Syria in 2016 (April-June)

[OUTLAW 09]

The previous commenter brings up indirectly an interesting point referencing
Spetsnaz which has been badly used and abused by Putin first in eastern Ukraine and now in Syria.

In eastern Ukraine they are being used in a Ranger style mode of recon and sabotage which has led to higher than normal loses as the UAF has gotten good at countering their teams......plus when two Spetsnaz officers were captured Putin basically denied they were even in Spetsnaz which caused a great amount of grumbling within the unit they were from forcing the Russian MoD to pull the unit out of eastern Ukraine and stand them down.

In the latest round of fighting the UAF has killed another 10-15.......from the very beginning the Russian MoD has been rotating the units every 3-4 months in an attempt to keep the loses per unit appearance wise low.

The same tactic is being used also now in Syria where they have lost an estimated 50 in the last six months.

[OUTLAW 09]

Islamic Front says they repelled YPG attack on Castilo road north outskirts of Aleppo aimed to cut-off the only supply route into the city.

FSA & Islamic groups prove #ISIL power is just a myth & nothing but a great show. Its just a matter of time to clean north & south Syria.

Assad & #Iran want to keep this myth alive & count on #ISIL being perceived as a mortal threat to carry out their sec agendas in the region

Syria Regime used Chlorine gas in #DeirEzzor city today
-but wrong wind direction

Barrage of Grad rockets & mortar shells hit al-Eis & Zorba in southern #Aleppo -Shiite militias try to advance during night

Night airstrikes on al-Eis town in southern #Aleppo

Assad-forces shelling #Aleppo suburb Hayan with artillery & Anti Aircraft guns

FSA rebels are helping civilians escape from #Daesh territory towards rebel areas ahead of al-Rai push

Kurdish #YPG attacks #Azaz town in northern #Aleppo yesterday

[OUTLAW 09]

Russian Syrian Express in the wrong place now........

This ship was last seen headed to Syrian via Turkey on a supply run and now she is in Malta????? She is riding high and empty so why the detour?

RFS YAUZA entering Valletta, Malta - 04.04.2016 -
http://www.maltashipphotos.com

[OUTLAW 09]

Foreign Affairs
✔ ‎@ForeignAffairs Putin’s moves in Syria echo his tactics during the Second Chechen War:
http://ow.ly/10gHSD

Saudi Arabia's bitter Lebanese divorce
http://reut.rs/1YcIDID

[OUTLAW 09]

Unconfirmed reports rebels downed an #Assad army fighter jet over al-Eis south Aleppo.

Unbelievable! Assad jet downed by rebels in al-Eis, S. rural #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/4-dxaQX-amY
https://youtu.be/2T5SXOn30aI

First footage of the Su-22 crash site.
http://youtu.be/QA5qUBzvwJ4

Local activists: downed warplane Su-22 code 949.

BREAKING
MOMENT REBELS CAPTURED #SAA PILOT ALIVE AFTER THEY SHOT DOWN Assad SU-22 in #Tel_EIS
#Aleppo cs #SYria APRIL 5

SAA criminal Pilot image more clear.
Still not confirmation if he is dead or alive. #Tel_Eis #Aleppo #Syria APR5

Southern #Aleppo: Rebels reporting that they captured the second pilot(left) of the downed #Assad warplane. #AlEis

[OUTLAW 09]

Downing of Su-22 over #Al_Eis happening as pro-Regime forces preparing to launch counter-offensive after heavy shelling on area. S. #Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

And while #YPG attacks Rebels in #sheikmaksud & #Azaz with help of Regime airstrikes... #Aleppo.

3 top Hezbollah leaders killed recently in Syria directly involved in siege killing children
http://www.all4syria.info/Archive/304489

Qalamoun: ISIS recapture 3 mountains previously controlled by Hezbollah
http://www.all4syria.info/Archive/304631

Qalamoun: jets suspected to be Russian carried out airstrikes earlier today in Dumayr

Idlib: carbomb in Ma'arat Numan, reports of civilian casualties

Aleppo: Syrian Rebels capture ISIS "intelligence" division Abu Sayyaf Al Masri after he shaved beard & tried to flee

IS mortared Assad airfield......
Deir Ezzor: There it is Ibrahim Saloum Assad regime general killed by ISIS
http://fb.me/7E3n1GlZk

Around 20 villages captured by #Syria Opposition factions during the ongoing offensive since several weeks. #Aleppo

[OUTLAW 09]

Assad state TV now saying: "#SAA fighter jet was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in Aleppo countryside"..
#Syria APRIl 5

Ahrar shot the plane down. #Nusra took the pilot. What's not clear about Ahrar involvement?


CrowBat........there is a comment out there that a censored Ahrar video is floating out there about the shot down...... claims it was a Stinger?????

Heard anything on your end??

Was an alleged Su-22UM-2K?

[OUTLAW 09]

Dozens of #SAA terrorists airstrikes targeting #Abu_alDhuhor liberated airbase
#Idlib cs #Syria APRIL 5

Iranian's have been emptying out entire weapons storages firing at Al Eis area S.#Aleppo in attempts to get it back until now.

PKK on #Sheikh_Maqsoud shelling with mortars on #alcastello area, resulting martyrs & wounded among civilians now
#Aleppo cs #Syria APRIL 5

FSA repel #PKK attempt to cut road and advance in #alCastello, heavy clashes on-going now
#Aleppo cs #Syria APRIL 5

Aleppo: #Syria|n rebels advancing in #SheikhMaqsood now, after #YPG failed to cut the highway to Aleppo City.

Moment of #SAA airstrikes on #Dhumair earlier, killing 8 people, 5 from the same family
#Damascus cs #Syria APRIL 5

[OUTLAW 09]

Now the question is: Will #Russia renew its airstrikes in southern Aleppo to prevent the regime from losing its air support?

Syria Rebels took checkpoints in kurdish controlled
Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood of #Aleppo after #YPG failed to cut supply route

[OUTLAW 09]

Insurgents are indiscriminately shelling Sheikh Maqsood, from which PYD is launching an offensive to cut off rebels in Aleppo City.

FSA Northern Division senior officer killed in YPG Kurdish militia attack in Aleppo today.

MAP....Progress by Southern Rebels to stop Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk in SW #Daraa
HD - http://www.mediafire.com/convkey/8f3...sl4y1sn8zg.jpg …

[AdamG]

It is correct as he did in fact call in the last strike on himself..........

It is?

I posted as close to Primary Source as could be found, straight from the proverbial 'horses's mouth' - Pravda.ru's forum administrator(s).

Personally, I *think* it probably happened that way but if Pravda didn't want us raising a skeptical eyebrow they should have gone the extra length of posting the audio as well.

Single Sourcing your Intel is *always* bad JuJu.

I'll leave this here as food for thought -
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/mas...fb6#.ecc56syrj

[OUTLAW 09]

Ex-#Russian #FSB spy exposes #Kremlin's operation of terror, help to Islamic State
http://uatoday.tv/politics/ex-fsb-of...is-548838.html …

Twelve Hezbollah members were killed by attack launched by Nusra Front in Qaryatain
http://www.syrianobserver.com/EN/New..._Soldiers_Dead …

T90s fighting for Assad with Hezbollah flags and possibly Russian crews. So much for the SAA.
https://twitter.com/missy_ryan/statu...42301257932800 …

Top U.S. official says U.S. would block #Russia|n sale of #Su-30 to #Iran
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ir...source=twitter …

U.S. official: administration open to renewal of Iran Sanctions Act
http://reut.rs/238haOX

[OUTLAW 09]

Aleppo: #YPG attacking the Castello Road again with mortars and heavy machine guns. 1 civilian killed, many wounded

Worth reading.....
Here's the Atlantic Council/Bellingcat report on Russia's air war in Syria:
http://publications.atlanticcouncil....ceive-destroy/ …

Charles Lister ‎@Charles_Lister
Worrying:
Opposition heavily shelling Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud district of #Aleppo, amid repeated #YPG attacks on Castello Road supply route

After a senior officer of the FSA Northern Division was killed in the ongoing YPG attacks on Castello Road.....

Michael Weiss
✔ ‎@michaeldweiss Six months of Russian air strikes hardly hit Isis, new study finds. But history begins with Palmyra, natch: http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...ccurate-report …

[OUTLAW 09]

Shot down Syrian SU22 pilot.......
SAA Criminal Pilot identified;
Colonel Squadron Commander"Khaled Saed" from #Latakia
#Tel_Eis #Aleppo #Syria APRIL5

Damascus: Heavy fighting between #ISIS and #Assad forces east of rebel-held Ad-#Dumayr.

[OUTLAW 09]

CrowBat.....this rumor is back again and again from the US of all places......anything to it?


ISW ‎@TheStudyofWar
US says Iran forces pulling back in Syria; others say no
http://apne.ws/1RW76jM

Kerry stated something along these lines several weeks ago.....but the Iran announced they are sending in SF advisors from the 65th Airborne Div.....

[OUTLAW 09]

It is?

I posted as close to Primary Source as could be found, straight from the proverbial 'horses's mouth' - Pravda.ru's forum administrator(s).

Personally, I *think* it probably happened that way but if Pravda didn't want us raising a skeptical eyebrow they should have gone the extra length of posting the audio as well.

Single Sourcing your Intel is *always* bad JuJu.

I'll leave this here as food for thought -
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/mas...fb6#.ecc56syrj

While I admit some of the more heroic comments "may" have been added for the Russian population as a whole....the TTPs both he and his command and control were quoted as saying are actual.

There is also the hair splitting between did he call the strike in on himself or did this command and control call it in knowing he was surrounded and they did not want him taken prisoner knowing that it would lead to a public beheading and info war video.

They would have known his exact location anyway due to the GPS trackers they carry.

In AFG there were a number of similar events where the Spetsnaz team leader did call in the strike on themselves as they were also surrounded.

Spetsnaz has a massive reputation inside the Russian military dating from AFG and the guerrilla days of WW2 and it has experienced a large jump in growth in the last five years after suffering through the drawdown days after 1991.

Example of the power of this reputation ...years ago I happened to catch a video on Russian military TV which was a long interview with a Spetsnaz team in AFG that talked about their day to day operations, raids and the loses that even they were taking.

At the end of the interview the team leader made the simple statement...I see no further need to be fighting in AFG and we need to leave AFG.....five days after this interview was broadcast to the Russian military over their own TV channels Russia formally announced they were withdrawing from AFG.

It was as if the Russian MoD was using Spetsnaz to signal to the rest of the military that in fact they could withdraw because if Spetsnaz says they were leaving then the rest of the army could as well.

[OUTLAW 09]

The Guardian
✔ ‎@guardian Russian claims on Syria airstrikes 'inaccurate on grand scale', says report
http://trib.al/haY7DXZ

IS took army storage base 559 in eastern #Qalamoun reportedly. Location:
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=33....153916&z=15&m
…
Overheard at the Pentagon: "Jabhat al Nusra is the girl you keep on the shelf. You hit it when you can't find ISIL."

Last time a SyAAF jet was shot down Russia announced the downsizing of mission in Syria

[OUTLAW 09]

Comment tonight out of eastern Ukraine.......

Dokuchaevsk @Shrik_E "Rotation of orcs, ruscists came. #Rumours that they brag, they came from #Syria"

[OUTLAW 09]

Rumors Jabhat al-Nusra's radical wing standing against the disengagement from al-Qaeda to be targeted and terminated in the coming period.

FSA captured Tal Safir and is now roughly 1.6km from the W Entrance of al-Rai, and IS stronghold

Rebels shelling kurdish controlled Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood of #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfpXW3g9h94 …

Charles Lister ‏@Charles_Lister
Jabhat al-Nusra’s military leader Abu Humam al-Suri was killed alongside Abu Firas al-Suri in recent strike