RuAF airstrike on Mansoura, W #Aleppo geolocated https://youtu.be/pXxzmaf1G4I [0:00-0:06]
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=36.211204&...51585&z=17&m=b …
pic.twitter.com/VFYmXMmsDZ
Russian naval activity on the move....Syrian Express on the move at the same time.....
ЧФ BSF flagship Moskva 121 hoisted #ВМФ naval ensign Andreevsky and a single star ‘formation commander’ flag
Moskva 121 is armed with 16 Chelomey SS-N-12 Sandbox (Bazalt) launchers
Turkish Coast Guard’s 80 class TCSG88 keeps an eye on #ВМФ #ЧМФ BSF Slava (NATO:Atlant) class Moskva (ex-Slava) 121
TCSG88 had a busy day today. Following two southbound ropucha LSTs, TCSG88 escorted Moskva 121
Homebound #ВМФ #ЧФ BSF flagship Moskva 121 transits northbound Bosphorus after 105 days Mediterranean deployment
ВМФ #ЧФ ropucha class LST Yamal 156 transits southbound Bosphorus en route to #Tartus #Syria
In 2015, #ВМФ #ЧФ ropucha LST Novocherkassk 142 completed 10 Syria assignments. This is the first deployment in 2016
ЧФ ropucha LST Novocherkassk 142 hoisted #ВМФ naval ensign Andreevsky, ‘formation commander’ & ‘stay clear’ flags
ВМФ #ЧФ ropucha class LST Novocherkassk 142 transits southbound Bosphorus en route to #Tartus #Syria
SyriaExpress #ВМФ #ЧФ Novocherkassk 142 (left), #ЧФ Yamal 156 transit southbound Bosphorus. TCSG88 in the middle
ВМФ auxiliary fleet cargo vessel Vologda-50 entered the Black Sea at 06:45GMT
ВМФ auxiliary fleet cargo vessel Vologda-50 returned from #Tartus in 12 days as usual.
On the way of Syria, Russia keeps sending Naval support ,Ropucha class large landing ship 127 Minsk passed Bosphorus
Бф BF ropucha class LST Minsk 127 starts the year for #ВМФ Tartus-bound transits. Reset the count: Ship 1—> Minsk
RuAF airstrike on Mansoura, W #Aleppo geolocated https://youtu.be/pXxzmaf1G4I [0:00-0:06]
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=36.211204&...51585&z=17&m=b …
pic.twitter.com/VFYmXMmsDZ
Iran trying to change the narrative......not sure how they explain their troops, mercenaries and Shia militias found themselves inside Syria......
Iran complains to U.N. about Saudi 'provocations'
http://reut.rs/1RriZ3s
http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...ia-war/423309/
The Danger of Putin Losing in Syria
If Russia’s military adventure unravels, what happens next?
Dominic Tierney
Jan 8, 2016
HERE is the core problem with this interesting article....the West attempted via Minsk 2 to give Putin an "face saving" exit ramp to get out of eastern Ukraine...YET he interpreted that "face saving exit ramp" as a "VICTORY and weakness on the part of the West" and it emboldened him to make his move into Syria to continue his "confrontation with the liberal West"......Last September, Russia deployed dozens of jets to Syria to rescue the ailing regime of Bashar al-Assad. Vladimir Putin aimed to protect one of Moscow’s few foreign allies and gain leverage for the coming peace negotiations over the Syrian Civil War. Russian media presented the mission as a heroic attempt to save the civilized world from Islamic terrorism. In Washington, however, Putin was widely seen as wading into a quagmire. According to The Economist: “If America’s Syria-watchers agree on anything it is that the Russian campaign, which has enabled Mr Assad’s forces to make only minor gains, will fail, and thereby encourage Russia to give up on its proxy. That would be a huge boost to the UN-backed peace talks John Kerry, the secretary of state, is brokering, with the aim of replacing Mr Assad with a transitional government early next year.”
But would a loss for Putin really be good news? While it’s tempting to take satisfaction in the Russian president’s travails in Syria—what you might call Putinfreude—Syria-watchers should question their assumptions. If Putin’s military adventure unravels, the result may not be peace.
Can Putin Bomb His Way Out of Sanctions?
It’s certainly easy to imagine the Russian intervention deteriorating. In recent weeks, Assad’s forces have made some limited gains around the Syrian city of Aleppo. But the overall strategic situation for Damascus remains highly precarious. Last year, the Syrian regime suffered a string of battlefield defeats, and Assad publicly admitted to “fatigue” and “a lack of human resources [in the army].” The regime pulled back to defensible territory and was left in control of a rump coastal strip representing around one-sixth of the country. Russian jets are not enough for victory. It would likely take tens of thousands of troops to recapture and hold cities like Aleppo and Raqqa.
Russia is in a perilous position, internationally isolated and enduring economic turmoil. And now Putin has plunged into the unknown. Moscow doesn’t have experience coordinating military operations with Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah. This is Russia’s first military expedition outside of its immediate sphere of influence since the end of the Cold War. Putin has also pinned his fortunes on a highly incompetent dictator; Assad’s policies of systematic torture and barrel bombing of civilians brewed the hell broth in Syria.
And two can play at the great game of proxy warfare. Patrons of the Syrian insurrection, like Turkey and the Gulf states, may match Russian intervention by stepping up their own assistance to rebels—in the form, for example, of anti-aircraft missiles. During the 1980s, the Soviet Union’s counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan unraveled in part because the CIA provided ground-to-air Stinger missiles to the mujahideen.
To get a sense of what could await Putin, look at Iran’s experience in Syria. When Tehran first chose to aid Assad, it likely didn’t realize that Syria would become a sinkhole that would cost hundreds of Iranian military personnel and tens of billions of dollars. Or consider Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, which marched over the border to save Assad and subsequently lost around 1,200 to 1,700 fighters in a seemingly endless morass.
Leaders often respond to defeat with disastrous decisions that only worsen their plight. They rage against the dying of the light.
In other words, Putin’s war may very well fail. But if it does, will he make concessions and abandon his ally? If the Russian president acts rationally, he should cut his losses. Putin, however, may not act rationally. When I researched my book on military disaster, The Right Way to Lose a War, I was struck by how poorly governments tend to handle battlefield reversals. From the United States in Vietnam to the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, leaders often respond to defeat with disastrous decisions that only worsen their plight. Rather than coolly looking for a way out of the predicament, they rage against the dying of the light.
Part of the problem is what psychologists call “loss aversion.” Losing hurts twice as bad as winning feels good—whether in a tennis match or a war. The idea of accepting even a small loss can seem intolerable, and people are tempted to risk greater losses for a shot at the win. The gambler who drops 20 bucks in a casino doesn’t walk away; he doubles his bets. In a similar vein, the president who loses 1,000 soldiers in Vietnam doesn’t end the war; he sends half a million Americans into the mire.
It’s hard to imagine Putin accepting defeat. He has cultivated an image as the father of the Russian people, who is restoring the country as a world power. If Assad’s regime falls, Russia could lose its only military installation outside the former U.S.S.R.—the naval base in Tartus, Syria. Therefore, if the war effort collapses, Putin may want to salvage something from the wreckage, potentially moving the conflict into a dangerous new phase. He could intensify Russian air strikes or deploy “little green men”—as the Russian soldiers serving unofficially in eastern Ukraine were called. Once Russian troops start dying in Syria, all bets are off.
To get Putin out of Syria, the United States might need to play along by avoiding boastful claims of a major Russian debacle.
Putin, moreover, has repeatedly responded to the potential loss of client regimes with military force. In 2008, the Russian military intervened in Georgia to punish pro-Western Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and protect the independence of the breakaway Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Six years later, in 2014, Putin aided Ukrainian rebels and annexed Crimea following the toppling of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. In late 2015, with Assad’s forces reeling, Putin once again intervened to stabilize a client regime.
And Putin has already raised the prospect of further military escalation, saying that Russia is using “far from everything we are capable of” in Syria and that “We also have other things as well and will use them if necessary.”
What’s the solution? If Russia’s defeat could trigger hazardous escalation, this doesn’t mean a Russian victory is preferable. After all, if Assad somehow assumed a winning position, why would he negotiate a compromise peace that recognized the interests of all Syrian groups? Instead, the optimal opportunity for a peace deal may be a situation in which Putin believes a decisive triumph is not possible, but he can still save face by spinning the outcome as a success. In other words, he needs a story to tell the Russian people about the positive results of the mission. This narrative doesn’t need to be true, but it does need to have truthiness, or a seeming plausibility. And so, to get Putin out of Syria, the United States might need to play along by avoiding boastful claims of a major Russian debacle. In 1989, after the Berlin Wall fell, U.S. President George H.W. Bush deliberately refused to declare the development a win—to avoid complicating the life of Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.
Putin needs a victory speech. And Washington may have to help him write it.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-09-2016 at 10:42 AM.
RUAF An-124 82037 departed Krymsk. Heading towards Caspian Sea and likely to #Latakia.
pic.twitter.com/COHHCEMnjZ
According to OSCE #Kominternove (10 km from #Mariupol) is still under control of #DPR,
http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/215196 …
pic.twitter.com/nPAcJxW5C3
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-09-2016 at 10:47 AM.
Humor......
Thousands of #refugees from #USA's impending collapse swim from Alaska & are welcomed to #Russia as citizens
pic.twitter.com/XJOUDZS2BD
Germany considers banning @realDonaldTrump from its capital, #Paris
pic.twitter.com/1bpi7DjoyH
The DoS/Kerry have stated twice that they have brought up the Russian deliberate killing of civilians with both Putin and his FM and YET Russia still continues killing civilians...NOTICE the US has said nothing about the use of starvation against civilians as a battlefield tactic in full violation of international humanitarian law.
SO is the US apparent inaction on anything in eastern Ukraine and now Syria really an attempt to appease Putin and "provide him a face saving exit ramp" in order to pay him back for his alleged Iran deal assistance.
Appears to be the case from the reality of the US inaction in both locations and the apparent support for Iran in the face of the Sunni Arab nation states.
AND the killing fields of Syria just keep on killing......
Russia warplanes carried out more than 15 airstrikes only in the area of #Sheikh_Meskin since morning so far
#Daraa #Syria JAN 9
SCD HERO AHMED AL MASSAROH WOUNDED VICTIM OF #RUSSIA CLUSTER BOMBS ON #DOUMA
#DAMASCUS CS #SYRIA JAN 9
RUSSIA WARPLANES CARRIED OUT AIRSTRIKES TARGETING #SAHL_alGHAB
#HAMA CS #SYRIA JAN 9
RUSSIA WARPLANES CARRIED OUT AIRSTRIKES TARGETING #AL_MANSOUR VILLAGE
#HAMA CS #SYRIA JAN 9
RUSSIA WARPLANES CARRIED OUT AIRSTRIKES TARGETING #TEL_WASSIT VILLAGE
#HAMA CS #SYRIA JAN 9
RUSSIA WARPLANES CARRIED OUT AIRSTRIKES TARGETING #AL_QARQOUR VILLAGE
#HAMA CS #SYRIA JAN 9
11 Civilians killed in another deliberate Russian air strike...among the dead are also children and women....
LITTLE ANGEL VICTIM OF #RUSSIA AIRSTRIKES ON #MAARAT_AL_NOUMAN, 11 MARTYRS SO FAR
#IDLIB #SYRIA JAN 9
RUSSIA WARPLANES CARRIED OUT AIRSTRIKES TARGETING A BAZAAR MARKET IN #MAARAT_AL_NOUMAN
#IDLIB #SYRIA JAN 9
RUSSIA WARPLANES CARRIED OUT AIRSTRIKES TARGETING #KIMSABAH VILLAGE
#LATAKIA CS #SYRIA JAN 9
more than 4 clusters bombs (forbidden internationlly) on civilians areas in #Douma_city caused many injuries.[/B]
SAA WARPLANES CARRIED OUT AIRSTRIKES TARGETING #TEL_KURD IN EASTERN #GHOUTA
#DAMASCUS CS #SYRIA JAN 9
Image captured while #SAA flying between #Darayya & #Moadamiyah, 4 barrel bombs so far in the area.
#Syria JAN 9
SAA shelling with heavy artillery targeting #Ebtaa town
#Daraa #Syria JAN 9
SAA helicopters dropped barrel bombs on #Darayya
#Damascus cs #Syria JAN 9
SAA helicopters dropped barrel bombs on Teir_Maela
#Homs #Syria JAN 9
Russia warplanes carried out airstrikes on Downtown #Idlib
#Syria JAN 9
Heavy clashes between #SAA terrorists & Rebels at #al_Dhdagan & #al_Drah Fronts
#Lattakia cs #Syria JAN 9
SAA terrorists shelling with Grad Rockets targeting #Saqba
#Damascus cs #SYria JAN 9
Little boy from #Madaya, can't walk due malnutrition... weak..
#Damascus cs JAN 6 #Syria
Our HEROES #SCD extinguishing fire of a civilian homes,#Russia airstrikes on #Deir_Gamal
#Aleppo cs #Syria JAN 9
An @OPCW document on the most recent Sarin CW incident includes Hospital 601 of Caesar fame:
http://docplayer.net/11334139-Note-b...cretariat.html …
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-09-2016 at 11:20 AM.
11 reported dead so far & 10s wounded in a #Russia|n airstrike on a market in Ma’aret al-Nouman in #Idlib, #Syria
Jaish al-Yarmouk cmdrs on how they foiled regime advance into Awad Hilal sector in Manshia district, #Daraa Balad
http://youtu.be/R_5NPWlcmNw
Iran mourning death of Colonel Mohamed Zahra Wenad killed by Syrian Rebels in Syria
Distraction in Andan village #Aleppo after what locals say Russian missiles attack.
https://youtu.be/n-QkD0sqRgU
Footage
#FSA D-30 artillery targeting / firing process near #SheikhMaskin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LbbAkuoTzk …
#Daraa #Syria
Footage
Russian jets bombed oil trucks in Dayr Jamal, North of #Aleppo last night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2N0m_bi6hc …
What #SDF/#YPG achieved vs. #ISIS (due to Western help) is great !!
But it's the only "rebel" group in #Syria that has 100% peace w/ #Assad.
The "D" in #SDF stands for "Democratic".
However, this army seems to have no problem with #Assad's Dictatorship ...
VIDEO: SDF fighters battle ISIS around #Tishrin #Syria. Coalition also providing airstrike support.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QNB5JccDw0 …
Footage
"#RussianAirstrikes" hit #SheikhMaskin in support of pro-#Assad forces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k388t4fLZ14 …
Russian/Iranian propaganda hard at work........today from the 100% Russian owned propaganda media outlet....Sputnik.
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20...#ixzz3wkL0a1Pd
Rebel Militants Repelled by Syrian Army, Russian Jets in Latakia Province
Middle East
08:50 09.01.2016(updated 12:55 09.01.2016)
WOW--did I understand this sentience correctly---the 11 Syrian civilians killed in the RuAF air strike on a market place and the tens wounded WHERE NOT civilians......?Taking the Ground Back: Syrian Army Further Liberates Aleppo
With the help of Russian air strikes, the Syrian Army and the country's National Defense Forces (NDF) won back an array of strategic areas in western Syria's Latakia province, according to the Iranian news agency FARS.
Dozens of militants were killed and many more wounded after the Syrian troops launched an offensive on terrorists based in the mountainous regions of Latakia province, where the army took control of Tal Kherba, Al Juba and Height 1023, among other areas.
"The Syrian army and the NDF continued to advance against the terrorist groups north of Lattakia and took back Heights 292, 296 and 387. The pro-government forces also won back the Heights 465, 342 and 489 near the newly-liberated village of al-Sarraf," FARS quoted army sources as saying.
According to the sources, the Syrian forces also captured Daghdaghan Farm, believed to be one of the main strongholds of the militant groups in Latakia.
Earlier this week, the Syrian Army and the NDF staged large-scale offensives on the militant groups in Lattakia, winning back several strategic villages and heights.
In particular, the army took full control of Rweiset Abu Ghannam, Rweiset al-Sheikh Salman, Mount al-Hara and Mount Bait Fares, where scores of rebel Islamist extremists were killed or wounded, the sources said.
Aleppo Governor Predicts Syrian Army's Imminent Victory Against Daesh
The Russian air campaign in Syria was launched on September 30, 2015, when more than fifty Russian warplanes, including Su-24M, Su-25 and Su-34 jets, commenced precision airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria at the behest of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Earlier that day, the Russian upper house of parliament unanimously supported the request of President Vladimir Putin to deploy units of the Russian Aerospace Forces abroad. Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riad Haddad, for his part, confirmed that Syrian Army strikes, supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces, were being carried out against armed terrorist organizations, rather than political opposition factions or civilians.
HELL ON EARTH AFTERMATH #RUSSIA AIRSTRIKES ON #MAARAT_AL_NOUMAN, 40+ MARTYRS SO FAR
#IDLIB #SYRIA JAN 9 pic.twitter.com/Lk3Q00weH5
RuAF air strike was deliberate and directed against a normal Saturday morning marketplace......
At least 5 massacres carried out by Russian Warplanes today in #Syria. Dozens of civilians brutally massacred.
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-09-2016 at 12:20 PM.
"Three Months of Russian Intervention in Syria: The Military and Political Implications"
@PISM_Poland http://www.pism.pl/publications/bulletin/no-1-851 …
Humorous but reality........
Squirrels winning the #cyberwarIn map squirrel-caused power outages in US/2015, @PopSci
http://www.popsci.com/map-shows-squi...ning-cyber-war …
pic.twitter.com/BMPJOm5I1f
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-09-2016 at 12:40 PM.
A US A-10 Warthog featured in the last Aamaq video over Tishreen dam battle. H/T @CTstudiesOriginally Posted by OUTLAW 09
What #SDF/#YPG achieved vs. #ISIS (due to Western help) is great !!
But it's the only "rebel" group in #Syria that has 100% peace w/ #Assad.
The "D" in #SDF stands for "Democratic".
However, this army seems to have no problem with #Assad's Dictatorship ...
VIDEO: SDF fighters battle ISIS around #Tishrin #Syria. Coalition also providing airstrike support.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QNB5JccDw0 …
Footage
"#RussianAirstrikes" hit #SheikhMaskin in support of pro-#Assad forces.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k388t4fLZ14 …[/QUOTE]
A US A-10 Warthog featured in the last Aamaq video over Tishreen dam battle. H/T @CTstudies
Michael Weiss ✔ @michaeldweiss
Pro-Assad and pro-Hezbollah types are trolling starving Syrians by tweeting them pictures of their dinner http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a6803676.html …
#Assad wants to prevent "terrorist groups" from attending peace talks - meaning everyone who wants to overthrow him
http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-n...35EEF82635A17E …
MORE Russian killing of civilians when they are in marketplaces.......
Footage
@SyriaCivilDef dig for people after the Russian-initiated massacre in #MaaratNuman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVmKucvJhHo … pic.twitter.com/rHTRytBEfX
Few Russian strikes in #Syria are against Islamic State, U.S. official says
http://www.reuters.com/article/2016/...0UN0I320160109 …
pic.twitter.com/hbRKrtDOd3
Video from #Qaboun.
This happens when you agree to local ceasefires with #Assad! ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0auQ8zWfESs …
GRAPHIC!
News
#Assad has violated the truce in #Damascus' suburb #Qaboun, firing mortars and rockets that killed and injured up to 10 civilians.
RuAF airstrike on SW #Aleppo suburbs geolocated
https://youtu.be/pXxzmaf1G4I?t=39s … [0:39-0:49]
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=36.138325&...21877&z=17&m=b …
pic.twitter.com/jnKR0hPnov
Coalition airstrike on the railway bridge 20km N of Abu Kamal #Syria
http://wikimapia.org/#lat=34.653412&...85416&z=17&m=b …
https://youtu.be/tedSmieC2Oc
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-09-2016 at 06:05 PM.
Locals reported two #RuAF airstrikes targeted Ma'rat al-Numan prison and courthouse killed more than 40 ppl today.
More than 40 ppl killed in new #RuAF massacre in Ma'rrat al-Numan city #Idlib @SyriaCivilDef
https://youtu.be/B_2G1-mHqBY
Sheikh Maskin: looks like Syrian Rebels are back in complete control & all pro Assad forces have been kicked out
Big questions over regime's promise to allow aid into Madaya. One delivery unlikely to make major difference: http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...ace-starvation …
21 rebel groups warn of foreign pressure & say they support body elected in Riyadh
https://www.zamanalwsl.net/news/67671.html
The badly in need of an overhaul RFS Moskva returned to Sevastopol today.
pic.twitter.com/RHxoqJPkWm
Tension in Idleb after Ahrar orders execution of five-man Aqsa/IS cell killing rebels
https://goo.gl/mSDJbq
https://goo.gl/SEQFjt
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-09-2016 at 06:33 PM.
JUST IN: Video of Iranian rocket launch near US ships
http://militari.ly/1RfdTqr
| #FOIA by @KenC41 @military_scoop
pic.twitter.com/zpaUe3i49E
Oh come on...really.....and this President understands Iranian UW and "revolutionary Islam" as preached by Khomeini....????
Max Boot
@MaxBoot CIA ordered not to support 2009 Green Movement in Iran because Obama wanted to woo Khameini.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/nuclear-...ers-1452294637 …
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum
looks like the Iran deal wasn't the launch of a persian peristroika after all
Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 01-09-2016 at 06:52 PM.
JUST IN: Video of Iranian rocket launch near US ships
http://militari.ly/1RfdTqr
#FOIA by @KenC41 @military_scoop
pic.twitter.com/zpaUe3i49E
Remember the US/Obama/DoS response was...not a provocation......judge for yourself.....
SYRIA: Airstrike on town in Idlib, #Syria kills approximately 40 people and wounds 150.
https://twitter.com/SyriaCivilDef/st...11531305607168 …
The UN believes that of the 4.5 million people living in what it terms "hard-to-reach" areas of Syria, nearly 400,000 are besieged.
Syria-n Coalition Calls on the #US to Airdrop Aid to #Madaya
http://ow.ly/WPMNv
.@MSF_Syria Calls for Immediate Delivery of Food and Medicine to #Madaya
http://ow.ly/WOtCZ
Syria-n Coalition: Failure to Enforce #UNSC Res. Encourages #Assad to Starve Civils #Madaya
http://ow.ly/WOl1u
Syrian Rebels kill 12 Assad forces & destroy a tank in Sheikh Maskin
SNHR 63 civilian deaths in #Madaya since Jul 2015. 29 died of malnutrition/starvation & 34 killed trying to escape pic.twitter.com/R8uSl5WlxU
Reports that Assad is moving S200 missiles from #Dumair military airbase in rural #Damascus to an unknown location
pic.twitter.com/dBY1kVPh9T
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