Levant crisis - III

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Y. Kanan
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Y. Kanan »

Singha wrote:I figure massa has one more shock in store - SDF and SAA opening track2 channel on how to split the ISIS emirate leaving massans out. what happens in deir azzor will point the way.
* Rubbing their hands together *

"How can we get enough people killed in the next few weeks to plunge the whole place into disaster? We're running out of time!"

Would be funny if it weren't true.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

poster in turkey and a mock beating of santa to tell muslims what to do

Image

https://twitter.com/TurkeyUntold/status ... 2937014274
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Noel = french name for xmas
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

US Coalition Has Been Destroying Syrian Infrastructure Since 2012 - Russian MoD

Read more: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/2017 ... ia-russia/
The US-led international coalition has been systematically bombing the Syrian infrastructure since 2012 and has not targeted Daesh-held oil facilities, the Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday.

"Outgoing CIA head Brennan is well aware of the fact that long before the start of the Russian campaign, the international coalition has been systematically destroying Syria's economic infrastructure to weaken the legitimate government as much as possible, heedless of burdens for civilians resulting in millions of refugees," he said. The ministry's statement comes after CIA chief John Brennan accused Moscow of using "scorched-earth" policy in Syria.

Read more: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/2017 ... ia-russia/
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

its a tried and tested formula used in balkans & iraqi "no fly zone" campaign also.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

outskirts of tal afar - a turkmen unit of PMU takes out a isis patrol with a kornet.

https://twitter.com/IraqiSecurity/statu ... 5381044225
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by IndraD »

Severe water shortage in Damascus : rebels accusing govt of destroying water supply based in Barada where as govt is accusing rebels of releasing diesel in water supply hence they had to cut off http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/03/middl ... index.html
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by IndraD »

Syrian Army captures several sites in Wadi Barada.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by ramana »

Singha wrote:its a tried and tested formula used in balkans & iraqi "no fly zone" campaign also.

That is why Kerry did not get UN approval for striking against ISIS in Syria for they expected misuse of the approval.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by ramana »

GD, Once the dust settles in Syria there will be price to pay by the backers of the anti-Assad movement: KSA and Sunni Gulfates.

I give Saudi family 3 years.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

saudis run a brutal police state with full NATO support political and military . it will not be easy for the shia crescent to bring the war home to KSA even if they be so inclined. shias are hammered anywhere in the GCC. the carnage in yemen goes on.
.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by ramana »

it will be Sunni blowback for the failure to dislodge Assad.
Defeats have consequences as the Tsar found out a hundred years ago.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by IndraD »

The Independent ‏@Independent 23m23 minutes ago
A border guard and an Iraqi refugee have married after falling in love at a migrant camp http://ind.pn/2hRV7Lo

Image
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

I guess if the ahrar+turkiye military intel continue to rat on Nusra like they did yesterday for the 25kia in the airstrike plus lots of targeted assassinations, then nusra will look to go after the backers ... and being AQ front they have global reach including in KSA.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

this is after erdogan has disbanded and jailed most of his senior F-solah pilots...TSPAF operates the same block52 solahs now as tuaf....means even instructor level pilots are in jail or sent home

Миша ن ‏@filokalia 4h4 hours ago
@agitpapa greek officers,close to nato, claim he has hired pakistanis to fly tuaf jets and train his newbies
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

In Syria, with the support of the Russian Airforce destroyed 35 thousand fighters, including 204 field commander -. Russian Defense Ministry
01.04.2017 14:51:07
http://militarynews.ru/story.asp?rid=1&nid=437640
Moscow. 4 January. Interfax -. 35 thousand militants and a half thousand pieces of military equipment destroyed in Syria with the support of aerospace forces of Russia, said on Wednesday at the Defense Ministry.

"Liquidated 725 training camps, 405 factories and workshops for the production of ammunition, and a half thousand pieces of military equipment terrorists, 35 thousand militants, among them - 204 field commander", - he said in the Defense Ministry.

According to the Defense Ministry, with the support of the Russian VKS militants released 12 thousand. 360 square kilometers of the territory of Syria and 499 settlements. '

"We militants seized 448 tanks and other armored vehicles," - said the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation.

According to the Defense Ministry in Syria militants seized 57 multiple launch rocket systems and 418 improvised multiple rocket launchers, 410 mortar shells and more than 28 thousand. Firearms.

"Cleaned and cleared 26 thousand 853 explosive devices at 1 420 thousand hectares in Syria delivered and handed over to the local population, tens of thousands tons of humanitarian aid, medical supplies and other basic necessities...", - He said in the Defense Ministry.

Op
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

france has 14 rafales spread between jordan and uae. while precious little is done over iraq, the ones in jordan seem to be carrying out the occasional strike in palmyra - deir azzor belt. no details released on what targets struck and munitions used.

the new syrian army project on jordan border has gone very quiet lately.

reports that iraq is moving units west from haditha to take two towns standing on the route to Al-Qaim. there is an area crawling with IS held hamlets between haditha and al qaim on the border.

from al qaim its still 160k north up the river to deir azzor, via al bukamal and other towns. the belt from palmyra to deir azzor is truly the middle of nowhere.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Gyan »

Singha wrote:saudis run a brutal police state with full NATO support political and military . it will not be easy for the shia crescent to bring the war home to KSA even if they be so inclined. shias are hammered anywhere in the GCC. the carnage in yemen goes on.
.
Shia Cresent and Sunni GCC combine are almost equally powerful. They will fight long and hard. If Turkey, Pakistan, Algeria, Egypt join in the fray, then GCC Monarchies will lose control of their nations irrespective of the fact which side Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt & Algeria fight on.

I think USA intends to devastate Europe, CIS, Africa and Middle East to remain the pre eminent power.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Singha wrote:france has 14 rafales spread between jordan and uae. while precious little is done over iraq, the ones in jordan seem to be carrying out the occasional strike in palmyra - deir azzor belt. no details released on what targets struck and munitions used.

the new syrian army project on jordan border has gone very quiet lately.

reports that iraq is moving units west from haditha to take two towns standing on the route to Al-Qaim. there is an area crawling with IS held hamlets between haditha and al qaim on the border.

from al qaim its still 160k north up the river to deir azzor, via al bukamal and other towns. the belt from palmyra to deir azzor is truly the middle of nowhere.
Rafale is there for what we call in Bollywood Movies , Guest Appearance :wink:

Even the old Su-24 would have carried more sorties against IS then Rafale would have done so far.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

and they claim it can even carry out 10 sorties a day for a week with relevant number of pilots.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by IndraD »

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/tur ... an-n703286

Turks Turn Down U.S. Military Help in Syria, Accept Russian Aid Instead
The American military did conduct a show of force over al Bab recently, but they just flew several jets over the city, they didn't strike anything.

U.S. military officials are baffled at the Turkish refusal of air support. When asked whether the Russians have been striking ISIS in al Bab, one official said, "for now they are."

Al Bab sits about halfway between Aleppo and Manbij and the U.S. is concerned that once the Turks take back the city from ISIS, they will continue northeast to Manbij to confront the Syrian Kurds (YPG) who were part of the liberation of that city several months ago. The Turks consider the YPG to be a terrorist organization, but they are part of the opposition Syrian Democratic Forces that the U.S. continues to back in the fight against ISIS in Syria
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by IndraD »

Iran warns Turkey

Tehran (AFP) - Iran has hit back at "unconstructive" Turkish allegations that Tehran's allies were violating a fragile ceasefire in Syria, accusing rebels of breaking the truce.

"The current ceasefire in Syria has been violated repeatedly by the anti-government armed opposition groups," foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said Wednesday.

"(Turkey) should take necessary measures to deal with several instances of ceasefire violation by these groups and at the same time refrain from taking unreal stances and accusing other parties."
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by IndraD »

Massive vbied attack in Turkey

A car bombing has killed at least two people at a court in the Turkish city of Izmir, followed by a gun battle between police and two suspected terrorists.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 11106.html
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha 8h8 hours ago
Iraqi Forces and allied Sunni tribes have launched an offensive in western Anbar province towards Anah, Rawah and the Syrian border

in latakia a car bomb took many lives...
Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha 15m15 minutes ago
Hassan Ridha Retweeted Hassan Ridha
1st Lieutenant Ja'far Zaid Saleh son of Major General Zaid Saleh (head of security committe in Aleppo) was martyred today in Jableh bombing
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

ISIS is attacking kuweires airport again - so far no news of any breakthrough.

a large horde has also gathered to have another crack at deir azzor
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

suitcase of one of the izmir attackers. izmir is a big tourist destination and part of most pkg tours ... its going to hit tourism

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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Abdullah Bozkurt ‏@abdbozkurt 20h20 hours ago
#Turkey orders detention of wives of 105 officers today over alleged links to #Gulen. Their husbands are already in jail. Total farce. @NATO
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

turkey is adding 4k more to al-bab push on top of 3k there. when force numbers are reached they will retry for the town
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Philip »

A job well done.The Kuz heads home.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... -kuznetsov
Russia begins military withdrawal from Syria
Admiral Kuznetsov carrier and other ships will be first to leave, says military chief, in line with reduction ordered by Putin
The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier pictured in the Mediterranean Sea this month.

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
Friday 6 January 2017
Vladimir Putin has signalled “mission semi-accomplished” in Syria as Russia announced the start of a withdrawal of forces, beginning with the departure from the Mediterranean of a naval group led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier.

“In accordance with the decision of the supreme commander of the Russian armed forces, [President] Vladimir Putin, the Russian defence ministry is beginning the reduction of the armed deployment to Syria,” the military chief, Valery Gerasimov, said.

John Kerry blames Britain for derailing Obama's plan for intervention in Syria

Putin ordered a reduction in his forces in Syria on 29 December, as he announced a ceasefire between government and rebel forces that excludes areas controlled by Islamic State. Russia, along with Turkey and Iran, is pushing for peace talks to be held this month in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan.

Expert opinion is divided over whether the Kuznetsov’s journey to the Mediterranean in October added anything militarily beyond a symbolic show of naval force. *(The Kuz' conducted over 1000 air sorties according to another report destroying hundreds of rargets.Grapes are sour as ususal in the west.What did either the USN's super-carriers or the CDG do in comparison? The fact is that the ungodly anti-Syrian coalition were bombed to smithereens and turfed out of Aleppo,something that the west and the camel-riding allies couldn't do at all!)

Putin had previously announced a partial withdrawal of Russian forces in March 2016, only to increase its presence again as fighting intensified. But it is likely this time around that the president feels his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, is militarily, if not politically, secure.

Russia still has sufficient air defence capabilities with the S-300 and S-400 systems deployed in Syria.

Moscow launched a bombing campaign in Syria in September 2015, helping to turn the tide in favour of Assad. By the turn of the year, only 23 Russian soldiers had been killed, according to official figures, defying US administration predictions that Moscow would become bogged down in a quagmire.

Syrian regime forces targeting Aleppo were aided by Russian firepower on land in Syria and off the coast in the Mediterranean.

Troops loyal to Assad finally ousted rebels from the city last month in their biggest victory in more than five years of fighting, paving the way for the Kremlin to launch a fresh push for a political solution to the conflict.

Many rebel fighters and western diplomats claimed it was Iranian-backed artillery as much as Russian air power or Syrian ground forces that made the regime’s siege of Aleppo impossible to stop. The ongoing presence of Iranian-backed forces in Syria has led Turkey to warn that the Astana talks are in jeopardy.

Fighting in Syria is set to continue, notably in the north-western province of Idlib, where many opposition fighters have been sent from Aleppo and other towns where sieges have been lifted. The Assad regime said on Thursday it was ready for an open battle with opposition forces in Idlib.

Kurdish-led forces said on Friday they had taken control of a castle on a hilltop overlooking a strategic town held by Islamic State, less than 20 miles from the militant group’s de facto capital of Raqqa. The advance brings the Syrian Democratic Forces within four miles of the strategic Tabqa dam and town.

Isis is also fighting against Turkish-backed Syrian rebels in areas further west and the Syrian army in Deir al-Zor province and near the city of Palmyra, which Isis seized for a second time in December.

There has also been fighting between the Syrian government and opposition groups in the Barada valley north of Damascus, disrupting the water supply to millions of people living in or around the Syrian capital. The UN’s humanitarian adviser for Syria, Jan Egeland, said on Thursday it was impossible to tell if disruption to water supplies had been caused by Syrian government bombardment or rebel sabotage, but warned both sides that targeting water sources constitutes a war crime.
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Philip »

Ha!ha!Ha! "The blame game is afoot,my dear Watson...." Jo-Kerry now puts the blame on the west/US humiliation in Syria onto the Brits!

What did Napoleon say about war? "Victory has many fathers,defeat is an orphan"

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... tain-obama
John Kerry links Britain to derailing of Obama's plan for intervention in Syria
US secretary of state explicitly ties UK parliament vote against airstrikes to Obama’s failure to enforce his ‘red line’ over Assad’s use of chemical weapons.

*(The British parliament represents the voice of the British people.The huge anti-war demos against Tony B.Liar and the expose of his lying on ISaddam's WMDs in Iraq,after which came the fiasco in Libya,meant that it would be an extreme act of lunacy for any British govt. to go to war again in the ME without having the post-war scenario tied up in minute detail.)

John Kerry blames UK for hindering US intervention in Syria
David Smith in Washington
Thursday 5 January 2017

Barack Obama’s plan for military intervention in Syria was abruptly derailed by David Cameron and British members of parliament, US secretary of state John Kerry claimed on Thursday.

Russia hacking: US intelligence chief hits back at Donald Trump's 'disparagement'

The American president said he would bomb the Syrian regime if it used chemical weapons but he did not follow through on his promise. The failure to enforce his stated “red line” after President Bashar al-Assad used sarin gas in a Damascus suburb in August 2013 is seen by some as the worst stain on Obama’s legacy.

The British parliament’s vote against air strikes has long been cited by Obama and others as a causal factor but Kerry made the link explicit just a week after a diplomatic spat with the United Kingdom’s prime minister, Theresa May, over a United Nations resolution that condemned Israel.

Asked by reporters at a farewell press conference in Washington if the “red line” episode was a nadir of the modern presidency, Kerry argued that the media had not properly analysed, assessed or reported exactly what took place.

“The president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, did decide to use force and he announced his decision publicly and he said we’re going to act, we’re going to do what we need to do to respond to this blatant violation of international law and of warnings and of the red line he had chosen,” he said.

“Now, we were marching towards that time when, lo and behold … Prime Minister David Cameron went to the parliament … and he sought a vote for approval for him to join in the action that we were going to engage in. And guess what, the parliament voted no, they shot him down.”
:rotfl:
MPs voted by 285-272 to rule out joining US-led strikes, triggering diplomatic shockwaves across the Atlantic.

In his unusually frank account, Kerry recalled: “So as we were briefing Congress – and I was on one of those briefing calls with maybe a hundred members of Congress on the call – many of them were saying, ‘Well, you’ve got to come to us. You’ve got to go through the constitutional process, get permission from us to do something.’

“And the president had already decided to use force but then the question became, ‘Do I need to go to Congress to get that permission?’

“It was a big debate in the security group. I was part of that, I remember the debate. And we felt that we’d quickly get Congress’s approval because this was such a blatant violation.

“I got a call Friday night, we met Saturday morning and the president decided that he needed to go to Congress because of what had happened in Great Britain and because he needed the approval and that was the way we’d do something like that.”

In the meantime, Kerry said, he held a press conference in London and was asked if there was anything Assad could do to avoid being bombed. He replied yes, he could agree to get rid of his weapons, and within an hour and a half Kerry received a phone call from Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov suggesting they cooperate on such a deal – something Obama and Vladimir Putin had previously discussed.

“All of a sudden Lavrov and I were thrown together by our presidents,” Kerry said, “in an effort to try and achieve that and guess what, we did achieve it, before Congress voted.

“The president never said, ‘I won’t drop a bomb.’ What happened was people interpreted it. The perception was that he was trying to find a different road. And I will acknowledge to you, absolutely, I heard it all over the place. The perception hurt, yes.”

He added: “The perception came about despite the fact that we actually got a far better result of getting all of the weapons of mass destruction out of Syria without dropping a bomb. If we had dropped a bomb, there is no guarantee we would have got any of them out.”

Despite the removal of most of the Syrian chemical arsenal, Assad gained strength with Russian and Iran support. The civil war worsened – its death toll now approaches half a million and a huge refugee crisis continues. Obama’s fateful act of omission is much debated as he nears the end of his presidency.

Kerry also parted company with Britain over Israel. Last week, in the wake of a UN resolution that condemned the continued expansion of settlements, Kerry criticised Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as the “most rightwing coalition in Israeli history”.

A spokesperson for May said: “We do not believe that it is appropriate to attack the composition of the democratically elected government of an ally.” That statement prompted a rebuke from Kerry’s state department.

Trump to name ex-senator Dan Coats as director of national intelligence

There were wrinkles in the relationship with Cameron too. In an interview with the Atlantic Monthly last year, Obama made critical comments about the UK and France regarding their participating in military action in Libya in 2011 that removed Muammar Gaddafi, but failing to stop the country becoming a “mess”.

Cameron became “distracted by a range of other things”, the president said.

In the same interview, Obama acknowledged the impact of the British vote on Syria in a decision he made while walking on the south lawn of the White House with his chief of staff.

But he said the most important factor was “our assessment that while we could inflict some damage on Assad, we could not, through a missile strike, eliminate the chemical weapons themselves”.

“What I would then face,” he said, “was the prospect of Assad having survived the strike and claiming he had successfully defied the United States, that the United States had acted unlawfully in the absence of a UN mandate, and that that would have potentially strengthened his hand rather than weakened it.”
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by IndraD »

massive vbieds go off in Bagdad one after another. IS is attacking Bagdad when entire Counter terrorism is engaged in Mosul & further West!
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by IndraD »

Iraqi forces have entered Mosul from North for the first time

We used special equipment and had the element of surprise - the enemy did not expect us to mount a night offensive because all previous offensives were during the day," Sabah al-Numan told Reuters.

Iraqi army units later breached the city from the north for the first time since the offensive began on Oct. 17, entering the residential al-Hadba apartments complex, officers at a nearby command post told Reuters. It was not immediately clear how much of the area they controlled amid resistance from Islamic State.
Reuters
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Y. Kanan »

Philip wrote:A job well done.The Kuz heads home.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... -kuznetsov
Russia begins military withdrawal from Syria
Admiral Kuznetsov carrier and other ships will be first to leave, says military chief, in line with reduction ordered by Putin
The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier pictured in the Mediterranean Sea this month.

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
Friday 6 January 2017
Vladimir Putin has signalled “mission semi-accomplished” in Syria as Russia announced the start of a withdrawal of forces, beginning with the departure from the Mediterranean of a naval group led by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier.

“In accordance with the decision of the supreme commander of the Russian armed forces, [President] Vladimir Putin, the Russian defence ministry is beginning the reduction of the armed deployment to Syria,” the military chief, Valery Gerasimov, said.

John Kerry blames Britain for derailing Obama's plan for intervention in Syria

Putin ordered a reduction in his forces in Syria on 29 December, as he announced a ceasefire between government and rebel forces that excludes areas controlled by Islamic State. Russia, along with Turkey and Iran, is pushing for peace talks to be held this month in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan.

Expert opinion is divided over whether the Kuznetsov’s journey to the Mediterranean in October added anything militarily beyond a symbolic show of naval force. *(The Kuz' conducted over 1000 air sorties according to another report destroying hundreds of rargets.Grapes are sour as ususal in the west.What did either the USN's super-carriers or the CDG do in comparison? The fact is that the ungodly anti-Syrian coalition were bombed to smithereens and turfed out of Aleppo,something that the west and the camel-riding allies couldn't do at all!)

Putin had previously announced a partial withdrawal of Russian forces in March 2016, only to increase its presence again as fighting intensified. But it is likely this time around that the president feels his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, is militarily, if not politically, secure.

Russia still has sufficient air defence capabilities with the S-300 and S-400 systems deployed in Syria.

Moscow launched a bombing campaign in Syria in September 2015, helping to turn the tide in favour of Assad. By the turn of the year, only 23 Russian soldiers had been killed, according to official figures, defying US administration predictions that Moscow would become bogged down in a quagmire.

Syrian regime forces targeting Aleppo were aided by Russian firepower on land in Syria and off the coast in the Mediterranean.

Troops loyal to Assad finally ousted rebels from the city last month in their biggest victory in more than five years of fighting, paving the way for the Kremlin to launch a fresh push for a political solution to the conflict.

Many rebel fighters and western diplomats claimed it was Iranian-backed artillery as much as Russian air power or Syrian ground forces that made the regime’s siege of Aleppo impossible to stop. The ongoing presence of Iranian-backed forces in Syria has led Turkey to warn that the Astana talks are in jeopardy.

Fighting in Syria is set to continue, notably in the north-western province of Idlib, where many opposition fighters have been sent from Aleppo and other towns where sieges have been lifted. The Assad regime said on Thursday it was ready for an open battle with opposition forces in Idlib.

Kurdish-led forces said on Friday they had taken control of a castle on a hilltop overlooking a strategic town held by Islamic State, less than 20 miles from the militant group’s de facto capital of Raqqa. The advance brings the Syrian Democratic Forces within four miles of the strategic Tabqa dam and town.

Isis is also fighting against Turkish-backed Syrian rebels in areas further west and the Syrian army in Deir al-Zor province and near the city of Palmyra, which Isis seized for a second time in December.

There has also been fighting between the Syrian government and opposition groups in the Barada valley north of Damascus, disrupting the water supply to millions of people living in or around the Syrian capital. The UN’s humanitarian adviser for Syria, Jan Egeland, said on Thursday it was impossible to tell if disruption to water supplies had been caused by Syrian government bombardment or rebel sabotage, but warned both sides that targeting water sources constitutes a war crime.
I think it's fair to say the Kuznetsov deployment was a failure. Hopefully the Russians learned a lot from it. As for the rest of the intervention, I think it's also quite fair to call it an unqualified success. What the Russians have pulled off, with such a tiny force and such limited budgets, is a triumph of "superpowerdom on a budget". Contrast the Russian operation and the tech level of their forces vs the mind-boggling US/allied committment of money, combat power and supporting assets. The Russians achieved a VASTLY superior bang for their buck. Imagine what they could have done with a bigger and better-funded military.

Lessons for India in all of this, as we chase Rafales and other overpriced Western gear.
habal
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by habal »

Esteban Santiago, the latest gunman ™ in USA has a serving US military id (they may deny it now) actually went to FBI in Nov 2016 to complain that he was being forced to fight for ISIS.

So US military recruits/servicemen are being forced to fight on behalf of IS in Iraq, that is how their numbers never deplete. Entire logistics chain also explainable when US servicemen just go to Iraq, slip away into shadows and change fatigues into ISIS. Hispanics like Esteban can also blend in better with their olive complexions and arab type looks.
Singha
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Agree with Kanan
Austin
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Russian Naval Aviation Destroys 1,252 Terrorist Targets in Syria Over 2 Months

Read more: https://en.ria.ru/military/201701061049 ... a-results/
Russian military group in the country Col. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov said on Friday.

"Over two months, naval aviation pilots carried out 420 sorties (including 117 at night). Nearly all sorties were accompanied by severe hydrometeorological conditions. A total of 1,252 terrorist targets in Syria were destroyed," he said.


"The strikes were delivered against terrorists' infrastructure, groups of militants and vehicles, firing positions and strongholds of illegal armed formations. The Admiral Grigorovich frigate attacked Daesh targets in Syria with Kalibr cruise missiles. All targets were hit," the commander said.


"The naval group accomplished its battle tasks. The Northern Fleet's aircraft carrier group is ready for further actions," Kartapolov said adding the ships had necessary supplies and were operable. He added that close interoperability has been established between the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Bastion coastal defense systems on Syrian shores.

"A unified air defense system that provides reliable protection both on land and at sea was created jointly with the Russian troops in Syria's air defense forces and means on the basis of the modern S-300 and S-400 systems," the commander said.
Austin
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Austin »

Britain derailed Obama’s plan to bomb Syria – US Secretary of State

https://www.rt.com/uk/372821-syria-obam ... -military/
Bhurishravas
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Bhurishravas »

It is impossible to deny the positives of successful Russian intervention in Syria. Hopefully they will stay the course and finish the job.

Meanwhile the emergency in Turkey has been extended and thousands more have been fired as well.
http://www.dw.com/en/turkey-launches-ne ... a-37044874
Turkey launches new wave of anti-Gulen firings.
No matter how many terror attacks take place in Turkey, Erdogan is singularly looking for absolute power. Smart guy.
Singha
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by Singha »

Islamic nation of any stripe can only be controlled by a strongman no more or less. Erdogan khomeini assad saddam nursultan nazarbayev.prince sultan..the talks and dress vary the steel fist inside glove does not

Something in dna of islamic society makes democratic rule a tad tough to pull off

Even if a subset of a democratic non islamic society there is slways a long list of grievances
IndraD
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Re: Levant crisis - III

Post by IndraD »

Image

Meeting between Two brothers from Beit Saber / Quneitra with one fighting with FSA and other with #SyrianArmy.
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