Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
March 25, 2016

Roundup Of Current News On Syria

In January the Jordan King Abdullah talked to a bunch of U.S. lawmakers behind closed doors. He accused Turkey of willfully transferring "refugees" and terrorists to Europe and of doing oil business with ISIS.

Those well founded accusations is not new for anyone who actually followed the issue. What is new is that some U.S. lawmaker felt a need to leak this now:

King Abdullah of Jordan accused Turkey of exporting terrorists to Europe at a top level meeting with senior US politicians in January, the MEE can reveal.

The king said Europe’s biggest refugee crisis was not an accident, and neither was the presence of terrorists among them: “The fact that terrorists are going to Europe is part of Turkish policy and Turkey keeps on getting a slap on the hand, but they are let off the hook.”

Asked by one of the congressmen present whether the Islamic State group was exporting oil to Turkey, Abdullah replied: ”Absolutely.”
...
The king presented Turkey as part of a strategic challenge to the world.

"We keep being forced to tackle tactical problems against ISIL but not the strategic issue. We forget the issue [of] the Turks who are not with us on this strategically."

He claimed that Turkey had not only supported religious groups in Syria, and letting foreign fighters in, but had also been helping Islamist militias in Libya and Somalia.

Abdullah claimed that "radicalisation was being manufactured in Turkey" and asked the US senators why the Turks were training the Somali army.

That Turkey is supporting Jihadis not only in Syria but also in Libya and in the Balkans has been documented but was missing from main stream news. We can hope that some of the bigger media will now pick up on this.

In Syria the Syrian Arab Army is proceeding to envelope the Islamic State held city of Tadmur/Palmyra. It is systematically taking the heights around the city but has not yet brought the fighting deeper into the city. The Islamic State fighters have defended well so far but have no means to counter the heavy Syrian and Russian air strikes that support the ground troops. They are losing a lot of men. There are strong sandstorms announced for the next 72 hour which will make further air support impossible. The Syrian troops would be well advised to hunker down along defensible lines for now and to only take on the city once the sandstorms are over and air support is again available.

In south-west Syria, right next to the Israeli and Jordan border, Shuhada al-Yarmouk is fighting and making gains (map) against U.S. supported insurgents. Shuhada al-Yarmouk is believed to be part of the Islamic State. It has never officially announced such but is led by a known Islamic State commander. One wonders how the group, completely cut off from other Islamic State held areas in east-Syria, can resupply and take care of its wounded. In the past Israel had supported and supplied Jabhat al-Nusra fighters on the Golan heights against the Syrian army. Is it now supporting the Islamic State against U.S. supported insurgents in south Syria?

The talks between Secretary of State Kerry and The Russian President and Foreign Minister have brought no immediate new results. But it is important to see that the U.S. now has to admit that its attempt to "isolate" Russia has failed:

His mission in Moscow centred on Syria, but Kerry also ushered in a warm front, interpreted as a softening of the often-hostile rhetoric between the U.S. and Russia.

Both parties confirmed the UN timetable for steps to be taken by the Syrian government and the opposition. The Russians again emphasized that the Kurdish people in Syria must be involved in the talks. At the same time they warned the Syrian Kurds that any element of autonomy or federation will likely be much less than they envision:

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Moscow is explaining in its contacts with Kurds that Syria is an indivisible country that should not be broken into parts, Russia's presidential envoy on the Middle East and North Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told reporters on Friday.

One should ignore all the claims that Russia wants to federalize Syria. I see no evidence for that and I believe that Russia knows well that any federalization would be more troublesome than a centralized Syrian state.

Posted by b on March 25, 2016 at 17:00 UTC | Permalink

Comments

Guess the powers that be now feel the need to dump their favorite Sultan Caliph Erdogan under the bus... Intresting times.

Posted by: Zico | Mar 25 2016 17:29 utc | 1

Jordan is up to its neck in providing training grounds for the carefully vetted moderates at JATSOC, with the training probably performed by off-the-books UK and other special forces.

This is part of the whitewashing of the West's connections with ISIS. Turkey is the designated fall-guy.

What is the difference between Turkey and the other ISIS creators/enablers/exploiters? It is the same as the difference between terorists and 'moderate' terrorists.

Posted by: Yonatan | Mar 25 2016 17:53 utc | 2

So, it would be interesting to know who is giving King Abdullah his monthly allowance so that he can take his annual summer trip tothe Côte d'Azur. His dad used to work both for the CIA and the Israeli Govt when he was the Haschemite King .

Posted by: Yul | Mar 25 2016 18:00 utc | 3

The purpose of the ISIS forces placed close to the Irael occupied Golan Heights is to 'reserve' this resource-rich area (oil/gas, agricultural land) for further expansion by Israel.

ISIS has never been a threat to Israel. One Israeli leader (name forgotten) stated that Israel preferred ISIS to Assad. It has been deliberately created as a larger-than-life boogieman which at the right time can be declared a threat to Israel's national security. Israel would then use that self-created ISIS threat to justify expansion into the area held by ISIS, conveniently grabbing all the goodies as a result. The ISIS forces will either disappear into Sria/Jordan/Israel as appropriate or be eliminated by Israel. I suspect the latter as dead men tell no tales.

Posted by: Yonatan | Mar 25 2016 18:02 utc | 4

re 3

it would be interesting to know who is giving King Abdullah his monthly allowance so that he can take his annual summer trip tothe Côte d'Azur.
Wrong King Abdullah - that was the Saudi one who went to the Côte d'Azur. The Jordanian one prefers the Pacific Coast Highway on his motorbike.

Posted by: Laguerre | Mar 25 2016 18:33 utc | 5

Of course " Russia" has contempt for Kurds human rights, just like they do for the Chechnyans, and Ukranians when their corrupt puppet was in charge. Or even with Russia being complicit in the war crimespree of the US slaughter of the invasion of Afghanistinians in 2001.
But fanboy prefer silent slaughter over their dispicable bias.

Posted by: tom | Mar 25 2016 18:46 utc | 6

Yep. Scapegoating, and now actively covering the tracks, with the purported US assassination of the "Finance Minister" of ISIS, who (of course)goes by several different names.

This sht will only stop when the wretched of the earth come to realize what a death sentence dealing with the CIA is. A few more public betrayals should do the trick, imo. They've already had to resort to drugging in order to manage recruits.

Posted by: L Bean | Mar 25 2016 18:48 utc | 7

Jeez - has King Playstation finally switched off his console?

Posted by: blowback | Mar 25 2016 18:48 utc | 8

Congratulations to SAA/Hezbollah/IRGC/RuAf on the liberation of Palmyra!!

Posted by: frin | Mar 25 2016 18:49 utc | 9

Gotta say I am very impressed with Tiger Forces and esp. Col Hassan. That man has made incredible progress from the time of the Jisr hospital defeat last year. Russians rewarded him with medals which he deserves, he is a tactical professional. The retooling and retraining of his unit by Russia has paid rich dividends. Look to Tiger Forces to push all the way through Raqqa to the Iragi border.

Posted by: frin | Mar 25 2016 18:53 utc | 10

@ 5

Check your facts - this Abdullah and his Palestinian wife love Cote d'Azur so that she can mix with the likes of U2 Philantropist who is always after OPM for his so-called charities - not his millions, Sarkozy and his model/singer wife for private lunches

Posted by: Yul | Mar 25 2016 19:04 utc | 11

Most media have stopped referring to the Syrian Army as "Assad's forces" because if they do so they would recognize by name that Bashar al Assad is the one who gets the credit for the victories over ISIS.
Yet Bashar al Assad is the commander of chief of the Syrian Arab Army and with the victories the soldiers have achieved against ISIS, the idea of removing him from power is totally ridiculous.
By relentless leading and winning the fight against ISIS, not only Bashar al Assad's legitimacy has been restored but he and the Syrian army are now heroes not only for Syrians but for the international community powerless in front of ISIS.

Posted by: virgile | Mar 25 2016 19:12 utc | 12

The airport has been retaken by the SAA, as has the ornate summer palace of the Qatari Royal family situated in the hills overlooking the city. Tropops in Deir ez ZOr are also forcing their way west on the road to Palmyra. Palmyra will be back in SAA hands i a day or so, then a similar rush towards Deir ez Zor.

The Qatari palace was used as ISIS hq. I hope the SAA MI find loads of juicy info once it has been cleared of takfiris.

http://syrianperspective.com/2016/03/syrian-army-conquers-palmyras-citadel-and-the-syriatel-tower-onwards-to-the-heart-of-palmyra.html

Posted by: Yonatan | Mar 25 2016 19:41 utc | 13

@13 Yonatan

The Qataris gave ISIS the keys?

Posted by: jfl | Mar 25 2016 19:48 utc | 14

thanks for this post b..

turkey is increasingly in the hot seat... why isn't the cult of wahabbi with those freaks from the gcc's increasingly in the hot seat? because it serves israel and usa geo political agenda.. that's my answer for the moment.

why just yesterday the usa state dept. spokesperson toner was saying it is a tough choice which is worse - isis or assad.. how is that for made in the usa propaganda? how can anyone see the usa say the usa is a straight player in any of this? israel is more of the same.. it is still the ongoing 'regime change' game for these losers..

yonatan.. thanks for your posts to which i agree with - @4 in particular.

Posted by: james | Mar 25 2016 19:57 utc | 15

One wonders how the group, completely cut off from other Islamic State held areas in east-Syria, can resupply and take care of its wounded

our ghost army has recourse. even through sandstorms, even via satellites.

Posted by: john | Mar 25 2016 21:28 utc | 16

Fine, the blame game goes on!
Wake me when King Playstation stops feeding the moderates in his training camps.

Posted by: slirs | Mar 25 2016 23:06 utc | 17

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://limonov-eduard.livejournal.com/&prev=search">http://limonov-eduard.livejournal.com/&prev=search">https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://limonov-eduard.livejournal.com/&prev=search

good suggestion from national bolshevik Limonov.
trade Uke pilot for Serbian hero Karadzic.

Posted by: truthbetold | Mar 26 2016 0:29 utc | 18

Strangely, the Thanksgiving turkey was named after the nation/state of Turkey. Turkey is getting screwed now - a useful patsy. Made a deal with the devil.

Posted by: fast freddy | Mar 26 2016 1:39 utc | 19

What's interesting is that the Syrian Arab Army is being mentioned by name. This hasn't happened in 5 years. That it's happening now suggests a real policy shift.

Posted by: Secret Agent | Mar 26 2016 3:43 utc | 20

you can add that Erdogan last week on the day on Ankara's bombing sai d"it could have happened in Brussels" and expelled twice one of Brussels' suicide bombers twice last summer without actually saying why/where the guy had been caught (Syrian border)

Posted by: Mina | Mar 26 2016 5:00 utc | 21

Great article b

It seems that the Turkish are taking on the role Pakistan was playing for The US(at least up until the year 2005) when it comes to terrorism.We keep focusing on Syria with good reason but We forget that terrorism is also a tool used by governments and secret services to foster and implement non acceptable domestic policies they otherwise couldn't do.Terrorism serves abroad and at home.For those of you that would be skeptical about this the following article https://theintercept.com/2015/03/16/howthefbicreatedaterrorist/ and pdf https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/usterrorism0714_ForUpload_1_0.pdf will convince you not to.In fact it might well be that some of the western European countries knew about what the Jordanian king is talking above.They might have even,through their shady secret services, participate in it.We shouldn't be foolish.Turkey is a NATO country and it s not in its interest to piss off its western partners.So there is little chance that turkey manufactured the refugee crisis alone without any foreign western' silent consent and/or involvement.In societies with great economic and identity crisis like ours(that refuse to rightly solve their problems and prefer to go on the same mistake)terrorism is the perfect tool to strengthen the grip of the government over the people, to gag ,to prevent and to ultimately silence any discording voice and legitimate act of dissent. Beside a now unlikely global war and some attempts at dividing societies along ethnic and cultural lines, Terrorism is the best tool a flawed and now destructive Capitalism has to maintain its own existence.

Posted by: lebretteurfredonnant | Mar 26 2016 8:08 utc | 22

@ lebretteurfredonnant | Mar 26, 2016 4:08:23 AM | 22

Just to clarify a bit, the 'sparks of OTAN (NATO) and Brussels (EUCommission)' have publicly announced the 'need' for an European FBI to effectively counter 'terrorism threats'. Announced from NATO headquarters one wonders if a militarised continent-wide FBI might be such a good thing, the original having not the most sterling of reputations once political objectives are involved as they surely will be. Turkey itself may be a 'bridge too far' once what Greece has experienced becomes widely known in the European public mind. Likely such a development will further widen the becoming unbridgeable chasm developing between EU governance and the EU public. Living in interesting times applies whatever happens. [information gathered from talking heads at RT coverage - Brussels attacks and aftermath].

Posted by: Formerly T-Bear | Mar 26 2016 11:50 utc | 23

When one of truth's hidden layers is revealed, an erstwhile useful assistant becomes the convenient patsy.

Every heart beats true for the red white and blue.

Posted by: fast freddy | Mar 26 2016 12:19 utc | 24

Syria is secular and has not done a thing to the American people, but the Israel & their Saudi friends who control our puppets in congress and the lying media, want secular Syria destroyed to advance their plans for WWIII with Iran. Secular Lebanon is next on their list
Syria, Hezbollah, Iran, & Russia have exterminated more "radical Islamists" in the last year, than the US/NATO has in over a decade after 9/11 and their bogus "War On Terror"
Get US out of NATO, who have in Yugoslavia, & Libya, supported the "radical Islamists" (Snicker)

Posted by: Daniel Shays | Mar 26 2016 12:37 utc | 25

fast freddy, you ever read Seymour Hersh's exposures of the fake chemical weapons attack that Turkey in collaboration with Israel's Al-Nusra Front terrorist friends did and tried to blame on Syria? Pt 1 "Whose Sarin?" http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n24/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin
Pt 2 "The Red Line And The Rat Line" http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line

Posted by: Daniel Shays | Mar 26 2016 12:43 utc | 26

@yonatan post #4 the Israeli politician who made the startling statement of Israel preferring the same terrorist organization "Al-Qaeda" that we were told did 9/11, over the secular government of Syria, who the large Christian population of secular Syria (and almost all Syrians
like was Netanyahu friend who was the Israeli ambassador to the US at the time Michael Oren, who now is a Knesset member http://warincontext.org/2013/09/17/israel-prefers-al-qaeda-rather-than-assad/ Keep in mind the chemical weapons attack they are talking about in the article was exposed by Seymour Hersh and others as done by the terrorists that the US, EU, Israel & Co are backing. I believe he had to step down after he revealed that truth

Posted by: Daniel Shays | Mar 26 2016 13:00 utc | 27

Government forces? What happened to the 'regime'?

Syrian government forces have advanced into Palmyra on several fronts backed by air strikes and artillery, a monitoring group has said.


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35903375

Posted by: dh | Mar 26 2016 13:12 utc | 28

6;Take your hell bitch fan boy crap and shove it.
She is the most vacuous,bubbleheaded pos since Bliar.

Posted by: dahoit | Mar 26 2016 14:52 utc | 29

I saw somewhere(AW?Angry Arab?)a story of collusion by Abdullah of Jordan and Mossad re Syria.
Whackamole continues,as US kills money man for IsUS.Dead men tell no tales?They at first said they tried to capture him,but then blew up his car.He probably said I'll spill all!

Posted by: dahoit | Mar 26 2016 14:57 utc | 30

One should ignore all the claims that Russia wants to federalize Syria. b.

Kerry, Lavrov (and Tefft, and Putin) also discussed Ukraine. They agreed the only way forward was implementation of Minsk II. Which means the frozen conflict there will persist in its present form. As Kiev will not accept any kind of ‘federalization’ or ‘autonomy’ and the DPR+LPR won’t accept a ‘return to Kiev.’

In this case, ‘federalization’ has failed and can’t ever be accomplished.

‘Federalization’ looks good at first blush as a compromise between super-powers (you get a functioning state, we get some kind of division) but it can’t be created with the stroke of a pen or at the drop of a hat. Those are just illusions - ppl sitting in ugly rooms bitterly haggling over resources. It also sounds good to ‘ethnicists’ - own ppl = own country, region, state. Along that reasoning, the US should have States that are ‘Black’, and like yesterday.

I’m sure that Staffan di Mistura knows that the majority of Syrians don’t want such confusions. (I’m not saying he is an honest broker or that he would not bend a little..) Any concessions on this point (as Putin clearly understands) will simply lead to more war. Unwanted ‘federalization’ takes an occupying army to enforce.

A new constitution (along ‘fed’ lines), written by the PTB outside the country cannot succeed. Minsk II demonstrates that separatists cannot be dragged in. In Syria, the picture is the exact opposite.

Posted by: Noirette | Mar 26 2016 15:49 utc | 31

Ash Carter has to know what is going on, when will his neck be on the line for lying to congress?? As well as the Clinton State Dept policy makers?

Posted by: shadyl | Mar 26 2016 16:26 utc | 32

Penelope (OT I know but this is a comment in reply to the previous open thread discussion on CO2 warming, since it isn't that long I've copied it),

Here's my simplistic explanation for the cooling of the stratosphere(and acceptance) that increasing CO2 causes warming.

CO2 in the atmosphere makes it more opaque to the infrared radiation from the surface, and any photons emitted in the atmosphere. The photons travel a shorter distance before they are absorbed. But more photons are emitted as well. The atmosphere becomes a better conductor of heat, not worse. The better conductor of heat feels colder steels feels colder than a blanket, therefore the "greenhouse" effect is a complete misnomer and wrong analogy to use to explain the warming effect. The CO2 does not act like a blanket, heat is transmitted through the atmosphere faster not slower.

The effective radiation surface of the atmosphere is where a photon emitted towards space does not encounter another CO2 atom (or one of the other infrared emitting/absorbing atoms) and disappears forever. Because the average distance traveled by a photon REDUCES with increased CO2 the effective radiation surface of the atmosphere is higher therefore stratosphere cools because that's now the layer from which heat from the Earth is radiated out to space (whereas it wasn't previously).

Temperature decreases with altitude, the lapse rate, if the effective radiation surface of the atmosphere is at altitude X and if this altitude is increased after the addition of CO2, then the temperature at altitude X is going to be more because this is no longer the point at which the atmosphere is cooled by loss of photons into free space. Take the lapse rate from altitude X back to the surface and you have the increase of temperature at the surface.

I've always thought that this could be directly measured by satellite for a cold clear still night for say the middle of the Australian outback (but obviously the measurement would have to have been done 20 years ago and repeated today). Anyway that's my explanation that I came up with a few years ago.

Posted by: Nobody | Mar 26 2016 16:28 utc | 33

With regards to the Syrian people's view on "federalization" here is a video-OpEd from a Syrian:

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/oped-plans-balkanise-syria-video/

There are some very valid points such as: resources aren't evenly distributed over the country, the small "sectarian states" would not have a means to support the population, etc.

Posted by: Dean | Mar 26 2016 16:59 utc | 34

A federal system is not a necessity.
There are enough Sunnis officials as well as Christians, Druzes and Kurds that would support the continuation of the ruling by Bashar al Assad who has fought to keep Syria non-sectarian.
Therefore a federal system is not a necessity to cope with the different religions and ethnicities in Syria.
Bashar Al Assad's ruling, while corrupted on economical issues like most of the countries in the region, has always fought against the discrimination on the basis of religion and ethnicity.

The "civil war' was a protest against a widespread and paralyzing corruption in a period of economical difficulties, especially in the rural areas. As the ruling class was managed by the Alawites, the protests focused on that sect and their leader Bashar al Assad.
It is clear that any new Constitution in Syria must set up a strict anti-corruption system and a promotion of the economy, especially in rural areas. That may satisfy the majority of Syrians who do not want to fall into a sectarian system and end up hating each others.
The Syrian government has learned the hard way that sooner or later social injustice can blow to one's face and the early awareness of dissatisfaction among the people is the key to make changes toward social peace. They have learned that ignoring problem and applying repression is only a short term solution. Let's hope the new order will reflect these revelations.

Posted by: virgile | Mar 26 2016 17:20 utc | 35

With regards to Turkey getting bad press all of a sudden, RT has just come out with a documentary where they have actual business documents that were left behind when the Kurds took Shaddadi in eastern Syria. While this would normally just be more evidence piled on top of the Russian MoD presentation of Turkey leadership / ISIS connections and mostly ignored in the MSM and by politicians, this piece is now being quoted from in the MSM and referenced to by the talking heads and politicians even in the US.

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000504092

Posted by: Dean | Mar 26 2016 17:40 utc | 36

Here's What Julian Assange Thinks About Voting For Hillary Clinton


Julian Assange is one of the most wanted men in the world. After a recent tweet, however, he might also be at the top target of Hillary Clinton’s alleged “hit list.”

On Wednesday, the WikiLeaks founder took to Twitter to urge Americans not to waste their vote on President Barack Obama’s former Secretary of State — unless they want the country to be involved in yet another ongoing military entanglement.

In a post shared by the WIkiLeaks account, Assange began with the statement:

“A vote today for Hillary Clinton is a vote for endless, stupid war.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-12/heres-what-julian-assange-thinks-about-voting-hillary-clinton

Posted by: shadyl | Mar 26 2016 22:30 utc | 37

Nobody @ 33, I saw it, honey. Will answer in a little while on the open thread, not here.

Posted by: Penelope | Mar 27 2016 2:09 utc | 38

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