Bharat Rakshak

for a state to exercise raw power is a function of its location x population x natural resources x technology level (whether internal or borrowed)

in that sense the new caliphate of sahel-maghreb has
- strategic location with access to atlantic, med and red sea
- an area twice the size of europe
- massive mineral and fresh water resources
- place is awash in weapons due to decades centuries of weak states and banditry and civil wars
- it is not bordered by any hostile powerful state unlike iran or kurds nudged up against the eastern caliphate
- it is frankly too large to monitor carefully, let alone control - the sahara has swallowed many a tall dream
- there is gold, oil and diamonds to profit from
- nobody really wants to fight in that region - least of all the french former rulers - everything from evian bottled water to fresh croissants will have to be airlifted to southern france. its hot, there is dust, flies and not much to do.
- nigeria, ethiopia and egypt have huge populations to leverage for the foot soldiers. TSP and Indonesia could provide the H1 guest worker brigades, the elite atherton goras will remain the iraqi-saudi elite.


I am thinking of the iraqi-syrian caliphate as a prototype incubator and POC to demonstrate to Fortune100 clients. the POC has proven its worth in live demo and can be discarded now, while the main FCS product is constructed.

I heard a rumour that Kuznetsov which will deploy this summer to mediterranean will help out the maghreb states by launching airstrikes into these north african dens, a token of support.

all the states of the region need to significantly step up manpower and training levels to combat this menace. there is a place called Maiduguri in nigeria that is the site of monthly massacres and govt seems unable to to end that.

even kenya is being eaten alive by al shabab staging across the border.

the opening was provided by clinton & co by destroying the libyan govt. secular strongmen are the best bet to control this kind of menace.

4th batch of self protection group NDF from Homs.
looking at the age of these men, all past 35..some could be retired soldiers some just unemployed men looking for a steady wage

assad is mobilizing all of his limited population to hold territory and perform garrison duties

suqqur al sahra

Ivan Sidorenko ‏@IvanSidorenko1 9h9 hours ago
#Syria #Homs #SAA have officially entered #Qaryatayn clashes are 40 minutes ago reported @ Entrances #SyrianArmy

HUGE explosion at "FSA" checkpoint after Liwa Shuhada Al Yarmouk detonated a BMP packed with 4500kg TNT #Hayt #Daraa

Peto Lucem ‏@PetoLucem 15h15 hours ago
Kurdish #YPG and #SDF are clashing with insurgents at strategic #Azaz town near #Syria - #Turkey border. #Aleppo

guy is a congi type saudi retainer and dual citizen..wonder why he goes to moscoww of all places?

Al-Masdar News ‏@TheArabSource 2h2 hours ago
Saad #Hariri travels to Moscow to meet with Russian FM http://bit.ly/1Thy73m #Lebanon #Russia

the egypt plane hijacker

how did he get past airport security with that kit ?

Have you heard the new Errdogan song that's gone viral - with English subtitles.

[youtube]R2e2yHjc_mc&app=desktop[/youtube]

speaks a lot about egyptian 'airport security. That's the new oxymoron, "Egyptian airport security".

On the lines of "Saudi Human Rights".

the blue cable looks like ethernet cable

he seems like muslim brotherhood type.
they would have supporters in airport security and baggage handling.

Leith Abou Fadel Retweeted
فارس الشهابي ‏@ShehabiFares 1h1 hour ago
Top picture: Syrians in 1906.
Bottom picture: Saudis in 1925.
And the Saudi gang wants to teach us democracy now!!

^^ kind of reminded me of the turkish guy in indiana jones and last crusade who is secret society to protect the location of the grail. in bottom photo above the leftmost man looks like the templar knight in that film but is actually in the robes of that most fighting and ancient of orders - the le hospitallier knights of malta.

for a supposedly beseiged and starving city, these two guys eat well...Mi8 will need new engines to lift them both....Mi26T needed



SAA going at quraytyn from the south

hehe some vivid imagination. he is missing hosepipe that others have on them.
rest is typical.

the two in camo are shabiha, assad's militia before the civil unrest began.
they were majorly into bodybuilding and look typical of that group.

does anyone think that the recent SDF-FSA spat in Azaz is being managed by turkey as an excuse to undertake an incursion into Syria.

@hamza_780 Mar 28
#Russia deployed «Iskander» SS-26 Stone short-range ballistic missile in the #Hmeymim airbase in #Syria.


Iskandar missile operational range

probably will field test them in syria itself...and to send a message.

demining work has started in palmyra. just as poor muslims weave rugs and prayer caps, the IS cadres seem to make IEDs in their spare time !
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CetuylAVAAEerA_.jpg

you are right. quite a colourful history https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabiha

http://media.vocativ.com/photos/2014/11 ... 065697.jpg
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/arc ... 37442b.jpg

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... quads.html

Reuters
When Vladimir Putin announced the withdrawal of most of Russia's military contingent from Syria there was an expectation that the Yauza, a Russian naval icebreaker and one of the mission's main supply vessels, would return home to its Arctic Ocean port.

Instead, three days after Putin's March 14 declaration, the Yauza, part of the "Syrian Express", the nickname given to the ships that have kept Russian forces supplied, left the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk for Tartous, Russia's naval facility in Syria.

Whatever it was carrying was heavy; it sat so low in the water that its load line was barely visible.

Its movements and those of other Russian ships in the two weeks since Putin's announcement of a partial withdrawal suggest Moscow has in fact shipped more equipment and supplies to Syria than it has brought back in the same period, a Reuters analysis shows.

It is not known what the ships were carrying or how much equipment has been flown out in giant cargo planes accompanying returning war planes.

But the movements - while only a partial snapshot - suggest Russia is working intensively to maintain its military infrastructure in Syria and to supply the Syrian army so that it can scale up again swiftly if need be.

Putin has not detailed what would prompt such a move, but any perceived threat to Russia's bases in Syria or any sign that President Bashar al-Assad, Moscow's closest Middle East ally, was in peril would be likely to trigger a powerful return.

Russia operates an air base in Hmeymim and a naval facility at Tartous. Putin has said Russia will keep both and that they will need to be well protected.

"Since the main part of the force de facto stayed there, there is no reason to reduce the traffic," said Mikhail Barabanov, a senior research fellow at the Moscow-based CAST military think tank. "Supplies for the Syrian army remain significant as well."

Moscow has not revealed the size of its force in Syria, nor has it given details of its partial withdrawal.

Reuters has calculated that around half of Russia's fixed-wing strike force based in Syria flew out of the country in the days after the partial draw down was made public. The precise number of planes Russia had was secret, but analysis suggested it had about 36 fixed-wing military jets there.

On Monday, state TV showed three heavy attack helicopters being flown out of Syria along with some support staff.

NAVAL FIREPOWER

But an examination of shipping data, official information, tips from maritime security sources and photographs from bloggers of Russian ships passing the Bosphorus strait en route from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, shows no signs that the "Syrian Express" is being wound down.

A Reuters analysis of the same data shows Russia is also likely to have reinforced its naval force in the Mediterranean and now appears to have more war ships near the Syrian coast than at the time of Putin’s declaration.

Their role is to protect cargo ships. Their presence also gives Moscow the option of firing cruise missiles from the sea.

Russia appears to have more than a dozen military vessels in the Mediterranean, including the Zeleniy Dol warship equipped with terrain-hugging Kalibr cruise missiles which are accurate to within three metres, according to Russian state media and the database of Bosphorus Naval News, a Turkish online project.

Moscow is likely to maintain that strength, said CAST's Barabanov.

"Russia doesn't have too many ships that it can keep in the Mediterranean. The role of the force was to ensure the activity of the 'Syrian Express' and to demonstrate it to the West and, later, to Turkey."

The Russian defense ministry did not reply to questions about what the Russian navy was doing in the Mediterranean or whether there were plans to reduce its presence.

Russia's military ships and most auxiliary vessels are not shown in publicly available databases. But most of its ships are seen and photographed when they pass the Bosphorus on their way from Russia to the Mediterranean or vice versa.

In most cases it is impossible to track military shipments to destination ports however, meaning data is only partial.

Since Moscow began to scale back in Syria, Russia has sent two landing ships, which are typically used to transport troops and armor - the Caesar Kunikov and the Saratov - to the Mediterranean along with the Yauza, an auxiliary cargo vessel.

The Saratov looked loaded when it passed the strait on Thursday going south toward Syria. Its load line was visibly lower than on March 14 when it was photographed going the other way, toward Russia.

At the same time, two warships - the Alexander Otrakovsky and the Minsk - and the Dvinitsa-50, an auxiliary vessel, were photographed by Turkish bloggers passing the Bosphorus en route back to Russia.

At least two of the returning ships, the Alexander Otrakovsky and the Dvinitsa-50, looked unloaded on their way back.

Photographs show that the Otrakovsky, a large landing ship, sat higher in the water on its return to Russia compared to March 2 when it crossed the strait in the other direction. It was not clear if it carried troops or equipment.

The load line of the Dvinitsa-50 was also high above the water when it was photographed in the Bosphorus on March 20 on its way back to Russia.

It seems unlikely that Russian troops or equipment were on board any of the returning ships. None of them looked like they had heavy cargo onboard.

The Minsk has already headed back toward Syria. On Tuesday, it was photographed passing the Bosphorus. Its bow sat deep in the water; its cargo could not be discerned.

Non-military cargo traffic between Russia and Syria also shows no signs of flagging.

Four cargo ships involved in the supply operation called at Syria in the two weeks before Putin announced the draw down.

A fifth, the Alexander Tkachenko, a Russian ferry, previously photographed with military trucks onboard, probably called there too.

Reuters shipping database showed it was approaching Syria, but then suddenly disappeared for a few days before re-appearing en route back to Russia, meaning its transponders were not switched on for that period.

Five cargo ships, including an oil tanker, arrived in Syria in the two weeks following Putin's announcement.

(Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Janet McBride)

USA plan in Syria is always stuck at Plan A, it never goes on to Plan B or Plan C.
because USA is so strong, they do not need to change plans.
changing is for mere mortals.

Neither do allies of USA change their plans.
Saudi foreign minister (ex-Saudi ambassador to USA) adel al-jubeir also parrots same line, "Assad must go".

As the old saying goeth:

*he whom he wants to destroy, he first hardens their heart*
John 12:40

"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts."

Joshua 11:20

For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

--

Kerry’s Plan at Balkanizing Syria

Last month, US secretary of State John Kerry called for Syria to be partitioned saying it was “Plan B” if negotiations fail. But in reality this was always plan A. Plans to balkanize Syria, Iraq and other Middle Eastern states were laid out by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a 2006 trip to Tel Aviv. It was part of the so called “Project For a New Middle East”. This was a carbon copy of the Odid Yinon plan drawn up by Israel in 1982. The plan outlined the way in which Middle Eastern countries could be balkanized along sectarian lines. This would result in the creation of several weak landlocked micro-states that would be in perpetual war with each other and never united enough to resist Israeli expansionism.

“Syria will fall apart, in accordance with its ethnic and religious structure, into several states such as in present day Lebanon, so that there will be a Shi’ite Alawi state along its coast, a Sunni state in the Aleppo area, another Sunni state in Damascus hostile to its northern neighbor, and the Druzes who will set up a state, maybe even in our Golan… ” Oded Yinon, “A strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties”,

The leaked emails of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reveal advocates of the Oded Yinon plan were behind the US push for regime change in Syria. An Israeli intelligence adviser writes in an email to Hillary,

“The fall of the House of Assad could well ignite a sectarian war between the Shiites and the majority Sunnis of the region drawing in Iran, which, in the view of Israeli commanders would not be a bad thing for Israel and its Western allies,”.

Kerry’s plan B comment came right before UN’s special envoy de Mistura said federalism would be discussed at the Geneva talks due to a push from major powers. Both side’s of the Geneva talks, the Syrian Government and the Syrian National Coalition flat out rejected Federalism. Highlighting the fact that the idea did not come from the Syrian’s themselves. The Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Al Jaafari, said that the Idea of federalization would not be up for discussion. “Take the idea of separating Syrian land out of your mind,” he would say.

But some may not completely understand the full implications of federalism and how it is intrinsically tied to balkanization. Some cite the fact that Russia and the United States are successful federations as evidence that federation is nothing to fear. However the point that makes these federalism statements so dangerous is that in accordance with the Yinon plan the borders of a federalized Syria would be drawn along sectarian lines not on whether any particular state can sustain its population. This means that a small amount of people will get all the resources, and the rest of Syria’s population will be left to starve. Furthermore, Russia and the US are by land mass some of the largest nations in the world, so federalism may make sense for them. In contrast Syria is a very small state with limited resources. Unlike the US and Russia, Syria is located in the Middle East which means water is limited. In spite of the fact Syria is in the so-called fertile crescent, Syria has suffered massive droughts since Turkey dammed the rivers flowing into Syria and Iraq. Syria’s water resources must be rationed amongst its 23 million people. In the Middle East, wars are also fought over water.The areas that the Yinon plan intends to carve out of Syria, are the coastal areas of Latakia and the region of Al Hasake. These are areas where a substantial amount of Syria’s water, agriculture and oil are located. The intention is to leave the majority of the Syrian population in a landlocked starving rump state, and create a situation where perpetual war between divided Syrians is inevitable. Ironically promoters of the Yinon plan try and paint federalism as a road to peace. However, Iraq which was pushed into federalism in 2005 by the US occupation is far from peaceful now.

Quite simply, divide and conquer is the plan. This was even explicitly suggested in the headline of Foreign Policy magazine, “Divide and conquer Iraq and Syria” with the subheading “Why the West Should Plan for a Partition”. The CEO of Foreign Policy magazine David Rothkopf is a member of to the Council of Foreign Relations, a think tank Hillary Clinton has admits she bases her policies on. Another article by Foreign Policy written by an ex-NATO commander James Stavridis, claims “It’s time to talk about partitioning Syria” .

The US hoped to achieve this by empowering the Muslim Brotherhood and other extremist groups, and introducing Al Qaeda and ISIS into Syria. The Syrian army was supposed to collapse with soldiers returning to their respective demographic enclaves. Evidence of this could be seen in the headlines of NATO’s media arm in 2012, which spread false rumours that Assad had run to Latakia, abandoning his post in Damascus. The extremists were then supposed to attack Alawite, Christian and Druze villages. The US hoped that enough Alawites, Christians and Druze would be slaughtered that Syria’s minorities would become receptive to the idea of partitioning.

Read more ..

http://journal-neo.org/2016/03/29/kerry ... ing-syria/

syrian ANNA news

Syrian troops removing mines, and bombs from Palmyra


.

Rudradev wrote:Honestly, the Caliphate is nothing but Pakistan redux... created by the same powers, for the same reasons, serving the same geostrategic purposes, using the same Sunni Islamist philosophy.

GD and UB ji, there is only a very thin and porous border between the Caliphate becoming India's or Pakistan's worst nightmare. Caliphate and Pakistan are ideologically the same, but their demographic and provenance is different - which is important in the pecking order of that very ideology. Pakistan has the demographic advantage that may suggest a merger, but the diverse or unfinished mutations within their society can set up a punctuated equilibrium that can go either way.

Agnimitra wrote:

Rudradev wrote:Honestly, the Caliphate is nothing but Pakistan redux... created by the same powers, for the same reasons, serving the same geostrategic purposes, using the same Sunni Islamist philosophy.

GD and UB ji, there is only a very thin and porous border between the Caliphate becoming India's or Pakistan's worst nightmare. Caliphate and Pakistan are ideologically the same, but their demographic and provenance is different - which is important in the pecking order of that very ideology. Pakistan has the demographic advantage that may suggest a merger, but the diverse or unfinished mutations within their society can set up a punctuated equilibrium that can go either way.

Indeed, it could be argued that the introduction of the 'caliphate system' to a non-caliphate system is always going to be violent irrespective of the religious affiliation of the society in a non-caliphate system.

-M

How is Syria / Assad paying for it's War ie imports?

yesterday a member asked about how many bandit gangs in idlib-aleppo. well here are some names from aleppo. no one has a real count, not even the rebels

Ivan Sidorenko Retweeted
Hamza Hemze حمزة‎ ‏@sergermed Mar 29
Another front is bostan basha. From Bostan basha Turkmen terror gangs such as Muntaser billah & Sultan Murad are launching their attacks

Ivan Sidorenko Retweeted
Hamza Hemze حمزة‎ ‏@sergermed Mar 29
While in the Asrafiyah front which is the southern front kurds are getting attacked by the division 16 infantry brigade.

Ivan Sidorenko Retweeted
Hamza Hemze حمزة‎ ‏@sergermed Mar 29
The last front is bani zeid housing. From here groups such as Ansar islam,suqour jabal & northern division launch their attacks on kurds.

Hamza Hemze حمزة‎ ‏@sergermed Mar 29
U.S backed FSA gangs & Chechen Jihadists Jaysh Osrah with ties to Al Qaida are attacking Kurds from the same base which is Hellouk district

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CezUu85WsAENGnS.jpg

isis bodies deir azzor

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cevex6sXIAAN0w1.jpg

asparsian celik, the man who bragged about shooting at the su24 pilot oleg peshkov

habal wrote:hehe some vivid imagination. he is missing hosepipe that others have on them.
rest is typical.

the two in camo are shabiha, assad's militia before the civil unrest began.
they were majorly into bodybuilding and look typical of that group.

does anyone think that the recent SDF-FSA spat in Azaz is being managed by turkey as an excuse to undertake an incursion into Syria.

@hamza_780 Mar 28
#Russia deployed «Iskander» SS-26 Stone short-range ballistic missile in the #Hmeymim airbase in #Syria.


Iskandar missile operational range

Could also be Bastion , Syria has been a Happy hunting ground to proof test weapons for the Russians

deep tunnels used to avoid airstrikes. they have lights, water and sleeping mattresses down there. similar was found in sinjar. IS are master tunnelers and IED makers/layers for sure. in palmyra IEDs masked below layer of asphalt are being found.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CevomVeXIAEiXfB.jpg

that's why they are fondly referred to as rats. Same life patterns.

video iraqi SF unit boarding a mi17 for a exercise

https://twitter.com/IraqiSecurity/statu ... 8505618432

http://www.wsj.com/article_email/oils-d ... NTEyMjUwWj

By NICOLAS PARASIE
March 23, 2016 6:59 p.m. ET

A construction conglomerate at the center of Saudi Arabia’s petrodollar-fueled economic boom is teetering under billions of dollars of debt, bankers and financial advisers familiar with the matter said, showing the strain of cheap oil on the kingdom and its companies.

The Saudi Binladin Group was once among the biggest beneficiaries of Saudi Arabia’s massive spending at home, paid for by the kingdom’s growing oil wealth. But in the past half year, it has hit hard times.

An executive at one of SBG’s subsidiaries said the parent company hadn’t provided any funding to the unit for more than six months, triggering a funding crunch that has stalled longer-term plans. Several subcontractors and suppliers involved in Binladin projects also haven’t been paid for months, according to the bankers and advisers who know about the company’s finances.

And at the end of February, hundreds of SBG workers took to the streets demanding unpaid wages for work in Islam’s holiest city, Mecca, a rare episode of labor unrest in the Arab world’s largest economy.

Regional and international bankers say the group is sitting on more than $30 billion in debt. The Persian Gulf’s biggest construction conglomerate has already defaulted on an unspecified number of debt repayments, said two creditors of the group.


The main reason behind the defaults, the creditors and advisers say, is that the Saudi government has failed to make payments on time for completed or ongoing construction work. The country’s finance ministry didn’t respond to requests for comment by phone and email.

Roughly three quarters of Saudi Arabia’s budget stems from the sale of oil, and crude prices have declined since the middle of 2014, leaving the government with a gaping near-$100 billion budget deficit, according to the country’s latest budget statement released in December.

“In a way this is the government saying to them: you’ve become obscenely rich during the past 20 years but for the first time the kingdom has bigger problems to contend with,” said a creditor of the Binladin group with a major regional bank.

SBG has declined repeated requests, through emails and phone calls, to discuss its situation. SBG, a family-owned company, doesn’t disclose its financial statements. The group hasn’t made any public announcements on the labor unrest or its financial health.

Some at SBG are playing down the troubles.

Two executives, including a Gulf-based banker and a manager at one of the conglomerate’s’ subsidiaries, who recently met with leading members of SBG, said the construction firm’s management remained confident it would weather current problems.

“The very key message was: There is no crisis within Binladin,” said one of the executives.

The government’s response to dwindling oil revenues—cutting back oil and utilities subsidies to ease budgetary pressures as well as big ticket infrastructure projects—appears to have hit the construction industry particularly hard.

SBG accounts for about 70% of Saudi government construction contracts by value according to some industry estimates, making it the construction group most vulnerable to a slowdown in spending.

The group has gone through turbulent times before. After the 9/11 attacks, the Binladin family name became associated with Osama bin Laden, the founder of al Qaeda. Back then, the group had to contend with lawsuits brought by family members of those killed in the attacks. Osama bin Laden, one of the SBG founder’s many sons, never played a role in the company operations, and the lawsuits were eventually dismissed.

The company managed to maintain its close ties with the Saudi leadership and continued to win large mandates, including contracts worth billions of dollars to expand the holy cities Mecca and Medina, as well as public infrastructure projects. The contracts cemented the Binladins’ place among the kingdom’s wealthiest, nonroyal families.

In financing these megaprojects, the group has accumulated significant debt, several of the company’s lenders said. Saudi banks, as well as international financial institutions, rushed to extend credit to a group that was considered the Saudi government’s preferred contractor.

That view dimmed in September last year when high winds knocked a company crane into Mecca’s holy mosque, killing more than a hundred religious pilgrims. The deadly crane accident was a public-relations disaster for Saudi Arabia, whose king is also called the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. The accident also strained the relationship between SBG and the country’s leadership, according to the bankers and advisers close to the group.

After the crane accident, Saudi King Salman barred SBG from taking new projects and banned top executives from travel. An initial probe by the Saudi authorities found that strong winds caused the crane to collapse. But it also attributed part of the blame to SBG, saying the “crane was in a wrong position.” SBG didn’t comment on the findings. A full investigation has yet to be completed, and there is been no update from the government since September.

The royal rebuke came as the company was trying to reel in costs and secure new lines of credit.

The group decided last year to eliminate 15,000 jobs out of a workforce of approximately 200,000, while it failed to pay some of its employees and subsidiaries, according to the bankers and financial advisers close to SBG. SBG has also been in talks with some banks to raise new funding that would allow it to finish ongoing projects and cover some immediate loan repayments but the outcome of those discussions is still unclear, according to these people.

The failure to pay some of its employees has stirred labor tensions in the kingdom where large demonstrations are rare. Hundreds of SBG workers took to the streets at the end of February to demand unpaid wages, according to a Saudi official and local media reports. Similar protests had taken place weeks before in Jeddah as well.

After police intervened, and following meetings with company representatives, the protesters obtained a guarantee they would receive their unpaid wages and also the chance to leave the country or switch employer, the Saudi official said..

“Saudi Binladin Group has failed to pay their workers for months,” said Khaled Abalkhail, a spokesman for the labor ministry. “They have been sanctioned according to regulations.” SBG didn’t comment on the unrest.

In the absence of Western-style bankruptcy courts in Saudi Arabia, bankers warn that any sort of restructuring proceedings at SBG would be lengthy and complicated. The restructuring of another family conglomerate called Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Bros. is still continuing after it ran into trouble in 2009.

A financial adviser familiar with the SBG situation said, “There will have to be a political solution.”

Bankers, executives and advisers close to the group say it is unlikely SBG will ever be allowed to go under, despite the severely strained relationship with the Saudi government following the crane accident.

“It’s too big to fail,” said a creditor at a Persian Gulf bank company who is close to SBG. “It’s an integral part of the Saudi system so they will find a solution,” the person said.

—Ahmed Al Omran and Asa Fitch contributed to this article.

Write to Nicolas Parasie at [email protected]

amazing detailed read of how the paris and brussels attacks were conducted and planned

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/30/europ ... index.html

https://www.rt.com/op-edge/337774-russi ... ochorenko/

habal . the spestnaz soldier that died in palmyra is alexander prochorenko, only 25 yrs old. sad. RIP.

4 mi28n have moved to East homs shayrat AFB as part of plans for deir azor drive. Due to blistering heat more of movements will now happen at night and this heli is night capable.

AL masdar

captagon tablets

Not good.

Al-Masdar News ‏@TheArabSource 9h9 hours ago

#ISIS repels the Syrian Army assault on #Quraytayn City http://bit.ly/1Sngdar #Syria

The newest rocket ship Black Sea "Serpukhov" fleet will be part of the permanent connection of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea
http://function.mil.ru/news_page/countr ... 907@egNews

oday, the newest small missile ship (MRK) of the Black Sea Fleet (BSF) "Serpukhov" left Sevastopol for tasks as part of a permanent grouping of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea.This is the first campaign "Serpukhov" crew to the far sea zone, which is carried out in accordance with the plan of rotation of forces."Serpukhov" replace IRAs "Zeleny Dol", which currently carries out the tasks in the region.In November 2015 the ship was built for the Black Sea Fleet at the Zelenodolsk shipyard named after AM Gorky arrived in Sevastopol, and on December 12 it was solemnly hoisted the flag of St. Andrew.As part of the Black Sea Fleet perform tasks two similar project IRAs "Zeleny Dol" and "Serpukhov". They are the fourth and fifth ships modernized series "Buyan-M", built as part of the Navy's shipbuilding program.The new ships have a larger displacement and in addition to self-defense missile system equipped with the latest long-range "Caliber-NK".

UlanBatori wrote:Not good.

Al-Masdar News ‏@TheArabSource 9h9 hours ago

#ISIS repels the Syrian Army assault on #Quraytayn City http://bit.ly/1Sngdar #Syria

it looks ok to me . they have it surrounded over most of perimeter and occupied the high grounds, the population small as it was would have left for safer shores already. so the whole town can be pounded with heavy artillery to clear strongpoints.

in palmyra there is still no clear statement of where exactly the 15,000 people claimed to be living under ISIS rule have vanished .... other than the old couple the streets are still deserted.

ISIS has no escape from Quraytyn unless they drive across the desert to jordan with roving AF units and drones to deal with. their route to safety via palmyra is now blocked.

so they will fight hard to the death. like the german failed attempt to take the rich oilfields of Baku azerbaijan on the caspian via grozny, this also represents the limit of the westward expansion of the IS reich. like the germans who withdrew in stages due to setbacks elsewhere, here too the IS will run for the jordanian border when water is boiled more.