Levant crisis - III

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 07:47

if tigers can link up with manbij in north and get to al-khafsa in the south its game over for the sultan

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 07:50

Doloroso ‏@Pyrmha108 3h3 hours ago

8. The long-term outlook for N Syria Democratic Federation is as part of Syria, trading & working with its neighbours - not as a US client.

7. SDF keeps its options open. It reserves the right to enter into alliances with any actors that share its tactical or strategic goals.

6. The goal of the North Syria Democratic Federation (whose armed wing is SDF) is Democratic Confederalism, which is not the goal of the usa

5. In the course of its Revolution in N Syria, SDF has shared temporary strategic objectives with Russia, FSA, USA, SAA and others.

4. The ideology of the SDF, TEV-Dem & PYD is democratic Apoism which is completely incompatible with the neoliberal Imperialism of the USA.

3. The USA cannot back both the SDF and the Turkish Army that invades Rojava and murders its citizens and soldiers on a daily basis.

2. If the USA backed SDF it would oppose the Turkish war crimes against areas under SDF control - but it remains mute & does nothing.

1. Let's put to bed this "US-backed" albatross hung around SDF's neck. USA & SDF share a military objective in defeating Daesh.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 07:54

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 08:01

with things not going well in syria, the turks have predictably started another round of atrocities on kurdish towns and villages along the border - dozens missing, tortured, dead, villages put under days of curfew ....

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 11:25

Jund al aqsa bands trying to escape from hama idlib to raqqa caught red handed
https://mobile.almasdarnews.com/article ... t-to-isis/

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 11:30

Isis is now paying the price for palmyra and deir azzor offensives....they have little men to defend the sparsely populated countryside around raqqa...sdf has opened a long semi circlular 100km front...wherever the daesh resist the sdf creeps forward in other areas. A giant pincer is about to close in a couple weeks.

Unlike mosul i dont think the much smaller raqqa with less isis men will take six months...

If saa had the resources they could move from ithriyah to tabqah rather easily today

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 11:30

Sdf is now 4km from raqqa in north east and has captured the outlying town prison.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 11:31

Rumour of baghdadi holed up in tal afar

Pmu is keeping a sharp eye on it..they have destroyed several convoys attempting to break out and run for syria across the desert.

While iraqi armour and mobile columns are now attacking mosul airport from south..pmu hovers out of sight in west to beat up any rats escaping from mosul west as heat gets closer

dnivas · Post by **dnivas** » 20 Feb 2017 12:09

fast moving stuff. thanks singha

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 13:30

Interview with one abu tahseen a retired sniper now with pmu who has put down 350 daesh in 2 years

https://mobile.twitter.com/pmu_english?lang=en

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 13:35

Sdf has no organic artillery or tanks so very light on feet. In single day they can drive 40km against light oppn. Their arty is the usaf. Likewise iraqi pmu are also very agile nd hardy and many walked 150km across desert from mosul to tal afar due to lack of transport.

The saa has very less air support so rely on taking organic arty and some tanks. So hard put to get 10km in a day...they r also up against mountains in palmyra and good number of isis dregs .. in east aleppo canals are flooded by daesh to slow movement

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 17:13

repub guard deir azzor explodes a tunnel bomb to setup a anti-SVBIEd barrier

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/ea ... zor-video/

tu95 carry out first airstrikes near palmyra

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/ru ... n-palmyra/

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Feb 2017 20:31

https://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a2c_1487433946

Tu95 release a cruise missile and hits a ISIS building.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 09:45

iran training its own sarkari kurds to undercut barzani clan

Furiouskurd ‏@Furiouskurd 12h12 hours ago
More
Soleimani: We are in the process of educating and training a peshmerga force called "Moj Pesh" to be sent to their original lands in KRG.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 09:52

seem to be aftermath of a daesh attack on pmu earth berm west of tal afar. the daesh came in vehicles and dismounted to try and storm over the berm but the pmu held firm and cut them down

https://twitter.com/IraqiSecurity/statu ... 3768178694

in the south the federal army has reached 2km of mosul airport and camp ghazlani a major den nearby

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 14:52

SDF for now is avoiding pitched battle and aiming to clear daesh out of the empty countryside, herd them toward the river and and into smaller areas

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 14:57

joint iraqi socom meeting

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5IPpmOXAAA10G5.jpg

green is PMU, orange and blue are the iraqi army and CT police attacking the airport and al-ghazlawi military base

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 15:01

Iraqi Day iraqi_day Feb 20
#US special forces & Peshmerga killed #ISIS health minister & 30 other commanders in a special operations raid in #Mosul. #Iraq

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 15:05

the blue arrow seems to be the 9th armoured division of iraqi army...the relatively open terrain of the airport might suit the use of their tanks. the orange will be more heavy on infantry to fight inside the military base which would have lot of buildings.

this is the al ghazlawi military base which looks less of base and more of a huge munitions depot with a network of underground bunkers under small hills....very defensible if the daesh want a fight

https://www.google.co.in/maps/@36.28475 ... a=!3m1!1e3

however no civilians live there, so if Massa is willing to pony up the bill, they could send over a bomber with 80 JDAMs and target each of the bunkers separately in a few passes .... that will solve most of the problem . the airport too has no collateral issues and just needs a B52 to sort out. drop a MOAB at night to light up the sky and drive the fear of god into the next line of daesh nearer the city.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 21 Feb 2017 15:09

Singha wrote:Interview with one abu tahseen a retired sniper now with pmu who has put down 350 daesh in 2 years

https://mobile.twitter.com/pmu_english?lang=en

wow and a SAS sniper with a kill of >100 will normally be a celebrity once out of service when he can disclose kills on CNN and then an American Sniper will be made on him.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 21 Feb 2017 15:10

dnivas wrote:fast moving stuff. thanks singha

+1 thanks Singha saab: you have passionately followed up Levant crisis and updated us. For months when many of us were not participating here.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 21 Feb 2017 15:17

Offensive in West Mosul. Note how vbieds are concealed as ambulance.

Amnesty intl has reported big motive behind recruitment into IS was corruption in Iraqi army, they were paid but did not fight. Also they turned blind eye as IS took over 2 years back.

asgkhan · Post by **asgkhan** » 21 Feb 2017 15:46

Singha wrote:Iraqi Day iraqi_day Feb 20
#US special forces & Peshmerga killed #ISIS health minister & 30 other commanders in a special operations raid in #Mosul. #Iraq

ISIS had a health minister ? What was his responsibility ? Check if the goats/camels were all tight and wet and free from diseases?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 16:07

The iraqi army suffered from 2 things in the panicked abandonment of north iraq in 2014

.. total loss of morale/desertion or bribery of top officers who abandoned their units
.. sunni public in mosul and falluja ramadi atleast was welcoming of isis

The formations broke and it was every human for himself. In this milieu a relatively light isis was able to take over north and anbar...they easily rounded up abandoned units and massacred them brutally. Huge qty of arms were captured.

The survivors did not stop until they reached baghdad

It was only the quick mobilization of the pmu militias to form a fighting line of sorts that saved baghdad from imminent invasion ... americans had a slight presence and had no love for the shia govt so they did nothing not that they could do anything without bringing back new divisions of forces to cover the boots on ground problem

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 21 Feb 2017 18:42

Testing New Types of Weapons by the Russian Armed Forces in Syria

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 20:03

History

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norther ... June_2014)

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 21 Feb 2017 20:07

Operation of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 20:45

radical islams new frontier and source of recruits - Trinidad !!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/worl ... -news&_r=0

6 % population but still a powerful pita
----
Trinidad has a history of Islamist extremism — a radical Muslim group was responsible for a failed coup in 1990 that lasted six days, and in 2012 a Trinidadian man was sentenced to life in prison for his role in a plot to blow up Kennedy International Airport. Muslims make up only about 6 percent of the population, and the combatants often come from the margins of society, some of them on the run from criminal charges.

They saw few opportunities in an oil-rich nation whose economy has declined with the price of petroleum, experts say. Some were gang members who either converted or were radicalized in prison, while others have been swayed by local imams who studied in the Middle East, according to Muslim leaders and American officials.

The young men found solace in radical Islamist websites and social media.

And in the call to jihad.

In contrast to the laws of many countries, it is not illegal in Trinidad to join the so-called caliphate, though the government wants to change that. One hundred to 130 people have made the trip to Syria from Trinidad, which has a population of 1.3 million, according to a former United States ambassador, John L. Estrada, and Trinidad’s minister of national security, Edmund Dillon.

By comparison, about 250 citizens of the United States, a country with 240 times the population, had joined the extremists or attempted to travel to Syria by late 2015, according to a House Homeland Security Committee report.

Per capita, Trinidad has the greatest number of foreign fighters from the Western Hemisphere who have joined the Islamic State, said Mr. Estrada, who stepped down after the inauguration of President Trump last month.

“Trinidadians do very well with ISIL,” Mr. Estrada said. “They are high up in the ranks, they are very respected and they are English-speaking. ISIL have used them for propaganda to spread their message through the Caribbean.”

Much of the information about the identities of those who went abroad comes from American intelligence sources, although local imams and Islamic leaders all said they knew several people, including women, who had left.

“I know whole families that went,” said Imtiaz Mohammed, president of the Islamic Missionaries Guild, which does charity work in Trinidad and the Middle East.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 20:50

i believe a small brazilian islamist outfit also declared their allegiance to the Khalifa a couple years ago. brazil is a huge country and amazonia is loosely governed and people in the frontier are generally poor , hard fighting, armed and do what they want. perhaps another fertile soil for radical islam to bloom

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 22:35

al masdar

Russia and Turkey are currently negotiating a deal concerning purchases of S-400 Triumf missile systems, Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov said Monday according to Sputnik.

“The negotiations are underway, the question of financing is being discussed right now,” Chemezov said.

LokeshC · Post by **LokeshC** » 21 Feb 2017 22:43

Singha wrote:i believe a small brazilian islamist outfit also declared their allegiance to the Khalifa a couple years ago. brazil is a huge country and amazonia is loosely governed and people in the frontier are generally poor , hard fighting, armed and do what they want. perhaps another fertile soil for radical islam to bloom

These guys are burning too many bridges at the same time. Peace and its spread are the end goals, but it sure looks like a way to plunge themselves into a meat grinder.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 21 Feb 2017 23:17

http://almanac.afpc.org/brazil

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 22 Feb 2017 03:20

Iraq army has seized strategic town of Abu Saif thus placing them within striking distance of West Mosul.
western districts, with their narrow, winding streets, may prove a bigger challenge than the east.
Although slightly smaller than the east, western Mosul is more densely populated and includes districts seen as pro-IS.
All bridges linking the east and west of the city, across the Tigris river, were destroyed in the earlier offensive.

An outpost at Abu Saif overlooking W Mosul .

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 22 Feb 2017 03:25

A British IS fighter who died in a suicide bomb attack on Iraqi forces in Mosul is a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, the BBC understands.
The self-styled Islamic State group said two days ago that Abu-Zakariya al-Britani detonated a car bomb at an Iraqi army base in Tal Gaysum, south-west of Mosul.
He is believed to have been originally known as Ronald Fiddler.
Fiddler, 50 and from Manchester, was sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2002.
He had been seized by US forces in Pakistan in 2001, before being sent to Guantanamo.
US interrogators found he provided useful information to them about the Taliban's methods, and he was released after two years.
The Daily Mail reported Fiddler received a million pounds in compensation from the government when he came back to the UK.
(why was he not under surviellance then??

)
He later joined IS and vanished into ME via Turkey.

Shanmukh · Post by **Shanmukh** » 22 Feb 2017 06:24

IndraD wrote: The Daily Mail reported Fiddler received a million pounds in compensation from the government when he came back to the UK.
(why was he not under surviellance then?? )
He later joined IS and vanished into ME via Turkey.

Maybe he came as part of the approved opposition against Assad & then changed sides to ISIS?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 22 Feb 2017 07:14

>> All bridges linking the east and west of the city, across the Tigris river, were destroyed in the earlier offensive.

in the city yes. they would be heavily targeted by the IS if any temp bridges were built. but outside the city military ribbon bridges are now up and in routine use.

its been revealed Denmark has been paying some social security benefits to jihadis who left and vanished in syria. such is the level of oversight and CT coordination there.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 22 Feb 2017 07:15

Albu Sayf overlooks the mosul airport runway from the south east. its there on the ghazala camp google maps link I posted

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 22 Feb 2017 07:19

2008 denver protest

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 22 Feb 2017 07:21

this is the british suicide bomber ex gitmo alumni inside his SVBIED