) on #Daraa Manshiyah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjr-IHkbYO8#
Snipers in Water Tower?!
So, the next update for Truppendienst's online coverage of the SCW is now available as Der Syrische Brgerkrieg - Update 15 02 2017
Also updated was the... well, I still call it a 'write up' on Assad-Regime and various allied forces fighting on its side. This is now available as Streitkrfte des Assad-Regimes, Februar 2017 (PDF).
Sadly, due to (another) loss of a very good source in Syria, I wasn't able to put up a current ORBAT for Russian armed forces deployed in the country.
Anyway, one of the things to update in the future is an entry for the: 42nd Brigade/4th Armoured Division. After participating in assault on Wadi Barada, this was kicked out of Damascus (by Russians) and sent to fight Daesh in Dmeyr area (guess, that's meanwhile a sort of 'punishment' there).
By its composition and total strength (perhaps 300 combatants, 3-4 T-72s, few ZSU-23-4s, 15-20 other vehicles) the unit actually deserves a designation like '42nd Company/4th Division', but well...
Should anybody wonder what are these and other 'soldiers' of the 'Syrian Arab Army' doing in their off time, please check the Twitter-chain here.
'Shabbiha'? 'Thugs' - colloquial description for all sorts of criminals but especially those from within 'outside circles' of the Assad-clan involved in smuggling of all sorts before the war and driving big black Mercedes sedans around.
Nowadays, up to 90% of 'elite units' of the 'SAA' - especially such like Quwwat Nimr ('Tiger Force'), Liwa as-Suqour Sahra and similar - are staffed by them. ...which in turn is making reactions by characters like Sidorenko and Gadziev - i.e. their biggest Twitter-fans outright absurd (and they know it).
SW. #Damascus: Ahrar Al-Sham seized over Al-Dahr Al-Aswad and its ammo warehouse, incl. Malyutka #ATGM|s.
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=33...914049&z=14&m#
Also captured by Ahrar al-Sham: A 120 mm cannon, machine guns and missiles.
Damascus: Rebels have captured much ammunition from the #Assad regime near Mount #Hermon today.
"Russian jets pound Syrian city of Deraa after rebel gains"
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mi...ame=worldNews#
See this for background:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/
02/jihadists-and-other-rebels-assault-syrian-regime-positions-in-southern-city.php#
Heavy Russian air strikes in #Daraa continue.
Not on rebel, but on civilians all across the city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN8LUeFwKlc#
Rebels claim that they have killed 50 pro-#Assad forces during a raid near Mount #Hermon this morning.
Sources say Soleimani is visiting Moscow to express displeasure over Russia's relationship w Arab states, mainly regarding weapons deals.
NE #Latakia: #FSA First Coastal Division destroyed with a #TOW a truck carrying ammunition.
Pic from #Homs /Jouret al-Shayyah
- taken Feb. 2017 + Khaled ibn al-Walid mosque in background
3 year after rebels left city
FSA News
@FSAPlatform
#Breaking #Syria
Senior Iraqi Shia militia leader Mohamad Bakkor Suleimani of Assa'ib Ahal al-Haq killed by #FSA forces in #Aleppo today
And behold the pale horse...
Russian MOD inadvertently reveals size of total Syria deployment over time (20,000) with order for medals
https://lenta.ru/news/2017/02/14/medals/#…
WHEN this was pointed out to Russia they suddenly lowered the number to 2,000
Hat tip to WoTR for this article on thugs, looting and the civil war - with its effect on one small, rebel-held suburb in Homs:https://warontherocks.com/2017/02/wh...the-civil-war/
Towards the end:Quote:
If the regime allows ordinary residents and former rebels to live their lives relatively unmolested, provide functioning municipal and security services in these areas, and prevent militiamen from committing abuses, war fatigue might just trump people’s desire for retaliation. But after years of false hope, Waer’s residents are convinced they cannot fully trust any purported truce or reconciliation.
If the #Assad regime is overwhelmed with Daraa, Eastern and Western #Ghouta, imagine what happens if the rebels start in Hama.
From War on the Rocks: https://warontherocks.com/2017/02/wh...the-civil-war/
Elizabeth Parker-Magyar and Daniel Wilkofsky are Syria Analysts at Navanti Group, LLC, a commercial research company focused on development and stabilization issues.Quote:
A week before the Astana talks resulted in renewed international momentum for a political solution to the Syrian conflict, a journalist in the neighborhood of Waer – the last rebel-held pocket of Syria’s Homs City – took to the streets to survey public opinion.
“I really have no idea” about the talks, responded one woman, glancing sideways at the interviewer with her eyebrows raised. “I don’t know about them … I don’t follow the news,” quipped a younger man.
But if residents of Waer have not heard of the negotiations that recently concluded in the Kazakh capital, representatives in the next round of expected talks at Geneva would do well to understand what has happened in Waer. At a local level, the encircled neighborhood has been confronting some of the thorniest questions surrounding Syria’s future while negotiating its own settlement for more than two years.
The Waer negotiations are part of Damascus’s strategy of securing “reconciliations.” These are agreements that are wrested from besieged populations through starvation and bombardment, entailing a return of Syrian state control to rebel-held areas. Local reconciliations are a key part of the government’s military roadmap. It is pursuing these agreements in remaining rebel held pockets of Syria concurrent with developments on the international stage. Even if anticipated talks in Geneva result in the beginning of a comprehensive political solution, Russia has indicated it wants to formalize local truces within the framework of such a deal.
If the United States and other Western powers still intend to have a say in the future political dispensation of Syria, it is crucial for their policymakers to understand the nature of these negotiations and agreements. Using messaging apps, Skype, and email, we interviewed six Waer residents and two journalists from Homs in order to piece together, in detail, the truce process there and determine what it could tell us about reconciliations moving forward.
As forces backing the Syrian government leverage their newfound military edge in the conflict, Waer illuminates the government’s years long use of siege tactics and military escalation to extract significant concessions from its weaker negotiating partners. Specifically, Waer’s experience calls into question the regime’s intention and ability to address an issue likely to play a central role in future agreements: detainee release.
This key matter, in turn, reveals that the Assad regime is determined to pursue a deal on its own terms, even if that means defying, or at the very least ignoring, Russian intercessions. Even when a deal seemed on the verge of success, and when Russia brings pressure to bear on the Assad regime, government representatives consistently refused to release prisoners from Waer, opting instead for escalation.
Waer’s story also shows us that even if the government signs a deal in good faith, its implementation can be compromised by networks of war profiteers who have cropped up on both sides of the conflict. In Waer, spoilers to the truce have gone so far as to kill civilians in government-held areas to rile up public opinion against a deal. Finally, the Waer truce process brings into relief the key question concerning reconciliations: In a post-conflict Syria where violence has polarized communities along sectarian lines, how can hostile neighbors return to peaceable coexistence?
Two Years at the Table
Waer began serious negotiations with government representatives after rebels departed Old Homs in mid-2014, leaving it the last holdout district of Homs City. By then, years of conflict with the regime and militias manned by their former neighbors, combined with a continuous siege, had left Waer’s residents exhausted but still capable of defending themselves. The government has since utilized military escalation to whittle down the opposition’s demands, from partial control of the neighborhood and the release of thousands of civilian detainees, to a full surrender and the release of a few hundred.
Over the past two years, the two sides have several times reached what they refer to as a comprehensive agreement. A 15-person negotiating committee represents Waer (their identities are too sensitive to disclose). Dib Zietun, head of the general security directorate, led the regime’s negotiating efforts from late 2014 through fall 2016. In late 2016, Russian negotiators began talking to the Waer delegation, and then the regime authorized Wael Aqeel, deputy of Assad confidante Bassam al-Hassan, to head the most recent round of talks that began in December.
Any chances Waer rebels may have had for military victory dimmed through 2015 and 2016 as the armed opposition lost momentum in northern Homs and Syria more broadly. Hundreds of fighters in Waer have managed to keep regime forces at bay, but amid evacuations and gradual demobilization they have become increasingly unable to mount offensives outside of the neighborhood. Today, only forces loyal to the government are able to inflict damage on their adversary, and the only real leverage the Waer negotiating committee has is the presence of an estimated 50,000 residents in the neighborhood.
Negotiators first signed a truce in December 2015. The multi-faceted agreement centered on prisoner exchanges, the staged surrender of weapons, and a loosening of freedom of movement, leaving ambiguous any long-term vision for the return of state control over the district. University students, retired government employees, and laborers were able to intermittently travel outside of Waer into the city proper, granting some economic relief and creating an intermittent, if bizarre, sense of normalcy.
But the December 2015 agreement and subsequent ones have fallen apart when the government is forced to address the detainee clause. In the early stages of truce talks, the Negotiating Committee demanded the release of 7,530 detainees from all over Homs Province. Both sides agree this is the most controversial element of the truce. Beyond the Syrian government’s inability to account for all 7,530 names, it is also wary of the negative press resulting from freed detainees telling stories of torture and does not want to set a precedent to be repeated in future truce deals across Syria.
“If the regime agrees to the detainee release clause, it will make that a ‘legitimate’ or ‘essential’ demand for any other area negotiating a truce,” Osama Abu Zeid, a journalist from Homs, told us over Facebook from Turkey. The government tends to base local truces off the conditions of prior deals: it tried to leverage agreements in the Damascus suburbs of Mohadhamiyat al-Sham and Darayya, which rebels evacuated without securing detainee releases in August and October, to pressure Waer to do the same. The regime is therefore hesitant to implement the detainee release clause in Waer for fear that other rebel-held areas like Douma City could use that to legitimize their own demands during reconciliation talks.
Amid the back and forth over the detainee clause, a pattern emerged. When talks faltered, the government responded with force. “Every time we get to a stage where the government needs to deal with the clause on detainees…it puts pressure on the neighborhood,” Jalal al-Tallawi, a media activist in Waer, told us over Skype. This pressure takes the form of launching shells into the area, sniping civilians, and tightening the siege by restricting freedom of movement and preventing humanitarian access.
In May 2016, state security forces briefly detained the Waer negotiators themselves as they approached a checkpoint. After the event, says Jalal, the truce process begun in December 2015 “froze.” The regime tightened the siege, and before long residents were seeking hospital care for malnutrition.
With no coherent path forward after an additional nine months of violence and hunger, Waer’s negotiators returned to the table in August. This time, important terms of the deal had changed – the violence worked. While the December 2015 agreement allowed for elements of the armed opposition to remain and left the future of Waer vague, now rebels would no longer be permitted to stay in the district after they relinquished their heavy weaponry. All fighters would either leave for Idlib, or live as civilians under Syrian state authority. Roughly 250 fighters departed the neighborhood in the wake of the August 2016 agreement, following 300 who had left as part of the December 2015 deal.
But even an agreement modified in the regime’s favor didn’t last long. As summer turned to fall, a familiar cycle repeated itself: Whenever it became time for the government to document detainee locations, it turned up the violence. When talks resumed in November, a Russian mediator was now the key government interlocutor, and promised opposition negotiators to work on the detainees problem. But in December, the government issued the neighborhood a new ultimatum: Surrender or face another round of military escalation.
In 2017, Waer continues to oscillate between violence and calm. On Wednesday last week, government airstrikes and shelling on the neighborhood killed 11, including 3 children, according to al-Tallawi, the local media activist...
The White Helmets @SyriaCivilDef
Until the end of January 2017, our teams were able to rescue 82.280 civilians from under rubble. Hoping for the day when we won't need to.
Russian Syrian Express
ВМФ Ropucha class LSTM #Cф #NF Georgiy Pobedonosets 016 returns from 1st #Syria deployment in 2017 & transits Bosphorus towards Black Sea
Interestingly she is riding a tad low for a returning logistics trip..they normally ride higher on the waterline.....what was she carrying....??
Syria : Add #Tunisians to the long list of those fighting for the #Assad Regime.
https://en.zamanalwsl.net/news/23345.html
Pentagon pick out former Tabqa airbase near #Raqqa for possible main base of #US ground troops in #Syria?
With 90% of #alBab still held by #ISIS, this is an epic #AlternativeFact by the Turkish Armed Forces command.
https://www.dailysabah.com/war-on-te...of-staff-says#
TASS
Verified account
@tassagency_en
#Assad says West has no right to choose #Syria’s future
http://tass.com/world/931165
BUT WAIT...Russia and Iran do have that right????
Footage from the first hospital, the murderous Russian regime attacked today.
2nd tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqv8...ure=youtu.be#…
Echoing its ruthless campaign of torched earth, #Russia attacked a 2nd hospital in rural #Daraa prov. today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCR0LYKYHzA#…
MORE Assad aircraft from Russia....
Putin's last "giveaway" for #Syria's dictator #Assad: A dozen Su24 Fighter Jets to destroy the rest of the country
Well, '90% of al-Bab held by Daesh' is also an epic 'alternative fact': it's the other way around. The Daesh began melting there; though many people dislike this.
Kurds in particular: this morning they launched an assault on the western flank of the Op Euphrates Shield again.
There are - unconfirmed - reports about Russian donation of 12 additional Su-24s to the SyAAF.
Though, the photo in question is showing one of VKS' Su-24M2s being evacuated back to Russia (apparently after some sort of issue technicians can't solve at Hmemmem AB).
'Problem': Russians can't just hand over their Su-24M2s or Su-24M-SVP-24s to Syrians like that. These are nuclear-capable, and thus 'A-wired'. Even Keystone Cops are not as crazy as to give such aircraft to a party that's de-facto under Iranian control.
Aftermath of intense #Russian air strikes on #Naemeh east of #Daraa last night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLXnrjbws2I#
Posting as not confirmed...source of info is iffy......
Turkish forces commit a massacre in al-Bab city and kill 24 civilians the majority of them were children and women
http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=60955
Have not seen anything similar being reported on FSA side...
Syria First official map of Rebel gains the past days in #Daraa city
Leaders of Ingushetia and Chechnya Provide Details on Police Battalions From Their Republics Sent to Syria
http://www.interpretermag.com/februa...2017-2/#16119#
Rumors have them being used in the coming Palmyra offensive....
In Astana, Alloush says rebels proposed a commission led by Turkey & Russia could inspect conditions in Syrian jails. Text in Arabic:https://www.alsouria.net/content/%D9...D%D8%A7%D8%AA#
Islamic State-linked Liwa al-Aqsa executes more than 150 mostly FSA rebels in western Syria:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world....d73bb159594e#
Damascus: Rebel offensive in #Daraa took pressure off Eastern #Ghouta. No serious regime attempts to advance there during the last days.
Raqqa: #ISIS attacks #YPG positions in Northern #Raqqa.
Aleppo: #ISIS SVBIED attack against pro-#Assad forces in #Shuwaylekh village east of #Kuweires Airbase.
Great article on the T-55(A)MV in Syrian service: Syrian T-55 Upgrades: T-55AMV & Viper-55
http://within-syria.blogspot.com/201...viper-55.html#
Daraa: #FSA commanders confirmed that the #MOC in #Jordan is pressuring them to stop their offensive against #Assad.
Latakia: Free #Idlib Army shelling pro-#Assad forces with Grad rockets today.
500 Chechen military police deployed to Syria, scheduled to return by March, now have to stay until August.
http://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/297864/#
Syria 2dead & lots injured after airstrikes on #Homs besieged suburb #alWaer
Syria Pics from Battlefield west of #Palmyra /Hayan gas facilities
#Assad forces with #RuAF CAS
Because Putin-Assad keep targeting hospitals, Syria is probably the most dangerous place in the world to be a doctor
http://bit.ly/2m09cUu
Syria 3 airstrikes on Um Mayatheen west of #Daraa city
Syria 7 airstrikes on Al-Naimah west of #Daraa city
#RuAF bombing ancient roman town of #Bosra in southern #Syria with a 11! airstrikes
Hama: #Assad airstrikes have hit #Kafr_Zita in Northern #Hama today.
Syria Airstrikes on #Raqqa village killed 14 people
Russia continues airstrikes on southern #Syria's #Daraa. 1500 families fled the city.
Syria Child killed by #YPG mortar shelling on Marea town in northern #Aleppo
The morning in #Syria's #Idlib province.
#AssadPutin air strikes on innocent civilians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EeBZ4jo02I#
Assad bombt mit Einwilligung Putins Eingekesselte in Homs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RptinJYiFK8#…
Too many air strike videos to post them all ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQEAgpneAWg#…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI-9b7VDfsk#…
Massive #AssadPutin air strikes on three Syrian provinces today.
Multiple casualties among the population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMQaJqQGF3Q#…
The morning in #Syria's #Idlib province.
#AssadPutin air strikes on innocent civilians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EeBZ4jo02I#…
Russian Syrian Express...Vessel of Interest.....
Ship of Interest: Coming from Varna, Togo flag bulk carrier Zara transited Dardanelles en route to #Tartus #Syria 10:30GMT
Under the rubric of a somewhat strange association......
A "Rex Go Home - peace protest" near the #G20 summit in in #Bonn.
A mix of Pro-Russians and #PKK supporters.
Odd ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSDw8hLB4g4#…
43 civilians were killed across #Syria today, among them 11 women and 9 children.
Most were killed by #Turkey in #alBab.
- LCC
The poor boy who lost his both legs in an #AssadPutin air strike on al-Habit, #Hama province, today, is still alive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qen8YYsrcoo#…
Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Nour severely injured in Daraa after air strike. Horrific photo taken by doctor shows arm before amputation
Syria Dr. "Mahmoud Abu Huzaifa" field executed by #Assad-forces when stormed As-Sukkari district in #Aleppo city Dec 2016
MSF inquiry indicates Russia was behind hospital bombing in Syria
https://www.theguardian.com/global-d...ns-frontieres?
Aleppo: All #Al_Bab districts are under #ISIS control again. #EuphratesShield forces are still in Silos, Bakery, Youth-Housing, Sheikh Aqil
Aleppo: #ISIS ATGM strike against Turkish army tank on #Sheikh_Aqil today. #Al_Bab
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36...6917&z=16&m=b#
Homs: #ISIS shelling pro-#Assad forces east of #Tiyas Airbase with heavy artillery.
One 122mm D-30 howitzer in the hands of #ISIS is enough to stop the pro-#Assad forces. They know what they are doing.
W. #Palmyra: direct hits by #ISIS camouflaged howitzer on Regime camp with artillery & BM-21 Grad near Baydah Sharqiyah, then evacuated.
5 of the most powerful non-nuclear explosives ever
http://read.bi/2m4R0ZL
Aleppo: #EuphratesShield forces firing at the Automatic Bakery (#Al_Bab) today. So #ISIS has recaptured #al_Hikma Hospital and the Bakery.
Syria Heavy clashes at #alBab town & suburbs #Qabasin, #Bzaah btw #FSA & #IS
EU Mythbusters
✔
@EUvsDisinfo
Conspiracies: the bread & butter of pro-Kremlin disinformation. Don't be deceived & read #DisinfoReview:
http://eepurl.com/cB_J9P
Heavy #Russian air strikes on #Daraa city in south #Syria
More than 10 raid since the morning.
Life under the Kurdish YPG in#Syria
By Kyle Orton(@KyleWOrton) on February 17, 2017
https://kyleorton1991.wordpress.com/...-ypg-in-syria/
Long read...well worth reading it though.....
"We get ideology lessons a lot and they are not exactly pro-American"Quote:
Three days ago, Chapo Trap House, a Left-wing politics and humour podcast, hosted Brace Belden, known to Twitter as “PissPigGranddad,” a 27-year-old from San Francisco who has joined the Syrian Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units (YPG). It was very interesting and informative on the state of play in northern Syria.
The YPG is run by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) front of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The most amusing part of the interview is Belden’s formal maintenance that the YPG, while fraternal comrades to the PKK and admirers of their ideology, have absolutely no organizational links at all, while at the same time letting the audience in on the fact that the YPG and indeed the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition that it controls are parts of the PKK structure. Belden describes joining the YPG by first linking up with the PKK at its headquarters in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq, before being spirited across the border into Syria.
Belden gives a very interesting glimpse of the YPG’s method of governance. The YPG calls its rule “libertarian socialism,” says Belden, but it’s “pretty much a Stalinist state”. Belden describes the ascetic nature of the true believers in the PKK’s ideology—of which he, clearly, is not one—and the collectivized nature of life. Among other things, everyone is subjected to struggle sessions of the kind associated with Mao or the Khmer Rouge.
The foreign fighters that join the YPG were, initially, “psychopaths that wanted to come kill people,” says Belden, but the YPG expelled these people once it realized what they were and has now refined its recruitment model to bring in a flow of hard-Left Westerners.
Belden says he believes the Americans will abandon the YPG in favour of Turkey and that he believes it will be Turkey and her allies that go to Raqqa to evict the Islamic State. Belden favours this outcome, believing it would be a “bloodbath” if the YPG tries to take Raqqa City. Belden concludes though that there will soon be a peace agreement between the pro-regime coalition, Turkey, and the YPG—and that after that the Turks will attack the YPG in Efrin and elsewhere. Belden says that the YPG retains the ability to strike back, with many men under arms and “lot of friends up north”. YPG have previously stated that their focus is on Syria for now but they will move onto Turkey next. “[E]veryone is just hoping the civil war spreads north,” says Belden, meaning the recommencement of large-scale PKK insurgent activity inside Turkey.
The suspicion of America is not just borne of history, where America has from the Treaty of Sevres onward, semi-regularly made promises to the Kurds that it then dashes; nor is just that the U.S. is aligned with Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds, whom the YPG “hate”. Anti-Westernism is integral to the YPG, says Belden: “We get ideology lessons a lot and they are not exactly pro-American”. Belden notes that this spills over from theory to practice: relations between the Kurdish rank-and-file and the American and British Special Forces embedded with the YPG as “tense”. Belden adds that it is “pretty bad that they’re here,” referring to Western Special Forces, and says they are not that much use to the YPG.
***
Belden is interviewed from the Jazira canton of “Rojava”. Asked about the Rolling Stone#profile of him this week, Belden says it is “pretty ####ing ridiculous”. He was especially displeased at their description of him as “a lowlife punk and petty criminal with a heroin habit”.
Belden says that he has just spent three months on the frontline and is now at the rear of the fight, receiving “advanced training”. Describing how he got to Syria, Belden says he just emailed someone (he is deliberately vague) and they invited him over. He then landed in Sulaymaniya, in the part of Iraqi Kurdistan along the Iranian border run by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and then rendezvoused with the PKK in the Qandil Mountains.
Belden is elliptical about this because the formal position of the U.S. government, in order to circumvent its own terrorism laws, is that the YPG is unconnected to the PKK. Throughout the interview, Belden hints at this absurd fiction. “There is an organization that is fraternal to us but of course we disavow any connection. It’s called the PKK. … And they have a couple of guns, which I guess they let us borrow,” says Belden at one point. “We have a lot home-made stuff,” Belden explains. “We’ll just make it in the mountains and ####. Not that we have any connections to the mountains. But sometimes people make them there.” Describing his drift into Left-wing politics, Belden says, “In 2012, I started reading about the PKK a lot—who, again, have no connection to us …” After Kobani, says Belden, “A lot of fighters came from other parts of Kurdistan, if you know what I mean.”
The PKK model operates as a series of fronts, in Syria and Turkey particularly, and to a lesser-extent in Iraq and Iran, so the same individual who is a PKK fighter in Turkey is a YPG fighter in Syria and a PJAK fighter in Iran. These groups have some degree of tactical autonomy but share a huge proportion of their fighters, and answer to one ideology and one leadership.
Belden says he first come across Rojava when Matthew VanDyke’s Sons of Liberty and some Christian ex-soldiers were in the news for fighting alongside the YPG against the Islamic State. This took a slight sideways turn when these good Christian men found that the organization they had joined was staffed by “damn Reds“. After meeting his handlers in Sulaymaniya, Belden made the trip across the border into Syria—with considerable difficulty, in the dead of night, because the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), run by Massoud Barzani’s Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), has closed the border.
Belden notes that the YPG had come into possession of its areas initially when “the Assad regime kinda just left,” and when he entered these YPG-run areas he underwent two weeks of ideology and language training. Describing the nature of regime the YPG is running, which it calls “Democratic Confederalism,” Belden says: “Technically they call it libertarian socialism, but it’s pretty much a Stalinist state, which is ####ing tight.”
Belden gives a description of life under PYD/YPG rule. He notes its rigour and ideological collectivism, but disavows all comparisons with Cambodia (or “Democratic Kampuchea”) under the Khmer Rouge. Doubtless, however, his description of Rojava, notably the struggle sessions, will suggest comparisons to some:
Life is—there’s a few different versions of it. There’s, like, civilian life, which is pretty normal. I mean everyone’s kinda poor but, like, it’s not that bad honestly, And there’s the PYD—our civilian wing—it’s socialist so they cover, like, a lot of food, fuel for people, they help people out with housing. So for the people that can’t afford, like, you know, like, people who aren’t refugees essentially—and the refugees we have from the rest of Syria—they put ’em up, they feed them. That’s pretty well taken care of except there’s an embargo so they can’t really get new things.
But the party life is really, really, really ascetic. Like, they don’t have any personal property whatsoever. In fact, like, if I ever looked at my phone or anything like that they’d just be like, “Capitalist, put that away!” … Everything’s communal. There’s no real—there’s commanders and stuff but, like, they have to do the same #### we do.
So, it’s a bit jarring, honestly. But, like, their whole mentality it is that you can’t build a socialist society without living a completely socialist life. So everything is shared. There’s no—so if somebody wants something you have, like, you’re pretty much gonna give it ’em.
And there’s a lot of self-criticism sessions, which aren’t so great, but they’re not like North Korea or—what do you call it?—Cambodia or anything.
Everyone takes turns cooking, including the commanders. Everyone takes turns doing watch. It’s pretty ####ing—I guess, egalitarian, even though, like, we have nothing. People don’t have any personal property, except for books. …
There’s some of [the trappings of Western post-modernism]. Some people have phones and stuff. I mean there’s internet and there’s TV. But it’s a lot of just, like, especially in the party, like if you’re in the party, you’re in it basically for life. In that sense, it’s really different [to the West]. Pretty much you just sit around and talk and work on things, like help each other do ####. It’s pretty—I don’t really know how to explain it but it’s wild.
Outside of that, there’s a pretty heavily involved civilian wing of the party that like builds, for instance, they have women build women’s houses in every, like, little village where just women meet and men can’t go, which, of course, ladies, I am completely in favour of.
That’s another aspect of it, like the sexual relations between men and women. Not, like, actually ####ing but, like, just the way that women are treated now, from what I hear, extremely different from before. Like, there were honour killings, people had several wives, and now, like, if people hear about, like, doing an honour killing, they’ll just come and kill you. And it’s illegal to marry more than one person now. But yeah. It’s different, really different from the West. In a lot of good ways and in some ways they’re confusing. … It’s pretty much illegal to jack off here.
Continued...
— American fighter with the Syrian Kurdish YPG
FSA #Southern_Front and allied #Syrian-n Opposition forces taking part in the Battle #Death_Over_Humiliation #Daraa
Cruise missile strike carried out by Tu-95MS strategic bomber on command centre of insurgents’ detachment near Raqqa
Family life in #Syria...
A father kisses his boys good bye after massive #Assad regime air strikes on al-Waer, Homs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR4Rj8bTE5E#
The tiny & defenceless pocket of #alWaer this morning.
#Assad tries to kill who is left.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNxkjzAEsXI#…
Meanwhile in #Syria, massive #Assad regime air strikes lead to multiple casualties among the local population.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zj8...ure=youtu.be#…
Pro-Assad fired Volcano rocket from #Daraa's residential area geolocated in Sahari distr., 5m from Mosque, 40m frm Hospital & 60m frm School