Thirteen hours before Secretary of State Rex Tillerson learned from the presidential Twitter feed that he was being fired, he did something that President Donald Trump had been unwilling to do. Following a phone call with his British counterpart, Tillerson condemned a deadly nerve agent attack in the U.K., saying that he had “full confidence in the U.K.’s investigation and its assessment that Russia was likely responsible.”White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders had called the attack “reckless, indiscriminate, and irresponsible,” but stopped short of blaming Russia, leading numerous media outlets to speculate that Tillerson was fired for criticizing Russia.
But in the months that followed his departure, press reports strongly suggested that the countries lobbying hardest for Tillerson’s removal were Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of which were frustrated by Tillerson’s attempts to mediate and end their blockade of Qatar. One report in the New York Times even suggested that the UAE ambassador to Washington knew that Tillerson would be forced out three months before he was fired in March.
The Intercept has learned of a previously unreported episode that stoked the UAE and Saudi Arabia’s anger at Tillerson and that may have played a key role in his removal. In the summer of 2017, several months before the Gulf allies started pushing for his ouster, Tillerson intervened to stop a secret Saudi-led, UAE-backed plan to invade and essentially conquer Qatar, according to one current member of the U.S. intelligence community and two former State Department officials, all of whom declined to be named, citing the sensitivity of the matter.
In the days and weeks after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and closed down their land, sea, and air borders with the country, Tillerson made a series of phone calls urging Saudi officials not to take military action against the country. The flurry of calls in June 2017 has been reported, but State Department and press accounts at the time described them as part of a broad-strokes effort to resolve tensions in the Gulf, not as an attempt by Tillerson to avert a Saudi-led military operation.
Some Gulf watchers speculate that the incentive for the planned invasion may have been partly financial. Saudi Arabia’s “cradle to grave” welfare system relies on high oil prices, which plummeted in 2014 and have not fully recovered. Since the current king came to power in 2015, the country has spent more than a third of its $737 billion in reserves, and last year, the Saudi economy entered a painful recession. In response, the government has looked for ways to raise money, including by selling shares in the state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco.
“It’s unsustainable,” said Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and 30-year CIA officer, in a lecture last November. “In the three years since [King Salman] ascended to the throne, one third of Saudi Arabia’s reserves have already been spent. You don’t need to have an MBA from the Wharton school to figure out what that means six years from now.”
The UAE’s harassment of Qatar also includes crude public insults lodged by UAE leadership against the Qatari royal family. The jibes frequently emanate from the verified Twitter account of Hamad al Mazrouei, a high-level Emirati intelligence official and righthand man to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed. Mazrouei’s account frequently tweets sexually suggestive content directed at Mozah bint Nasser, the mother of the emir of Qatar. Just last week, Mazrouei tweeted a video of a man and woman – with Mazrouei and Sheikha Mozah’s faces photoshopped onto their bodies – doing a raunchy bump-and-grind.The content and audacity of Mazrouei’s tweets have led to speculation in Qatari media that the account is actually controlled by the crown prince of Abu Dhabi himself.
Dishing out burgers and fries slathered with melted cheese, “One Way Burger” is like any other trendy food truck in Riyadh. But it offers something rare -- the cook behind the sizzling hot grill is a Saudi.
The (lazy and arrogant ) Saudis better start working like the rest of the world !In the once tax-free petro-state, which long offered its citizens cradle-to-grave welfare, blue-collar occupations such as cooking, cleaning and working at gas stations have largely been the preserve of foreign workers, who far outnumber Saudis.But Saudis are increasingly taking on such “low status” jobs in a new age of austerity when gas is no longer cheaper than water, with the government trimming oil-funded subsidies and tackling sluggish economic growth and high unemployment.“When I started this food truck two years ago many people said: ‘What? You will sell burgers and sandwiches in the street? You come from a big family and big tribe’,” said Bader al-Ajmi, the 38-year-old owner of One Way Burger.
“People were surprised,” he added, as a Porsche pulled up at the side of his truck to place an order.Since Ajmi started his business, dipping into his personal savings, owning a food truck has become the trend du jour and attained a level of respectability. Working inside as a cook apparently still has not.
Still, many Saudis, long reliant on the welfare state for secure and undemanding white-collar jobs, are embracing manual labour jobs.
For the first time, a new crop of nationals are working as tea sellers and car mechanics.Posh Lexus-owners work as Uber drivers for spare cash.“Will Saudis ever work as street cleaners?” columnist Abdulhadi al-Saadi recently asked in the daily Saudi Gazette.“Some people will look down at this proposal... They should know that nations only rise on the shoulders of their own people,” he wrote.
In Saudia, PBUH is the gold standard , even if it is NOT relevant to any discussionLast December, residents of eastern Al-Ahsa region feted a handful of young Saudis who swallowed their pride to do another job long deemed dishonourable -- working at a gas station.“There is no shame in this work,” a gas station customer said in a Snapchat video.“Prophet Mohammed used to work as a shepherd.”
Times have changed ! But they are still relying on Pakistan to provide muscle and material (Bum!) to keep the corrupt royals on the throne !“Many people... were against the (food truck),” Ajmi said. “Now they say: ‘If you have a job, let me know.’“
But .. a gas tank is just not the same as a goat“There is no shame in this work,” a gas station customer said in a Snapchat video.“Prophet Mohammed used to work as a shepherd.”
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation published a video showing official statistics on the participation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the operation to combat terrorist groups in the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic
In the article, it is reported that 63012 servicemen of the Armed Forces of Russia, including 434 generals and 25738 officers, took part in the operation in Syria since 2015.
Combat experience in Syria received 4,349 specialists in missile forces and artillery, 87% of operational and tactical crews, 91% of army aviation crews, 97% of military transport aviation crews and 60% of strategic and long-range aviation crews.
Every fourth Russian serviceman who performed tasks in Syria was awarded a state award. All participants in the operation are marked with departmental insignia.
For the duration of the operation in Syria, the Russian Air Force carried out a total of 39,000 sorties, including more than 20,000 at night. During the active phases of the operation, the intensity of the use of combat aviation reached more than 100 sorties per day. Each plane made daily 3-4 flights. The maximum number of sorties per day - 139 - was carried out on November 20, 2015.
The Navy of Russia committed 189 military campaigns, in which 86 ships, 14 submarines and 83 vessels took part.
The pilots of the SUVK "Admiral Kuznetsov" carried out 420 sorties, including 117 at night, and destroyed 1252 terrorist objects.
Russian UAVs carried out more than 25 thousand sorties, they opened 47522 enemy targets. Every day, up to 70 UAVs "Forpost" and "Orlan-10" operated in Syria.
Terrorist targets inflicted 100 beats by sea-launched cruise missiles Caliber and 66 attacks by air-launched cruise missiles.
The Tu-22M3 bombers carried out 369 sorties, 47 group strikes, 215 objects were destroyed.
As a result of air strikes and cruise missiles, 121466 objects of terrorists were destroyed, including 970 field camps, 20513 strong points, 9,941 ammunition and fuel depots, 649 tanks, 731 infantry fighting vehicles, and 8927 vehicles with antiaircraft guns. Eliminated 830 gang leaders, more than 86,000 fighters, including more than 4,500 immigrants from Russia and CIS countries.
In order to ensure the operation of the grouping of troops in Syria, 424 flights by sea and 2785 flights by air were carried out. In the course of which transported by: sea transport 3,250 people, 4,501 weapons and military equipment, 1559,000 tons of cargo, air transport transported 91285 people, more than 1,000 units of weapons and military equipment, 55,846 tons of cargo. Every day from Russia to Syria by air and sea transport, an average of 2,000 tons of various cargo was delivered.
Medical support tasks on a rotational basis were performed by 10 special medical units, 1,220 Russian military doctors provided qualified military assistance to 88,318 Syrians.
With the use of parachute platforms, 6077 tons of food were delivered.
Restoration of 4710 units of arms and military equipment of the Syrian government troops was organized, more than 1100 tons of armored vehicles were transferred.
During the operation in Syria, 231 samples of modern and modernized weapons were tested, including 68 samples - VKS, 18 Navy, 48 - Army, 97 - other and special forces.
Russia has revealed the extent of its military involvement in Syria's war.
A defence ministry video said more than 63,000 Russian military personnel had "received combat experience" in the country since September 2015.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the end of last year that 48,000 personnel had been deployed.
The video also said Russian air force had flown 39,000 sorties, destroying 121,466 "terrorist targets" and killing more than 86,000 "militants".
There was no mention of any Russian military or Syrian civilian casualties.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, says at least 7,928 civilians and 10,069 combatants have been killed in Russian air strikes.
The defence ministry video also said Russian forces had tested 231 types of weaponry in Syria, including aircraft, surface-to-air systems, and cruise missiles.
Russian forces have played a key role in consolidating the position of their ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, over the past three years.
Pro-government forces are preparing to launch an assault on the last major rebel stronghold, the north-western province of Idlib, where two million people live.
I believe that now Russia has to draw its own ‘red lines.’ The time has come to ponder on variants of asymmetric response to the US, which are now being suggested by experts and are intended not only to offset their sanctions but also to do some retaliatory damage,” said Vladimir Gutenev, the first deputy head of the economic policy committee of the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament.Among such measures, the official named the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in other countries, such as Syria, the use of gold-linked cryptocurrencies for Russian arms exports and the suspension of a number of treaties with the United States, including on non-proliferation of missile technologies.Among such measures, the official named the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in other countries, such as Syria, the use of gold-linked cryptocurrencies for Russian arms exports and the suspension of a number of treaties with the United States, including on non-proliferation of missile technologies.
“It’s no secret that serious pressure is being put on Russia, and it will only get worse. It is intended to deal a blow to defense cooperation, including defense exports. We see that the Americans now speak about the possibility of sanctions against the countries that purchase Russian weaponry… We should follow the advice of certain experts, who say that Russia should possibly suspend the implementation of treaties on non-proliferation of missile technologies, and also follow the US example and start deploying our tactical nuclear weapons in foreign countries. It is possible that Syria, where we have a well-protected airbase, may become one of those countries,” Gutenev said.awmaker added that in order to respond to possible “US attempts to thwart deals on Russian weaponry and civilian goods,” Russia should “consider the possibility of conducting transactions in cryptocurrencies that are linked to the value of gold.”“And I’m sure that this will be a very interesting option for China, India, and other states as well,” he said.
According to Gutenev, the whole package of those measures “could become a very serious argument” in Russia’s favor.
Russia masses warships off Syria ahead of regime's final assault on Idlib
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Russia has at least 10 warships and two submarines in the Mediterranean, according to Russian media
Raf Sanchez, middle east correspondent
28 AUGUST 2018 • 7:11PM
Russia is massing its naval forces in the Mediterranean ahead of an expected assault by the Assad regime on the last major rebel stronghold in Syria.
At least ten Russian warships and two submarines have been deployed to the eastern Mediterranean in the largest naval build up since Moscow’s intervention in Syria began in 2015, according to Russian media.
The gathering of Russian ships comes as Syrian regime forces turn their attention towards Idlib, a holdout rebel-held province on the border with Turkey.
Most of the Russian warships are armed with long-range Kalibr missiles, which could be used to attack ground targets in support of an Assad regime assault on Idlib.
The naval build up may also be intended to deter the US and its allies from intervening if Assad’s forces use chemical weapons in Idlib.
There are around 2.5 million civilians in rebel held Idlib CREDIT: OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
John Bolton, the US national security advisor, warned last week that the US would respond “very strongly” if the Syrian regime used chemical weapons again.
Days later, Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had evidence that jihadists in Idlib were planning to stage a chemical weapons attack in order to trick the Western into carrying out strikes against the regime.
The Russian build up in the Mediterranean comes as Russia announced plans to hold its biggest war games in four decades next month.
Sergei Shoigu, the defence minister, said the East-2018 exercise will take place in central and eastern Russia in September and will involve almost 300,000 troops, over 1,000 military aircraft, two of Russia's naval fleets, and all its airborne units.
The defence ministry said the exercise would be the biggest since the Soviet Union’s West-81 exercise in 1981. The Chinese and Mongolian militaries would also participate in the games, the ministry said.
Bashar al-Assad hopes to take Idlib, the last remaining major rebel stronghold
Bashar al-Assad hopes to take Idlib, the last remaining major rebel stronghold CREDIT: SPUTNIK/MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/ VIA REUTERS
Capturing Idlib would mark a crucial final stage in Bashar al-Assad’s ambitions to put down the rebellion which broke out against him in 2011.
But attacking the province, which is now home to 2.5 million civilians, many of them displaced from other areas, is likely to be more complex than previous assaults.
Russia is concerned about preserving its partnership with Turkey, which is deeply worried that an attack on Idlib will send millions of refugees heading towards its border.
The Russian defence ministry said Tuesday it was in contact with rebel groups in Idlib to discuss the possibility of a negotiated surrender
exercise would be the biggest since the Soviet Union’s West-81 exercise in 1981. The Chinese
