Russian Syrian Express is on the move again......
ВМФ #ЧФ Ropucha class LST Azov 151 completed Bosphorus transit & entered Marmara en route to Mediterranean 13:30GMT
Statement: #FSA forces would respect the 72 hours #EidAlFitr ceasefire but would fight back if attacked.Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
BUT WAIT...did not Assad state there is a ceasefire for 72 hrs.....
It is worth to mention that Assad airstrikes reported on Hama, Aleppo & Latakia countrysides today despite the ceasefire announced.
A big convoy of regime forces was seen moving from Aleppo to Salamiya, probably heading towards Lattakia
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 07-06-2016 at 03:03 PM.
The site where Jaish Islam seized several #Osa Systems: from Air Defense Base to agricultural settlement, E. #Ghouta
Jaish Al-Nasr dismantled several IEDs in S. #Idlib countryside.
Newspaper: "Nesawissimaja Gaseta" Negotiations between #Turkey & #Russia about military overflight rights to #Syria
#NATO?
Airstrikes by #Israel on financial directorate in #Quneitra's
Madinat al-Ba'ath - #Hezbollah inside?
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=33...80618&z=15&m=b …
Great pro-#Assad propaganda piece from Daraa by @TheRobertFisk for the @Independent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7121596.html …
Aleppo today
CAREFUL #RussianAirstrike hit charity kitchen preparing meals for #EidulFitr.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ocXDCNtUc …
More #footage
#Assad-free #Idlib (though largely controlled by islamists) prepares for #Eid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bjuanC2SR8 …
Seeing women's dresses it becomes clear that most horror stories about "Burkas only in Nusra areas" are BS.
Their grip isn't that strong.
More #footage
Eid al-Fitr in #FreeAleppo
A vivid metropole #Assad&#Putin want to annihilate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wyliPUcMgg …
"Ghost town"?!
"Only rebels left"?!
Forget all the #Assad propaganda.
#FreeAleppo this eve!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-qERUhamzs …
Footage
The free & peaceful city of #Binnish in #Idlib province shortly before Eid al-Fitr.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nra3NTxtnDA …
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 07-06-2016 at 04:28 PM.
Oh no!
Well, that last MiG-23 is not entirely 'confirmed'. That is: there is a pilot named Ali Shawkat Soleiman, but he's still alive. If any other was KIA, then there are no orbituaries (none for Soleiman, either); and, if any was captured, then nobody is reporting that. Indeed, even the JAI officially denied to have shoot down this MiG...
So, it's a very unusual case.
Here my write-up of all the claims and confirmed Assadist losses in aircraft and helicopters of the last two weeks, and reported, as well as possible reasons:
Syrian Rebel Missileers Are Wreaking Havoc on Bashar Al Assad’s Air Force
U.S. jets abandoned Syrian rebels in the desert. Then they lost a battle to ISIS.
Very important read.
http://wpo.st/Yk_k1
Breaking. Fatah Halab commander claims Rebels repelled fierce assault from pro-Assad forces on #Mallah & set up ambush w/ IEDs in #Handarat.
Rebels launched surprise raid & took Safa barrier from Hezbollah in W. #Qalamoun, seizing 2 tanks/57 mm cannon. Airstrikes & clashes ongoing
Jaish Al-Islam claimed it took out several armours with #ATGMs & seized back some positions on Midaa front, E. #Ghouta.
2 weeks after launching offensive to besiege Rebel-held #Aleppo, pro-Regime forces renewed fierce assaults on S. #Mallah & Layramoun area.
Jaish Al Islam claims to have destroyed 7 Tanks in the past 48hours in Damascus...
Idlib : Three dead and several other civilians are wounded after #Russian warplanes made five thermobaric missile attacks on #Jisr_Shughur.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 07-07-2016 at 09:20 AM.
FSA Army Mojahidin inspecting the fronts in Aleppo
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2...onts-in-aleppo …
SHAM Legion Infographic of military operations during Ramadan
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2...during-ramadan …
Joureen Army Base A stronghold of Assad’s Killing Machine
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2...illing-machine …
Sham Legion denies to hand over Daesh defectors to Turkey and their countries
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2...heir-countries …
Aleppo update : Assad’s attack failed
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2...-attack-failed …
Unexploded vacuum missile dropped on Anadan
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2...pped-on-anadan …
Unexploded missile in Anadan|pics
https://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2...-in-anadanpics …
A powerful explosion followed by violent fire inside the Petrochemical compound in Maashur #Iran Losses= $millions
Apparently a terrorist attack on the plant......Apparently a group in Ahvaz was behind it, protests are flaring again
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 07-07-2016 at 09:31 AM.
This @KyleWOrton reconstruction of Saddam Hussein's global terrorist legacy is really good.
Really really worth reading....a lot of information not really talked about much in the Us ...especially concerning the 1993 first attack on the NYC Twin towers......
Long read.....
Donald Trump is Wrong (Again): Saddam Hussein Supported Terrorism
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on July 6, 2016
Last night Donald Trump unburdened himself of the view that Saddam Hussein was an efficient anti-terrorist operator. It is a statement Trump has made before, and it is one of such staggering ignorance—yet one which has such wide sympathy—that it seemed worth examining the multiple ways in which it was wrong.
Trump and Saddam
Trump’s praise for Saddam having “made a living off killing terrorists” in February followed a statement in December 2015,
“Saddam Hussein throws a little gas, everyone goes crazy, ‘oh he’s using gas!'” Trump said. Describing the way stability was maintained in the region during that time, Trump said “they go back, forth, it’s the same. And they were stabilized.”
One might wonder if the use of chemical weapons of mass destruction against the Iranians during the eight-year war Saddam started can really be called “stability,” and the genocidal use of such weapons as part of the Anfal campaign that murdered at least 100,000 Kurds hardly seems to have helped regional stability either.
Trump’s exact statement from last night was:
Saddam Hussein was a bad guy … really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good. They didn’t read them the rights. They didn’t talk. They were terrorists. It was over. Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism. You want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq.
Christopher Hitchens used to say that anyone who would content themselves with saying only that Saddam Hussein was “a bad guy” did not know anything about that man, his regime, or Iraq, and that rule can be safely said to hold in this case. It does accidentally contain a truth, however: If you “want to be a terrorist, you go to Iraq,” was in fact a well-known maxim for international terrorists for many decades.
A Long Trail of Murder
Sabri al-Banna (Abu Nidal) had many paymasters and agendas in his career as the most infamous international terrorist before Usama bin Ladin, but in preparation for that career and then for long stretches of it he was sheltered by Saddam. Hitchens met al-Banna in 1976 in Iraq, where he threatened Said Hammami, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative to Britain and a moderate who had publicly promoted a two-state solution long before it was acceptable in Palestinian politics. Hammami was struck down in London on 4 January 1978 by a member of the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO). This was just one of many crimes Saddam enabled al-Banna to commit.
Al-Banna departed Iraq to Assad’s Syria in 1979, but returned to Saddam’s realm in March 1982, after he had acquired the moniker of “the Arab world’s foremost terrorist.” It was from Baghdad that al-Banna attempted to murder Shlomo Argov, Israel’s ambassador to London, sparking Israel’s invasion of Lebanon to dismantle the PLO’s state-within-a-state—and doing great damage to the strategic standing and military of Saddam’s great rival in Damascus that had heretofore had almost unchallenged primacy over Lebanon.
A wave of assassinations and attempted assassinations then followed from the ANO against Jordanian, Kuwaiti, and Emirati officials. There is every reason to believe that the attacks against Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates especially were, at the least, encouraged by Saddam since those two states were making overtures to normalize their relations with the Iranian revolution that Saddam was then at war with.
Al-Banna departed Iraq again in November 1983—though parts of his organization remained there—and again put himself at the service of Hafez al-Assad. Though the Assad regime is now presenting itself as a victim and opponent of terrorism, before geopolitical amnesia set in the regime was known for carrying the near-unique attribute of having sponsored terrorism against every single one of its neighbours. Assad’s bugbear in the mid-1980s was Jordan—which was showing dangerous signs of making peace with Israel—so al-Banna was directed to blow up her diplomatic outposts and murder her diplomats, which he duly did from India to Spain.
Al-Banna would, in 1987, take up residence in Muammar el-Qaddafi’s Libya—another bizarrely lamented government (including by Trump) whose record as a global, long-standing state-sponsor of terrorism has been clumsily revised—where al-Banna ended up massacring most of ANO’s members after being deceived into thinking his organization was riddled with spies. Al-Banna was reported to be in Egypt in the summer of 1998, and finally came back to Iraq in December 1998. The curtain finally came down for al-Banna in August 2002: a suicide, reported Saddam’s regime, wherein he had shot himself three times in the head.
Muhammad Zaydan (Abu Abbas) led the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) and directed the taking of hostages aboard the Achille Lauro on 7 October 1985. During the assault, the PLF shot and killed the wheelchair-bound Leon Klinghoffer because he was a Jew, and threw his body overboard. When Italian authorities caught up with Zaydan they had to release him because he was travelling on an Iraqi diplomatic passport—despite being neither Iraqi nor a diplomat. Zaydan moved to Saddam’s Iraq and remained there until he was captured five days after the fall of Saddam’s regime.
In April 1993, Saddam tried to murder former President George H.W. Bush with a car bomb during his trip to Kuwait, using Wali al-Ghazali, who had taken part in the Shi’a uprising in March 1991, as a cut-out to give the regime plausible deniability. President Bill Clinton ordered airstrikes in retaliation.
Islamic Terrorism
It might be felt that this record, bad as it is, doesn’t exactly contradict Trump because this terrorism was not Islamist or jihadist in nature. Not to fear: Saddam supported Islamist and jihadist terrorism, too—a lot.
Saddam’s regime supported the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood (SMB) from when they initially rebelled against the Assad regime in 1976. Al-Banna was even tasked with training Syrian Ikhwans in camps at Hit, in Anbar Province. One man trained in these camps—which evidently operated even after al-Banna departed the country—was Ahmed Barodi, who later resided in the U.S. before being deported partly for these ties. In the wake of the crushing of the SMB rebellion in 1982 at Hama, Saddam took in the survivors—the “most radical” ones anyway (many others went to Europe), including Eddin Barakat Yarkas and Mustafa Nasar (Abu Musab al-Suri). Yarkas became a roommate of Mohamed Atta—the lead death pilot on 9/11—and was swept up in Spain after the 9/11 massacre, later convicted of helping to plan and finance that atrocity. Nasar went on to become probably the greatest strategist in the Jihadi-Salafist world, a guide for both the Islamic State (IS)* and al-Qaeda.
Continued.....
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 07-07-2016 at 09:43 AM.
Ever wonder what those Obama/Rhodes WH "moderate Iranians are up to these days"?????
How about that? Iran's already-high level activities to procure nuclear and missile technology got even higher.
In German.....German Defense of the Constitution equal to say the British MI5.....clearly stated Iran still wants their nuclear bomb.....
http://m.bild.de/politik/ausland/ato...ildMobile.html
Ehab Al Atrash, Assad's spy, was captured in Istanbul.
http://www.haber7.com/guncel/haber/2...ulda-yakalandi …
http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...-on-syria.html
Al Qaeda Reaps Rewards of U.S. Policy Failures on Syria
Charles Lister 6/7/2016
Unless America addresses the chaos Assad has wrought, it can’t stop the rise of jihadism in Syria.
Warfare and diplomacy are intrinsically linked, except when it comes to the Obama administration’s policy on Syria. While a negotiated settlement remains the only viable pathway out of the Syrian crisis, currently existing facts on the ground do not in any way allow for a meaningful process, let alone a solution. As things stand, there is no reason for Bashar al-Assad to view a political process as anything less than a game in which to taunt and kill his adversaries, while compelling his allies to double-down in defense of his regime.
Nevertheless, the principal benefactor of Assad’s survival is not Assad, nor Russia, Iran, Hezbollah or even ISIS—it is Al-Qaeda. Having spent the past five years embedding itself within broader revolutionary forces and strategically choosing to limit and very slowly reveal its extremist face, Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra is reaping the rewards of our failures to solve the Syrian crisis. According to sources close to the group, al-Nusra has accepted more than 3,000 Syrians from Idlib and southern Aleppo into its ranks since February alone. That is an extraordinary rate of recruitment from within a territory roughly the size of Connecticut.
It is desperately unfortunate and painfully ironic that for increasing numbers of Syrians, Al-Qaeda appears to have been a more loyal protector of their lives than the United States. Civilian protection is therefore key, and widespread perceptions of the moral bankruptcy of U.S. policy on Syria in this regard has unquestionably and directly stimulated Al-Qaeda’s growth. Even our fight against ISIS has provided an opening for Al-Qaeda, which exploits the fact that most of our chosen anti-ISIS partners maintain an ambiguous relationship to the Assad regime and an open one with Russia. Our fight against the scourge of ISIS is indeed securing us consistent gains, but these are tactical gains fought in such a way as to produce long-term secondary sources of instability that Al-Qaeda will chiefly exploit.
Enough is enough. It is not sufficient to wait for a new administration in 2017. Events are unfolding too quickly and ISIS is far from the only issue needing urgent resolution. Based on its current trajectory, the conflict in Syria will almost certainly continue and indeed worsen, lasting for a decade or more. Extremists on all sides will benefit the most, meaning we will face an Afghanistan on steroids, on Europe’s borders. ISIS may be defeated territorially in the near-term, but it will live to fight another day. Al-Qaeda meanwhile may come to represent a terrorist actor far more intelligent, more deeply rooted and offensively capable than anything we have faced until now.
While it remains feasible to defeat ISIS in Syria independently from attempts to solve the country’s broader crisis, Al-Qaeda’s fate is intrinsically linked to the conflict’s outcome and how it ends. Moreover, unlike ISIS, undermining and ultimately defeating Al-Qaeda in Syria cannot and should not be done primarily through military means. Russia has consistently pushed for a bilateral campaign against Jabhat al-Nusra alongside the U.S. Air Force and though this is still some way off from being realized, it is being actively considered by President Obama. Far from being helpful, this is precisely the wrong thing to do. Jabhat al-Nusra’s entire modus operandi has been designed to insure itself and ultimately benefit from just such a scenario.
At the end of the day, Al-Qaeda has increasingly thrived in Syria due in part to two realities: consistent conflict, instability and the regime’s unchallenged mass killing of civilians; and an insufficiently supported mainstream, moderate civil, political and armed opposition. If and when reversed, these two factors could come to represent Al-Qaeda’s greatest and likely crippling vulnerabilities.
To challenge the first reality, the U.S. has an opportunity to grasp back some credibility by prioritizing a determined and if necessary, aggressive protection of civilians. Whether through the creation of limited ‘safe’ or ‘no-bombing’ zones along border areas, or through the use of punitive strikes to punish the bombing of civilian, humanitarian or medical facilities, the U.S. must demonstrate a willingness to draw more discernibly upon its might to punish war crimes. An escalatory menu of ‘softer’ options—expanded sanctions, naval interdictions in the Mediterranean, or challenging Syria’s role within the UN General Assembly—could be considered prior to military action, although these take time, which we do not necessarily have.
While military action does indeed carry with it risks, pre-warning Moscow of such plans would minimize any chance of counter-escalation, while realistically, Russia has absolutely no interest in, nor a capacity for entering into a war with America. It is long past time to call Vladimir Putin’s bluff. After all, beyond its aggressive military actions in Syria, Russia’s biggest investment has arguably been in exploiting its bilateral relationship with the U.S. in an attempt to acquire an outward appearance as a ‘constructive partner’ in solving Syria. Russia will not be shooting down American jets or cruise missiles anytime soon, especially if our targets are non-critical regime infrastructure.
Consequently, by using civilian protection as a mechanism for limited and targeted aerial intervention, the U.S. would simultaneously contribute towards saving human lives; de-escalating the most deadly aspect of Syria’s conflict and providing a more stable environment in which the moderate civil opposition could thrive. Most importantly, the Assad regime will lose its principal source of escalation, while its backers will face less reason to stand so aggressively by his side. Paired with hard diplomacy, such conditions would be at least more potentially favorable to lead towards meaningful negotiations. In September 2013, merely the threat of limited punitive U.S. strikes sparked a temporary collapse of regime confidence in Damascus, as dozens of figures fled to Beirut with their families. It is by no means unthinkable that a similar situation could be replicated.
To challenge the second reality, the U.S. must acknowledge that while the vetted opposition is far from perfect, they remain the best and only viable option on the table for securing a mainstream Sunni Arab role in Syria’s future and undermining Al-Qaeda’s pseudo-revolutionary narrative. There are currently at least 50 such vetted opposition factions across Syria, who have received assistance through the CIA’s covert ‘Timber Sycamore’ program since late-2012. Such assistance has only ever been enough for each faction to sustain a role within Syria’s complex conflict dynamics. That it has never been sufficient enough to produce genuine moderate opposition dominance is exactly what has allowed Al-Qaeda to step in so strongly. To continue our current policy of providing ‘just-enough’ support to the vetted moderate opposition means nothing short of indirectly enabling Al-Qaeda’s continued growth.
This must change. While weaker than some conservative Islamists, all 50 vetted opposition factions remain deeply rooted within the exact Syrian communities we need most to reject extremist alternatives. Using external force to combat Al-Qaeda will feed the jihadist group’s existing narrative, as occurred in late-2014 when U.S. strikes against its forces were quickly labelled by the opposition as “counter-revolutionary” for they served only to weaken opposition lines against the regime. Allowing Assad and his external backers to take the fight to Al-Qaeda would likely have even worse mobilizing effects. The only solution is local and the mainstream, moderate opposition is the only game in town. But the only feasible scenario in which such forces can and would take on their long-time military ally of convenience is if we appeared more assertively ‘on-side’ in challenging the Assad regime’s continued brutality and obduracy in the face of an internationally-backed political process.
Al-Qaeda is not a problem that can be merely contained in Syria. At its current rate of growth, it could feasibly command close to 20,000 fighters by the time a new President steps into the Oval Office. Moreover, the establishment of an Islamic Emirate in northwestern Syria is now very much on the cards. Its creation will bring the initiation of complex and centralized foreign attack planning, from Europe’s doorstep. Letting Syria burn itself out while trying to contain its consequences is not only a fantastical policy, but an astonishingly dangerous one.
Nevertheless, the principal benefactor of Assad’s survival is not Assad, nor Russia, Iran, Hezbollah or even ISIS—it is Al-Qaeda.
Continued....
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 07-07-2016 at 10:09 AM.
Russia/Assad announce 72 hrs ceasefire but still attack Layramoon and Kafr Hamra with incendiary munitions in Aleppo
Syrian army fire cuts only road into rebel-held Aleppo: rebels
http://reut.rs/29pVplC
Rebels claim pushed Assad militias back from positions they captured this morning near Castillo only supply road to Aleppo.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 07-07-2016 at 10:44 AM.
Important chart from #ISIS’ latest video, detailing 35 provinces (19 in #Syria/#Iraq) & more…
(via @Rita_Katz)
Negotiated political solution = only viable way out for #Syria but conditions *in no way* amenable to it working.
Need U.S. assertiveness.
Continued mass killing, destruction & chaos overwhelmingly by regime.
Biggest benefactor?
Not #Assad, #Russia, #ISIS or #Iran. It is AQ.
US should prioritize civilian protection, with punitive strikes (#Russia pre-warned) if necessary.
+ Expanded support to vetted opposition.
AQ’s rise in #Syria now an urgent policy issue. But external military action will *not* work.
Only option = the existing local alternative.
Syria|n rebels have captured #Maydaa town in Eastern #Ghouta from the regime today. Dozens of pro-#Assad forces were killed.
Dozens killed in #Assad #Airstrike on #Mashhad #Aleppo as #Civilians were exiting the mosque after #Eid prayers
Footage from besieged Daraya #Damascus shows Assad tanks trying to storm the southern parts.
https://youtu.be/wHMX7tI9OuI
Syria|n rebels have captured #Safa Barrier in #Qalamoun from #Hezbollah, seized 2 regime tanks & killed many #Hezbollah militias
Manbij: #Syria|n woman killed and her children injured by #US drone strike on their house in #Manbij this morning.
DeirEzzor: #ISIS attacking Artillery Brigade's Base and other regime positions around #DeirEzzor Airport since the morning.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 07-07-2016 at 12:27 PM.
Oryx @oryxspioenkop
The moment you just geolocated the Islamic State's main armour workshop in Syria. Judging by satellite imagery, the coalition so far hasn't.
Angela Merkel attacks Iranian regime: "Iran violates resolutions of UNSC and continues ballistic missile program."
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