The Syrian Crisis

[pmaitra]

Not a big fan of Turkey, but when they are fighting ISIS, I hope they are successful and don't end up like this.

 

[Tactical Frog]

Rebel groups suspend talks about peace negotiations ...
What is there to negotiate anyway ? reddition ?

The position of the rebellion is no worse than it was before East Aleppo fall. Some say it is better since the defence of Aleppo was draining too much resources.

If Russia and Iran are serious about finding an issue to this conflict other than displacement of further hundred of thousand people to Turkey , which I doubt , then they should think about Assad's clan removal. There are other Alawites who can represent their community in peace talks.
Unless the real plan agreed with Turkey is a de facto partition of Syria ? The third option.

http://www.dw.com/en/rebel-groups-i...-36984039?maca=en-rss_top_news-13961-xml-mrss

 

[Akim]

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[Akim]

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[gadeshi]

Leopard?

Отправлено с моего XT1080 через Tapatalk

 

[Akim]

Leopard?

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Yes. Turkish.
M60 Sabra

 

[bhramos]

Syria becomes Death Ground for Legendary Leopard 2A4 Tanks..

 

[bhramos]

Syrian intelligence seized ammunition including TOW missiles and RPG-29. This one is for Jaysh Al-Islam ởn the way to Barzeh, Damascus.

 

[bhramos]

Footage From The Battle For Jobar (19-3-2017)

 

[bhramos]

Syrian army recaptures all areas fallen to rebels during Damascus offensive
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-03/20/c_136143045.htm

 

[Villager]

Israel strikes Iran-supplied arms depot near Damascus airport

A video posted to social media shows explosions and rising flames, said to be in Damascus. Social Media Website via Reuters TV


Israel struck an arms supply hub operated by the Lebanese group Hezbollah near Damascus airport on Thursday, Syrian rebel and regional intelligence sources said, targeting weapons sent from Iran via commercial and military cargo planes.

Video carried on Lebanese TV and shared on social media showed the pre-dawn airstrikes caused a fire around the airport east of the Syrian capital, suggesting fuel sources or weapons containing explosives were hit.

Syrian state media said Israeli missiles hit a military position southwest of the airport, but did not mention arms or fuel. It said "Israeli aggression" had caused explosions and some material losses, but did not expand on the damage.

Israel does not usually comment on action it takes in Syria. But Intelligence Minister Israel Katz, speaking to Army Radio from the United States, appeared to confirm involvement.

"The incident in Syria corresponds completely with Israel's policy to act to prevent Iran's smuggling of advanced weapons via Syria to Hezbollah," he said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had "said that whenever we receive intelligence that indicates an intention to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah, we will act", he added.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said: "We can't comment on such reports."

Two senior rebel sources in the Damascus area, citing monitors in the eastern outskirts of the capital, said five strikes hit an ammunition depot used by Iran-backed militias.

Lebanon's al-Manar television, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, said early indications were that the strikes hit warehouses and fuel tanks. It said there no casualties.



RUSSIA AND IRAN BACK ASSAD

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is backed in his six-year-old civil war by Russia, Iran and regional Shi'ite militias. These include Hezbollah, a close ally of Tehran and enemy of Israel, which describes the group as the biggest threat it faces on its borders. The two fought a month-long war in 2006.

Syrian military defectors familiar with the airport say it plays a major role as a conduit for arms from Tehran.

Alongside military planes, there are a number of commercial cargo aircraft that fly from Iran to resupply arms to Hezbollah and other groups. The flights go directly from Iran to Syria, passing through Iraqi airspace.

As well as weapons, hundreds of Shi'ite militia fighters from Iraq and Iran have been flown to Damascus international airport. Intelligence sources put their numbers at 10,000 to 20,000 and say they play a significant role in military campaigns launched by the Syrian army.

Israel has largely kept out the war in Syria, but officials have consistently referred to two red lines that have prompted a military response in the past: any supply of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah, and the establishment of "launch sites" for attacks on Israel from the Golan Heights region.

Speaking in Moscow on Wednesday, where he was attending a security conference, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman reiterated that Israel "will not allow Iranian and Hezbollah forces to be amassed on the Golan Heights border".

During his visit, Lieberman held talks with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as part of efforts by Israel to coordinate with Moscow on actions in Syria and avoid the risk of confrontation.

A statement from the Defence Ministry said Lieberman had expressed concern to the Russian ministers over "Iranian activity in Syria and the Iranian use of Syrian soil as a base for arms smuggling to Hezbollah in Lebanon".

A Western diplomat said the airstrikes sent a clear political message to Iran, effectively saying it could no longer use Iraqi and Syrian airspace to resupply proxies with impunity.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview in Washington on Wednesday, Katz, the intelligence minister, said he was seeking an understanding with the Trump administration that Iran not be allowed to establish a permanent military foothold in Syria.

Israeli officials estimate that Iran commands around 25,000 fighters in Syria, including members of its own Revolutionary Guard, Shi'ite militants from Iraq and recruits from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Israel has also said that Hezbollah has built up an arsenal of more than 100,000 rockets, many of which would be capable of striking anywhere within Israel's territory. The last conflict between the two left 1,300 people dead and uprooted more than a million Lebanese and 300,000 to 500,000 Israelis.

 

[kenyannoobie]

Looking at what has been done to Syria the past 6 years I can't help but wonder-does the ignorant self obsessed Westerner have any idea what his Masters have done in his name? Does he have any idea of the scale of trauma inflicted on Syria by his leaders?
When the day of reckoning comes I'll be in the front row with loads of popcorn.

 

[kenyannoobie]

Incidentally,I thought the Turks were politically wiser to get involved in Anglo Zionist misadventures. Also,I assumed,wrongly it seems,they were one of the few regional armies with tactical competence.

 

[Villager]

Which side is the good side in this crisis? If there is no good side, which one is least evil?

 

[gadeshi]

Which side is the good side in this crisis? If there is no good side, which one is least evil?

ISIS and its western sponsors are evil.
All of that war is started by US elites back in 2009 in Lybia, Egypt and Tunisia to fulfill 2 goals:
1 - Create radical pseudo-islamic hordes to tease them on Russia and China;
2 - Destroy all the national states in that region and build a gaspipe from Qatar through Turkey to EU to throw Gasprom from EU markets and cripple Russian budget and thus an ability to resist the West.

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[Butter Chicken]

Islamic State press release............

 

[airtel]

U.S.-led forces appear to be using white phosphorus in populated areas in Iraq and Syria


By Thomas Gibbons-Neff June 9

U.S. Marines with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit carry 155mm rounds to an M777 Howitzer gun line in preparation for fire missions in northern Syria. The sea-foam green rounds on the truck are white phosphorus munitions. (Photo courtesy Lance Cpl. Zachery Laning, U.S. Marine Corps)
The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria appears to have used white phosphorus-loaded munitions on at least two occasions in densely populated areas of Mosul and in the Islamic State’s de facto capital of Raqqa, according to videos posted online and human rights groups.

The often-controversial munitions are common in western militaries and are used primarily to create smoke screens, though they can also be dropped as an incendiary weapon. When a white phosphorus shell explodes, the chemical inside reacts with the air, creating a thick white cloud. When it comes in contact with flesh, it can maim and kill by burning to the bone.

While international humanitarian law stipulates that civilians must be protected from all military operations, it also says that countries must take even more care when using white phosphorus. Additionally, because of the weapon’s ability to cause grievous and inhumane injuries, rights groups caution against using white phosphorus to kill enemy troops if other weapons are available.

[U.S. forces are using white phosphorus munitions in Iraq but it’s unclear exactly how]

On Thursday, footage posted by the activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently showedthe signature spread of airburst white phosphorus munitions — probably M825 series 155mm artillery rounds — exploding over eastern Raqqa, the same area where U.S.-backed Syrian fighters made advances earlier this week.


U.S. Army Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting in Iraq and Syria, would not confirm the use of the munition but said in an email that the U.S. military uses it in “accordance with the law of armed conflict” and that white phosphorus rounds are “used for screening, obscuring, and marking in a way that fully considers the possible incidental effects on civilians and civilian structures.”

“The coalition takes all reasonable precautions to minimize the risk of incidental injury to non-combatants and damage to civilian structures,” he said.




The Pentagon posted photographs of Marine M777 howitzers in Syria — deployed to support the Raqqa operation — with a pallet of white phosphorus munitions in May. The image was taken in March, and while the unit in the photograph probably has returned to the United States, its replacement is likely using similar munitions.

Mary Wareham, the advocacy director at Human Rights Watch’s arms division, said in email that the group is still trying to determine the veracity of the videos, but the munitions look similar to the ones used Saturday in the Iraqi city of Mosul. Wareham said that in Mosul it appeared that the rounds exploded close to the ground, in “an attempt to minimize the footprint of the effects.”

U.S Army soldiers with Battery C, 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment, Task Force Strike, execute a fire mission in August 2016 in northern Iraq. White phosphorus smoke rounds are pictured in the right hand corner. (1st Lt. Daniel I. Johnson/U.S. Army)
When M825 rounds explode, they jettison roughly 115 felt wedges that are impregnated with white phosphorus. If exploded high above the ground, the wedges can spread over a greater distance, starting fires over a wide area. In Mosul, smoke munitions were used, according to a statement by Iraqi forces, to provide cover for civilians targeted by Islamic State snipers.

While the Islamic State controls only a few remaining neighborhoods in the western part of Mosul, the small area is packed with tens of thousands of civilians, raising concerns among rights groups that the heavy fighting will kill hundreds of civilians before the fighting ends.

“White phosphorus should not be air burst over populated areas due to its indiscriminate effect but it’s not clear from available information that civilians are in the area,” Wareham said. “The [Iraqi Security Forces] is claiming that it used white phosphorus to protect civilians. As such, more information is needed to determine whether the white phosphorus use here is lawful.”


In Raqqa, however, the footage shows the munitions bursting relatively high off the ground over a cluster of buildings. It is unclear if Islamic State fighters are in the area, but thousands of civilians are known to be still in the city. In the days leading up to the battle in the city, U.S.-backed Syrian fighters called on civilians to evacuate prior to the offensive, but after commencing their attack, they’ve now told those inside to shelter in their homes and avoid Islamic State positions.

[t Pentagon acknowledges more civilian deaths in U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State]

A report from the casualty-monitoring group Airwars.Org indicates that this mixed messaging has created some confusion among the civilian population in the city and that despite the fighting, some are still evacuating.

The Pentagon has admitted to killing roughly 500 civilians in the nearly three-year-old war against the Islamic State. Monitoring groups, such as Airwars, say that number is extremely conservative. The U.K.-based organization claims that roughly 3,800 civilians have been killed by the U.S.-led coalition.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...eas-in-iraq-and-syria/?utm_term=.776b96bd37b2

 

[asianobserve]

U.S. aircraft shoots down a Syrian government jet over northern Syria, Pentagon says

A U.S. strike aircraft shot down a Syrian government fighter jet Sunday shortly after the Syrians bombed U.S.-backed fighters in northern Syria, the Pentagon said in a statement.

The Pentagon said the downing of the aircraft came hours after Syrian loyalist forces attacked U.S.-backed fighters, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, in the village of Ja’Din, southwest of Raqqa. The rare attack was the first time a U.S. jet has shot down a manned hostile aircraft in more than a decade, and signaled the United States’ sharply intensifying role in Syria’s war.

The incident is the fourth time within a month that the U.S. military has attacked pro-Syrian government forces.

A statement distributed by the Syrian military said that the aircraft’s lone pilot was killed in the attack and that the jet was carrying out a mission against the Islamic State.

“The attack stresses coordination between the US and ISIS, and it reveals the evil intentions of the US in administrating terrorism and investing it to pass the US-Zionist project in the region,” the Syrian statement said, using an acronym for the Islamic State.

Before it downed the Syrian plane, the U.S. military used a deconfliction channel to communicate with Russia, Syria’s main ally, to prevent the situation from escalating, the Pentagon said.

U.S.-led jets stopped the fighting by flying close to the ground and at a low speed in what is called a “show of force,” the Pentagon said.

About two hours later, despite the calls to stand down and the U.S. presence overhead, a Syrian Su-22 jet attacked the Syrian Democratic Forces, dropping an unknown number of munitions on the U.S.-backed force. Col. John Thomas, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command, said that the Syrian aircraft arrived with little warning and that U.S. aircraft nearby tried to hail the Syrian jet after it had dropped its bombs. Thomas also said U.S. forces were in the area but were not directly threatened.

After the hailing attempts, a U.S. F/A-18 shot down the Syrian aircraft “in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of coalition partnered forces,” the Pentagon said.

Thomas rejected the Syrian government’s claims that the aircraft was bombing the Islamic State, adding that Ja’Din is controlled by Syrian Democratic Forces and that the terrorist group had not been in the area for some time.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of predominantly Arab and Kurdish fighters, is a key proxy force for the U.S.-led coalition in Syria. The fighters were instrumental in retaking towns and villages from the Islamic State in recent months and are fighting to retake the extremist group’s de-facto capital of Raqqa.

Also on Sunday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps announced that it had launched a rare cross-border missile attack against Islamic State militants in eastern Syria. The missile strikes, launched from Iran, were in retaliation for twin Islamic State attacks earlier this month in Tehran, the Iranian capital, on the parliament and the tomb of the leader of Iran’s Islamic revolution that killed 18 people, according to a statement carried by Iran’s official news agency.

The missile attacks had targeted a militant command center and other facilities in Deir El-Zour, a contested region in eastern Syria, where the United States, Iran, and other powers and proxy forces are fighting for control. The strikes had killed “a large number” of militants and destroyed equipment and weapons, the statement said.

Earlier this month, a U.S. jet downed a pro-Syrian government drone that dropped an apparent dud munition near U.S.-led coalition forces near the southern Syrian town of At Tanf. U.S.-led forces have increased their presence in Tanf to deter pro-Syrian government forces in the area. Iran-backed Shiite militias, along with other pro-Syrian government forces, have steadily advanced around Tanf despite repeated warnings from the U.S. military.

Tanf is a key town on the Iraq-Syrian border that has been home to a U.S. Special Operations training outpost for months.

“The coalition’s mission is to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” the Pentagon’s statement said. “The coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend coalition or partner forces from any threat.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...says/?tid=pm_world_pop&utm_term=.c7d7af6b2e38

 

[Butter Chicken]

First ever video released by Islamic State from Syria(Raqqah)


SAA operations in rural Raqqah

 

[Butter Chicken]

Armed Iranian Shahed-129 drone shot down by US F-15