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

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Mar 2016 08:57

Thomas van Linge ‏@arabthomness 8h8 hours ago

already know the answer but can we expect the Eiffel tower to be lit up in the colors of the Iraqi flag tonight? Thomas van Linge added,

Thomas van Linge @arabthomness
#Iraq: at least 29 people got killed when a #Daesh militant blew himself up at a soccer match south of #Baghda

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Mar 2016 09:03

a serpent going down still packs a powerful bite.

With preliminary reports suggesting government troops have captured some 50% of Palmyra city itself already, desperate ISIS commanders have demanded their fighters and artillery units to fire several long-range missiles at the Furqlus Gas Plant in eastern Homs. Consequently, the Furqlus Gas Plant has been heavily damaged and is out of work for now. This piece of government-held energy infrastructure supplies Homs City and the Syrian capital of Damascus with gas through an extensive network of pipelines that run through and along the Qalamoun mountains on the border with Lebanon. However, there are several other gas plants that are able to supply these cities – this means the residents of the aforementioned cities will not necessarily be stripped of their energy supply just yet. While many soldiers of the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) 11th Division are stationed here alongside the National Defence Forces (NDF) of Homs, no casualties have yet been reported. Currently, heavy clashes are underway inside Palmyra’s southern and western districts while the ISIS-held city of Quraytayn was also entirely surrounded as of last week.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/is ... a-assault/ | Al-Masdar News

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 26 Mar 2016 09:26

JANES:Russian aviation group in Syria on March 20'

http://bmpd.livejournal.com/1812440.html

Lilo · Post by **Lilo** » 26 Mar 2016 10:07

Bheeshma wrote:
TSJones wrote:
what kind of cr*p question is that?

is the US in favor of Assad retaking territory during the cease fire?

hell no! does that answer everybody's question? can we be more succinct than that?

make me the spokesman for the state department. Please!

we. are. not. pro. Assad. doesn't mean we support ISIS. but Assad needs to go. maybe to Moscow? permanently.
How about the saud family, jordans king and the qatari and bahrani emirs go to USA and stay there permenantly. May soon come true.

Yep for that to happen beatup the ISIS snakes so bad , they turn on their masters as in Speckled Band .

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 26 Mar 2016 10:46

Some hard hitting lately

Russian warplanes deliver airstrikes at 146 facilities near Palmyra — defense ministry

http://tass.ru/en/defense/864947[b]

They made 41 sorties near Palmyra, Homs province, delivering strikes on 146 military facilities of terrorists,[/b] the news-bulletin said.

"Six command points, more than 320 terrorists, five tanks, six pieces of artillery, two ammunition depots and 15 vehicles were destroyed," it added.

"No strikes were made on opposition armed groups who announced cessation of hostilities and provided information about their positions to the Russian or American reconciliation centers," the Russian center said.

More:
http://tass.ru/en/defense/864947

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Mar 2016 11:25

Maybe as in Taliban Case, Isis is Iraq is bad Isis, if the same rat crosses border and hits Assad they are good Isis lol

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 26 Mar 2016 16:45

Ivan Sidorenko, Abo Zain and Al Masdar confirm that SAA & Hezbollah have taken the northern Pamlmyra suburb of Al Almariyah from ISIS.

SAA have withdrawn from western part of the town which they had entered yesterday, as also from Tadmor area and orchards south of Pamlyra. It seems some of yesterdays gains were unanticipated and were too quick to hold on.

Ivan Sidorenko ‏@IvanSidorenko1 now3 hours ago
#Syria #Palmyra #To_Palmyra #Homs @AboZain6 says #SAA had to withdraw from the western part of city they entered yesterday #Badiah Area

Abo Zain's report from the field

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 26 Mar 2016 16:47

I am looking forward to POTUS H. Clinton entertaining the Heroic Syrian Al Nusra and Flee Syrian Army Freedom Fighters in the WHOTUS, like POTUS Reagan honoring the Afghan Freedom Fighters aka Taliban. Also, the Legend of Honor for Al Bagdaddy, like the War College gave to General Mohammed (?) the chief rat of the Pakistan Army of Islam aka Lashkar-e-Toiba.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 26 Mar 2016 16:51

In Palymyra and going on to D-e-Z and A.R., the best strategy seems to be to move in behind artillery, induce the rats to come out and counter-attack, pull out fast and bring in General Vodkov's merry band and mass-exterminate the rats. 320+ score is not bad for a day. As they lose cover, it will hopefully rise to 2500/day until they are all exterminated. Saves the trouble of doing mass executions etc.

OTOH, I don't understand how ISIS was able to hit Homs with long range missiles - where is the S-400 system and Gen. Vodkov? Long-range missiles need pretty heavy Ford launchers, hain?

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 26 Mar 2016 16:52

SAA+ have once again entered the Tadmor suburb.

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha now55 seconds ago
#SOHR: #SAA take control of 1/3 of #Tadmor in the north, north-west, south & south-west parts of the city as #IS withdraws towards Sukhnah

Sukhnah is ~halfway between Palmyra and Dier Ez Zor

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 26 Mar 2016 16:54

UlanBatori wrote:In Palymyra and going on to D-e-Z and A.R., the best strategy seems to be to move in behind artillery, induce the rats to come out and counter-attack, pull out fast and bring in General Vodkov's merry band and mass-exterminate the rats. 320+ score is not bad for a day. As they lose cover, it will hopefully rise to 2500/day until they are all exterminated. Saves the trouble of doing mass executions etc.

OTOH, I don't understand how ISIS was able to hit Homs with long range missiles - where is the S-400 system and Gen. Vodkov? Long-range missiles need pretty heavy Ford launchers, hain?

MBRLS, 155mms, let them rain those shells in the desert. Avoid all CQBs as far as possible. This is an Armour thrust territory.

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 26 Mar 2016 17:26

Peto Lucem ‏@PetoLucem now13 minutes ago
Opp. source: #ISIS is abandoning positions inside #Palmyra to establish a new line of defense at #Sukhna. #Syria

Peto Lucem ‏@PetoLucem now2 hours ago
MAP UPDATE: #ISIS retook sev. areas yesterday, but #SAA recaptured #Amiriyah. #Palmyra / #Tadmur. #Homs #Syria

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 26 Mar 2016 17:45

The trouble here is that the moment SAA 're-takes' a place, ISIS holds the advantage: they are great at all-out assault under cover of sand-storms or darkness/rain, mass-murdering civilians, everyone.

So the ISIS has to be trapped in the open and exterminated. Which takes sustained air assault on their vehicles, given the desert terrain. That still leaves them able to move around on foot - look at the success of the small Houthi bands, going barefoot/sandals across Saudi-held terrain, making the Abrams tanks and F-15s look like so many 2000-year-old monuments. How DO you destroy an army that fights as 3-rat teams? This is Swarm behavior, perfected by someone who knows how to organize swarms. Long-term this is a massive problem, once SAA establishes "control" over the whole nation. It's back to Square One, with all "Freedom Fighter" and "Pro-Democracy" terrorists funded by NATO and KSA and Qatar and Turkey. I think the only way is to turn the swarms back against KSA and Turkey, which would then be next on the Reconstruction list.

habal · Post by **habal** » 26 Mar 2016 18:54

al-sukhna is not exactly half-way point to DeZ but 1/3rd maybe. Main body of isis has retreated to al-sukhna. They have left behind a small force who are trapped inside palmyra to delay SAA advance to Sukhna. They are basically explosives experts booby-trapping cars and planting IEDs that look like large rocks besides the streets.

Terrorist friendly news reporting that ISIS has mostly retreated toward Al Sukhna village, 1/3 of the way to Der ez Zor, the very next target in the allied forces advance toward Zor.

There are still ISIS terrorists inside Tadmor that have the job to buy time for the larger force to retreat, suicidal job. Hopefully SAAF and RuAF will pin point the convoys and hit them head on. Most of Palmyra is about to be ISIS free.

habal · Post by **habal** » 26 Mar 2016 18:58

UlanBatori wrote:How DO you destroy an army that fights as 3-rat teams? This is Swarm behavior, perfected by someone who knows how to organize swarms. Long-term this is a massive problem, once SAA establishes "control" over the whole nation. It's back to Square One, with all "Freedom Fighter" and "Pro-Democracy" terrorists funded by NATO and KSA and Qatar and Turkey. I think the only way is to turn the swarms back against KSA and Turkey, which would then be next on the Reconstruction list.

here is one such swarm ..

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=57957143

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 26 Mar 2016 20:37

other than a few marshes and quicksands most of the desert seems motorable so this enables the rats to escape in small convoys on their own routes using GPS vs sticking to some big convoys and marked roads which can be targeted. its huge sq km of territory...even the great khan with all his drones would be hard put to setup a real time monitoring system over syria to spot small agile moving bands of rats navigating through the desert...

now is the time to press on to al sukanah while leaving a small force demine and mop up the remnants.

else there will be another hard fight in sukanah

habal · Post by **habal** » 26 Mar 2016 20:55

one of the best video of a SAAF Su22 flyby ever recorded, the Su22 low flying with Palmyra's nearby hills on its back is a simply a beauty.

https://twitter.com/MilitaryMediaSy/sta ... 4604829696

https://twitter.com/Ald_Aba/status/713742211507232768

Allied forces battling a street by street fight trying to reach the Tadmur Prison area at the moment, it is reported that some few hundreds ISIS fighters are still inside Tadmur for a suicidal battle to delay the advance, the bulk of ISIS has already left toward Al Sukhna village in the direction of Der ez Zor.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 26 Mar 2016 20:59

News:

'ENGINEERS OF JIHAD' is the title of a book by social scientists Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog that attempts to answer why an unexpectedly large proportion of violent extremists have studied engineering. A Financial Times review calls the book "an important study."

So the elephants are cutting funding for engineering R&D

habal · Post by **habal** » 26 Mar 2016 21:07

mungerilal ke haseen sapne

unfortunately we do not have positive news thread for levant

Israeli and Jordanian Jets Confronted Russian Warplanes on Syrian Border, King Says

'The Russians were shocked and understood they could not mess with us,' says Jordanian King Abdullah, adds that Jordan 'spoke on behalf of Israel' with Russia.

Israeli and Jordanian fighter planes jointly confronted Russian air force jets over the southern Syrian border, according to a briefing by Jordan's King Abdullah to senior members of the United States Congress.

The date of the confrontation was not disclosed during Abdullah's meeting in Washington on January 11. The incident was reported by Middle East Eye, who said it had seen an account of the meeting.

According to the report, the Russian planes were on a mission to survey Israeli defenses on the Syrian border. "We saw the Russians fly down, but they were met with Israeli and Jordanian F-16s, both together in Israeli and Jordanian airspace," Abdullah said.

"The Russians were shocked and understood they could not mess with us."

The incident triggered trilateral efforts to reduce the tension, during which Jordan often spoke "on behalf of Israel" when discussing missions related to the south of Syria with Russia," the king said.

"We discussed an idea on how to keep the Russians in their place," the king told the U.S. members of Congress.

The Israel Defense Forces spokesman refused to comment on the report, the MEE said.

Jordan and Russia subsequently agreed on the borders of their operations. ”We told Russia that we want to liquidate Nusra," Abdullah said, referring to the Al-Qaida affiliate in Syrian. "Russia asked that we give them their positions to hit them, but we refused, so we don't give them a reason to hit the FSA [Free Syria Army] there."

Abdullah said that the Russians were warned that “one bullet across the agreed border in the south, and all gloves are off.”

The joint efforts to reduce tensions were successful, except for an incident in which Russian bombers hit Nusra near the ceasefire line agreed with Moscow: "We over-reacted, so they got the message," Abdullah said.

The situation was different in the north of Syria, where "Russia was hitting everybody," Abdullah said. After the Russians argued that they were not getting targets, Jordan gave them specific coordinates it had received from the U.S.

Abdullah said Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to launch air strikes in Syria came in response to a plea to Moscow from the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

"The Russians were shocked about how weak the Assad regime was and they felt suckered in," the king said. "So Putin needs a way out. Putin lost a passenger plan and a fighter jet, so he has a timeline where he needs to get out.”

Asked about what motivated Putin and whether he was seeking to become "king of the world, regaining Russian glory," Abdullah noted that the threat posed by the Islamic State (ISIS) came up in all his discussions with Putin and that whatever problems terrorism posed in Europe, it was 10 times worse for Russia because of the number of Russians and nationals from former Soviet countries fighting in Syria.

Asked about Putin’s influence on Assad, Abdullah replied: ”If Putin asks Assad to jump, Assad will ask how high.” He noted that when Putin summoned Assad to Moscow, the Syrian leader went alone and without advisers.

Abdullah claimed that Assad was now in a weaker position and more ready for a transition after inviting both Iran and Russian forces into Syria.

He said Turkey wanted Assad to leave immediately, while others wanted his departure in 18 months.

He said that if there was not any progress within two months of a ceasefire, the opposition would become frustrated and start fighting again and Putin, as an ex-KGB agent, understood that.

from these accounts it seems clear to me that what kerry carries in his briefcase (& he insists on carrying it himself) to meetings in gulf is high quality colombian powder.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 26 Mar 2016 21:09

and you don't mean ground coffee...

habal · Post by **habal** » 26 Mar 2016 21:11

umm .. no.

kerry suitcase is grabbing all media attention

http://sputniknews.com/politics/2016032 ... z441gtlhp7

Suresh S · Post by **Suresh S** » 26 Mar 2016 21:37

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... wtUw#t=375

watch this. I like the picture with putin playing chess with the western jokers

.

habal · Post by **habal** » 26 Mar 2016 22:11

reports coming in SAA and suqqour al-sahara (desert falcons) have retaken the tadmor military airport.

about time i must say.

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha
New reports of #SAA & Suqur Al-Sahraa taking control of #Tadmor Airport

habal · Post by **habal** » 27 Mar 2016 05:26

russian airstrikes kill over 100 isis rats

Syrian government forces aided by allied militia units have advanced further into the ancient city of Palmyra with heavy support from Russian airstrikes that killed 100 Islamic State militants over the past 24 hours.

Russian warplanes continued providing crucial support to Syrian forces in their offensive to recapture the Syrian city of Palmyra, a UNESCO Heritage Site, as they carried out 158 airstrikes hitting terrorist targets in and around the city. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, more than 100 extremists were killed in the bombardment, along with several pieces of heavy equipment.

“Russian Aerospace Forces have carried out 40 sorties in the Palmyra region,” a statement published on the Defense Ministry’s official website read, adding that “as a result … four tanks, three artillery pieces, four ammunition depots, and five vehicles were destroyed.”

https://www.rt.com/news/337322-syrian-a ... e-palmyra/

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 27 Mar 2016 05:26

Al-Masdar News ‏@TheArabSource 8h8 hours ago
Breaking: ISIS retreats from #Palmyra Airbase. Map Update http://bit.ly/1SdkQnB

Dr Shahid ‏@DR_SHAHID 3h3 hours ago
Russian airstrikes kill over 100 ISIS militants as Syrian army advances inside Palmyra
#Syria #ISIS #Palmyra #Russia

habal · Post by **habal** » 27 Mar 2016 05:45

Little left of ISIS in Palmyra/Tadmur, fights continues at the Tadmur Prison complex, the eastern neighborhoods and the western orchards, as of now, most of the city is secured.
With smaller numbers still fighting and roads to Palmyra blocked, ISIS can't no longer try a effective counter offensive, battle attrition will deplete ISIS to the last quickly overnight.

Easter Sunday will wake up with a liberated Palmyra.

https://twitter.com/hamza_780/status/713855682425065472

Gyan · Post by **Gyan** » 27 Mar 2016 07:54

What is the size of Assad Airforce? Is it operational?

habal · Post by **habal** » 27 Mar 2016 08:28

as per flight global, these are operational condition:

MiG 29: 20
MiG 23: 12-24 ?
MiG 25: 2
Su 22: 42
Su 24: 18
L 39: 66
Mi 24D/25: 28
Mi 17: 80
Mi 8: "
IL 76: 4
An 26: 6

most of these are based out of homs T-4, so they have easy access to palmyra. MiG-29, IL, An, are bases out of latakia and damascus.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Mar 2016 08:55

there are some su22 in deir azzor also. and some helis which ferry people in and out.

Rus has helped to make the mig29 operational, the su24 may be presently grounded pending repairs and help...quite a potent asset in that theater given its relatively long range and higher bombload.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Mar 2016 09:42

Mi28 spotted over palmyra

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Mar 2016 09:44

some surprises in the top15 pop list. I never imagined TSP had climbed to #6

and BD as #8
also had no idea nigeria , vietnam, ethiopia

and congo had so many people

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 27 Mar 2016 09:46

https://themuslimissue.wordpress.com/20 ... n-himself/

Brave Russian soldier wipes out band of ISIS fighters after calling in airstrikes on himself after being surrounded by jihadistsRussian soldier died a ‘hero’ after directing airstrikes to his own location
Found himself surrounded by ISIS fighters on one-man mission at PalmyraDecided to direct aircraft to bomb his own location, killing the ISIS militantsComes as Syrian forces march into the ISIS-held strategical city of Palmyra

( Good pictures of battle in the link.)

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Mar 2016 09:51

Ulan's favourite piece of gear in palmyra...resting between work shifts.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Mar 2016 09:56

some say this is the man killed in palmyra sergei chupov, 51. some people he had mentored left the brandy and bread on his altar. ISIS had published a photo of the mans gear which was a lot of gear for one man.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-midea ... SKCN0WP2AW

IS claimed to have killed 4 more in palmyra after the first one. it is unlikely 1 man would go so far out alone

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-syria-fou ... te-1550338
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... lmyra.html

2 pics in link above

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Mar 2016 10:08

one of the pics IS published, found on a dead mans phone - potentially a rus team in syria mountains

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Mar 2016 10:10

the dead soldier could be 2nd from right back row....at 51 he looks older than all the others. must have been a really old school type to be doing this at his age...most sf units seem to have people in early 20s to early 30s at most.

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 27 Mar 2016 10:44

It seems Palmyra is now fully under SAA. Most ISIS, if not all have fled the city. Multiple sources reporting this.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/br ... palmyra-2/

Also

Ivan Sidorenko ‏@IvanSidorenko1 now2 minutes ago
#Syria #Palmyra #Tadmor #Tadmur #SAA @AboZain6 #SyrianArmy

and

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha now18 minutes ago
A military source tells AFP that #SAA are now in full control of #Tadmor #Palmyra

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha now25 seconds ago
#SAA & Suqur Al-Sahraa have announced the full liberation of #Tadmor via .@AboZain6

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha now1 minute ago
#Syria State TV officially announces full liberation of #Tadmor from #IS, #SAA teams are currently dismantling huge number of IEDs

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Mar 2016 11:11

Are the desert falcons and magaweer al bahr ( Latakia marine infantry) party of regular SAA or a separate force like irgc is separate chain from Irani army.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 27 Mar 2016 11:11

Singha wrote:some say this is the man killed in palmyra sergei chupov, 51. some people he had mentored left the brandy and bread on his altar. ISIS had published a photo of the mans gear which was a lot of gear for one man.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-midea ... SKCN0WP2AW

IS claimed to have killed 4 more in palmyra after the first one. it is unlikely 1 man would go so far out alone

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/isis-syria-fou ... te-1550338
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... lmyra.html

2 pics in link above

Looks like GRU SF folks either serving or retired and hired as contractor , GRU SF are said to be the most elite of all Russian SF force and used in mil ops

Good is he died fighting then surrendering and then face a brutal death from IS, Respect

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 27 Mar 2016 11:14

Yes a old salt given his juniors have reached 40s. Rip.