The Larger Context Of The Jihadi Attack On Aleppo
Al-Qaeda in Syria and associated forces are currently driving a large scale attack from the south-west into Aleppo city. Their aim is to create a new corridor between the Idleb/Aleppo rural areas they occupy and the besieged al-Qaeda controlled areas in east-Aleppo. Between 5,000 and 10,000 al-Qaeda fighters, using U.S. supplied equipment, are taking part in the battle. Formally some of the fighters are "moderates" but in reality all this groups are by now committed to implement Sharia law and to thereby suppress all minorities. They made some initial progress against government forces but are under fierce attack from the Syrian and Russian air forces.
The Russian General Staff has warned since April that al-Qaeda in Syria (aka Jabhat al-Nusra aka Fateh al Sham) and the various attached Jihadi groups were planing a large scale attack on Aleppo. An al-Qaeda commander confirmed such long term planning in a pep-talk to his fighters before the current attack.
This shines a new light on the protracted talks Secretary of State Kerry has had for month with his Russian colleague. The U.S. tried to exempt al-Qaeda from Russian and Syrian attacks even as UN Security Council Resolutions demanded that al-Qaeda and ISIS areas be eradicated. Then the U.S. tried to make an "offer" to Russia to collectively fight al-Qaeda should Russia put its own and Syrian forces under U.S. control. We called this offer deceptive nonsense. All this, it now seems, was delaying talk to allow al-Qaeda to prepare for the now launched attack.
Another step in the delaying, though a failed one, was the re-branding of Jabhat al-Nusra as Fateh al-Sham. Some "western" media called that a split from al-Qaeda but in reality is was a merging of al-Qaeda central and Nusra/al-Qaeda in Syria under a disguising new label. Al-Qaeda's Qatari sponsors had demanded the re-branding so al-Qaeda in Syria could publicly be sold to "western" governments and their public as "moderate rebels". But the sham failed. It was too obvious a fake to be taken seriously. The "western" support for al-Qaeda will have to continue secretly and in limited form.
The current attack on Aleppo is serious. The Syrian army lacks ground forces. Significant professional ground forces from Iran were promised but never arrived. Iran was still dreaming of an accord with the U.S. and therefore holding back on its engagement in Syria. The Afghan farmer battalions Iran recruited are not an alternative for professional troops. Defending against an enemy that is using lots of suicide vehicle bombs to breach fortifications and death-seeking Jihadis to storm field positions is difficult. It demands diligent preparation excellent command and control.
If this attack can be defeated the huge losses al-Qaeda will have to take might end its open military style war. If al-Qaeda succeeds with the attack the Syrian army will need very significant additional ground forces to regain the initiative.
But no matter how that battle goes strategically the U.S. is sniffing defeat in its regime change endeavor. It is now proposing to split Syria. Syria and all its neighbors are against this. It will, in the end, not happen, but the damage Washington will create until it acknowledges that fact could be serious. Russia can and should prevent such U.S. attempts of large scale social engineering.
Russia on the other side has now to decide if it wants to escalate enough to create more than the current stalemate. Over time a stalemate becomes expansive and it may, at any time, suddenly turn into defeat. The U.S. negotiation positions so far were obviously not serious. The U.S. delayed to allow for further large attacks on the Syrian government. The alternative for Russia is to either leave Syria completely or to escalate enough to decisively defeat the Jihadis. That is not an easy decision.
Today some Jihadis shot down another Russian helicopter over Syria. The bloody body of the dead pilot was dragged through the mud by some local nuts and the video thereof proudly presented. If the Russian government needs some public pretext to go back into Syria it now has it. Also today the Islamic State threatened to attack Russia within its border. Another good reason to return to Syria in force. Of note is that Russia is already extremely pissed over the unreasonable hostile climate towards it in Washington DC. It will have consequences.
The Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei today acknowledged that the nuclear agreement with the U.S. is a failure. The U.S. did not deliver on its end. Iranian money is still blocked in U.S. controlled accounts and no international bank wants to do business with Iran because the U.S. is threatening to penalize them. The conclusion, Khamenei says, is that no deal with U.S. over any local issue in the Middle East is possible and that all negotiations with it are a waste of time. This new public position may finally free the limits the Rouhani government of Iran had put on Iranian deployments to Syria. Why bother with any self-limitation if the U.S. wont honor it?
How the situation in Syria will develop from here on depends to a large part on Turkey. Turkey is changing its foreign policy and turning towards Russia, Iran and China. But how far that turn away from the "west" will go and if it will also include a complete turnaround on Syria is not yet clear. Should Turkey really block its borders and all supplies to the Jihadis, the war on Syria could be over within a year or two. Should (secret) supplies continue, the war may continue for many more years. In both cases more allied troops and support for the Syrian government would significantly cut the time (and damage) the war will still take. That alone would be well worth additional efforts by Syria's allies.
Will Tehran and Moscow agree with that conclusion?
Posted by b on August 1, 2016 at 16:25 UTC | Permalink
« previous page@jfl / @69
"Doesn't sound like Turkey is leaving NATO or that Turkey has seen the light on Syria."
Turkey will talk the talk ad infinitum and often state clearly the complete opposite of its intentions - so the call for calm borders on rrelevant. With Turkey the key is always - Watch what they do, not what they say.
Posted by: AtaBrit | Aug 2 2016 21:27 utc | 102
@Piotr Berman / @35
By economic threats from gulfies, what do you mean?
The main reason for Erdogan even considering repaired relations with Russia is because of Russia withholding its tourists ....vegetables...
Posted by: AtaBrit | Aug 2, 2016 4:33:39 PM | 99
Turkey is not simply an "importer country", but it has a persistent current account deficit, the economy need infusion of investments. Gulfies were doing it, and part of those investment was even finding Erdogans' pockets. (What is known is that that Erdoganite version of "Clinton foundation" got a sudden huge Qatari donation when the donors got blessing for purchasing large media holding. and removed Erdogan-unfriendly channels from their cable offering.) Concerning Russian tourist flocking into post-coup Turkey, the adrenalin junkies could vacation on Chechnya, and the others will have some second thoughts and plenty options.
The big bucks are direct foreign investments (Gulfies) and energy (Russia, Iran). OTOH, tourism and horticulture are large employers, so their importance is larger than their GDP share. Still, Erdogan's calculus is primarily political: he planned purges and "reforms", and USA and the rest of the West may raise objections and difficulties. To overcome those, it is good to show that Turkey has other options, and even better, to refrain from those options. No telling what will happen, Russia + Iran may have both sticks and carrots, a balanced diplomatic diet.
Posted by: Piotr Berman | Aug 2 2016 22:21 utc | 103
Turkey’s Erdogan accuses West of ‘supporting terror, coup plotters’
“Unfortunately, the West is supporting terror and standing by the coup plotters,” said Erdogan in a televised speech at his presidential palace. “Those who we imagined to be friends are standing by the coup plotters and by the terrorists.”“This coup was not just an event planned from the inside. The actors inside acted out a scenario for a coup written from the outside.” The president had previously said that foreign states could have been involved.
“Is the West on the side of democracy or on the side of terror?” he added, also accusing Belgium of failing to hand over a leftist militant linked to the 1996 killing of Turkish businessman Ozdemir Sabanci.
Erdogan gets in his licks ... I'm sure that the friend and armorer of ISIS and the usual al-qaeda terrorists inwardly beamed as he let go that last one, as he continues to feed the bonfire in Syria.
Posted by: jfl | Aug 2 2016 23:49 utc | 104
b
"... but in reality is was a merging of al-Qaeda central and Nusra/al-Qaeda in Syria under a *disgusting* new label,..."
There, fixed it for you.
And Kerry is also still jibber-jabbering about Russian sanctions, to delay action as the WB funds the upgrading of E Ukraine roads and bridges, with $15B looted from SS, to military putsch capacity, after US Congress failed to get a vote passed to openly arm Ukraine's junta, ...instead, they added $2B more onto 'aid to Israel' this year, so Israel can pass thru the $2B arms to their pals in the Israeli junta coup in Kiev.
Hence the edited word 'disgusting', because English lacks the necessary perjoratives to accurately describe Mil.Gov.Fed Exceptionalism, in this Petrocene-era End Times, when they should all be swinging from lampposts.
Posted by: Cho Nyawinh | Aug 3 2016 4:03 utc | 105
Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas and a fierce foe of the Iran nuclear deal, accused President Barack Obama of paying “a $1.7 billion ransom to the ayatollahs for U.S. hostages.”
“This break with longstanding U.S. policy [not to] put a price on the head of Americans, and has led Iran to continue its illegal seizures” of Americans, he said.
The irony, of course, is that Reagan and his Dirty Ops boys did exactly ... exactly ... the same thing 30 years ago to steal the 1980 election, proving that Tom Cotton is either a craven liar, or a sniveling Mil.Gov.Fed cretin but, let's be honest, a cretin with a full pension for life, so that tips it towards the craven liar.
Posted by: Cho Nyawinh | Aug 3 2016 4:13 utc | 106
So here is a China story about the progress at Aleppo
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-08/03/c_135558945.htm
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 3 2016 5:06 utc | 107
Vanessa Beeley just got back from Syria. You're missing sumpin if you don't listen. Her segment starts @ 90. Previous segment is Wm Engdahl. http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/07/31/episode-146-sunday-wire-gladio-gestalt-with-guests-f-william-engdahl-vanessa-beeley/
Posted by: Penelope | Aug 3 2016 5:38 utc | 108
@105 cho, 'The money represented the first installment of a $1.7 billion settlement the Obama administration reached with Iran to resolve a decades-old dispute over a failed arms deal signed just before the 1979 fall of Iran’s last monarch, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
'The settlement, which resolved claims before an international tribunal in The Hague ...'
It sounds like a case of the Shah having paid for weapons that the US never delivered. Iran was about to win in court, so the deadbeat US is finally returning Iran's money after all these years. The US politico-media complex has turned it into US money going to Iran rather than Iranian money - stolen by the US - being returned to Iran.
Donald Chump - I mean Trump - is great at this same spiel ... he talks about driving a 'tough deal' before returning to Iran Iranian funds summarily frozen in US banks decades ago.
The US media does nothing to set any of this straight. The media are a part of the government now, pushing the party bullshit line. We Americans love bullshit, we eat it right up. Can't get enough, it seems.
Reagan delivered arms to Iran through Israel. Iran paid for them. Israel raked dough right off the top. The US' share of the scam went to the 'contras' to buy weapons to kill peasants in Central America. The US congress had forbidden arming the contras. Not the same thing. Reagan/Bush XLI/Ollie North and the rest ... Eliot Abrams ... were/are all bona fide criminals for their roles in their affair, superficially claimed to be similar to the one here.
Obama is a criminal of course, but not because he returned Iran's own money to Iran after it had been unilaterally and summarily held by the US for ... 1979 - 2015 ... 36 years. He's a criminal for all the death his drones have dealt ... for all the death, devastation, destruction, and deceit he's drenched MENA and Ukraine in. But not for returning Iran its own money, arbitrarily 'sequestered' by the US, three dozen years later ... just before he was forced to by the Hague.
Posted by: jfl | Aug 3 2016 7:54 utc | 109
Re: Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 1, 2016 7:25:48 PM | 38
Don't hold your breath waiting for Russia & China to make a joint statement about military co-operation. It'll never, ever, happen,
Aha, you've missed something rather significant.
Russia & China are conducting joint naval (military) drills in the South China Sea.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-02/military-exercises-between-chinese-and-russian/7682104
http://thediplomat.com/2016/04/did-russia-just-side-with-china-on-the-south-china-sea/
'Russia does have options in Syria, including this "boots on the ground" option, which will be a decisive dramatic "defeat" for US. Well, I never heard of real wars in which soldiers didn't die as for Russian "public opinion", again it is the matter of...opinion.
Posted by: SmoothieX12 | Aug 1, 2016 1:45:55 PM | 6
russian boots on the ground?maybe but unlikely, as russians remember afghanistan
Posted by: brian | Aug 3 2016 11:28 utc | 111
Don't you understand that Milošević was a useful idiot sent by City of London, where he had worked few years, to destroy Yugoslavia in what was first color revolution after the fall of USSR. And, yes, stupid Serbs jumped on his nationalistic band wagon to rape and pilage, and now most of them are regretting taking leading role in destruction of our country on behalf of Western bankers.
Posted by: ex-sarajlija | Aug 2, 2016 3:03:41 PM | 93
not your run of the mill idiot, but one engaged in demonising an innocent man, who was no patsy for anyone
https://www.rt.com/op-edge/354362-slobodan-milosevic-exonerated-us-nato/
Posted by: brian | Aug 3 2016 11:31 utc | 112
Russia have boots on the ground in Syria already.
@109: to my understanding the depth of water in the SCS is shallow until the near-perimeter of the claimed borders. So, while not friendly to the neighbors, it makes decent military sense as to why China would claim it
Posted by: bbbb | Aug 3 2016 11:39 utc | 113
Why would Russia stop that? Dragging out that situation is good for Russia and Iran too as long as they ensure Assad's survival. The problem is what happens when neocon Hillary is appointed pres of the US.
Posted by: Alaric | Aug 1, 2016 5:27:16 PM | 27
so Alaric hates Assad?
Posted by: brian | Aug 3 2016 12:23 utc | 114
@ex-sarajlija @ brian
Eviscerating Yugoslavia: Poisoning Milosevic | Left Hook by Dean Henderson
A Kangaroo CourtThe International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was created at the behest of the US and received its funding and direction from its NATO sponsors. [1]
The very concept of an ad hoc tribunal established with the intent of judging events that occur in only one geographic location violates the standard of equity of law. Attempts by the world community to establish an International Criminal Court, which would have jurisdiction around the world, have failed due to US insistence that American citizens be exempt from prosecution by the court.
This US attitude of being above the law is nothing new. In 1984 when the World Court ruled that the US should compensate Nicaragua for mining its harbor at Corinto, the US simply ignored the verdict. As Slobodan Milosevic wrote of the ICTY, “The United States itself, immune from control or prosecution and above the law, uses its power to cause persecution of enemies it selects to terrorize and further demonize.”
The way the ICTY is set up the judge acts in tandem with the prosecution, rather than serving as an impartial arbiter in the case. As retired British barrister Geoffrey Locke pointed out, “The tribunal makes up its own rules of procedure and evidence and is answerable to nobody…a judge of the very court which is to try the case is not merely empowered, but positively directed, to act as counsel for the prosecution in the preparation of the case and suggest how it could be bolstered or improved”. [2]
The Yugoslav government handed Milosevic over to ICTY after they were promised new loans from the IMF.
For over a month, Milosevic was kept in solitary confinement, unable to talk even with his lawyers, who had trouble even getting visas to the Netherlands. His cell contained cameras, which recorded his every move. Milosevic, an accomplished lawyer, wanted to represent himself before the court, but the ICTY at first denied him this basic human right and appointed three amici curiae (friends of the court) to represent him. The court said Milosevic would not even be allowed a say in his defense strategy, something even the Nazis had allowed Bulgarian Communist leader Georgi Dimitrov, who was able to lead his own defense in the Reichstag Fire Trial of 1933.
Under international pressure, the court finally backed off from this draconian measure. Still, Milosevic wasn’t allowed to speak at his arraignment without twice having his microphone switched off. Later at a status conference, where the defense is supposed to be allowed to raise issues of concern, his microphone was again shut off and the judges walked out of the room. At a third ICTY appearance the court again shut off Milosevic’s microphone after he questioned the court’s legitimacy.
In February 2002 the sham trial of Milosevic commenced. When on February 13th Milosevic argued that the court had no legitimacy and that the ICTY had orchestrated a “parallel media trial” to establish a verdict before evidence was even presented, Judge May told him that his comments were “irrelevant”.
The next day Milosevic, who had spent seven months in solitary confinement, countered that his “…show trial was part of a larger Western attempt to control the world”. He then showed a video proving the Racak massacre was a fraud. [3] A witness he called said that the much-publicized Serb massacre at Srbenica was, in fact, instigated by French intelligence.
By August 2002 Milosevic had turned the tables on the kangaroo court, presenting a steady stream of well-documented information that exposed the CIA/mafia partition of Yugoslavia. The media suddenly quit covering the trial. In March 2006, a healthy Slobodan Milosevic suddenly died in his Hague prison cell. His lawyer and numerous supporters say he was poisoned.
While the US and NATO couched their Yugoslav intervention in ethnic terms, plenty of Croats, Bosnians, Moldavians, Macedonians, Montenegrins and Albanians also continued to see the West as the enemy. While the US media fixated on the Albanians fleeing US bombings in Kosovo for safety in Macedonia, thousands more Albanians fled the other direction into Belgrade where they supported Milosevic and cursed the NATO aggressors.
One Albanian who landed in Belgrade was Fatmir Seholi, who had been Chief Editor at Radio Television Pristina until NATO troops expelled him from the province. Seholi had this to say about the war, “Every NATO bombing was a big problem. The man who could command NATO to bomb people is not human. He is an animal. After the bombing at Djakovica I saw decapitated bodies…I saw people without arms, without feet…Who is Clinton to accuse anyone? I would like to say to Hillary Clinton that her husband is an immoral person. That man ruined our state for no reason. What would he say if someone bombed the White House? Who is the evil man here? Milosevic, who is protecting the territory of Yugoslavia and protecting the people of Kosovo, or Clinton, who bombs us?”
Posted by: ProPeace | Aug 3 2016 13:17 utc | 115
Everyone still remembers the scenes at the Dutch military camp where men and boys were seperated from women and girls. The women were forced into buses and transported north. The forces of Milosevic executed the males from the citizens of Bosnia.
Posted by: Oui | Aug 2, 2016 12:52:40 PM | 85
OUI peddler of nonsense...Milosevic has been exonerated. So for 16 years, all weve heard about him are lies that ICTY admits to.
how many more lies do people peddle daily, ignorant of the truth
Posted by: brian | Aug 3 2016 13:48 utc | 116
@79\'“Britain needs to fill the global leadership vacuum that is allowing Bashar al-Assad to starve Syrians”'
the worlds had enough of british 'leadership'....be it the british empire or Tony Blair or cameron...incompetence mixed with brutish repression, and masters of divide and conquer
Posted by: brian | Aug 3 2016 13:51 utc | 117
Russia's actions have been consistent with a willingness to split Syria, in betrayal of Assad.
...
It seems Russia wants a stalemate that leads to splitting Syria with russia getting the western coast and Assad becoming a figurehead puppet.
Posted by: went | Aug 1, 2016 4:38:35 PM | 23
more rubbish by someone who wont use their name.
Russia under Putn isnt splitting Syria or wants a stalemate... they may place too much faith in US govt good will/
Assad has often thankd russia and putin for their aid....
unlike US, Putins russia goes home..it doesnt hang around for decades
Posted by: brian | Aug 3 2016 14:05 utc | 118
Britain to train more rebels in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Qatar
Since the headliner is Saudi Arabia, I assume they're supplying most of the fighters.
Posted by: Les | Aug 3 2016 14:07 utc | 119
...
Russia & China are conducting joint naval (military) drills in the South China Sea.
...
Posted by: Jules | Aug 3, 2016 5:58:11 AM | 109
Are there Russian and Chinese sources for those stories?
I've checked my recordings of RT and CCTV back to July 26 and there's no mention of Rus/Cn naval drills.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 3 2016 14:12 utc | 120
@brian - #115
My bad ... I already corrected my post moments later at #88 ::
I meant to speak of Ratko Mladić, the Army commander at Srebrenica - proceedings at ICTY in The Hague.
Sometimes the best defense is a good offense, and tactics wise, the best offense against "ISIS" would be directly against Israel through Golan.
https://leaksource.info/tag/isis/
Give them a taste for a change.
Posted by: Mike Keleher | Aug 3 2016 15:10 utc | 123
Posted by: Les | Aug 3, 2016 10:30:19 AM | 120 (and Jules)
A Reuters story fed to ABC.au by the US Ambassador to Oz about the Fake South China Sea Tribunal (held in a rented room at the ICJ and staffed by an irrelevant pack of anti-China US stooges) citing a Cn Defense spokesman, falls a long way short of "Russia & China making a joint statement about military co-operation".
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 3 2016 15:18 utc | 124
@ 8, Fairleft
What the Yemeni Houti's are actually chanting when they make a, as always astonishing kill is :
Death To America !!
Death To Israel !!
God Damn the Jews !!
Victory to Islam !!
The Saudi's are complete morons when it comes to things military. The Houthi's are a simple goat herding mountainous people who are as tough as they come, wearing bathroom flip-flops and bed sheets; yet they are spanking the best equipped military in the region. God bless them indeed.
Posted by: bored muslim | Aug 3 2016 16:31 utc | 125
@110 Brian.
russian boots on the ground?maybe but unlikely, as russians remember afghanistan
The key is WHAT Russians remember of Afghanistan--without knowing this (and with the exception of military professionals--majority thinks in 2-bit memes), any parallels between Syria and Afghanistan become dead beat cliches. Two absolutely different theaters and geopolitical and operational setups.
Posted by: SmoothieX12 | Aug 3 2016 16:32 utc | 126
sorry, my post @ 124 was meant for @81, not @8.
Posted by: bored muslim | Aug 3 2016 16:49 utc | 127
@ Hoarsewhisperer 123
You think an alliance does not exist? China and Russia are very angry.
Not just talk –Russia and China will not be spectators as BMD deploys in Japan and THAAD in South Korea “irreparable consequences” noted one article;
[in light of] US-Japan cooperation in the field of ballistic missile defense or the BMD. The US, in fact, has begun deploying the BMD system in Japan,"
here are related links… (source Sputniknews, ditto Tass and RT with similar posts)
Sino-Russian Alliance to Counterbalance US-Japan Military Buildup
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20150825/1026190821.html
“Russo-Japanese relations may go into a nosedive if Moscow chooses to form a security coalition with China in the light of the US' BMD deployments in Japan, Indian expert M. K. Bhadrakumar suggests, adding that Vladimir Putin's upcoming visit to China signals a future significant reconfiguration in the Far Eastern region.”
[.]Russia no longer considers the US-Japan alliance as a "stabilizing factor" or a "balancer" in the region. Furthermore, the US-sponsored project of Japan's BMD is regarded as a substantial threat to Russia's Far East. It should be noted that Article 12 of Russia's military doctrine specifically refers to the threat posed by the country's neighbors equipped with BDM hardware.[.]
And
“Will Russia and China Build an SCO-Based Joint Missile Defense System?”
http://sputniknews.com/military/20160720/1043363315/russia-china-joint-missile-defense.html
“On Monday, experts in Moscow and Beijing spoke via video conference on the implications for regional security of the US deployment of missile defense systems in South Korea. And while the forum focused mostly on political and military implications of the THAAD deployment, experts also intrigued observers by indicating that it was possible for Russia and China to join together to create a single missile defense shield over the entirety of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the political, economic and military organization involving much of eastern Eurasia. “[.]
Those joint naval exercises in the South China Sea in September
http://sputniknews.com/military/20160728/1043703794/china-russia-sea-drills.html
Posted by: likklemore | Aug 3 2016 16:57 utc | 128
Posted by: likklemore | Aug 3, 2016 12:57:30 PM | 128
Don't misunderstand my thesis, on the previous page, which Jules (above) picked up on. Yes, Russia and China are as thick as thieves. Ironically, they don't have much choice thanks to US "pivot-to-everywhere-at-once" policy. But, unlike the dumbass Yankees they don't lie about everything and make stuff up. Nor do they pull empty threats out of their asses just to create an illusion of omnipotence. They're pursuing a "strategy of tension" with the US. Not mentioning something (Russ & Cn's close ties) isn't the same as denying it, imo.
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 4 2016 1:34 utc | 129
And my never, ever, MIGHT one day fall flat on its face. But that will bother the Yankees a lot more than it will bother me ;-)
And the longer it takes, the more it will bother them...
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 4 2016 1:45 utc | 130
Today french msm start to report as a fact the use of chlorine by the Syrian army two days ago. They also pulled out from their hat a medic who just comes back from aleppo where he has been repeatedly during the war. Of course the medic describes east aleppo as if it was entirely anti assad and does not even mention thd other part of the city and the people who live there.
In the meantime bbc reports that the blame fof the chlorine attack is now on the rebels
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36970220
Posted by: Mina | Aug 4 2016 6:22 utc | 131
The fighting in Aleppo is very tense, isn't it? New attacks this morning reported by Masdar.
I don't personally rate the offensive that highly. Isolating more than a million people in western Aleppo ain't really going to work in the long term. Anyone is going to launch even suicidal attacks to open the road again to supplies for all those people. And the army will succeed in keeping the road open, I would think.
However, I could understand it as a diversion to draw Syrian troops away from the north of the city. After all, there are few govt units still fit for fighting. The aim should be to open the road again to eastern Aleppo. However the renewed attacks today suggest no change yet.
Posted by: Laguerre | Aug 4 2016 8:20 utc | 132
Just sickening White Helmets, terrorists “white hat” to cover “black deeds”
www.whitehelmets.org wants your money. They will use it to build chlorine gas weapons like those that killed 5 yesterday. They don’t care about who they kill, this is just business for them. They are committing atrocities, blaming them on Russia and Syria, in a last ditch attempt to hold Aleppo and to secure their heavy mortar sites, where their bombardment has terrorized Syria’s largest city and held the Assad government hostage.There people and those who support them in the West are a “piece of work.”
The terrorists that, for years now, have randomly mortared Aleppo neighborhoods killing hundreds now have a mantra. They hate barrel bombs they say. What they are complaining about is helicopter borne aerial bombardment, the most accurate imaginable, which has wiped out dozens of terrorist mortar positions and saved hundreds of lives in the process. The video below shows the same group loading a massive 300mm mortar used against civilians in Aleppo:
Now the terrorists are donning white helmets, have a facebook account and Paypal is helping ISIS raise cash to stop Russia and Syria from freeing Aleppo from their monstrous grasp. There has been no limit the lengths these terror groups will go, masters of social media and video editing with inexplicable “fast track”access to CIA and MI6 affilated media outlets.
Mind you, these are killers of children, monsters to be hunted and obliterated from this earth, but here I am again, getting ahead of myself. Let’s get their story to the public first, then hunt them down.
First there was the Syrian Human Rights Observatory, working with the UK Guardian, planting stories about barrel bombs and poisoned gas. Paid by Saudi Arabia, aided by Google Idea Groups and Israeli intelligence, it took the murder of Detroit born journalist Serena Shimm to expose their involvement in the terrorist murder of over 1000 using Sarin gas in Ghouta, Syria.
Now we have “White Hats,” initially “Syrian Civil Defense,” claiming to be a 3000 strong operation working in al Qaeda and ISIS areas busy saving lives threatened by Russian and Syrian terrorism against the benevolent rule of ISIS and al Nusra.
Behind them is Israeli’s intelligence services, the Potomac Institute and Jared Cohen, Bush neocon regime change strategist responsible for staging gas attacks in Syria in order to bring about an American military response. Cohen made his bones in Iran, getting invited there after leaving the White House. While in Iran, he was able to move freely, meeting with agents there tied to the murder of Iranian scientists and even getting target data for Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Those bombing attacks failed when Israel’s secret base inside Azerbaijan was “outed” by Veterans Today, later confirmed by two Azerbaijani officers who defected to Iran. See Addendum I
Posted by: ProPeace | Aug 4 2016 12:17 utc | 133
@brian | Aug 3, 2016 9:51:11 AM
The Brutish Empire of The City of London Crown Corporation has been recently desperately covering their tracks and schemes:
Files linking Britain to Israel’s nuclear weapons go missing from National Archive
@Les | Aug 3, 2016 10:07:16 AM
Thank you. You just gave another good example of the UK true face - the mastermind of the global evil empire of chaos with the US, Israel, Saudi Barbaria, Qatar, UAE and many Commonwealth countries being its tentacles, puppet colonies.
The pedo-satanist elites of the UK cannot afford BREXIT, they would loose their Trojan horse in the EU, that's why they are faking their support and trying to buy time to come up with some believable excuse to prevent it.
Posted by: ProPeace | Aug 4 2016 12:28 utc | 134
A bit OT but I've wondered for a while how 'clever' the US "pivot to everywhere at the same time" strategy really is? In theory, at least, this leaves the US Military very dispersed and thus dilute. As they've discovered in AfPak, with its multitude of big, small, and dangerously minute (and indefensible) bases, this profligacy creates as many problems as it solves. Whilst the consequences of pursuing a 'thinly spread' policy in one country can probably be compensated for, pursuing such a policy on a Global scale seems a bit ... short sighted.
When the Russia-China hammer finally falls on the US Military, will the dilution of US forces worldwide transform the ensuing skirmishes into little more than a mopping-up exercise, with the hold-outs being starved into submission, or Nuked at Ru/Cn's convenience?
Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Aug 5 2016 4:20 utc | 135
Here are two links form China news
The 1st is an update about Aleppo with pictures
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-08/06/c_135567758.htm
The 2nd is about the coordination of China and Russia which is in the comments here.....a take-away if you don't wan't to read the article:
"The United States should not underestimate the determination of both countries to safeguard their strategic security interests. The two countries are coordinating closer than ever before, which will serve as a basis to face the THAAD challenge."
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-08/04/c_135564706.htm
Posted by: psychohistorian | Aug 6 2016 5:34 utc | 136
The comments to this entry are closed.
TYPO
Over time a stalemate becomes expansive
...should read
Over time a stalemate becomes expensive
Posted by: Ronald | Aug 2 2016 20:40 utc | 101