Levant crisis - III

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Singha
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

the merciless shelling of civilian districts in aleppo city by the rebels continues...
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

powerful ideology to be still pulling in 200 now
---
The rate of foreign fighters joining the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria has dropped to just 200 per month, down from 1,500-2,000 a year ago, a senior military officer from Baghdad told Fox News during a press briefing at the Pentagon Tuesday
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by deejay »

Singha wrote:powerful ideology to be still pulling in 200 now
---
The rate of foreign fighters joining the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria has dropped to just 200 per month, down from 1,500-2,000 a year ago, a senior military officer from Baghdad told Fox News during a press briefing at the Pentagon Tuesday
Their rate of addition has dropped below their rate of attrition. And this is just killed. The injured / decapitated, arrested, deserted etc subtract the numbers further. Even their attacks use suicide bombing as means of breaching fortifications. Losses are natural and high.

ISIS has repeatedly appealed to the tribes it controls (or tribes in areas it controls) for manpower in recent times. At least two such calls in the last two week have been reported. One to the elderly of the tribe to send young fighters and the other to the tribes to send teenagers and old men.

Also, reported is the culling of fighters who escaped the enemy.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/ne ... asualties/
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Pentagon adopts Israeli tactic in bombing ISIS

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/26/polit ... index.html
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by UlanBatori »

Austinji: If u read the story under that fine link, u will c that headline should be:
AlObama Gives Terrorist Men Time To Escape, Times Missile to Vaporize Wimmen
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

UlanBatori wrote:Austinji: If u read the story under that fine link, u will c that headline should be:
AlObama Gives Terrorist Men Time To Escape, Times Missile to Vaporize Wimmen
Yes I was thinking along the same lines , how would "knock on the roof" work other then warn ISIS folks and give them time to run.

Its not that those terrorist would wait after the knock and let them drop the bomb on them.

At best they would destroy the building most certainly not the terrorist inside them they would have long ran away after the first knock :rotfl:
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

‘Democratization’ of Iraq opened door for terrorists, Libya a hotbed for ISIS – top Russian general

https://www.rt.com/news/341081-libya-ir ... ple/[quote]

The US meddling in Arab countries such as Iraq and Libya has turned them into hotbeds of terrorism, the head of the Russian general staff said. Libya, in particular, has become a hub for Islamic State jihadists.

In the long run, American military interventions of the past two decades have only succeeded in fostering terrorism in the Middle East and North Africa ,General Valery Gerasimov told an international security conference in Moscow.

“The occupation of Iraq, the disposal of yet another strongman and ‘democratization’ of this country at gunpoint caused the majority of the dispersed military and ousted political elites to form the core of ISIS,” he said.Similar mistakes were made in Libya, when Western powers decided to use military force to oust its leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the Russian general said.


“Libya… practically no longer exists as a state and has become a hotbed for IS and other terrorist groups,” he pointed out.


Gerasimov added that the refugee crisis in Europe is the price it is now paying for destabilizing Arab countries.
:lol:

Lavrov: 'Use of terrorists as tool must stop'


Russia is suggesting that Western leaders should do their homework and change their behavior, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the conference.

In particular they must stop supporting terrorist groups, which are fighting against Western countries’ political rivals.

“Fighting terrorism is a path with many obstacles. Homework needs to be done and actions that degrade the region must cease,” he said. “The use of terrorists as a tool is unacceptable.”

Similar concerns were voiced by Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan, one of many foreign dignitaries at the Moscow conference.

“We are convinced that the world today lacks safety, stability and fear because of terrorist groups, which are supported by America, Israel and some countries in the region led by Saudi Arabia,” he said.


The terrorism threat is the main topic of the security event, which this year Russia is hosting for the fifth time.[/quote]
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

ISIS has advanced to 6km of azaz in the turkey-US sponsored north aleppo rebel enclave

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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

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deejay
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by deejay »

Video of an SAA unit (or para military) taking out one sniper with a missile. In the end, it really did not matter what was the pin point location of the sniper.

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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

The ssm seems to be fired from just 50m
Was the sniper sleeping or what?
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by UlanBatori »

Singha wrote:The ssm seems to be fired from just 50m
Was the sniper sleeping or what?
The camera is zooming through a hole in a ruined building. The sniper is between the pancaked decks of another building. The missile is coming from below left, and is traveling at very high angle of attack (well > 45 degrees) when it hits. So it must have been an extremely difficult shot, not possible for a rifle at line of sight. How do you tell a missiles to pick one sniper's hole-in-a-ruin from such an environment? Very ingenious shot indeed. Must have been a desperate situation.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by member_23370 »

Wow what a waste of missile. Just to get a single rat. Would some artillery pounding or RPG-7's be sufficient.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Saudis to open embassy in #Israel if Netanyahu accepts peace plan: JP http://bit.ly/1NSgX6i #Saudi

#ISIS night offensive at Deir Ezzor Airport fails: 30+ killed http://bit.ly/1VBuiYv #DeirEzzor #Syria
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

looks like an attempt is being made/planned to hit the backside of the aleppo nusrats from nubl and zahraa enclaves to the north.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by deejay »

Singha wrote:powerful ideology to be still pulling in 200 now
---
The rate of foreign fighters joining the Islamic State terror group in Iraq and Syria has dropped to just 200 per month, down from 1,500-2,000 a year ago, a senior military officer from Baghdad told Fox News during a press briefing at the Pentagon Tuesday
Some stats on this - Russian numbers:
Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha now1 hour ago
#Russia-n Intelligence says #IS has 33,000 fighters, 19,000 in #Iraq and 14,000 in #Syria - Al-Mayadeen
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by deejay »

Peto Lucem ‏@PetoLucem now2 hours ago
"#Syria/n T-72 Tactics and the TOW" https://southfront.org/syrian-t-72-tactics-and-the-tow/ … via @southfronteng

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Austin
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Defense minister: Russia anxiously watches Lebanon’s struggle against IS, Jebhat al-Nusra

http://tass.ru/en/politics/872836
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Russia’s top general rejects allegations of warplanes bombing abandoned mosques in Syria

More:
http://tass.ru/en/defense/872708
Russia’s Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said on Wednesday.

"We’re deliberately avoiding strikes even against abandoned schools, hospitals and mosques, although we know that terrorists have equipped their positions in some of them," Gerasimov said at the 5th Moscow conference on international security.

The targets for the Russian air task force’s strikes are chosen on the basis of data from all types of reconnaissance, are confirmed by unmanned aerial vehicles and destroyed only after their careful selection, the general said.

The Russian forces are also solving other tasks in Syria, the general said.

"Russian military advisers are providing assistance to the Syrian army command in planning combat operations against bandit formations and are taking part in the training of reserve military units and formations and their preparation for combat activities," the chief of the Russian General Staff said.


More:
http://tass.ru/en/defense/872708
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Haidar Sumeri ‏@IraqiSecurity 8h8 hours ago
Excellent news:

Al-Jazeera's office in #Baghdad closed down and its operating licence revoked after years of pro-Da'ish coverage in #Iraq.
73 retweets 61 likes
Singha
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

some 19 or 21 FSA reported kia in aleppo city when they were caught trying to infiltrate through some sewers.

meantime the FSA B-team up north in azaz pocket continues to lose ground to ISIS despite urging from the turkish side to greater efforts. they tried to feel better by turning 180' and attacking the Afrin pocket instead, but YPG smacked them back and a few corpses litter the place.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by UlanBatori »

ErdogaNATO ISIS is winning over ErdogaNATO Flee Syrian Army?
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Singha wrote:Haidar Sumeri ‏@IraqiSecurity 8h8 hours ago
Excellent news:

Al-Jazeera's office in #Baghdad closed down and its operating licence revoked after years of pro-Da'ish coverage in #Iraq.
73 retweets 61 likes
I do watch Al Jazeera and their pov on Daish is someone which the coalition of Arab/US forces bomb , The Russian strictly bombs the rebels.

Saudi pov is given prominence and Assad should quit is mentioned all the time.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Nusra has 8000 jihadis in aleppo to create mayhem
Syrians have put similar number incl foreign volunteers there to block them
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

jaish al thuwar/YPG took down this truckload of 40 FSA as they tried to attack Tel rifaat in afrin canton

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Re: Levant crisis - III

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^^ both are backed and armed by the USA :roll:
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

ndtv - must be the tharthar lake area whose eastern flanks have been cleared recently.

BAGHDAD:

Fishing in lakes north of Baghdad generates millions of dollars a month
Fish farms have supplied terrorists with income since 2007
New revenues are also being generated from car dealerships and factories
ISIS earns millions of dollars a month running car dealerships and fish farms in Iraq, making up for lower oil income after its battlefield losses, Iraqi judicial authorities said on Thursday.

Security experts once estimated the ultra-radical Islamist group's annual income at $2.9 billion, much of it coming from oil and gas installations in Iraq and Syria.

The US-led coalition has targeted ISIS's financial infrastructure, using air strikes to reduce its ability to extract, refine and transport oil and so forcing fighters to reportedly take significant pay cuts.

Yet the terrorists, who seized a third of Iraq's territory and declared a caliphate in 2014, seem to be adapting again to this latest set of constraints, in some cases reviving previous profit-turning ventures like farming.

"The terrorists' current financing mechanism has changed from what it was before the announcement of the caliphate nearly two years ago," a report by Iraq's central court of investigation said, quoting Judge Jabbar Abid al-Huchaimi.

"After the armed forces took control of several oil fields Daesh was using to finance its operations, the organisation devised non-traditional ways of paying its fighters and financing its activities," the report added, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Fishing in hundreds of lakes north of Baghdad generates millions of dollars a month, according to the report. Some owners fleeing the area abandoned their farms while others agreed to cooperate with ISIS to avoid being attacked.

"Daesh treats its northern Baghdad province as a financial centre; it is its primary source of financing in the capital in particular," Huchaimi said. ISIS carries out frequent bombings in Baghdad against security forces and Shia residents.

Selling Cars, Running Factories

Fish farms have supplied terrorists with income since 2007 when ISIS's al Qaeda predecessor fought US occupation forces but the mechanism only came to the authorities' attention this year, the report said.
The terrorists also tax agricultural land and impose a 10 per cent levy on poultry and other duties on a range of imports into their territory, it added.

"Recently there has been reliance on agricultural lands in areas outside the control of the (Iraqi) security forces through taxes imposed on farmers."

New revenues are also being generated from car dealerships and factories once run by the Iraqi government in areas seized by the terrorists.

Those have helped offset the losses from lower oil income, though perhaps only partially. The US-based analysis firm IHS said last week that ISIS revenues had fallen by around a third since last summer to around $56 million a month.

"In the recent period, Daesh has gone back to using government factories in the areas it controls - like Mosul - for financial returns," Huchaimi said, but added that oil smuggling from Syrian refineries remains the group's primary source of international financing.

The Iraqi report, based in part on the confessions of captured ISIS suspects, described how funds were funnelled to Bayt al-Mal, the group's finance ministry, in the northern city of Mosul and then distributed to its provinces.

"The organisation distributes money to areas outside its control through hawala (transfer) offices first in Erbil and from there to Iraq's other provinces," Huchaimi said.

The report said that in addition to salaries, ISIS fighters may receive rent allowances, financial rewards for up to four children and occasional bonuses like one worth $1,000 distributed after the terrorists captured Mosul in 2014.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

masgouf the traditional iraqi dish of open cut seasoned grilled fish usually carp..it is a ancient dish dating back to mesopotamia and sumeria

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Re: Levant crisis - III

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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

ISIS destroys 3 turkish armour with ATGMs in cross border firing

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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Entirely Domestic Affair': Assad's Fate Depends on Syrian People - Beijing

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160 ... z47CTxJwiX


"
China always believed that whether President Assad should stay or go is an entirely domestic affair of Syria and is not our focus on the Syrian issue," Xie said after talks with the Russian Foreign Ministry’s envoy for Middle Eastern settlement Sergei Vershinin held on Thursday.

On issues concerning Syria’s future as a country, the Chinese diplomat affirmed Beijing’s position that "the Syrian people should have the largest say, and it is their decision to make."

"We respect the will and choices of the Syrian people," Xie stressed.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160 ... z47CU0z5Td
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Gyan »

Newbee query:-

Inspite of Syria having around 200 and Russia 100 warfare capable aircraft and helos in Syria, bombing ISIS daily practically unopposed, why are they unable to cut off roads and pipelines through which crude oil flows to Turkey? Also 50,000 ISIS fighters mean approx 500 trucks worth of supplies to ISIS from Turkey everyday, why this reverse pipeline is also working?
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

They travel at night and hide in day probably. Or no longer form convoys but spread out across the clock
Not easy to closely monitor an area 100k x 300km

None of syaf are night capable and neither the ruaf frogfoots

Only the few flankers fencers and platypus are.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by UlanBatori »

Singha wrote:ISIS destroys 3 turkish armour with ATGMs in cross border firing

If u look at the list of videos on this site, u will c that it is done by Erdoganato propagandoos. Why would Erdoganato's ISIS shoot at Erdoganato tanks using Erdoganato ATGMs?
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by rsingh »

Singha wrote:jaish al thuwar/YPG took down this truckload of 40 FSA as they tried to attack Tel rifaat in afrin canton

Image
I am lost in this fight. who is blue and who is red? May I suggest that in future we use coloured font while writing the name of different faction (from prospective of elected Syrian govt).
Last edited by rsingh on 29 Apr 2016 18:22, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by sanjaykumar »

It's touching to see China defer to the will of the Syrian people. I understand a certain refinement is a prerequisite to appreciate irony.

BTW apparently it is Sumer not Sumeria.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by deejay »

SouthFront analysis on ISIS financial meltdown and search for new revenue sources.

[youtube]_IPl3-BDmKQ&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by deejay »

ISIS fighters filming their death in northern Iraq against Peshmerga. No blood and gore (as in not graphic) but one can make out the panic. Subtitles in English. Looks like a new video. Everybody is an Abu XXXX.



Added Later: This Abu Hajaar character is like Mr. Bean with a gun.
Last edited by deejay on 30 Apr 2016 11:00, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by deejay »

An RT (US) report in English on ISIS covering streets with sheets to hide from prying eyes above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-hwOv8 ... e=youtu.be
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by vishvak »

Interview of Yezidi girl kidnapped by ISIL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_h2IbwTwFA
Watch till the end - "Attacked in the morning and couldn't escape .. Men killed, elderly women killed, others except kids younger than 9 raped, married women raped after 40 days .. Every ISIL hideout had kidnapped girls .. Yezidis considered kufr and not human, not given an option to leave like other shia and christians, treated like animals, families of ISIL didn't oppose sexual slavery .. sharia courts are market for girls .. More important than Nobel Peace Prize is greater work for Yezidi society .. Germans gave asylum to 1000 girls".
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