Analysis of Russian cluster munitions dropped yesterday---
We think this most likely shows RBK-500U with SPBE-D or improved SPBE-K guided anti-armour submunitions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8cO1FKoN8g
Printable View
Analysis of Russian cluster munitions dropped yesterday---
We think this most likely shows RBK-500U with SPBE-D or improved SPBE-K guided anti-armour submunitions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8cO1FKoN8g
At least 10 civilians have been killed in tday's #Syria|n regime air strike on the Islamic State-held city of Al-Bab.
Syria Reports: #Russia'n airstrikes on rebels in desert of eastern #Qualamoun -last buffer for #Damascus against #IS
Krasuha-4" Russian Mobile Electronic Warfare Systems spotted in Latakia, Syria (suppress radar /spy satellites)
http://defence-blog.com/army/in-syri...e-systems.html …
Must be for the IS JSTARs aircraft they are flying via their flying carpets????
Probably designed to interfere with US GPS guide munitions---if so a definite escalation!!!
Lebanon IED hit bus loaded with #Hezbollah-fighters for #Syria in Bekaa valley in Chtaura. Bus fully destroyed
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=33...57573&z=14&m=b …
Russians bombing ISIS yo! An Al Jazeera team in Syria narrowly survived a suspected Russian air strike https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera/v...3772685488690/ …
More on rebels vulnerability to Russian attacks ?????-Even non-jihadi groups have been for months keeping bases empty. No gathering/weapon/ammo.
Cross posting this because this has to do with Syria as much as Iraq:
In Sep a Shiite armed group calling itself the Death Squads kidnapped 18 Turkish workers in Baghdad. They're demands were all foreign such as ending foreign fighters going through Turkey, ending Kurdish oil exports via Turkey, and ending the siege of two Shiite towns in Syria by rebels. The workers were eventually freed and the papers said it was because their demands were met. At the same time the Idlib U.N. backed ceasefire was announced which ended the siege of the two Shiite towns the Death Squads mentioned. Coincidence or was the kidnapping meant to get Turkey's final ok on the peace deal? Read more here.
Nato demands Russia "immediately cease" attacks on Syria's opposition & civilians
http://bbc.in/1LbEBYP
MORE: NATO condemns #Russia's incursions into Turkish sovereign airspace, "note the extreme danger of such irresponsible behavior"
BTW---the deal was actually reached between Iran and the anti Assad Forces surrounding the two Shiite towns--largely allowed civilians to leave but not fighters, created a NFZ over the two towns that Russia has broken in the last two days and the Assad military could not fly resupply airdrops of munitions and weapons to their fighters--UN was to oversee the civilian withdrawals.
SAA sniper in Kweres front, #Syria with Iranian "Sayyad" rifle, va @IvanSidorenko1 pic.twitter.com/9ERqPzBUpB
VIDEO: Busy day at Russian air-base in #Syria. All SU-30SM jets seem unmarked - @MuradoRT
NATO confirms multiple violations SU-24 and SU-30 in Hatay http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_123392.htm
Russian non linear warfare in now Syria---
Russian Admiral, Head of State Duma's Defense Committee Says Russian Volunteers Likely to Fight in Syria: http://www.interpretermag.com/putin-...irspace/#10259 …
Russian Prosecutor General summons open source sleuth @RuslanLeviev, who traced Russian troops' presence in Ukraine & Syria. https://twitter.com/RuslanLeviev/sta...27213786157056 …
bellingcat @bellingcat
Another Russian MoD video proven to have false information striking ISIS in an area ISIS isn't active in https://bellingcat.checkdesk.org/en/...868#update-763
bellingcat @bellingcat
If you want to help geolocate videos of Russian airstrikes in Syria with Bellingcat you can help out on Checkdesk https://bellingcat.checkdesk.org/en/story/736
Obama approved sending weapons for 1st time + air campaign that could lead to protecting rebels from RU
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/05/wo...=tw-share&_r=0
Russia removes insignia from the jet fighters bombing #Syria, to demolish any traces of war crimes
pic.twitter.com/JfsAuD3ccs
War in #Syria: Russian Reporters Reveal Information About Pilots.
InformNapalm has conducted an in-depth... http://fb.me/2fC113H92
More than 40 insurgent groups in #Syria vow to attack #Russia forces in retaliation for air strikes"http://bigstory.ap.org/article/12584...s-preparations …
Freudian slip? #Russia's Ministry of Defense refers to #Syria as "Russian Arab Republic," later corrects the posting. pic.twitter.com/fASRhQUpAo
Russia has no reason to deploy its most modern Air defence & Elec.Warfare systems to #Syriahttp://zloy-odessit.livejournal.com/1487524.html
Russia mil. deploy Caraspace-C1 air defence & Krasuha-4 EW at #Latakia air base #Syria, yet #ISIS have NO Air Force!
Russia deployed state-of-the-art Krasukha-4 electronic warfare system to Syria. Krasukha is a jamming station.
pic.twitter.com/aLWPL1axBJ
No red star insignia markings on ALL the Russian SU-30SMs at #Russia's airbase at #Latakia.
New Kremlin #vid
#Russia SU-34 (no red star), SU-24M warplanes prepare for air strikes #Syria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S85K8YwbGS8 …
https://www.rusi.org/analysis/commen.../#.VhKsKpXsmM9
Russia's War Plan in Syria
RUSI Analysis, 2 Oct 2015
By Dr Igor Sutyagin,
Senior Research Fellow, Russian Studies
From a US journalist who truly knows the ME----Quote:
As the pattern of Russian air strikes on Syria becomes clear, we can now discern Putin’s campaign plan
The third day of Russian air strikes in Syria finally offers some clarity about the possible war plan the Kremlin may have for its Syrian campaign. Some pieces of the jigsaw now seem to fit together:
◾President Vladimir Putin of Russia announced that the military operation in Syria will not last for long as it has limited objectives; Russia will withdraw its forces – or a major share of them – as soon as those objectives are achieved.
◾Eighty per cent of Russian targets so far are associated not with Daesh (ISIL), but with other armed opposition groups fighting against the Syrian regime.
◾President Putin publicly stated that Russia would never join the US-led coalition in Syria.
◾Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia had promised to fight all terrorist groups in Syria, not only Daesh. All groups fighting against Bashar al-Assad’s regime – such as the Free Syrian Army, Jabhat al-Nusra and Daesh – are terrorists according to Damascus policy.
◾Iranian troops have started arriving to Syria en masse.
Taken together, these produce a clear picture. There are solid reasons to argue that the supposed ‘War Plan Syria’ agreed during the talks between Russian and Iranian commands in Moscow in August, and later with the Syrian regime itself, involves a trilateral offensive of joint Syrian–Iranian land forces along with the air support provided by Russia. The strategic objective is to secure an Alawite ‘safe zone’ on the territory of ‘useful Syria’ – the densely populated Western part of the country where the major share of Syrian industry and agriculture is concentrated – leaving the eastern, desert part of the country to Daesh. As Alawites constitute approximately 12 per cent of Syrian population, and the rest of the country is at the very least moderately critical of the Assad regime, control of the whole country is politically impossible and perhaps not even considered necessary for Damascus any more.
The obvious immediate operational goals of the offensive include defeat and dispersal of the armed opposition groups in the northern and northeastern parts of Syria, as well as extermination of the opposition-controlled enclaves in the central part of regime-controlled zone between Homs and Hama – four in five Russian air strikes are concentrated in precisely those two areas. Re-establishing Damascus’s control over the territory currently controlled by Kurds is not the part of the plan as there is no Russian activity in that zone. Securing the eastern border of regime-controlled territory is also a task: the approximately 20 per cent of air strikes devoted to targets in the narrow sector around Palmyra – the only area where Daesh forces immediately contact with regime troops – indicate this. Taking into account the narrow area of contact between Daesh and regime forces, one can conclude that fighting the jihadist group is only a secondary task of the Syrian–Russian–Iranian coalition. Other nationalist and Islamist armed opposition seem to be the major targets of Russian strikes; Daesh forces serve as a secondary target, and a way to legitimate Russia’s actions.
After re-establishing control over the northern/north-eastern part of Syria currently lost to the armed opposition, Moscow and Tehran will hand over responsibility to Damascus. Moscow will withdraw the majority of its forces (most probably securing the Khmeimim air base near Latakia, where Russian air strikes originate now, for use in the future). The immediate implication of such the plan for the West and Arab countries is this: while the West bears moral responsibility for the fate of the Syrian moderate opposition against Assad, it is doomed to sit idle and watch them be hit by Russian bombs. The Kremlin’s quite correct calculation was that the West would be unwilling to use the only tool – military power – capable of immediately stopping Russian operations targeting groups the West supports; Russia would be able to achieve its goals unopposed. In this sense, the Syria campaign is the next step in development of Russia’s modus operandi after Eastern Ukraine, thus marking the general direction of Russian policy in disputed areas around the globe in the future.
The feeling is rapidly spreading among the Western-backed armed opposition that they have been betrayed by their supporters: to them, it looks like the West has secretly made the deal with Russia and washed its hands, letting Russian and Syrian forces methodically destroy them. This means a general weakening of the Western credibility and soft-power influence, both in Syria and elsewhere – outcomes very much welcomed by the Kremlin too. From Putin’s perspective, this is a quite reasonable war plan; and one very promising for future conflict as the West’s unwillingness to use decisive military tools is likely to remain. It may be time for the West to wake up to the recognition that the task of developing measures which might put limit of the Kremlin’s assertive activism is rapidly becoming the urgent need.
Michael Weiss
@michaeldweiss Ooooh, that's a bingo. https://www.rusi.org/analysis/commen.../#.VhKh1rSJlFI …
BREAKING NOT CONFIRMED-------
Syria Update# Air Duel between the Sukhoi Su - 30 Russian SM and Israeli F-15
https://shar.es/17PJgN <- FYI
if it ends up going hot I imagine the su30 would be needing S&R
AGAIN NOT CONFIRMED
Russia launches information offensive over role in #Syria—Blasts web with "smart bombs", misleading hashtags & more.
Russia/n military saying "ready to meet any further military help2 rebels in #Syria with the use of strategic and destructive Topolov Tu22
We are observing a hot war betwn #Russia & d #USA on #Syria & no longer neither "Sunni/Shia" or "war on Terrorism". Put your safety belt on.
Russia will consider any Jet in the air as hostile if prior coordination is not carried out. This includes #Israel and #Turkey.
Two #Russia/n SU-34 violated by mistake the Turkish airspace saying to #Turkey:"No non-fly-zone & we shall follow moderate rebels anywhere".
Another incident: #Russia/n intercepted two #Turkish jets after engaging their radars to prepare firing at the two jets who pulled away.
Russia FM Lavrov said "ready to contact Free Syrian Army if this group includes only Syrians. FSA is non-existing neither any moderates".
Syria|n Rep Guard fighter spotted with a Croatian-made VHS-K1 rifle. (Only used by #Iraq|is, Iraqi Kurds & Croats.)
More Russian propaganda---they know exactly who this group is--Russia has taken heat over their bombing of them vs nothing against IS--now CYA statements
Do no think for a moment the SVR and GRU do not know who is firing the TOWs.
MFA Russia Verifizierter Account
@mfa_russia #Lavrov: The Free Syrian Army is a phantom. I’ve asked Mr Kerry for emergency information about its deployment and commanders @RusEmbUSA
Come on--first CYA Statement--navigation Problems NOW "weather"??????
Russian Ministry of Defence says its Su-30 entered Turkish airspace "for a few seconds" and as "a result of unfavourable weather conditions"
Few seconds WAS actually 5 minutes and 40 seconds-----
Humor-----
After realizing he flew into #NATO airspace, vacationer from #Russia needed a place to chill
pic.twitter.com/Ja2BGp0Amy
An unsubtle attempt to get targeting information.. https://twitter.com/mfa_russia/statu...30266866176000
The Iranians told the Russians bluntly: if you dont intervene, Bashar al-Assad will fall."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...n-intervention
Syria: Jabhat an-Nusra has ambushed regime forces in Khanifis, near Kfarnabuda, on the Hama-Salamiya road (v @YallaSouriya).
More Russian airstrikes geolocated, the pattern seems to be if they claim they're bombing ISIS or Raqqa it's untrue
https://bellingcat.checkdesk.org/en/story/736
Cough... Cough..
#Russia declares partial victory in bombing campaign in #Syria http://wpo.st/ohre0
Moscow hasn't received official requests fr Iraq for Russian airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Iraq, Lavrov says - Interfax v @Breaking
Humor---
This morning's reported "perfect weather for bombing" was so bad it caused our Su-30 to enter Turkey accidently. pic.twitter.com/J1WNnhxn8Q