Syria: An "Airstrike" That Did Not Happen
There is reasons to believe that this "airstrike" did not happen:
Syrian monitors say at least 28 people have been killed in airstrikes on a makeshift refugee camp close to the border with Turkey. The attack on Sarmada, in Syrian rebel-held territory, follows more deaths in Homs.
Sarmada is in north-west Idleb province, just three miles from the Turkish borders and air defense.
Wounded were rushed across the border for treatment in Turkey, said the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights, adding that the death toll was likely to rise.Social media footage showed the charred frames of tents that had been pitched in a muddy field. The Observatory said those killed included women and children.
It was not initially clear who had carried out the raids on Sarmada in rebel-held territory in Syria's northwestern Idlib province and about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of divided Aleppo.
Abu Ibrahim al-Sarmai, an activist, said "two aerial strikes" hit the makeshift camp for displaced people.
...
Nidal Abdul Qader, an opposition civilian aid official who lives about one kilometer (half a mile) from the camp, said around 50 tents and a school had burned down.
Take a look at the video evidence the rebel propaganda put out.
The camp is in a rather wide, flat but stony area. The tents and plastic tarp structures are 15 to 30 yards from each other. Both videos show the skeleton of one larger tent that burned down. There is smoldering school material on the ground. Fire fighters in expensive equipment are dousing some hot spots. These are "White Helmet" rescue workers, part of the large U.S. and UK government financed anti-Syrian propaganda campaign.
The burned down tent is supposed to be the prove of an airstrike. But other tents and flimsy tarp structures just some 10-20 yards away from the fire show no damage or blast effects. None at all. Their thin plastic covers are intact. There is a small mobile phone antenna mast visible in the first video which also shows no damage. There are no people around but the rescue workers. There are no casualties visible, no ambulances, no blood, no civilians looking for next of kin or salvaging damaged property. There is no impact crater visible and no ammunition debris. There is also no potential military target around.
If this was an airstrike the pilot must have dropped some fire crackers from his cockpit. Any bomb or air to ground missile would have created an explosion blast that would have blown off tarps and created damage all around.
So what happened here? It was windy. A local fire burned down some tents. Maybe some people got hurt. A nearby "reporter" and a few well paid "White Helmet" background actors make a show out of it. The media, even with zero real evidence of an airstrike or casualties, takes that as truth and splashes it around.
-UPDATE-
Someone just pointed me to this video which purports to show the alleged second airstrike on the camp. But the sound of the airplane in the video is not original. There is no sound at all of an impact or explosion. Nor is that tiny "explosion" dust cloud the result of an air delivered bomb. Why are there no civilians around? And why is that fireman, just after the "impact" of that second "air strike", so completely unfazed and busy taking pictures of his expensive engine?
-End Update-
This story, like others, is a diversion from the ongoing massive attacks by al-Qaeda and "moderate" rebels, again united under the Jaish al-Fatah label, against positions of the Syrian government south-west of Aleppo city and elsewhere. These attacks continue despite a ceasefire Secretary of State Kerry had agreed to in the name of the "moderate", U.S. financed and equipped opposition.
Posted by b on May 6, 2016 at 8:49 UTC | Permalink
A video showing the alleged second strike is at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=32a_1462495001
However it's an obvious C/ANFO explosion. No Russian TNT there.
Maybe IED? Maybe a surface-surface missile? Maybe even a helicopter bomb? But no evidence of any aircraft involvement asides from the sound-effects that we know are easily dubbed in.
Posted by: Charles Wood | May 6 2016 9:15 utc | 2
The western media and the Sunni Axis (Turkey-Qatar-KSA) are hysterical about the imminent victory of the Syrian army and the Russians over their allies, the 'moderate' rebels in Aleppo.
We got the Syrian air force accused of bombing hospitals, now the refugees camps, what is next?
The desperate Turks are certainly active as this can justify their long desired no-fly zone that actually would "protect" the Axis islamist fighters from total annihilation.
We should get ready for a lot of these fabricated 'war crimes' scoops that will emerge until Aleppo is finally liberated.
Posted by: virgile | May 6 2016 9:30 utc | 4
The first video showing an alleged airstrike is unrelated to the next scenes of a major fire, since the strong winds present in the latter are entirely absent in the former.
It is easily possible that this was an entirely accidental campsite fire which became disastrous due to the high winds.
Posted by: Jono | May 6 2016 9:37 utc | 5
First the Aleppo hospital black flag and now the evil US Empire is ramping up the planned proxy slaughter of civilians and blaming it on Russia/Assad.
Posted by: tom | May 6 2016 9:54 utc | 6
Yes, no craters. And no victims. Two are three tents destroyed by fire.
Posted by: okie farmer | May 6 2016 10:55 utc | 7
Video by the "White Helmets" propaganda outlet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBP5ugAI1B0
Some smoke, some burning trash, lost of expensive fire gear. One "body", not visible, carried unprofessionally to a waiting Turkish ambulance. Cut to a burned child body - unknown place or time of recording.
Best guess (as above) - some local fire in a camp.
The shamelessness of the scum in the US State Department is appalling. I remember as a child being told that 'the Russians would do anything to "win" ... lie, cheat, steal' that was the extent of my criminal repertoire as a child and l,c,s covered it all. I don't know about the Russians way back when, but it's apparent now that lying, cheating, stealing and much, much more are all now integral to the MO of the US State Department and all the quasi-'independent' organs of the USG. Absolutely no doubt about it.
They seem to be proud of it, of their 'skill' at 'playing' their new 'game' in the field. They're murdering real, innocent people; destroying lives, cities, countries. What game could possibly be worth any of that. We have seen the terrorists and they are us. For what? For f**king money?!
Posted by: jfl | May 6 2016 12:07 utc | 9
Thanks b for assiduously documenting this sort of crap. You have to wonder how much was paid to the bunch of retards who came up with this one.
So, Deutsche Welle is no better than the BBC - but sooner or later - journalists will be held to account for aiding and abetting war criminals.
Posted by: DM | May 6 2016 12:12 utc | 10
We have "squatter camp" fires here in SA quite often, and as we move into winter they will increase. Usually it starts with either a knocked over paraffin stove, or candle then is spreads really quickly.
The second videos show the high winds; the fire is being put out from the downwind side towards the where it started. This method prevents it spreading and the upwind stuff is already burnt anyhow.
None of the tents that weren't directly downwind have been touched.
More BS for the zombied masses to be "enraged" about between reruns of the Kardishans.
Posted by: Dean | May 6 2016 12:31 utc | 11
From RT's coverage :-
While there is no conclusive information on the perpetrator of the attack, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond immediately rushed to blame the bombing on the Syrian government.“The Assad regime’s contempt for efforts to restore the cessation of hostilities in Syria is clear for all to see,” he said in a statement, while describing the reports pertaining to the attack as “horrifying.”
While it is clear who pays the war propagandists (UK), and while it is also clear that the retarded Philip Hammond is a war criminal wannabe, I am repeating my contention that journalists - not just the faceless organizations that they work for - need to be held to account for aiding and abetting these criminals.
Posted by: DM | May 6 2016 12:37 utc | 12
Along the lines of the MSM towing the Party line (being brought up in the age of "Soviet Propaganda" it is funny to be suggesting that the US is now doing the same - LOL) With reference to the Col Steve Warren press briefing where he mentions Aleppo is mostly Al-Qaeda, I read the whole transcript. The press questions to him follow a "channel" based on what has been accepted as the truth by the MSM. No one questions outside of that range. If they feel they are at the "edge" of the channel the questions get a bit vague.
same mantra: "COL. WARREN: Well, you know, when the Russians first came in, they claimed that they wanted to fight ISIL, and in reality, only a small fraction of their strikes were against ISIL. About 80 percent of their strikes were against the opposition."
It is the same for all the press briefings just look at Matt Lee of AP try to tiptoe around State Department contradictions to get some clarity. Everybody else keeps quiet except maybe RT.
Something that was missed in the Col Warren briefing was the acknowledgement of all the different opposition groups that the US doesn't have control over.
"Q: Okay. So first question on the offensive of the opposition groups in west of Hazas. It seems that there is not any coalition air support for those groups who are fighting against ISIL in the west of Hazas and alongside the Syrian-Turkish border. Is there any particular reason? Is there any -- there is not any group that you're cooperating with there -- (inaudible)?
COL. WARREN: Well I don’t have a list of groups, Tolga, we are providing support for the moderate Syrian opposition forces that we are in contact with. You have to keep in mind there are hundreds of these small bands and groups of fighters, and we have not -- we're not in contact with every one of them. Similarly, some that we are in contact with don't need our fundamental vetting standards, so we won't support them.
So I don't know which group you're talking about, Tolga. You know that we are, broadly speaking, providing support to the moderate Syrian opposition as they fight ISIL.
Q: Okay. And the second one on the Kurdish groups in Mara line. As you know, often Kurds have now reached to ISIS boundaries in the Mara line and they are ready to attack ISIS. And on the other side, alongside the Euphrates River, just east part of the Manbij pocket they're also ready to attack Manbij. And if -- I mean, since you mentioned, about to close the gap, the last part in the -- along the Syrian-Turkish border. Did you -- did you make any decision about support -- to support Kurdish fighters, especially Afrin Kurds in this Manbij pocket?
COL. WARREN: Not yet.
Q: Okay. Is there any timeline or any particular reason for this?
COL. WARREN: So we're still working through all of this. I don't have a timeline to give you, Tolga, unfortunately, but we are still working through it. There are, as you know, several competing sets of sensitivities that have to be managed that’s being worked really at the political and diplomatic level. We would like to see, at the end of the day, the Manbij pocket closed. So, you know, there's a lot of work going on, diplomatic at the political level, as well as at the military level to try and get all the players into a place where they're comfortable closing off this pocket."
Posted by: Dean | May 6 2016 13:12 utc | 14
If the source of the "news" is the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as in this case of the refugee camp being hit by local winds, then we can pretty much stop reading after the second paragraph and start figuring out how SOHR will jack up the number of casualties and destroyed tents, and how the ISIS movie of the air attack will be made with clips of bombing raids in Libya in 2011 or Iraq in 2003.
Expect also Brown Noser Bellingcrap to put in his two cents' worth explaining in great detail the type of fighter jet used by the Syrians that dropped the bomb and the series of social media posts made by Syrian pilots over the past decade about the bomb used and which factory in Russia produced it.
Posted by: Jen | May 6 2016 13:14 utc | 15
" In War, the first casualty is always truth." "Empire of Illusion" indeed.
Good catch,b.
Posted by: ben | May 6 2016 13:17 utc | 16
No air strike there or anywhere around says Russia:
AFP news agency AFP
#BREAKING Russia says no aircraft flew over bombed Syria camp Thursday
Here's the Propaganda piece on Huffpost to ensure the American sheeple are conditioned properly.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/syria-refugee-camp-airstrike_us_572b7bc7e4b0bc9cb045ee51
Posted by: ben | May 6 2016 14:06 utc | 18
Steve Gowans' latest observations on Obama's Syria SNAFU. May 6, 2016.
Pentagon working on plan to convert the Islamic State caliphate into a US-backed Syrian rebel redoubt
As usual, a generous sprinkling of handy background references and links.
https://gowans.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/pentagon-working-on-plan-to-convert-the-islamic-state-caliphate-into-a-us-backed-syrian-rebel-redoubt/
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | May 6 2016 14:19 utc | 19
As far as the Syria hospital strike claim that the Russians bombed it,or Syria,has disappeared from the MSM.
I guess it was US.As usual.
DWB says they won't involve themselves with UN coverup inquiry re Afghan hospital.Has the UN collapsed under this Korean stooge or what?
No crater,no bomb,obviously,re this report.
Posted by: dahoit | May 6 2016 14:25 utc | 20
Empire of Illusion?
Yes, indeed, and it runs deep. Today's information is a perfect follow-up to yesterdays 'expose' of what we've known all along about the propaganda machine.
Alas, what we seem to ignore is the propaganda machine is old ... relatively speaking ... with roots in the so-called 'war' of 1812; the Mexican War (War of Yankee Imperialism?); the rape of the Philippines when Aguinaldo opposed the rising hegemon; the duplicity of American interventions as documented by Smedley Butler; the 'Back Door to War' promulgated by the FDR administration to get the gullible Americans to fight (mostly via proxy) the Nazi threat; the notion of dominoes in Southeast Asia during the 1960's and 70's ... and the beat goes on.
What we are up against is an old and sometimes bloody battle between the 99.9999% and the 0.0001% --- the oligarchs against the people. Sadly, the people are easily bought off with mere scraps while the oligarchs merely keep the rest. Worse, there are those who think this is a 'new' situation - one that has only recently happened. I argue that it is not ... and angry comments abound regarding my lack of obeisance to the myth of American 'goodness.' But, unless and until we realize this is a deeply rooted problem of systemic proportions, I doubt if things have a serious chance of changing.
But then, 'isn't that nice ...' as crumbs are better than nothing?
Posted by: rg the lg | May 6 2016 14:47 utc | 21
Agreed, looks like a cooked and botched propaganda effort.
But, it’s definitely something more than merely a tent-fire. Look at all of the liveleak vids from the update – they show an elongate destruction impact zone. No crater. Looks like an incendiary bomb or artillery round to me. Could have been a patch of dirt soaked with gasoline. If the whole thing is staged, it would be a pretty significant effort, what with the charred body of the toddler and many others.
It is nonsense for the anti-Assadists to say that this is an on-going aerial attack the way folks are milling around. But hey, the Observatory reported Assad did it so I guess we gotta’ go with that. MSNBC, ya’ got something to add? FOX? Didn’t think so.
I think this is the camp: 36°12'04.79" N 36°42'44.68" E . Please correct me if I’m wrong on that.
MSF has a camp a few miles away w/ 80,000 internal refugees. They have not started pointing fingers . . . yet. Won’t be long.
If you have not read this Rick Sterling piece on MSF bullshit, please do. It forces one into an internal conflict of how to deal with an organization doing so much good but being used for political propaganda.
As a response will Russia completely pull out? they've more or less abandoned the campaign.. They must have some real dirt on Vladimir Apeaser
Posted by: aaaa | May 6 2016 15:03 utc | 23
@23 You know those crafty Russians. Withdraw some and add some more.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/06/middleeast/pleitgen-russia-military-syria/index.html
You think maybe they have some pictures of Vlad with an underage bear?
Posted by: dh | May 6 2016 15:13 utc | 24
All Acronym Agencies including the vaunted MSF have been co-opted, controlled or neutered by the big acronym which JFK intended to splinter into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds.
Those inclined to protest, please board the shuttle to the official protest zone. Then get in the queue to submit biometrics for your safety and security.
Posted by: fastfreddy | May 6 2016 15:26 utc | 25
thanks b.. and thanks to others for the additional articles/info on this and all else.. in particular @19 link from hw which i will repost here. that sums up my own thinking on the usa going after isis bullshite quite well..
@23 aaaa.. you said the same thing on the last thread.. i hope @24 dh's post can calm you down on this particular rant you aren't alone in voicing..
Posted by: james | May 6 2016 15:32 utc | 26
@25 ff - a little humour goes a long way! unfortunately that's too close to the truth at present!
Posted by: james | May 6 2016 15:34 utc | 27
Note: My piece above was written several hours before the Russians said something about the incident.
Evidence hints Al-Nusra Front behind Aleppo refugee camp attack, no signs of airstrike - Russian MOD
Thursday's attack on an Aleppo refugee camp could have been carried out by Al-Nusra Front militants, Russia's Defense Ministry says. The damage pattern suggests rocket artillery use, and air control data show no sorties in the area at the time.
...
@28 b.. the point being that the msm will only take up speculation and insinuation aimed at tarring and feathering syria or russia... this and all other stories of this nature get buried immediately afterward.. that is the whole point of this exercise - making assad and russia out to be monsters... it is like a slow drip effect - type of torture - that the western msm is only too happy to support..
Posted by: james | May 6 2016 15:48 utc | 29
Hey,a Muslim mayor of London GB?I guess the attacks on antiwhatevers didn't help.
Funny dat.Assad for PM?
Posted by: dahoit | May 6 2016 16:03 utc | 30
Thanks for the posting and follow up b
In the internet age it is all about narrative control and every event is front run and bled for every nuance of propaganda/brainwashing value. Its the old "history is written by the winners" meme......on steriods.
Truth has become yesterday's lie. Think of all the lick-spittle careers being formed to write that fiction.....gag
We have become the Homo, not so sapien, Sapiens
Posted by: psychohistorian | May 6 2016 16:07 utc | 31
The Jessica Lynch Charade
Look, there is no war without spin. There is no war without outright lying to the populace, without trying to coerce a wary nation into supporting our unprovoked savagery by way of Hollywood-style set pieces performed specifically to deflect attention from the brutality and the decapitated children and the still-dying U.S. soldiers and the burning bodies by the side of the road.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0905-09.htm
Posted by: fastfreddy | May 6 2016 16:28 utc | 32
The Saker has posted a good piece about Propaganda; an excerpt:
"I suspect that the fantastically incompetent ways in which the 5th Main Directorate of the KGB worked to try to deal with anti-Soviet feelings has left a deep mark on younger generation of state security officers who have learned from these mistakes and have taken a diametrically opposite course: instead of trying to silence the western propaganda – they actually actively promote it!
"Yup, that’s right. The Kremlin and the clearly pro-Putin journalists go out of their way to give as much air time to the most rabid anti-Kremlin critiques as possible, especially on Russian TV talkshows." http://thesaker.is/counter-propaganda-russian-style/
Seemingly unrelated is Pepe Escobar's latest op/ed, except that it isn't, http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20160506/1039193968/nato-cold-war-escobar.html
Posted by: karlof1 | May 6 2016 17:09 utc | 33
have to be eagle eyed
barrel fire crackers can be deceptive
Posted by: 5 dancing shlomos | May 6 2016 17:25 utc | 34
As soon as I saw it I knew it was BS. The reporter, Kareem Shaheen, posts about it on his twitter feed - in the amazing journalism of today if it's posted on social media by funded rebel activists it's automatically fact for the Guardian and their ilk.
Shaheen quotes in his report:
“We don’t know yet if it’s Syrian or Russian aircraft, but they struck in the middle of the camp and many of the tents have been burned,” said Alaa Fatraoui, a journalist based in the area who visited the scene after the attack.
Who is Alaa Fatraoui? A google search I did couldn't bring up a single return on that name. On Twitter Shaheen simply referred to him as a witness.
So where are the pictures or video of the dead and maimed? Nowhere. It's not as if the activists are ever shy about showing gruesome footage.
Like you've said, first thing that I thought having watched the video, there is no evidence of a missile strike. Likely a fire that broke out and then was quickly spun into another propaganda story.
Note that the Guardian have a video sent to them by an activist who is simply chanting Allah Akhbar continuously but give no detail on who provided them with it. They cite one witness - who is it?
Usual Guardian format - another string of articles on this quickly follow (no comments allowed) one that includes someone at the UN saying this could be a war crime.
Posted by: Dex | May 6 2016 17:33 utc | 35
I saw first mention early yesterday afternoon on AFP twitter feed crediting BBC ... don't know who was first but I was impressed at how very slowly it was picked up by other sites and how un-featured it was -- as if it had either "smelled bad" or as if the BBC's complicity with past "false flags" and eagerness to leap onto the blame Assad/Putin bandwagons factored. Was off the BBC website when I woke up ... Independent and Al-Jazeera were still featuring .. guardian had a squib.
BBC appears to be following Public Radio's tactics of lost of interminable heart-string pulling human interest stories about atrocities and/or identity politics issues masking a fairly out-in-the-open agenda... (and rebroadcast/recycling of already aired content) ... general dumbing down, no room for actual global news.
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 6 2016 17:44 utc | 36
"It is the system of nationalist individualism that has to go....We are living in the end of the sovereign states....In the great struggle to evoke a Westernized World Socialism, contemporary governments may vanish....Countless people...will hate the new world order....and will die protesting against it." - H.G. Wells, in his book, "The New World Order", 1940
Posted by: ALberto | May 6 2016 17:53 utc | 37
AQAP providing services
WaPo: How can al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula be defeated?.
Answer: Provide better services better. (Fat chance)
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 6 2016 17:56 utc | 38
Apparently the Troglodytes who run the 'moderate terrorists' aka 'terrorists lite' want to overshadow this story ...
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/05/05/russian-orchestra-performs-in-palmyras-roman-arena/
Posted by: ALberto | May 6 2016 17:58 utc | 39
it's a shame, b, that this trenchant observation will be lost to hundreds of millions of Americans and others and their interpretations of reality.
the true story of the holocaust in the Euphrates valley will have to be compiled and disseminated by some future generation.
Posted by: john | May 6 2016 20:17 utc | 40
It looks to me that the West is going to have to fold on this one. The video evidence is very clear of no sign of air attack. Never mind, they'll just pass to the next.
The point that has shocked me recently is Kerry's open admission that they're anti-Asad. We all knew it. It's just that the real aim of any reasonable person in Syria must be for peace, whether Asad stays or not. Kerry doesn't want that. He wants more war, more deaths, more refugees, as long as his objectives are realised. Of course his objectives are unknown. One can only suppose those of Netanyahu. What other?
Posted by: Laguerre | May 6 2016 20:25 utc | 41
OT
How London’s Sadiq Khan Triumphed Over Race-Baiting
Disgusted by his opponent's dog-whistle campaign, Great Britain's capital elected its first Muslim mayor.
by Padraig Reidy
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/05/06/how-londons-sadiq-khan-triumphed-over-race-baiting
Posted by: okie farmer | May 6 2016 20:41 utc | 42
Re 41
Not quite elected yet. There are questions about the vote. But not enough to refuse him, as it was a solid victory
Posted by: Laguerre | May 6 2016 21:31 utc | 43
Turkey's Erdogan rebuffs EU on terrorism law; 'we're going our way, you go yours.'
ISTANBUL | By Nick Tattersall and Seda Sezer
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-eu-turkey-erdogan-idUSKCN0XX18K
Posted by: okie farmer | May 6 2016 21:37 utc | 44
well, there is this:
Although the result has yet to be declared he got 44.2% of first preference votes to Mr Goldsmith's 35.6% - second preference votes are now being counted with Mr Khan set to pass the crucial 50% mark when they are added in.
Posted by: okie farmer | May 6 2016 21:42 utc | 45
Alberto @38: The Russians have been accused of weaponizing the migrant crisis, refugees and so on.
Now the barbaric Russians have now weaponized classical music! Is there no end to their depravity?
The full event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVTQkYjv1h4
Posted by: Yonatan | May 6 2016 22:07 utc | 46
Posted by: b | May 6, 2016 7:46:44 AM | 8
that WH video begins with a gutteral allah akbar!
Posted by: brian | May 7 2016 0:23 utc | 47
Hammond is your standard elite corrupt brit...born-to-rule politician
NedoUkraïnka @ValLisitsa 14h14 hours ago
Even more TASTELESS - selling weapons to kill Yemeni civilians http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/8526880 …
@RussianEmbassy @PHammondMP pic.twitter.com/moDKNaoysy
Posted by: brian | May 7 2016 0:35 utc | 48
@39 john, 'the true story of the holocaust in the Euphrates valley'
I hope that one grows legs. Maybe, the true story of the holocaust in Mesopotamia.
Posted by: jfl | May 7 2016 1:40 utc | 49
I've had a look at all of the videos. I think it wasn't an airstrike.
1. The Northumberland fire engine was already there doors open and hoses deployed at the time of the first strike.
2. The guy in the checked shirt is walking calmly along seconds after the hit, surely if there's planes overhead he's running for cover. Other people in the area don't seem ducking for cover (there's another guy with a camera or something)
3. The blast doesn't generate a shockwave, no dust raised up and no movement of the tents beyond the shock-zone.
4. The nearby tents would have all been shredded, further away they would have been knocked over. (assuming that the attack was missiles not a cannon, which what it's been presented as).
5. A genuine attack with missiles would usually involve multiple missiles ???? not too sure about this point counting against an airstrike but if it was considered a genuine target surely there would have been multiple missiles launched on each run.
6. The plume from the "first strike" is almost vertical, in other shots there is a reasonable breeze, genuine video evidence would be time stamped and geo-located (standard camera/smartphone settings), if they were serious about documenting a war-crime surely these settings would be activated. In which case the investigators would be able to determine whether there was a delay between the different shots and whether such a change in the weather was correct and could be matched up with weather observations (which are global and extremely accurate these days). The plume doesn't even look like an explosion (as yes I know in real life they don't look like they are presented in a Hollywood movie either)
7. Where are the refugees? it doesn't "look" like a refugee camp. If it was there would be lots of other video evidence.
8. No craters.
9. No shot of the plane or the trail from the missile. (in fact what sort of plane is it supposed to be, with many of them you wouldn't hear it till after the missile(s) have struck and if those helicopters they strike from Km's away. If a missile had just passed overhead nearby there would be a trail (and if it was a cannon then teh sound would have been completely different and the damage to the tents likewise).
Conclusion: Based on the evidence presented it's beyond doubt that it's not an airstrike on a refugee camp.
Posted by: Nobody | May 7 2016 3:26 utc | 50
WOW!
I found you!
I've been advocating the election of "NOBODY" for years ... and here he/she is on MoA!
Why have I been an advocate for NOBODY?
Because in American elections, only NOBODY TELLS THE TRUTH!
Among other things ...
Posted by: rg the lg | May 7 2016 4:14 utc | 51
thank you Nobody @50 ...
Did we know that we had boots on the ground in Yemen ... and then they left ... but now they're back?? The VOA knows.
Voice of America: US Returns to Yemen to Help Fight AQAP.
(with photo of compact model battle ship that they label as "amphibious assault ship"
PENTAGON— U.S. military personnel are back on the ground in Yemen in an effort help drive al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) from the port city of Mukalla.The Pentagon said the small group arrived in Yemen less than two weeks ago and is providing what is being described as limited intelligence support.
"We have seen over the period of many months a troubling growth of AQAP in Yemen,” said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis, calling the terror group “a significant security threat to the United States and to our regional partners.
Less than two weeks ago ... shhhh don't tell anyone until it's a fait accompli
Posted by: Susan Sunflower | May 7 2016 4:26 utc | 52
@virgile
You are correct.
This has been coming for some time. Turkey is desperate to salvage something more from their failed foreign policy ans they will not give up on their 'safe-zone' / land grab.
The decision tobrefuse passage to refugees at this border, th subsequent build up of refugees on the Syrian side, influx of thousands of Al Nusra from Turkey into Syria yo exacerbate the fighting and drivr more refugees north to this point and the media build up... this is exactly the spot where turkey has long sworn to build its three cities to 'protect' refugees.
The question is whether Davutoglu's rude exit will mark a change in foreign policy for the better or worse - erdogan has the chance yo walk away from all the syria issues and blame davutoglu ... will he take it?
Posted by: AtaBrit | May 7 2016 10:43 utc | 53
There are several of these pieces at youtube. 'Praying for Palmyra': Russian Orchestra performs Concert honoring Victims Of Syria War 4. It is beautiful music, and a now beautiful setting, extremely impressive staging, in marked contrast not only to fighting that was taking place in the same area just weeks ago, but to what the American reaction to victory over ISIS might have been. If there had ever been an American victory over ISIS.
ISIS executes 7 year old boy in Raqqa
Mu’az Hassan, age 7, was playing with his friends in the streets of Al-Raqqa when an ISIS fighter alleged that the victim committed “blasphemy.”This child was subsequently arrested and tried at the ISIS Shar’iah Courts – he was found guilty and executed later in the day.
Mu’az was taken to public square in Raqqa City and was then shot in the head by an ISIS fighter in the presence of hundreds of onlookers.
ISIS has executed teenagers before; however, Mu’az Hassan is the youngest victim of this terrorist group’s Shar’iah Courts.
These are both measured and purposeful acts.
Posted by: jfl | May 7 2016 10:45 utc | 54
jfl @ 48
i thought of 'Mesopotamia' too, a better choice, but i had this vision of civilization taking its last stand in its verdant cradle, hordes of bloodthirsty barbarians sweeping down the slopes, lots of green and red...
p.s. i meant to thank you for posting Monk the other day. it's rare that a man listens to his fathers.
Posted by: john | May 7 2016 10:52 utc | 55
any body not sick of judaized amurderka?
25 years of destruction and slaughter.
no end near.
Posted by: 5 dancing shlomos | May 7 2016 20:26 utc | 56
Word is, Iranian, Afghani and Hezbollah losses in the latest liberation of a district in Aleppo.
Iran is rather open about its losses these days, i wonder if they will eventually launch a fullscale operation with Russian support. That would dramatically change things and either A - put an end to this nasty war, or B - make it last longer because outside support for terrorists would increase 10 fold.
Interesting times ahead.
I also have a very bad feeling Israel will launch some sort of major invasion of lebanon this year. It has been too long and Israel has a tendency to launch at least 1-2 invasions/"operations" into lebanon every 10 yrs
Who knows
Posted by: Deebo | May 7 2016 20:54 utc | 57
@57 deebo.. israel can always wait until trump or clinton get elected - 2 proven advocates of murder and genocide in support of anything israeli/zionist.. at this point, it doesn't appear to matter - most of us think it is a given..
Posted by: james | May 7 2016 20:57 utc | 58
I just saw some idiot website called EAworldview covering this and accusing Russia of lying and pro-Assad bots of running their line. The usual - if you oppose US bullshit you are obviously a bot/troll for . The guy who created it used to work for the Independent and Guardian....or so he says. Not that would be any surprise. His assertions are pure comedy.
Posted by: Dex | May 7 2016 21:13 utc | 59
re 57
I also have a very bad feeling Israel will launch some sort of major invasion of lebanon this year.In that case it will be a battle of top technology. Both are well-prepared for a battle. Whose technology will top the other? It's a sort of battle of Kursk, where the Israelis will launch themselves on a well-prepared enemy. I don't see that happening. Israel wants a free run, otherwise they won't attack.
Posted by: Laguerre | May 7 2016 22:43 utc | 60
@48 john
I think it's a stretch calling the Japanese the fathers of Thelonoius Monk, although they do seem to be the 'owners' of all the music Monk and all the other black American jazz musicians ever recorded. Soldout by the American labels and American audiences. I've lost touch now, but there's still Josh Redmond, Dewey's son.
@56 hasbarista
that'd be 'any body not sick of israelized amurderka?'
Here's some more to make everybody sick, Fire kills 3 toddlers in besieged Gaza Strip
The three brothers aged five, three and one, burned to death on Friday night after their home in the al-Shati refugee camp was set alight after a candle fell on a mattress.Gazans are mostly forced to use candles as constant power cuts leave them without electricity sometimes for some 18-hours a day.
According to the mother, the family had returned home, starving and exhausted after a day of fishing in the local harbor and as she was preparing food when the incident occurred.
“My children died hungry,” she said during the children’s funeral held on Saturday.
The enclave’s electricity was partially supplied by its single remaining power plant until last month when fuel shortages caused the plant’s closure. The remainder of electricity is purchased from Israel and Egypt.
Reports blame fuel shortage on the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority‘s recent removal of fuel tax exemption, demanding that the Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement pay taxes on fuel imports to the coastal strip.
Gazan energy authorities, however, say they cannot afford their tax bill, which adds up to some 10 million shekels (2.6 million dollars) a month.
Abbas, our USraeli man in Palestine, is responsible here. @65. 'Russia and China need to get the Islamic nations on their side in this struggle, or they'll all be brutalized and warped by the USa, KSA, Turkey and the GCCs.' ... seems to me anyway.
Posted by: jfl | May 7 2016 23:07 utc | 61
"I just saw some idiot website called EAworldview covering this and accusing Russia of lying and pro-Assad bots of running their line. "
That was because I brought MOA's analysis to his attention and he threw a tantrum over the fact that he cannot explain the absence of a bomb crater or why the adjacent tents are undamaged. A rocket attack would produce a blast radius of hundreds of feet, which would have taken out a lot more of the tent.
He claimed that the video above shows military planes, but when I pointed out to him there is no plane visible (only the sound of one) he ran away and refused to address my argument.
He claimed there were dead body parts everywhere when there are none. And when I suggested this was a false flag, he deemed is a Russian diversion even though he posted a report a few days earlier arguing that the attack on the Aleppo hospital blamed on Al Nusra was a false flag attack by pro government forces.
Posted by: Shingo | May 8 2016 0:26 utc | 62
@62 There were articles talking about the carnage shown in photos and video. But there is no documentation of the casualties?
Posted by: Joanne Leon | May 8 2016 2:43 utc | 63
My long comment on the general evidence, somewhat cursory, is here:
http://acloserlookonsyria.shoutwiki.com/wiki/Talk:Attack_on_Ghita_Al-Rahmeh_Refugee_Camp
One interesting add from there - the opposition VDC does not list any airstrike victims (yet? ever?) but they have got 25 dead from Idlib listed for the day - ALL rebel fighters, shot in the clashes. Is this really just fighters + maybe a couple incident victims not listed yet? And even the opposition groups are listing it that way?
Denis, #22 thanks. That must be it. Just over 4km from nearest point of the Turkish border. Others, thanks, good thoughts all around. Keep it up!
- Adam/Caustic
Posted by: Caustic Logic | May 8 2016 6:51 utc | 64
jfl @ 61
I think it's a stretch calling the Japanese the fathers of Thelonoius Monk,...
that would indeed be a stretch and that's not at all what i meant though i see how you got there and understand that it's my fault.
unbeknownst to the larger American audience is that it owes so much of its listening pleasure to the fathers of modern American music; Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, John Coletrane, and, in my book, Sun Ra.
....
I've lost touch now,...
try getting off the hamster wheel more often.
Posted by: john | May 8 2016 14:39 utc | 65
Re: my 65 - was hasty. A couple hours later 14 civilians were finally listed, from Aleppo (mostly Anadan, nearby). That did seem too good to be true. ATM, still just the 14...
Posted by: Caustic Logic | May 9 2016 0:00 utc | 67
The "airstrike" (if it happened) could have been a strafing run instead of a bomb run... that would account for the tent frames and stuff left standing. Still there would be residue on the ground from the weapons used in the attack; funny how there is a lack of such evidence being shown as that would be undeniable.
Posted by: squigoth | May 9 2016 2:19 utc | 68
Well, I don't agree with the fact that any command and control economy will grow at said 7%, the deterrent argument is a strong one. Would
Israel attack Iran if it thought she had such weapons, perhaps, with its radical government. That's what scares me, not that Iran would get a weapon defensively like NK, but that it would use one because the political situation there is so radical.
Posted by: Maaackle | May 9 2016 5:50 utc | 69
That came out wrong, Iran is not a nuclear threat, Israel is.
Posted by: Maaackle | May 9 2016 5:52 utc | 70
yes, yes, yes. it's all a smear campaign. people are saying nasty things about the Assads and their allies when the truth is that the Assads have run one of the nicest, cuddliest police state hereditary dictatorships in the entire Middle East.
Posted by: cluck | May 10 2016 2:17 utc | 71
The gradual erosion of the cease-fire in Syria over the past month is the result of multiple factors shaping the conflict, but one of the underlying reasons is the Obama administration's failure to carry out its commitment to Russia to get US-supported opposition groups to separate themselves physically from the Nusra Front -- the al-Qaeda organization in Syria.
The comments to this entry are closed.
Strange that it's just one tent, isn't it? Though I think I saw a another tent in the second video, which had lost its cover, though no sign of fire.
Posted by: Laguerre | May 6 2016 9:03 utc | 1