Syria in 2015

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia´s oil rants about #Turkey are a bit odd given the fact most #IS oil is sold inside regime held #Syria.

So will the Russian MoD explain this tidbit of information they themselves revealed...........??????

According to this map IS oil gets into Turkey through SAA held Qamishli BCP...

The other main route into Turkey is supposedly Afrin which has no border crossings, it's really a "bad" map

How are they getting the oil through Kurdish lines?

They probably aren't, south Hasakah is a volatile frontline at this moment, this is just Russian propaganda

[OUTLAW 09]

Breaking: New #ISIS vid shows #Russian ISIS fighter behead a #Russian "agent";1st #ISIS vid of Russian beheading pic.twitter.com/g63YSLlFDT

New Isis video apparently circulating showing beheading of “FSB agent from Chechnya”.

[OUTLAW 09]

There is an interesting t........t for tat going on.....the anti Assad groups are being supported by Turkey, the KSA and the other Sunni Front States who are demanding that Assad immediately leave.

Assad is being supported by Russia and Iran who want to keep Assad in place for at least 18 months.

Russia is both verbally and physically attacking Turkey......now this from the
German BND (their CIA) BUT released via the UK not from a major German media outlet.....

The BND released a number of proRussian statements early into the invasion of the Ukraine which proved to be really bad disinformation but never retracted them. Social media open source analysis disproved their statements.

Saudi Arabia 'destabilising Arab world', German intelligence warns http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...nce-warns.html … unusual & blunt BND assessment of Western ally

WHAT is interesting is that they never lost a word on Iranian terrorism NOR the fact that a large number of Syrian and Iraqi Shia militia fighters have made their way to Germany as "refugees".

[OUTLAW 09]

There is an interesting t........t for tat going on.....the anti Assad groups are being supported by Turkey, the KSA and the other Sunni Front States who are demanding that Assad immediately leave.

Assad is being supported by Russia and Iran who want to keep Assad in place for at least 18 months.

Russia is both verbally and physically attacking Turkey......now this from the
German BND (their CIA) BUT released via the UK not from a major German media outlet.....

The BND released a number of proRussian statements early into the invasion of the Ukraine which proved to be really bad disinformation but never retracted them. Social media open source analysis disproved their statements.

Saudi Arabia 'destabilising Arab world', German intelligence warns http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...nce-warns.html … unusual & blunt BND assessment of Western ally

WHAT is interesting is that they never lost a word on Iranian terrorism NOR the fact that a large number of Syrian and Iraqi Shia militia fighters have made their way to Germany as "refugees".

And Die Welt joins the Russian MoD chorus to smear Turkey without raising any doubt about Russian credibility https://twitter.com/welt/status/672102589270462464 …

[CrowBat]

Morbidity of Western politicians is reaching levels beyond amazing. Indeed, for me statements of farths like that chairman or German MOD van der Leyen are outright shocking.

These people can reach back upon some of best intel services in history of human kind... are they all so clueless about what is going on in Syria?

If not, they must be so incredibly arrogant, that their indifference towards all the massacres of Syrians instigated by Assad's sadists and killers of the Russian Air Force is sickening.

[OUTLAW 09]

Appears that the Russian MoD oil briefing had some rather large holes in it.....


Russia'n lie propaganda shows a gas plant -not an oil refinerie in #Syria
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35...40.321112&z=16 …

@mod_russia most likely pics of Kurdish oil trucks transporting oil from Rumeilan refinery.

MORE Russian MoD blatant lies
Минобороны России Verified account 
‏@mod_russia #SYRIA Airstrike against oil refinery near Khafsa Kabir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKbA_g-4zEE …

When @markito0171 sees that's waste water treatment facility, not an oil refinery why doesn't @mod_russia?

[OUTLAW 09]

MORE Russian infantry fighting in the forward areas will equal more loses like the 14 mentioned yesterday.....
proAssad commenter
SAA Reporter ‏@Syria_Protector
#Syrian and #Russian infantry soldiers at the perimeter of #Palmyra #Tadmor
pic.twitter.com/aAhywe0mXX

The Interpreter @Interpreter_Mag
5 Myths: Russia’s False ISIS Narrative In Syria
http://bit.ly/1NpuT6f
pic.twitter.com/oODlNwUjzf

It's not the first time ISIS is seen with (new) Russian uniforms.
How did they get those? Just think about it...
https://twitter.com/loogunda/status/672158826590838784 …

New #ISIS video shows a #Russia|n ISIS fighter (wearing #GRU Spetsnaz uniform) beheading a Chechen "FSB agent"
pic.twitter.com/EtiXj8kFha

Russia'n airstrikes on grain silos in #Syria - not oil reservoirs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0WhFUJy_no …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkvXO-qSw0s …
pic.twitter.com/gkLR9Icn29

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia seems to bomb many 'oil refinery lookalikes'. But why not checking video material at least? Laziness?
https://twitter.com/markito0171/stat...73890051903489 …

Turkish-backed #FSA unit fights #ISIS in #Jarez(!) after advances under #RussianAirstrikes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cil8p9ryC_s …
pic.twitter.com/xd59ddg5Ts

[Azor]

I consider myself an 'air warfare analyst', and as such do not have a particularly high opinion of SAMs in general - at least not before they prove as 'effective beyond doubt, in combat'.

Namely, my experience from studying various high-tech air wars in the Middle East is: there are giant differences between 'routine, peace-time ops' and 'combat ops'. And also: the more famed some SAM is, the less effective it turns out in ops.

Let me just observe here: Soviet (at earlier times) and nowadays Russian SAMs have been famed beyond anything acceptable. They were often declared for true 'wonder weapons' even by various Western observers (not only by Russians). A closer study of systems in question - particularly such like SA-6 of the 1973 fame - have revealed only a mass of weak spots.

In comparison, next to nothing is known about SAMs deployed by various types of USN's warships: the little that is known about these is that they proved murderous already during the Vietnam War. Similarly, and generally, very little is known about effectiveness of MIM-23B I-HAWK SAMs in Iranian and Israeli service... Similarly, the SA-3 is often entirely ignored, although in ops it actually proved more effective than SA-6...

Anyway... the S-400 is probably comparable to the US-made PAC-2 (aka MIM-104C) in its overall capability. Even so, and whether Russian or Western, SAMs have extensive limitations. Foremost, they are inflexible: even mobile systems like S-400 are lacking manoeuvreability of combat aircraft. This means that while, sure, they can deny the use of airspace within a limited area, they are also easily 'outmanoeuvred' (usually 'outflanked').

No matter the advertising about 'over-the-horizon-capability' by their manufacturers, they suffer from ground clutter - especially when positioned low at the sea coast, and even more so if having a 'wall' of 2,000-metres high mountains right in front of their face, and then on two sides (like this is the case with that Russian S-400 site in Istamo now). In long-range ops, they are vulnerable from all sorts of negative influence by atmospheric conditions (especially if the sky is humid) etc.

Finally, their ops are much more susceptible to mistakes than those of combat aircraft: if necessary (always depending on ROEs, of course), their operators can't get up into the air and do the VID. They can easily misinterpret IFF-transmissions (see what happened to the crew of USS Vinncennes in 1988) etc.

I would say: if the operators of that Russian S-400 site now deployed at Istamo haven't got some damn good and extremely realistic training (and I doubt they did), under current circumstances the system is more likely to prove a liability than any kind of safety. In worst case, it is very likely to cause a major tragedy, big international incident, and add shame to Russian behaviour: keep in mind that Adana remains a tourist centre, even without Russians, just for example, and that up to 50 airliners are landing there during the summer season...

Bottom line: it's a grandiose (but dumb too) PR-coup to declare in the public this S-400 would now 'guarantee safety' of Russian aircraft underway over northern Syria. But, it's actually a mistake to expect that it could provide anything like at least near-decent coverage of the airspace over northern Syria. Either the VKS aircraft can protect themselves (and their crews can learn to navigate), or they cannot: SAMs are not going to help them.

Outstanding. Puts things in context, like Israeli and US jamming capabilities. The only 2 countries who critique every military operation they do and live in terror of surprise attack...

[Azor]

Morbidity of Western politicians is reaching levels beyond amazing. Indeed, for me statements of farths like that chairman or German MOD van der Leyen are outright shocking.

These people can reach back upon some of best intel services in history of human kind... are they all so clueless about what is going on in Syria?

If not, they must be so incredibly arrogant, that their indifference towards all the massacres of Syrians instigated by Assad's sadists and killers of the Russian Air Force is sickening.

You know why that is, right? Why von der Leyen is so forward looking about making things right with Russia?

Even after German depravities in occupied Poland, the government and Der Spiegel still tolerates Volksdeutsche wanting their houses in Western Poland back. German scholars dig up dirty on "strategic bombing", or US or British rapes in postwar Germany. Why? Because the answer is silence or a few angry tweets.

Russia is the abusive ex-husband Germany hasn't come to terms with. Despite the restraining order she still is in business with him, and thinks he's "misunderstood...he's trying to change". If Germany complains about Russian rapes, well, the gas supplies get spotty and Iskanders are deployed to Kaliningrad.

The US is the new evil empire and warmonger, but we'll slide Israel some free SSBNs under the table...

Yes, Germany, the bedrock of NATO...

Rant over

[OUTLAW 09]

Report: #Iran deploy 2 dozen fighter jets on Tiyas Airbase (T4) btw #Homs & desert city of #Palmyra

[OUTLAW 09]

Hama Defection of soldier near Kafr Nabudah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx8I0OKkuEo …

IslamicState try to storm #FSA hold Baraghidah village in northern #Aleppo near #Turkey border http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36...13783&z=14&m=b …

Hama Lots of dead #Assad-forces -tried to advance from Hakoura to
Al-Qahira in Ghab plain
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35...50584&z=14&m=b …

FSA Southern Front announces the start of the offensive to liberate Jadia & tank battalion in #Daraa

Rebels launch battle for control of Judayyah village & nearby artillery base in northern #Daraa province
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=33...12919&z=14&m=b …

[OUTLAW 09]

BREAKING: Erdogan allegedly claims to have evidence that Russia is involved with the #ISIS oil trade. - @MiddleEastEye

This will be interesting as the US has already just sanctioned a number of Russians and several Russian companies for dealing in Iraqi/Syria stolen oil.

So just what does he have--Russian media has not replied yet.

[OUTLAW 09]

I know the Russian MoD has an ego problem when they compare themselves to the US military....but really---just what the heck are they doing embarrassing themselves this badly----in the info warfare they assume they are the best BUT lately social media is shredding them to pieces.

They keep releasing bombing videos of attacks on IS oil facilities and yet social media just keeps on geo tagging them as actual attacks on critical civilian food and infrastructure.

If I personally had a voice inside the Russian MoD I would tell them to finally correctly ID the videos and or simply stop releasing them all together but then the home front might ask the core question--Why??---it is now just plain embarrassing.

If this is the best the Russian MoD imagery analysts can do--then they have some serious problems...

Syria | New @mod_russia vid shows #RuAF airstrike on alleged IS oil storage near Tuwayzan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPfPNwhB7Ec …

Russia'n airstrikes on cotton depot near grain storage #Syria

Another proof that #Russia attack the food production in #Syria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3eDynXdh8Y …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35...07974&z=17&m=b …

Russia'n airstrikes on grain silos in #Syria - not oil reservoirs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0WhFUJy_no …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkvXO-qSw0s …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp9-7ncYcK8 …

Russia'n lie propaganda shows a gas plant -not an oil refinerie in #Syria
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35...40.321112&z=16 …

MORE Russian air strikes on grain storage.......
RuAF airstrike on grain silos geolocated near Surman, Idlib
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=35.597726&...64377&z=17&m=b …
https://youtu.be/ol4xMGgAbKE

Probably called at the next Russian MoD briefing--serious attack on IS oil production and storage---we are winning a great victory?????

[OUTLAW 09]

Latakia Cruise missile impact reported from Kafrinjah area
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35...16173&z=14&m=b …

MLRS shelling at Ghab plain
http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2015/3...-at-ghab-plain …

Footage
Syrian rebels regain control of #Jarez despite all #ISIS / #Russian efforts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8_S_ShDA1s …

Another ENG #MustWatch on #RussianAirstrikes on #Aleppo city by @RamiJarrah.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2-S4qe8eD0 …

GRAPHIC
BreakingFootage
#RussianAirstrikes hit children / civ in #Anadan, N of #Aleppo, tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dybXOH1ZbEs …

[OUTLAW 09]

ANOTHER Russian air strike on a Turkish aid convoy BUT demand that the Ukraine cannot stop their own "aid" convoys into eastern Ukraine which usually carry military supplies not "actual humanitarian aid".

Footage
A truck convoy on fire after heavy #RussianAirstrikes near #Azaz tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT8mcINRyIs …

[OUTLAW 09]

Russia is now officially fueling the Sunni Shia conflict in a far larger way than the Obama WH seems capable of understanding at this time and space in their current lack luster FP.

Iranian backed Houthi forces in Yemen receive weapons from Russia.
Russia is fuelling conflicts.
http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/New...s-for-missiles …
via @AEJKhalil

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian MoD lies through its teeth, but still its accusations vs Erdogan are republished unchallenged by most of the German press!

⊠ Not oil storage, — a grain silo
⊠ Not ISIS, — farmers
⊠ Not al-Sawra, — Surman
Still has trust from @DeutscheWelle
https://twitter.com/JulianRoepcke/st...06501181530112 …

Dictionary
Russian - Reality
"We bombed an ISIS oil storage"
Equals
"We bombed a civilian grain silo"
#RussiaLies
https://twitter.com/obretix/status/672391479634038784 …

RUSSIA BOMBING #SAA
Probably another navigational error due to Russian consumer graded gps in their aircrafts?
https://twitter.com/AEJKhalil/status/672373902039982080 …

[OUTLAW 09]

DoS Kerry seems to be on another planet........

Also, unicorn farming has promising future. Kerry says Syrian ceasefire could lead to IS' defeat in 'months'
http://ctv.news/QuNDSSj

[OUTLAW 09]

Appears this is all of the evidence Putin had when he accused Erdogan of being involved with IS oil......

As evidence that Erdogan family benefits from ISIS oil trade Kremlin posted picture of octopus w fistful of cash https://twitter.com/russianembassy/s...22300041437185 …