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Target Syria NWO's next acquisition The Middle East- WW III - Muslim Civil War

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March 27, 2024, 12:55:24 pm Mark says: Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked  When Hamas spokesman Abu Ubaida began a speech marking the 100th day of the war in Gaza, one confounding yet eye-opening proclamation escaped the headlines. Listing the motives for the Palestinian militant group's Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, he accused Jews of "bringing red cows" to the Holy Land.
December 31, 2022, 10:08:58 am NilsFor1611 says: blessings
August 08, 2018, 02:38:10 am suzytr says: Hello, any good churches in the Sacto, CA area, also looking in Reno NV, thanks in advance and God Bless you Smiley
January 29, 2018, 01:21:57 am Christian40 says: It will be interesting to see what happens this year Israel being 70 years as a modern nation may 14 2018
October 17, 2017, 01:25:20 am Christian40 says: It is good to type Mark is here again!  Smiley
October 16, 2017, 03:28:18 am Christian40 says: anyone else thinking that time is accelerating now? it seems im doing days in shorter time now is time being affected in some way?
September 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm Psalm 51:17 says: The specific rule pertaining to the national anthem is found on pages A62-63 of the league rulebook. It states: “The National Anthem must be played prior to every NFL game, and all players must be on the sideline for the National Anthem. “During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.”
September 20, 2017, 04:32:32 am Christian40 says: "The most popular Hepatitis B vaccine is nothing short of a witch’s brew including aluminum, formaldehyde, yeast, amino acids, and soy. Aluminum is a known neurotoxin that destroys cellular metabolism and function. Hundreds of studies link to the ravaging effects of aluminum. The other proteins and formaldehyde serve to activate the immune system and open up the blood-brain barrier. This is NOT a good thing."
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-08-11-new-fda-approved-hepatitis-b-vaccine-found-to-increase-heart-attack-risk-by-700.html
September 19, 2017, 03:59:21 am Christian40 says: bbc international did a video about there street preaching they are good witnesses
September 14, 2017, 08:06:04 am Psalm 51:17 says: bro Mark Hunter on YT has some good, edifying stuff too.
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Author Topic: Target Syria NWO's next acquisition The Middle East- WW III - Muslim Civil War  (Read 44636 times)
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« Reply #1050 on: March 01, 2016, 10:26:04 pm »

WW3: Fighters From Turkey Are Pouring Into Syria And Attacking Targets Despite The Ceasefire

The ceasefire in Syria is a joke.  Turkish military units continue to mass along the border, and militants are pouring across the border to attack targets in northern Syria.  The Prime Minister of Turkey is now openly admitting that his government is supporting the militants that are trying to overthrow the Syrian government, and the Turkish government has also made it abundantly clear that they have no plans to stop shelling the Kurds on the other side of the border.  So despite the “ceasefire”, the truth is that the threat of World War 3 breaking out in the Middle East is greater than ever.

At times it is difficult to see the dividing line between the Turkish military and the radical jihadists that are hopping back and forth across the border with the full support of the Turkish government.  Over the weekend, militants from Turkey that crossed over into northern Syria were supported by artillery fire from the Turkish military as they attacked a key Kurdish town…

    In the Raqqa province, a group of some 100 fighters crossed into Syria from Turkey. The group later joined forces with other militants and attacked the Kurdish town of Tell Abyad.

    The 250-strong group was supported by artillery fire from the Turkish territory, a fact that Russia said the US should explain. The Kurdish YPG militia fended off the attack, the report said.

This is an act of war, and yet the Obama administration does not seem to mind.

If Turkey will not even honor the ceasefire, what hope is there that anything will be able to stop them from acting so aggressively?

At this point, the Turks are not even pretending anymore.  Just the other day, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu openly admitted that his nation is backing the militants that are trying to overthrow the Assad regime…

    “How would they be able to defend themselves if there was no Turkish support of the Syrian people? … If there’s today a real moderate Syrian opposition, it’s because of the Turkish support. If today the [Assad] regime isn’t able to control all the territories [it’s] because of Turkish and some other countries’ support,” he told Al-Jazeera earlier this week.

Obviously this ceasefire is not going to work.  Turkey has not even pressed pause in their relentless campaign against the Assad regime and the Kurds.

The Turkish government has become absolutely obsessed with their neighbor to the south, and that is a very dangerous thing for the rest of the planet.  The only way that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and their allies are going to be able to win the war now is to conduct a massive ground invasion of Syria.  Such a move would lead to direct conflict with Iran, Hezbollah and the Russians, and since Turkey is a member of the NATO alliance, that could threaten to drag the U.S. and western Europe into the war as well.  The following comes from the International Business Times…

    The wider consequences of any disagreement between Ankara and Moscow could lead to a standoff between Russia and NATO. Jen Stoltenberg, secretary general of the Brussels-based organization, said in late 2015 that it would be prepared to defend the member state of Turkey if it were attacked by Russia.

    “NATO will defend you, NATO is on the ground, NATO is ready,” Stoltenberg said in the aftermath of repeated breaches of Turkish airspace by Russian jets and just one month before Ankara shot down a Russian jet in November.

    The 28-country alliance is bound by Article 5 of its treaty to collectively defend its members. “Collective defense means that an attack against one ally is considered as an attack against all allies,” the article states.

Saudi Arabia does not appear ready to back down either.

The Saudis continue to reiterate their position that either Assad must go peacefully or he will be removed by force…

    Saudi Arabia is prepared to send troops to Syria if President Bashar Assad doesn’t resign and leave his war-torn nation peacefully. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir warned Sunday that his country will take military action if Syria violates the terms of a ceasefire agreement.

    “I believe that abiding by the truce would be an important indicator of the seriousness to reach a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis that would include setting up a transitional council and the transfer of power from Bashar to this council,” he said during a joint press conference with his Danish counterpart Kristian Jensen in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.

    Al-Jubeir warned that Saudi Arabia has prepared a “Plan B.” If “the coalition decided to send ground troops into Syria, Saudi Arabia is ready to contribute,” he said.

The goal since 2011 has been to get rid of Assad so that Syria could become a full-fledged Sunni nation with a Sunni government.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies have poured enormous amounts of money and resources into this conflict, and they don’t appear to be willing to walk away now that the tide of the war has turned.  In fact, how the Saudis have been behaving lately has been causing a tremendous amount of anxiety in the Middle East…

    Saudi Arabia’s recent actions have caused a great deal of anxiety within its region. On February 4, a military spokesman suggested that Saudi Arabia was ready to send troops ground troops to fight ISIS in Syria. A week later Saudi Arabia announced that it will send combat aircraft and soldiers to Turkey to participate in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS.

    Three days later the Saudis launched “Northern Thunder,” described as the “largest military exercise in the history of the Middle East.” Participants from 20 countries sent troops to the maneuvers run over three weeks in Hafar al Batin in northern Saudi Arabia, not far from the Iraqi and Kuwaiti border. According to a Saudi media outlet, some 350,000 troops were expected to participate in the maneuvers.

So if Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies are preparing for war, then what is the purpose of the ceasefire?

Well, first of all the goal was to stop the bleeding.  The Sunni militants were losing ground steadily, and this pause will enable them to regroup and get resupplied.

Secondly, this pause in the action gives “the coalition” time to move forces into position for a potential ground invasion of Syria.

But more than anything else, this ceasefire seems to be a trap.  It appears to be inevitable that the U.S. and other western powers will accuse Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and the Syrian government of breaking the ceasefire, thus providing “legal justification” for “the coalition” to militarily intervene.

Watch developments in Syria very closely.  Many had hoped that this ceasefire would bring the five year civil war to an end, but the truth is that it could just be setting the stage for something far, far bigger.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/ww3-fighters-from-turkey-are-pouring-into-syria-and-attacking-targets-despite-the-ceasefire
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« Reply #1051 on: March 01, 2016, 10:30:26 pm »

49 Countries Met In Brussels Earlier This Month To Discuss A Ground Invasion Of Syria

Have the U.S government, Saudi Arabia and their allies been secretly plotting a massive ground invasion of Syria?  Earlier this month, defense ministers from 49 countries gathered at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium to talk about what to do in Syria.  As you will see below, Saudi Arabia’s defense minister is now admitting that a ground invasion was discussed at this meeting.  Of course the goal of any invasion would be regime change in Syria, and that is something that the Syrian army, Iran, Hezbollah and Russia are simply not going to allow.  So what the U.S. government, Saudi Arabia and their allies are contemplating could literally be the spark that sets off World War III.

I was stunned earlier today when I came across the following quote from Saudi Arabia’s defense minister.  Saudi Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri told Reuters that the 49 defense ministers that had gathered in Brussels a couple of weeks ago had openly discussed the need to conduct a large scale ground invasion of Syria…

    An aide to Saudi Arabia’s defense minister said on Monday, meanwhile, that defense ministers from the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State had discussed the possibility of a Syrian ground incursion two weeks ago in Brussels.

    “It was discussed at the political level but it wasn’t discussed as a military mission,” Saudi Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri told Reuters. “Once this is organized, and decided how many troops and how they will go and where they will go, we will participate in that.”

When this meeting took place in Brussels earlier this month, it got next to no attention from the U.S. media, but it did get some attention in the international media.  The following is an excerpt from an article about this meeting which appeared in the Guardian…

    The US defence secretary has refused to rule out Saudi Arabia sending ground troops into Syria, but added that it was just one option and there were other ways the Saudis could contribute to the fight against Islamic State.

    Ash Carter was speaking on the eve of a meeting of defence ministers from 49 countries at Nato headquarters to discuss how to step up efforts against Isis in Syria and Iraq.

    He said the meeting was important “because we do need to accelerate the campaign and we have a very clear operational picture of how to do it. Now we just need the resources and the forces to fall in behind it.”

It is certainly extremely unusual for so many defense ministers to gather in one place like that.  Needless to say, they weren’t just getting together for tea and cookies.

A few days after this meeting, Saudi Arabia announced the largest military exercise in the history of the Middle East.  This exercise has been dubbed “Northern Thunder”, and military units from 20 different nations are participating.

The Syrians, the Iranians and the Russians are concerned that this looks very much like an “invasion force”, but the Saudis are denying this even though we know now that this is precisely what the “coalition partners” have been discussing.

And most Americans don’t realize this, but the U.S. already has a limited number of troops on the ground inside Syria right now, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is saying that up to 30,000 U.S. troops may be needed to create a “safe zone” in northern Syria.

In addition, fighters from Turkey continue to pour over the border, and mercenaries from Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region have been funneling into Syria for years.

So how in the world did we get to this point?

Well, back in 2011 the “Arab Spring” was overthrowing governments all over the Middle East.  At that time, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies in conjunction with the U.S. government decided that it would be a wonderful opportunity to overthrow President Assad of Syria too.  This move was spearheaded by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and it was hoped that by removing Assad the balance of power in the Middle East would be fundamentally transformed.

You see, President Assad is Alawite (a form of Shia Islam), and his government is allied with Iran.  Syria is part of the “Shiite crescent” that stretches across the Middle East, but 74 percent of the population of Syria is actually Sunni.  So the goal was to get rid of Assad, transform Syria into a full-blown Sunni nation, and cut off Iran from their Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.

The U.S. government, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies began organizing huge protests against Assad in Syria, and those protests rapidly became violent.  The freedom fighters were armed, and civil war broke out.

And at first the plan was working.  ISIS and other radical Sunni groups took large amounts of territory, including the largest city in all of Syria (Aleppo).  It looked like they were going to be able to eventually conquer all of Syria and take down Assad.  In the aftermath, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies would have come in and helped set up an appropriately submissive Sunni puppet government.

But now the tide of the war has completely turned.  President Assad has enlisted the help of Iran, Hezbollah and Shiite militias from Iraq.  But most important of all, the Russians came to his aid, and Russian air power is absolutely decimating the Sunni jihadists that are trying to overthrow Assad.  With the help of his allies, Assad has been rapidly reconquering Syria, and this has Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies in a panic.

If the war ended today, things would be far worse for Saudi Arabia and Turkey than if they had never even attempted to overthrow Assad in the first place.  The Iranians would have far more influence in Syria than they did before, Hezbollah now has a major presence in Syria, and Russian aircraft would likely be permanently stationed at air bases inside the country.  And of course Saudi Arabia and Turkey would have to deal with a neighboring government that now hates their guts because Assad knows that they have been trying to overthrow him for the past five years.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and their allies have invested massive amounts of money and resources in this attempt to overthrow Assad.  Now that their Sunni militias are being routed, either they have to walk away or they have to go in and do the job themselves.

Unfortunately, as I wrote about earlier today, Saudi Arabia and Turkey still appear to be quite determined to get rid of Assad.

So we should not expect this current “ceasefire” to last for long.  In the coming days we should expect the western powers to accuse Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and the Syrian government of repeatedly violating the ceasefire, and these “violations” will be used as justification for whatever “the coalition” has planned next.

Sadly, whatever they have planned next could be the spark that plunges our planet into World War III.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/49-countries-met-in-brussels-earlier-this-month-to-discuss-a-ground-invasion-of-syria
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« Reply #1052 on: March 03, 2016, 01:55:08 pm »

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/syria-plunged-into-darkness-by-unexplained-power-blackout-nteb/

Syria Plunged Into Darkness By Unexplained Nationwide Power Blackout

Since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011, various areas across the country have experienced intermittent power outages as a result of clashes or air strikes and many regularly rely on generators for power. Syria's parliament had on Monday called in electricity minister Imad Khamis for a special hearing on the power sector.

3/3/16

War-torn Syria was hit Thursday by a nationwide power cut, state television reported, but the cause was not immediately known.

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.” Isaiah 17:1 (KJV)

“Electricity has been cut across all provinces and teams are trying to determine the reason for this unexpected cut,” the station reported, citing a source within the electricity ministry. Damascus residents said power in the capital had been out since 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) and that mobile Internet connections from some private providers were also not working.

Syria: Drone captures devastated Damascus suburb

Drone footage captured the devastation to the infrastructure on Damascus’ outskirts, with images of the severely damaged buildings in the Syrian capital’s Jobar district released on Tuesday. Footage shows the ghost-like area of the capital and the buildings destroyed by shelling, with only a few frameworks left standing. The Syrian Arab Army recently kicked off an operation to expand control over the Damascus suburb as government forces continue to make gains in the Syrian conflict. Jobar, once an historical village on the outskirts of Damascus, it is now a suburb of the capital city. Today the district lies in ruins due to ongoing battles between anti-government militant groups and regular Syrian Arab Army troops.

Syria’s state mobile provider said its Internet service had been “partially cut due to part of the network unexpectedly malfunctioning”.

Since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011, various areas across the country have experienced intermittent power outages as a result of clashes or air strikes and many regularly rely on generators for power.

Syria’s parliament had on Monday called in electricity minister Imad Khamis for a special hearing on the power sector.

Khamis told parliamentarians that the cost of “direct damage” to the country’s power stations and the electricity network from 2011 until the end of 2015 was estimated $3.75 billion.

In statements carried by Syria’s state news agency SANA, Khamis said five out of the 13 main power stations in Syria had been “directly damaged” in the war.


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« Reply #1053 on: March 06, 2016, 05:32:27 pm »

Russian warships and naval assets sailing through Bosphorus strait has Turkey frightened
The strait that separates the Black Sea from the Mediterranean is where Putin flaunts Moscow’s naval prowess


He has been watching boats on the Bosphorus strait for two decades; but, until recently, it had been years since Serhat Guvenc had glimpsed a Russian warship. Common in the Cold War era and again during the Balkans conflict, they had become a rare sight on the mighty waterway that transects the ancient city of Istanbul and separates Europe from Asia.

Now, barely a day goes by when the academic and amateur ship-spotter fails to catch sight of a Russian missile cruiser, landing ship or submarine. They goad Turkey by sailing through the heart of its biggest city to supply the conflict in Syria. “It’s like rubbing salt on an open wound,” Mr Guvenc says.

Turkey and Russia have supported opposing sides in the Syrian conflict since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011. Since November, when Turkey shot down a Russian Sukhoi-24 jet, the relationship has teetered on the brink of all-out war. But thanks to a 1930s treaty, in  peace time foreign states “enjoy the freedom” to send military and commercial ships from the Black Sea down to the Mediterranean.

For Mr Guvenc, 51, and a group of four friends, the parade of military hardware through their city is irresistible. Sipping coffee from a stunning balcony with a panoramic view of the channel, they explain that the photographs they share online are pored over by military strategists and analysts around the world.

“Usually these ships are out of sight. We don’t know what they are doing,” explains Devrim Yaylali, 45, an economist who has been spotting ships for nearly 30 years. “The Bosphorus or the port is the only place you can see them.”

His friend Yoruk Isik, 45, an international affairs consultant, chips in: “Here, you can be in Starbucks with an espresso and a ship is literally 250 metres away.” The sharp bends and strong currents in the channel means that the boats must slow right down to manoeuvre, making them easy to photograph. “There’s no other place on earth where you can capture them so well.”

The city provides a stunning backdrop. The boats glide under three imposing bridges before sweeping past the Ottoman palaces of Dolmabahce and Topkapi and the spires of the Hagia Sophia.

It is not just Russian vessels that come and go. Turkish warships and submarines are a common sight for commuters taking the short ferry hop from one side of the city to the other. Nato ships arrive on port visits and training missions. Vast cargo ships carry multi-coloured containers, and in summer tourist cruisers dock in the city centre. But it’s the Russian ships that have caught international attention as President Vladimir Putin made clear that he was reasserting Moscow’s muscle in Syria and the wider region. The Bosphorus is a vital link between Russia’s Black Sea ports and its naval bases in the coastal towns of Latakia and Tartous.

Already this year, Russian warships have made almost four dozen trips up and down the strait. They include the hulking Moskva, a guided missile cruiser that is the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and provides air cover for Moscow’s deployment in Syria. It sports a red star on each side, and huge silver missiles that glint on deck in the sun.

One of the most frequent visitors of 2016 has been the Yamal 156, a rusting, Soviet-era, Ropucha-class large landing ship that offloads vehicles, cargo and troops on to beaches. It has already made three trips to Syria and back.

The 1936 Montreux Convention gives Turkey control of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, the strait that leads into the Mediterranean; but it also requires Turkey to grant freedom of passage to commercial and naval ships. Like all foreign powers, however, Russia must inform Turkey before sending a military vessel. This has led to surprising co‑operation between the two states, despite the fraying of relations. Weeks after the downing of the Russian jet the Turkish coastguard escorted the Rostov-na-donu, an imposing black submarine armed with Kalibr cruise missiles, as it made its way down through the city. According to the spotters, it was trailed by a Turkish anti-submarine warfare patrol boat for intelligence purposes.

The escalating tensions between the two countries has thrust the group of amateur enthusiasts into the spotlight. Weeks before President Putin officially announced Russia’s military intervention in  Syria, they noticed dozens of armoured vehicles and military trucks barely hidden under tarpaulins on deck. All are convinced that the insouciance was deliberate. “This is like a catwalk,” says Alper Boler, 41, a product designer by day. “We see exactly what they want to show us.”

Mr Isik broke the story of the Russian sailor standing on deck with a missile launcher on his shoulder as his ship passed through a city of 14 million people. After posting it  online, he was bombarded by phone calls from news channels. Turkey’s foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador, and the Deputy Prime Minister decried the episode as a “childish show”.

The group feels uneasy about being drawn into this kind of political spat. They bristled at seeing their photographs used as ammunition by various factions in Turkey and Russia, each with its own agenda.

The ships may be impressive to look at and fun to catalogue, but the group has been only too aware that these vessels are fuelling a terrible conflict that has killed an estimated 470,000 people so far. “You get excited when [you] spot a ship,” says Mr Isik. “But then you think: you are watching a very deadly machine going past.”

Though there is intense international interest in the Russian vessels that pass, the group logs everything from small speedboats that whizz up and down to the vast cargo ships that hulk down the centre of the channel. “The war is going on and [the straits have] come to prominence,” says Kerim Bozkurt, 36, an architect member of the group. When it ends, we will keep watching.”

But even with the shaky ceasefire that began in Syria last weekend, Russian ships have continued passing through the city.

Among the vessels spotted by the group in recent days were two boats packed with military vehicles. Kremlin-watchers say that, whether Turkey likes it or not, Russia is back in the Middle East. And its route runs right through Istanbul.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russian-warships-and-naval-assets-sailing-through-bosphorus-strait-has-turkey-frightened-a6914796.html
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« Reply #1054 on: March 14, 2016, 03:57:37 pm »

http://news.yahoo.com/putin-orders-start-russian-forces-withdrawal-syria-173736525.html
Putin orders start of Russian forces' withdrawal from Syria
3/14/16

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he would start pulling his armed forces out of Syria, five months after he ordered a military intervention that turned the tide of the war in favor of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"I believe that the task put before the defense ministry and Russian armed forces has, on the whole, been fulfilled," Putin said at a Kremlin meeting with his defense and foreign ministers at which he announced the withdrawal, starting on Tuesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had telephoned Assad to inform him of the Russian decision, but Peskov said the two leaders had not discussed Assad's future - the biggest obstacle to reaching a peace agreement.

Putin ordered an intensification of Russia's diplomatic efforts to end the civil war in Syria, which has dragged on for five years, killed thousands of people and displaced millions, many of them seeking refuge in Europe.

But the Russian leader signaled Moscow would keep a military presence: he did not give a deadline for the completion of the withdrawal and said Russian forces would stay on at the port of Tartous and at the Hmeymim air base in Syria's Latakia province, from which Russia has launched most of its air strikes.

Questions remained about the practical implications of Putin's announcement. It was not clear if Russian air strikes would stop. Russia will retain the capability to launch them, from the Latakia base.

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« Reply #1055 on: March 16, 2016, 12:42:44 am »

Syria conflict: First Russian planes leave after Putin surprise move

Russian forces have started leaving Syria after Monday's surprise withdrawal announcement by President Vladimir Putin. Russian defence ministry video showed the first group of aircraft taking off from Hmeimim air base in Syria on Tuesday morning and later in flight. But Russia will continue air strikes, and keep several hundred personnel and air defence systems, officials said. 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35809087
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« Reply #1056 on: March 24, 2016, 10:34:29 pm »

The U.S. and Russia Want the Draft of a New Syrian Constitution By August

However, it is unclear what the future holds for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad

Russia and the U.S. will work to finalize a draft of a new constitution for Syria by August, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said after several hours of conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kerry is in Moscow for ten days of dialogue with Putin, the BBC reports, following indirect peace talks in Geneva between Syria’s government and the opposition forces with which Damascus has been locked in a devastating civil war. He said that the U.S. and Russia would push both parties to continue the conversation in the interest of a political transition.

It is unclear, however, what this transition would hold for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Assad is an ally of Russia’s, and Damascus has consistently refused to discuss his political future, but the U.S. has ardently called for him to step down.

http://time.com/4271703/syria-russia-kerry-putin-us-assad/
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« Reply #1057 on: April 23, 2016, 06:58:55 pm »

Putin: if Turkey's Erdoğan doesn't stop supporting terrorists in Syria, I shall restore Constantinople (Istanbul) to Christendom

 According to state-owned Россия-24 news channel, President Vladimir Putin addressed a delegation of Ukrainian Orthodox Church and reiterated that nothing can shake Russia's perpetual blood alliance with Ukraine in spite of all malicious efforts exerted by the ruling junta in Kiev, adding, " rising neo-Fascism in Ukraine is like the infectious Gangrene which can spread across the European continent , and we, the people of the Russian Federation and descendents of the Soviet Union , we are determined to stop this plague."

"Should Turkey not stop supporting al-Qaeda's Syria branch, I am indeed eager to end the job the late Tsar Nicholas II left unfinished. During the World War I , He [Tsar] sought to restore Constantinople (Istanbul) to Christendom and protect Russian maritime security by liberating Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits but fate prevented him," TASS Russian News Agency cited President Putin as saying on Saturday. We also advocate Greek sovereignty over the Cyprus, added Putin, and call the Turkish regime to end its decades-long occupation of this Mediterranean island.

Referring to five-year-old Syrian crisis, Mr. Putin launched a scathing attack on Turkish president's dreadful dreams of breathing life into dead Ottoman Empire by supporting al-Qaeda terrorists in Syria and Iraq, saying prospects for a lasting cease-fire in Syria remains doubtful due to Ankara's war-like agenda and its vicious alliance with Saudi Arabia.

http://awdnews.com/top-news/putin-if-turkey-s-erdo%C4%9Fan-doesn-t-stop-supporting-terrorists-in-syria,-i-shall-restore-constantinople-istanbul-to-christendom
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« Reply #1058 on: April 24, 2016, 08:28:25 pm »

The situation in Syria is fascinating because it could actually be prophecy beginning to unfold. I've been bouncing back and forth between the 'Two King' and 'Three King' theories of Daniel 11. The 'Two King' theory says that there are only two kings in view: the king of the north (Syria) and king of the south (Egypt). The king of the north is the Antichrist in verses 36-45. The 'Three King' theory says that there are three kings in view: the king of the north, the king of the south, and a third king (the Antichrist) mentioned in verses 36-45.

Either one could be true, but if the former is true, then the ousting of Bashar al-Assad could be the first steps toward the Antichrist coming to power.
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« Reply #1059 on: April 26, 2016, 05:21:44 pm »

Military Buildup? Turkey Deploys Missile Systems on Border With Syria

The Turkish army has pulled additional forces to the border with Syria, placing several rocket launchers near the Turkish city of Kilis, local media reported.

According to a military source, Turkish authorities have sent 13 trailers with military equipment to the southeastern regions of the country in order to strengthen its military capacities on the Syrian border, Anadolu agency reported.

Earlier, Ankara and Washington struck a deal to deploy American light multiple rocket launchers (MRL) on the Turkish border with Syria in order to fight against Daesh, according to the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The missile systems are expected to be installed in the border area in May.

"Our artillery has a maximum range of forty kilometers, that the US MRL is ninety kilometers. Our main goal is to clean up the 98-kilometer stretch of our border from the IS [Daesh], and afterwards the security zone will form by itself," Cavusoglu told Turkish media.

In recent weeks, the Turkish city of Kilis has been shelled several times from the territory of Syria, which is currently under control of Daesh terrorist group. As a result of the bombings, ten people died, and forty were injured.

Daesh is a terrorist group outlawed in the United States and Russia among other states. The group has seized large areas in Syria and Iraq and declared a caliphate on the territories under its control.


Read more: http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160426/1038627677/military-buildup-turkey.html#ixzz46yRdgIR4
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« Reply #1060 on: April 26, 2016, 05:41:36 pm »

Iran and Russia move closer but their alliance has limits

When Iran took delivery of the first parts of an advanced Russian air defense system this month, it paraded the anti-aircraft missile launchers sent by Moscow to mark Army Day.

Tehran had cause to celebrate: the Kremlin's decision a year ago to press ahead with the stalled sale of the S-300 system was the first clear evidence of a growing partnership between Russia and Iran that has since turned the tide in Syria's civil war and is testing U.S. influence in the Middle East.

But the delay in implementation of the deal also points to the limitations of a relationship that is forged from a convergence of interests rather than a shared worldview, with Iran's leadership divided over ideology and Russia showing signs of reluctance to let the alliance develop much more, according to diplomats, officials and analysts interviewed by Reuters.

Some Iranian officials want a strategic alliance, a much deeper relationship than now. But the Kremlin refers only to ongoing cooperation with a new dimension because of the conflict in Syria, in which both back Damascus.

"We are continuously developing friendly relations with Iran, but we cannot really talk about a new paradigm in our relations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last month.

Russia agreed to sell the S-300 system to Iran in 2007 but froze the deal in 2010 after sanctions were imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program.

Moscow lifted the self-imposed ban in April last year as Iran and world powers got closer to the deal that led eventually to the nuclear-related sanctions being lifted in exchange for Tehran curbing its atomic program.

Russia is now weighing the financial and diplomatic benefits of arms sales to Tehran against the risk of upsetting other countries including Saudi Arabia, the United States and Israel, or seeing Iran become too powerful.

"There is a military-economic aspect to this alliance which is beneficial to both sides," said Maziar Behrooz, associate professor of Mideast and Islamic history at San Francisco State University, who has studied Iran's relationship with Russia.

"But on a geopolitical level, Iran and Russia can only form a tactical short-term alliance, not a strategic one. I think the ideological differences between the two are just too deep."

BACKING FOR DAMASCUS

The relationship, long cordial, appeared to reach a new level last September when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a military intervention in Syria in support of Iran's ally, President Bashar al-Assad.

Iran had already deployed its Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), who had rallied Assad's troops to check the opposition's momentum. But it took Russian air power to break the stalemate and give Assad the upper hand.

Militarily, the two powers proved complementary. Iran brought disciplined ground troops who worked well with their local allies, while Russia provided the first-rate air power that Iran and Assad lack.

Diplomatically, the joint operations have made Tehran and Moscow central to any discussion about the regional security architecture.

That is important for Putin as he has sought to shore up alliances in the region and increase Moscow's influence since Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, a Russian ally, was killed.

    How well Moscow will fare when it comes to winning lucrative business contracts now the nuclear-related sanctions have been lifted is less clear. There is little sign so far of Russian companies making new inroads into Iran.

This is partly for ideological reasons. The Iranian establishment is divided, with President Hassan Rouhani's faction more interested in trading with the West than struggling against it, even if many U.S. policies are still condemned.

Russia has little incentive to join the mostly Shi'ite "Axis of Resistance" to Western interests in the region which is championed by the more conservative Iranian faction as this could ruin its relationships with other Middle Eastern powers such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

SECRET MEETINGS

Russia's first big intervention in the Middle East since the Cold War followed months of secret meetings in Moscow between Putin and Iranian officials, including IRGC commanders and Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign policy advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

A close and exclusive alliance with Russia would suit Khamenei, Iran's most powerful figure, who has blamed Western influence for Iran's troubles and pushed hard to implement his "Look East" policy.

But it runs contrary to the policy of Iran's government, led by Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who have courted Western delegations on an almost weekly basis since the nuclear deal was reached with world powers last July.

The Western-educated Rouhani is less inclined toward Russia and has an uneasy relationship with Putin. Last November, during his first visit to Tehran in eight years, Putin went straight from the airport to meet Khamenei, rather than seeing Rouhani first as most visitors do.

"Rouhani and Putin don't get along that great," an Iranian diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Some Iranian officials are also wary of getting too close to Russia, which fought Britain for domination of 19th century Iran and occupied the country during both World Wars.

"Russians have always used us as a tool in their foreign policy. They never stayed committed to their alliance with any country," Abdullah Ramezanzadeh, who served as spokesman for former President Mohammad Khatami, told Reuters from Tehran.

Putin has worked hard to improve relations with Iran. During the November visit, he presented Khamenei with one of the world's oldest copies of the Koran, which Russia had obtained during its occupation of northern Iran in the 19th century.

The intervention in Syria has served as a distraction from economic problems in Russia, deepened by international sanctions on Moscow over its role in the Ukraine crisis which have forced Moscow to seek new trade partners.

Trade with Iran was only $1.3 billion in 2015, according to Russian data, though there are signs cooperation could pick up.

Russia says it is ready to start disbursing a $5-billion loan to Tehran for financing infrastructure projects. A deal is also being discussed for Russia to send oil and gas to northern Iran, where supply is scarce, and for Iran to send oil and gas from its southern fields to Russia's customers in the Gulf.

But the prospects for cooperation may be limited, sector analysts say, as, to update its energy sector, Iran mainly needs technology and equipment which Russia is also in need of.

Russia is also in talks to help upgrade Iran's dilapidated air force by selling it Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets but the deal would need the approval of the United Nations Security Council and could further strain Moscow's relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-iran-insight-idUSKCN0XN15Z
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« Reply #1061 on: May 01, 2016, 05:20:06 pm »

Turkey blackmails Europe with its own instability: Spengler

This is the sort of thing that happens in Mel Brooks movies, but not–at least until now–in geopolitics: Turkey’s claim upon the support of Western Europe comes from its own propensity to collapse. If it does so, the Europeans fear, the refugee stream that inundated Europe during 2015 will acquire another zero. That is why West Germany is willing to humiliate itself in order to prop up the regime of Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Europe is paying Erdogan to stop the flow of refugees, which Erdogan has threatened to accelerate if his demands are not met. Erdogan’s negotiating stance recalls Brooks’ 1974 comedy “Blazing Saddles,” where a black sheriff turns back a lynch mob by putting a gun to his own head and threatening to pull the trigger.  Cheesy



Chancellor Angela Merkel April 23 supported Turkey’s long-standing demand for a “safe zone” under Turkish control on the Syrian side of its joint border, ostensibly to protect refugees but in fact to protect beleaguered Sunni jihadists whom Turkey has supported against Syria’s Assad regime. Turkey is alarmed that Russian combat troops are fighting along side Kurdish forces on the Syrian side of its borders, raising the possibility that the Kurds will gain control of a strip of land stretching from the Kurdish autonomous zone in northern Iraq to the Mediterranean Sea. Kurdish is the first language of a fifth of Turkey’s citizens, and Kurdish fertility is double that of the rest of Turkey, so that ethnic Kurds will comprise half the country’s young people a generation from now.

Mrs. Merkel’s belated support for Turkey’s “safe zone” has no practical impact, to be sure. The United States has armed the Iraqi and Syrian Kurds, who are the only indigenous force that has fought effectively against ISIS. Germany itself has 125 advisors in Iraqi Kurdistan training the Kurdish Peshmerga militia and has given the Kurds light arms. Russia and its allies control too much territory on the Syrian-Turkish border. And the creation of a “safe zone” would require control of the local skies, which Russia now dominates with the deployment of its extremely effective S-400 air defense system. NATO forces never have engaged the S-400, and do not want to find out how good it is by risking military aircraft. Turkey’s air force is effectively shut out of the Syrian skies.

There is nothing the Germans can do on the ground to advance Ankara’s demands, so the German Chancellor’s support for Turkey’s position falls into the category of ritual humiliation. That is the second such humiliation Berlin has accepted recently. The German government last week caved in to Turkish demands for criminal proceedings against a German comedian who mocked Erdogan, under an obscure and never-before-used law forbidding public insults to foreign heads of state.

Germany is committed to what it imagines to be a humanitarian posture, namely kindness to the migrants whom Turkey allowed to reach its doorstep. If the refugees do not reach its doorstep, but remain in camps in Turkey, the Germans do not feel the same compulsion to prove their compassion. Merkel is depending on Erdogan to keep the migrant flood from reaching Europe. Emboldened, Erdogan told an audience of municipal leaders April 19 that “The European Union needs Turkey more than Turkey needs the European Union.”

Erdogan is quite wrong, in fact: Turkey desperately requires loans from Western Europe in order to support the consumer-lending bubble that has propped up its economy and Erdogan’s government during the past several years. There is evidence that Europe stepped up lending to Turkey during the second half of 2015 just as the migrant crisis erupted. The chart below from just-released Bank for International Settlmeents data shows the biggest jump on record of foreign loans to Turkey during 2015, led by loans from Eurozone banks.

rest: http://atimes.com/2016/04/turkey-blackmails-europe-with-its-own-instability/
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« Reply #1062 on: May 05, 2016, 07:51:17 pm »

Kerry Draws Red Line, Says Syria Better Start Removing Assad By Aug 1



Secretary of State John Kerry just gave Syria a hard deadline for starting the political transition to get rid of Syrian President Bashar Assad: Aug. 1.

Kerry told reporters Tuesday if Syria doesn’t begin the process of removing Assad by Aug. 1, there will be serious consequences, The Associated Press reports.

“If Assad does not adhere to this, there will clearly be repercussions,” Kerry said. “One of them may be the total destruction of the cease-fire and then go back to war. I don’t think Russia wants that. I don’t think Assad is going to benefit from that. There may be even other repercussions being discussed. That is for the future.”

Kerry emphasized opposition rebels will never put up with Assad staying in power.

“If Assad’s strategy is to somehow think he’s going to just carve out Aleppo and carve out a section of the country, I got news for you and for him: This war doesn’t end,” Kerry said. “As long as Assad is there, the opposition is not going to stop fighting.”

Kerry is ostensibly working on a truce to end the fighting. The existing transition plan, backed by the United Nations, says nothing about forcing Assad to step down.

If Syria ignores Kerry’s demands, the U.S. will completely shift its strategy to the war-torn country that has now suffered through five years of destructive civil war. Kerry also directed his remarks to Russia and Iran, two of Syria’s allies that are propping up the current government.

This isn’t the first time the Obama administration has delivered a soft ultimatum regarding Syria. Previously, the Obama administration promised if Assad used chemical weapons, it would immediately step in. Use of chemicals was supposed to be the red line. Assad tested it, Obama capitulated. Obama’s former Middle East adviser, Philip Gordon, recently blasted him for not deploying military force against Assad after Assad used Sarin gas in 2013, killing around 1,300 people.

The Obama administration has played a politics of reluctance in terms of intervening in foreign conflicts, so it’s unclear if U.S. officials are willing to actually follow through on threats. Special operations troops and other servicemembers deployed so far are by and large in an advisory role to support local troops. The Obama administration has insisted time and time again on specific semantics to avoid saying there are American “boots on the ground” as combat troops on the front lines. The Obama administration has held this line, despite the fact that special operations troops are likely involved in direct combat and are tasked with killing high-value Islamic State targets.

http://dailycaller.com/2016/05/04/kerry-draws-red-line-says-syria-better-start-removing-assad-by-aug-1/
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« Reply #1063 on: June 07, 2016, 04:21:35 am »

Is Russia Readying for the Kill in Syria?

Russia may be preparing to back a renewed assault by Syrian government forces to retake Aleppo, and perhaps even Raqqa, from Jabhat al-Nusra and allied groups in the coming weeks.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-06/is-russia-readying-for-the-kill-in-syria   
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« Reply #1064 on: June 07, 2016, 05:25:35 pm »

US effectively siding with Al-Qaeda in desire to get rid of Assad – former UK ambassador to Syria

The US is “ready to de facto ally” with its archenemies from Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria as part of its “obsession” by using “so-called moderate” groups to overthrow the Syrian government, former UK ambassador to Syria, Peter Ford, told RT in an exclusive interview.

The US “is effectively siding with a branch of Al-Qaeda” in Syria, Peter Ford told RT, speaking of Washington’s recent request to Moscow not to target Al-Nusra positions with air strikes for the sake of moderate opposition groups located in the same area.

The former ambassador denounced the move as “not reasonable at all” and “grotesque.” He also sharply criticized the US for their “obsession with getting rid of Assad and the secular government in Syria” that leads them right to the alliance with “their arch-enemies” and to the loss of “all moral and practical competence.”

“We can only hope that it is a temporary aberration and they will soon return to their senses,” Ford told RT, urging the US government to abandon their policy of de facto aiding Al-Qaeda’s affiliate. He also expressed his support for Russia’s “very reasonable demand that the forces of the so-called moderate opposition disentangle themselves from the embraces of Al-Nusra and allow Al-Nusra to be bombed.”

The former ambassador also stressed that there is “virtually no difference” between Al-Nusra and such groups as Jaish al-Islam, Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Fatah as they are “indistinguishable” in terms of ideology, sectarian bias and their practical methods consisting of “massacres and ruthlessness.”

He also emphasized that the only difference between Al-Nusra and other groups that western countries, including the US, portray as “moderate opposition” lies in the field of tactics.

“The so-called moderate groups pay lip service to the idea that Syria might end up with a secular system after negotiations provided only that Assad will go. They pay lip service to this but anyone, who believes it must be a fool but the Americans use this as a reason or the pretext not to go after these groups,” Ford said.

rest: https://www.rt.com/news/345636-us-siding-al-qaeda-ford/
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« Reply #1065 on: June 18, 2016, 05:32:36 pm »

Russia failed to heed U.S. call to stop targeting Syrian rebels: U.S

duh

Russia launched a second air strike on U.S.-backed Syrian fighters battling Islamic State, even after the U.S. military used emergency channels to ask Moscow to stop after the first strike, a U.S. official told Reuters on Friday.

The official, who spoke to on condition of anonymity, said a small number of Syrian fighters were killed in Thursday's air strikes in southern Syria.

The Pentagon has criticized the strike near al-Tanf, saying it raised concerns about Russian intentions in Syria and promising to bring up the matter with Russia. No Russia or Russian-backed Syrian ground forces were in the area at the time.

"This was an attack on forces first of all that were fighting ISIL. And obviously that's the first thing that's problematic about this Russian conduct," U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters, using an acronym for the radical group Islamic State.

"The Russians initially said they were coming in to fight ISIL, and that's not what they did."

Asked about the incident, the Kremlin said on Friday it was hard to distinguish between moderate and Islamist extremist rebels on the ground when it came to targeting air strikes in Syria because they were frequently fighting close to one another.

Carter did not get into details about the sequence of events but told a news conference that "the channel that we have to communicate with them in instances like this wasn't professionally used."

The incident underscored tensions with Russia and came as a leaked, internal State Department memo illustrated frustration within the U.S. government about America's handling of the war in Syria.

More than 50 State Department diplomats signed the memo, which was critical of U.S. policy in Syria and called for military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE GAPS?

Washington has refused to join forces with Russia in Syria against Islamic State, accusing Russia of acting solely to prop up Assad's government. Moscow began air strikes in Syria last September.

The United States has called on Assad to step down but has refrained from directly targeting his forces.

Communication between the United States and Russian militaries on Syria has been limited to contacts aimed at avoiding an accidental clash as they carry out separate bombing campaigns and small numbers of U.S. forces operate on the ground.

Although no U.S. forces were in the area at the time of Thursday's strikes, the U.S. military activated the emergency communications channels with Moscow to tell Russia to stop striking the area, the official said.

Some time passed after that communication but Russia carried out a subsequent strike, the U.S. official said.

Carter suggested either Moscow struck the fighters intentionally or faced significant intelligence gaps.

"If that was their intention (to strike forces battling Islamic State), then that’s the opposite of what they said they were going to do," Carter said.

"If not, then it says something about the quality of the information upon which they make airstrikes."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said warplanes had struck a meeting of U.S.-backed forces fighting against Islamic State in al-Tanf village, near the al-Tanf border crossing with Iraq, killing two fighters and wounding four.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-strikes-u-backed-rebels-syria-u-official-021111744.html?nhp=1
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« Reply #1066 on: June 19, 2016, 08:27:23 pm »

SYRIA: In a Surprise Attack, Russia Bombs US Assets on the Ground Not Once but Twice

The U.S. is unwilling to stop the war on Syria and to settle the case at the negotiation table. It wants a 100% of its demands fulfilled, the dissolution of the Syrian government and state and the inauguration of a U.S. proxy administration in Syria.

After the ceasefire in Syria started in late February Obama broke his pledge to separate the U.S. supported “moderate rebels” from al-Qaeda. In April U.S. supported rebels, the Taliban like Ahrar al Sham and al-Qaeda joined to attack the Syrian government in south Aleppo. The U.S.proxies broke the ceasefire.

Two UN resolutions demand that al-Qaeda in Syria be fought no matter what. But the U.S. has at least twice asked Russia not to bomb al-Qaeda. It insists, falsely, that it can not separate its “moderates” from al-Qaeda and that al-Qaeda can not be attacked because that would also hit its “moderate” friends.

The Russian foreign minster Lavrov has talked wit Kerry many times about the issue. But the only response he received were requests to further withhold bombing. Meanwhile al-Qaeda and the “moderates” continued to break the ceasefire and to attack the Syrian government forces.

After nearly four month Kerry still insists that the U.S. needs even more time for the requested separation of its proxy forces from al-Qaeda. Foreign Minister Lavrov recently expressed the Russian consternation:

“The Americans are now saying that they are unable to remove the ‘good’ opposition members from the positions held by al-Nusra Front, and that they will need another two-three months. I am under the impression that there is a game here and they may want to keep al-Nusra Front in some form and later use it to overthrow the [Assad] regime,”  ~ Lavrov said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The bucket was full and Kerry’s latest request for another three month pause of attacking al-Qaeda was the drop that let it overflow. Russia now responded by hitting the U.S. where it did not expect to be hit:

“Russian warplanes hit Pentagon-backed Syrian fighters with a barrage of airstrikes earlier this week, disregarding several warnings from U.S. commanders in what American military officials called the most provocative act since Moscow’s air campaign in Syria began last year.

The strikes hit a base near the Jordanian border, far from areas where the Russians were previously active, and targeted U.S.-backed forces battling the Islamic State militants.

These latest strikes occurred on the other side of the country from the usual Russian operations, around Tanf, a town near where the borders of Jordan, Iraq, and Syria meet.

The Russian strike hit a small rebel base for staging forces and equipment in a desolate, unpopulated area near the border. About 180 rebels were there as part of the Pentagon’s program to train and equip fighters against Islamic State.

When the first strikes hit, the rebels called a U.S. command center in Qatar, where the Pentagon orchestrates the daily air war against Islamic State.” ~ LA Times

U.S. jets came and the Russian jets went away. The U.S. jets left to refuel, the Russian jets came back and hit again. Allegedly two U.S. proxy fighters were killed and 18 were wounded.

Earlier today another such attack hit the same target.

This was no accident but a well planned operation and the Russian spokesperson’s response makes the intentions clear:

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov appeared to confirm the attack Friday, telling reporters it was difficult to distinguish different rebel groups from the air.

Translation: If you can not separate your forces from al-Qaeda and differentiate and designate exclusively “moderate” zones we can not do so either.

The forces near Tanf are supported by U.S. artillery from Jordan and air power via Iraq. British and Jordan special operations forces are part of the ground component (and probably the majority of the “Syrian” fighters.) There is no al-Qaeda there. The Russians know that well. But they wanted to make the point that it is either separation everywhere or separation nowhere. From now on until the U.S. clearly separates them from AQ all U.S. supported forces will be hit indiscriminately anywhere and anytime. (The Syrian Kurds fighting the Islamic State with U.S. support are for now a different story.)

The Pentagon does not want any further engagement against the Syrian government or against Russia. It wants to fight the Islamic State and its hates the CIA for its cooperation with al-Qaeda and other Jihadi elements. But John Brennan, the Saudi operative and head of the CIA, still seems to have Obama’s ear. But what can Obama do now? Shoot down a Russian jet and thereby endanger any U.S. pilot flying in Syria or near the Russian border? Risk a war with Russia? Really?

The Russian hit near Tanf was clearly a surprise. The Russians again caught Washington on the wrong foot. The message to the Obama administration is clear.

No more delays and obfuscations. You will separate your moderates now or all your assets in Syria will be juicy targets for the Russian air force.

The Russian hits at Tanf and the U.S. proxies there has an additional benefit. The U.S. had planned to let those forces move north towards Deir Ezzor and to defeat the Islamic State in that city. Eventually a “Sunni entity” would be established in south east Syria and west Iraq under U.S. control. Syria would be split apart.

The Syrian government and its allies will not allow that. There is a large operation planned to free Deir Ezzor from the Islamic State occupation. Several hundred Syrian government forces have held an isolated airport in Deir Ezzor against many unsuccessful Islamic State attacks. These troops get currently reinforced by additional Syrian army contingents and Hizbullah commandoes.

A big battle is coming. Deir Ezzor may be freed within the next few month. Any U.S. plans for some eastern Syrian entity are completely unrealistic if the Syrian government can take and hold its largest eastern city.

The Obama administration’s delaying tactic will now have to end. Russia will no longer stand back and watch while the U.S. sabotages the ceasefire and supports al-Qaeda.

What then is the next move the U.S. will make?

http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/06/19/syria-in-a-surprise-attack-russia-bombs-us-assets-on-the-ground-not-once-but-twice/
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« Reply #1067 on: June 20, 2016, 04:19:15 am »

U.S. and Russian Jets Clash Over Syria

American and Russian fighter jets had a tense showdown in the skies above Syria as the Russians dropped bombs on U.S.-backed rebels.

U.S. and Russian fighter jets bloodlessly tangled in the air over Syria on June 16 as the American pilots tried and failed to stop the Russians from bombing U.S.-backed rebels in southern Syria near the border with Jordan.

The aerial close encounter underscores just how chaotic Syria’s skies have become as Russia and the U.S.-led coalition work at cross-purposes, each dropping bombs in support of separate factions in the five-year-old civil war.

The near-clash also highlights the escalating risk of American and Russian forces actually coming to blows over Syria, potentially sparking a much wider conflict between the world’s leading nuclear powers.

The incident began when at least two twin-engine Su-34 bombers, some of Moscow’s most advanced warplanes, struck what the Pentagon described as a “border garrison” housing around 200 U.S.-supported rebels in At Tanf on the Syrian side of the Syria-Jordan border.

The rebels had been “conducting counter-ISIL operations in the area,” the Pentagon stated on June 18, using an alternative acronym for ISIS.

The United States and its allies in Syria clearly did not expect the air strike. The rebels in At Tanf are party to a shaky ceasefire agreement between rebel forces and the regime of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad—and, by extension, the Russian military contingent backing Al Assad. The Los Angeles Times reported that Russian planes had not previously been active over At Tanf.

The Su-34s’ initial strike wounded, and perhaps killed, some of the rebels in At Tanf.

The U.S. Navy scrambled F/A-18 fighters to intercept the Russians, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Navy has deployed two aircraft carriers to the region for strikes on ISIS. As the F/A-18s approached the Su-34s, officials with U.S. Central Command—which oversees America’s wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan—used a special hotline to contact their Russian counterparts directing Russia’s own intervention in Syria.

Arriving over At Tanf, the American pilots apparently spoke directly to the Russian aviators. “Pilots CAN communicate with one another on a communications channel set up to avoid air accidents,” Central Command confirmed in a statement to The Daily Beast.

Washington and Moscow had established the hotline as part of a so-called “Safety of Flight Memorandum of Understanding” that the two governments signed in October specifically in order to avoid the kind of aerial confrontation that occurred over Syria last week.

With the American jets flying close enough to visually identify the Su-34s, the Russians departed the air space over At Tanf. Some time shortly thereafter, the F/A-18s ran low on fuel and left the area in order to link up with an aerial tanker. That’s when the Su-34s reportedly returned to At Tanf —and bombed the rebels again.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the second strike killed first-responders assisting survivors of the first bombing run.

The next day, senior U.S. Defense Department officials organized an “extraordinary” video conference with Russian counterparts to discuss the incident. The meeting included Acting Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs Elissa Slotkin and U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, a strategic planner on the Pentagon’s joint staff, plus unspecified Russian Ministry of Defense officials.

“Department officials expressed strong concerns about the attack on the coalition-supported counter-ISIL forces at the At Tanf garrison, which included forces that are participants in the cessation of hostilities in Syria, and emphasized that those concerns would be addressed through ongoing diplomatic discussions on the cessation of hostilities,” Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook explained in a statement.

"Regarding safety, department officials conveyed that Russia’s continued strikes at At Tanf, even after U.S. attempts to inform Russian forces through proper channels of on-going coalition air support to the counter-ISIL forces, created safety concerns for U.S. and coalition forces,” Cook continued. “Department officials requested Russian responses to address those concerns.”

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov confirmed, via the country’s state-owned media, that the teleconference took place—but he did not specify the results of the “extraordinary” meeting.

Russian warplanes had previously shadowed planes belonging to the U.S.-led coalition over Syria, but the coalition always described the Russians’ behavior as “professional.” By contrast, in April Russian Su-24 bombers repeatedly buzzed the U.S. Navy warship USS Donald Cook while the vessel sailed in international waters in the Black Sea. A Pentagon spokesman called the Russians’ actions in that incident “provocative and unprofessional.”

The Kremlin should be keenly aware of the potential for unwanted—and potentially destabilizing—bloodshed that exists in the air over Syria. In November, a Russian Su-24 bomber flying a mission over Syria strayed over the Syria-Turkey border into Turkey—and a Turkish F-16 fighter promptly shot it down.

The two Russian crew members ejected. One flier died when Syrian rebels on the ground opened fire on his parachute. Russian, Syrian and Iranian forces launched a complex rescue mission that ultimately retrieved the surviving pilot. One Russian marine died and a helicopter was destroyed during that operation.

The fallout from the November incident continues, with Russia and Turkey exchanging threats—and Moscow imposing economic sanctions on Ankarra including limits on some food imports to Russia from Turkey.

It’s not clear how close the U.S. fighters came to attacking and potentially shooting down the Su-34s over At Tanf. Central Command declined to say what the rules of engagement are for American pilots flying over Syria. “ROE are actually specifics that we don’t get into,” Central Command said in a statement.

The last time a U.S. military warplane shot down a Russian—actually, Soviet—plane was in 1953, over Korea or China, depending on which historians you believe. The last time a Russian or Soviet warplane shot down an American aircraft was in 1970, when a U.S. Army plane strayed over Armenia.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/19/u-s-and-russian-jets-clash-over-syria.html
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« Reply #1068 on: June 25, 2016, 05:19:09 pm »

Syria conflict: Russian air strikes target Aleppo rebels

Russian and Syrian planes have pounded rebel-held areas in Syria's largest city, Aleppo.

The overnight bombing targeted the rebels' last remaining supply route on the eastern side of the divided city.

Aleppo, once Syria's economic hub, has been the scene of fierce fighting since civil war broke out in 2011.

Despite recent efforts to calm the situation and introduce temporary truces, the battle for the city seems to be intensifying, correspondents say.



Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has made clear his intention to recapture Aleppo, and on Friday one of his key allies - the leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, promised to send more fighters.

A recent truce brokered by the US and Russia expired earlier this month without renewal.

Russia has pledged to press ahead with its air campaign in support of President Assad's forces, saying rebels had failed to deliver on promises to break ranks with al-Qaeda loyalists.

The latest strikes focused on the Castello Road, the only remaining route out of the rebel-held east of the city, monitors said.

A local civil defence group said a child was among two people killed in the bombing.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36629663
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« Reply #1069 on: June 26, 2016, 01:55:16 pm »

Syrian or Russian air strikes kill dozens in eastern Syria: monitoring group

Air strikes carried out by Syrian or Russian warplanes killed dozens of people in eastern Syria on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported.

It said the strikes hit the village of al-Quria in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zor province, killing 47 people including 31 civilians.

The militant group Islamic State controls most of Deir al-Zor province and has laid siege since March last year to the remaining government-held areas in the city of the same name, which is close to Syria's eastern border with Iraq.

Deir al-Zor province links Islamic State's de facto capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa with territory it controls in Iraq.

The Syrian army and its allies recently made advances against Islamic State in Raqqa province, but were driven back from some of those areas by a counter-attack. Both Syrian or Russian warplanes have been carrying out air strikes against the militants.

U.S.-backed forces are separately advancing against the jihadists militants in another stronghold city further north near the Turkish border.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/syrian-russian-air-strikes-kill-dozens-eastern-syria-145041822.html?nhp=1
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« Reply #1070 on: June 29, 2016, 06:11:48 pm »

Turkish President Apologizes to Putin for Downing of Russian Military Jet

Turkey’s president has apologized to Moscow for the downing of a Russian military jet at the Syrian border, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

Putin has received a message from Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressing his “sympathy and deep condolences” to the family of the killed pilot and apologized, Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Russia reacted with ire after Turkey in November shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber at the Syrian border for allegedly violating its airspace. The Kremlin said it wanted an apology which never came and last year imposed an import ban on selected Turkish foodstuff, halted package tours to Turkey and introduced other restrictive measures that hampered the flourishing bilateral trade and business.

The Kremlin on Monday released the excerpts of Erdogan’s letter.

“I would like to express my sympathy and deep condolences to the family of the dead Russian pilot and I say I’m sorry,” the Kremlin said on its website quoting Erdogan. “I share their pain with all my heart.”

Peskov also quoted Erdogan as saying he was willing and ready to cooperate with Russia in fighting terrorism and resolving regional crises.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim earlier Monday said there were “beautiful developments” concerning Russia but did not provide details.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/turkish-president-apologizes-putin-downing-135345140.html?nhp=1
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« Reply #1071 on: August 16, 2016, 05:57:13 pm »

Russia deploys bombers to Iranian air base

Defense Ministry in Moscow says Iran-based aircraft have stuck various targets in Syria.

Russian bombers based in Iran on Tuesday struck militant targets inside Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said, after Moscow deployed Russian aircraft to an Iranian air force base to widen its campaign in Syria.

The ministry said the strikes, by Tupolev-22M3 long-range bombers and Sukhoi-34 fighter bombers, were launched from Iran's Hamadan air base.

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It is thought to be the first time that Russia has struck targets inside Syria from Iran since it launched a bombing campaign to support Syrian President Bashar Assad in September last year.

he move shows Russia is expanding its role and presence in the Middle East and comes amid Russian media reports Moscow has asked Iran and Iraq for permission to fire cruise missiles at Syrian targets across their territory from the Caspian Sea.

The ministry said Tuesday's strikes had targeted Islamic State and militants previously known as the Nusra Front in the Aleppo, Idlib and Deir al Zour provinces.

The bombers had been protected by fighters based at Russia's Hmeymim air base in Syria's Latakia Province, it said.

Russia's state-backed Rossiya 24 channel earlier on Tuesday broadcast uncaptioned images of at least three bombers and a Russian military transport plane apparently inside Iran, but said it was unclear how many Russian bombers had arrived there.

It said the deployment would allow the Russian air force to cut flight times by 60 percent and increase bombing payloads.

Russian media said the Tupolev-22M3 bombers, which had already conducted many strikes on militants in Syria from their home bases in southern Russia, were too large to be accommodated at Russia's air base inside Syria.

The Iranian air base near Hamadan, sometimes also called Hamedan, is located in north-west Iran and the Russian bombers would have to over fly Iraq to strike Syria.

The head of Iran's National Security Council said on Tuesday that Tehran and Moscow are sharing facilities to fight against terrorism, after Russia confirmed that its long-range bombers based in Iran had struck targets inside Syria.

"Iranian-Russian cooperation in the fight against terrorism in Syria is a strategic one and we share our potential and facilities in this field," Ali Shamkhani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-News/Report-Russia-sends-bombers-to-Iranian-air-base-464223
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« Reply #1072 on: August 29, 2016, 09:36:21 pm »

World War 3 Coming Soon? Tanks Roll Across The Border As Turkish Invasion Of Syria Begins

The invasion of Syria that so many people have been warning about is now happening.  On Wednesday, Turkish tanks rolled across the Syrian border, and they were accompanied by radical Islamic Syrian rebels that want to ultimately overthrow the Assad regime.  This invasion was conducted under the code name “Euphrates Shield”, and it was supported by airstrikes from A-10s and F-16s that are part of the U.S.-led coalition that has been conducting airstrikes against ISIS targets in the region.  The mainstream media in the United States has been very quiet about this escalation of the conflict in Syria, but things are much different in the rest of the world.  For example, a major Israeli news source announced the attack this way: “Turkey invades Syria“.  And without a doubt, that is precisely what is taking place.  The Syrian government denounced this move by Turkey as a “blatant breach to its sovereignty”, and the Russians are deeply alarmed.  The farther Turkish forces push into northern Syria, the more likely they will be to encounter Syrian or Russian forces, and one bad move could result in the outbreak of World War 3 in the Middle East.

The fact that the U.S. media is treating this invasion of Syria as if it is of little importance is deeply disturbing.  These days, the big news channels are obsessed with feeding us propaganda about how “healthy” Hillary Clinton is, or about how “racist” Donald Trump is, and they spend exceedingly little time on the things that really matter all over the globe.

Fortunately, it is not the same way around much of the rest of the planet.  Here is an excerpt from a British news source about the Turkish attack…

    It is hard to anticipate whether Turkey’s unprecedented military incursion into Syria this week will change the dynamics of the multiple wars that have ravaged the region and put civilians through hell. If things already seemed complicated in the Middle East, they may have just become even more so. What started on Wednesday ranks as the largest Turkish military operation inside Syrian territory since the civil war began five years ago. A dozen tanks, reportedly followed by a bus transporting Syrian rebels, rolled into northern Syria to drive Islamic State forces from the town of Jarablus, one of their last footholds on the Turkish-Syrian border. Today Turkey sent more tanks in and told the YPG Kurdish armed group it had one week to retreat from the border areas.

We are being told that the primary purpose of this Turkish invasion is “to fight ISIS”, but that is just for western consumption.  The truth is that Turkey has actually been supporting ISIS and other terror groups in Syria for a very long time.  In fact, it has been heavily documented that ISIS sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stolen oil through Turkey until the Russians put a stop to it.

No, the real motivation for this assault is to stop the advance of Kurdish forces.  Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu recently promised that Turkey would “do what is necessary” to keep Kurdish fighters east of the Euphrates River, and even President Erdogan is admitting that the Kurds are primary targets in this operation…

    “(Wednesday’s operation) started in the north of Syria against terror groups which constantly threaten our country, like (ISIS) and the PYD,” Erdogan said, referring to a Syrian Kurdish opposition political party.

And U.S. officials know exactly what Erdogan is doing.  Just check out what one of them told CNN…

    Another senior US official told CNN’s Barbara Starr the US assessment is that Turkey’s cross-border action is largely about trying to stop Kurdish action. “The Turks never cared about Jarablus until the Kurds wanted to get there,” the official said.

So now the Turks have declared open season on the Kurds in northern Syria, and the Syrian Kurds are treating this move as “a declaration of war”…

    Spokesman for the YPG Kurdish militia, Redur Xelil, called Turkey’s move “blatant aggression in Syrian internal affairs.” Aldar Xelil, another influential Kurdish politician, accused Turkey of initiating an occupation of Syria, saying the operation amounted to “a declaration of war” on the autonomous administration set up by Kurdish groups in northern Syria in 2011.

According to the Turkish government, Operation Euphrates Shield will “create a safe zone” that will be 90 kilometers long and 40 kilometers wide that stretches roughly from the town of Jarablus to the town of Marea.

That is a massive amount of territory, and this basically shows that the Turks plan to set up shop there permanently.

President Erdogan and his supporters have always dreamed of recreating the old Ottoman Empire, and they already have military forces occupying portions of northern Iraq.  This move into northern Syria is yet another bold move in the direction of their ultimate goal.

But will the Russians just stand by and allow the Turks to do whatever they want?

So far the Russians are not saying much, but Vladimir Putin has ordered snap military drills…

    Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered snap military drills as German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused him of breaking international law in Ukraine and said NATO will defend member states against attack.

    Combat readiness exercises are taking place “to defend the interests of the Russian Federation amid increasing threats to its security,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday in a statement on the ministry’s website. Troops in Russia’s southern, central and western military districts, naval deployments in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, and airborne forces are involved, he said.

The Russians don’t want to fight Turkish forces in Syria, but as they have shown in Crimea, in Ukraine and elsewhere, they are definitely not afraid to take military action when their interests require it.

And if Russia and Turkey do start fighting, that would threaten to drag the rest of NATO (including the United States) into the conflict.

Turkey has been chomping at the bit to start grabbing chunks of territory in northern Syria for quite some time now, but this invasion is going to turn out to be a tragic mistake.

President Erdogan has definitely overplayed his hand this time, and let us just hope that it doesn’t result in World War 3 erupting in the Middle East.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/world-war-3-coming-soon-tanks-roll-across-the-border-as-turkish-invasion-of-syria-begins
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« Reply #1073 on: September 09, 2016, 06:39:46 pm »

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/09/politics/syria-ceasefire-kerry-lavrov/index.html?adkey=bn
9/9/16
Kerry announces US-Russia deal on Syrian ceasefire

CNN)The US and Russia announced a plan Friday to bring about a ceasefire in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry said.
"Today we are announcing an arrangement that we think has the capability of sticking but it's dependent on people's choices," Kerry said in Geneva.

Appearing alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Kerry said the pact calls for the Syrian government and the opposition to respect a nationwide ceasefire scheduled to take effect at sundown on Monday.
He added that the accord will also prevent the air forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from flying combat missions anywhere that the opposition is present, calling this provision the "bedrock of the agreement," labeling Assad's air force the "main driver of civilian casualties" and migrant flows.

"That should put an end to the barrel bombs, an end to the indiscriminate bombing of civilian neighborhoods," Kerry said.

Kerry and Lavrov said that once the cessation of hostilities holds for seven days, the US and Russia would begin working on military coordination in an effort to target al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, the al Nusra Front.

"Going after Nusra is not a concession to anybody, it is profoundly in the interest of the United States to target al Qaeda," Kerry said, saying the group was planning attacks both in and outside of Syria, including attacks directed at the US.

"If groups within the legitimate opposition want to retain their legitimacy, they need to distance themselves in every way possible from Nusra and Daesh," Kerry added.

Kerry said this cooperation would entail "some sharing of information," with Russia pertaining to the delineation of the various groups on the battlefield. After the seven-day cessation of hostilities and delivery of aid, "US and Russian experts will work together to defeat Daesh and Nusra," Kerry added.

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« Reply #1074 on: October 02, 2016, 09:12:08 pm »

Russia warns US not to attack Syrian regime

Russia warned the United States about taking direct action against the Syrian regime, saying it would cause negative consequences across the Middle East, Russia's state-run Sputnik news agency reported Saturday.   

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/01/middleeast/syria-aleppo-bombing/
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« Reply #1075 on: October 03, 2016, 10:51:45 pm »

Putin signs decree suspending Russia-US deal on plutonium disposal over hostile US actions

https://www.rt.com/news/361411-russia-suspend-plutonium-deal/


State Department: US suspends bilateral contacts with Russia over Syria - AP-THIS IS GOING FROM BAD TO WORSE!

http://www.breakingnews.com/item/2016/10/03/state-department-us-suspends-bilateral-contacts/


‘Deal with the devil’: US ‘ready to ally with terror’ to overthrow Assad – Russia Foreign Ministry

https://www.rt.com/news/361502-syria-us-devil-terrorists/


Russia deploys advanced anti-missile system to Syria for first time, US officials say

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/10/03/russia-deploys-advanced-anti-missile-system-to-syria-for-first-time-us-officials-say.html


Is the Sh*t About To Hit? Russia Just Reneged on Agreement to Dispose of Weapons Grade Plutonium

http://daisyluther.com/is-the-sht-about-to-hit-russia-just-reneged-on-agreement-to-dispose-of-weapons-grade-plutonium/


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« Reply #1076 on: October 04, 2016, 04:08:43 am »

United Nations human rights chief Zeid says Syria's Aleppo crisis demands bold new initiatives including 'proposals to limit the use of the veto by permanent members of the security council' - Reuters

That is big news when you start talking about limiting the veto power of the security council prime members.

http://www.breakingnews.com/topic/syria-uprising/
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« Reply #1077 on: October 04, 2016, 06:00:29 pm »

US: Russia ships new anti-missile system into Syria
10/4/16
http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/04/politics/russia-ships-anti-missile-system-in-syria/index.html

(CNN)The Russian military has brought an additional, more advanced anti-aircraft and anti-missile system into Syria, a US official told CNN on Tuesday.

While not yet operational, the system, which was shipped in over the weekend, is a newer, modified version of the S-300VM, also known as the SA-23.

It expands Russia's anti-air capability in northwest Syria significantly. Though the US does not believe the Russians plan to target US pilots, one official called the development "a concern."

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« Reply #1078 on: October 06, 2016, 10:33:09 am »

http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/06/middleeast/syria-aleppo/index.html
10/6/16
Syrian regime forces gain control of key Aleppo area

(CNN)The Syrian military and its allies have gained control of part of a key neighborhood on Aleppo's front line, pushing into the city's rebel-held east, Syrian state media and a UK-based monitoring group said.

"An army unit in cooperation with the supporting forces carried out a 'swift' operation against the fortified sites of the terrorist organizations in Bustan al-Basha neighborhood in Aleppo city," state-run SANA quoted a military source as saying.

Bustan al-Basha is located on the front line between besieged rebel-held eastern Aleppo and government-held areas in the center and west of the city. It is the first time the government has made gains in that neighborhood since losing the area to rebels three years ago, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

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« Reply #1079 on: October 06, 2016, 05:43:47 pm »

RUSSIA STRONGLY WARNS US AGAINST STRIKING SYRIAN ARMY

The Russian military on Thursday strongly warned the United States against striking the Syrian army, noting that its air defense weapons in Syria stand ready to fend off any attack.

The statement underlined high tensions between Moscow and Washington after the collapse of a U.S.-Russia-brokered Syria truce and the Syrian army's offensive on Aleppo backed by Russian warplanes.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said any U.S. strikes on areas controlled by Syrian President Bashar Assad's government could jeopardize the lives of Russian servicemen.

He said Moscow was worried by media reports alleging that Washington was pondering the possibility of striking Syrian army positions.

"I would recommend our colleagues in Washington to carefully weigh possible consequences of the fulfillment of such plans," Konashenkov said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said "We're looking at the full range of options here and those comments notwithstanding, we still have a responsibility as a government to consider all those options."

"I don't find them (comments like the warning) helpful to moving forward, to reach some sort of diplomatic solution here. But the Russians should speak for themselves and why they're saying that kind of thing," he said.

Russia responded with dismay to the U.S.-led coalition's air raid on Syrian army positions near Deir el-Zour that killed 60 Syrian soldiers on Sept. 17, rejecting the U.S. explanation that the attack was a mistake.

Konashenkov said "we have taken all the necessary measures to prevent any such 'mistakes' with regard to Russian servicemen and military facilities in Syria."

He said the range of Russia's S-300 and S-400 air defense missile systems deployed to Syria would be a "surprise" to any country operating its aircraft over the country. Konashenkov added that the Syrian army also has various Soviet- and Russian-built air defense missile systems, which have undergone modernization over the past year.

Since Russia has launched its air campaign in Syria in support of Assad's forces a year ago, the Russia and the U.S. militaries have maintained contacts to prevent any midair incidents between Russian warplanes and the aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in the skies over Syria.

Konashenkov warned, however, that the Russian military won't have time to use the hotline if it sees missiles on their way to targets in Syria.

"It must be understood that Russian air defense missile crews will unlikely have time to clarify via the hotline the exact flight program of the missiles or the ownership of their carriers," he added.

In an apparent hint at the U.S. stealth aircraft, he added that any "dilettante illusions about stealth planes could collide with disappointing realities."

The Russian military announced Tuesday that a battery of the S-300 air defense missile systems had been sent to Syria to protect a Russian facility in the Syrian port of Tartus and Russian navy ships off the Mediterranean coast.

Tartus is the only naval supply facility Russia has outside the former Soviet Union.

The deployment has added more punch to the Russian military force in Syria, which already includes long-range S-400 missile defense systems and an array of other surface-to-air missiles at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria's coastal province of Latakia.

Russia has conducted an air campaign in support of Assad since Sept. 30, 2015, saving his army from imminent defeat and helping it win key ground.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_RUSSIA_SYRIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-06-11-16-48
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