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give the Kurds a sliver of land all along the Turkish border, declare them to be an independent state, recognize the said state, wash your hands off and watch how they now become someone else's problem [especially Sultan Errdogans] and go after the Golan Heights [once ISIS is turned into WASWAS]...
British Special Forces Revealed to Be Illegally Fighting Alongside Rebels in Syria
"'Defending' Pentagon-trained 'rebels' against ISIS"
Originally appeared at The Telegraph
The Times reports that they have been defending a rebel unit against Isil attacks, marking the first evidence of the troop's direct involvement involvement inside Syria rather than training fighters in neighbouring Jordan.
The rebels now face regular attacks as the jihadist movement tries to take it back.
“They attack us at all times, 3am, 5am, 4pm, 11pm. If you look at the timing of the assaults it’s clear they don’t want us to get any rest. They’re using missiles, mortars and many suicide bombers,” said Lt al-Saleh.
daesh now stretched very thin on 8 fronts (mare, manbij, tabqah, arak, raqqa, deir azzor, fallujah and mosul) and hence very undermanned lines. no lack of weapons or money but soon it will be time to deploy the adolescent madrasa kids and khalifa cubs to fill the yawning gaps
O'Bomber has been desperately pleading with Russia not to bomb the "Al-Nasties",since evidence is emerging that Western special forces...and probably a motley gang of Western "contractors" make up the rump of these so-called rebel forces. The Russians are now thinking of sending their own special forces,openly,to counter the desperate attempts of the West to save the skins of their tribes.
"Revenge is dish best eaten cold".The would-be Sultan,pretender to the neo-Ottoman Empire, has enraged many states and entities such as Russia-shooting down of one of its aircraft,etc.,the Kurds-long-standing feud for Kurdish independence and a separate state,ISIS-double-crossing by the Erdoganistas? Whatever the truth be of Erdogan's devilry,his enemies are enjoying hitting back at their leisure and pleasure like this latest attack on Stamboul's cops.
if the coalition led by the US had coordinated and assisted Russian air forces rather than trying to shoot them down (Turkey), ISIL would no longer have arms, money, or the moral to continue. Again, this is incontrovertible. This is the reality. This is the truth of Syria and the refugee catastrophe. Think about it.
Leith Abou Fadel @leithfadel 15h15 hours ago
ISIS media:
"The lions of the Khalifa are destroying the Rawafidh and their Safavid animals in Fallujah. Baghdad is next!"
Two days after losing the large hilltop of Tal Tayyim, the Syrian Arab Army’s 137th Artillery Brigade of the 17th Reserve Division reportedly recaptured this site after a violent battle with the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) this afternoon. With the recapture of Tal Tayyim this afternoon, the Syrian Armed Forces were able to also able to seize several points that are adjacent to this hilltop in southwest Deir Ezzor. The 137th Brigade received a major boost, when reinforcements from the 104th Airborne Brigade of the Republican Guard arrived at the Panorama Checkpoint to relieve the embattled soldiers there. Fighting is still ongoing in the southwestern countryside of Deir Ezzor; however, the Syrian Armed Forces are currently on the move. Furthermore, reports from the Syrian opposition about Major General Issam Zahreddine being severely wounded have been denied by local sources. Syrian Army sources confirm that Major General Zahreddine sustained minor wounds, but he is already back on the battlefield.
no holds barred brutal fighting in deir azzor ... here in a place called panorama circle .... automatic grenade launchers, anti material rifles, ATGMs, tanks, IFVs , infantry everything in the mix and constant dust storms .... two IS VBIEDs blown up by ATGMs..not clear here the ATGM firing but there is another video in twitter.
Endless supply of manpower this ISIS, they keep trickling and keep dying in hundreds in Deir Ez Zor. This is why I am saying a battle of attrition is pointless here. Using heavy weapons, or thermobarics/nukes on this bunch should have happened yesterday.
allies of USA can fight as they want, no ethics in battle, whereas whoever is opposed to USA allies have to fight with great pretensions of ethics and morals. This is fighting with blackmail. This pox of ethics and morals has bitten Russia, India & other sundries and are determined to be on losing side or determined to snatch defeat from jaws of victory.
The Dier Ez Zor battle is alone enough of a story to keep following this saga. SAA may be outnumbered and surrounded but they sure are not giving up the fight.
Singha wrote:Austin could it be a ELINT and not ASW bear ?
the ASW kit like mad, sonobuoys, sea search radar, passive EW direction finder etc would be useless for land targets.
their specialized tu214r is already in syria https://theaviationist.com/2016/02/15/t ... -to-syria/
it could have been dropping off short range cruise missiles in a new tests or just passing by after snooping on some nato exercise in the med. there have been periodic flights of blackjacks also over syria but without fanfare.
I understand that MAD's are used to find targets. Same was done in Afghanistan using ASW equipped aircraft.
Al Masdar is reporting further SAA advance on the Tabqah axis. The one man (fully pro rebel) SOHR has reported around 70 daesh dead in the present SAA advance on Tabqah.
With heavy clashes ongoing, the SAA is pushing towards the Rasafeh crossroad after capturing the village of Bur Ambaj yesterday. Moments ago, a field correspondent revealed to al-Masdar that the SAA had liberated Khirbat-Zaydān; the latter village is located directly east of Bur Ambaj.
The source also said government troops – spearheaded by brand new T-90 tanks – had cleared upwards of 10 kilometers formerly ISIS-held territory in the past 24 hours alone.
Effectively, the SAA has advanced approximately 45 kilometers since beginning the offensive less than one week ago. Remarkably, government troops are now only 30 kilometers from Tabqa Airbase; this air field is symbolic for the Syrian military as hundreds of government soldiers were executed by ISIS in August 2014 shortly after the Islamic State captured the airbase.
The current Raqqa offensive is spearheaded by the SAA’s Desert Hawks and elements of the SAA’s 4th mechanized division. However, several other elements of the SAA are also involved, including the National Defense Forces (NDF), Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), Syrian Marines, Galilee Forces (Palestinian paramilitary), and Arab National Guard.
Russian special forces have also been seen on the ground among the SAA troops.
Western policies (it is western policies that back these terrorists) never change.
From 2008, arms bazaar has been abuzz with reports of NATO buying up as many weapons as possible for 'future conflagaration in mid east'. This peaked at around 2012. Syrian unrest was ignited under some pretext on 2013. After such long planning period and gestation, why does anyone expect west to go back on their allies and their policy and end up with massive failure and egg on face unless any opposing party is willing to deploy massive show of force and humble the west & proxies into submission.
Western media is currently running a strange campaign against Turkey, it is being vilified in bits & dribbles. Slowly the West are always on the "right" side and if Turkey is ousted in the media before they attack they can feel good and have nothing to do with it. Its like good cop bad cop.
after the large losses in late 2014 and early 2015, the Syrian Army and allies had to regroup, train and be re equipped, besides adding thousands of foreign fighters, mostly Iraqis, Afghan hazaras and Iranians. Buying time was top priority for that to happen. Meanwhile RuAF bombed the hell out of all sort of rats in Syria, some strategic ground was recovered and the army and allies had the upper hand back in February.
Then came the diplomatic effort, that was a tough one to swallow since the momentum was seriously on the allied forces. The diplomatic effort created 3 situations:
1) the US boosted SDF into a frenetic advance.
2) the NATO backed terrorists replenished their ranks and depots.
3) most if not all offensives were halted by the allied forces.
Time has passed, and now the time needed was gained, though the allied forces have lost part of the momentum, the forces are much more prepared. The losses in southern Aleppo are minimum, despite the ratnews trying to make it seen catastrophic for Syria. The races toward Der ez Zor and Tabqa/Raqqa have to due to Syrian territory integrity and finally build on a crippled ISIS collapse.
The Russians have indicated they would send troops, though no confirmation of SF in battle, a report once shared 3,000 Russian nationals arrived in Syria, this can not be confirmed, but it is an indication that this is the escalation we all expected. The plan is regain ISIS ground for Syrian integrity and close the Turkish border once and for all. This may well happen in next few months.
nice video of the desert hawks & repub guard moving forward - for the 1st time looks like a conventional army "brigade" of sorts with proper tanks, SPGs , towed guns, MLRS....
habal wrote:Endless supply of manpower this ISIS, they keep trickling and keep dying in hundreds in Deir Ez Zor. This is why I am saying a battle of attrition is pointless here. Using heavy weapons, or thermobarics/nukes on this bunch should have happened yesterday.
Yes, that's puzzling too. I wonder where are they getting all this canon fodder from, would not be surprised to see LeT, JeM types in there.
I do wonder if the Western countries are only too happy to let their fundoos hightail to Daesh and find their houris instead of raising a stink back home, that could explain the steady trickle of cannon fodder into Daesh ranks.
Pootin is really letting it loose on the raqqa & aleppo. Reports coming in of phosphorus & cluster bombs annihilating isis lines before the desert falcon & repub/NDF caravans come in.
The allied forces took 1 T-55 and 1 GRAD launcher from ISIS today, showing both lack of ISIS logistics (fuel) on the open battles and the aggressiveness of the allied forces in the fast movements across terrain.
Some devastating air attack in NW Aleppo, in cities such as Anadan, Hayyan and Harytan, over 40 air strikes with serious consequences, some videos seem to show arms depot being hit. This has been by far the toughest air strikes in NW Aleppo in 5 years.
Maybe one of the best videos so far on the Tabqa/Raqqa offensive, quite telling on the road, vastness of terrain and hardware available. Worth watching the 2 minutes drone footage.
this article claims that while US pretends to be aiming at hub caps. But in reality they are positioning themselves to effectively block the progress of SAA across various battlefields. This scurry of F/A-18s comes as SAA again stands at threshold of capturing Aleppo and Raqqa.
Brandon Turbeville article
The U.S. Interest In Raqqa – A Sudden Shift
The U.S. has been using the presence of ISIS in Syria as an excuse to bomb, send Special Forces, publicly support terrorists, and possibly invade since the Western-backed terror group appeared on the scene two years ago. Yet, despite its rhetoric, the United States and its coalition have not bombed Raqqa and have largely abstained from bombing (see here and here) any other terrorist group. Instead, the U.S. has focused on bombing Syrian military targets, civilians and civilian infrastructure (see here also), and acting as a deterrent to the Syrian military’s movement in many “rebel-held” areas of the country.
Both sides are in a race to gain control over the ISIS capital, gain territory, and declare a victory for the world to see. But what if they arrive in Raqqa at the same time?
In other words, there is a distinct potential that, in the race for Raqqa, the Syrian/Russian alliance might find itself face to face with the possibility of direct military conflict with the U.S./SDF (terrorist) alliance.
habal wrote:Maybe one of the best videos so far on the Tabqa/Raqqa offensive, quite telling on the road, vastness of terrain and hardware available. Worth watching the 2 minutes drone footage.