Levant crisis - III

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 23 Apr 2016 23:26

IS claims to have shot down Mig 23 of RuAF and captured pilot http://news.sky.com/story/1683884/islam ... lane-pilot

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 23 Apr 2016 23:59

The RuAF does not operate MiG23 anymore... it must be Syrian AF.

BharadwajV · Post by **BharadwajV** » 24 Apr 2016 00:02

^^
Damn!
If true, I can only pray that he gets exchanged or something.
Daesh cannibals and their handling of Al-Kasasbeh's capture was horrifying.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 24 Apr 2016 04:42

Someone said later that Al Kassabeh (the Jordanian, hain?) was **NOT** the victim displayed, that he was very much alive later. The ISIS does that sort of thing - for instance the Malloostani Xtian priest who was supposedly beheaded, was later freed, I believe. Probably in exchange for something destructive.

In any event, I think Russian SOP was demonstrated by their SF man who got surrounded. The whole place will get the Zhukov Berlin treatment. The ISIS will be heading to Houristan along with their captive.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 24 Apr 2016 15:01

Beirut (AFP) - A senior commander in Syria's powerful Islamist Ahrar al-Sham rebel group was killed Saturday night in a suicide bombing in Idlib province, a monitoring group said.

"Ahrar al-Sham chief of staff Majed Hussein Al Sadeq was killed with three other fighters from the group in a suicide attack against its headquarters in Binnish town," northeast of Idlib city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senior-comma ... 58552.html

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 24 Apr 2016 18:05

SAA has made significant gains east of Palmyra, capturing some oil fields

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/is ... ap-update/

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 24 Apr 2016 18:06

Syrian soldiers have received upgraded gear from the Russians

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 24 Apr 2016 18:15

This sounds good, but if you see the videos, most of them don't even have helmets or ear protection even as they fire the artillery. When they go through buildings in urban warfare, even. Very sad.

It is pretty shocking that the Mig-23 was shot down so close to Damascus - So the bad guys have SAM installations so near the capital?

habal · Post by **habal** » 24 Apr 2016 20:38

This sounds like a handy piece of kit supplied to Syria by Russia.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian army received a new generation of portable surveillance radar systems from Russia.

The Russian radar systems called FARA-I detects movable targets such as military servicemen and vehicles from a distance of 4 kilometers, the Russian-language media outlets reported.

The FARA-I is a lightweight and non-bulky radar system which can be carried by one man, but it need two persons for operation.

The Russian-made radar is multifunctional and can be used as a reconnaissance tool or as a camera for automatic weapons.

The FARA-I radar system can operate and track the enemies' positions under the most difficult conditions such as rainy weather, fog and smog.

One of the most important characteristics of FARA-I is its capability to be used in sandstorms such as Syria's deserts.

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950205000666

habal · Post by **habal** » 24 Apr 2016 20:41

A New Anti-Assad Propaganda Offensive - April 21, 2016

Exclusive: The mainstream U.S. media, including the “liberal” New Yorker, is reprising its propagandistic role before the Iraq War now in Syria with a new round of one-sided reporting, as Daniel Lazare explains.

By Daniel Lazare

Now that Syria’s “cessation of hostilities” appears to be crumbling and rebel forces are gearing up for a fresh offensive, the mighty U.S. propaganda machine is once again up and running.

A case in point is “The Assad Files,” an 11,000-word article in last week’s New Yorker that is as willfully misrepresentative as anything published about Syria in the last five years or so, which is saying a great deal.

Written by a young Columbia Journalism School graduate named Ben Taub, it tells of a Canadian political entrepreneur named William Wiley who, starting in 2012, persuaded the European Union and the German, Swiss, Norwegian, Danish and Canadian governments to give him millions of dollars so he could begin building a criminal case against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

To that end, Wiley hired lawyers, translators, and analysts and sent investigators into Syria itself alongside “moderate” rebels so that they could rifle security and intelligence installations in search of incriminating evidence. Once they got what they were looking for, they either squirreled it away locally or spirited it over the border to an undisclosed location in Western Europe where the documents could be scanned, bar-coded, and safely secured.

The upshot is a 400-page legal brief that Taub says “links the systematic torture and murder of tens of thousands of Syrians to a written policy approved by President Bashar al-Assad, coordinated among his security-intelligence agencies, and implemented by regime operatives.” It is “a record of state-sponsored torture,” he adds, “that is almost unimaginable in its scope and its cruelty.”

Taub fills his article with lots of J-school-style color, informing us that Wiley is “a field guy, not an office guy”; that he “handles the considerable stress of his profession with Cuban cigarillos, gallows humor, and exercise,” and that, at age 52, “he bench-presses more than three hundred and fifty pounds.” He describes in vivid detail one of Wiley’s associates negotiating his way through 11 rebel checkpoints while transporting a truckload of captured Syrian government documents. But for all his diligence, he manages to overlook the blindingly obvious problems that Wiley’s activities raise. For instance:

–He notes that no international judicial body has jurisdiction over Syrian war crimes and that, in May 2014, Russia and China specifically vetoed a UN resolution assigning the International Criminal Court such a role. So what’s the point of a 400-page legal brief if there’s no court to present it to? Is this a genuine pursuit of legal truth or just another propaganda exercise funded by the West?

–Waving such objections aside, Taub quotes Wiley as saying: “We’re simply confident – and I don’t think it’s hubris – that our work will see the light of day, in court, in relatively short order.” But what on earth does this mean? That Wiley has inside knowledge that Assad is about to fall?

Western Crimes

–By zeroing in on Assad alone, the investigation ignores malfeasance by other players. Arming rebels and sending them to spread terror across the Syrian countryside, for example, is a straight-out violation of the UN Charter, which declares that “all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.”

Yet Wiley says nothing about such crimes even though the U.S. and Saudi Arabia commit them daily. The same goes for bombing Syrian targets without express Syrian government permission. That, too, is illegal. Yet Wiley remains silent about that as well.

–Sending investigators into Syria without express government approval is likewise a violation, which means that Wiley and his group are also complicit. Washington would not like it if Syria sent “investigators” to this country to break into FBI offices and rifle through CIA files. So what gives Wiley the right to do the same? And given the intensity of the propaganda war surrounding Syria, what weight should one give to the purported evidence?

Although you wouldn’t know it from a travesty like “The Assad Files,” the facts about Syria have long been clear. In August 2012, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency issued a report stating that Al Qaeda, the Salafists, and the Muslim Brotherhood were “the major forces driving the insurgency in Syria,” that their goal was to establish a “Salafist principality” in eastern Syria, and that this is “exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition” – which is to say Turkey, the Arab Gulf states, and the Western powers – “want in order to isolate the Syrian regime.”

Read more ..
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/04/21/a ... offensive/

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 24 Apr 2016 22:29

Habal ji, here is a photo of the radar system from Russia to SAA:

In the pic though it looks like Russians.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 24 Apr 2016 22:41

R u sure this is recent? Looks more like WW2. Look at the phone handset. Uniforms also don't look like the jazzy new Balaclava Boyz uniforms. Plus terrain does not look like Syria.

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 24 Apr 2016 22:49

UlanBatori wrote:R u sure this is recent? Looks more like WW2. Look at the phone handset. Uniforms also don't look like the jazzy new Balaclava Boyz uniforms. Plus terrain does not look like Syria.

This is what Al Masdar posted with its tweet.

https://twitter.com/TheArabSource/statu ... 0148014080

kmkraoind · Post by **kmkraoind** » 24 Apr 2016 23:24

Deejay garu, Google reverse image search has thrown this article from 2011. Do not know what it says.

http://desarrolloydefensa.blogspot.in/2 ... -fara.html

member_23370 · Post by **member_23370** » 24 Apr 2016 23:29

Is it like the BFSR-SR?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BEL_Battl ... ance_Radar

The BFSR-SR seems to have longer range but twice as heavier.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 25 Apr 2016 00:13

That appears to be Argentine - obtained from Russia. So the picture is stock Russian from much longer ago. Maybe from early Cold War surplus. But if it helps kill ISIS, OK w/ me.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Apr 2016 12:23

Iraq’s strongest paramilitary force, “Hashd Al-Sha’abi”, has joined the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in their battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) terrorists inside the Deir Ezzor Governorate. Led by Firas Al-Iraqi, Hashd Al-Sha’abi’s primary goal is to aid the recently deployed Syrian Special Forces (under General Ghassan Tarraf’s command) in their bid to recapture the strategic village of Mohassan in southern Deir Ezzor. Hashd Al-Sha’abi only deployed 250 soldiers to this volatile front in eastern Syria; however, they do possess technologically advanced weapons that were supplied by the Syrian Special Forces. General Tarraf and his elite soldiers from the Syrian Special Forces – backed by Hashd Al-Sha’abi – have recently increased the intensity of their ground assault in Deir Ezzor, capturing several buildings in the Industrial Zone on Sunday afternoon.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/ir ... eir-ezzor/ | Al-Masdar News

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Apr 2016 12:24

jihadists are still holding firm in the last bit of latakia which they own

Al-Masdar News ‏@TheArabSource 22h22 hours ago
Syrian Army, Desert Hawks launch 7th attack on Kabani in northeast #Latakia http://bit.ly/1VRuRxk #Syria

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Apr 2016 12:29

there is a saqr island in deir azzor on the euphrates with narrow channels on either side. at some point the SAA lost that island. its the main base of the ISIS both to launch attacks on the town and to disappear and regroup if they get thrashed, its overgrown with bushes , abandoned farms and tall grass.

you can see it here on this old map as saqer island in SE corner
https://media.almasdarnews.com/wp-conte ... AEBA2o.jpg
https://media.almasdarnews.com/wp-conte ... G_1304.jpg

also that IS pocket on west bank still exists and is very resilient

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Apr 2016 12:34

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Apr 2016 12:42

Serge ‏@Zinvor Apr 23
Russian FM Sergei Lavrov's father is Armenian. Here he is fondly remembering his Armenian roots. Ararat is eternal.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Apr 2016 12:46

a town named tuz khormato in northern iraq populated by turkomen iraqis allied to the PMU is seeing a full up fight with peshmerga.
trouble started when peshmerga burned and vandalized PMU offices, disrespected their icons and their flag

Ra'is Urafa Fayli ‏@Fayli_Iraqi 4m4 minutes ago
#Iraqi #Turkmen #PMU fighters defend #TuzKhurmatu from a #Peshmerga assault on the Turkmen town.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cg1wU8AWMAAjnKN.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cg1wU_HWgAAZTex.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cg1wU84WMAAxWHh.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cg1wU8ZXEAA6lAl.jpg

peshmerga are trying to intimidate by surrounding the town etc. remains to be seen if baghdad govt and other PMU intervenes against this.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 25 Apr 2016 18:58

deejay wrote:Habal ji, here is a photo of the radar system from Russia to SAA:

In the pic though it looks like Russians.

FEATURES P:

Adopting: 1999 (but the troops began to arrive much later)

Detection range: man 2 km; Tank 4 km

Position accuracy: in range of 20 m, in azimuth, deg. 0.9 - 1.0

Time of continuous operation of uninterruptible power supply: 6 hours

Product Weight: 16 kg

Any use of military experience in the Donbass, but data on the effectiveness has not yet made public.

http://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/76938/

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 25 Apr 2016 20:35

Those uniforms look more modern. Interesting how army uniforms worldwide have changed - now most seem to be going towards Designer Darth Vader Couture. Esp. Pee All See, all 200 million of them

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Apr 2016 05:34

Apr 24
Peto Lucem ‏@PetoLucem
@north_walls Capture of mountain region north of Palmyra has more value. I would enable SAA to control ISIS movement from Ithriya 2 Tabqa AB

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 26 Apr 2016 05:56

NATO F-16s Demonstrate Aim

Norwegian defense officials are investigating how one of their fighter jets fired on a control tower during exercises over an island off the country's west coast this month, something that's not unprecedented.
Norwegian Royal Air Force F-16s were practicing attacks on simulated targets on Tarva island early April 13 when cannon fire from the fighter jets tore into a control tower, almost striking three people inside, Maj. Stian Roen told CNN.

None of the three, who were described as "controlling the targets," were injured. "We are thankful for that," Roen said.
F-16s are armed with a six-barrel, 20 mm Gatling gun, capable of firing 6,000 rounds per minute.
Norwegian officials did not say how many rounds hit the tower. They said the rounds were "cold bullets" used only for training and had no explosives in them.
Roen said a commission of six people headed by an F-16 pilot has been appointed to investigate.
If precedent is any guide, that probe may take a long time. A similar incident from 2009 -- an F-16 firing on and hitting the same tower -- is still under investigation, Roen said.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Apr 2016 06:16

NEW DELHI: Mohammad Shafi Armar, the head and principal recruiter of Islamic State (IS) in India, died a few days ago in a US drone strike in Syria, sources said.

Shafi, also known as Yousuf, had reportedly become an important ally of IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and was helping establish the outfit in India. He is learnt to have recruited at least 30 men for the group. According to 23 IS recruits arrested over the past year and a half by the NIA, Delhi Police and police forces of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, Shafi planned to establish an IS unit in every Indian state.

According to top government sources, the death of 26-year-old Shafi, a native of Bhatkal in Karnataka, may have left the Indian unit of IS “headless” for now. His elder brother Sultan Armar, who was heading the outfit’s India franchise till last year, died in March 2015 in the same manner. TOI confirmed Shafi’s death from three top government and intelligence sources. The agencies are ascertaining the exact circumstances under which he was killed.

Listed on the Interpol website, Shafi had recently formed Junud al Khalifa-e-Hind (Soldiers of the Indian Caliphate) by dismantling the Ansar-ul-Tauhid (AuT). AuT was born out of Indian Mujahideen (IM) after Shafi and Sultan developed differences with Riyaz and Iqbal Bhatkal, the Pakistan-based chiefs of IM, over misuse of funds received for terror activities. AuT had pledged loyalty to IS and Shafi conducted talent-scouting from his Syrian base.

It is suspected that Shafi was in touch with at least 600-700 Indian youngsters on closed Facebook groups and messaging platforms like Trillion, Surespot, WhatsApp and Skype over the past one year, and may have recruited some men for the outfit. He even arranged funds – through transfers and hawala transactions – for IS recruits here. He sent some Rs 6 lakh to the module of Mudabbir Mushtaq Shaikh, whom Shafi made the ‘amir’ of IS in India while keeping the larger ‘head’ designation with himself. Sources said very few IS recruits have managed to travel to Syria as security agencies have been keeping a close watch on their activities in India.

isis

“We have learnt about his death. We are gathering more details. The final confirmation and details may take time as it is difficult to get information from Syria, where IS has presence, but it’s big news,” said a top official.

Officials said Shafi was the common link between several IS suspects caught or questioned by different agencies. Sultan Armar, who headed AuT before his death, allegedly appeared in many videos (now blocked) with his face digitally masked, asking Indian Muslims to join AuT and wage a war in the name of jihad. In one of the videos, he reportedly exhorted, “Rise like Ahmad Shah Abdali and Muhammad ibn-Qasim, like Syed Ahmad the martyr, like the Prophet and his companions, take the Quran in one hand and the sword in the other, and head to the fields of jihad.” He also asked IS recruits to “teach Brahmins and worshippers of cows, as well as the whole world of unbelievers, that the Indian Muslim is no coward”.

The Armar brothers’ links to the IS first emerged during the interrogation of Yasin Bhatkal, who headed IM and was arrested in 2013

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Apr 2016 06:19

1400 yrs of first cousin marriage has had a devastating genetic impact on muslims

http://www.terrorscoop.com/muslims-firs ... 400-years/

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Apr 2016 15:32

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Apr 2016 15:36

21000 ATGM, 1.6 lakh RPG rounds , 28 million HMG rounds for technicals

these would exceed the holding of many RESPECTABLE regular armies.

even huge IA , with 35 infantry divisions would be hard put to dig up that many ATGMs.

amazing.

with just these two shipments the rebels can easily continue fighting for the next 10 years. there is no way in hell this war will stop with such arms-loaded sugar daddies on both sides unless one side completely kills everyone on the other side down to kids.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 26 Apr 2016 16:11

even huge IA , with 35 infantry divisions would be hard put to dig up that many ATGMs.

Seems like a good time to buy those straight from Jordan. I think the roads and Latakia coast are becoming a bit more difficult since Gen. Vodkov has been asked to seal the borders. Lo, lo, lo prices, no reasonable offer refused.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 26 Apr 2016 18:34

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/24/polit ... ons-syria/

Obama agrees to dispatch 250 SF to Ceria

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Apr 2016 19:41

Rt.com

Russia signs contracts worth $950mn to rebuild Syria
Published time: 26 Apr, 2016 09:39
Edited time: 26 Apr, 2016 09:42
© Ammar Abdullah / Reuters

Damascus and Moscow have signed nearly a billion dollars worth of agreements to rebuild war-torn Syria, according to the Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi. The two countries intend to develop energy, trade, finance and other sectors of the economy.

"The Russian side has responded to the idea of restoring [Syrian] infrastructure. Therefore, a lot of deals were signed, including $675 million and $280 million agreements," said the Syrian prime minister.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Apr 2016 19:43

Will be paid for with east homs and raqqa deir oil and gas perhaps. I hear they are already exporting agri products to russia

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 26 Apr 2016 21:11

A good SitRep on clashes in Aleppo, Russian radar with SAA and US forces in Syria for the eventual YPG advance on Raqaa

[youtube]IEkZB37oxlY&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Apr 2016 21:12

SDF glacially creeping toward manbij

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 26 Apr 2016 21:49

US admits to Nusra holding Aleppo

https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/status/ ... 6617802752

Hassan Ridha
‏@sayed_ridha
Warren: "it’s primarily Nusra who holds Aleppo, and of course, al-Nusra is not part of the cessation of hostilities"

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/defen ... sad-2016-4

The Defence Department made a big gaffe that helps Putin and Assad in Syria
NATASHA BERTRAND

The spokesman for the US military operation against the Islamic State made a comment in a Wednesday press briefing in Baghdad that helps justify Russia’s continued attacks on Syria’s largest city in the midst of a truce.

US Army Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq, was asked whether Russian airstrikes on Aleppo, the current epicentre of the war, meant that Moscow was preparing to end the cessation of hostilities (CoH) agreement between government forces and the opposition signed on February 29.

Warren responded that it was “complicated” because Nusra “holds Aleppo” and is not party to the agreement.

“I’m not going to predict what their intentions are,” Warren said of Russia. “What I do know is that we have seen, you know, regime forces with some Russian support as well begin to mass and concentrate combat power around Aleppo. … That said, it’s primarily al-Nusra who holds Aleppo, and of course, al-Nusra is not part of the cessation of hostilities. So it’s complicated.”

As Middle East analyst Kyle Orton noted on Twitter, Warren came “pretty close” to saying the coalition supports Russia’s airstrikes in the city. Those strikes, however, are aimed at degrading any and all opposition to Bashar al-Assad — the embattled president of Syria who the Obama administration has repeatedly insisted “has to go.”

Warren, moreover, was effectively echoing Russia’s own military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi. He said earlier this month that 8,000 Nusra militants were amassing around Aleppo and preparing to cut off the city’s main road to Syria’s capital, Damascus.

Emile Hokayem, an expert on Syria and Middle East analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, seemed surprise by Warren’s comments.

“Does the US military really believe that Nusra ‘holds Aleppo’?” Hokayem tweeted on Friday. “Did Warren misspeak?”

While Nusra has indeed been building up its presence in Aleppo since February, the city is also occupied by civilians and armed opposition groups associated with the US-backed Free Syrian Army that agreed to abide by the fragile agreement.
The CoH was brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at Geneva in February. Lavrov indicated that Russia would continue supporting the Assad regime’s attempts to “liberate” Aleppo, which he said had been “captured by illegal insurgent groups.”

But for one of the US’ top military leaders to stop short of condemning Russia’s airstrikes on the city sends mixed signals about Washington’s commitment to upholding the truce.
Warren’s comments came two days after US President Barack Obama urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to “use his influence with the Assad regime to live up to the commitments that they have made in the context of the cessation of hostilities,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary.

He added: “Unfortunately, we’ve seen that the cessation of hostilities continues to be fragile and increasingly threatened due to continued violations by the regime.”

...

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 27 Apr 2016 06:18

The extremist rebels of Jaysh Al-Islam and Faylaq Al-Rahman are on the verge of being completely cutoff from their forces at the imperative villages of Deir Al-‘Assafir and Zibdeen in the East Ghouta. Furthermore, this nightmare is quickly becoming a reality for the extremist rebels as the Syrian Arab Army’s 102nd Brigade of the Republican Guard – backed by the National Defense Forces (NDF) and Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) – close in on the villages of Harasta Qantara and Hawsh Jarabo. On Monday night, the Syrian Armed Forces seized the entire Bala Al-Kadhima region of the East Ghouta, creating two different pockets in this rebel stronghold. Optimized by Komoona The key to this offensive for the Syrian Armed Forces was the capture of the Agriculture College that is situated at the western flank of the Majr Al-Sultan Military Airport. In order for the rebel forces to avoid this complete encirclement, they will need to recapture Bala Al-Kadhima before it is too late.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/re ... ta-pocket/ | Al-Masdar News

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Apr 2016 06:29

The Turkish Foreign Minister, Mavlet Cavusoglu, said to “Haberturk” newspaper on Tuesday that the U.S. plans to deploy an advanced rocket launcher system to the Turkish-Syrian border where the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) militants are currently operating.

Cavusoglu stated that the U.S. will be deploying the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to southeastern Turkey in May of this year.

Reuters news agency confirmed this report after interviewing an unnamed senior U.S. military official; however, no further details were released

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Apr 2016 06:30

On palmyra front, tiger forces have reached mustadura gas field 8km away from arak after clearing some hills in rugged area north of palmyra