Bharat Rakshak

al masdar - this is what happens when P2 are afraid to confront the turkiye lion
and who would do this shelling...FSA has no real artillery...has to be the turkish 155mm lined up on their side of the border. Erdogan cannot claim lack of knowledge here...same day he is meeting P2 in ankara

BEIRUT, LEBANON (4:45 A.M.) – Minutes ago, the Turkish Army and their Free Syrian Army (FSA) allies reportedly shelled the Syrian Arab Army’s border guards in west Menbeij, allegedly killing 8 soldiers (unconfirmed) and wounding tens of military personnel.

According to a military source in Aleppo, the Turkish forces attacked the border guard units at the villages of Jubb Al-Himr, Bouhej, Al-Boghaz, and Korkoyok.

The aforementioned villages were recently handed over to the Syrian Arab Army by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as part of a peace agreement in northeast Aleppo.

Since ISIS handed over Al-Bab to the Turkish forces, the latter has continuously targeted the Syrian Arab Army and Syrian Democratic Forces, killing and wounding several military personnel that were fighting Islamic State militants in northeastern Aleppo.

While Turkey claims to be fighting the Islamic State, their recent actions have been far from productive in the fight against the terrorist group, as they continue to target forces actually attacking ISIS.

NBCnews

U.S. Marines have arrived in Syria to support local forces in the battle for Raqqa — the effective capital of ISIS — several U.S. defense officials told NBC News late Wednesday.

A group from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit arrived deployed with M777 Howitzers, capable of firing 155mm shells, to assist the coalition of militias collectively known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

^^ they have come from kuwait centcom pool. the east of raqqa a abandoned lafarge cement plant has been converted to a helipad that is presently housing osprey, apache and other rotorcraft.
https://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2016/27- ... rge-cement

ISIS is roofing the narrow streets of raqqa with metal or tarpaulins all they can to hide their movements from airborne drones

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/sa ... -of-raqqa/

they must be creating tunnels , ditches, bunkers and connecting holes between adjoining houses for off-street movements as in Mosul. IED and mine production must be at feverish pace. suicide bombers being fed their meals with best quality 101% halal goat and haleem to fatten them up and motivate them for the last ride on the prairie.

the opening gong of the bout will ring shortly. standby. hope the YPJ women also get to participate, drag a few rats by their filthy lice infested beards and kick them to a pulp.

after the kicking they got in north aleppo, they are finally afraid...one can smell their fear and furtive desperate movements...

masdar.

Led by their elite Tiger Forces, the Syrian Arab Army continued their wide-scale assault in the eastern countryside of Aleppo this morning, targeting the strategic Jirah Military Airport that is located just north of the Maskanah Plain.

According to a military source in Aleppo, the Syrian Arab Army is on the brink of liberating this strategic installation after reaching the Jirah Airport’s western gates this morning.

If the Syrian Arab Army is successful in this military endeavor, they will be on the verge of entering the northern rim of the Maskanah Plain for the first time since they were forced withdraw from this region.

https://m.liveleak.com/view?i=ea6_1489063896

Russis attack nusra cave in hama but with small bombs and just the entrance. Whatever was i side the tunnels under that hill is very much intact

Needs betab250 or 500 penetrator bombs which they have

The U.S., Russia and Syrian gov't together to block Turkey's #Manbij plan against Kurds http://xhne.ws/qGNQb

US army vehicle north of Manbij

Heavily outnumbered IS depending on snipers ; war of snipers in Mosul



A sniper of the Iraqi rapid response forces poses for the photographer during a battle with Islamic State

more pics http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/the ... USRTS124F3

A tall hotel near river was captured last night. Will be good op and sniper den looking north

Haidar Sumeri‏ @IraqiSecurity 9h9 hours ago
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Da'ish in #Mosul are so, so ******. Reports that the Furqan and Tariq Bin Ziyad "elite units" have been mostly wiped out by #Iraq's forces.

Haidar Sumeri‏ @IraqiSecurity 12h12 hours ago
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#Iraq will strike Da'ish in #Syria & other neighbouring countries, w/ their permission, anytime it feels the need to, according to PM Abadi.

great takedown of a svbied by a PMU fighter at point blank range with a RPG . they dont waver or run from huge suicide bombs but are always up for a fight. it not easy to hit a moving target at an angle.

https://twitter.com/IraqiSecurity/statu ... 6963185664

Haidar Sumeri‏ @IraqiSecurity Mar 8
#Iraq's Air Force killed Abu Fatima Al-Kasumi, the commander of inghimasi forces (suicide fighters) in central #Mosul.

Haidar Sumeri‏ @IraqiSecurity Mar 8
#Iraq's army and Hashd completely cut off the #Mosul-Tal 'Afar corridor by cutting the main road today.

the iraqi army and hashd task forces operating in the daesh heartland west of Mosul seem to have become highly mechanised. rather than expecting costly strykers and BMPs, they are using whatever modes of transport is available - tractors , commercial trucks, pickups, old BMPs, old T62s ..... pretty cost effective .... imo so long as its reliable and gets you from point A to B, it works and infantry usually dismount to fight villages and strongpoints then ride again.

that way india can easily complete the total mechanization of all its infantry divisions using commercially available products like ford endeavour or toyota fortuner 2.8 diesels as the "technicals" we long needed to mount RCLs, ATGMs, 23x2 cannons, recon optronics, comms posts, Manpads, drone control points and drone jammers ....we lack a vehicle in that weight category as the smallest AL Stallion is too big. nissan jonga production is long over.

I believe both are produced in india. fortuner costs 22-25L and is a real bargain for army role imo along with Endeavour. I think IA got egg all over its face with Huffy , Tuffy, Mahinda axe, Russian Tigr and many more worthies

if some tfta kit required for jarnails then Tata owns land rover and can provide the range rover or lr discovery at friendship prices

need to get rid of the black ambassador mark4 with white curtains for the jarnails. makes them look like IAS officers than fighting elite.

tigers reporter Mig29 yusha yuseef says jirrah airbase not taken yet, while other journos claim so.

meantime reports of 40 rats killed in vicious shelling of maskaneh town by tigers.

methinks tigers wont waste on jirrah but bottle it up along with deir hafr to leave them stranded and under overwatch by the hezbollah & repub guard who are lurking around south of deir hafr in the jaboul lake area

I have a feeling tiger forces are going to work full speed on getting through maskanah to Tabqa.
the fight for raqqa is about to start and assad will want a piece of action for a better post-war bargaining position

deir hafar , jirrah, maskanah are strongly defended and of no strategic importance. their people are radical islamists and pro-ISIS just itching to launch car bomb attacks . so better to bottle them up and head for the main show in raqqa

start from south of Jabboul salt lake and make for a point south of Maskanah to join the highway and head to Tabqa. pound the giant ISIS pocket this created on a daily basis from air and artillery until they head off in ferries downriver to raqqa. sink the ferries if possible.

https://twitter.com/metesohtaoglu/statu ... 9255286784

this is said to be convoy carrying supplies and tools for the 400 marines and their M777 howitzers heading to Raqqa.

All I want to know is when Deir ez Zor will be liberated (from the ISIS I mean). That's why I check this thread every day.

Not in next 3 months for sure unless one of 2 things happen

Local tribal forces in sdf some 40k out drive to dez rather than raqqa

Assad sends a brigade through sdfistan to do the above

If none of above happens i expect the saa forces once they secure tabqa will march on south

Sdf is fighting at multiple places on raqqa to deir azzor highway against dispersed bands of isis.
Other than raqqa no real civil works formidable defence so will be rolled over in a couple weeks

Marines and m777 going onsite is sign siege of raqqa is near

https://www.rt.com/usa/380111-us-troops ... nt-kuwait/

One brigade of 82nd airborne going to kuwait...syria bound

I guess I don't understand. If the river is secured up to D-e-Z, doesn't it make sense to knock out the ISIS encircling D-e-Z and THEN drive to Raqqa? I guess there are enslaved people in Raqqa, but relieving D-e-Z would provide massive impetus I would think to finish off the ISIS in Raqqa as well.

SDF seems to be moving towards both cities.

Masdar

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (3:26) – The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces continued the third phase of the Raqqa operation on Friday capturing four large villages along the northern bank of the Euphrates: Muqlah Kabirah, Khass Hibal, Khass Dakur, and Khas ‘Ujayl.

The aforementioned villages are located some 50 km east of Raqqa which is ISIS’s largest remaining administrative stronghold in both Iraq and Syria following the loss of 80% of Mosul in Iraq’s Nineveh province. The latest advances has the Kurdish-dominated coalition in control of a 40 km strip of land along the Euphrates valley tampering the Islamic State’s main supply lines between the two provinces.

This swift progress can be attributed to the US Coalition’s non-stop bombing of terrorist logistics, mobilization points, and bridges along the fertile Euphrates valley in addition to the intense hatred of the terror group by the local populace the Ma’adi administration of Deir Ezzor where native Arab tribes have mutinied against the extremists a number of times.

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Notably, the third phase of the Raqqa operation aims to isolate Raqqa completely from the rest of the areas under ISIS control in eastern Syria and Iraq. So far, the operation has been a success but there is a long way to go if Raqqa is to be successfully besieged. The SDF will have to cross the Euphrates and capture at least 150 km of territory along the valley to carry out this feat.

Since the terrorist organization projects dominance over the Syrian desert, Raqqa’s encapsulation remains distant, that is, unless the Syrian Armed Forces develop a successful assault east of the Khanasser-Ithriya road and along the Maskanah plains on Raqqa’s western outskirts. Syrian forces have been relentlessly bombarding that region for two days now as a preliminary to the anticipated infantry attack

The last para is important. Sdf is stretched in manpower on current front.

The second part of the rat trap depends on saa on west bank

Battle raging at jirah airbase

https://mobile.almasdarnews.com/article ... rn-aleppo/

Jirah to deir hafr road is the new isis defence line.

https://mobile.almasdarnews.com/article ... operation/

News from deir azzor

Erdogan Calls Dutch "Fascists" After Turkish Foreign Minister Barred Entry

"Listen Netherlands, you'll jump once, you'll jump twice, but my people will thwart your game," Erdogan said. "You can cancel our foreign minister's flight as much as you want, but let's see how your flights come to Turkey now. They don't know diplomacy or politics. They are Nazi remnants. They are fascists."

Shortly after Erdogan's comments, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's remark comparing the Dutch to the Nazis was "way out of line."

"It's a crazy remark of course," Rutte told journalists during campaigning for the March 15 election. "I understand they're angry, but this of course was way out of line."

Drone jammer seen in mosul

https://mobile.twitter.com/IraqiSecurit ... 89/photo/2

but unclear who is operating. Hopefully Iraqi army. ^

What is the Nederland/ Ottoman love fest about?

British student medics killed fighting for IS in Iraq

Security sources have confirmed that two British medical students who left their university in Sudan to join the Islamic State group have been killed in Iraq, the Times reported on Thursday.

Ahmed Sami Khider, in his mid-20s from south London, and Hisham Fadlallah, age unknown, from Nottinghamshire, were part of a group of nine medical students who travelled via Turkey to join the militant group in March 2015.

Khider, who appeared in an IS propaganda video urging other medics to travel to the war zone, was in a convoy trying to leave Mosul when it was hit by gunfire, the BBC reported. It was unclear whether he and Fadlallah were killed during clashes with Iraqi forces, or were shot by IS for attempting to desert.

Reports of high ranking isis emirs abandoning men in field and escaping with wives and kids to unknown perhaps saudi arabia via anbar.

40 iraqi pilgrims killed and 120 injured in twin damascus bombings

Iraq has promised a dark vengeance for this..hopefully they will move through al qaim into syria soon.

10h
The 'Nimr' Tiger‏ @Souria4Syrians
Wow, then that includes a dozen "moderate groups" who previously received American weapons & salaries. What a joke CIA/US are

Aldin ‏ @CT_operative
#US State Deparment declares that #Syria Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and all groups that merged into it are now considered #AlQaeda