In War On Syria, Other, U.S. Is "Balancing" To Keep Control
After the fall of Idleb, a Syrian governate capitol near to the border with Turkey, the anti-Syrian forces have continued their attack on Syrian government positions in the north-west. These forces are Jabhat al-Nusra allied with other Salafi-Jihadist brigades. During the last month the well coordinated attackers used at least several dozens of U.S. made TOW anti-tank missiles against Syrian army positions.
While some TOW missiles delivered by the U.S. to a CIA controlled anti-Syrian brigade were earlier seized by Jabhat al-Nusra the amount used by it in the Idleb campaign is far larger. Jabhat al-Nusra must now have a constant supply of such weapons. There was also a significant amount of Milan antitank weapons used though (vid) predominately in the south near the Jordan border. These are originally a German-French product. Both Milan and TOW are in the stocks of various Arab Persian Gulf countries.
The attackers also used encrypted radios which the Syrian army seem unable to decrypt in real time. The open radio traffic of 2-way-radios so far used by the foreign supported attackers was easy to follow and this had helped to defend army positions. To defend against an enemy which has secure communication is more difficult.
The CIA and U.S. special forces are involved in training and directing anti-Syrian forces and are part of attacker "control-rooms" in Turkey and Jordan. They certainly know down to each serial number who transferred these weapons to the Al-Qaeda entity Jabhat al-Nusra and others. Possible sources include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Israel and, most likely, the U.S. itself.
The Syrian army seems to be in difficulties. Its attacks these year all stalled and it lines are thin with the troops being overwhelmed wherever the attackers concentrate forces and firepower. The army has no shortage of weapons and ammunition but its manpower is down. Unfortunately it again left much material behind when it retreated from Idleb. I find it inexplicable that such stocks are not blown up or otherwise made unusable when a retreat necessitates to leave them behind.
The usual suspects are already gloating that "Assad is finished". They have said so every few months since at least 2012. Talk of immediate victory for either side is unjustified. The fighting in Syria and elsewhere will continue for a long time.
To find a response to the current setback the Syrian army chief is visiting Tehran to seek additional support:
Leading a military delegation, the Syrian army chief will have talks with his Iranian counterpart, Col. Hussain Dahqan, and other senior military officials to discuss ways of cooperation to face the threats of terrorism and other regional challenges, according to the report.The visit comes a day after Syrian Interior Minister Mohammad al-Shaar and his Russian counterpart, Gen. Vladimir Kolokoltsev, signed in Moscow a cooperation agreement on countering terrorism.
The agreement provides a new legal springboard to further bolster bilateral ties, Kolokoltsev said.
We can expect new Russian weapon deliveries as well as more Iran trained and supported fighters on the Syrian battle field. But the real response to the new offense must come in the diplomatic space. Iran as well as Russia will have to come up with ideas to press the other countries to end their support for the Jihadists.
The U.N. invited all parties, for the first time including Iran, for new Syrian peace talk in Geneva. I do not expect any concrete outcome from these talks.
In the big picture we see one part of the Arab and Muslim world financing and providing material and political support to AlQaeda and other Wahhabi Jihadist groups. This while another part of the Arab and Muslim world is fighting against these. The winner so far are the Jihadis themselves and the anti-Arab forces in Israel and the United States.
In the Saudi war on Yemen AlQaeda in the Arab Peninsula is the winner and is now also, disguised as tribal fighters, receiving Saudi weapons. AlQaeda in Syria is, according to U.S. Vice President Biden, intensely supported by the Wahhabi Gulf states as are Islamist fighters in Libya and Iraq. The United States is now trying to be the arbitrator over those who finance AlQaeda and those fighting it. Its aim is to keep control over everyone involved by making sure that no side wins. Countries get destroyed that will need rebuilding, weapons and ammunition are bought and used up, oil prices stay reasonable high. What is not to like with that? The U.S. position will prolong all these conflicts until the inevitable blowback will push it to again change its policies.
Posted by b on April 28, 2015 at 17:25 UTC | Permalink
The Russians appear to be hedging their bets and preparing for the eventual fall of the Assad Regimen with their recent deal with Cyprus to us their ports for the Russian Navy.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Apr 28 2015 17:48 utc | 3
Just who are the terrorists here? The C.I.A.-no, not the culinary institute of America-but the one who owns the distribution of illegal substances, also supplying the so-called bad guys with U.S. produced weapons. Time to rethink just who/what/where is this going? Stop the charades before the world gets blown up. There is no winner here, only casualties of the innocent, but will strike home in its due course in time.
Posted by: Norman | Apr 28 2015 18:15 utc | 4
thanks b.. love how the usa supports al qaeda and isis in spite of all the pretensions offered up to contradict this.. for the military/financial complex it seems regime change or war is all they have to offer and nothing has changed, including kerry and obamas underwear probably.. same bs smell coming from them. i liked your quote which summarizes much of my own thinking :
"In the big picture we see one part of the Arab and Muslim world financing and providing material and political support to AlQaeda and other Wahhabi Jihadist groups. This while another part of the Arab and Muslim world is fighting against these. The winner so far are the Jihadis themselves and the anti-Arab forces in Israel and the United States."
Posted by: james | Apr 28 2015 18:45 utc | 5
Forest fires heading for Chernobyl nuclear plant – Ukraine Interior Ministry.
Posted by: lysias | Apr 28 2015 19:16 utc | 6
Douse yourself with gasoline and give your three-year-old a book of matches. Strategery American style...
Posted by: chuckvw | Apr 28 2015 19:38 utc | 7
Syria complain to the UNSC about Turkey's support for terrorist organizations attacking a UN member state. "The Ministry went on to note that officers from Turkish intelligence agencies based in an advanced center on the Turkish-Syrian borders, with support from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, provided and managed logistic support to facilitate the infiltration of around 5,000 foreign terrorists – most of them from Jabhet al-Nusra which is listed among terrorist organizations by the Security Council – into Syrian territories, with the hordes of Jabhet al-Nusra terrorists storming Jisr al-Shughour after firing thousands of rocket shells on it for several days, running amok in its neighborhoods and murdering entire families, which caused the forced displacement of thousands of civilians".http://www.sana.sy/en/?p=38216
Posted by: harry law | Apr 28 2015 19:47 utc | 8
@8
Al Nusra only has about 8000 fighters most of which are Syrians according to reports so you must be confused about the "foreign terrorists" and there was no Nusra "horde" storming Jisr al-Sughour but a combined force made up of many groups. The FSA has about 50,000 fighters in many brigades and are a secular nationalist group opposed to Assad and they do operate with assistance from Turkey and the West.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Apr 28 2015 20:10 utc | 9
Wayoutwest @8 "Let’s begin with the misunderstanding about the Free Syrian Army. There’s nothing secular about the FSA, and nothing democratic about it, either. The US-backed rebel army exists, according to its leaders, for one reason—to remove Bashar al-Assad as president. [1] Its sole program, then, is negative, without positive (either democratic or secular) aspirations". https://gowans.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/the-myth-of-the-secular-pro-democracy-syrian-rebel/ If they were democratic, the Saudis would not be backing them, in fact many experts say the FSA hardly exists.
Posted by: harry law | Apr 28 2015 21:11 utc | 10
not sure why people are still responding to wayoutwahabist's ramblings
Posted by: DamascusFalling | Apr 28 2015 21:17 utc | 11
@10
I was responding to your confused claim about some al-Nusra 'Horde" with 5000 recruits joining from Turkey.
I don't have special knowledge about the FSA but they were initially mostly deserters from the SAA including the general that still leads them. What they have become today is debatable but they are at least one of the largest alliances involved in this conflict.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Apr 28 2015 21:47 utc | 12
Wayoutwest = paid shill lol
Just give up and get a new username
Posted by: Deebo | Apr 28 2015 21:58 utc | 13
@13
The only thing I receive for my comments is the satisfaction of seeing loser responses such as yours. You can't debate so you masturbate.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Apr 28 2015 22:39 utc | 14
The US government may be trying to maintain a balancing act, but there appears to be a well-organized effort to change that policy and to impose a no fly zone, based on alleged chlorine attacks and specifically one on 16 March that was reported to have killed a family of six including three children. This has involved Human Rights Watch, a Brooklyn-based PR agency (Purpose) closely associated with Avaaz, and a presentation to the UNSC organized by Samantha Power
This incident has been investigated in detail at the ACLOS wiki, and a report has been posted at this link: http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2015/04/what-killed-talebs.html.
Key findings:-
1. The only one of the three children seen alive in hospital - a one-year old boy - has a decreased level of consciousness (coma) but is still breathing when first seen in the videos. This is not consistent with chlorine poisoning, but rather with a drug overdose.
2. When this boy stops breathing, the clinic staff make no attempt to provide artificial respiration even though they are in a well-equipped emergency room. Dr Tennari, who claimed at the UNSC to be the director of the field hospital and to have personally treated the three children, is not seen in the clinic videos. Other details in his story do not make sense - for instance he claims to have been overcome by chlorine fumes while treating the children, but the videos show the children were stripped and washed down outside before being brought into hospital.
3. The videos of the apartment from which the family were supposedly rescued show that it is empty of people when the rescuers arrive, with blood in several rooms.
4. The purported Syrian civil defense organization White Helmets (whose website was set up by Purpose) and the al-Nusra Front (the Syrian affiliate of al-Qaeda that is in control of the area) are tied together by videos uploaded with different logos but sharing some of the same content.
Posted by: pmr9 | Apr 28 2015 23:50 utc | 16
@WOW#12:
"Were" is the operative word. While the insurgents had initial success recruiting some Sunni draftees to defect, by 2013, even the NYT's CJ Chivers said that the rebels cell phone calls to homees in the SAA were not yielding defections any more. Further, life in the glorious revolution lost some of its glamor as the months wore on, aided by the craziness of some of the FSA leaders as well as the strictness of some of the fundy Sunni allied groups (who even wanted them to give up cigarettes!!!). Between the various amnesties for individuals and the reconciliation agreements brokered for some rebel-occupied towns, some of the surviving early defectors have been trickling back home.
Further, Turkey has been funneling international mercenaries and juvenile jihadi cannonfodder into Syria from the beginning of the conflict. Most of them have gone into ISIS, but JAN is known to have non-Syrians, like Lebanese and Jordanians, among its fighters. Much as the US talks about agreements with Turkey to "join the anti-ISIS coalition", Turkey does not appear to have stopped aiding the Jihadis.
Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Apr 29 2015 0:00 utc | 17
@pmr9#16:
Thanks for the summary. Another false flag attempt brought to you by The Gang That Couldn't Frame Straight.
Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Apr 29 2015 0:06 utc | 18
An interesting report in FARS News in view of widespread reports of Al Nusra's success in Syria. Gen. Suleimani is reported to have informed members of the Iranian parliament that the situation in Syria has significantly improved "from a few years ago" but that "terrorists" are now advancing near Baghdad.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940208001670
Posted by: LZA | Apr 29 2015 0:11 utc | 19
Joe Biden's confession at CBN is priceless!!!
(Presenter) The white house tonight is working to smooth things over, after some undiplomatic remarks by the vice-president shook up the alliance against Isis:(Biden) Our biggest problem is our allies.
(Reporter) Following a speech last week at Harvard University, vice president Biden said SA, Turkey and UAE had allowed extremists groups to flourish in Syria. All in the name of fighting the regime of Bashar Al Assad. And indirectly giving rise to Isis.
...
Posted by: citizen X | Apr 29 2015 0:35 utc | 20
[email protected] Robert Parry has a piece up that might help explain Biden's candour:
Saudi Arabia and Israel have made clear over the past few years that they regard the overthrow of the Iranian-backed Assad government as a geopolitical priority even if it results in a victory by Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State. But Obama, who has been unwilling or unable to rein in the Saudi-Israeli alliance, would then have to decide what to do with Islamic terrorists dominating a major Mideast nation.Some of these Sunni radicals have shown that they will move aggressively toward slaughtering minority groups that they consider infidels, including Christians, Alawites and Shiites. The terrorists could leave the streets of major Syrian cities running red with blood – and give Al-Qaeda a solid platform from which to launch terrorist attacks against the West.
How Obama or his successor might respond to that is uncertain but it would be difficult for any American president to sit back and do nothing. Yet, dispatching another U.S. military expeditionary force to Syria to dislodge Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State from Damascus and across Syria would likely be a fool’s errand resulting in massive loss of life, costing trillions of dollars and promising little success.
Posted by: Nana2007 | Apr 29 2015 1:04 utc | 21
Putin needs to stop referring to "my partners" and start pushing a harder line.
Posted by: ruralito | Apr 29 2015 1:28 utc | 22
I agree with most of your first paragraph but he FSA and most of the many other groups involved in this war have millions of adult male Syrians to recruit from not just the SAA. The continuous bombing of civilian targets has probably sent more men to the rebel side than the initial deserters from the SAA.
There is evidence that Turkey has armed and supplied some of the groups in Syria but I have yet to see any evidence that that includes the IS or al-Nusra. Turkey recently intercepted a large group of Indonesians trying to join the IS in Syria and they have detained and deported others. Their border is porous just as the US border is and there are Turkish IS supporters that smuggle recruits across the border.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Apr 29 2015 1:46 utc | 23
"Talk of immediate victory for either side is unjustified. The fighting in Syria and elsewhere will continue for a long time."
This is the main problem, it seems to be.
There is no interest in peace on the side of those who are funding the fanatics. There is only an interest in destroying Syria - if not quickly then slowly. There have been no serious peace efforts by the United States because it simply sees Syria through the lens of Russia and has its great moat protecting it. Israel is hiding behind its apartheid wall in the short term, and in the long term imagines that it can destroy Hezbollah by ruining Syria (this is a complete fantasy, its only bringing its "arch-enemy" Iran closer to its borders). The Saudis don't care about anything anymore than any other ultra-wealthy absolutist monarchy ever has. Those stoking the flames in Syria think they are completely safe from the effects.
The only hope is Europe, and I think they are starting to see the light with the recent migrant crisis (if not the elite, then certainly the people). This migrant crisis, which can no longer be ignored, is a crisis that is absolutely created by all of the instability of the Middle East and it will only get worse if there is not a major change in policy. Sure, the United States can keeping sending the TOW missiles, keep creating millions more refugees and not feel the blowback, but Europe is starting to feel the heat. And not just on it's southern flank but in Eastern Europe as well.
Europe is being lead by the nose, its neo-liberal elites have swallowed whole the impossible American fantasies of "a Europe without Russia" and "a Europe that can ignore the Middle East" but we are quickly approaching the point where reality necisarily sweeps away illusion. If Europe allows the United States to continue to set fire to not just its southern neighbors but also its eastern - then Europe is showing the sense of someone knowingly courting a serial killer.
--------------
WayOutWahabist - I like that and will use it, if you don't mind.
WayOutWest, you're really the worst. Anyone talking about the "50,000 secular fighters of the FSA" in 2015 is either mad or has been locked in a cave for four years. Perhaps that's it though. Does ISIL have you locked up somewhere? Nothing to sustain you except your daily stomach-full from whatever Islamist platoon is passing through Mosul? No use in worrying I guess, its obvious you love every minute of it.
Thanks for the little rat turd about "Russia hedging its bets". That's totally expected of you, and another complete fib. Russia is, in fact, who is allowing the Iraqi army to stomp your favorite terror army from town to town. Latest news, having removed your "brilliant" (your words) terrorists from Tikrit, is that the Iraqis are preparing to trounce ISIL in Ramadi.
I have to laugh once more at WayOutWeirdo's endless b.s. You know, it takes a real piece of work to go around with these crocodile tears about civilian casualties when you're actively boosting a largely foreign invasion of head-chopping murders and fanatics into the same country. You've proved yourself daily as a transparent liar, to come on and try and claim the moral high ground now is comes of rather pathetic.
The fact is, a report just came out a few months ago about all the foreigners fighting for your favorite murders. Some 20,000 foreigners are now fighting in Syria - the majority of which are, surprise surprise, from Saudi Arabia. Too bad the Indonesians you mention don't make the list. Probably just another load of hokum from you.
ISIL is not composed of mostly of Syrians, ISIL is not composed even half of Syrians, nor even 40% of Syrians. In fact, according to James Clapper, ISIS is two-thirds foreigners:
The U.S. intelligence community has also upped its estimate of the number of foreign fighters from all over the world, not just the West. Clapper said that ISIS now has 20,000 foreign fighters, up from 16,000 last fall, out of a total fighting force of as many as 31,000.
And whose word should we take about Turkey supporting Islamist fighters in Syria? The MoA regular who has a sopping wet spot for ISIS, or maybe Joe Biden, the VP of the United States of America?
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan admitted mistakes that paved the way for the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)."President Erdoğan told me, he is an old friend, said you were right, we let too many people through, now we are trying to seal the border," Biden said during a speech on foreign policy at Harvard Kennedy School on Oct. 2.
While speaking to the students for nearly an hour and a half, Biden defended the U.S. foreign policy, stressing that the White House was not late to move against the rise of the ISIL. He said that the regional allies of the U.S, determined to take down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, "poured hundreds of millions dollars, and tens thousands of tones of weapons into anyone who would fight against al-Assad, accepted the people who would be in supply for Al Nusra and Al Qaeda and extremist elements of jihadists coming from other parts of the world." LINK
We know you have no credibility, but I wonder - do you have any decency?
Wayoutwest @ 14
I dont need to debate, everyone else seems to be a fine job debating you intellectually but the problem it is YOU who cannot respond nor answer questions logically, you just smear and talk alot of shit, so no i will not bother debate , so you can "masterbate" over trolling... Ill just tell you as it is
Your a paid shill, Indian or Israeli who cares, you and your colony of online comment trolls all seem to follow the same low standards, whoever is in charge of your department should be sacked lol for being boring and repetitive
Reply when you get back from your lunch break
Ta ta
Posted by: Deebo | Apr 29 2015 3:42 utc | 26
Mr.guest77, the answer to your question to WayOutIsrael/Wahabistan "you have no credibility, but I wonder - do you have any decency?" is, obviously, no.
I think I may say I share with you utter contempt for this insect, this maggot.
The creature has the gall to say to others they do not 'debate' him, when in fact, as you have very well done, using the presstitutes themselves, people have totally torn him apart.
Although it's like beating a dead carcass, I'll further add by quoting the zionist rag and warmongering newspaper, The New York Times.
In an article entitled 'Islamist Rebels Create Dilemma on Syria Policy' by BEN HUBBARD, APRIL 27, 2013, it makes some obvious but startling admissions coming as it did, from such a treacherous propaganda outlet;
"Across Syria, rebel-held areas are dotted with Islamic courts staffed by lawyers and clerics, and by fighting brigades led by extremists. Even the Supreme Military Council, the umbrella rebel organization whose formation the West had hoped would sideline radical groups, is stocked with commanders who want to infuse Islamic law into a future Syrian government.Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of."
They do not exist nor have they ever. As early as the first months of 2012, before the big twin offensives mounted by the islamists against both Aleppo and Damascus, armed gangs tried to create their Benghazi in a HOms district. They called it the Islamic Emirate of Baba Amr. And that folks, is pure AL-CIAda talk.
Further, lets take a look at WOW's heroes of the non-existing FSA, beating and humiliating an old man in Aleppo;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEvZAzec7Dk
Great analysis by Syrian Girl of the events in
Idlib and media reaction in the West:
AlQaeda Over Runs Idlib City - Analysing Media reaction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6gS3A7qHpY
Posted by: Luca K | Apr 29 2015 4:28 utc | 27
@27
Now you have joined the circle-jerk LK and using utoob to lube your limp response. I know you are to slow to grasp these topics but there are no heroes in Syria and I am only interested in the facts not your or anyone else's fantasies.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Apr 29 2015 4:52 utc | 28
@26 deebo.. "Reply when you get back from your lunch break
Ta ta" that made me laugh. thanks for that..
Posted by: james | Apr 29 2015 6:53 utc | 29
@guest77 | 24
Those stoking the flames in Syria think they are completely safe from the effects.
Thats the thing, Resistance axis are doing nothing to change that. They are just taking the beating and trying to somehow outlast the attack, while taking "the high road", showing good will to "their partners". Its a shortsighted strategy IMO. Such approach means decades long destruction of Syria, with a high possibility of the same scenario repeated in Iran, Russia's South and China's volatile regions.
Posted by: Harry | Apr 29 2015 7:10 utc | 30
@30
I agree there. Russia, Iran, China, all of the SCO, all of the BRICs need together to make that diplomatic move against the US/Israel/Saudi Axis that b calls for.
Filibuster the UN Security Council and General Assembly. Make it, 'Which side are you on? Trade or Terrorism.' Along every axis of debate, and on every UN program and undertaking.
Build the financial machinery to isolate the US/IL/KSA terrorists through the UN with that stated intention, right out in the open.
Make Europe answer that Trade or Terrorism question with Trade! or be isolated along with the terrorist US/IL/KSA Axis of Evil.
The US/IL/KSA are great at first creating all the world's potential bad actors and then hiring them, thus realizing their potential, in wars of destruction against the unindustrialized world ... let 'em see how they, the industrial world in decline, like it when the industrial world on the rise teams up with the unindustrialized to do what it takes to defeat US/IL/KSA terrorism world-wide.
Posted by: jfl | Apr 29 2015 8:17 utc | 31
"Blowback to change its policies?"
Que?
You mean like the Grenadan blowback from Operation Urgent Fury?
You mean like EU rising up against a Zionist slaughter of Gaza?
Or US citizen blowback for 97,000,000 jobless/homeless to MIC??
Que?
The US Senate just looted $38 BILLION from the American people
to backstop IMF's loans to the Junta Coup in Kiev, so they can
flood EU and US with repackaged anonymized ETF Junk Bonds, that
every financial analyst says won't be repaid ... EVER. Both the
Ukrainian people, who got looted of $38 BILLION in gold bullion,
and the American people, who got their SS/MC looted for the same.
Blowback? Que?
The UN Senate just gave a $336 BILLION loophole to The Chosen
and increased the Perpetual Interest Only FOREVER 'Debt' Ceiling.
Que? Blowback? Collusion, more like.
Posted by: NoReply | Apr 29 2015 9:37 utc | 32
Saudi royal shuffle:
The decree named Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as crown prince as well as deputy prime minister and said he will continue in his position of interior minister and head of the political and security council, a coordinating body.A separate decree Wednesday said King Salman's son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is in his early 30s, will be deputy crown prince.
He retains his position of defence minister, in which he has recently played a key role in a Saudi-led coalition conducting air strikes on Yemeni rebels. […]
The appointment of bin Nayef, 55, further solidifies control of Salman's Sudairi branch of the royal family. Their influence had waned under Abdullah.
MiddleEastEye
DEBKAfile’s analysts note that Salman’s shakeup breaks with the 65-year old Saudi royal tradition of naming the order of succession according to age and alternating it between the royal family’s rival kinship branches. The reshuffle may therefore encounter disgruntlement or even revolt in some of the princely factions.DEBKAfile
Posted by: jaqwith | Apr 29 2015 11:02 utc | 33
@Posted by: Luca K | Apr 29, 2015 12:28:42 AM | 27
somebody should tell that Syrian Girl, it is not the "Assad regime", rather it is the democratic Syrian Arab Republic.
Posted by: papa | Apr 29 2015 13:13 utc | 34
US-Al Qaeda offensive against Syrian regime
By Patrick Martin
29 April 2015
In a series of battles in which a group linked to Al Qaeda has fought alongside a group armed and backed by the United States, rebel forces have made significant gains against Syrian Army troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, taking control of most of the critical northwestern province of Idlib.
With the fall of city of Jisr al-Shughur Saturday, the remaining government forces in the province are cut off and surrounded, and can only be resupplied by air. Rebel forces captured the provincial capital, the city of Idlib, on March 28, the second of Syria’s 14 provincial capitals to be lost to the Assad regime.
~~~
Syrian government media reported the fall of Jisr al-Shughur Saturday, and a nearby military base at Qarmeed the following day. The government blamed outside powers, including Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United States, with the state news agency SANA saying that its forces were “facing the terrorist groups flowing in huge numbers through the Turkish border.”
~~~
The headline of the McClatchy News Service report on the fall of Jisr al-Shughur left nothing to the imagination: “U.S.-backed rebels team with Islamists to capture strategic Syrian city.”
“The latest rebel victory came surprisingly quickly, apparently aided by US-supplied TOW anti-tank missiles,” McClatchy reported, adding, “accounts of the fighting made clear that US-supplied rebel groups had coordinated to some degree with Nusra, which US officials declared a terrorist organization more than two years ago.”
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/04/29/syri-a29.html
Posted by: okie farmer | Apr 29 2015 14:10 utc | 35
The owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team says that globalization has destroyed the American working class,but Wapo,(the drivers of it)says he's full of hyperbole.Hah.
Holy cow,someone with clout(a little) finally says the truth in America!oy!
And WOW walks the Sunni side of the street,and doesn't realize boiling water will get him too,the frog.
Posted by: dahoit | Apr 29 2015 14:35 utc | 36
My (personal) best article about the FSA and it´s non-existence:
http://radioyaran.com/2014/09/11/the-vetted-moderate-rebels-of-the-free-syrian-army-who-and-where-are-they/
I fully agree with Harry @30 and to a lesser extent [email protected] The resistance axis must do something to change the equation, maybe jfl is correct and some trade blows against the perpetrators and facilitators of this carnage. But surely the axis of resistance can bring into play their own 'bad actors' as it were, how many Saudi and Qatar oil installations and oil pipe lines would need to be destroyed before they got the message? The war on Syria is an existential threat to Iran,Iraq and Lebanon,also to Russia, they cannot afford, nor should they be expected to 'take the punishment'.
Posted by: harry law | Apr 29 2015 15:15 utc | 38
Wayoutwest | Apr 29, 2015 12:52:08 AM | 28
If you are only interested in the facts then help us out here. What is your evidence that the FSA consists of 50.000 mostly Syrian fighters? Numbers like this have been widely reported in the western press but these reports all originate from Saudi backed news outlets in Lebanon or the Syrian Observatory. Independent observers have been reporting for years that the FSA has been nothing more than a shell and the weapons given to it have ended up with Al Nusra. This has been reported in the western press a few times over the last three years.
Posted by: ToivoS | Apr 29 2015 15:39 utc | 39
Former FSA General Idris Tweeted on 27-o3-15 "I made a mistake criticizing Al Nusra's role in Syria. They're now the only party involved that represent aspirations of Syrians with action".
See link Syrian Girl, Luca K @27.
Posted by: harry law | Apr 29 2015 16:00 utc | 40
Good question T and these estimates are just that but the consensus is that they are at least somewhat accurate. This subject is a diversion from my criticism of HW's claims about al-Nusra but I will address it.
Some time ago I read a comment from a Syrian that the FSA was neither Free, Syrian nor an Army and that attitude may have had some merit. Today the FSA appears to be an umbrella organization comprised of eight different Islamist groups that claim to be secular nationalists. One of those groups, the Southern Front is made up of 58 different smaller groups, trying to understand this diversity makes my head ache.
That these groups individually or as a whole ally themselves with al-Nusra, another nationalist group is not news and the fact that some of them share weapons with al-Nusra is clear but that doesn't mean that the Us supports al-Nusra, in fact the US has reduces supplies to these groups because of this leakage.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Apr 29 2015 17:55 utc | 41
Those who support or belong to the Axis of Resistance want to project the idea, for good reasons, that all the various groups they fight are really one large group of foreign or foreign controlled puppets. This meme breaks down if you use their metrics to examine their own various fighting groups. In Syria Hezbollah, the Iraqi Shia militias and the Iranian forces are all foreign to Syria and none are controlled by the Syrians.
Many of the groups in the FSA may be supplied and assisted by the Saudis, Jordanians, Turks and the US but are they loyal to them or are they using them to supply their needs and pursuing their own agendas?
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Apr 29 2015 18:18 utc | 42
Getting caught up in the minutia of these conflicts does make it seem that I am taking sides but I think there are much bigger issues and ideas that I'm really interested in investigating.
However these nationalist/sectarian conflicts are resolved nothing will really change in the ME in its dominance by the West. Iran wants to be part of the Western economic system as does most of the rest of the subjugated ME.
There is only one force and idea that can possibly break this Western dominance and that is the Islamic State and the idea of the Caliphate uniting all of Islam to purge the Imperialist/Capitalist penetration from their lands. This goal requires them to fight not only Shias and the West but also other Sunnis such as the Kurds and others who cling to their oppressors version of modernity and progress.
They have taken on a huge project but they do have a plan and the will to see it through.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Apr 29 2015 18:57 utc | 43
@ WayoutWest
Lol yessss their own agendas, beheading people and eating livers/hearts of dead soldiers.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23190533
Could you please tell me who is in control of FSA ? Last i heard they had no leader. Here is something for your Israeli/Indian mind to try and comprehend. The FSA , Nusra, Daesh, AQ, whatever you would like to call them are alllllllll the same. Only difference in their stupid tribal minds is that one crew controls one area over another, some suck israeli dick alot (nusra), some qatar and turkey (isis) some ksa AQ, but your friends in the FSA are getting bend over and pumped by just about everyone because they are sellouts, who sparked the flame of destroying a once beautiful country.
Have you ever been to Syria ? Before the war to see how beautiful it was ?
Or maybe you would rather go now, to support your cannibal friends, maybe eat a few dead corpses !!! Im sure thats what your supporting right ? A Free Syria Army that can eat as many hearts and livers as you could dream of
Your a sick man Apu, a very sick man
Posted by: Deebo | Apr 29 2015 21:01 utc | 44
Gulf 'politics': the carrot and the stick
After letting the problem of Yemen's adhesion drag to the GCC for years, KSA now tries to conquer the hearts (of an underfed population whiwh is already submitted to a food embargo since the beginning of the strikes) with it.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/128972/World/Region/Yemen-government-to-request-membership-in-GCC-Offi.aspx
Posted by: Mina | Apr 30 2015 8:39 utc | 45
Business as usual in the US / The Twitter account was closed down very recently only after Channel 4 's report on it was known...
http://rt.com/news/254505-isis-recruiter-seattle-girl/
Posted by: Mina | Apr 30 2015 12:02 utc | 47
Israelis' surrogate mothers in Nepal are no laughing matter
Sick, most of the surrogate babies were born to gay men. Over 2,000 IDF members airlifted from Nepal, at a time when aid and resuce was more important, SICK!
Posted by: papa | Apr 30 2015 16:42 utc | 49
There are certainly ethical questions about surrogate mothers from poor countries whether for straights or gays from any wealthy country.
For the sake of accuracy the people airlifted were backpackers/tourists and Israel did send in a 260 person ERT and set up a large field hospital.
Does this make Israel the Good Guys, probably not but it is the facts.
Posted by: Wayoutwest | Apr 30 2015 17:46 utc | 50
@Wow:
In its latest episode of disaster tourism, GoI races to set up its "first impression" relief efforts (first country in, first country out), and, rather than waiting around for some brown woman to name her baby "Israel," evacuates a few dozen surrogate Israeli babies. Mighty white of them.
Posted by: Rusty Pipes | Apr 30 2015 20:29 utc | 51
Probably what is planned for Idlib is the sort of Potemkin Village AQAP is erecting in Al Mukalla, a Yemen port city that Al Qaeda took control of earlier in the month with Saudi help. This from the end of a story today by Kareem Fahim, Yemenis in Desperate Need of Food and Fuel After Weeks of Airstrikes:
One city seemed to be escaping the worst of the crisis: the southern port of Al Mukalla, which has been controlled by the local Qaeda branch since early April.The militants have focused on security, and the city has been administered by a council of residents and tribal leaders under their supervision. Though fuel is in short supply, there have been no lines at bakeries, and the shops are still stocked with food, said Faris bin Hilabi, a local businessman.
Dairy products have been arriving overland from Oman, and other essentials have come from Saudi Arabia, Mr. Hilabi said. The coalition authorities have allowed at least one ship to dock in the port with a load of sugar, and a shipment of wheat from Ukraine is on the way.
Sana has not been as lucky. On Thursday, after workers had repaired the runway at the international airport so flights could resume, the Saudi-led coalition bombed the airport again.
Posted by: Mike Maloney | May 1 2015 15:53 utc | 52
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AmeriKan terrorist proxies are hardly Democrats either.
Assad and his allies should bury these skumbags.
Posted by: farflungstar | Apr 28 2015 17:31 utc | 1