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

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Mar 2016 10:30

so stockpiles of artillery and armour continue to build up in the desert of the tabqah road....east of hama.

jisr al shugour will be mainly infantry and liberal use of ATGMs for pinpoint attacks as the city is populated i think...terrain does not favour much armour.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 02 Mar 2016 12:37

jisr al sigh-hour pop-e-lation 44000 pre refugee outflux. Why is this not an artillary candidate? The baltics and nordics are supplying bm21s all around. Put those battery radars in position and send in a salvo or two of bm21s. sigh hour will be pisshour in minutes. And sighour unforunately does have a role for armor if you want to fight house to house. it is well enough connected with the plains in the south and even the latakia to the west is still generally downhill, so saa on those hills can send down grapes of rath or whatever they are calling them.

the slow progress, lack of media updates even on teetar, cess-ass-ass-ation etc all mean there is a lot more nautanki going on as far as nusra is concerned. they are cornered arent really attacking anyone, they will be picked off at random.

the news will come from the western fronts first. they need to make any allaince push moot by disrupting raqqa and diyar-ez-zor.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Mar 2016 12:47

operation 'divine wind' might start soon...

The Syrian Arab Army’s “Tiger Forces” will not be returning to the east Aleppo front anytime soon because they have now been tasked with a different objective that will make their past missions seem minuscule in comparison to the present. Following the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham’s (ISIS) abrupt offensive that cutoff the Syrian government’s only supply route to the Aleppo Governorate, the Tiger Forces were given direct orders from Syrian Arab Army’s Central Command to redeploy to the desert-city of Ithriya and await further instruction. Since the Khanasser-Aleppo Road is now free of danger, the Tiger Forces and their pro-government allies are preparing for what is likely to be the largest military operation launched during this brutal conflict. The Tiger Forces’ presence in Ithriya is no coincidence, they are going to assault the western countryside of the Al-Raqqa Governorate and they are going to lead the operation to liberate the Tabaqa Military Airport from ISIS. The desert-city of Ithriya is strategically located in the Hama Governorate’s northeastern countryside; it borders the Aleppo Governorate to the north and it is situated 15 km west of the Al-Raqqa axis. This operation is part of a much larger military initiative that includes the recapture of Palmyra (Tadmur) and Jaroud Qarah in the Qalamoun Mountains from ISIS. Sources from the Tiger Forces have confirmed their location and they have even provided insight into their future operations. When will this offensive start? It is likely going to begin in the coming weeks as the local militias and the Syrian Arab Army clean-up the Khanasser countryside.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/sy ... offensive/ | Al-Masdar News

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Mar 2016 12:49

irani run tank engine depot in iraq
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CcfYk8kWoAA9Psd.jpg

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Mar 2016 13:25

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Mar 2016 13:29

the "world community" is having a hard time managing syria+iraq which is 1/20 of the sahel+maghreb area

the contagion cannot be defeated in this manner.

the mother alien in KSA wahabi funding and preaching has to be neutralized - her children will wither one by one...

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 02 Mar 2016 13:31

The Gulf Sunni states started by asking their citizens to leave Lebanon. Then Saudis cancelled their military aid to Lebabon. Yesterday a ship with illegal arms from Turkey to Lebanon is caught in Greece. Today, the Sunni gulf states declare Hezbollah a "Terrorist Organisation". A build up to what? Another colour revolution - now in Lebanon?

Haidar Sumeri ‏@IraqiSecurity now1 minute ago
BREAKING: Persian Gulf states declare Hezbollah a terrorist organisation

Haidar Sumeri ‏@IraqiSecurity now50 seconds ago
Persian Gulf states have reached maximum levels of desperation. Hashd spoiled their plans for #Iraq, #Yemen is their Vietnam, #Iran deal...

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Mar 2016 14:48

lebanon has a messed up govt and weak economy...locusts have gathered. there is a contiguous belt of benched jihadis in south damascus & homs province adjacent to lebanese border who can be used a billables in this new project.

what they could not do in syria will try in lebanon and this time israel is also nearby to extend help with their newfound KSA allies.

looks like russis need to open another naval and air base in lebanon to send home a message.

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 02 Mar 2016 15:04

Just like Pakistan, Turkey is entitled to ...

Hassan Ridha Retweeted
The Jerusalem Post ‏@Jerusalem_Post now19 minutes ago
Report: Turkey demands weapons from Israel as part of normalization effort http://dlvr.it/Kg4RsW #IsraelNews

http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politi ... um=twitter

(How dare) ... You want to be my firend? Pay Jaziya first.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Mar 2016 15:55

Washington (CNN)U.S. Special Operations forces have captured their first suspected ISIS operative in Northern Iraq as part of a highly secretive targeting team led by the Army's elite Delta Force, CNN has learned.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Mar 2016 16:31

the lone buyan class corvette in mediterranean launched its kalibr missiles on JN targets near al-ghab plains
http://defence-blog.com/news/russia-lau ... syria.html

indian embassy in jalalabad was attacked by a suicide bomber. so far no reports of any casualties

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Mar 2016 16:36

secret tsirkon hypersonic missiles are said to be undergoing tests for installation on the refurbished kirov class cruisers by 2022.
knowing the number of silos these have, one of them sailing near libya to unload a full load on the future caliphate would be quite a sight.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 02 Mar 2016 17:03

the specialist on bombing Afghan weddings

These guys evidently read PeeAref.

Meanwhile, NATO General testifies on the future Khilafat-e-Oirope

Following testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Supreme Allied Commander Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove told reporters at a Pentagon briefing Tuesday that mass migration spurred by the ongoing conflict in Syria and the threat of ISIS in the Middle East was allowing {Moderate, NATO-backed} terrorists seeking to harm the West to have free movement into the continent.

He said the migration "masks the movement of criminals, {Moderate, NATO-backed} terrorists and foreign fighters (into Europe)."

"Within this mix, (ISIS) is spreading like a cancer, taking advantage of paths of least resistance and threatening European nations, and our own, with {Moderate, NATO-backed} terrorist attacks," he said.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 02 Mar 2016 22:40

U.S. Captures ISIS Operative, Ushering in Tricky Phase
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/world ... eport&_r=0

WASHINGTON — An elite American Special Operations force has captured a significant Islamic State operative in Iraq and is expected to apprehend and interrogate a number of others in coming months, ushering in a new and potentially fraught phase in the fight against the extremist Sunni militant group.American defense officials described the capture as a crucial development in battling the Islamic State but said it also raised questions about handling what is likely to be a growing group of detainees.Although American commandos have captured a handful of Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria in discrete operations in recent years, the Pentagon is now faced with the prospect of detaining a larger group of captives and potentially reprising some of the darkest images of the war in Iraq, particularly the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.The American military has largely fought the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, from the sky, and large numbers of Islamic State fighters have been killed in Iraq and Syria by American airstrikes. The 200-member Special Operations team, made up of many Delta Force commandos, arrived in Iraq in recent weeks and is the first major American combat force on the ground there since the United States pulled out of the country at the end of 2011.
Defense officials said the team had set up safe houses and worked with Iraqi and Kurdish forces to establish informant networks and conduct raids on Islamic State leaders and other important militants.
Officials said the detainee, whom they declined to identify, was being interrogated by American officials at a temporary detention facility in the city of Erbil in northern Iraq. They said the plan was to eventually turn him over to Iraqi or Kurdish officials.Several Defense Department officials declined to say how much information or cooperation they have received from the detainee. They said it could take weeks or months to finish questioning the operative.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 02 Mar 2016 23:32

Phew! The future of Guano Bay Resort is assured, just b4 BO leaves office.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 03 Mar 2016 00:46

turki is also fighting talipaan now -- http://www.ibtimes.com/pentagon-approve ... ds-2328138

more of a bakistan everyday. The red changes to green quite quickly.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 03 Mar 2016 00:52

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/perspec ... ters-.html
China’s proxy war in Syria: Revealing the role of Uighur fighters
( The war will go on for long, recent Lull is to prepare for Kul)

A few months ago, in a remote town in Idlib province, northern Syria, an unusual foreign militant presence alarmed Syrian locals. The fighters were reportedly of the Muslim Uighur minority from Xinjiang province in Western China.For a population which has grown used to the multinational nature of the militancy, two aspects of these new fighters struck them: their large numbers and their ethnicity. A year ago, they were barely hundreds of Uighur fighters, belonging to the Al-Nusra Front-allied Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP). Today, according to several sources in the province, there are a few thousand Uighur fighters, and many of them arrived with their families after a long and treacherous journey from China and central Asia.The Uighur are believed to have been seen in large numbers in disparate regions of Idlib, including the strategic town of Jisr al-Shoghur, Ariha, and the highlands of Jabal al-Zawiya. They have settled with their families in deserted Alawite towns in Jisr al-Shoghur, a local journalist told Al Arabiya English. Videos have emerged since last October purporting to show them fighting in al-Ghab plains in Hama’s western countryside. And in Jib Al-Ahmar in Latakia Province, the propaganda material showcases a tank and U.S. made anti-armor Tow missiles.The Uighur militants had reportedly moved into Syria following a Chinese-backed Pakistani campaign against their bases on the borders with Afghanistan. The Pakistani military claimed they had assassinated the group’s leader, Abdul Haq, in 2010. The Pakistani Defense minister went further during a visit to China last year, to declare the al-Qaeda linked group members have either been killed, or have left Afghanistan somehow.The Uighur’s increasing presence is believed to be behind the string of reports about possible Chinese intervention alongside the Russian and Syrian regime forces.Last December, the Chinese parliament passed a controversial counter terrorism law, which allows the red army to venture abroad. China started building its first overseas naval base in Djibouti, Africa, and conducted in January elite forces trainings for “desert operations” in “unfamiliar territory.”“There are weapons and technical supplies,” a Syrian regime source said, and “the Chinese Embassy’s security delegation has been expanded, suggesting preparations for a wider role, and a Chinese team of experts had arrived in Damascus’s military airport.”The major question, the source continues, is whether the Chinese military would play a crucial role in the fight to regain Idlib. However, a Chinese ground intervention remains highly unlikely, according to Professor Steve Tsang, Associate fellow at Chatham House’s Associate Program. Tsang told Al Arabiya English that he believes the Chinese government lacks both “the military capability and political will” to sustain such an engagement. “The Chinese government will support the Russians as they don’t want to see Assad fall.”
A Syrian militant source in close contact with Uighur fighters believes they are in Syria to stay. The Uighur fighters speak of a treacherous journey from their home province and the Pakistan-Afghan borders to Syria, according to the source, who cites conversations with the militants. “Their journey was very costly, an Uighur fighter told me he sold his house to afford the trip here with his family members. How could he think of returning?”And unlike many other groups and foreign fighters, “they don’t hide their faces, although this carries a huge risk back home. They don’t plan to return,” says the militant.This has reportedly left the Uighur militants totally reliant on Nusra. In fact, their relatively large number enforced the organization’s previously dwindling ranks, as it had suffered in its fight against ISIS. The Uighur have allegedly played a crucial role in Nusra’s recent gains in the Idlib province. Their military achievements and their abstinence from interfering in civilian issues, such as levying taxes or enforcing Sharia law, has rendered them popular among the population, according to sources in Idlib.Their alliance with Nusra is believed to be a continuation of long ties with al-Qaeda, and their allegiance to the Taliban movement. Xinjiang borders both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and their relationship with the Taliban extended beyond the Afghan war in 2001 until the summer of 2015. The party was quick to issue an obituary to the Taliban’s founder, Mullah Omar. According to militant sources in contact with the TIP, their strained relations with ISIS, are partly due to the latter’s tensions with the Taliban in Afghanistan. “Allegiance to Taliban’s leader is of primary significance,” a militant based in Idlib told Al Arabiya English, “they call ISIS ‘Khawarij’ for refusing to pledge allegiance to Taliban’s leader,” whom they consider the true Caliph.The Uighur presence has wider implications on the prospects for Syria, according to a Syrian journalist based in Aleppo. “The regional and international communities want this conflict prolonged,” he says. “This conflict is no longer about Syrians, it is the mother of many other conflicts.”

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 03 Mar 2016 01:08

Sweet. So the TSPA/ISI took $$$$ from the Tarrel and Deepel Fliends and used it to "disappear" the Uighurs by taking money from the Saudis to transport them in the US-supplied-and-paid-for C-130s to Syria. They pocketed the baksheesh from the Uighurs who had to sell their houses and their goats and yaks. Those C-130s also carried the weapons supplied by the Americans and paid-for by Saudis with a nice baksheesh to the Pakis. Probably sold half the young women and the goats to the ISIS in Turkey and pocketed the proceeds. 9000 years of bijnej experience dating from the First Pakistanis who stole the horses of the residents of Mohenjodaro, shows.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 03 Mar 2016 01:17

UlanBatori wrote:Sweet. So the TSPA/ISI took $$$$ from the Tarrel and Deepel Fliends and used it to "disappear" the Uighurs by taking money from the Saudis to transport them in the US-supplied-and-paid-for C-130s to Syria. They pocketed the baksheesh from the Uighurs who had to sell their houses and their goats and yaks. Those C-130s also carried the weapons supplied by the Americans and paid-for by Saudis with a nice baksheesh to the Pakis. Probably sold half the young women and the goats to the ISIS in Turkey and pocketed the proceeds. 9000 years of bijnej experience dating from the First Pakistanis who stole the horses of the residents of Mohenjodaro, shows.

Pakistan is the only old professional whore capable of serving & satisfying three customers simultaneously. Next, some of the missing/stolen arms from Afghanistan will show up in Syria.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Mar 2016 02:48

Jhujar, There are reports of ammo boxes from Wah Cantonment, POF found in Syria.
Do look up the news.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 03 Mar 2016 03:58

ramana wrote:Jhujar, There are reports of ammo boxes from Wah Cantonment, POF found in Syria.
Do look up the news.

Wow, Hope these weapons supplied to Sunni Uighurs by Paki are of Chinese origin.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 06:36

sputniknews

US nuclear submarines started have the five-week-long Ice Exercise (ICEX) in the Arctic Ocean.

© SPUTNIK/ VALERIY MELNIKOV
Breedlove: US Military Considering Capabilities to 'Deter Russia in Arctic'
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — A force of US nuclear submarines has started exercises with the construction of US Navy Ice Camp, the official Navy News Service announced.
"ICEX allows us to assess our operational readiness in the Arctic, increase our experience in the region… and advance our understanding of the Arctic environment," US Navy Submarine Forces Commander Vice Admiral Joseph Tofalo said in the report on Wednesday.

As part of the exercise, a temporary camp is being established on a sheet of ice, known as an ice floe, to maintain submarine readiness and support Arctic objectives and initiatives, the Navy News Service pointed out.
"The Arctic environment plays a key role in national defense. With over a thousand miles of Arctic coastline, the US has strong national security and homeland defense interests in the region," Tofalo noted.

The Arctic is experiencing a trend of diminishing sea ice extent and thickness, creating the likelihood of increased maritime activity in the region, including trans-oceanic shipping and resource extraction, the Navy News Service added.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/us/20160303/1035 ... z41nmBTcgL

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 07:15

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha 15h15 hours ago
Pentagon OKs $683 Million Smart Bomb Deal for Turkey

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 07:19

southern aleppo - iraqi nujaba militia on the march

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 07:25

SFO style hipster hairstyle and beard

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CcjY32pXEAAg9tW.jpg

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 07:26

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 07:29

^ that map is complex but beautiful. in one drawing it captures the whole network of relationships.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 07:31

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 12h12 hours ago
JORDAN: 7 people linked to ISIS killed in clashes with Jordanian special forces in the city of #Irbid last night.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 07:35

paulus 6th army continues to beat themselves on the shores of the eternal volga...

On Wednesday afternoon in the western countryside of the Deir Ezzor Governorate, the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) launched a massive assault at the southern walls of the Deir Ezzor Military Airport, striking the Syrian Arab Army’s front-line defenses with heavy artillery and gunfire before storming the compounds. ISIS began the assault by conducting their usual VBIED (vehicle borne improvised explosive device) attack at the southern guard tower; and per usual, the terrorist attack was foiled by the Syrian Armed Forces before the vehicle could reach its intended destination at the Deir Ezzor Military Airport. Following the failed terrorist attack, ISIS launched a barrage of mortar shells that were coalesced with heavy gunfire towards the southern walls of the Deir Ezzor Military Airport; this was followed by the terrorist group storming the compounds, where they were greeted with machine gun fire from the Syrian Arab Army’s 137th Artillery Brigade of the 17th Reserve Division. According to a military source from the 104th Airborne Brigade, approximately a half 10 ISIS fighters reached the Deir Ezzor Airport’s gates before they were gunned down the Syrian Arab Army; however, one of the fighters was reportedly captured during the intense battle. The Syrian Arab Army identified the terrorist as a Libyan national – no further details were released. In addition to the assault on the Deir Ezzor Military Airport, ISIS also launched a powerful assault on the Syrian Arab Army’s defenses at Jabal Thardeh in the southern part of the province; this assault was later repelled by the latter after a violent battle that lasted 6 hours.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/isis-storms-walls/ | Al-Masdar News

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 07:40

On Wednesday in southern Deir Ezzor, the Syrian Arab Air Force (SAAF) carried out a powerful air raid over the city of Albukamaal, striking several sites belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS). According to a source from the Syrian Arab Army’s 104th Airborne Brigade of the Republican Guard, the Syrian Air Force struck an ISIS’ base inside Albukamaal that housed a prominent official and several of his associates. The ISIS’ official was identified as “Mudallah Al-Rabi’aa” (AKA “Abu Ahmad”) – he was the top official inside the city of Mohassan before being killed by the Syrian Air Force on Wednesday. The Syrian Air Force also carried out a number of airstrikes along the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, hitting several targets inside the villages of Al-Husseiniyah and Hatla in the Deir Ezzor Governorate.

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

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 03 Mar 2016 07:53

Singha wrote:SFO style hipster hairstyle and beard
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CcjY32pXEAAg9tW.jpg

What's this place with the gold/gilt pillars I wonder.

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton 1h1 hour ago
#Syria: U.S. aligned its position w/ Russia + Iran, then pressured its allies into accepting it, says @AcrossTheBay. http://bit.ly/1LUXRLU

What the United States Is Really Doing in Syria
Tag-teaming with Russia and dumping regional allies and NATO, the White House tells the rest of the world to go take a hike

By Tony Badran
" ..... U.S. activity in the northeast of Syria directly complements Russia’s operations in the northwest. There the Russians have focused their bombing campaign on the narrow corridor north of Aleppo leading to the Bab al-Salama border crossing, held by rebel factions backed by Turkey. Russia’s air power supported Iranian forces and their Shiite militias moving up from the south of Aleppo, but it also extended to the U.S.-backed PKK Kurdish forces, moving in from their canton in the west. The Kurds’ bid is to join their northwestern canton of Afrin with their territory in the northeast, where they enjoy a U.S. protective umbrella—with U.S. jets flying out of Turkey’s Incirlik airbase, to add insult to injury.

Turkey had opened the Incirlik base with the hope of obtaining U.S. support for a protected zone in the northern Aleppo corridor. The zone was to shelter civilians, preventing refugee flows, and allow rebel forces to push back against both the Islamic State’s territory east of Aleppo, as well as the Iranian-led forces to its south. Instead, when Russia violated Turkish airspace in November and subsequently moved to deny Turkish access into Syrian airspace, the Obama Administration took the side not of its NATO partner, but of Moscow."

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 08:48

It is mazaar of some religious leader. You can see the grave inside partially. Location Eastern aleppo countryside

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 03 Mar 2016 09:17

Sunshine of the spotless mind’: Russia rebuts NATO accusation of it ‘weaponizing’ migrant crisis

https://www.rt.com/news/334363-breedlov ... -sunshine/

In front of the Senate Armed Services Committee this week, top NATO General Philip Breedlove accused Moscow of siding with the Syrian President and deliberately fueling the displacement of Syrians.

“Together, Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve,” Breedlove told the committee.

Insisting that the influx of migrants to Europe benefited Moscow, Breedlove noted that foreign militants who have been fighting in Syria are now returning back home, where they might use their battlefield skills.

Breedlove added that the alleged strategy was used by both Russian and Syrian presidents to create a distraction for the western countries that have been busy tackling the crisis and did not notice its root cause: “Indiscriminate weapons used by both Bashar al-Assad, and the non-precision use of weapons by the Russian forces.”

Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov called the latest allegations a “recurrence” of the NATO general’s traditional rhetoric which only reaffirms concerns about Breedlove’s “memory dislocation.”

“Taking into account that such recurrence of the ‘sunshine of the spotless mind’ appeared right before the scheduled meeting of the Armed Services Committee, there is no wonder that a decision has been made by the US congressmen to replace him on his post of the Commander-in-Chief of the NATO Joint Force in Europe,” Konashenkov said.

Konashenkov once again pointed out that Moscow could not have possibly been the reason for the refugee crisis, which began long before Russia launched its anti-terror operations in Syria. And unlike the anti-ISIS coalition, Russia’s operations in Syria have alleviated the refugee crisis in the country and led to the first step of the establishment of a peace-making process, Konashenkov added.

“Essential is the fact that as a results of the Russian operation, the UN is registering the reduction of refugee flows from Syria and a process of reconciliation has been initiated, which is something the Western so-called “anti-ISIS coalition” has been unable to achieve over the previous three years of their “fight” against terrorism,” Konashenkov stated.

Responding to the “indiscriminate” and “non-precision” bombing claims, Konashenkov reminded the NATO general that precision of airstrike depends not only on smart weapons, but also on proper intelligence, pilot’s skills and aiming systems of the aircraft. “Sole reliance on ‘supersmart’ or ‘superprecision’ weapons leads American hawks to tragic mistakes with fatal consequences, as it was repeatedly observed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and since recently – in Syria,” Konashenkov said.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 03 Mar 2016 09:59

Iraqi combat helicopter Mi-28NE, strafing Islamist positions using unguided rockets S-13 and 30-mm 2A42 gun.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 03 Mar 2016 11:10

Saudi Arabia turns on Lebanon for its unfaithfulness and lack of gratitude after decades of largesse
After pouring billions into rebuilding the country following successive Israeli invasions and air raids, the Saudis find that they cannot prevent the Shia from expressing their fury at Riyadh
Robert Fisk Beirut
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 07961.html

Saudi Arabia is withdrawing from funding a weapons project for the Lebanese army Getty Images

If you drive from Sunni Muslim Sidon to Shia Muslim southern Lebanon, you can travel from Saudi Arabia to Iran in 10 minutes. Sidon – like Lebanon’s other great Sunni majority city, Tripoli – has always basked in the favour of the Saudi monarchy.

The south, with its mass of Hezbollah fighters – armed and paid for by Tehran, its “martyr” photographs plastered across the walls of every village – has long been a lung through which Saudi Arabia’s Iranian enemies breathe. But now Saudi Arabia, blundering into the civil war in Yemen and threatening to send its overpaid but poorly trained soldiers into Syria, has turned with a vengeance on Lebanon for its unfaithfulness and lack of gratitude after decades of Saudi largesse.
Read more
250 Refugees in 'mortal danger' after being sent back to Syria

After repeatedly promising to spend £3.2bn on new French weapons for the well-trained but hopelessly under-armed Lebanese army, Saudi Arabia has suddenly declined to fund the project – which was eagerly supported by the US and, for greedier reasons, by Paris. Along with other Gulf states, Riyadh has told its citizens not to visit Lebanon or – if they are already there – to leave. Saudi Airlines is supposedly going to halt all flights to Beirut. Lebanon, according to the Saudis, is a centre of “terror”.

What prompted all this spite was a ferocious attack on the House of Saud by Hezbollah’s chairman, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whose battalions are fighting and dying alongside Bashar al-Assad’s soldiers in Syria and killing the Islamist rebels who share a Sunni Wahabi faith with the Saudis.

After pouring billions into Lebanon for decades – rebuilding the country after successive Israeli invasions and air raids – the Saudis find that they cannot prevent the Shia, whose government representatives include Hezbollah party members, from expressing their fury at Riyadh, especially after the Kingdom chopped the head off the popular and learned Saudi Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr. Why, the Saudis say, did Lebanon not even join in the chorus of condemnation against Iran when Saudi diplomats were assaulted in Tehran?
pg-25-lebanon-1-getty.jpg

Bahraini Sheikh Jaffer al-Alawi speaks during a protest held in Beirut, against Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr's execution by Saudi authorities, in January (Getty)

The Saudis will probably regret this assault. Pulling Lebanon’s financial magic carpet away opens the country up to other “friends”, not least Iran which, according to the latest Beirut reports, would be happy to fund the Lebanese army to the tune of £7bn – providing, of course, the newly purchased weapons come from Tehran, and not from Paris.

The Americans and the British, desperate to prop up the secular Lebanese army with enough weapons to protect the country from Isis – which briefly took over the north-eastern Lebanese town of Ersal and still holds nine Lebanese soldiers captive – are pleading with the Saudis to keep their original £3.2bn promise.

But this latest crisis since the last greatest crisis in the drama of Lebanon – which currently has no president and no proper functioning parliament and not even a rubbish collection – is not without its own unique comedy.

Protests follow execution

Saudis will find no problem in abandoning Saudi Airlines’s lacklustre hospitality en route to Beirut in favour of the infinitely more luxurious aircraft of Emirates Airlines. And warnings of “terror” are not going to stop Saudis desperate for the fleshpots of the Levant from travelling to Beirut once the temperatures boil up in the streets of Riyadh and Jeddah.

The nightclubs and high-class sex workers of Lebanon will not fall victim to the aggressive politics of the Kingdom’s young and newly powerful princes. And then there is the unfortunate case of “Prince Captagon”, the Saudi royal family member still in a Lebanese prison for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs on to his private jet at Beirut airport last year.

The moment he was arrested, the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon called up the Lebanese foreign minister and haughtily announced that his immediate release was a “political” imperative.

Read more
Saudi Arabia claims Iran directed spy ring

The Sunni Lebanese Future Movement’s leader and former Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, is a Saudi citizen – as was his assassinated ex-prime minister father Rafiq – and is now quite taken aback by the wilful actions of a nation to which he has always given as much allegiance as he has to Lebanon. The Future Movement, it seems, did not try hard enough to ameliorate Lebanon’s official criticism of Saudi Arabia in the Arab League and should have prevented Hezbollah from destabilising Yemen and Bahrain – even though there is no physical proof that either Hezbollah or Iran have actually been involved in the Yemeni war or the Shia revolt against the Bahraini autarchy, where a Sunni king rules over a Shia majority.

Needless to say, the Sunnis of Tripoli are issuing proclamations of their undying gratitude to the Saudi royal family for the ceaseless flow of dollars which has smothered them in years gone by.

Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek, the head of Hezbollah’s Shariah Council, insisted that it was the Saudis who should apologise to Lebanon which “has always been on the side of the Arab nation”. The country, he said – and this was a prim way of alluding to the Saudis’ abiding interest in the sleazier side of Lebanon’s entertainment industry – was “not a farm for the al-Saud family and others”. But the Hezbollah have their own sniffy way of reacting to insults.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is taken aback by the actions of Saudi Arabia (EPA)

“Spontaneous” Shia protest demonstrations were held in the southern suburbs of Beirut when a local television station lampooned the unassailable Sayyed Nasrallah. A cartoon had depicted the Hezbollah leader proclaiming his total and absolute denial of all Iranian influence – until a hand marked “Iran” appeared from the left-hand side of the screen, at which point the cartoon Nasrallah slobbered all over it.
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Saudi Arabia puts dozens Shia Muslims on trial for spying for Iran

The sad truth is that the Saudis are publicly praised and secretly reviled across the Muslim Middle East because they are very rich and most of their fellow Arabs, comparatively, are very poor. Generous the Saudis have been – propping up their favourite political causes, constantly repairing Lebanon, building hideous new mosques in Bosnia and spending in the casinos of Europe – but open-minded they are not.

No wonder some in Beirut are asking whether, crushed by the collapse of oil prices, the cost of its Yemeni adventure and facing a lake of poverty among its own people, Saudi Arabia isn’t simply running out of money. In which case, a newly desanctioned Iran would be happy to take the monarchy’s place as the financial saviour of Lebanon – as well as play the new policeman of the Middle East, courtesy of the US. Strange, isn’t it, that the name “Israel” hasn’t once popped up in this saga?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 11:44

nibbling on palmyra has started
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/is ... e-palmyra/

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 11:54

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/201 ... -the-kurds

By Paul D. Shinkman March 1, 2016, at 3:35 p.m. + More
America’s most effective ally on the ground in Syria is defecting to its chief adversary

in the war against the Islamic State group, risking the very foundation of the U.S.-led effort to defeat the extremist network.

At least some elements of the Kurdish YPG, the militant arm of the main Kurdish political body in Syria, are now operating with the Russian military in support of the regime of Bashar Assad and his Iranian backers.

Sen. John McCain, the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says the Obama administration has mishandled the critical relationship with the YPG and now is paying the price.

“I’m confident it’s not all the Kurds, but there is a segment that has aligned with the Russians because they want to win, and they see the Russians succeeding where we have failed,” McCain told a group of reporters last week. “Now we are faced with a dilemma … because they think that’s the best way of winning.”

The Arizona Republican is one of a series of coalition officials, analysts or observers who believe America’s self-imposed restrictions for the bloody conflict in Syria have forced the Kurdish fighters on the ground to look for other sources of international support to achieve their goals.

Losing the Kurds would hurt whatever hopes the U.S.-led coalition has of finding victory on the ground in Syria. Fighting units like the YPG have been among the most successful in a war to which Obama has refused to deploy large ground forces. Amid the failed U.S. effort to build an army in Syria of its own, the Kurds are now among the only groups left capable of making such gains.

This problem is magnified by the fact that the powers intervening in Syria have differing priorities. The U.S. wants to defeat the Islamic State group while keeping out of the ongoing Syrian civil war. Turkey, a NATO ally providing a critical base for American warplanes, wants to overthrow the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad, supported now by Russia and Iran and to keep the regional Kurdish population under control.

Meanwhile, the chief priority of the Kurds – an ethnic group of about 25 million to 30 million spread out across Syria, Turkey, Iran and Armenia and a semiautonomous region within Iraq – is securing a territory they can claim as their own when the fighting stops. And they largely don’t care who helps them.

“They would have rather confirmed the U.S. to be their partners, but now Russia is there with robust bombardments and strikes,” says Doga Eralp, a lecturer at the American University School of International Service who believes all warring parties are now jockeying for a position to determine who controls which areas in Syria after some form of cease-fire. “They know their eventual seat at the negotiating table would be secured if they start cooperating with the Russians on the ground. But they wouldn’t openly say that.”

The Kurds don’t have to. Recent combat maneuvers indicate they’re at least coordinating with forces loyal to the Assad regime, trained and supported by Russian special operators and protected by Russian airpower overhead. (Some reports even indicate Syrian opposition fighters have heard Kurdish radio chatter calling in Russian airstrikes directly – but those are unconfirmed and would align with previous false claims the opposition has made.)

For example, when the YPG liberated the Syrian town of Tell Rifaat in mid-February – less than 20 miles north of the opposition stronghold of Aleppo and roughly halfway from Aleppo to the Turkish border – regime forces simultaneously moved on the two villages of Ahras and Misqan to the south of the town, supported by Russian airstrikes.

Neither set of forces engaged one another, which would have been a common outcome if they fought on opposing sides. This serves as enough evidence for Chris Kozak, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, to believe that the two sides are at least passively aligned.

“They aimed at different military targets, but in a coordinated way,” Kozak says.

For the Syrian regime and its international allies, this works well. They wish to create a buffer between themselves and the opposition in the north as well as the Turks. The regime doesn’t need to push toward the border and engage Turkey – possibly provoking other NATO allies in the process – if it can get the Kurds to do that for them.

Regime support also helps Kurdish positions squeeze both sides of the Islamic State group’s sole remaining corridor to the Turkish border north of Aleppo, through which it smuggles fighters, money and supplies to its so-called caliphate. The extremists’ access to the border is abuted by opposition-controled territory also accessible to Turkey, through which it can receive weapons and supplies from Ankara.

Further complicating the process is America’s sticky relationship with the YPG and its parent political organization, the PYD. The U.S. needs Turkish support, not in the least to keep warplanes at Incirlik air base as one of the only nearby hubs for its air war against the Islamic State group.

But the Turkish government fervently believes the YPG is aligned with another Kurdish group within Turkey, the PKK, which both the U.S. and Turkey consider a terrorist organization. Turkey acted on these fears after it finally succumbed to U.S. pressure to join the multi-nation coalition it’s built by immediately attacking Kurdish positions – not the Islamic State group. With Kurdish troops now moving toward the Turkish border, Obama is left in the impossible position of having to support two groups he needs as proxies but who oppose one another.

“We believe the YPG is not affiliated with the PKK,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner repeated last week when pressed on the issue. He added a caveat indicative of how the administration has tried to avoid taking sides: “However, we recognize Turkey’s concerns over PKK and terrorism on the ground and its right to defend itself, but we have urged it to stop shelling over the border.”

Toner said the U.S. has called on the YPG to stop “taking actions on the ground in and around Aleppo” that he called “counterproductive.”

This straddling policy leads to awkward diplomatic incidents, such as when the U.S. denied a visa to PYD emissary Saleh Muslim last year.

But the PYD has since expanded its diplomatic options. Earlier this month, it announced it had opened a delegation office in Moscow.

“Our aim is to strengthen and develop relations with the Russian side, including its civil organizations, political parties, academics,” its chief delegate, Abd Salam Muhammad Ali, told Russian state-sponsored news agency RT. An envoy for the Syrian Kurds told Bloomberg that Russia had committed to protect Kurdish fighters from Turkey, a pledge it may have to fulfill following reports at the end of February Turkey shelled a Kurdish town near the border.

The delicate balance the U.S. is trying to strike between the Turks and the Kurds has left a perfect gap for Russia to further harass the U.S. and to exact revenge on Ankara amid heightened tensions between the two countries, which nearly devolved into all-out war when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet that briefly crossed over into its territory. Moscow, Tehran and Damascus also can now offer the Kurds something Washington can’t: a contiguous region across Syria’s north that would connect Kurdish-liberated areas from Afrin in the northwest, to Kobani, to al Hasakah province in the northeast.

“We’ve over-relied on the Kurds,” says Kozak. “In over-relying on the Kurds, we’ve put our eggs in one basket, and that is a basket that’s limited our opportunities.”

Kozak worries about what happens if the Kurds miscalculate and, as the Russians found out when they flew a plane too close to the border, incur a stronger military response from the Turkish government and President Recep Erdogan.

McCain agrees.

“I’m not a big fan of his, but if I were him, I could see why it’s logical the way they are behaving.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 11:56

this happened in Jan
http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-stran ... le/2000418

Elijah J. Magnier ‏@EjmAlrai 2h2 hours ago
The Lebanese newspaper quotes "diplomatic source" and hints to the role of #Turkey in Col.Gen Sergun' assassination.

Elijah J. Magnier ‏@EjmAlrai 2h2 hours ago
WOW:Col-General Igor Sergun head of #Russia GRU & Deputy Chief f d armed forces was killed in #Beirut says Al-Akhbar

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 12:05

salahaddin, iraq...another iS sent to hell in his vbied
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrlJVEdfWws

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?tx_ttn ... tfoqZN96Ul
How Belgium Became a Top Exporter of Jihad

^^ very interesting read how the shariah orgs built base and links before sending people on to syria

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Mar 2016 13:24

iran/rus have provided a lot of atgm in latakia.
they creep into position, identify the lookout positions and dens of the rebels
then snipe at them with visual guidance. though the missiles are not smokeless tfta like javelin they seem to travel fast and provide no warning even to alert humans.

the heavy weight and tripod of the TOW seems to be hampering the rebels in moving them around in the mountains. might have been taken away to turkey for safekeeping.