Levant crisis - III

Gyan · Post by **Gyan** » 16 Sep 2017 09:20

It seems very silent on Iraq front..?. What would be reaction in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria as USA gears up for Kurdisatan independence...? Turkey Banega Pakistan. First deceived, then raped & looted inspite of being all time best Randi err ally of Sam.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Sep 2017 13:31

iraqi parliament is dead against kurdistan referendum. US is trying to control both parties by modulating the monetary knob.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Sep 2017 13:43

looks like iraqis are going to launch an offensive in western anbar today in parallel with hawija
this includes the infamous al tanf border region and al qaim

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Sep 2017 13:43

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Sep 2017 13:45

The'Nimr'Tiger @Souria4Syrians 7h7 hours ago
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#Astana: Turkey to control 5,000 km2 in Idlib from Jisr Al Shughour to Dar Tazza & covering Taftanaz, Maraat Al Numan, and Khan Shaykhoun

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 16 Sep 2017 13:50

the red area looks like where the nusrats dominate and will be left for the others to clean up ?
seems like Idlib is in green zone and tafranz air base is where fuah and kafaya approx location .. a bit west of the airbase.

but really the nusrats dominate everywhere in Idlib and hope its not a scam to protect them in a green zone.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 16 Sep 2017 23:17

As LTTE used to call IAF Mi-35 flying crocodile , Flying Croc in Syria

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 17 Sep 2017 08:08

ABCnews says there was a US air raid on Syrian allied forces.... and a Russian air raid on US-based Moderate Child-beheaders.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 17 Sep 2017 13:03

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Sep 2017 14:25

pro erdogan newspaper has published this map of proposed Idlib zones

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Sep 2017 21:11

turkiye is building up its forces at Idlib border to take charge of its zone

nusra is sending forces to Idlib border from internal dens like Saraqib to fight this incursion plan

turkiye will likely round up and transport the EphShield jihadis into Idlib for the foot soldiers/cannon fodder + local onsite teams like shams front and parts of the jund al aqsa, darrat izza (?),faylaq al sham while it provides air, gunships, intel, SF and armour / arty support.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Sep 2017 21:14

it will be like the Al-bab thing but 100* bigger

should be interesting green vs deeper green

people looking for the next tournament after the IPL in east syria winds up by end of CY17 need to look no further than Idlib

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Sep 2017 21:18

turks have a lot of ponderous formal mech brigades with tracked vehicles and unmotivated troops still reeling from the purges.

nusra know the land, are well settled and have plenty of ATGMs on agile wheeled pickups. this is not a salaried job the sultan ordered it is a fight for survival they must win.

the ephshield jihadis are mostly lowly and unmotivated as seen in al-bab.

nusra will extract a price from any intruder into mordor

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Sep 2017 21:23

this is in concert with the iraqis who have started cleanup of western anbar desert leading into Al Qaim which will be another epic battle.

al masdar news

BEIRUT, LEBANON (2:30 P.M.) – The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has kicked off the third phase of Operation Big Dawn, tonight, a source told Al-Masdar News.

According to the Syrian military, the army is going to push from the Hamimah area of southeast Homs towards the border-city of Albukamal in the Deir Ezzor Governorate.

While the Syrian Army has not yet stormed the T-2 Pumping Station, they have begun firing a barrage of missiles and artillery shells towards the Islamic State’s positions.

In the coming hours, the Russian Air Force will begin pounding the T-2 Pumping Station, while the Syrian Army’s infantry storms the Islamic State’s last positions in the Hamimah area.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Sep 2017 21:26

Emmanuel‏ @EmmanuelGMay 22h

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Sep 2017 21:29

@GeromanAT

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Sep 2017 21:31

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 17 Sep 2017 21:32

raq Live Update‏ @IraqLiveUpdate Sep 3
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ISF source: Some senior Daesh commanders were air-lifted by 'unknown helicopters' during Mosul and #Talafar ops

raq Live Update‏ @IraqLiveUpdate Aug 31
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Kurdish Peshmerga allowed Daesh terrorists to escape #Talafar in return for $500 or $1000 with weapons

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 07:09

turkish armour poised on the border to enter Idlib
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/tu ... ern-syria/

armour is the not the issue - turkiye has huge amts of armour and howitzers, its the infantry who must protect the armour and fight the urban battles which are the issue. part of north Idlib is mountainous and wooded, another advantage for defensive nusra forces.

sitting in his ankara palace, the sultan may not exactly know what he has signed up for ...

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 08:20

Ali Issa this man has returned home after 18 months of fighting in DEZ. you can see the far off look in this eyes...

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 18 Sep 2017 10:02

Supposed RuAF strikes @ Euphrates:

and a one off strike:

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 10:36

seems to preparing a few sites for pontoon bridges.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 10:47

after a short visit to DEZ onboard his trademark gazelle helicopter the tiger has vanished for the last 1 week. either on pto or probably planning for the T2 offensive that is all set to kick off toward al bukamal.

some claim the network of pipelines T1 (east of al qaim in iraq), T2, T3(near sukhnah), T4(west of palmyrah) are decommed since 1948 war era and the exporting port was tripoli in lebanon

anyway they seem to have settlements and infra. could still be in use.

one of his general staff Ali Muhanna leader of a raiding kabila was injured by a landmine this week.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 10:57

https://www.google.co.in/maps/@34.22633 ... a=!3m1!1e3

the T1 station east of al qaim. tracing its pipeline east seems to go via haditha, crosses the euphrates there and then moves NE toward oil rich kirkuk. so the british were extracting iraqi oil and shipping them via lebanon way back.

note the vestiges of a old airfield to the north of T1.

seems like these airfields were all over the ME both to serve places like T1 and as refueling stops and diversion bases of planes enroute to/from to india and the far east

would be fascinating if someone could id all the overgrown or farmed over remains of WW2 airbases in india. there was something in tezpur near where my father grew up...the hulk of a crashed DC3 dakota was lying in a field next door...usaaf came and took away parts but hulk was left for kids to play in. they also had a free supply of inert shooting range used bullets and bullet casings in scrap market and used that to tip their bamboo arrows to try and bring down birds for food.

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 18 Sep 2017 11:43

^^^We used mil maps which had all disused air fields marked. There are 100s of them. The Min of Civil Aviation is trying to revive a few of them for the Regional Connectivity Scheme and in general to improve the airport infrastructure. Most such airfield have shorter runways. Fresh land needs to be acquired and cattle grazing on these lands have to be stopped. Entire settlements have popped over such runways.

Jamshedpur is going to get a new airfield (05-10 yrs project) and the airfield identified is an old WW2 strip near the city. A similar disused airfield (Rigbi Laika) near Dibrugarh now lies submerged under Bramhaputra. Dibru airfield itself is WW2 Lahoal airfield with a new runway. Traces of old runway can still be seen in patches.

I can go on and on. This airfield infra of WW2 created by the Brits and Americans is huge and spread all across their colonies.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 14:56

enroute toward golaghat, in a forested area (in mid 80s) a NH itself has consumed such a old runway and is arrow straight for around 2km.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 16:06

the monkey trap has finally clanged shut and war looms in Idlib. video of 100s of nusra bikes and trucks heading to bab al hawa crossing with nusrats shouting AoA AoA
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/vi ... oms-idlib/

Nusrats have thrashed and hammered pro-turkiye formations over the past year ... and will not let anyone be king of the dunghill

Erdogan has insecurities wrt to intent of nusra, ypg and americans and has been successfully nudged by the russians to come and take over and clean the swamp . americans might not be averse to nusrats getting kicked to use that as a IOU card with the inept EU for cleaning up some of their threats with some showpiece B1/B52 missions

this might present a opportunity of iran+ to clean out the western aleppo countryside of nusrats to build bridges and track2 channels with erdogan ... some deep rooted PITA dens like huraytn el-eis khantouman .... which have survived 100s of bombing missions with SAA unable to dislodge the rats earlier.

in any case, huge bloodshed is ahead I feel. Idlib is rocked by car bombs and targeted assassinations on a daily basis for months now.

if someone were a Idlibi jihadi or sympathizer might do well to make peace with the Govt, settle case and either join the NDF or slink away further south to ride things out.

technically its a 'loss' of assad to have erdogan be the king of the dunghill, but it rids him of a perpetual thorn in his saddle, a endless source of jihadists and the costs of maintaining internal security and post-war COIN ops there. neither it has oil/gas. from being on verge of damascus being besieged to where he is now, its a huge +ve move for him and he would not mind Idlib being 'owned' by erdogan, atleast until the swamp is drained. and he can modulate his moves by selectively blowing hot and cold with the YPG / PKK grouping.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 16:16

agathocle de syracuse map.

around 30 villages left to clear in east hama

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 21:18

video - two transport planes landed in DEZ airport today

https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/stat ... 1607736321

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 21:20

made possible by the sacrifices of men like these

Ivan Sidorenko‏ @IvanSidorenko1 Sep 16
#Syria Yazen Roumi Did not want to go home after 3 years besieged @ the airport & stayed on the frontlines until he ascended a martyr Today

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 21:22

i hope the syrians arrange for doctors and good psychiatric counselling for all these besieged men to rejoin normal life. a section will suffer from stress disorders for sure after years living day to day for survival.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2017 21:24

Col Wael Ismandar the head of the dez airport garrison finally visits his family in aleppo

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 19 Sep 2017 06:38

Look at the "Nusra" forces heading to fight the Turks in the race to Houristan. Those are fresh pieces of equipment, no sand or dirt on them.
BTW, any word on the disposition of US/NATO Naval assets? Are they stuck in the Med or Persian Gulf, or have they broken out into the open Pakistan Ocean on their way to sneak through the Straits of Malacca?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Sep 2017 09:33

Turkey is pulling out all its proxies from idlib in prep for war with nusra unless they stand down which is unlikely

Saa has crossed the euphrates at two points first into saker island and then to opposite shore . Not yet pontoon bridge but using large barges and boats to ship across men and small nos of tanks and ifvs

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Sep 2017 12:04

Heavy fighting in east bank as isis hits the govt beacheads with svbieds picture unclear

They need to put in pontoon bridges and roll in more artillery onsite to enlarge these crossings and fan out

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Sep 2017 06:40

Per some pix the ruaf has moved forward some attack helis to dez

Saa seems to have beaten off the isis from bridgehead and is consolidating they are 20km north of mayadeen
But might go directly east to block sdf first before turning south to al bushayrah and mayadeen

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Sep 2017 09:37

3 russians killed in khassam village east bank

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Sep 2017 16:26

https://twitter.com/michaelh992/status/ ... 2066472960

Saa has landed a force by helicopter at gas field 15km east of dez. Its not wasting time in urban fighting but is looking to block sdf routes of march and take the oilfields east and south of dez

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Sep 2017 16:37

Al masdar

BEIRUT, LEBANON (9:45 A.M.) – According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, Coalition and Kurdish-led forces are assisting ISIS terrorists in eastern Deir Ezzor through a variety of means in what appears to be an attempt to prevent the Syrian Army and allied paramilitaries from liberating the region.

Major General Igor Konashenkov, a ministry spokesman, has noted that the strongest ISIS counterattacks and artillery shelling against the Syrian Army bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River come from the north where American and Kurdish forces hold positions and not from the south where the Islamic State is still unchallenged by any force.

The Russian general has also pointed out other acts of sabotage being committed by the US-led so-called anti-ISIS Coalition against Syrian Army forces.

According to Konashenkov, in the process of elite Syrian Army units crossing to the eastern bank of the Euphrates, the water level drastically rose in several hours, this being something which could only be achieved by the flushing of large river dams further north – dams that are under the control of Kurdish forces.

Finally, Konashenkov also mentioned reports from Syrian Army commanders that US special forces and Kurdish fighters were lending medical assistance to ISIS militants and that the commanders concluded that this appears to be the only objective of the Coalition-led eastern Deir Ezzor offensive at the moment.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Sep 2017 21:36

https://www.rt.com/news/403980-syria-ji ... ib-russia/

new jihadi offensive in north hama tried to take out a russian mil police unit which was later rescued. in exchange the ruaf have killed some 850 jihadis and is currently bombing every stripe of jihadis there, even those factions not part of the offensive