the usa does what it always does… screw the people of yemen so that the special relationship they have with saudi arabia is maintained.. very same play book as gaza and israel… the usa has got to know that supporting countries that don’t give a fuck about human rights or anything other then some whacked out religion – are not the way to go.. but, apparently not.. it is all about weapon sales and other such highly ethical stuff like that..

Posted by: james | Nov 6 2015 17:54 utc | 3

“The Saudis brought in additional mercenaries from Sudan and Eritrea…”
and COLOMBIA:
Some 800 former Colombian military troops will enter the city port of Aden in Yemen, switching the jungle terrain of their home country for the deserts of Arabia. The former Colombian army troops will join a coalition of allied international troops fighting Shiite rebels. They will operate under the service of the UAE Armed Forces, donning a Saudi uniform in defense of the Yemeni government.

Posted by: Maracatu | Nov 6 2015 18:27 utc | 5

As if it wasn’t bad enough, add a full blown cyclone and follow it up with a tropical storm. Hey maybe now some relief efforts might get underway, assuming the blockade has to ease up somewhat, temporarily, for flood relief. Right? Sure hope so.

Posted by: Colinjames | Nov 6 2015 18:35 utc | 7

Indeed, well said as usual. Pity the mainstream media can’t be bothered to cover the real news any more.
I do however suggest that there is one factor that you are missing, and that is the extremely high birth rate of Yemen. Contrary to current big-lie propaganda, when poor people who could maybe support two or three kids instead have six or seven, it does NOT create prosperity. How could it? If you can support two kids and you have six, no, those extra four do not automatically create wealth. First they must be raised to at least early teen years, and even then, significant resources must be invested to develop new resources and build new tools etc. before the extra four can hope to be productive. This is why, absent an open frontier, high-fertility rate societies are ALWAYS poor: on the one hand every resource is tied up in keeping people alive today, on the other hand a rapidly growing population requires massive capital investments just to stay even (remember, it’s not the total number of people, it’s the rate of increase). That’s why, without exception, ALL prosperous societies FIRST lower their fertility rate, and THEN (if everything else goes right) per-capita real wealth can be slowly and steadily increased.
So I propose that Yemen is a ‘tar baby’ – it is a society that will be a miserable overpopulated cesspit no matter what anyone does. Sure outside intervention has been stupid and ham-handed, but without that, Yemen would be exactly the same. Sending food will only feed a population explosion, and you will have even more hungry people to feed down the road. And when there are a lot of hungry desperate people, there WILL be war and violence and corruption etc., you can’t avoid that. The only thing that any outside force will get for becoming involved in Yemen is being blamed for what would have happened anyhow.
As currently constituted, Yemen is a trap. The only sane thing would be to avoid it.
The only thing that would help the Yemenis would be speak truth, and say that if people have more children than they can reasonably afford to support, then they and their families will be miserably poor. Then seal them off and let them make up their own minds about what kind of society they want to live in.

Posted by: TG | Nov 6 2015 19:02 utc | 9

No matter who or what was aboard the Russian plane, the Saudi threats to Russian aeroplanes is a warning to not interfere the Saudi ( and US ) genocidal campaign in Yemen. Also, the threats cannot really be done without US approval. The Saudis are nothing compaird to the Russians militarily, so the threats can only really be backed up by the US military support of the Saudi tyranny.
I don’t know how many people track Aid agencies, but could someone later on relay information of which Aid agency praised this generous act, which is in stark contrast to the US genocidal blockade of Yemen.

Posted by: tom | Nov 6 2015 19:34 utc | 11

@9 TG, the same problem exists for the whole region. It’s vastly overpopulated. Egypt, Yemen, KSA.. Israel.. All are populated far beyond their immediate ability to feed themselves.
The best path for the region is to end the hostilities and implement Negative population growth initiatives, but that’s also what the whole world needs, and there’s absolutely no political will to do so.
The status quo just want to keep BAU until complete, catastrophic failure, which they hope never comes

Posted by: bbbbb | Nov 6 2015 19:55 utc | 13

A bit off topic, or not at all as it all involves the re-drawing of the Middle East, Erdogan, having won the election and gotten rid of other main military man who was resistant to further military entanglement in Syria, will be assisting the West to bog down Russia, unless Russia acts super fast…
TURKEY GOES TO WAR
by Mike Whitney
A landslide victory in Turkey’s November 1 snap elections has removed the last obstacle in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s drive to war. The surprise outcome of the balloting, which was widely denounced as “unfair and marred by fear and violence by international election observers”, has given Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) 49 percent of the vote restoring single-party rule in Ankara. Shortly after the election results were announced, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called on Turkey’s political parties to scrap the existing constitution in order to grant President Erdogan nearly-limitless executive authority.
According to Turkey’s Today’s Zaman Davutoglu said, “I’m calling on all parties entering parliament to form a new civilian national constitution…Let’s work together towards a Turkey where conflict, tension and polarisation are non-existent and everyone salutes each other in peace.”
In other words, the balloting is being used to sabotage democracy and establish the supreme power of the president. Less than 24 hours after Erdogan had regained single-party control of the government, he reiterated Davutoglu’s appeal for expanding presidential powers through a national referendum.
“An issue like the presidential system can’t be decided without the nation,” Erdogan told reporters at the press conference. “If the mechanism requires a referendum, then we will hold a referendum … The executive presidency is not a question of our president’s personal future. He has already entered the history books. The basic motivation is to make the system in Turkey as effective as possible.”
So, according to Erdogan, the dictatorial powers of the president have already been established and the referendum is merely a formality.
Clearly, Erdogan wants to use the referendum to consolidate his power, establish one-man rule and terminate representative government in Turkey. He is a committed Islamist who wants to repeal democracy and create a Islamic regime that extends beyond Turkey’s present borders into Iraq and Syria. This is why he has been such an enthusiastic supporter of the jihadi groups fighting in Syria.
More important, Erdogan intends to use his landslide victory to persuade the Military High Command that he has a popular mandate for his foreign policy, a policy that has amassed thousands of Turkish troops, armored vehicles and tanks on the Syrian border for a possible invasion. Up to now, the military has resisted Erdogan on this matter, but now that Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel, has been replaced as head of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) by the more compliant General Hulusi Akar, the plan to invade Syria and secure a so called “safety zone” along the Syrian side of the Turkish border, becomes much more probable.
The plan to annex sovereign Syrian territory and use it to launch attacks on the government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad dates back to 2012. In 2015, however, the strategy was expanded upon by Brookings analyst Michael E. O’Hanlon in a piece titled “Deconstructing Syria: A new strategy for America’s most hopeless war”. Here’s an excerpt:
“…the only realistic path forward may be a plan that in effect deconstructs Syria….the international community should work to create pockets with more viable security and governance within Syria over time… The idea would be to help moderate elements establish reliable safe zones within Syria once they were able. American, as well as Saudi and Turkish and British and Jordanian and other Arab forces would act in support, not only from the air but eventually on the ground via special forces. … Western forces themselves would remain in more secure positions in general—within the safe zones but back from the front lines—at least until the reliability of such defenses, and also local allied forces, made it practical to deploy and live in more forward locations.”
Creation of these sanctuaries would produce autonomous zones that would never again have to face the prospect of rule by either Assad ….The interim goal might be a confederal Syria, with several highly autonomous zones… The confederation would likely require support from an international peacekeeping force….to make these zones defensible and governable,….and to train and equip more recruits so that the zones could be stabilized and then gradually expanded.” (Deconstructing Syria: A new strategy for America’s most hopeless war, Michael E. O’Hanlon, Brookings Institute)
This is the Obama administration’s basic blueprint for toppling Assad and reducing Syria into an ungovernable failed state run by regional warlords, renegade militias and Islamic extremists. US Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed our worst suspicions about this sinister plan in a speech he delivered to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace just last week. Here’s part of what he said:
“In northern Syria, the coalition and its partners have pushed Daesh (ISIS) out of more than 17,000 square kilometers of territory, and we have secured the Turkish-Syrian border east of the Euphrates River. That’s about 85 percent of the Turkish border, and the President is authorizing further activities to secure the rest…….
We’re also enhancing our air campaign in order to help drive Daesh, which once dominated the Syria-Turkey border, out of the last 70-mile stretch that it controls.” (U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the Future of U.S. Policy in the Middle East, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
Repeat: “That’s about 85 percent of the Turkish border, and the President is authorizing further activities to secure the rest.”
Why has Obama “authorized further activities to secure the rest”?
Because no one in Washington believes that the US-backed jihadis will beat the combined forces of the Russian-led coalition which is gradually annihilating the terrorist militias across Syria. So now, Obama is moving on to Plan B, the creation of a terrorist sanctuary on the Syrian side of the Syrian-Turkish border where the US and its partners can continue to arm, train and deploy their jihadi maniacs back into Syria whenever they choose to do so. Undoubtedly, Obama’s Special Forces will be used to oversee this operation and to make sure that everything goes according to plan.
There is, of course, a question about the Kurdish militias role in this strategy. Recently, the US has air-dropped pallet-loads of weapons and ammo to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) hoping the group could help the US secure the last stretch of land along the border west of the Euphrates thus keeping vital supplylines open for the jihadis while establishing a safe haven on Syrian territory. Erdogan violently opposes any operation that will create a contiguous Kurdish state on the Syrian side of the border.
So how will this situation be resolved? Will Obama stick with the Kurds or realign with Erdogan in exchange for Turkish boots on the ground?
No one knows just yet, but certainly a Turkish-US alliance would be more formidable than a PYD-US coalition. Judging by Washington’s long history of choosing the most expedient solution to achieve its policy goals, we expect Obama to align himself with Ankara.
It’s worth noting that the Turkish parliament already “approved a possible deployment of Turkish ground forces in Syria and opened the door to basing foreign troops in Turkey” back in October 2014. Using the pretext of “fighting terrorism” as an excuse for invasion, Erdogan said, “We are open and ready for any kind of cooperation…However, Turkey is not a country that will allow itself to be used for temporary solutions… The immediate removal of the administration in Damascus, Syria’s territorial unity and the installation of an administration which embraces all will continue to be our priority.”
In other words, Erdogan will not provide ground troops unless the US says it is committed to regime change.
Erdogan has been the strongest proponent of “safe zones”, an idea that would require US warplanes to patrol the skies over Northern Syria with small groups of US troops on the ground. The plan greatly increases the probability of an unexpected clash with Russian warplanes that could lead to a direct confrontation between the two nuclear-armed adversaries.
Now check out this article that appeared in the UK Telegraph in June 2015, that was clearly premature in its prediction. The piece is titled “Turkey ‘planning to invade Syria’”:
“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has authorised a change in the rules of engagement agreed by the Turkish parliament to allow the army to strike at Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), as well as the Assad regime, according to local newspapers. The aim is to establish a buffer zone for refugees and against Isil…
Turkey has urged the creation of a buffer zone protected by international forces in the north of Syria ever since the civil war sent hundreds of thousands of refugees across the border…
Turkish media were briefed on new orders being given to the military to prepare to send an 18,000-strong force across the border…The troops would seize a stretch of territory 60 miles long by 20 deep, including the border crossings of Jarablus, currently in Isil hands, and Aazaz, currently controlled by the Free Syrian Army (FSA)…(Turkey ‘planning to invade Syria, Telegraph)
Readers will notice the striking similarity between Erdogan’s plan and the Brookings strategy. Washington and Ankara seem to share the same view of how Syria should be carved up following the prospective invasion. That said, it would be surprising if Erdogan and Obama are not able to iron-out their differences and settle on a way to achieve their common objective.
Erdogan has put considerable effort into removing the obstacles preventing him from launching an invasion on Syria. He’s gotten the greenlight from Parliament to deploy the army if he feels there is a threat to Turkey’s national security. He’s effectively “internationalized” the conflict by allowing the US, UK and French warplanes to fly out of Incirlik. (which will absolve Erdogan and his minions from future legal accountability or war crimes.) And, finally, the elections provided Erdogan with the mandate he needed to convince the military that his foreign policy has the full-backing of the Turkish people. So now that he has his ducks in a row, the only question is whether he will actually launch the invasion or not?
On Wednesday, Turkish foreign minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu confirmed that Erdogan is planning to invade Syria under the pretext of “fighting terrorism”. Here’s an excerpt from an article in the Daily Sabah:
“Turkey has plans to launch a military operation against ISIS in the near future, the Turkish foreign minister said on Wednesday. Feridun Sinirlioğlu was at a conference on the future of Middle East, held in Erbil in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region.
“Daesh [ISIS] threatens our way of life and security. […] We have plans to act militarily against them in the coming days. You will see. We should all stand together against this danger,” he said…
“We will continue our efforts to eliminate all terrorist organizations. We will act in a responsible manner so that the Kurdish region and Iraq can be successful in the fight against terror. This is a very clear message to Iraq and the Kurdish region for a bright future,” he said.” (Turkey in plans to launch military operation against ISIS, foreign minister says, Daily Sabah)
Naturally, none of this has anything to do with fighting terrorism, in fact, Erdogan has been the terrorists best friend allowing them to pass back and forth across the border unimpeded. What Sinirlioğlu’s announcement means is that Turkey is finally ready to seize the 60 mile stretch of land referred to in the Telegraph article. As of this writing, we don’t know what the White House’s reaction to this Sinirlioğlu’s announcement will be, but we do know that Obama is scheduled to meet with Erdogan in Ankara in less than two weeks. By then, the administration will have decided whether they will stick with the Kurds or cast their lot with Erdogan. Either way, there’s going to be an attempt to create a safe zone from which Washington can continue to prosecute its war on Assad. That much is certain.
These developments suggest that Putin will have to move fast if he wants to seal the border and derail Erdogan’s plan. The Russian president might have to deploy Russian Special Forces and armored divisions northward to discourage US-Turkey adventurism and to prevent the war from turning into a quagmire.
This is one situation where preemption could really pay off big time.

Posted by: Susette | Nov 6 2015 20:36 utc | 15

The United States spent the better part of 2 years — iirc — publicly demanding that no one send arms to Syria — as the Jihadi Saudi friends continuously supplied and resupplied … bankrolling the (not moderate) opposition or rebel forces — we don’t control them and as far as I can tell we can’t control them (they’re an all-grownup sovereign state) and I believe they are operating with blessing of the other gulf state nations, who also hate Iran and have deep pockets — even if the Saudis — oh happy day — are projected to go broke in 5 years — https://www.quora.com/Will-Saudi-Arabia-go-bankrupt — however much of that “going broke” talk is predicated on very very low oil prices (that hurt all oil producers — Iraq, Iran, the USA shale industry and Russia to name a few) …
Are they oblivious enough or stupid enough to let that happen? Not “impossible” but I’m guessing that’s doubtful

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Nov 6 2015 20:53 utc | 17

oh, wrt crazy low oil prices used to punish Russia — the thought of what happens to “First World” economic recovery when those prices hit “more realistic” or previously “normal” levels should give everyone pause …
As was mentioned wrt Iraqi oil — before and after invasion — among the things sanctions accomplished was to increase dependence on Saudi / Gulf states and maintain prices based on supply — which which gave Venezuela and Russia an income boost — it also kept all that oil in the ground to be pumped later at whatever market price prevailed and by whomever won those rights … between sanctions and a crippled oil infrastructure, Iraqi oil was largely off-line for nearly 20 years.
Saudi oil underground is still considerable … Oil in Yemen and Syria is not .. it’s not a “resource management problem” — I’ve read Yemen’s oil — like its water — is simply running out … water may or may not replenish itself underground or be made available via desalinization (bloody expensive and nuclear) —
the oil is simply about to be all gone and what is being pumped is not making the money it might have made before the Saudi’s low-price gambit.
Again, the Saudi low prices have been presented as “with our blessing” to economically hobble or punish Russia and Iran (though crippling Iraqi reconstruction and the shale industry are rarely mentioned in this regard) — whatever — the USA will be the among those potentially devastated when they raise prices — to be redundant — raising oil prices is a whip they can very effectively crack in our direction …

Posted by: Susan Sunflower | Nov 6 2015 21:23 utc | 19

TG @ 9,
You have perfectly repeated the arguments of oligarchs everywhere in their attack upon population growth. People are the source of wealth, not a draw upon it. This is because people produce more than is necessary to support their own lives. Eg: In addition to supporting themselves, the people of the US are supporting the 1% so well that they own 50% of all the wealth. Your statement that nations become wealthy by first decreasing their birth-rate is contrary to historical fact: when populations achieve a comfortable standard of living they universally choose to have fewer children. US and Germany, absent immigration, have negative population growth. The idea that human beings are a pestilence is being promulgated by the oligarchs who are forming a global control structure. Thus their think-tanks and owned media churn out hoaxes like peak oil, resource depletion, inescapable water scarcity, global warming, and all the rest of it.
Poor people are poor because of war and because of local and international theft of their land and resources. Even a nation w NO natural resources can do well– like Japan. And the proof of this is that the Japanese are supporting a tremendous burden of fees and offshorization of profits by the US, together w repeated economic intervention by the US which is designed to prevent Japan’s financial success. Japan has negative population growth and a falling standard of living. Can you imagine how prosperous they wd be if just 1 of the 3 burdens I’ve mentioned were lifted?
Wherever there are people there are desires to be supplied and labor willing to supply them. The most important factor of all in preventing these two from meshing is control of the monetary system by oligarchs, as in the US and most of the world.

Posted by: Penelope | Nov 6 2015 21:38 utc | 21

More on plane crash….
Sorry, b and all, if this is OT, but I think we must look at this very seriously.
At the article “Suspicions about the Russian Plane Crash”, found at bollyn.com (find it down on the list on the front page), he has a graph of information from flightradar24. Airspeed, ground speed and vertical speeds.
Pilots, let me ask you……..
HOW DOES A ‘BOMB’ MAKE A PLANE DO THAT??!!
Is talk of a bomb just a convenient cover story? Like the gun found next to the body of an unfortunate run in with the police?
Thanks….

Posted by: kafkananda | Nov 6 2015 22:01 utc | 23

@15 Susette.. would be nice if you just left a link, as opposed to copying and pasting the whole article..
@16 chaos. i think many here do understand usa’s support for any country is not unconditional, saudi arabia included. regarding your last paragraph – that might have been us-isreals intent all along for all we know.. regardless, it is war, war and more meaningless war for control of the chess board, not to mention the weapon sales that go hand and hand with it.
interesting OT conversation triggered here by TG’s comments @9.. fascinating to read how some of the posters here respond to TG’s comments.. might comment on it on the off topic thread.

Posted by: james | Nov 6 2015 23:49 utc | 25

what would walmart want?

Posted by: james | Nov 7 2015 0:49 utc | 27

@okie farmer@10
Sound of explosion heard on Russian plane’s black box: French TV
Russians are still not saying anything official about a bomb, at least to my knowledge, the investigation continues. If in fact it was a bomb, that was not f…ing IS, that was a CIA/Mossad/MI6 operation, period.
FY Charlie Hebdo. Hopefully next time Charlie Hebdo gets shot at, they will leave not one alive. They are human trash.

Posted by: Lone Wolf | Nov 7 2015 1:18 utc | 29

Erdogan is counting on the Kurds from Iraq to fight ISIS and isolate the PKK and the YPG.
What he dreads is that if the KRG is on the brink of a political crisis, he may loose his good friend Barzani. Barzani has refused to leave his job that his term is over and there are internal fights that could turn sour. If Barzani is replaced, Erdogan risks loosing business, cheap oil deals and the peshmergas.
http://carnegie-mec.org/2015/10/28/kurdistan-s-democracy-on-brink/iklv

Posted by: Virgile | Nov 7 2015 1:39 utc | 31

30
Khat has a social function sim to American infatuation with Starbucks. It has nothing to do with the agriculture. Khat grows as a weed. In case you haven’t noticed Yemen has little rainfall, therefore no seed collection, no watermen irrigation culture, no farm distribution industry, no fertilizer production.
Isolated smallholding, poor dirt-scrabble indigents. Khat, coffee and goats.
You might as well bang your gums about the moon not being blue-cheese enough.

Posted by: Chipnik | Nov 7 2015 2:49 utc | 33

@32 “The Israelis are again attacking SAA and Hezbollah positions in southern Syria with airstrikes”
Can you give a link for that? Bet you can’t.

Posted by: guest77 | Nov 7 2015 3:35 utc | 35

That’s Syrian civilians

Posted by: tom | Nov 7 2015 4:26 utc | 37

off topic – did the Americans kill Lesin in a Washington DC hotel room?

Posted by: Mischi | Nov 7 2015 6:00 utc | 39

@1 Virgile – You’re kidding, aren’t you? The Saudis are in Yemen because the US wants them there.
@7 Colinjames – The UN is the glove on the USA/KSA fist … nothing worth the UN’s attention is happening in Yemen.
@9 TG – You are about as cold as they come.
@29 LW – I certainly agree with you on Charlie Hebdo.
I wonder if, after their treatment at the hands of the Saudis – along every dimension – the Russians aren’t thinking about taking out some of that Saudi overproduction?
Definitely raise the price of oil. Give the Saudis something to focus on other than the genocide of their poorest neighbors, too.
And might change the Saudi attitude toward Russia as well. If not … rinse and repeat.

Posted by: jfl | Nov 7 2015 6:16 utc | 41

#6Pokethetruth
Oman is boarding Eastern Yemen. 100% Sunnite. Family/Jobs relations with KSA for decades (since the day the Wahhabis came and destroyed their cultural heritage which they thought was full of bigotry and pilgrimages and magic).
The KSA coalition of mercenaries is specially interested in attacking the Houthis, and more widely the Shiites, whose regions are and have been Northern Yemen and a bit in central Yemen. The fights in Saada between the Saudis and the Zaydi Shiite has been going on for decades, with the Saudis always trying to push their border a little bit deeper into Yemen (as they did with the annexation of Asir region).

Posted by: Mina | Nov 7 2015 8:52 utc | 43

re 33.

It has nothing to do with the agriculture. Khat grows as a weed.

No, indeed. Qat needs to be cultivated, and consumes a lot of water.
Yes, of course, it was the major crop. However, I have a slight idea that if the import of food is prevented by the blockade, Yemenis might just turn to cultivating food rather than Qat. That’s what happened in Iraq at any rate, after the imposition of sanctions, though in their case it wasn’t an issue of qat.

Posted by: Laguerre | Nov 7 2015 9:40 utc | 45

Posted by: TG | Nov 6, 2015 2:02:17 PM | 9
Your “facts” are wrong.
The number of kids is determined by
– the educational, job level of women
– religion
– insurance
Mormons in the US have a birth rate of 3,4
In a poor society kids are the only insurance there is, in an agricultural society they are simply a cheap work force. So industrialization, education, wealth, come first, the decrease of the birth rate follows – if it is not determined by religion.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 7 2015 13:20 utc | 47

Circe@44
Interesting points and allusions but the Russia/Israel alliance seems strong even with differences over Syria so long as Israel is free to address Hezbollah rocket threats there doesn’t seem to be any real conflict.
The Islamic State is not an external or PR threat yet, like Hezbollah but their Idea of the Caliphate and Muslim unity in the ME makes them a growing internal threat among the young and large Palestinian population.

Posted by: Wayoutwest | Nov 7 2015 16:27 utc | 49

A twitter account which seem to follow closely what’s going on in Yemen and Syria AJSB (FWIW, no guarantees…)

Posted by: acrimonious | Nov 8 2015 12:27 utc | 51

RUSSIA HAS UN MANDATE TO DESTROY THESE TERRORIST!
These mountains are the site of the 2013 Latakia massacres. ISIS terrorist took control of the border areas and border posts on the Turkish side and stormed into Alawite and Armenian villages in Syria, massacring hundreds and hundreds of civilians.
On this video you see ISIS commander Katibat il Muhajiroon (screenshot), of the Muhajireen Brigade giving an interview to Al Jazeera TV in front of his soon to be raped and murdered captives. Hundreds of Alawite women and children were taken prisoner. Some of the children were later released, The women were sold off as sex slaves or killed if deemed too old. Most have likely died by now.
Note the ISIS flag in the background. In August 2013 ISIS (ISIL), al-Nusra Front, and al-Qaeda were different names for the same organization. Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar was earlier affiliated with ISIL but has now pledged allegiance to the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaish_al-Muhajireen_wal-Ansar
There are other U.S. sponsored terrorist groups operating in northern Latakia and the Idlib Governorate. Their role is mainly to operate as anti-tank teams for al-Nusra led armies. The areas on both sides of the border are de-facto controlled by the al-Nusra front. It is impossible for anyone to enter without al-Nusra approval. A Pentagon-trained group sent to fight ISIL tied in August, but they were killed, captured of disarmed by al-Nusra.
Turkey has been arming and supporting these terrorist for 4 years. Russia is now fighting them, after being invited to do so by the internationally recognized Syrian government. As of November 20, 2015 it also has a UN Security Council mandate to do so: The Security Council “Calls upon Member States that have the capacity to do so to take all necessary measures…”
Turkish F-16 jets shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber preforming this mission. Turkey claims the plain had momentarily crossed into Turkish territory. Maybe. This border territory is however NOT under Turkish control, but is ruled by al-Nusra and affiliates. If Turkey wants to prove otherwise, it better organize a guided tour for the international press.
SOURCES on the Latakia massacres:
http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Latakia_Massacres
http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Talk:Latakia_Massacres
http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2015/11/latakia-massacres-august-2013.html
http://libyancivilwar.blogspot.com/2015/11/fsa-isis-teamwork-in-latakia-massacres.html
https://urs1798.wordpress.com/2013/09/04/gerechtigkeit-fur-einen-ehrwurdigen-alten-mann-badr-ghazal-ermordet-von-nato-erdowans-al-kaidas-syria-salma/
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2013/10/10/you-can-still-see-their-blood

Posted by: Petri Krohn | Nov 24 2015 17:18 utc | 53