Levant crisis - III

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Singha
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

jihadis on a roll in southern aleppo which is managed by the iranians...

a month ago they captured El Eis and the SAA/Iranis could not take it back despite many efforts

yesterday they took another strategic hill called Khan Touman & khalidiyah further north.

reports that qasim suleimani has returned to the area to try and manage the future battles to reverse these big losses.

desert hawks are busy beating back a huge ISIS attack on Shaer gas fields in eastern homs
tiger forces remain busy in palmyra
the 104th repub guard remain under siege in deir azzor

syria desperately need a couple of divisions with organic heavy artillery all calibers to turn the tide in aleppo where the jihadis have been kitted up with the best of food, intel, numbers, VBIEDs and weapons by their friends. even their hell cannons look like proper well machined mortars from OEM grade shops not backyard car parts sheds.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/04/al- ... ern-syria/

Nice scam here. All the weapons showered on so called moderates to fight nusra will be used against assad
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Russia need to teach a lesson with a couple of foab hits

Else they can soon kiss their bases goodbye.
The saa is war weary, short on people and jihadis gaining in manpower and weapons
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Every time there is ceasefire, the jihadis mass and pick their spot to break ceasefire and gain land
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/vi ... e-palmyra/

russia has completed setting up a fenced base in palmyra protected by pantsyr SAM to support and co-ordinate future operations in the eastern syria
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Leith Abou Fadel ‏@leithfadel May 6
Leith Abou Fadel Retweeted Al-Masdar News
ISIS launches another attack at the Deir Ezzor Airport. And as you can guess; it failed. 30+ scumbags wasted
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Re: Levant crisis - III

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A Saudi police officer has been shot dead in the Mecca region, the interior ministry said on Friday, after four suspected terrorists died during a raid in the same area. Corporal Khalaf Al Harithi was on duty at a station in the western region on Thursday evening when he was hit by gunfire from an unknown source, the ministry said in a statement. An investigation is under way into the incident.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/sa ... kkah-raid/ | Al-Masdar News
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by UlanBatori »

I think the SAA should pull all possible friendly/neutral civilians out of Aleppo and withdraw to defensible perimeters, and focus on cutting supply lines for the terrorists.

Or maybe they are using Aleppo to draw in all the terrorists? Surely Gen. Vodkov must be playing chess?
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Footage of Russian military base in Palmyra including Pantsir AA system

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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

unlike El Eis where the jihadis captured the high ground and beat off every counter-attack until the syrians and iranis gave up, in khan touman it seems they have the low ground and the syrians the hills nearby. so saa using a kornet here to snipe out a jihadi tank fairly easily. the kornet is a heavy ATGM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e09O6raEYmA
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Re: Levant crisis - III

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Singha wrote:unlike El Eis where the jihadis captured the high ground and beat off every counter-attack until the syrians and iranis gave up, in khan touman it seems they have the low ground and the syrians the hills nearby. so saa using a kornet here to snipe out a jihadi tank fairly easily. the kornet is a heavy ATGM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e09O6raEYmA
What type of tank is that ?
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Russian air balloons in Syria ( Pictures )

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/1892694.html
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Austin wrote:
Singha wrote:unlike El Eis where the jihadis captured the high ground and beat off every counter-attack until the syrians and iranis gave up, in khan touman it seems they have the low ground and the syrians the hills nearby. so saa using a kornet here to snipe out a jihadi tank fairly easily. the kornet is a heavy ATGM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e09O6raEYmA
What type of tank is that ?
to me one of them looks like captured modernized t72 or t90.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Conflicting report emerges from another T-90 versus Tow Engagement , One report suggest 2 Tow fired at T-90 and damaged the tank , another suggest that tank is operational and seen

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/1893074.html

which a fighter "Syrian Free Army" struck a tank T-90, which is in motion, of the TOW-2 ATGM. A damaged tank soon also captured a copter. Apparently, for the destruction of the tank operator ATRA took at least two missiles.


At the same time, the social network "Twitter" user @Ald_Aba posted a tank T-90 photos in combat readiness, tail number 21-6, which previously believed to have been struck by a missile ATGM the TOW-2, but was not destroyed.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Philip »

After splitting with Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra is being presented to the West as a moderate force. It’s nothing of the sort
The jihadist force's reputation is being cleaned up, to suggest it is deserving of CIA support
Robert Fisk @indyvoices

Fighters from the Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra AP
So ol‘ Doc Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s chief executive successor, has told the Syrian Jabhat al-Nusra that it can dissociate itself from Al-Qaeda. Good public relations: Nusra doesn’t like the Isis “caliphate” very much, but as long as it remains a Qaeda clone, it can’t get off America’s terrorist list and qualify to join the (non-existent) 70,000 Syrian “moderates” dreamed up by David Cameron and a lot of American television networks.

Qatar's relations with Nusra raises questions. It denies direct ties with the group, and yet six months ago the Qatari Al-Jazeera channel interviewed Nusra’s leader, Mohamed al-Jolani, who said that it had nothing against Christians, Alawites or Americans – only that pesky president in Damascus who’s got Hezbollah, Iran and Russia on his side.

Have no doubts about the Qatar link. Nusra boys have just released three Spanish journalists held in northern Syria for the past 10 months, after which the Qatari state news agency boasted that the Qatari authorities were involved in freeing them. You bet they were. Had the unlucky three fallen into the hands of those other morbid sons-of-the-desert, Isis (for whom many Saudis seem to have an unhappy affection), then the reporters would have had their throats cut on videotape against a soundtrack of yet more mushy "nasheed" music.

When a group of Christian nuns fell into Nusra hands in Syria in 2013, Qatar helped to bail them out via Lebanon – at a reported price of more than $1m a nun – and was duly thanked by the Lebanese security authorities. If readers are getting a little bit suspicious, perhaps wondering if the Qataris are trying to take over the armed Syrian opposition from Isis and its Saudi Salafist brothers, they may well be right.

When it comes to mourning has the media lost all perspective?
But now the flip side of the story. Just a week ago, an essay appeared in Foreign Policy magazine, the bi-weekly co-founded by the late Samuel Huntington (of Clash of Civilisations infamy) and now owned by the Washington Post, no less. The author Charles Lister’s thesis, if such it can be called, is that al-Qaeda is trying to take total control of the Nusra and overshadow Isis through an unprecedented debate within its ranks to “integrate into the ‘mainstream opposition’”. The "mainstream opposition" presumably refers to the fictional 70,000-strong legions beloved of Dave Cameron and, presumably, the future US President Hillary Clinton.

Nusra, according to Lister, is “rebuilding a military coalition and plans to soon initiate major offensive operations south of Aleppo” in order to spoil US and Russian efforts for a truce in the city. The best way of thwarting Al-Qaeda’s ambitions “is to dramatically scale up assistance to vetted [sic] military and civil components [sic, again] of the mainstream opposition inside Syria,” he writes. All this, of course, because we’ve so far given “insufficient backing” to those “moderate elements of the opposition” who can’t compete with the “battlefield power and capacity to control territory” of Nusra.

So far, so good. Far from breaking free of al-Qaeda, Lister’s version of Nusra suggest that it’s been ever more deeply penetrated by al-Qaeda – or “Al-Qaeda Central”, as he calls it – to the point where Saif al-Adel, “the most influential living al-Qaeda figure other than Zawahiri”, has arrived in Syria. And Adel has done so “almost certainly”, as Lister adds reassuringly, with “three other key al-Qaeda figures”.

Saudi efforts to 'modernise' its economy away from oil are hot air

These guys are now supposedly discussing the setting up of yet another "emirate” in Syria’s Idlib province. But the recent cessation of hostilities “catalyzed a dramatic re-empowerment of Syria’s moderate protest movement and the revitalisation of the most [sic, yet again] moderate elements of the opposition”.

An anonymous Free Syrian Army (ie: ‘moderate’) commander is quoted by Lister as confirming that al-Qaeda forces “represent everything we are opposed to, they are the same as the regime. But what can we do when our supposed friends abroad give us nothing to assert ourselves?” What “a broad spectrum of Syria’s opposition” need, therefore, is “a substantial expansion of military, political and financial assistance”.

These Free Syrian Army groups, Lister says, now number 50 – phew! – vetted by the CIA, all of which “operate in coordination with locally legitimate [sic yet once more] civil, political and judicial bodies”.

So who is the writer Charles Lister? Among his various academic duties, he’s a senior consultant for the “Shaikh Group’s Track II Syria Initiative”. The “shaikh” in question is not a Middle East potentate but Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Centre in Qatar and fellow at the Centre for Middle East Policy, formerly the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy (the “Saban” being Haim Saban, the American-Israeli film and television mogul who donated $13m to the centre and has given substantial funds to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign).

Lister, according to his various CVs, was a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre and has helped negotiate a process of “engagement with the leaderships of over 100 Syrian armed opposition groups”. Which is an awful lot of rebels – far more than the 70,000 conjured up by Dave Cameron.

So what’s going on down in Doha? The Brookings Doha Centre belongs to the Brookings Institute and its co-chair is Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber bin Thani al-Thani, a member of the Qatari ruling family and former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Is the real debate, therefore – far from being thrashed out in Idlib province – really going on down in Qatar, whose present leadership has gone a long way to clean up Nusra’s reputation and to present it as the real moderate “opposition” which deserves all that CIA help?

A final point. Isis has been bloody quiet recently, in every sense of the word. No gory videos, no nasheed songs. Why? Because it’s losing ground to the Syrians and their allies? Because it lost Palmyra?

Or because it’s waiting to find out whether Nusra is going to be the darling of the Syrian opposition – and thus America and Europe – or targeted by all of us as an even more apocalyptic version of Isis?
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/aft ... 22271.html
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Putin: 30,000 targets hit during Russia's military operation in Syria

http://in.rbth.com/news/2016/05/10/puti ... ria_591821
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by habal »

CNN has started whining again.

It means Russia + Assad is winning again. You don't need any more confirmation of that outcome.

When CNN does bwaawaa .. Assad is winning. I think Aleppo ops is hurting the turks+nusra+isis.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Bhurishrava »

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/we ... ups-syria/
During a meeting at the U.N. Security Council’s 15-member committee, Britain, the United States, France and Ukraine blocked a Russian proposal to blacklist the Syrian Islamist groups, Ahrar ash-Sham and Jaish al-Islam.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

nusra has massacred women and men in alawaite village in homs they overran and kidnapped the children

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiSQtVPWkAA1HSY.jpg

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/ja ... r-airbase/

blackjack modification to conventional role being field tested.

Jabhat al-Nusra devastated by massive Russian airstrike on Abu Duhur Airbase By Chris Tomson - 12/05/2016 3 During the afternoon, a Russian strategic long-range warplane dropped a total of 10 bombs on Abu Duhur Airbase in what was said to have caused massive explosions.

According to information obtained by al-Masdar, this specific air raid was conducted by a Tupolev Tu-160 which can carry up to 20,000 kg of explosives. T

he Tu-160 was flanked by two Sukhoj Su-35 fighter jets which provided cover for the large strategic bomber. In the aftermath, at least 20 Jabhat al-Nusra militants were killed; 3 of whom were platoon commanders. Some names of the dead fighters were released by the Syrian al-Qaeda group this evening: -Abu Turab -Abu Al-Sheima`a -Abu Batol -Abu Seif -Zaid Al-Hamwi -Abu Al-Tuqa -Abu Muhammad Al-Ansari Furthermore, Abu Hajer – prominent al-Nusra Emir of the Syrian steppe (al-Badia) – was reportedly critically injured in the Russian bomber attack. Meanwhile, a total of 8 Russian jets were operational during the day (confirmed) in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, targeting various Islamist rebel groups. The Tu-160’s first air raid in Syria was carried out in November, 2015 but has since rarely been put into action by Russian pilots. Abu Duhur Airbase was seized by Jabhat al-Nusra and aligned insurgents in early September of 2015 after government troops succumbed to a 3-year long siege. The Islamist capture came into effect after a heavy sandstorm engulfed southern Idlib, thus preventing the Syrian Arab Army from receiving much needed air cover.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/ja ... r-airbase/ | Al-Masdar News
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

RT

Four Western coalition warplanes were spotted over the Deir az-Zor area in Syria on December 6, when a Syrian Army camp came under attack. No Russian warplanes were in the region, says the Russian Defense Ministry.
“Russian aircraft were not on a mission in that area. All our flights in Syrian airspace are coordinated with air traffic control and the General Staff of the Syrian government’s armed forces,” Major General Igor Konashenkov, a Defense Ministry spokesman, said, adding that Russia always informs the US about the time, altitudes and routes of its aircraft in Syrian airspace.

Read more
© ReutersIs Islamic State now equipped with a NATO air force?
“Pentagon officials said that on December 6, American aircraft were operating in that area, but striking a target some 55 kilometers away from the [affected Syrian] installation is true to an extent. But it’s not the complete truth,” Konashenkov stressed.

“Two pairs of warplanes from two other countries, members of the US-led international anti-ISIS coalition, were operating in the Deir ez-Zor area on the day of the attack,” Major-General Konashenkov said. “If they were not involved in that airstrike, than why are the Pentagon’s representatives, as leaders of the anti-ISIS coalition, hushing up the presence of their allies aircraft in the Deir ez-Zor region on December 6? Isn’t it because the [anti-ISIS] coalition air force gets all the information on Islamic State targets in Syria from the Pentagon?” General Konashenkov asked.

“I’m sure, very soon we’ll learn who really inflicted the airstrike on the Syrian troops, as soon as the Syrian authorities make public the results of the investigation of that incident and the type of munitions used in the airstrike,” the Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman said.

Damascus says the airstrike against Syrian troop positions was carried out by the US-led coalition.

Konashenkov reported that according to the Syrian General Staff, the airstrike on the Syrian Army camp was inflicted on December 6, between 19:40 and 19:55 local time (+2 hours GMT).

An airstrike on a field camp on 168th Brigade of 7th Division of the Syrian Army left four serviceman dead and 12 injured. It also destroyed three APCs and four vehicles bearing 12.7mm heavy machine-guns
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Atulya P »

Eight Turkish soldiers killed in fighting with rebels, helicopter crash
Fox News - 18 m ago
Eight Turkish military personnel have died in combat with Kurdish rebels and in a subsequent helicopter crash near the country's border with Iraq, the military said Friday.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/05/13 ... crash.html
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Atulya P »

Hezbollah Military Chief Killed In Blow To Damascus Regime
NDTV - 3 h ago
Beirut, Lebanon: Lebanese militant group Hezbollah announced today that its top military commander had been killed in an attack in Syria in a major blow to the coalition supporting the Damascus regime.
http://www.ndtv.com/world-news/hezbolla ... me-1405926
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Philip »

A major complication of the already tangled ME plot. This is aimed at reducing the Hiz's capability in support of the Assad regime to try and get the so-called anti-Assad moderates aboard the bus to Damascus.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/m ... badreddine
Leading Hezbollah commander and key Israel target killed in Syria
Mustafa Badreddine, dubbed the ‘untraceable ghost’, had fought against Israel for decades and was killed in an explosion in Damascus

Martin Chulov and Kareem Shaheen in Beirut

Friday 13 May 2016
Hezbollah has confirmed its military commander, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in Syria this week in what it described as a “major explosion” at Damascus airport.

Media reports in Lebanon and Israel quickly suggested the blast had been caused by an Israeli airstrike, a suggestion to which Hezbollah gave weight, announcing it was investigating whether a “missile or artillery strike” had been responsible.

Badreddine was the most senior member of the organisation to have been killed since the death of his predecessor and brother-in-law, Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated by a joint Mossad/CIA operation in the Syrian capital in February 2008.

There was no immediate reaction from the Israeli government, which has authorised at least eight air strikes against targets inside Syria since the start of the civil war five years ago. Most had targeted anti-aircraft systems that Israeli officials claimed were being moved to Lebanon, where they could pose a threat against its air force.

Mustafa Amine Badreddine, in an undated handout picture released at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon website.

Announcing Badreddine’s death, Hezbollah said: “He said months ago that he would not return from Syria except as a martyr or carrying the flag of victory. He is the great jihadi leader Mustafa Badreddine, and he has returned today a martyr.”

The statement added: “The information gleaned from the initial investigation is that a major explosion targeted one of our centres near Damascus International airport, which led to the martyrdom of Sayyid Zul Fikar [his nom de guerre] and the injuries of others.

“The investigation will work to determine the nature of the explosion and its causes, whether it was due to an air or missile or artillery strike, and we will announce the results of the investigation soon.”

Nicknamed Zul Fikar, after the sword of Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and one of the most revered figures in Shia Islam, Badreddine was born in 1961 in the southern Beirut suburb of Ghobeiry, and rose to greater prominence after Mughniyeh’s assassination.

He was sentenced to death in Kuwait in the 1980s over a plot to blow up the American and French embassies there during the Iran-Iraq war, but later escaped after Saddam Hussein’s army invaded the oil-rich emirate and threw open its prisons.

Hezbollah said he had been involved in nearly all the group’s operations since its inception in the early 1980s. Most had targeted Israel, which occupied Lebanon from 1982-2000. However, Badreddine had also been accused of leading a cell that was allegedly responsible for the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri on the Beirut waterfront in February 2005.

He was indicted in 2011 by the special tribunal for Lebanon, an international court established in the Hague, in connection with the massive 2005 bombing, which led Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to withdraw his forces from Lebanon in the face of a civic uprising.

Badreddine and four other alleged members of Hezbollah remain on trial in absentia at the Hague. Prosecutors have offered one of the few publicly available glimpses of the shadowy Hezbollah operative, describing him as the “apex” of the cell that allegedly killed Hariri, and a figure akin to an “untraceable ghost” who assumed multiple identities.

He was known to have studied at a Lebanese university and to have maintained an apartment in the Lebanese seaside area of Jounieh. He was also active in the south Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, where he was last seen early last year at a wake for Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, who was also killed by an Israeli airstrike.

While holding senior positions throughout his career, Badreddine was most known for his role in leading Hezbollah’s large contingent in Syria, which it sent to defend the interest of the Assad regime as his grip on power weakened in 2012. Hezbollah has since lost an estimated 900 members in fighting across Syria, where along with Iran, it has taken the lead in directing numerous battles.

Israel has refused to comment on airstrikes it has previously launched inside Syria. However, unnamed officials have said the strikes had targeted anti-aircraft systems that were allegedly being transferred to Hezbollah. It had also targeted a Hezbollah leader, Samir Kuntar, who had been jailed inside Israel for more than 30 years until his release in 2008.

Despite Israeli protests, Russia has recently proceeded with a long-delayed sale to Iran of the advanced S-300 weapons system, which can shoot down most modern fighter jets. Israeli officials have said they would prioritise tracking the whereabouts of the systems, the position of which in southern Lebanon would pose a potent threat to their air force.

The US treasury department sanctioned Badreddine in 2012 for his activities in support of the government of Assad in Syria, along with the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and its head of external operations, Talal Hamiyah.

Hezbollah said it would hold funeral services on Friday in honour of Badreddine. In south Beirut, posters of Badreddine, whose image had rarely been published, were being hung from overpasses and lamp-posts.

Tens of thousands of mourners are expected to pay their respects at a shrine site for Hezbollah dead, which includes the graves of Imad and Jihad Mughniyah. Nasrallah is also expected to make a public statement – his second within a week.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

libya current map

Image
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

^^ only the coastal populated belt and oil/gas fields really matter. south is part of the sahara, with a isolated oasis town here and there.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Lalmohan »

but that whole sahel region is going up in smoke
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by UlanBatori »

Who are the competitors to Waste Management, and Halliburton (Re) constructions? Got to check into stock prices for when I win the Ulan Bator PowerBall Lottery.
I can't understand why Bin Laden Constructions is having such a cash flow problem. Looks like the whole ME is up for Reconstruction contracts.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Lilo »

Pickled Cobra in vodka skewered with igla == Kurdish doner kebab

https://twitter.com/IraqiSecurity/statu ... 8690022400
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by AbhiJ »

1) Erdogan is retiring from PM post.

2) He is negotiating hard for entry into EU at his own terms.

3) His daughter's wedding going on, Paki Nawaz is a guest and is in close touch.

4) Joint Co-ordination in Bangladesh.

5) Pakis have occupied London and many parts of Europe, you also millions of Turks and new migrants just in.

6) Erdogan has stepped down to become the new Caliph spanning from London to Wagah! This will go in cross with ISIS-Saudi faction?
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Lalmohan »

Lilo wrote:Pickled Cobra in vodka skewered with igla == Kurdish doner kebab

https://twitter.com/IraqiSecurity/statu ... 8690022400
i bet those baggy trouser dudes didn't have any iglas until quite recently...

that take down is pretty graphic... no way to survive that
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Y. Kanan »

Singha wrote:Russia need to teach a lesson with a couple of foab hits

Else they can soon kiss their bases goodbye.
The saa is war weary, short on people and jihadis gaining in manpower and weapons
Singha wrote:Every time there is ceasefire, the jihadis mass and pick their spot to break ceasefire and gain land
Well that was prophetic:

Islamic State storm Deir al-Zor hospital after dawn offensive
https://www.yahoo.com/news/islamic-stat ... html?nhp=1
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State attacked a hospital in Deir al-Zor on Saturday and seized territory on the edge of the besieged eastern Syrian city still partly controlled by the government, the militant group said.

Islamic State's Amaq news agency said its fighters stormed the Assad Hospital and also took control of a check point, a fire station and university accommodation in the city close to Syria's eastern border with Iraq.

The fighting killed at least 20 members of the Syrian government forces and at least six Islamic State fighters, the Observatory said.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by member_23370 »

Both pilots dead...Like pakis turkis are claiming mechanical failure.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Prem »

ManPad for HalfManBad rat
( Guys Must Must hear the countdown by Kurd Man. He counted till Chodha for Turkrat)

https://theaviationist.com/?p=38715?p=38715

Intense video shows Turkish AH-1W Cobra helicopter getting shot down by SA-18 MANPADS
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Lalmohan wrote:but that whole sahel region is going up in smoke
What i meant is the sahara has always been stateless, ruled by bandits and warlords. Borders are lines on maps there drawn in london and paris

Isis has to fight for the coast, it already owns the interior or can take it at will being biggest band of fighters there..some chiefs and tribes will submit to its flag also
Singha
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Turkey started this, by supplying manpads into syrian rebels...now the response has come as predicted

Missile was fast...in rwo seconds it covered ground and hit before anyone could react.

Moral and diplomatic support could flow from many directions now syria, iraq, iran, armenia
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by UlanBatori »

I heard the "Choudah" too.. but..

I think there is a reason for that video coming up so fast. Look carefully: DID that missile really go out of that tube?

May have come from an entirely different place, operated by someone else.. :mrgreen:
Plus someone wanted to make sure that the message is published all over the world. Not "mechanical failure". MANPADs in the hands of the Kurds.
Now for a Turkish F-16?
Anyway, what is the sensor on the missile I wonder. It rose to a high altitude (OK, that conforms to AA missile games, gain P.E. and trade for K.E.) then it changed direction almost 90 degrees and came down at the helicopter - but it hit not right at the engine heat source, but close to the tail rotor. So was it tracking the tailrotor noise?
I think the pilots had little chance of surviving that explosion - it blew the tail boom and shaft clear off.

Then the engine & fuel tank blew up and sent the rotor flying at an extremely high speed - I doubt if that was the rotor speed because the rotor seemed to stay together, not have blades come off at a tangent. It may have been the explosion.

That missile's performance would be guaranteed to chill any helicopter crews. If it is tailrotor noise that it uses, how are they going to counter that? Heat flares etc do no good. Those missiles can be set up to go off automatically when a tailrotor noise of a particular kind is heard within range (how do I know...) I think there were quite a few of those on German border in the 1980s that could discern Warsaw Pact vs. NATO. IOW, the guy counting "choudah!" etc could have been just for the YouTube video production.
Singha
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

I concur. if he was the real shooter the missile would have to be high supersonic and MANPADs usually do not follow that lofted trajectory...could have been a bigger radar guided missile fired from a vehicle methinks...
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Singha wrote:I concur. if he was the real shooter the missile would have to be high supersonic and MANPADs usually do not follow that lofted trajectory...could have been a bigger radar guided missile fired from a vehicle methinks...
I looked at the video and I think that is the SA-16/18 that shot the helicopter , Since the chopper is flying high it is intercepting via lofted trajectory , You can see midway in flight as missile reaches its designated altitude the booster cuts off and the missile is coasting to its trajectory unpowerd and hitting from top , cutting off the tail section. That is likely the algorithm of the missile coming into play that is designed to hit where there is little chance the helicopter survives. ( older manpads used to hit engines mostly )

SA-18 in plenty dissapeared from Libya when the rebels took over and there was news in BBC that they are even selling those stuff online , even Iraq has SA-18 in its inventory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K38_Igla

Libya:
Photo evidence of the truck mounted twin version in service with the Libyan Army emerged during the 2011 Libyan Revolution starting from March 2011. 482 Igla-S missiles were imported from Russia in 2004. Some of them were unaccounted at the end of the war and they could have ended up in Iranian inventory.[42][43][44] Israeli officials say that Igla-S were looted from Libyan warehouses in 2011 and transported by Iranians through Sudan and turned over to militants in Gaza and Lebanon


When I heard the news of SA-18 disappearance my worst fear was they might end up getting used in taking down civil airlines , very scarry
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

I wonder when this will appear further west in turkey in more mainstream areas. its inevitable. once the dominos start to roll it rolls.

probably turkey + GCC with quiet approval of their NATO patrons has provided plenty of training and stingers to the rebels per twitter pics.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

The problem with MANPAD proliferation is if they can hit fighter/helicopter it can also hit a civil aircraft with 100's of passenger...every one understands the risk here even the PKK.

this site has more details

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/1901427.html

On the morning of May 13, 2016 in the province of Hakkari in the southeast of Turkey, the rebels of the armed wing of the PKK rocket of portable anti-aircraft missile complex 9K38 "needle" was shot down by a combat helicopter Bell AH-1 Cobra (according to some reports, modification of AH-1W) Army aviation Turkey. Both helicopter crew members were killed. Loss of Cobra type helicopters due to alleged "technical failure" was confirmed in a communiqué of the General Staff of the Turkish armed forces.

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