Levant crisis - III

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 09:46

"Western Intel: Russia to Launch Aleppo Operation with Arrival of Aircraft Carrier in Days"

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950810001531

Friday, will be the last day for the US backed terrorist to exit the Aleppo-Stalingrad cauldron with their lives.

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 09:49

Evseev stressed that "if we continue to wait and prolong humanitarian pauses, there will be no people left in Aleppo. Without air support, losses are too high. It's necessary to free the city quickly, and to think less about the West thinks about it."

Exactly. No more stupid formerly-known-as-ceasefires.

Military expert-Russia's decision to send fleet of warships to Mediterranean likely saved Syria from being bombed by US cruise missiles.
https://www.sott.net/article/332846-Mil ... e-missiles

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 09:50

Speculation that the build-up of troops in Aleppo is for an offensive aimed at al-Bab timed to begin with the arrival of the Russian naval task force,

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/11/th ... leppo.html

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 09:54

26 dead/injured including a rebel leader due to rebel infighting in Aleppo via SOHR

The terrorists of AlZinki and FatahAlSham are attacking the terrorists of Estaqam in eastern Aleppo.

SOHR: 26 terrorists killed in the clashes between AlZinki terrorists & Estaqam terrorists in eastern Aleppo

Reports say reason of attack is disagreement regarding weapon distribution while others claim some estaqam militants want to leave the city

JaishAlFatah's leaflets read: we will allow all those aged under 14 and over 55 to leave #Aleppo if they each pay 150,000 Syrian pounds

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 09:54

Russia tells rebels to leave Syria's Aleppo by Friday evening

Turkish Chief of Staff arrives in Moscow, Russia

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 09:57

terrorist infighting has already begun in Aleppo and is expected to increase as we near Friday deadline.

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 09:59

kuweiris airbase has been upgraded and plays an important support role in Aleppo operations.

Kuweires airbase has been upgraded and received several attack helis from SAAF and RuAF.

Liwa al Quds group was beefed up and now hosts a much larger force beyond Syrian-Palestians, they got local Arabs and Kurds. This force was seen in action in the co opeartion with YPG during the advance against ISIS in the Infantry School and villages around it last week. This operation has received very little coverage, and there is a reason for that, al Bab ops.

Desert Hawks arrived in Aleppo at 1,000 strong, some are in action in al Assad district but most are based in Kuweires.

Tiger Forces have arrived in force as well, piling up in many places, this is a strong force and most likely there are over 2,000 in Aleppo already.

As of Friday night-Saturday morning, we should see action in many fronts at the same time, a big push toward West Aleppo to increase the safety perimeter for the civilians, a big push inside the eastern Aleppo many districts and finally some sort of operation from Kuweires toward Dayr al Hafir and many other ISIS held ground near East Aleppo, this offensive will be coordinated somehow with the advance of other militias toward al Bab, it could have some sort of coordination with YPG but not entirely confirmed yet.

Airpower will be extremely active on the weekend and a lot, I mean a lot of Kalibr missiles will fly from the Med Sea and Caspian Sea.

We should not be surprised to hear about terrorists infighting inside Aleppo, the clock is ticking for Friday and there are many terrorists desperate to leave the pocket.

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 10:04

The Russians will want to use up all the old missiles on the ships that are circa 70s/80s vintage before the northern fleet leaves the mediterranean.

The Kalibers are relatively small 370 pound warheads. There are also Granits in some of those ships with 1 ton warheads.

All these will be used up and replaced with a longer range brahmos equivalent.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 10:05

reports of them offering to let <14 and >55 yo leave for USD 300 each. rest of able bodied will be press ganged in service whether as reluctant cannon fodder or logistical porter.

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 10:10

Turkey's role in Syria severely curtailed post Oct 22

As of 22 October, 2016, no Turkish airplanes have flown into Syrian airspace.

This was after the Syrian Armed Forces promised to shoot down any Turkish plane attempting to cross into Syrian airspace [let it be noted, this is not a Russian promise, although the Russian Armed forces are covering most of Syria, Turkey and Israel].

This means that the Turkey sponsored, takfiri terrorists have no air cover. That, in turn, means they can only move as far as Turkish artillery reaches on/into Syrian soil [roughly 20 miles] to cover their sorry asses. Thus, the 'race' for Al-Bab has been slowed down considerably [against the US-Zionist war machine's favor] and might buy the SAA + Allied Forces enough time to firmly secure it back into Syrian hands, where it rightfully belongs.

Once the carrier group is safely mored in and around Tartus harbor, all hell will break lose in Aleppo. Those holed up in Eastern Aleppo have been given one last, and final chance to make it out alive.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 03 Nov 2016 12:56

Video : Watch how #Iraqi_Army Aviation's Mi-28NEs & AI-407s are dealing with #ISIL/ DAESH during the battle of #Mosul

https://twitter.com/BabakTaghvaee/statu ... 0171784192

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 13:35

how in gods name are the iranians able to keep the F-14 operational? these had P&W engines and 1000s of parts made in amrika only as F-14 was never exported or license made anywhere. is there some track2 channel in which they are "allowed" to deal with the OEM or buy retired F-14 airframes to cannibalize for parts in exchange for help on other fronts ?

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 03 Nov 2016 13:40

expected whine from London media as IS is crushed in Mosul:

BBC
Some militia men are torturing IS suspects & supporters in East Mosul as Iraq army is advancing ahead . Army has warned militiamen not to indulge in such activities.

Independent
Liberation of Mosul will deepen sectarian divide in Iraq.

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

^^ some 12 VBIEDs were killed yesterday. sitting ducks for warm atgms in open terrain.

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha 1h1 hour ago
PMU reach 'Adiyah crossing thus cutting one of IS' last supply routes btw Mosul-Raqqa, to cut IS off completely they will need Tel Afar

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha 1h1 hour ago
Abo Mahdi al-Mohandis says 50% of objectives in west Mosul have been completed with capture of approx. 55 villages

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 15:09

Mohandis ji keeping a hawks eye on the proceedings with that huge telescope

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 15:11

i guess the iraqi army will choose night and blanket the areas they want to enter in smoke shells and flood each selected area with manpower to overpower and scare off any daesh found loitering around ...

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 15:47

Al masdar....

On Wednesday night, a Syrian military source told Al-Masdar News that a large number of Jaysh Al-Fateh fighters arrived to the Minyan and Al-Assad suburbs in western Aleppo, replenishing the jihadist rebel losses over the course of a week.

Jaysh Al-Fateh is reportedly preparing to launch another large-scale attack to break the siege on the eastern districts of Aleppo in the coming days.

While airstrikes are limited, the Syrian Armed Forces and Hezbollah have managed to hold their ground against the swarming jihadist rebels that are prone to conduct suicide attacks.

In the meantime, the Syrian Armed Forces and Hezbollah have taken the offensive to recapture territory they lost to the jihadist rebels 10 days ago

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 15:50

Battle for Aleppo heats up as Jaysh Al-Fateh reinforcements pour into western suburbs

https://aml.ink/rHBiy

Russian navy Admiral Grigorovich class frigate loaded with Kalibr missiles is heading towards the Syrian coasts

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 03 Nov 2016 15:58

russian mercs secretly dying for the kremlin in syria........

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-midea ... 2Y0M6?il=0

Except Kolganov and Morozov were not employed by the Russian state. They were in Syria as private contractors, a small part of an army of such people who are being deployed secretly by the Kremlin in Syria.

The deaths of Kolganov and Morozov, and others like them, have not been made public. Families say they were given little information and told not discuss the cases. In at least one case that Reuters uncovered, the family of a fighter killed in Syria received a payout of around $100,000 in compensation.

Officially, Russia is participating only in an air war over Syria with a small number of special forces on the ground. Moscow denies that its troops are involved in regular ground combat operations.

However, in interviews with more than a dozen people with direct knowledge of these deployments, Reuters has established that Russian fighters are playing a more substantial role in ground combat than that the role the Kremlin says is being played by the regular Russian military.

The sources described the Russian fighters as contractors or mercenaries, hired by a private company, rather than regular troops. But despite their unofficial status, according to these accounts, they operate in coordination with the Russian military and are given privileges back home normally available only to serving soldiers.

They fly to Syria on board Russian military aircraft which land at Russian bases. When they are injured, they are treated in hospitals reserved for the Russian military and get state medals, people interviewed by Reuters said.

Reuters was not able to determine the precise number of such Russian mercenaries fighting in Syria, nor the total number of casualties they have sustained, but three people familiar with the deployments said there were many units of a similar size to the one that included Kolganov and Morozov.

Neither the Kremlin nor the defense ministry responded to questions from Reuters. Reuters was unable to obtain comment from Syrian officials on the question of Russian mercenaries.

Reuters was not able to identify the company or companies that hired the fighters, or the source of any payments to the fighters or their families.

THE KREMLIN'S BIDDING

Under Russian law, it is illegal to work as a private military contractor in another country. However, Russian citizens have participated in wars across the former Soviet Union throughout the 25 years since it broke up in 1991.

In 2014, large numbers of Russians fought openly on behalf of pro-Moscow separatists in Ukraine. Western countries say those rebel units were organized, paid and armed by Moscow; the Kremlin says any Russians there were independent volunteers.

Last year, Russia joined the war in Syria, its first conflict outside the borders of the former Soviet Union since the Cold War. Word got out among veterans of the Ukraine conflict that mercenaries were needed.

According to three people who knew Morozov and Kolganov, both had fought in Ukraine as part of the same unit that would eventually take them to Syria. It was led by a man who goes by the nomme de guerre "Vagner", who has become a leader of Russian mercenary forces in Syria, one of the sources said.

Little is known of his real identity. Two of Vagner's comrades say he had already traveled to Syria as a mercenary in 2013, before commanding his group of Russian fighters in eastern Ukraine. He then headed back to Syria, where Russia began its intervention in Sept. 2015.

A Russian-language website, Fontanka, has published what it says is the only known photo of him, a picture of a bald man in military fatigues striding near a helicopter. The website said his name was Dmitry Utkin. Reuters could not verify the image or the name.

One Ukrainian rebel commander who was close to the Vagner group in eastern Ukraine said many of the fighters there were tempted to fight in Syria because they had found it difficult to return to civilian life.

"I meet them now and see how much they have changed. I simply have nothing to discuss with them. They can't imagine any other life but war. That's why they go fight in Syria."

Morozov, the fighter who was killed near Palmyra, had returned from Ukraine to his home in southern Russia and dabbled in local politics.

He served as an aide to a member of parliament originally from his native city of Samara, Mikhail Degtyaryov. Degtyaryov told Reuters Morozov was a friend and confirmed that he had died in combat during the battle for Palmyra.

"Kapa", a former Russian officer and volunteer in the Ukraine conflict who asked to be identified only by a nomme de guerre, was friends with Morozov and also knew Kolganov and several other Russians who fought in Ukraine and went on to fight in Syria with the Vagner group. He is still in contact with some of them.

He said Morozov became frustrated when he attended a meeting of the far-right LDPR party, and no one listened to him. Morozov gave up lucrative business ventures to rejoin his Vagner comrades in Syria, Kapa said.

According to Kapa, Russian veterans of the Ukraine fighting were recruited for ground combat in Syria when it became clear that Syrians would not be able to hold ground without help, despite Russian air support.

"The Arabs are not warriors by nature, but are thrown together and told to storm high ground. They don't know how to storm it let alone conquer their instincts and move towards the bullets. How can you make them do it? Only by setting yourself as an example," Kapa said. "That's why our guys reinforced their units."

Asked if fighters in the group coordinated with the Russian defense ministry, Kapa said: "Of course".

According to two people who knew different fighters, they arrive in Syria via ships that land in the port of Tartous, leased by the Russian navy, or in military aircraft that land at Russia's Hmeymim air base in western Syria.

A doctor at a Russian military hospital told Reuters the wounded are evacuated to Russia on board military cargo planes and then treated in military hospitals.

The doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared losing his job, said he had personally treated contractors injured in Syria, whose role there was clear from their conversations.

His hospital is officially meant to admit only serving military personnel, their family members or veterans who have served long careers in the military, a category his patients were too young to fit, the doctor said.

When Morozov and Kolganov were killed, their bodies were flown to Russia aboard military aircraft and delivered to a morgue used by the military in the southern city of Rostov, according to relatives and Morozov's friend Kapa.

A Reuters reporter saw the Order of Courage which was given posthumously to Kolganov. It was delivered to his family home in Togliatti, a city on the Volga river, by someone in civilian clothes who did not identify himself, according to relatives. Reuters has also seen a photograph of Morozov's Order of Courage, dated Sept. 7, 2016.

SECRECY

Kolganov never told his relatives where he was deployed, but pictures he sent contained clues. One of them, in which he posed under an orange tree, is now on the wall of his parents' house.

The family got proof he was in Syria only after his death, when they saw his passport with a Syrian stamp in it.

The people who informed the family by phone of his death, and the people who turned over the body in the Rostov morgue, did not explain where he was killed or who he had been working for, the relatives said. The people they interacted with did not identify themselves and told the family not to talk to reporters, the relatives said.

In another case, a 55-year-old Russian woman said her husband was killed this year while working as a military contractor in Syria. She did not want her name, or her husband's, to be published because she feared reprisals.

"They only told me about it after his death. A young man ... phoned and told me. And he also threatened me, so I would never tell anyone about it," she said. "They are scary people."

By contrast, Russian authorities do acknowledge some combat deaths among serving military personnel, though often with a delay and without keeping an official tally.

Reuters was unable to determine how many Russians have died in Syria. According to Kapa, the small unit that included Kolganov and Morozov has lost four fighters since the start of the Russian campaign in Syria, including its commander, killed in the same firefight as Morozov. Dozens have been wounded.

Reuters earlier reported that Russian major Sergei Chupov was killed in Syria on Feb. 8 He also belonged to the Vagner group, a person who knew him told Reuters.

The doctor at the military hospital who spoke to Reuters said that the surgical department where he works had treated six or seven Russian fighters back from Syria with combat injuries who were not serving Russian servicemen.

The overall number of wounded contractors treated at his hospital could be a few times higher, the doctor said. He also says he knows of at least two more hospitals in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg where contractors are treated.

(Writing by Christian Lowe and Maria Tsvetkova; editing by Andrew Osborn and Peter Graff)

NEXT IN WORLD NEWS

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 16:03

well thats the same as blackwater, dyncorp and CIA "contractors" spreading around peace and democracy including places like abu ghraib ....govts all over have a place for such people who act in own interest, take more risk, do stuff the govts cannot officially do and get paid handsomely.

due to their vast Socom type outfits / cia / kgb, the P2 have a advantage in deployable people with high skills, past exp and willing to do stuff for good money.

russia has quickly picked up this capitalist outsourcing model from its inventor the usa

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 16:08

an old article:
https://www.wired.com/2003/02/gunhire/
DynCorp represents nothing less than the future of national security. While outfits like Raytheon make their money developing weapons systems, DynCorp offers the military an alternative to itself. In 2002, the company took in $2.3 billion doing what you probably thought was Pentagon work. DynCorp planes and pilots fly the defoliation missions that are the centerpiece of Plan Colombia. Armed DynCorp employees constitute the core of the police force in Bosnia. DynCorp troops protect Afghan president Hamid Karzai. DynCorp manages the border posts between the US and Mexico, many of the Pentagon's weapons-testing ranges, and the entire Air Force One fleet of presidential planes and helicopters. During the Persian Gulf War, it was DynCorp employees, not soldiers, who serviced and rearmed American combat choppers, and it's DynCorp's people, not military personnel, who late last year began "forward deploying" equipment and ammunition to the Middle East in preparation for war with Iraq. DynCorp inventories everything seized by the Justice Department's Asset Forfeiture Program, runs the Naval Air Warfare Center at Patuxent River, Maryland, and is producing the smallpox and anthrax vaccines the government may use to inoculate everyone in the United States.

That security work earns DynCorp about half its bread and butter. The other half comes from serving as the information technology department of just about every three-letter national security, law enforcement, and defense-related agency of government, as well as the more peaceable kingdoms of the Departments of State and Justice, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Centers for Disease Control. Among its lucrative contracts, DynCorp is networking all the American embassies abroad, taking the government's emergency phone system wireless, and building a 29,000-terminal computer network for the FBI called Trilogy. As many as three dozen companies do contract work for the Pentagon, and many more sell IT services to the Feds. But DynCorp is special, because it manages both bits and bombs for Uncle Sam.

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 16:13

enjoy this old video for a hearty laugh

ISIS sniper vs Iraqi soldier
action precisely @ 3:15

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 03 Nov 2016 16:20

Map of Syrian Civil War ( updated )

http://syria.liveuamap.com/

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 16:40

Peto Lucem Retweeted
SyrianMilitaryCap. ‏@syrianmilitary 16h16 hours ago
Liwa Al-Quds alone got now 9500 fighters ready to engage in #Op_DawnOfVictory to liberate all of #Aleppo

habal · Post by **habal** » 03 Nov 2016 17:24

this fat saudi suicide bomber blew himself up today in Aleppo
as you can see he believes in the one devil

please pray for his speedy descent into hell.

Philip · Post by **Philip** » 03 Nov 2016 18:01

http://cyprus-mail.com/2016/11/03/cypru ... g-request/

Cyprus urged to ignore any Russian naval refuelling request
NOVEMBER 3RD, 2016 JEAN CHRISTOU CYPRUS 63 COMMENTS
Cyprus urged to ignore any Russian naval refuelling request
Russia's sole aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov

A global activist group has sent a message to all its Cypriot and Greek members to pressure the government in case a Russian navy flotilla believed to be on its way to Syria for a final push against anti-government rebels in Aleppo, stops in Cyprus for refuelling after Spain and Malta refused.

Avaaz, whose members use the internet and social media to bring pressure to bear when it comes to global, regional and national issues, told the Cyprus Mail on Wednesday that it had contacted Cypriot and Greek members to be ready to act.

Nato has been monitoring Russia’s eight-strong carrier battle group, which has entered the Mediterranean.

Germany-based Avaaz campaigner Rene Engel told the Cyprus Mail that given Cyprus’ close relations with Russia, it was logical to assume the flotilla would dock in Cyprus if it needed to refuel.

In February last year, during a visit to Moscow, President Nicos Anastasiades firmed up an understanding with Russia allowing its warships to dock in Limassol and Larnaca.

“We sent an email to our Cypriot members, asking them to call the president’s and the foreign minister’s office,” said Engel. “Depending on further developments, we might continue our push.”

A source at the Russian embassy in Nicosia however told the Cyprus Mail they had already been asked the refuelling question by Russian media and the indications were that the flotilla would not dock in Cyprus as it was self-sufficient. “At the moment there is no such information,” the source said.

The Russian RT website quoted a defence ministry spokesman saying: “The Russian aircraft carrier group is fully supplied with sufficient material stocks to carry out its mission in the off-shore maritime zone in autonomous mode.”

It was not known on Wednesday the exact location of the Russian fleet.

“We campaigned and put pressure on Spain so the ships would not be fuelled in Spain. Our members sent many hundreds of messages to the Spanish authorities,” said Engel. “We then turned to Malta, putting pressure on the government until they announced that the Russian ships wouldn’t be refuelled in Malta. Now we are campaigning in Greece and Cyprus. It is not unlikely they’d stop there again. Cyprus is very likely to be Russia’s port of choice.”

He said intel indicated the ships had already passed Sardegna, and could be in Cyprus as soon as Thursday.

Russia has denied that it asked Spain to let a flotilla refuel in the port of Ceuta. “There had been no requests sent from the Russian defence ministry to the Spanish authorities,” Interfax cited ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov as saying.

However, the Spanish government said it had granted permission in September for the three Russian ships to dock in Ceuta between October 28 and November 2 in line with its long-standing practice of allowing Russian navy ships to visit its ports. The foreign ministry said it had then asked the Russian embassy in Madrid for clarification after reports the three ships would support attacks on Aleppo. The Russian embassy in Spain had confirmed that Moscow had withdrawn a request for the warships to refuel in Ceuta, the RIA news agency reported. It gave no reason for the change of heart.

The Times of Malta reported its foreign minister, George Vella, dismissing claims that the warships would stop there. However, the opposition asked in parliament whether permission for the Russian flotilla to stop in Maltese waters was originally granted, and then withdrawn. In reply, Vella said that he would not go into the issue of whether permissions had been sought. “What is being made clear is that Malta will not be party to the obscenities being committed in Aleppo,” he said.

British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told reporters in Brussels that London would be “extremely concerned that any Nato member should consider assisting a Russian carrier group that might end up bombing Syrian civilians. Cyprus is not a member of Nato. The Cypriot foreign ministry could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The Russian naval group, which passed through the English Channel on Friday, is made up of Russia’s sole aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, as well as a nuclear-powered battle cruiser, two anti-submarine warships and four support vessels, likely escorted by submarines.

The naval deployment is carrying dozens of fighter bombers and helicopters and is expected to join around 10 other Russian vessels already off the Syrian coast, diplomats said.

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 03 Nov 2016 18:07

Mosul: The ugly, deadly urban warfare facing Iraq's elite troops
Iraqi Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) personnel carry an injured comrade during clashes with Islamic State (IS) on the eastern edges of Mosul,
Iraq's counter-terrorism forces admit that the mission to retake Mosul could take months
The fight to retake the city of Mosul has barely begun, and militants loyal to so-called Islamic State (IS) have shown that they will not be leaving quietly.
Snipers, car bombs and booby traps were awaiting the Iraqi elite counter-terrorism forces on Tuesday as they approached the city from the east.
The men of the CTF, as the special forces are known in Iraq, appear casual - but make no mistake, they are ready.
Many have scars from Ramadi or Falluja - or both. They have lost friends. Some are younger than you might expect for the fighting they have experienced.
Many are also recently married - it is common practice before deploying for battle - and they are keen to show pictures of their new brides on their smart phones.
From low-ranked soldiers to top generals, two things are repeated with sincerity when talking to the CTF; this is not going to be an easy fight. The mission could take months.
But liberating Mosul is the fight they have been waiting for. They see the city as a bastion of hatred, a place where a poisoned cloud formed before it blew across their country.
That has nothing to do, however, with how they view the massive civilian population of Mosul.
An Iraqi counter terrorism soldier holds a detonator for a bomb after making it safe during the offensive to recapture the city of Mosul from Islamic
The CTF have to contend with snipers, car bombs and booby traps as they approach Mosul
Arguably, nobody better understands what life has been like for civilians living under IS rule than the CTF, who are often the first to enter occupied areas.
A Humvee gunner, who is known as "The Bullet", has been shot and is riddled with shrapnel after fighting in other parts of Iraq over the past year.
We show each other pictures of our families and he tells me he only has two "loves" - his wife and his country.
His smile does not give away all that he has done and seen.
His friend, another gunner, shows me pictures of tortured bodies that the pair had come across in Falluja.
One commander is Major Salam - he has a full name, but here, he doesn't need it. His men follow him without question and he is known as a "door-kicker".
He is always in front of his men; his body is visibly riddled with proof of his "lead by example" mantra. He spent weeks in France this year for medical reasons, after fighting in Falluja.
If there are unsung heroes in their ranks, it is the men driving the bulldozers. They are sent in quickly to destroy the wildly complicated network of tunnels that IS has been using for over two years to avoid air strikes from the US-led coalition.
The tunnels are often rigged with powerful explosives, set up as the enemy retreats further into the heart of the city.
Urban warfare - ugly, confusing and deadly - awaits the CTF and thousands of other Iraqi forces in Mosul.
Nobody thinks a genuine victory will be easy or bloodless.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 20:59

Hayder al-Khoei Retweeted
Mustafa Salim
4h
Mustafa Salim ‏@Mustafa_salimb
9th division of Iraqi army have stormed Intisar neighborhood east #Mosul according to Iraqi state TV. #MosulOps

Hayder al-Khoei Retweeted
Brett McGurk
3h
Brett McGurk ‏@brett_mcgurk
Milestone: Iraqi forces enter eastern neighborhoods of #Mosul this morning. New advances on all axes. Ways to go, but ahead of schedule.

Hayder al-Khoei Retweeted
Al Arabiya English
3h
Al Arabiya English ‏@AlArabiya_Eng
Popular Mobilization Units cutoff vital ISIS supply route in Mosul http://ara.tv/rah6q

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 21:01

Daesh has no real fighters or emirs in mosul at this point.
The suicide bombers and child soldiers are left.

Imo iraqis will crush them soon.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 21:01

Anyone with value or clout shifted to raqqa a while ago

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 21:06

Pmu continues to roll on killing isolated nets of rats , seizing unused svbied, isis prep and bark are worse than bite....underwhelming show by khalifa rats so far..posing on pickups and beheading the helpless is easier than real fighting

Iraqi PMU English – ‏@pmu_english

#BREAKING - #Iraqi #PMU 5th day of #Tal_Afar operations has liberated 155KM² (total for 5 days - 705KM²) from #ISIS west of #Mosul.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 21:15

Amp news.

Iraqi forces have cleared two blocks of al Intisar
Witnesses say they have entered a second neighborhood of al Samah, north of al Intisar
Soldiers have destroyed five vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices in al Intisar
The Defense Ministry says there is a safe passage for civilians to flee the front line
Hundreds of civilians have poured out of Mosul
Coalition warplanes have struck several targets, US members of the operation say
Among targets hit were an ISIS convoy carrying senior members, a bridge, an IED factory and two tunnels

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 21:17

Again lots of ied and svbied and not enough zombies to use them

Hope no leniency is shown to surrendering daesh they r not uniformed army so geneva conventions on pow dont really apply....iraqis could take tips from old gen dostum and the qila e janghi thing.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Nov 2016 21:56

I hope they get Beg daddy and behead him and display his head for all the Yezdis to get some solace.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 22:30

The khalifa is perhaps already in jeddah getting plastic surgery done.

The smarter chimps defected to nusra or shams front at various points or other quaeda franchisees

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 22:46

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts
IRAQ: UK intelligence believes ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi is no longer in #Mosul
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... CMP=twt_gu …

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 03 Nov 2016 22:50

Nice map by la carabinier

https://mobile.twitter.com/LCarabinier/ ... 2459175936

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 03 Nov 2016 23:55

Iraqi soldiers tear down IS flags from their posts as resistance crumbles

Men trim beard and wait inside mosque for war to get over

Retreating IS putting oil wells on fire

IndraD · Post by **IndraD** » 04 Nov 2016 02:56

British intelligence suggests Bag Daddy has escaped into safety out of Mosul

In other news : IS fighters are shaving beard and melting into Mosul crowd.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... r-in-mosul

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 04 Nov 2016 02:59

Melting into the crowd doesn't help a lot beyond Day 1: the residents will be happy to wait for the initial combat soldiers to leave and then lynch them. BTW, is it just me, or does the camo uniform of the Daesh soosai bummer look like standard US Army issue?
Isn't the small print there saying:

FROM THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, TO THE TERRORISTS OF SAUDI ARABIA. COMPLIMENTS OF PRESIDENT OBAMA AND THE CLINTON FOUNDATION.