Footage
Extremely heavy #Assad air strikes on towns in #EastGhouta today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGs4yzK2KeE …
Iran's student news agency ISNA puts a Star of David in the #ISIS flag of the #Aleppo situation map.
@mod_russia: Extremists near Aleppo received several truckloads of chemical ammo.
The @RussianEmbassy in UK uses screenshot of computer game (C&C General's GLA faction) to "prove" rebels receive CW.
A:"Command&Conquer!"
B:"Russia."
A:"Naa,the GLA!"
B:"I mean,this is Russian."
A:"There was only China in C&C."
B:?!?
Footage
Extremely heavy #Assad air strikes on towns in #EastGhouta today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGs4yzK2KeE …
Iran's student news agency ISNA puts a Star of David in the #ISIS flag of the #Aleppo situation map.
IRGC Iraqis killed in Rashiden today. Iran so disperate for victory in Aleppo pushing its militias to be slaughtered
IRGC Afghani Fatemiyoun soldier captured by Jaish al-Fath south Aleppo today.
Aleppo Nusra involved in Handarat camp today
-repelled #Assad-forces assault
Russia'n Suchoi Su-35 attack on N- #Homs Zara village today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-oRpX3TFCc …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=34...61034&z=13&m=b …
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-12-2016 at 05:14 PM.
Welcome to Hell
#Daria in #Damascus #Syria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMv4Ug8ftYk …
Regime refuse aid since 2012- but send bombs td.
Darayya residents will not get their first aid delivery in 3.5yrs today. Mission aborted after soldiers barred convoy from entry for hours.
ICRC Syria
@ICRC_sy
Sadly our aid convoy with @UN and @SYRedCrescent was refused entry to #Daraya, despite being given prior clearance from all sides. #Syria
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-12-2016 at 05:35 PM.
For those SWJ readers commenter who truly still believe the Syrian Arab Army is Syrian, is Arab and is an Army......
Syrian Arab Army today in #Aleppo: Palestinians in Handarat, Hazara in KhanTuman & Iraqis in Al-Rachideen.
100+ pro-gov Liwa al-Quds fighters flee Handarat. Wait for the claims this was a "probing attack".
Seems it has become routine last weeks: pro-Regime forces mass retreat after failed assault on #Handarat, N. #Aleppo
FSA assault against #IS in western #Daraa continues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9x6oiPQNhs …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTS8lklMJeM …
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-12-2016 at 05:39 PM.
Abu Azrael, #Iraq's most infamous body desecrator - Iraqi version of "Heart Eater" Abu Saqqar, with Soleimani.
Hama : Opposition victory at #Zara allows them to bypass the loyalist villages of #Tisnin and #Kafarnan.
Aleppo Rebel-sniper destroyed regime-car at Ramouseh highway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUw6fckuLSM …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36...21472&z=15&m=b …
Footage: Rebels keep fighting #ISIS in E. Qalamoun desert, #Damascus.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uawgnmXs3Y …
Jund Al Aqsa video of #Khirbet_Naqus seizure in #Ghab showsg that Regime retreated with 3 BMP, 2 tanks & 1 Shilka.
2 pro-Regime fighters killed today by Rebels in #Handarat, N. #Aleppo: 1 from Pal. Al Quds & 1 temporary SAA ID card
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-12-2016 at 05:41 PM.
Totally worth reading the entire article........
"The comments of many senior military officers on Mr. Obama’s NSC and its dysfunctions are not suitable for print."
http://observer.com/2016/05/as-boyis...ia-mask-drops/ …
“Ben’s not even subject to the usual ‘dead girl or live boy’ standard we’re used to"
Dear Skeptics: Everything you feared about #IranDeal & the whole Obama admin is true. Obama's Mini-Me just said so.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-12-2016 at 06:03 PM.
Under the rubric of ....."just what the heck is this"......
@RussianEmbassy @mod_russia #BREAKINGNEWS : IS/extremist have built spatial war vessel and want to invade earth
Syria: the west/Gulf supply most weapons to moderate rebels, #Assad supplies most to extremists (#Daesh, #JN etc)
Well it seems all those Iranians being killed in Syria fighting against FSA and NOT against IS are "advisors defending Shrines".....
Khamenei.ir @khamenei_ir
Meeting of families of Afghan defenders of shrines martyred in Syria with Leader.
Photos:
http://khl.ink/tj8
UN confirms that it was Syrian government forces that removed supplies for children at the last checkpoint before Darayya.Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
JaF destroyed tank inside a house in Humera /southern #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObJdm3cKyfM …
Don't worry everyone. #ISIS just picked up bounding mines a few miles from @mod_russia's Palmyra base. @bm21_grad https://twitter.com/oryxspioenkop/st...73250364588033 …
Detainees flee ISIS prison in Tabqah
http://www.raqqa-sl.co/en/?p=1793
Islamic State rocket attacks drive Syrian refugees from Turkish border haven
http://on.wsj.com/1shyWPu
Syria reports saying US jets targeted #Nusra commander car in Abu Dhuhor airbase not Russian
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=tr&lat=35...87%D9%88%D8%B1 …
Syria : 18,000 foreign Shia militias are fighting for the #Assad regime. (Andoula Agency)
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-12-2016 at 07:06 PM.
Footage
#MaaratAlNuman today.
Men and women continue to protest for the #FSA / vs. #Nusra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTiW...ature=youtu.be …
Worrying development in #Syria that #Nusra/#AlQaeda increasingly mobilises other rebel groups/leads more offensives throughout the country.
BREAKING
The #Russian air force is back in action!
Su-35 bombs rebel-gained #Hama village.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-oRpX3TFCc …
Assad regime flee from Handarat Camp after its liberation
http://www.futuretvnetwork.com/node/213554
Aleppo: Syrian Rebels destroy Assad regime 23 cannon in Khan Touman
Hama: the brave "Syrian Arab Army" run away after 2 of their commanders were killed. Morale at an all time low
FSA's Division 13 @13alferqa13 out on the frontlines targeting #Daesh in northern rural #Aleppo
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-12-2016 at 07:26 PM.
Ali Alfoneh: "The IRGC Morphs Into an Expeditionary Force." Policy Watch 2615
@WashInstitute, May 12, 2016.
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/p...itionary-force …
Funeral notices indicate that Iran has increased its use of IRGC Ground Forces in Syria to offset mounting losses by the elite Qods Force, and this pattern could signal a wider transformation in how the IRGC operates abroad.
On May 6, at least sixteen Iranian nationals and an undisclosed number of Shiite foreign fighters under Iranian command were killed during the rebel seizure of Khan Touman village southwest of Aleppo. All sixteen Iranians served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, specifically the IRGC Ground Forces. The losses indicate a continuing trend in Iran's deployment patterns in Syria: namely, the expanded use of IRGC Ground Forces in addition to or in place of the IRGC-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), the elite branch normally used for expeditionary operations. They also call into question past reports that large numbers of Iranian forces were withdrawing from Syria.
Fourteen of those killed in Khan Touman were natives of Mazandaran province in northern Iran and served in the IRGC's 25th Karbala Division. The other two were natives of neighboring Gilan province and served in the Qods Provincial Force (not to be confused with the IRGC-QF). In response to the incident, Karbala Division spokesman Hossein Ali Rezaei disclosed on May 10 that all of the unit's surviving members serving in Syria, including twenty-one wounded, were being transferred back to Iran, but there is no sign of a wider Ground Forces withdrawal.
More broadly, a survey of funeral services held in Iran for soldiers killed in Syria from January 19, 2012, to May 10, 2016, documents a total of 400 Iranian fatalities. With the exception of six individuals from the regular army (Artesh), all of these troops served in the IRGC. Although the specific IRGC branch is unknown for roughly half of the combat fatalities, the IRGC Ground Forces accounted for at least a quarter of them, compared to only twenty-eight identified as IRGC-QF.
To be sure, the fatalities whose branch has not yet been established could reveal more IRGC-QF losses -- indeed, the large number of such fatalities may reflect an attempt to obscure their service in that elite unit. Yet the fluctuation in Iran's casualty patterns over the course of the war shows a clear rise in the number of identified Ground Forces servicemen killed in combat since October 2015. This is not surprising: the Qods Force is a relatively small branch, and when it began to suffer higher casualties in Syria, the IRGC leadership had no choice but to deploy the Ground Forces.
In contrast, Iran's deployment of Artesh personnel does not seem to reflect such a necessity. On April 4, Brig. Gen. Ali Arasteh, the regular army's deputy for coordination, told Tasnim News Agency that forces from the 65th Airborne Brigade had been sent to Syria as "advisors." Yet on April 20, army chief Maj. Gen. Ataollah Salehi emphasized that "the army has no responsibilities with regard to extending advisory assistance to Syria." He continued: "There is a certain organization in this country [referring to the IRGC] that is engaged in such work...We have never claimed that the 65th Airborne Brigade is present there. However, some volunteers have been deployed in Syria and are subjected to that certain organization, and it is possible that members of the 65th Brigade are among them." In other words, individual army personnel are apparently being seconded to IRGC units in Syria, not operating on their own as army units. In any case, reports of combat deaths on April 11 and April 20 provided proof that personnel from the following army units were present in Syria: the 258th Martyr Pazhouhandeh Brigade, the 45th Special Forces Brigade, the 65th Airborne Brigade, and the 388th Armored Brigade.
Similar patterns emerge from a survey of funeral services held in Lebanon for Hezbollah fighters, and in Iran for Shiite Afghan and Pakistani nationals. Figure 3 shows how both the IRGC and Shiite Afghans from the Fatemiyoun Division militia have shouldered a heavier burden in recent months. The chart shows only modest Shiite Afghan losses for May, but that figure should rise sharply as more information is revealed about fatalities at Khan Touman (initial Persian-language reports indicated that most of the casualties were Afghans). Meanwhile, Hezbollah's losses in Syria have declined sharply, particularly since mid-April. Only one Hezbollah fighter has been reported killed there in May, and all eighteen of the group's losses last month took place prior to April 14.
CONCLUSION
The increasing deployment of IRGC Ground Forces personnel to Syria poses both problems and opportunities for Iran's military leaders. On the one hand, the IRGC's 2007 "Mosaic Doctrine" divided the Ground Forces into thirty-one separate units (one for each province in Iran and two for Tehran) and trained them to fight domestic unrest, so they may not be the best choice for facing well-armed rebel forces in Syria. On the other hand, the war in Syria provides a powerful training ground for IRGC forces in terms of preparing them for potential future operations abroad. Indeed, Iran's current pattern of deployments signifies the IRGC's broader transformation into an expeditionary force, augmenting the Qods Force in this role.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-12-2016 at 07:40 PM.
Regime attempts to storm north Handarat, Khan Touman & al-Rashidin were repelled. Losses of 50-70 soldiers on each.
In the Middle East, we need regimes which deliver freedom, not strip us of it. We need fundamental rights, not the fundamentalist right.
Last edited by davidbfpo; 05-12-2016 at 09:19 PM.
Iran Mounts Anti-TOW Jamming System on M60 Tanks
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950222000271 …
Security and Defense Committee in the Iranian Parliament Ismail Kothari says negotiations possible over six Iranian soldiers held by rebels.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps have fractured #Syria into 5 fronts for battle - Zahedi
How Obama sold the Iran Deal......and now he discovers there are no moderates in Iran.... a tad late
Best synopsis of Ben Rhodes explaining how the WH played the MSM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOXtWxhlsUg …
Russia`s #Putin Is Selling A Narrative On Syria And Some Media Organizations Are Buying It
http://www.rferl.stfi.re/content/isl...tml?sf=vyokxzx …
By James Miller
May 12, 2016
It's been a banner week for the Kremlin's propaganda machine. At home, and across the border in the parts of Ukraine held by Russia-backed separatists, Russian military hardware was out on display for the May 9 Victory Day parade marking the defeat of the Nazis in World War II.
But the biggest propaganda victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin may not have been broadcast by his state-run propaganda outlets like RT, but by Western news outlets which accepted Russia's offer to report exactly what the Kremlin wanted them to in Syria.
Earlier this year, the Russian military and Russian private mercenaries played a key role in helping the Syrian government recapture the central Syrian city of Palmyra, a fabled and ancient city known for its historic ruins, from the hands of Islamic State (IS) extremists.
In the first few days of May, the Russian military escorted teams of international journalists across the war zone to observe a concert in Palmyra's ancient amphitheater. The reporters were treated to a magnificent performance of famed musicians conducted by Valery Gergiev, the conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and a fierce supporter of Putin.
The Washington Post's Andrew Roth detailed the entire trip, focusing on the steps that the Russian government took to ensure that the journalists who participated in this guided tour only wrote positively and on the subject that their Russian minders desired. Other news agencies seemed more than happy to toe the Russian line.
Glowing Reports
CNN's article on the event nearly glows, highlighting the significant military operation needed to get the journalists to a concert near the front lines of the battle against IS fighters. It notes that just this past July, IS militants filmed themselves executing 25 prisoners in the same theater. There is only one line in the article that even resembles criticism -- that famed cellist Sergei Roldugin, "who was recently named in the Panama Papers as having moved hundreds of millions to offshore companies, a claim he denies," played in the concert.
Euronews posted a similar story, though the French news outlet did note a caveat: its media facility in Syria is "provided by the Russian Ministry of Defence and our reporting is not subject to any military control." That article carried a quote from the head of St Petersburg's State Hermitage museum who told the audience that the UNESCO heritage site could have been saved.
Without naming names he appeared to criticize the US-led coalition.
"Look at its geographical situation. The battle for Palmyra went on for so long and many of the exhibits were able to be smuggled out. [The militants] approaching Palmyra could have been bombed into the ground in an instant, but they weren't. Well our guys weren't there back then!" said Mikhail Piotrovsky, the museum's director.
Curiously that quote was published without noting that Palmyra's "geographical situation" is at the center of the country on a key road between the Syrian government's capital city, Damascus, and Iraq -- far from the U.S.-led coalition's campaigns against IS strongholds in northeastern Syria and western Iraq.
Neither CNN nor Euronews note that, according to new documents obtained by Sky News, the Russian-led offensive to retake Palmyra culminated in a deal between the Syrian government and IS forces that allowed the terrorists to remove their heavy weaponry in exchange for the retaking of the city.
Neither report notes that the main target of both Russian and Syrian air strikes are groups that have fought IS, not IS itself. And neither article mentions the fact that, according to the detailed database maintained by the Violations Documentation Center in Syria, at least 100 civilians were killed by the Assad regime in Palmyra prior to IS's arrival, most of whom were killed while in detention.
No Wider Context
Instead, both articles read exactly how the Russian government would like them to read -- Russia helped Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad liberate this ancient city from the most brutal terrorists.
Worse yet, the wider context of events in Syria is completely missing from both the CNN and Euronews reports. While Russian cellos were playing mournful tunes for those killed by Islamic State terrorists, at least 30 refugees were killed as bombs tore through a camp for internally displaced persons near the border with Turkey. Activists said air strikes -- possibly Russian -- were to blame. Euronews, however, ran a special report on how Russian soldiers are demining the ruins. That report does not ask the question that Reuters asks -- if IS planted the mines so that they would explode when the Syrian and Russian soldiers captured the city, why didn't any of them go off?
CNN also reported that the Russian mission in Syria is much larger than media reports had previously suggested. The CNN correspondent noted that he was impressed by the "professionalism of the troops and the pristine state of the equipment they were using," and concluded that "while the exact size of Russia's military presence in Syria is still unclear, the things we saw while embedded with them indicate that it is bigger and more sophisticated than most believe."
That the Russian government is brazenly showing off its forces in Syria should come as no surprise. Independent analysis conducted by our team at The Interpreter, an RFE/RL partner, advanced the argument months ago that, when Putin was claiming that he was withdrawing from Syria, large numbers of Russian forces were staying to fight.
When Putin announced his withdrawal from Syria, he wanted the world to think he was serious. He wasn't. Now Putin wants to send a different message: he's not going anywhere. And uncritical reports from the front lines only help him to underscore this message.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 05-12-2016 at 08:34 PM.
A very superficial 'study', discussing little else but press announcements. WINEP's stuff on Yemen is far better (actually: entirely different calibre).
One thing that never stops amazing me about all the possible intel agencies, think-tanks etc. in the USA: they've got so many Iranians there, so many people studying Iran and its military since decades and yet: they still neither have an insight nor really clue how Iranian military - and especially the IRGC - work.
It's almost as if all the 'hot stuff' (really good studies by well-informed people) is ending in somebody's private pockets...
Or is it a deliberate attempt to keep the depth of the Iranian "revolutionary Islam" in support to Khomeini's "Green Crescent" project as the IRGC has always felt themselves defenders of "revolutionary Islam"......totally away from general knowledge that would have "killed for example" Obama's Iran Deal.....
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