The Levant crisis.(Israel,SYRIA,Lebanon,etc)

Samudragupta · Post by **Samudragupta** » 17 Nov 2015 21:46

It seems S 400 has been deployed in Syria by the Russians....what are they expecting?

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 17 Nov 2015 21:47

Samudragupta wrote:It seems S 400 has been deployed in Syria by the Russians....what are they expecting?

Denied by Russian MOD

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 17 Nov 2015 21:58

Infographic of Russi Satellite support. I think it is from the same mil briefing of Putin posted by Singha ji.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 17 Nov 2015 22:00

More details on Kh-55SM used today ( use english translator on top left )

http://militaryrussia.ru/blog/topic-702.html

ldev · Post by **ldev** » 17 Nov 2015 23:12

This is probably the first time that the TU-160 and TU-95 have been used in combat. Not sure about the TU-23M.

Yes, Philip can have a tall cold one today!!

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 17 Nov 2015 23:53

Both the russians and the french air forces have descended on Al Raqqah with a vengence!

Al Raqqa looks like a very beautiful town with nice weather otherwise. Below are some of the main landmarks in the town center there.

Both the governorate building and the financial buildings were ISIS's HQ. The financial building was supposedly bombed by the USAF in late 2014. ISIS would hold public executions on the Clock tower square. Jihadi John was droned right in front of the Financial building, right next to the clock tower square, while in a car.

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 17 Nov 2015 23:54

Al Raqqah city center, where the French AF is concentrating its firepower

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 17 Nov 2015 23:54

From a twitter feed of a person in Al Raqqah...

Surya · Post by **Surya** » 18 Nov 2015 00:01

I am worried for Philip

First Cruise missiles, now bombers - there is something as overloaded with joy - Russis go easy on him

member_29247 · Post by **member_29247** » 18 Nov 2015 00:01

ldev wrote:This is probably the first time that the TU-160 and TU-95 have been used in combat. Not sure about the TU-23M.

Yes, Philip can have a tall cold one today!!

Sorry this is not combat

Its just seen in action

***
Also Islamic court
means a compound?
place of Justice
Place of courtesans?

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 18 Nov 2015 01:28

Singha wrote:The Russian president has issued orders for Russia’s Moskva cruiser, covering the Russian base in Latakia from the Mediterranean Sea, to work together with a French naval group led by flagship Charles De Gaulle, a 26 fighter-jet aircraft carrier, which is departing for Syria this week.

“The French naval group, led by the air carrier, will soon reach your area of operations. We need to establish direct contact with it, and treat it as an ally,” the Russian president said. “We need to develop of a joint action plan for both sea and air operations.”

The Kremlin said that the parameters for a joint mission had been agreed upon by Putin and French President Francois Hollande, following a personal phone call.

“The two leaders focused their attention on bilateral and multilateral cooperation in combating terrorism,” a Kremlin statement said. “This includes closer ties and joint operations between the military command and intelligence services of Russia and France in Syria.”

Vladimir Putin and Francois Hollande are to meet in Moscow on November 26.

Is Putin creating a new alliance in the Mediterranean Sea?

Adm. Gorshkov must be smiling from great sky!

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 18 Nov 2015 02:56

Well... Le Presidente Hollande begged for US and Russian cooperation to avoid having to surrender to ISIS. While BO and his merry gang sit around on their thumbs going yada yada yada, Putin came to La France's rescue.

When the Americans wake up and flash the $$ signs, La France will spit on the Russians as always and as befits the true La Femmes Fickles et Unreliables des Francaise...
c'est la vie (sigh!)

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 18 Nov 2015 03:14

This was one of the comments under the RT videos:

Liviu Florea 5 hours ago
Terrorist strike against Russian civilians meant to draw Russia deeper into the war against ISIS.
Terrorist strike against Parisians meant to draw France and a sizeable body of western allies into the war against ISIS.
These two events happen one after the other.

Puuuuure coincidence..........

What do u think, BRFees? Knowing what we have concluded about who is behind the ISIS, why are they doing this? Sinai I might agree to attribute to pure rage, but Sinai + Paris, and Paris so minutely coordinated with cyber attack, mercenaries and all? What is the point?

Qui bono?

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 18 Nov 2015 03:35

Isis split from its parent(s) and is now going solo

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 18 Nov 2015 04:32

I want to know more about the drive by shooting in paris.

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 18 Nov 2015 06:20

UlanBatori wrote:This was one of the comments under the RT videos:

Liviu Florea 5 hours ago
Terrorist strike against Russian civilians meant to draw Russia deeper into the war against ISIS.
Terrorist strike against Parisians meant to draw France and a sizeable body of western allies into the war against ISIS.
These two events happen one after the other.

Puuuuure coincidence..........
What do u think, BRFees? Knowing what we have concluded about who is behind the ISIS, why are they doing this? Sinai I might agree to attribute to pure rage, but Sinai + Paris, and Paris so minutely coordinated with cyber attack, mercenaries and all? What is the point?

Qui bono?

Oui Oui.

See James Bond says "There are no Coincidences". The US is getting the cost shared for fighting the ISIS. Next if they want to get in Spain or Italy or maybe Japan in to this, there is a template now!

habal · Post by **habal** » 18 Nov 2015 06:42

wesley clarke uvacha ..

yes we did it .. so what u gonna do about it ehh ..!
Our Friends and Allies Funded ISIS to Destroy Hezbollah" - US General Wesley Kanne Clark on CNN

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=136_1447716065

Who is there friend and Allies : no one other than Israel, KSA, Turkey, Qatar, UAE

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Nov 2015 06:43

the moskva must have at some point swapped some of her P-500 bazalts for sub-caliber kalibr tubes. there was a report she fired a salvo from the Med yesterday.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Nov 2015 06:47

rus map of syria and iraq the kurd and friendly areas seem to be in purple.
the gap between the small purple on extreme left NW of aleppo and the big flat purple in the east is the ISIS funnel into Turkey which Kerry was claiming to try closing now.

member_29247 · Post by **member_29247** » 18 Nov 2015 07:40

x posting my analysis

Recruit ----> World Over ----> Travel to Turkey -----> Travel to KSA --------> Travel AfPak ----Train in Pak

Consolidate ----> Training in Syria ISIS -----> Deploy -------> Battle Harden --------> Specialize --------> Export to EU

this is the flow diagram I think

KSA/Kuwait/Qatar/UAE funding

Egypt Libya Somalia Sudan Pak manpower

habal · Post by **habal** » 18 Nov 2015 07:53

RuAF choppers hit ISIS in Lebanon for the 1st time.

Should anyone with additional info on this could share whether someone in the Lebanese Government gave OK to it and who was it or was Hezbollah they managed internally in Lebanon.

https://twitter.com/Brasco_Aad/status/6 ... 4206231552

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 18 Nov 2015 08:19

habal wrote:RuAF choppers hit ISIS in Lebanon for the 1st time.

Should anyone with additional info on this could share whether someone in the Lebanese Government gave OK to it and who was it or was Hezbollah they managed internally in Lebanon.

https://twitter.com/Brasco_Aad/status/6 ... 4206231552

Habal ji,the news linked with the tweet says this:

The Lebanese army opened artillery and mortar fire and launched helicopter raids Sunday against the positions of the extremist militant groups in the outskirts of the eastern border towns, amid reports of Russian airstrikes on Syrian regions near Lebanon's border.

The army went on alert along the eastern border as its shelling caused casualties among the ranks of the militants in the outskirts of Arsal and Ras Baalbek, al-Jadeed and LBCI reported.

Lebanese military helicopters also bombed several militant positions in Ras Baalbek's outskirts amid artillery shelling against the same posts, al-Jadeed said.

The army also fired mortars from its positions in Arsal's Wadi Hmeid as its helicopters hit the posts of the armed groups for the first time in that region, al-Jadeed TV added.

Meanwhile, the sounds of explosions echoed across Lebanon's northern Bekaa region as “Russian helicopters” bombed the outskirts of the Syrian town of Qara and an area facing the outskirts of the Lebanese region of al-Qaa, Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported “Russian airstrikes” on areas in the Syrian region of Qalamoun.

Earlier in the day, NNA said residents in the northern Lebanese region of Wadi Khaled saw “three Russian helicopters” flying over the Lebanese-Syrian border around 3:30 pm.

Also, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights is an individual thing which is out and out anti Assad. Mostly relies on 'rebel' fed news.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 18 Nov 2015 08:27

maybe the saudi panic to subdue syria is here in the oil prices

Saudi Arabia may go broke before the US oil industry buckles

It is too late for OPEC to stop the shale revolution. The cartel faces the prospect of surging US output whenever oil prices rise

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
05 Aug 2015

If the oil futures market is correct, Saudi Arabia will start running into trouble within two years. It will be in existential crisis by the end of the decade.
The contract price of US crude oil for delivery in December 2020 is currently $62.05, implying a drastic change in the economic landscape for the Middle East and the petro-rentier states.
The Saudis took a huge gamble last November when they stopped supporting prices and opted instead to flood the market and drive out rivals, boosting their own output to 10.6m barrels a day (b/d) into the teeth of the downturn.
Bank of America says OPEC is now "effectively dissolved". The cartel might as well shut down its offices in Vienna to save money.

If the aim was to choke the US shale industry, the Saudis have misjudged badly, just as they misjudged the growing shale threat at every stage for eight years. "It is becoming apparent that non-OPEC producers are not as responsive to low oil prices as had been thought, at least in the short-run," said the Saudi central bank in its latest stability report.
"The main impact has been to cut back on developmental drilling of new oil wells, rather than slowing the flow of oil from existing wells. This requires more patience," it said.
One Saudi expert was blunter. "The policy hasn't worked and it will never work," he said.
By causing the oil price to crash, the Saudis and their Gulf allies have certainly killed off prospects for a raft of high-cost ventures in the Russian Arctic, the Gulf of Mexico, the deep waters of the mid-Atlantic, and the Canadian tar sands.
Consultants Wood Mackenzie say the major oil and gas companies have shelved 46 large projects, deferring $200bn of investments.
The problem for the Saudis is that US shale frackers are not high-cost. They are mostly mid-cost, and as I reported from the CERAWeek energy forum in Houston, experts at IHS think shale companies may be able to shave those costs by 45pc this year - and not only by switching tactically to high-yielding wells.
Advanced pad drilling techniques allow frackers to launch five or ten wells in different directions from the same site. Smart drill-bits with computer chips can seek out cracks in the rock. New dissolvable plugs promise to save $300,000 a well. "We've driven down drilling costs by 50pc, and we can see another 30pc ahead," said John Hess, head of the Hess Corporation.
It was the same story from Scott Sheffield, head of Pioneer Natural Resources. "We have just drilled an 18,000 ft well in 16 days in the Permian Basin. Last year it took 30 days," he said.
The North American rig-count has dropped to 664 from 1,608 in October but output still rose to a 43-year high of 9.6m b/d June. It has only just begun to roll over. "The freight train of North American tight oil has kept on coming," said Rex Tillerson, head of Exxon Mobil.

He said the resilience of the sister industry of shale gas should be a cautionary warning to those reading too much into the rig-count. Gas prices have collapsed from $8 to $2.78 since 2009, and the number of gas rigs has dropped 1,200 to 209. Yet output has risen by 30pc over that period.
Until now, shale drillers have been cushioned by hedging contracts. The stress test will come over coming months as these expire. But even if scores of over-leveraged wild-catters go bankrupt as funding dries up, it will not do OPEC any good.
The wells will still be there. The technology and infrastructure will still be there. Stronger companies will mop up on the cheap, taking over the operations. Once oil climbs back to $60 or even $55 - since the threshold keeps falling - they will crank up production almost instantly.
OPEC now faces a permanent headwind. Each rise in price will be capped by a surge in US output. The only constraint is the scale of US reserves that can be extracted at mid-cost, and these may be bigger than originally supposed, not to mention the parallel possibilities in Argentina and Australia, or the possibility for "clean fracking" in China as plasma pulse technology cuts water needs.
Mr Sheffield said the Permian Basin in Texas could alone produce 5-6m b/d in the long-term, more than Saudi Arabia's giant Ghawar field, the biggest in the world.
Saudi Arabia is effectively beached. It relies on oil for 90pc of its budget revenues. There is no other industry to speak of, a full fifty years after the oil bonanza began.

Citizens pay no tax on income, interest, or stock dividends. Subsidized petrol costs twelve cents a litre at the pump. Electricity is given away for 1.3 cents a kilowatt-hour. Spending on patronage exploded after the Arab Spring as the kingdom sought to smother dissent.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that the budget deficit will reach 20pc of GDP this year, or roughly $140bn. The 'fiscal break-even price' is $106.

Far from retrenching, King Salman is spraying money around, giving away $32bn in a coronation bonus for all workers and pensioners.
He has launched a costly war against the Houthis in Yemen and is engaged in a massive military build-up - entirely reliant on imported weapons - that will propel Saudi Arabia to fifth place in the world defence ranking.
The Saudi royal family is leading the Sunni cause against a resurgent Iran, battling for dominance in a bitter struggle between Sunni and Shia across the Middle East. "Right now, the Saudis have only one thing on their mind and that is the Iranians. They have a very serious problem. Iranian proxies are running Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon," said Jim Woolsey, the former head of the US Central Intelligence Agency.

Money began to leak out of Saudi Arabia after the Arab Spring, with net capital outflows reaching 8pc of GDP annually even before the oil price crash. The country has since been burning through its foreign reserves at a vertiginous pace.
The reserves peaked at $737bn in August of 2014. They dropped to $672 in May. At current prices they are falling by at least $12bn a month.

Khalid Alsweilem, a former official at the Saudi central bank and now at Harvard University, said the fiscal deficit must be covered almost dollar for dollar by drawing down reserves.
The Saudi buffer is not particularly large given the country's fixed exchange system. Kuwait, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi all have three times greater reserves per capita. "We are much more vulnerable. That is why we are the fourth rated sovereign in the Gulf at AA-. We cannot afford to lose our cushion over the next two years," he said.
Standard & Poor's lowered its outlook to "negative" in February. "We view Saudi Arabia's economy as undiversified and vulnerable to a steep and sustained decline in oil prices," it said.
Mr Alsweilem wrote in a Harvard report that Saudi Arabia would have an extra trillion of assets by now if it had adopted the Norwegian model of a sovereign wealth fund to recyle the money instead of treating it as a piggy bank for the finance ministry. The report has caused storm in Riyadh.
"We were lucky before because the oil price recovered in time. But we can't count on that again," he said.
OPEC have left matters too late, though perhaps there is little they could have done to combat the advances of American technology.
In hindsight, it was a strategic error to hold prices so high, for so long, allowing shale frackers - and the solar industry - to come of age. The genie cannot be put back in the bottle.
The Saudis are now trapped. Even if they could do a deal with Russia and orchestrate a cut in output to boost prices - far from clear - they might merely gain a few more years of high income at the cost of bringing forward more shale production later on.
Yet on the current course their reserves may be down to $200bn by the end of 2018. The markets will react long before this, seeing the writing on the wall. Capital flight will accelerate.
The government can slash investment spending for a while - as it did in the mid-1980s - but in the end it must face draconian austerity. It cannot afford to prop up Egypt and maintain an exorbitant political patronage machine across the Sunni world.
Social spending is the glue that holds together a medieval Wahhabi regime at a time of fermenting unrest among the Shia minority of the Eastern Province, pin-prick terrorist attacks from ISIS, and blowback from the invasion of Yemen.
Diplomatic spending is what underpins the Saudi sphere of influence in a Middle East suffering its own version of Europe's Thirty Year War, and still reeling from the after-shocks of a crushed democratic revolt.
We may yet find that the US oil industry has greater staying power than the rickety political edifice behind OPEC.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 18 Nov 2015 09:17

Russians dropping While Phosphorus Bomb over Idlib

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 18 Nov 2015 09:44

Immense satisfaction at seeing finally strat bombing of ISIS..from Russia.This could very well have been done earlier by B-52s,B-2s,etc.,but the US was merely pretending to go after ISIS as that evil entity was supported by Uncle Sam's bum-chums as Gen.Clarke has revealed.Not that it has been a great secret to the world.

Even more satisfaction at seeing that France and Russia and hopefully the US too,work together in exterminating this most virulent of plagues in our time,that threaten the freedom of humanity and our cosmopolitan way of life. It was very magnanimous of Pres.Putin to ask the RuNavy's task force to work in concert with the French,esp after France stopped delivery of the 2 Mistrals. It would be in the order of things that pres.Hollande rescinds his decision and delivers the Mistrals so that Russia can use them in the Meditt. to further the cause of exterminating ISIS with the most extreme of prejudice.

My constant plumping for the IN to maintain its fleet of 8 TU-142 Bears has been justified.The immense range and payload that these aircraft carry is being demonstrated right now. One sincerely hopes that the Indian armed forces watch the ongoing Syrian War carefully and observe the Russian weapon systems in action,as we possess some of them.The Rafale too has been in action. After confirmation that the Russian airliner was downed by a bomb and the $50M reward for the finding of the perpetrator of that outrage,Russia has declared total war on ISIS. This demonstration of raw brute power using strat bombers,naval missiles et al,must also strike fear in the palaces of the Saudi and Gulfie monarchies,who've been behind ISIS' creation.

Now what is remaining is for the UNSC to pass a resolution calling upon the nations of the world to club together and pardon the pun,"club" ISIS into history.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Nov 2015 10:00

I think france is indeed asking for a UNSC resolution, which will pass unanimously for sure. will allow every country in the world to send forces to atleast bomb the ISIS.

we should join the bandwagon and send a squadron to help in north iraq, base in south iraq. these field deployments are good to hone procedures and test our methods.

asgkhan · Post by **asgkhan** » 18 Nov 2015 10:00

Spinster wrote:x posting my analysis

Recruit ----> World Over ----> Travel to Turkey -----> Travel to KSA --------> Travel AfPak ----Train in Pak

Consolidate ----> Training in Syria ISIS -----> Deploy -------> Battle Harden --------> Specialize --------> Export to EU

this is the flow diagram I think

KSA/Kuwait/Qatar/UAE funding

Egypt Libya Somalia Sudan Pak manpower

+ 1000

Excellent data flow. This template can be used universally by switching the countries around.

habal · Post by **habal** » 18 Nov 2015 10:06

this is data flow for sunni jihad.

we also need to augment this data flow with how unkil, poodle & 'allies of convenience' comes into picture. Unkil is omnipresent and will create 'allies of convenience' in each theatre to 'go with the flow'.

habal · Post by **habal** » 18 Nov 2015 10:27

full video of 'a man' eavesdropping on Putin & Obama @ G20

member_29247 · Post by **member_29247** » 18 Nov 2015 10:45

Some abstract actors can't be explicitly identified, but we can Square foot of minus one by the methods of invocation and the resources they consume and need
That's why those actors have not been shown

But every one knows the knowns

it's like yester years ether theory....

You know what I mean.....

member_29247 · Post by **member_29247** » 18 Nov 2015 10:47

habal wrote:this is data flow for sunni jihad.

we also need to augment this data flow with how unkil, poodle & 'allies of convenience' comes into picture. Unkil is omnipresent and will create 'allies of convenience' in each theatre to 'go with the flow'.

That I have posted in the fronts and backs of ISIS dhaga

It follows the natures Mitosis and Meosis of cell division and the merging of genes via mitochondria
...

Added later

Apropos KSA oil prices and kingdom viability in the current mode.

Only KSA will go broke because of its subsidy and luxury consumption. There. Is no margin to cut costs with out cultural revolution. it's a shell of Mafia .

Where as countries like Iraq, Iran Libya ( if it exists as one entity) Nigeria, Venuzuvela etc can telescope their ( that is expand or shrink) expenditures, subsidies and resort to cost cutting.

Even the cost of manufacturing that is pumping oil is the lowest in KSA their princely overheads (pun intended) are high and can't be wound down or tied up with black rope...so to speak

That means KSA ruling elite Mafia has to go to survive, no amount Humpty Dumpty put on wall by all the Kingsmen etc won't work

......

So white Russia drops White Phosphorus bomb and ISIS goes up in Flames.

The seventy two waiting in Jannat will be greeting hot cakes fresh of the Pan...

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Nov 2015 12:38

Manish_P · Post by **Manish_P** » 18 Nov 2015 13:00

^
Any idea approximately what % is this of the overall Russian Air Force ?

member_29151 · Post by **member_29151** » 18 Nov 2015 13:19

Treat to Eyes

Blackjack in Action In Syria

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Nov 2015 13:23

9:30 a.m.

A police official says that one person is still holed up in an apartment north of Paris after an hours-long standoff with police in which 2 have been killed and 5 arrested.
The official, not authorized to be publicly named according to police rules, said the standoff is still going on after some 5 hours.

The person's identity has not been released. Authorities say the operation is targeting the mastermind of last week's Paris attacks that killed at least 129 people.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Nov 2015 13:27

RuAf has a lot of bears (they need significant upkeep/flying hour and fly long missions so stress is less) and around 16 blackjacks. probably around 120 backfire between af and navy.

ukraine had 19 of the precious blackjacks. it gave 8 to rus for debt relief and the US cleverly got the rest 11 scrapped...this is resented by rus generals even today per a video i saw. they are treated specially and each has a individual name. almost like a pet of sorts

all are based in engels afb in saratov, due north of caspian sea. take a look in google maps imagery..has significant number of Bears also(alcm trucks).

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Nov 2015 13:29

when posting youtube videos just use the last string after the final / I have fixed it above

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 18 Nov 2015 14:49

Manish_P wrote:^
Any idea approximately what % is this of the overall Russian Air Force ?

No idea but a very small % of active aircraft.

In a brief search I did not come across any authoritative list of Russian aircraft inventory.

The open source wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c ... y_aircraft

The wiki link mentions some 280 active Su 24s.

Another source:http://www.migflug.com/jetflights/russi ... force.html

The Russian Air Force currently operates the following fighter jets:

– 10 Mikoyan MiG-25 Foxbat
– 200 MiG-29 Fulcrum
– 34 MiG-29SMT Fulcrum E
– 100 MiG-31 Foxhound
– 150 Sukhoi Su-24M Fencer, 110 Su-24MR, 40 Su-24M2
– 110 Su-25 Frogfoot
– 60 Su-25SM
– 200 Su-27SM, 30 Su-27M2, 20 Su-33, 15 Su-34, all Flankers and Flanker variants

The Russians will buy and operate by 2020:

– 24 naval MiG-29K/KUB to operate from Aircraft Carriers (classified as 4++)
– 30 Su-30SM
– 114 Su-34
– 60 Sukhoi Su-50 PAK FA 5th generation stealth Aircraft

Manish_P · Post by **Manish_P** » 18 Nov 2015 15:41

@deejay

Thank you for indulging me kind Sir

I just wanted to see if i could get a sense of how smartly King Khan has managed to hurt some many birds with a few stones which he supplied... the gulf munnas to part with their money and their inbred expendable yahoos, the Bear forced to commit a percentage of it's precious hardware to this front, leaving the Euro munnas to bear the fallout and seek/buy help of Khan to deal with it.

Nicely done

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 18 Nov 2015 15:42

French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle departs Toulon to take on ISIS:

https://twitter.com/MaherMed1/status/666932430138449922

Maher Med
‏@MaherMed1
Le charle de gaulle appareil de toulon pour 4 moins en mer pour la mission lutte contre daesh bon ver bonne mer !!! View translation