A quick note: I do apologize for how late this SitRep is. Unfortunately I too must obey the great capitalistic system and submit to their demands (holiday hours) and the CIA is not known for its Christmas bonuses.
It seems great events unfold every 2 weeks in Syria. The downing of a Russian Su-24 by a Turkish F-16 fighter has been the highlight. Russian retaliation has been a complete exposure of Turkish connections within the Islamic States oil trade, the near carpet bombings and artillery barrages of the Islamist Turkmen frontline near the Turkish border inside Syria, and the a more active role in interfering in Turkish geostrategic opportunities. [Source] [Source] [Source]
The Western media quickly rewrote the narrative to obfuscate the facts and to reinforce falsehoods (such as the fabrication that the Su-24 was inside Turkish space when it was shot down and that Turkey responded appropriately). Turkey quickly ran to NATO to hold an emergency meeting.
Generally speaking (and I do not mean to insult any Turkish readers we have) comparing the three strongest Muslim nations, Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan (sadly Arabian countries cannot begin to match the output, physical capabilities, and domestic technology of these three nations) Turkey is by far the weakest of the three. It’s only benefit is its ability to acquire weapon systems from the NATO catalog (which translates to a superior Air Force and Navy). Pakistan on the other hand has a robust and capable intelligence apparatus (ISI) that singlehandedly managed to create a nuclear program (and weapons) by stealing technology from the West while Iran has a nearly self-sufficient military industrial-complex and battle-hardened and revolutionary elite forces. So in terms of operational capability Turkey falls far behind. (One just has to look at the 3+ decade’s long fight against the PKK to highlight the complete incompetence, albeit highly armed and numerical superior, Turkish military).
I’d like to note that Turkey was willing to open fire on an Russian Su-24 because of perceived air violation but the reaction to Israeli naval boarding of the MV Mavi Marmara and the killing of 9 Turks has yet to be answered militarily (it’s actually ten Turks who died, one died later in hospital after being in a coma for four years).
That is not to belittle Arabian state militaries; Egypt and its Western-trained highly-financed army is one of the most advanced Arab militaries. Its shortfall however is its direct dependence on foreign weapon suppliers for nearly everything (and the fact it has not fought a serious war since 1973). Saudi Arabia has ludicrous amounts of money, which in its own right, is a power of itself. Syria of course can be considered the most battle-hardened military in the Arabian world. Regardless they are fractions of the three giants of Turkey, Pakistan, and Iran.
But I digress, the situation in the Middle East has evolved as so:
Russia/Syria:
• There are rumors (but I am pressed to find a link) of Russian T-90s and even Russian special forces which have joined the battle in South Aleppo to aid in countering the never-ending numbers of TOW missiles in the hand of rebels.
• As mentioned a Turkish F-16 shot down a Su-24 in what can only assume is retaliation for the dent in war-profiteering Turkish elites were enjoying until Russia stepped in. [Source]
• One pilot was killed while parachuting down while another was rescued. A Turkish ultra-national seems to be claiming the credit. [Source]
• The Russian rescue attempt had failed as their Mi-8 helicopter began to take heavy fire and was forced to make an emergency landing in which rebels supposedly managed to destroy it with a TOW missile killing a Russian Marine. [Source][Source]
• Russia has responded with deploying the S-400 (even though pictures of its deployment has been seen in the past). [Source]
• Though this earlier deployment could have been a very successful military deception operation (Maskirovka which is “Russian military deception” which somehow is different than regular military deception. Much like terrorism and ISLAMIC terrorism.) Source is a picture of a dummy S-300 vehicle. [Source]
• This feels, to me, like a strategic victory for Israel and the US which is now able to study the emissions and methods of the S-400 in deployment. This weapon system, to my knowledge, has never left Russia before and therefore data collection on it by Western intelligence was minimal.
• An 18-man Syrian commando team linked up with a 6-man Hezbollah special operations team to assist the surviving Su-24 pilot as well as the Mi-8 crew/marines in fighting their way back to friendly lines. [Source] [Source]
• Russia also responded by flattening the entire area in which the Turkmen terrorists are operating from in a combined Russian air strike and Syrian artillery barrage. [Source]
• To demonstrate the gains of the past 2 months (August 30 to November 30) in a 2-image animated GIF; the breaking point of ISIL would show large swaths of black areas being recaptured in a matter of weeks. [Source]
• There is a ridiculous amount of drones in Syria, with Russian drones continuously capturing US drones on camera. Over 50 drones can be operating simultaneously in Syria and the Syrian-Turkish border [Source][Source]
Iran/Hezbollah:
• Iranian forces, backed by Iraqi militias, are holding significant portions of the front lines in Syria aside their Syrian Arab Army counterparts. [Source]
• Hezbollah, although suffering from causalities in the Syrian conflict, has exponentially expanded their capabilities with hardened experience in offensives as well as modern light-infantry warfare techniques (in which infantry must be ghosts in a battlefield of tanks, drones and precision weapons). I should note the Iranians have nearly mastered light-infantry warfare in a modernized warzone, Hezbollah is just getting the experience needed. [Source]
• Iran seems to be independently closing the technological gap against its regional adversary Israel. [Source]
• Major General Soleimani, an IRGC Quds Force officer, was involved in the Russian rescue operation apparently promising to return the living pilot back to his base.
Iraq:
• Millions (with some saying up to 26 million….) Shia visitors have come to Iraq for the Arbaeen pilgrimage. ISIL had claimed it would stop this (like Saddam). [Source]
• Iraqi Army has been seen deploying the GMLRS, US GPS-guided missile artillery. A weapon system marketed as excellent for counter-insurgency operations and reducing collateral damage in an urban environment. The first source is a demonstration during US occupation in Iraq. [Source] [Source] [Source]
• Fighting in Ramadi continues with fierce clashes [Source]
The Islamic State:
• ISIL seems to have made a huge error in declaring a caliphate and on top asking the world to attack it. Without its ability to hold onto territory (which nearly all caliphates require) the Islamic State may be forced to revert back to its form of being just a “terrorist group” instead of a quasi-state like Kurdistan. This reversion will highlight Gods lack of favor…. A huge PR blow to ISIL.
• ISIL is having issues maintaining manpower itself. Many Islamist veterans have left the ranks of the Islamic State discovering it’s primarily consisting of “hipster Muslims led by ex-Ba’athist Iraqis” and “foreigners with a demonic understanding of Islam”.
• The Islamic State has received reinforcements from Turkey including militants, munitions and vehicles. [Source]
• A reporter has managed to tour the Islamic State capital Raqqa and live to tell the tale. [Source]
• He talks about how there are many foreigners in Raqqa, many of them in the eyes of the reporter were people who may not have had any importance in their host countries (as many of them are Europeans). Some seem unwilling to discuss the difficulties of living in the Islamic State far from their Western comforts.
• Many of the foreigners who join the Islamic State are delusional youths, once ex-drug dealers in Eastern London now turned Imams, young misguided girls looking for their prince, and foreign extremists looking for plunder.
• Al-Nusra Front has traded Lebanese hostages for Islamist prisoners, including Baghdadi’s ex-wife and her two children (one being born inside the prison). She claims to have been divorced from Baghdadi for 6 years. [Source]
• The Islamic State can ill afford to commit to large formation battles such as that seen in Kobani in which many fighters were killed by the YPG and its US Air Force support. In Tikrit and Sinjar the Islamic State used mines, traps, IEDs, ambushes, snipers, mortar teams and other insurgency tactics instead of large formations of fighters supported with armor and artillery. Reflecting the shift into a decentralized small-unit formation instead of large troop detachments due to increased air strikes from all sides.
• Baiji seems to have been a diversionary operation in which Islamic State units began to withdraw in an orderly fashion (ie setting up IEDs, mines, and ambush positions) when Ramadi fell. If not a diversionary operation than it could be an adaptation of the Soviet Deep Battle in which successful fronts are reinforced (Ramadi) and stagnating fronts are abandoned (Baiji).
• Suicide car bombs are being used against the Iraqi forces with relatively good effect. [Source]
• The Islamic State stronghold in Libya is significantly more dangerous to Europe which is baffling why Libyan ISIL targets are not the priority for France, Germany and Britain. [Source]
• The Islamic State is eyeing Africa more and more, primarily for economic reasons and recruitment. Africa has been known for its illegal diamond trade, drug trade, and other resource-oriented smuggling. [Source]
• The Islamic State can ill afford to commit to large formation battles such as that seen in Kobani in which many fighters were killed by the YPG and its US Air Force support. In Tikrit and Sinjar the Islamic State used mines, traps, IEDs, ambushes, snipers, mortar teams and other insurgency tactics instead of large formations of fighters supported with armor and artillery. Reflecting the shift into a decentralized small-unit formation instead of large troop detachments due to increased air strikes from all sides. [Source]
The Yemen War (Houthis, AQAP, Saudi Arabia and Friends)
• Saudi forces are in total retreat in Yemen (see videos below).
• Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has captured a town from the pro-Hadi loyalist forces [Source]
• This puts them closer to Aden, the Houthi captured port city.
• Yemen is the third highest in terms of gun ownership in the world (behind Serbia and of course the number 1 US of A). There is no shortage of weaponry in Yemen regardless of outside support. [Source]
• When Yemen was a rich nation it purchased several complete Soviet kits designed to equip entire divisions, which included SCUD launchers. Yemen, as a Soviet client, was ordering equipment for two motorized divisions indicating there are at least eight SCUD launchers in the country plus potential spares. SCUD missiles of both Soviet and North Korean design were purchased by Yemen.
• Khat, a plant with amphetamine-like chemicals, is a common drug consumed by Yemenis. Houthis are seen chewing on khat inside their cheeks, giving them a slight euphoric feeling and somewhat sharpened senses. Drugs, alcohol, and warfare seem to go hand in hand in human history. [Source]
• It seems the majority of the fighting is done by the Saudi National Guard aided by loaned forces from African states as well as Colombian mercenaries [Source]
• It’s unclear, but highly likely, that the Saudi government has also hired Western private military contractors for logistical and intelligence support. However there is no direct proof of any PMC working inside Yemen in a combat role.
• Yemeni forces raise their flag on Saudi town of Rabuah in Asir Governate [Source]
• Combat footage (8 minutes each video) of Houthi forces fighting the Saudi Arabian coalition with great success [Source] [Source][Source] [Source]
• Causalities for Saudi Arabia are roughly 2000 soldiers (with 4,850 wounded), ~450 tanks, 4 US manufactured Apache Helicopters, 15 other military aircrafts, 3 boats and 200 billion Saudi Riyals in damage. The damage is a bit high and might be overestimated. Information comes from a Saudi dissident who leaks classified Saudi government files under the twitter account “@Mujtahidd” [Source]
• Saudi Arabia has a full-swing PR campaign, including opening up pro-Saudi think tanks inside Washington, to help cover its failings in Yemen [Source] [Source]
• Saudi Arabia has been constructing a super barrier between itself and Yemen since 2003 which involves: 3,397 trainees, 60 trainers to supervise operations, eight command and control centers, 32 interrogation centers, three rapid response units as well as 38 back and front gates with surveillance cameras. 78 communication and surveillance towers, 38 of the former and 40 of the latter, and is equipped with 85 surveillance posts, 50 day-and-night surveillance cameras, 10 monitoring and surveillance vehicles, a 1.4-million meter fiber optics networks, 50 radars, five 900 kilometer security fences, in addition to other barriers. [Source][Source]
USA/Israel/Turkey/NATO/EU States involvement in the Middle East:
• Britain has joined the bombing of the Islamic State. Stocks soared for weapon (defense) companies at the announcement. [Source]
• UN Mandate allows Islamic State to be bombed wherever, making the airstrikes in Syria by Britain completely legal. Not that legality ever mattered anyway. [Source]
• Germany will be getting some more of the action too. [Source]
• Turkish troops have illegally deployed inside Iraq for some notorious reason no doubt. [Source]
• Iraq has also said the US’s deployment of US special forces in Iraq was a ‘Hostile Act’ [Source]
• There is a debate inside the Iraqi government in which a faction is continuously saying that ISIL is undefeatable without the Americans, while another faction insists foreign ground troops are not needed. [Source]
• US forces are in Kobane as of November 26 [Source]
• It seems Israel and Russia have some sort of agreement towards Syria. Unlike that seen by Turkey and Russia. [Source]
• Israel has carried air strikes into Syria and against Hezbollah positions. It is claimed Syrian troops have been killed; Russian air cover has limits. It’s not known exactly what Russia is doing in the background to appease Iran or Syria, if anything. [Source]
• In what can only be called an attempt to seed the foundations of rewriting history, PBS has used Russian footage of ISIL oil trucks being struck in Syria and has given the credit to the US Air Force [Source] [Source]
• Inside Syrian Kurdistan the US is setting up an airbase to directly assist in supplying Kurds and the Syrian Democratic Front; sources are shaky at best but there has been a pattern of the US setting up more assets inside the area for future operations (SAR teams, Special Forces on the ground, etc.) [Source]
• German intelligence (BND) has pinned the destabilization of the Arab world on Saudi Arabia’s impulsive interventionist policy [Source]
• Israel has secretly trained itself against Russian air defenses in Greece against Greek operated S-300 systems which was activated on Crete. [Source]
• In what I can only describe as weapon manufacturers trying to stir up more sales, CNN has made a piece about how the United States (the god of bombs and military-industrial complexes) is running out bombs. [Source]
• To be fair however during the Iraq war the US forces were at one point running out of various types of munitions and were purchasing them from NATO and Israel. [Source]
Thanks John Rambo for the Sitrep.
In regard to Iraq last night over 100 Turkish troops entered Iraq for so called “training of troops” and I was waiting to see the Iraqi Govt. response. Here it is:
https://www.rt.com/news/324787-turkish-troops-deployed-iraq/
Yet again Turkey ignores the soverigntyof another country with ballder dash and lies – supported by their NATO mates. I hope Iraq now goes to the UN.
According to FR its 1,200 troops:
http://fortruss.blogspot.ca/2015/12/breaking-1200-turkish-troops-enter.html
Update: Turkish Envoy summoned by Bagdad:
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151205/1031299905/iraq-summons-turkey.html
It has started: A global proxy war against freedom!
http://bit.ly/1N2veig
Started? It’s been going on for an eon.
Nice summary in a readable style. Fits with your name.
The war game is something else. Seems everyone wants in. No profiteer left behind.
The real story of blood and gore, pain and punishment, lock, stock and barrel bonds is politically incorrect and socially boorish so must be left to novels and movies which can clean the scene for modern tastes.
Even a fool can see where this is leading. But who cares when the party is so entertaining and enriching?
Ever since the patrix declared war on nature some seventy-five millenia ago nature has played the russian game of sucker the siegers. Only a fool thinks he can win the long war against nature. But a fool and his money mistress are sooner or later parted.
Humans have proved themselves anything but sapiens. Despite all we’ve done we still think we have the right to survive. “What fools these humans be” said Bottom the Weaver. Even if the Multipoles win the war against the Unipolar bombers in the war against nature they have not changed one iota of the essential war.
Yes, the language has been cleaned up with pastel brushed up blushes but the silk train oil tankers are set on a course to oblivion, speeding down the tracks like lemmings on speed. Can the train be turned? A few stalwart survivors will try but they can only use anti-nature tricks and so will have only a million to one chance of returning us right back to where we are now.
I hate to be so obnoxious in a romantic vineyard but I must be a true saker if not an essential one. I have to face the facts that the human experiment has failed, barring a miracle. To set the record in its larger context, there are billions of other vineyards on uncountable other planets that will meet my needs and desires nicely.
I’m getting my bags packed and hope to be out of here when the proverbial stuff hits the fan. In a few days I’ll turn 76 which is a number of freedom in the untold American Dream. Jesus said “let the dead bury the dead.” The rest of what he said is better left unsaid.
This vineyard is the last outpost of the Sweet Dream. Dreams do come true but not usually in the way we wish them to. We have to play our part but parting is such sweet sorrow; fortunately there’s an alternative tomorrow.
“But it grieves my heart, love
To see you trying to be part of
A world that just doesn’t exist
It’s all a dream, babe
A vacuum, a scheme, babe
That sucks you into feeling like this”
-Bob Dylan
“The godfathers dream of a bankers’ world, one big bunker where money is the lifeblood and power the air they breathe. Their two arms are the state militant and the church triumphant which would smother motherlove to serve their barren fatherland. I have a different dream, where money serves love and bankers wait on womem and children.”
-thelovegovernment.com
I’ve also long suspected that Nature’s experiment here on Earth with humans has failed (to our everlasting shame), and have reconciled myself to this with the thought that there are no doubt at least a billion planets in the known universe able to support life and that a good number of them (perhaps just a small minority) have been the site of experiments that did not fail.
OTOH it’s not totally impossible that a nuclear WW III will send the humans back to the stone age and the survivors will take a different path over the next several thousand years (and during the next ice age). Not totally impossible, but that’s very little consolation to those of us alive now.
US spent 1.5 months to expand an airstrip to 2500m long/250m wide Sth of Rumelan #Hasakah:
http://wikimapia.org/28018963
Something about US wanting to place fighters inside Syria and tested with drones.. This is YPG controlled area.. With Germany saying they want to place german special forces in Syria.. Hmmmm seems every empire wannabe colonialist wants to steal some Syrian land and put their flag down on it. Guess its the white mans burden.. They feel so compelled to lord over the lesser humans.. its like limp dic syndrome.. And what about the Saudi’s dropping cluster munitions on their own bases and cities? They are so afraid of a few dozen houthi marauders?
Turkey now inspecting Russian ships for err smuggled Turkish tomato’s.. Turkish sources: Inspections carried out on 4 #Russia-n vessels And turkey is building a fence 50-100m inside Syria…
No body wants to insult the turks.. aint this the same turks that raped and pillaged the eastern roman empire and made all the orthodox women into sex slaves? Oh wait they are still doing it.. wtf.. Let me insult them.. please..
News flash rumor: 1200 Turkish troops enter N. Iraq. Looks like the US ruling elite is going with plan A — draw the Russians into a chaotic, no-win situation with Turkey. Now, no way can NATO “defend” these bozos as Iraq has declared this an act of war, but who is listening?
https://www.rt.com/news/324787-turkish-troops-deployed-iraq/
The Iraqi government has demanded that Ankara withdraw the more than 100 Turkish forces that entered Iraq with tanks and artillery for alleged “training” of troops near Islamic State-occupied Mosul. Baghdad stressed the unsanctioned move was a breach of its sovereignty.
READ MORE: Kurds & US Special Forces should be used to seal Turkish-Syrian border – Russian FM
Rambo:
You have this backwards.
• Hezbollah, although suffering from causalities in the Syrian conflict, has exponentially expanded their capabilities with hardened experience in offensives as well as modern light-infantry warfare techniques (in which infantry must be ghosts in a battlefield of tanks, drones and precision weapons). I should note the Iranians have nearly mastered light-infantry warfare in a modernized warzone, Hezbollah is just getting the experience needed. [Source]
Hezbollah fought Israel in 2006 and put a whipping on the IDF. So far, the only Arab-Muslim-ME armed force to do that since the Egyptians in 1973 until the tide turned.
Iran is the one getting the experience. Last war they fought was very ancient technically, sending 12 year olds at Iraq. They have had plentiful opportunities to fight modern wars but generally use militias. Maybe the reason so many of their “generals”, gray and brave, get shot dead at the front.
Now Iran has Syrian and Russian forces on its flanks and in its rear and it shows up ready to do war with the enemy. They are important and have an opportunity to prove themselves. But Hezbollah are the real warriors of Shia. And they have paid a huge price in Syria waiting for the overrated Iranians to join in scale. It took the Russians to get them onto the scene.
Hopefully, the Iranians will prove the tipping force on the battlefield.
The Sunnis in the Syrian Army have been the backbone of Assad’s force. Quite telling. They have lost 60,000 men and women and still fight heroically for their nation.
SAA Photo of Recent Graduates of Military Officer College. Most of them wont be alive next year.. So here’s to them.. Hopefully the Russians in the last year have changed the courses somewhat from the soviet ideology to stop them from getting killed easily..
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672565625458438144
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672567904081154048
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672567453222858752
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672566933443756033
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672566367716040704
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672566005063917568
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672565625458438144
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672565044652167168
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672564146139975680
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672563840782106625
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672563581687365632
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672563183538802689
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672562877992169472
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672562638744854529
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672562355742593028
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672561984022454272
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/672561487177777152
Armenians fighting (not fleeing to #Europe) with Syrian Arab Army
https://twitter.com/AraNatarian/status/667457043997921280
WTF???? Really?? Russia is on battle alert in Turkish waters?
Caesar Kunikov and Russian Soldier with manpads passing through Bosphorus
http://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2015/4-december-caesar-kunikov-and-russian-soldier-with-manpads
Erdogan says he don’t like Russian gas, it smells so now he will be cooking using wood..
Merkel stated that armed forces will not fight, but work to support countries incl Britain, France, US and Russia
So how much truth is there to this?
ISRAELI COLONEL AMONG ISIS FORCES IN IRAQ
OR
Remember these British SAS guys – who were caught dressed as Arabs red-handedly inflicting violent chaos among the Iraqi population several years ago?
http://wearechange.org/israeli-colonel-among-isis-forces-in-iraq/
Does the SAA accept women fighters ?
Not as front line troops.. But a lot of snipers as women have more patience and now they are also used for road blocks and such but the only battalion of like 800 are in Damascus.. The YPG on the other had have a lot of front line troops. To be killed by a woman means no virgins.. Considering both Syria and Iraq had women in most posts, but not as troops.. Only doctors and administration.. Then again US just allowed women in to all positions this month.. So Syria being far behind if not surprising.
https://twitter.com/LinaArabii
Although in this AFP video they show women getting training to man tanks and fire ATGM etc.
Syrian army turns to women on Damascus front lines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDGCaKybtRY&feature=youtu.be
RT report..
Syrian Women join Syrian Arab Army [Kataeb Souriyat|Syrian women Battalion] | RTArabic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxmaz1jPkbM&feature=youtu.be
Syrian women have always been able join the armed forces. But there has recently been a giant influx of women joining the “National Defence Force” Similar to a reserve army or a peoples militia. Fighting against the Wahabists in the FSA hell bent on dictating to them how they should live.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjWVBLVKJkw
PressTV news Documentary on Syrian Volunteers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKM-Pxh-OUQ
But the terrorist women are as ruthless as the men. Everyone’s scared of them, even their own men.
thanks mmiriww…yeah, in literature too, women are the most vicious enemy of the enemy…. but they really aren’t stronger…and that’s too bad about the ISIL women…what idiots.
@Tacitus,
Exactly right, John Rambo has got it backwards: it’s Hezbollah that are the elite fighters, with experience. The Iranian forces are an unknown. So far their performance does not come across as spectacular – we just don’t know much about then. The Syrian forces have come a long way and are now the most battle hardened.
“Iran seems to be independently closing the technological gap against its regional adversary Israel”.
But not the (rather important) thermonuclear weapons gap.
Wonder if this was the rocket barrage on the Turkmen.. Seems to be from 6 batteries.. @20 each would be 120 bombs..
SAA #MLRS Launch and Hit in #Latakia by Anna-News
https://twitter.com/Ibra_Joudeh/status/673145493627789313
https://twitter.com/Syria_Protector/status/672404929953312768
This is new..
Russian airstrikes targeted town of Zimrin near the Israeli border
https://twitter.com/michaelh992/status/672341256396218368
Russian-made Toshka ballistic missile fired (possibly by Assad’s forces) on outskirts of Jisr as-Shughur #Syria
https://twitter.com/michaelh992/status/672725077469872130
Assad’s forces also seem to have launched a ballistic missile toward Inkhil #Syria
https://twitter.com/michaelh992/status/672392586976493568
T-90A in #Aleppo.. Many with the reporters on them so these are not fakes taken in india or russia..
Official: Russian S400 missiles and T90 tanks are in Syria
https://twitter.com/amiralabbas/status/669943597303656449
https://twitter.com/shabbirghewalla/status/669875032571715584
https://twitter.com/2Rook14/status/669862872625868800
https://twitter.com/2Rook14/status/669840837107449858
The possibility for a French Embassy to re-open its doors in #Damascus sometime next year is more plausible now. #France
40+ minutes of #Houthis & Saleh-ists decimating the #Saudi Army http://youtu.be/ZT5qMzgxuXQ
Some talk of the Toshka being supplied to “rebels” by Ukraine. Or possibly captured?
That’s the second one that has been fired that I know of and it seems odd that Syrian government forces would fire just one or two.
I would think if the Syrian government decided to use ballistic missiles in this war, then they would use them in much larger numbers?
/sarcasm.. It was reported by moderate terrorist supporters so I dont expect to hear any truth from them. Main question being why would the SAA go to the trouble.. I also think these are from Ukraine, very old stock bought as part of that mega deal with Ukraine to supply the terrorists after Russia got into their bombing campaign.. To see if they can hit the Russian air base. But we know the S300 can take them out. SAA has a LOT of missiles but those are mostly terror weapons like the scuds. Pointless to target small groups all over the place. They are also far more expensive than barrel bombs and results are similar. Also with Russia bombing now, this again would be pointless. But the terrorist supporters are still at it about bombing MSF hospitals. But nothing about elephant guns that are used to fire shells by terrorists into the middle of civilians.
“Israel has carried air strikes into Syria and against Hezbollah positions.”
From the source article: “A report by Al-Souria Net, a pro-opposition outlet”
If Israel were striking in Syria it would be covered in local pro Syrian social media which is not happening.
Times of Israel has published a number of accounts of Israel incursions into Syria, always saying the news is from “pro-opposition” sources.
Israel is still trying to devise counter-measures for the S300 system the Syrians have again operational. The West has no idea how to deal with the S400.
If you hear Israel AF is flying against these systems, they are on a suicide mission to gather electronic and radar signals for others to try to devise counter-measures.
Only if the Russians allow them in the air space will Israel fly in.
There is an understanding that Hezbollah will not be allowed to have these systems nor any new weapons system to be positioned against Israel. Other than that, Putin decides.
I think it was a drone strike, using low flying drones using the mountains to hide from radar and seems they can fire missiles..
Al-Masdar News has been informed by a military source from the Syrian Air Defense that the Israeli Air Force did indeed violate Syrian airspace on Thursday to strike the 155th Brigade’s Headquarters (also known as the “Missile Base”) for the second time this year and the third time in two years.
According to the military source from the Air Defense, the Israeli warplane struck the 155th Brigade’s Headquarters in the northern Damascus countryside on Thursday evening; this abrupt airstrike did very little damage as it hit an abandoned warehouse outside of the base’s main command center.
The source further added that this deliberate attack and violation of Syrian airspace was likely to provoke an aggressive response from the Syrian Air Defense in order for the Israeli Intelligence apparatus to confirm whether or not the Syrian Government now possesses the Russian manufactured S-300 anti-aircraft missile.
Earlier this week, Al-Rai News’ Chief Correspondent, Elijah Magnier, reported that the Syrian and Iranian Governments were officially in possession of the S-300 missiles, which would likely agitate the Israeli government as they are currently trying to get the world to impose harsh sanctions against the Iranian people.
The military source from the Syrian Air Defense was unable to comment on the reported delivery of the S-300 missiles.
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/israeli-airstrikes-over-damascus-confirmed/
Rambo,
Learn much from your SITREP.
It facilitates an organized overview of the war (and underlying issues), in the Middle East.
However;
The Times of Israel and Al Jazeera are not reliable news sources. One is a propaganda organ of the Zionist imperialist Land Thieves, and Al Jazeera is owned by the same Land Thieves.
Your point remains unclear; “It seems Israel and Russia have some sort of agreement towards Syria,” – as to just what is the actual nature of their “agreement.” The Russian military intervention – which is designed to save the Syrian State and its inhabitants from liquidation, directly blocks the Zionist Oligarchs’ aim of establishing a “Greater Israel,” that would extend from the Nile to the Euphrates, and would include all of the Arabian peninsula. Try wrestling with that point.
There are Maps of this “Greater Judah,” all over the Zionist Land Thieves’ occupied Palestine. These maps can also be seen in the hands of Zionists in New York City (my home town). The ongoing destruction of Yemen, in a carefully programmed fratricidal conflict, combined with the genocide in Palestine, Syria, and Iraq, are designed to force an exodus of millions of Arabs to Europe and America, where they and their children may be absorbed and amorphosed into a cultureless Western mish mash, (not unlike the Star War’s “Borg”).
The disruption of Egypt (the most populous Arab nation), has been delayed. But the Zionists with their American puppets are not finished with them yet. The Saudi extended family are just Realtors who are holding the Arabian peninsula territories for their Zionist masters, (as soon as their masters can disrupt Jordan – on the agenda), and have the needed land connection in that direction, the Jewish settlements will spring up. The war against Yemen is a key part of the effort to prepare (pacify), the entire Arabian peninsula for Zionist settlement.
In Recollection and Analogy:
At the beginning of World War I, and until the end of World War II, the German imperialists had similar ideas of settling in a Russia without Russians, and thereby expanding their nation into a Greater Germany, extending from the Atlantic, to the Urals, to India, and even beyond. The Russians stopped the German dream. They may yet stop the Zionist dream.
The Russian rescue of Syria and its people is an unmistakable deed of historic dimensions, that most ‘political experts’ appear to, or pretend, not to notice. A stable Syria prevents the Zionist expansion to the Euphrates. It also delays the (planned) disruption of the Jordan. The Russian rescue of Syria is one guarantor of the freedom and Sovereignty of the Russian peoples. The Russians have no alternative to Standing their ground in the Middle East. Their leaders would have much preferred to have continued kissing their “friends,” as Vladimir Putin continues to call them, but the Russian leaders understand that kissing Zionist Americans is not a safe option. They have made the only decision possible (to stand and fight).
*On the moral level, the Zionist Oligarchs, with their American and European puppets, are presently committing the worst terrorist crimes against humanity – in all of recorded history.
The crimes of Hitler’s Nazis and the Japanese Fascists (committed from the 1930,s to 1945), have already been hugely eclipsed, and may be relegated (except by the Zionist Hollywood Moguls), to a sad memory of the past. The Zionist Americans have already murdered some 6 million people (in other nations than theirs), mostly civilians, in cold blood, since 1945.
The Zionist aim at gaining a Greater Judah will only be brought to fruition over the dead bodies of, no fewer than 10 million Arabs, and the dislocation, impoverishment, and enslaving, of 50 million more, and the dismemberment of their nations. The destruction of the Syrian historical sites added a particularly Zionist touch, which recalls the imperialist Roman burning of the Library of Alexandria. Cultural destruction accompanies National destruction.
**For those who wish to see a Holocaust, be patient; it is in progress; the ruined Arab cities and towns, filled with rubble, exist in the hundreds; the smoke is rising.
It is the Present we must deal with.
For the Democratic Republics!
re: “… Greater Israel,” that would extend from the Nile to the Euphrates …”
Way back in 1959, at Army Language School in Monterey, a Jewish guy from Philadelphia I shared a 2-man cubicle with in the barracks, beds and study table, otherwise fairly decent guy, described to me in matter-of-fact detail how Israel planned to seize all the land between the Nile and Euphrates eventually. He wasn’t particularly religious, celebrated Jewish holidays only to get out of class as far as I could tell, but said it was based on some biblical prophecy. Said it was inevitable, only a matter of time. — It’s been planned for a long time.
Thanks for the great piece.
” UN Mandate allows Islamic State to be bombed wherever, making the airstrikes in Syria by Britain completely legal. Not that legality ever mattered anyway.”
That is only half correct. It only makes it legal if they follow international law,and the UN Charter (requirements contained in the wording of that mandate from the UN). Both of which puts the sovereignty of Syria before anything else. So for their actions to be “legal” they “must” have the permission of the Syrian government to operate inside Syrian territory. Which none of the NATO allies (not sure on France) have. Meaning their actions are purely an illegal aggression against a sovereign state. But you are correct in that “legality” means nothing to that criminal bunch unless they are talking about their own countries.
The UN Mandate is a deliberately loose worded document initiated by the the French to give them and any of their mates a cover to do what ever they like in Syria and Iraq.
Russia wanted to include clauses that stated the need for Syrian Gov permission but these were rejected and the Russians signed off the French version.
Russia seems desperate the be in some sort of agreement with the West but this really is impossible because their goals are totally different. All that happened here is the West got what they wanted.
No, I don’t believe that’s correct. Russia isn’t desperate for Western agreement- if they’re willing to setup a massive bombing campaign right under the nose if the West. Putin is in no mood to compromise; Lavrov gave a press conference (some time after the UN resolution) and in it he mentioned that air strikes in Syria are only legal if compliant with international law and he specifically mentioned that that meant the permission if the Syrian govt was required.
The Mandate doesnt need to be indisputable, it only needs to be debatable, then West can make their own case. Their narrative is for local consumption. Nobody cares or even hears what Lavrov thinks after hes signed it off. The loin clothe is good enough.
I thought Russia stepping into Syria was a bold move and for a while it seemed the world, even if not the politicians, were with them. That initiative seems to be fast fading.
Russia does need cooperation and acceptance from the West because Russia will go nowhere on its own. Russia has not helped herself in this regard. Solely attacking the “US proxy” was always going to cause trouble and now the slow advance has allowed time for the West to regroup. Had Russia worked hard with the Syria army before starting the bombing campaign they could have routed ISIS from Palmyra in a few weeks and totally shut the West up. As it is, theyve left the SAA to dither around in Aleppo and looking like going nowhere. Now the West comes in riding the white horse.
Dont think that the China link is any big deal. China is travelling down an entirely different road than Russia.
Btw I took a look at recent and past videos of that pompous blowhard Netanyahu and Putin in joint press conferences: Netanyahu didn’t look like he “liked” Putin, he looked like he was “nervous” and anxious around Putin. You will notice that Netanyahu intently paying attention to every word that Putin uttered – looking right at Putin as he speaks to the media, while Putin continues to look right straight ahead totally ignoring Netanyahu. No question that Netanyahu respects and fears Putin, however no body language on the part of Putin indicates that he has respect for Netanyahu.
The impression is of Top dog standing next to his junior side kick lap dog (with Putin being the top dog). This contrasts so starkly when Netanyahu is in front of a US President, there he (bibi) swaggers and exhibits full arrogance.
— ISIS reverting to “just another terrorist group” was good enough to defeat the Americans and British in Iraq 2. The initial excitement of the anti-ISIS coalition has faded, and is now looking more like the initial stages of a new thirty years war.
— YPG is overrated and would have made little to no gains if American airstrikes were unavailable. They are capable of waiting for Americans to flatten a town and then go in to loot, rape, and pillage. Apparently it’s not politically correct to talk about the fact that the YPG is little more than a communist death squad that got caught doing the same things that ISIS does.
— “ISIS recruits are delusional youths, etc…” The same can be said about any military. ISIS recruits seem to stay for extended periods, though. Pro-Kurd volunteers usually run away within weeks, only to be prosecuted by their own governments.
— ISIS attack against Kurdistan has been an indirect assault against Israel. It has been recently revealed that Israel gets up to two thirds of its oil from the Kurds. The economic fallout against Israel was severe during SInai pipeline bombing campaign a few years ago. If ISIS took down the Kurds, Israel would be in dire straits. But its still politically correct to say that ISIS isn’t attacking Israel.
— Russia is more or less conducting an American style airstrike campaign against Iraq’s infrastructure, particularly oil. All of this infrastructure used to be operated by Official Iraq, but now ISIS uses it. Now that the Russians are destroying it, it will ensure that no one will be able to get it for some time, just like during the first Gulf War. ISIS describes the Russian airstrikes as ferocious but sloppy (Russia already bombed an aid convoy). Even the Americans knew better after the first Gulf War to not attack Iraqi oil infrastructure (Saddam destroyed his own oil infrastructure in a scorched earth effort.
— That Western journalist in Islamic state was allowed to film and was given safe passage. It’s been done before (Vice news) and will probably be done again. Has nothing to do with “somehow surviving” but I suppose the journalist likes dramatization. Have any western countries allowed ISIS journalists to muck about?
— US munitions shortage. .It’s both. They really are low on ammuntion, and also want to increase sales. It’s still politically correct to talk about the American military as if it isn’t completely defeated. If a 1 trillion dollar plane that can’t fly, pillow fighting scandals, boy scout parades, mass rapes, mass suicides, homeless vets, etc aren’t enough to show the true state of the US military, then probably nothing will.
— PBS using Russian footage…stealing credit is the American way. Theyre still doing it with World War 2. Americans are very sensitive about their delusions of grandeur, and questioning that will cause much impotent hot air toward the one who questions.
— Baiji diversion. It’s called a feigned retreat, and ISIS is very good at it. What is occuring right now is very similar to both first and second American war on Iraq. Experienced Iraqis go into airstrike management mode while cannon fodder foreigners do a stand up fight and get destroyed. ISIS is in management mode. They are reducing the effects of air attacks and stalling ground assaults and have done well. The same people who thought the Russians wiped out ISIS within days sure are quiet right now. The best Russia (and anyone) can do is not attack. IF they keep attacking, Russia will have more problems. If anyone (attackers not caught) can take down Crimea for this length of time, ISIS can cause massive problems and even state failure for any country they can get to. Frankly, the recent mass shootings have been very lucky; surely you can imagine simultaneous attacks on critical infrastructure and the dire implications of such attacks.
Pro Daesh troll.
Please keep living in your fantasies! It makes it so much more satisfying to witness such supporters flaying in frustration and impotence. Daesh is militarily weak and over-rated; they are a laughable infantry force.
I understand that local syrian militias (local people who have lost loved ones to ISIL rapists) that are auxiliaries to the Syrian army are particularly creative and brutal in dispatching ISIL/Daesh cowards: some of the executions take days with the ISIL fighters begging for mercy – bawling like little girls (sort of like Pakistani soldiers in the hands of the Taliban or Saudis crying while in the hands of the Houthis). So much for the nonsense that these Islamists really believe in their nonsense heaven/virgin reward fraud.
“In fact, as we now know, Khan and his network were known, identified, surveilled, funded and even protected by the CIA from its very inception.”
https://www.corbettreport.com/the-cia-and-the-nuclear-black-market-eyeopener-preview/
Did you just tell us you work for my namesake agency John Rambo?
A Q Khan worked for the CIA.
Do you test long past due propaganda memes for the CIA John Rambo?
Lets just say the CIA was a very good client of the BCCI…..
Check out russia insider….several v intresting articles….Armstrong sit rep…Iraq Kurdistani oil which probably comes from ISIL.Israel buys ……..Turkey USA complicit 2014 attack on Syrian christian village with ISIL…..video of Turkey supporting ISIL 2012……..Montenegro situation a bit tricky……
Al jazeera reports rus\ Turkey shipping escalations?……
Turkey v Iraq, what exactly are USA intentions apart from throwing huge spanners in the works to cover up its henchman Turkey……
Ukr near default could be sued by Rus…..MFA says Statements by USA resemble the theatre of the absurd…..threats to Transnystria from Moldova-ukr….ukr pushing the limit against Donbass……Saakasvilli lost his citizenship…….so much going on,cannot wait for the eventual Saker analysis,maybe there is too much to get a grip on…….!
Not posting links….too complicated on this tablet I,m using regetfully.
the article doesn’t even match reality but that’s just empty narrative but most unlearned person…you are funny though.
why do i have the nagging suspicion that it was written by an iranian? pretty sad you pre-approve comments before posting….bye shia.
“Israel has secretly trained itself against Russian air defenses in Greece against Greek operated S-300 systems which was activated on Crete”
Israel has signed a SOFA ( status of forces agreement ) agreement with Greece and now Israeli military personnel will be stationed in Greece and they will have several bases at their disposal. In the last five years the Greek government has become pro-Israel as the Greek economy was on purpose disintegrating by becoming a debt colony of EU-IMF. Greek foreign policy used to be
pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian (especially under Andreas Papandreou in the 1980s) with Greece recognising Israel only in 1990.
The Greek military is getting downsized with many airbases closing. On the other hand, several bases are transferred to Israeli control.
Greece is a puppet state under occupation.
I am trying to make sense of it all and I am failing miserably. The only way this makes sense is if you have the USA with a split personality syndrome. Where they will do the most horrible things but they cannot remember it. For example, maybe some group inside the pentagon decided to destroy the WTC and hit the Pentagon to kill some folks they do not like. After that is done, everyone goes on television and pretend someone else did it. They always seem to do this.
So, when trying to figure out their foreign policy, I am left completely clueless. Are they going to let Russia crush the terrorists that they spent so much money training? How can they start a war with Russia while they are so deeply divided? Unless they plan to invent some crazy story that only the american people can believe? I wonder what their crazy plan is. Putin does not look impressed though.
Thiamine, no one was in the Pentagon section of the building that day – 9/11 – it was under construction.
An office of the Army that had just re-occupied the Pentagon’s recently renovated Wedge One, named Resource Services Washington, lost 34 of its 45 employees. Most were civilian accountants, bookkeepers and budget analysts. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld had announced on the eve of the attack that more than $2 trillion was missing from the Pentagon.
More than half of the victims were in the Navy Command Center, a command-and-control facility on the first floor of the Pentagon’s D-Ring.
Many survivors suffered horrible injuries.
This was on a 9/11 blog, it is easy to verify that Rumsfeld spoke of missing money. The people killed were actually looking into that. Then BOOM. No more investigating. There appear to be some sort of struggle going on inside the system, these people were getting too close.
Okay, yeah all this info is something I have read but forget….I remember now about the missing money.
Dear John Rambo…that first sentence is a doozy….it took three readings and about 3 minutes hard thinking to figure that one out…I was thinking…”…maybe he’s ‘coming out of the closet like Saker…”
Very very funny…thanks for the laugh…
The Chinese Pakistani joint development of a modified Russian fighter… kind of like their nuclear program.. For some very strange reason Pakistan is the black step child of the family..
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Russia ink accord for the purchase of RD-93 engines for JF-17 Fighters. #Egypt is interested in buying JF-17 Fighter Aircrafts from.Pakistan: Egypt Ambassador
Eight Pakistani JF-17’s welcoming President Xi Jinping upon entering Pakistani airspace
https://twitter.com/HassanINC/status/673143311989907456
Seems Pakistan had no problems dealing with apartheid regimes… Either Israel or south Africa.. And like I said earlier, their lack of character… So why do they make a big deal off india dealing with Israel?
Wilsworth’s book is pretty amazing, not least because he included much of the information I painstakingly collected. He called the missile project HIBISCUS, not HUKSY — but code-name changes were common in South Africa (Video/Melba, Hobo/Cabot). And he, or a careless editor, dropped a zero from HUSKY’s range. (A medium-range ballistic missile has a range of 1,000-3,000 km.) But still, this is an impressive paragraph about South Africa’s bomb program, all the more impressive for appearing as an aside in a book on the country’s artillery systems:
This gave rise to Project Hibiscus—the development of a surface-to-surface missile with a 300-kilometre range capable of delivering either a conventional or nuclear warhead. The project integrated an Israeli missile, which was tested at the new Overberg Test Range on the Cape south coast. At the same time, the SAAF was developing a ‘smart bomb’ to be launched and guided by a Buccaneer, and it was determined that the subsequent H2 bomb was more feasible than a missile system and the whole project was subsequently terminated. Not all efforts were wasted though, as Hibiscus at least contributed to the development of a prototype heavy transporter vehicle nicknamed the MLZN (Moerse Lorrie Zonder Naam—‘huge lorry without name’). This vehicle served as a basis for a G6 ammunition vehicle as it shared a number of parts (engine, transmission, axles and wheels).
One interesting thing that arises from an improved understanding of South Africa’s nuclear program is how much of the supporting technology were eventually put on the export market.
First, South Africa exported the H2/Raptor to Pakistan. (Denel, which exported the Raptor to Pakistan, is also suspected of helping Pakistan develop the Ra’ad cruise missile.) Pakistan’s nuclear weapon is a different design than South Africa’s (imposion rather than gun-type), but still. I’d be interested in knowing how South Africa verified that the end use was conventional only. Perhaps they integrated the conventional payload with the guidance system so that removing one would damage the other.
http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1200544/revisiting-south-africas-bomb/
Yea this one requires its own page..
Pres.Hollande gives medal
https://twitter.com/wellsla/status/673135924386074624
Reaching effortlessly to new levels of ridicule, French aircraft carrier “Charles-de-Gaulle” will leave Syrian coasts and head to Persian Gulf. There’s not much left for her to do in Syria since her air jets, mind you, have just ran short of (US-made) laser bombs and the US, for some reason, can’t deliver new bombs before the end of 2016. So our much-vaunted (in France at least) and expensive nuclear aicraft carrier got absolutely useless in the very moment where at last she could have proved of some use.
Indeed, the “Charles-de- Gaulle” was not to add much to the huge volumes of bombs launched by Syrian and Russian planes. However, on the diplomatic level, his presence meant the existence of a French-Russian coalization was possible. But François Hollande is an extremely (or, better said, exceedingly) prudent man, so qthat such a coalization was deemed too risky by him. And the “Moskva” and her accompaning destroyers will look, I’m afraid, somewhat isolated when US aircraft carrier “Harry Truman” and his flottilla arrive -not to mention two Turkish attack submarines which have been cruising in the area for quite some time.
Let’s hope Turkey and the US won’t repeat, on a larger scale, the infamous incident of the Su-24 they recently shot down…
Thank you so much for all the source material! You have a great grasp of presenting the issues in a way that’s informative and entertaining, the writing’s great.
Looking forward to reading more from you Mr. Rambo.
450 Tanks lost by the Saudis ? Is that for real ? I know they have lost 8 war ships. Just goes to show, it doesn’t matter how superior your military equipment may be, if you lack the competence and military training, you will be doomed to defeat. Its pathetic how they have to rely on mercenaries to do their fighting.
Is it possible if the Houthis received enough reinforcements they could occupy the Saudi oil fields ? Never mind Syria and Iraq, if this was truly possible, Wahhabism could be dealt a death blow. I suspect the Americans would intervene with massive bombardments before the fields were seriously threatened. Even though America claims to be energy independent, they still are reliant on the Saudis selling their oil in American dollars.
Nevertheless, If I was in Iran’s position, Yemen is where I would concentrate my efforts. If I was in Assad’s position in Syria, I would draft as many Houthis into SAA as possible. I would give them unlimited Khat to eat !
The US has been arming Yemen for many years so their dictator could play power games. I am not even sure why the US is playing in Yemen. The more the US pushes Yemen, the more the Houthis would see allies which is Iran. They sank the last ship using an unguided surface to surface missile.. The tanks are not front line US tanks they are export quality.. No match for the similar tanks that Israel might have. These blow up after taking a single hit. Same with their attack helicopter.. Now the Houthis have occupied 6 villages inside SA. Who are making those villages inhabitable by dropping cluster munitions. Not having an air force they cant do much other than harass the border regions.