Rebels fired 67 Anti-tank weapons (#ATGM) in May (+86%), mainly #TOW-Fagot-Malyutka & 70% on #Aleppo fronts.
Main targets (54x Regime, 12x #ISIS & 1x #YPG) are machine guns (26%), armours (22%) & infantry (15%). #Syria
Aleppo: Syrian rebel Nur Al Din Zinki brigade destroy regime cannon
https://youtu.be/n3CeQo2w2Bo
After 4 years of negotiations the UN could only deliver medicine to Daraya & no food!
http://www.trtarabic.tv/?p=70711
Ahrar Al-Sham's T-55 in action vs #ISIS affiliates in W. #Daraa, #Syria.
Suqur Al-Jebal targeted with a #TOW an #ISIS sniper nest in KafrKalbin, N. #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tScFIAzvYsk …
Meanwhile Iranian-led militias backed by #RuAF are kept in check by Rebels in N. & S. #Aleppo since early April...
First Coastal Division T-55 in action vs pro-Regime forces in Jebal Al-Akrad. N. #Latakia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFw6udu-IDw …
Faylaq Al-Sham fired more Grad rockets vs Regime targets (defense factories) in #Aleppo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj8Yteeh-bA …
.@SyrianHNC President Riyadh Hijab calls on UN Sec Gen Ban Ki Moon for a #Ramadan ceasefire in #Syria:
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 06-01-2016 at 06:51 PM.
Rebels fired 67 Anti-tank weapons (#ATGM) in May (+86%), mainly #TOW-Fagot-Malyutka & 70% on #Aleppo fronts.
Main targets (54x Regime, 12x #ISIS & 1x #YPG) are machine guns (26%), armours (22%) & infantry (15%). #Syria
Daraya besiged by Assad for 4 years, this is what the starving civilians got in 1st #UN aid delivery, mosquito nets
The FSA Southern Front has become solely focused on fighting #ISIS & its affiliates in southern #Syria
This has been dictated to them by the Jordanian MOC and the US......
Several air raids on Khan Tuman today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG2BfnMjkyk …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=gd&lat=36...51113&z=16&m=b …
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 06-01-2016 at 06:57 PM.
CrowBat...what do you think...after the YPG crossed the Turkish stated red line today......
BREAKING: #Saudi FM says Riyadh calls for sending troops to #Syria - @AlArabiya_Eng
MORE: #Saudi FM says international community must impose its will on #Syrian regime - @AlArabiya_Eng
Updated: #Turkey says strikes, artillery kill 14 ISIS militants in #Syria
Syria Footage from battle south of #Damascus during "rebel take over"
of Dayrkhabiyah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-xpR_ryixg …
SDF #Manbij operations vs #ISIS today around the Euphrates River - @DrPartizan_
BREAKING: The Turkish government introduced a visa for Russian truckers pic.twitter.com/bOHOEN3xUg
http://turkey.liveuamap.com/en/2016/...sa-for-russian …
Latest pro-#Assad #TinFoil conspiracy smear --- #WhiteHelmets are faking all their videos of rescued children | #Syria
Turkey seems to have reached an agreement with the USA, and the USA with the PYD.... details below.Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
That's all related to megalomaniacs in Tehran, emboldened by that smartass in the White House: Iran vows Syria army, allies will take all of Aleppo.BREAKING: #Saudi FM says Riyadh calls for sending troops to #Syria - @AlArabiya_Eng
MORE: #Saudi FM says international community must impose its will on #Syrian regime - @AlArabiya_Eng
Now, 'all of Aleppo' is stretching all the way from Khan Nassir in south-east, to Azaz, Efrin, al-Bab, and Manbij in the north (see the area marked red on the map below) - i.e. into areas held by (from west towards east): PYD, FSyA, Daesh, and then US-supported SDF.
Seems I've gotta get myself some huge supply of popcorns: looking forward for the movie with sub-title, 'Khameni's Sturmtruppen assaulting positions of non-involved US troops'...
AND the West still says nothing...it is like the West especially the Obama WH does not care exactly how many Syrian civilians die to "remove Assad" the same exact USA demands for over FOUR long years....NOW silence....
Aftermath of a #Russian cluster bomb attack on an aid truck convoy outside #Saraqib, #Idlib.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO9JQZHKSiw …
Airstrikes on Ma'arat al-Artiq in #Aleppo, @SyriaCivilDef rescuing civilians from under the rubble.
https://youtu.be/Cy128awoinE
More airstrikes on the al-Sukkari district in #Aleppo today, @SyriaCivilDef on scene
https://youtu.be/OUBjQhIuCcU
Wounded children terrified after Assad airstrikes on al-Ansari district in #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/glg-kKGWDqo
Sorry the vid in #pt is from al-Amryia district, this is the other part, “Bidi Baba“, I want my father
https://youtu.be/Uvpk0k2JkCc
Archaeologist Hermann Parzinger confim #Assad-forces looted ancient #Palmyra before #IslamicState arrived
Assad-forces continues assault on Aqrab town in #Houla area
in NW #Homs
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=34...61220&z=14&m=b …
New 2nd #SDF-Euphrates river-bridgehead 20km east of
#Manbij
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36...88992&z=13&m=b …
SDF announce its time to free #Manbej from #IslamicState
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54KHsT2fmOc …
FSA raid #IS-outpost at #Damascus->Baghdad road
a dozen IS-members killed & captured
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z_b...ature=youtu.be …
Southern #FSA rise huge flag on Tell Harra (ex-regime base)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0jO...ature=youtu.be …
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=33...85460&z=14&m=b
Southern Front is absolutely doing nothing against Assad so is this US Jordanian supported FSA actually working with Assad against FSA??
Footage: 2 years after #Assad-regime retook full control of #Homs city
-Russian Today drone footage indicates absolutely no signs of reconstruction-
https://youtu.be/zznopq7Gg5U
Footage from battle south of #Damascus during "rebel take over"
of Dayrkhabiyah
The video of this takeover has been removed by YouTube for violations of service agreements BUT then video carried by Assad and Russia are constantly being allowed....IS YouTube now supporting the Russian info warfare in Syria....must be....
Can the UNSC and the Obama WH actually explain this....so called "humanitarian aid" normally includes food...this area has been under Assad/Hezbollah siege for over three years now ......
Aid into #Daraya yesterday, after 3+ yrs of siege:
Lice shampoo
Birth kits
Sandfly nets
Baby milk formula
Basic drugs
Sidelining its NATO ally, the U.S. admits: "We've bitten the bullet on the Kurds."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...8d2_story.html …
THERE is an increasing number of solid ME analysts with great track records for being right in the ME especially when it comes to the Kurds that have repeatedly warned the US to not go this route.
YET the Obama WH wants the short term tactical success for the American press and their legacy NOT the necessary long term strategic success against both IS and AQ which is so critical in the long term.
WHY is that??
Both AQ (JaN) and IS have already stated yes you can beat us in the desert BUT will it end IS or AQ...no it will not AND guess what they are 30000% correct.....these types of movements take between 20-35 years to completely cycle through an evolution
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 06-02-2016 at 08:50 AM.
CrowBat....we need to start a SWJ competition on spotting the US disinformation in US MSM articles such as this one from WaPo today.....
Sidelining its NATO ally, the U.S. admits: "We've bitten the bullet on the Kurds."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...8d2_story.html …
Not even trying I count FOUR......BEIRUT — A U.S.-backed force of Kurds and Arabs advanced toward an important Islamic State transit town in Syria on Wednesday, brushing aside Turkish opposition to the involvement of Kurds in operations to recapture the strategically vital area.
U.S. commandos are accompanying the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as they push north toward Manbij, backed by intense U.S. airstrikes, as part of an offensive aimed at recapturing the town in Aleppo province, said Col. Chris Garver, a U.S. military spokesman.
Manbij lies on the main route used by foreign fighters traveling across the Turkish border to join the Islamic State in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the extremist group’s self-proclaimed caliphate. Capturing Manbij would sever the vital supply route, cut off militant fighters and further squeeze the Islamic State in Raqqa, Garver said.
But the offensive also risks incurring the wrath of Turkey, which reiterated this week its opposition to using the SDF to take control of the predominantly Arab area. The SDF is dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which has ties to the militant Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by both the United States and Turkey.
An American fighter, battling alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces, holds a U.S. flag as he stands with SDF members in the northern province of Raqqa, Syria, May 27, 2016. (Rodi Said/Reuters)
The Kurdish organization has declared an autonomous region in the part of northeastern Syria it already controls, and Turkey fears that its continued advance westward into Arab areas of Syria will further expand the Kurdish region emerging along the Turkish border and encourage Kurdish separatist sentiments inside Turkey.
Pentagon officials said that the SDF fighters advancing on Manbij are predominantly Arab and that the YPG has agreed not to retain control of the town after it is captured but rather to hand over its administration to local Arabs. Garver put the percentage of Arabs in the advancing force at 80 to 90 percent.
But SDF units fighting elsewhere are overwhelmingly Kurdish. One U.S. official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the issue, said that overall, “Kurds are the main fighting force” in the SDF. “We shouldn’t be under any illusions about that.”
Despite Pentagon claims that Turkey has consented to the operation, the Turks are “not happy” about it, the official added. Turkish officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The offensive signals the abandonment, at least for now, of a long-standing U.S.-Turkish plan to coordinate on efforts to reconquer the Islamic State-held pocket of territory in Syria’s Aleppo province, known as the Manbij pocket, using vetted Free Syrian Army rebel groups. Those efforts have stalled since the Islamic State repelled a rebel offensive in March aimed at recapturing areas of the province that border Turkey. The Islamic State subsequently has not only pushed the rebels back from the areas they have taken but also has captured new territories that were formerly under rebel control. These gains have left the U.S.- and Turkish-backed groups battling for their survival and in no position to launch any new offensives against the al-Qaeda offshoot, which is also known as ISIS and ISIL.
Instead, the United States has decided to back the Kurdish-led assault on the Manbij area. “We have bitten the bullet on the Kurds,” said the U.S. official.
The Manbij operation comes as part of a broader effort to squeeze the Islamic State in Raqqa. It began last week with a push by the SDF to capture villages in the mostly desert area immediately north of the city. Those forces have advanced several miles, and the operation is ongoing, Garver said.
The Raqqa offensive also claimed its first U.S. casualty ov
er the weekend. One of the 300 U.S. Special Operations forces# working alongside Kurdish and Arab fighters in northeastern Syria was injured north of Raqqa over the weekend, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
alQalamon – #FSA Mhammad Abdo Martyrs took over 2 barriers from Daesh https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2...ers-from-daesh …
The Killing of 872 Civilians in May 2016, 498 amongst which were killed by government forces
http://goo.gl/XLhbD0
This Nonprofit Wants the U.S. to Ally With Syria’s Dictator https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2016/06/02/print
In this turbulent election year, one constant theme for leaders of both major parties is a desire to build a global coalition against the Islamic State. Now a relatively unknown group is taking that message literally.
On Wednesday, a nonprofit known as the Global Alliance for Terminating al-Qaeda/ISIS, or Gafta, will host a conference at the National Press Club featuring Bouthaina Shaaban, the media adviser to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. The conference will also give a platform to Bassam al-Hussain, who is the Iraqi government’s liaison to the country’s militias, many of them sponsored by Iran, a country designated for years by the State Department as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.
For good measure, Gafta’s treasurer, Ghassan Mansour, was named by the U.S. Justice Department in a 2011 indictment for participating in a money-laundering scheme on behalf of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. (Mansour told me he didn’t know he was selling cars to a Hezbollah front in Africa and says he was never prosecuted).
Washington’s mixed messages inhibit Syria negotiations
http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/pos...a_negotiations
At a meeting between Bashar al-Assad and a Lebanese Hezbollah delegation in Damascus in April 2013, Assad assured his guests that “the Americans are pragmatic” and “won’t fully commit” to a policy to put an end to his regime. They will, he claimed, eventually “side with the winner.” Policy statements and recent revelations about the Obama administration’s deliberative process on Syria raise the question: Is the United States proving Assad correct?
The U.S. State Department is currently grappling with the problem of the Geneva II peace conference scheduled for late November. For Geneva II to succeed, Washington must somehow find a way to make the conference a step toward the exit of Assad and his inner circle, but this intended result makes it highly unlikely Assad will participate to that end. As U.S. officials in Foggy Bottom contemplate this thorny puzzle, their bosses at the White House could help by reconsidering the public messaging of their Syria policy.
U.S. policy toward Syria has been confused and full of sharp reversals. Remarks made by Secretary of State John Kerry illustrate this confused public messaging. Not long ago, Secretary Kerry described Assad as a “thug and a murderer,” and labeled the authoritarian state structure as “a dictator and his family’s enterprise.” After the Assad regime unleashed its chemical arsenal on innocent civilians, and subsequently was forced to agree to surrender those chemical weapons, Kerry’s words reflected a dramatic but unsurprising reversal. He said that the United States has been “very pleased” with the progress and level of compliance with the agreement. Kerry added that the quick progress on the chemical weapons agreement was “a credit to the Assad regime…It’s a good beginning, and we should welcome a good beginning.”
Kerry made this final statement with Lavrov at his side. On October 22, scrambling to salvage the peace conference with disgruntled Syrian opposition figures and representatives of frustrated allies at his side in London instead, Kerry swung back to the previous line that Assad “has lost all legitimacy, all capacity to govern the country.”
This is just a recent case in a point. Another notable example is the rhetorical shift away from the phrase “Assad’s days are numbered,” prolifically featured in the speeches and remarks of top U.S. officials for almost two years. It was replaced with “Assad will never ever again rule all of Syria,” by White House spokesman Jay Carney in July of this year. The administration has retracted some of these statements, but their issuance and retraction only compound the negative effects of mixed messaging.
U.S. policy equivocations lend weight to the Assad regime’s own spin that Bashar al-Assad is cunning, rather than delusional. Washington’s mixed messages can only help Assad’s fortunes as he convinces those around him to stay at their posts, and thereby maintain cohesion within his ruling clique and delay the internal unraveling of his regime.
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/p...art-1-hezbolla
Findings from the State Department’s Annual Terrorism Report (Part 1): Hezbollah and Iran
BTW...the DoS NCTC was carrying YPG as part and parcel of the PKK terrorist organization thus "terrorist"....THEN in late 2015/early 2016 it was removed from the NCTC website....Contrary to recent intelligence assessments by other agencies, the State Department’s latest report documents Hezbollah and Iran’s ongoing, deep involvement in terrorist activities.
In March, when Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified before Congress about threats to the United States, Iran and Hezbollah were conspicuously absent from the list of terrorist threats. Several weeks later, he responded to senators’ concerns about the omission in a letter acknowledging that Iran and Hezbollah “directly threaten the interests of the United State and our allies,” adding that the intelligence community still sees Tehran as the “foremost state sponsor of terrorism.”
Earlier today, the State Department released its Country Reports on Terrorism 2014, which describes how the “Islamic State”/ISIL emerged last year as the preeminent terrorist threat to U.S. interests (an issue that will be covered in Part 2 of this PolicyWatch, to be released later today). Yet the report — which covers much of the same timeframe as Clapper’s testimony — also clearly demonstrates that Iran and Hezbollah actively pursued destabilizing terrorist, criminal, and militant activities throughout 2014.
IRANIAN SPONSORSHIP “UNDIMINISHED”
The new report singles out Tehran and Hezbollah from its introductory chapter: “Iran continued to sponsor terrorist groups around the world, principally through its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF)…These groups included Lebanese Hizballah, several Iraqi Shia militant groups, Hamas, and Palestine Islamic Jihad.” In addition, it accuses Iran of “prolonging the civil war in Syria, and worsening the human rights and refugee crisis there.” Later, the authors describe Iran’s terror sponsorship as “undiminished.”
Contrary to recent intelligence assessments by other agencies, the State Department’s latest report documents Hezbollah and Iran’s ongoing, deep involvement in terrorist activities.
In March, when Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified before Congress about threats to the United States, Iran and Hezbollah were conspicuously absent from the list of terrorist threats. Several weeks later, he responded to senators’ concerns about the omission in a letter acknowledging that Iran and Hezbollah “directly threaten the interests of the United State and our allies,” adding that the intelligence community still sees Tehran as the “foremost state sponsor of terrorism.”
Earlier today, the State Department released its Country Reports on Terrorism 2014, which describes how the “Islamic State”/ISIL emerged last year as the preeminent terrorist threat to U.S. interests (an issue that will be covered in Part 2 of this PolicyWatch, to be released later today). Yet the report — which covers much of the same timeframe as Clapper’s testimony — also clearly demonstrates that Iran and Hezbollah actively pursued destabilizing terrorist, criminal, and militant activities throughout 2014.
Sheikh Maqsud: YPG beat a veiled woman
Aleppo: Cornerstones of the agreement between the »Labbayki Ukhtah« operations center and the Democratic Union Party’s (PYD) People’s Defense Units (YPG)
KurdWatch, August 31, 2015 – On May 2, 2015, representatives of fifteen predominantly Islamist combat units announced the formation of an operations center in Aleppo. In a video message, they explained that the operations center should bear the name »Labbayki Ukhtah« (»At your service, sister«) and protect the residents of the Shaykh Maqsud district in Aleppo from attacks by the Democratic Union Party’s (PYD) People’s Defense Units (YPG) and the Asayiş, the PYD’s security service.
The following groups belong to the operations center:
1. Ahfad as‑Salatin
2. Kataʾib Abu ʿAmara
3. Harakat Ahrar ash‑Sham al‑Islamiyah
4. Kataʾib as‑Safwah
5. al‑Fawj al‑Awwal
6. Jabhat an‑Nusrah
7. Ahrar Suriya
8. Harakat Nuruddin az‑Zanki
9. al‑Jabhah al‑Kurdiyah
10. al‑Firqa 16
11. Harakat Fajr ash‑Sham al‑Islamiyah
12. al‑Jabhah ash‑Shamiyah
13. Kataʾib Thuwwar ash‑Sham
14. Faylaq ash‑Sham
15. Jaysh al‑Islam
The alliance was justified on the grounds that YPG fighters had first insulted a veiled female resident at a checkpoint in the Kurdish district of Shayk Maqsud, which at that point was solely under YPG control, and later asked her to leave her home.
On May 4, the alliance signed an agreement with the People’s Defense Units. The latter pledged to hand over those responsible for the injustice against the woman to a legal committee with its seat at the office of al‑Jabhah ash‑Shamiyah. In addition, it was agreed that the YPG would lose sole control in Shaykh Maqsud and the district would not be treated as part of the PYD’s transitional administration. A prisoner exchange between the two sides was also agreed upon.
There were delays in implementing the agreement: On May 24, 2015, the »Labbayki Ukhtah« alliance set a two-day deadline, within which the YPG was to implement the agreements of early May. On May 26,, alliance fighters attacked YPG positions and injured two people. A few hours later, representatives for both sides met and agreed on a ceasefire. In a video, a YPG representative stated that the agreements would be implemented quickly. According to research carried out by KurdWatch, however, this has only partially come to pass. For example, we are not aware of any official prisoner exchange. However, the control over the district of Shayk Maqsud has been divided. The Syrian opposition, which for several months has formed one unit that includes all Islamist groups with the exception of the Islamic State, controls the east of the district while the PYD controls the west. In the area under its control, the PYD also still maintains the so-called street councils, self-administered bodies that distribute aid supplies among other things.
KurdWatch is publishing the document signed by »Labbayki Ukhtah« and the YPG. It is exemplary of the fragile alliances that the most ideologically opposed groups form (and revoke again), especially in heavily contested, ethnically and religiously diverse regions such as Aleppo
http://www.kurdwatch.org/pdf/KurdWatch_D037_en_ar.pdf
“The PYD’s repressive demographic policy”
Notice from the al‑Qamishli city council
KurdWatch, November 15, 2015—The following document is a notice from the al‑Qamishli city council. The council emerged from the municipal elections held by the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in March 2015 [further information].
The undated notice, which does not name a recipient, calls for a census and the resettling of »all foreign residents of the city« in refugee camps. Though »foreign residents« is not further defined, it can be assumed that this refers to Arab refugees of the civil war. On October 6, 2015, the PYD-appointed transitional administration for the canton of Jazirah verbally decreed that all Arab internally displaced persons in the territories it administers should either leave these territories or move to refugee camps [further information]. Many of these refugees currently live in homes that are rented from Kurdish residents. In the future, this would no longer be possible. The notice forbids renting housing to people who are not from the canton of Jazirah.
In addition, the notice states that authorizations are no longer to be provided for people moving outside of the region administered by the PYD (»Rojava«). This provision is presumably directed at Kurdish residents, who would thereby be forced to stay in the region. It supplements established PYD policies aimed at preventing and criminalizing emigration or flight from the territories under its control. Anyone who wants to leave the Kurdish region must apply for an exit permit, which, as a rule, will not be granted, and people who leave the region are regularly described as »traitors«. Taken as a whole, the notice is indicative of a Kurdish nationalist demographic policy.
At the same time, it is clear that stemming demographic changes is not the only goal here. Financial interests also play a key role. According to the notice, all homes whose owners have left al‑Qamishli and the Kurdish administered regions are to be registered. In early September 2015, the transitional administration for the canton of Jazirah passed a law allowing it to take possession of vehicles, real estate, land, and cash assets from residents who have fled from its territory and to put these possessions to economic use [further information]. This law amounts to a de facto dispossession of refugees and serves to enrich the PYD. The notice is evidence that the PYD’s repressive demographic policy and its strategies for enriching itself are locally implemented. It is especially notable that in addition to the Asayiş, the PYD’s security service, the al‑Qamishli city council is primarily entrusting the so-called »communes« with implementing these measures. In theory the communes are local, grassroots self-administered bodies that should regulate the affairs of their district and present them to the higher-level bodies. This example shows, however, that in reality these communes largely serve to implement PYD policies on the local level.
Finally, the alleged solidarity and cooperation among all ethnic groups proves to be nothing but empty PYD ideology. PYD policies clearly do not allow for solidarity with Arab internally displaced persons.
Notice from the al‑Qamishli city council: http://www.kurdwatch.org/pdf/KurdWatch_D038_en_ar.pdf
Russian air force attacks on #Idlib cont.
This one on #Ariha last night ki/wo 8 ppl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3faYkA21HU …
SO Russian AF does not fly at night over Idib??????
Air strike on central #Aleppo city today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnMfaAKSSRQ …
Farm equipment&a mobile water tank.
2 of the favourite targets of #Russian jets.
Darat Izza.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWpYRbAusks …
Just another town in #Idlib, hit by #Russia today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOqM6yUGeR8 …
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 06-02-2016 at 09:41 AM.
CrowBat....has Turkey and KSA in fact given up on northern Aleppo???
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