@1 b
Breaking: ISIS militants capture most of Palmyra city

The so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) have captured the ancient city of Palmyra (Tadmor) in the eastern part of Homs province after main contingent of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) withdrew from the city. The aforementioned terror group claimed this through its media affiliate, ‘Amaq agency’. A bit late, military sources speaking to Al-Masdar News confirmed this information.
The militants consequently captured Al-Amariyah district and a hilltop of the same name, Officers Housing complex, and the Citadel of Palmyra, which made any further attempts to hold positions inside the city completely senseless.
According to several reports, some SAA units still remain in the city providing cover to their comrades that retreat westwards. After retreat is complete these units will withdraw as well.
More details to come……….

Posted by: jfl | Dec 11 2016 16:14 utc | 4

Raqqa, Palmyra, Deir Ezzor…the three projected points of the theoretical sunnistan.

Posted by: Wwinsti | Dec 11 2016 16:21 utc | 6

Many thanks jfl & Noirette, The “Lo and behold, came 9/11, a catastrophic and catalyzing event” is a hard nut for the America-the-Greatest-Freest-Democracy etc. friends and acquaintances to swallow without documentation. That any thinking American alive is not aware of the completely incriminating official policy leading to the events of imperial instigated wars since 9/11 has to be a credit to the efficacy of modern scientific propaganda. I’ll get this info on hard copy so not to loose it again.
Thanks again,
J

Posted by: juannie | Dec 11 2016 16:37 utc | 8

These Twitter accounts have updated information on the military situation inside Syria. An ISIS attack at Palmyra was beaten back yesterday (Saturday), but they have attacked again today.
Al-Masdar News
Leith Abou Fadel (CEO of Al-Masdar News)
Within Syria
maytham
Secular Syria
syria 24 english
At this point it looks like SAA forces have withdrawn from Palmyra, hopefully in preparation for a counterattack by the Syrian and Russian Air Forces.

Posted by: Robin | Dec 11 2016 16:49 utc | 10

It seems Palmyra was a joint ISIS and US operation (last FU from Obama?). US has advanced weather forecast prediction, which ISIS obviously dont possess. Then US made Iraq to stop attacks on Mosul to give IS a break, and then by exploiting a heavy mist in desert and Palmyra, moved around 4000 (estimation from different sources are 3800-5000 terrorists) fighters from Mosul, Deir Ezzor and Raqqa to attack Palmyra.
SAA in Palmyra probably had just a skeleton crew, army focusing on Alepo, Damascus neighbourhoods, etc. Airforce by itself cant stop many waves of attacks, especially in mist, some were repelled and we got news from Russia’s MOD that attack on Palmyra is repelled (300 terrorists dead, 11 tanks and 31 vehicles (66 by the last count by Ziad from SyrPer) destroyed. However more waves followed (including many, many suicide bombers, over 20) and they broke through the defences while SAA withdraw instead of sacrificing defenders.
Elite Tiger forces havent moved to Palmyra as multiple sources claimed, likely due to lower priority than finishing off Alepo.

Posted by: Harry | Dec 11 2016 17:02 utc | 12

@11 robin.. thanks. informative.
@13 harry… where are all the isis yahoo’s coming from? sounds like you’re suggesting an out from iraq thanks the usa, under the cover of weather..

Posted by: james | Dec 11 2016 17:27 utc | 14

From Al-masdar:
“However, after arrival of reinforcements, the government forces regrouped and launched a counterattack. Having cleared Al-Amiriyah and eastern Palmyra districts of ISIS terrorists, the SAA, with active air support from Russian and Syrian Air Forces, stormed ISIS positions at Jabal Tar mountain northwest of the city and Palmyra Grain Silos area located to the east. Some preliminary reports suggest that both sites were recaptured by the government forces, but no official confirmation had been provided yet.”

Posted by: Lochearn | Dec 11 2016 17:42 utc | 16

Another TAK bombing in Istanbul. At least 38 dead, some of them police.
I’ve been wondering for a while…who’s really behind this group? They are labelled as an ‘offshoot of the PKK’, but this obviously can’t be true. Their actions severely hurt the Kurdish cause, and apparently aim to create a rift between the Turkish and Kurdish parts of the population.
The TAK looks *very much* like an intel false flag front to me. But I have no idea which secret service would be backing them. Anybody has an idea?

Posted by: smuks | Dec 11 2016 18:22 utc | 18

@19
The TAK looks *very much* like an intel false flag front to me. But I have no idea which secret service would be backing them. Anybody has an idea?
Ask yourself this: who benefits most?

Posted by: Circe | Dec 11 2016 18:34 utc | 20

@13 harry, ‘It seems Palmyra was a joint ISIS and US operation (last FU from Obama?).’
obama is a much more depraved sob, even than more so than bush/cheney. he murders with a smile. you’re right, harry … a big f*ck you to the useful idiots who elected him, made him a nobel peace prize laureate. death, devastation, destruction and deceit … your name is barack obama. most monstrous war criminal of the 21st century … so far.
washington ac/dc … an inhuman habitation. war criminals all. the lot of them.

Posted by: jfl | Dec 11 2016 18:56 utc | 22

Seems to be the US proxies’ MO – a first attack, repelled, followed by a much stronger attack, which succeeds.

Posted by: paul | Dec 11 2016 19:07 utc | 24

Craig Murray on this:
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/12/cias-absence-conviction/
Am kind of surprised by his claim of being close to Wikileaks. Was not aware.

Posted by: Oddlots | Dec 11 2016 19:34 utc | 26

Cancel my remarks about simple person and troll above. Sorry about that.
Provocateurs frequent this site way too often…

Posted by: ProPeace | Dec 11 2016 19:43 utc | 28

I have only questions:
Why Syria, Iran and Russia intelligent agencies did not know Palmyra in advance?
How many freed terrorists are frm Aleppo in Palmyra?
40,000 terrorists attacking Palmyra, is not a small force, hard to believe lighting strikes from all sides?
Did Amerika, coalition of the regime and UN (Staffan de Mistura ) involved in the cease-fire talk and talk
part of the wider planned attack in Palmyra?
Palmyra was liberated earlier. While liberating Aleppo, now back to Palmyra, will the tug-of-war continues forever?
Is Amerika repeating bankrupt Russia Federation like they did to the collapsed of the Soviet Union?
Will Putin learn never to trust Amerika’s Obomo, Trump or any “democratically” elected regime?

Posted by: Jack Smith | Dec 11 2016 19:55 utc | 30

Naturally, the Putin apologists are already in full roar. But here again we have a situation where the flow of Hegemonic proxies from Mosul to Syria was the worst kept secret in the world. Only Putin did not know of it I guess.
Somehow Putin and his great military leaders did not forsee that Palmyra might be assaulted by these fighters. Now the key victory of the war for Putin has been rolled back. But yes I know I’m a troll or a provocateur if I criticize anyone over this or – shudders – dare to suggest that maybe Putin’s intentions are a little less straightforward than many claim.
Here again the Hegemon’s battle plan was admirable. A diplomatic and media assault led Putin to slow down the campaign in Aleppo, once again snatching slogdown from the jaws of liberation. The Aleppo campaign stretched on and on and on. The Hegemon, as usual, used the slowdown to weapon up elsewhere, send in reinforcements and prepare a counter assault elsewhere. Suicide bombers worked well in Aleppo when the containment was breached so this tactic was used again, only much much more. Once again, the proxies managed to assemble a huge battle force without Russia noticing. Once again a weaker first assault, repelled, was followed by a much more powerful second assault, completely successful. Once again hard won advances were rolled back overnight.
It’s a little bit weird. Somehow Obama has managed to make his words come true, his declaration that Putin would bog down in Syria. Is it possible that Putin is in on the game? I guess we’ll see.
Turkey’s role in this game is interesting too. Supposedly they are on Russia’s side now, but their recent aggressions which Russia responded to harshly seem interestingly timed now, yet another distraction to take Russia’s and Syria’s mind off Palmyra?

Posted by: paul | Dec 11 2016 20:07 utc | 32

The Following a Specific Story: The Tale of the Painted Jets portion of the ProPornOTeam’s project specifically mentions b’s posted question … Syria – Is The U.S. Preparing A “False Flag” Bombing? of 7 October 2016. They pretend that post is all about ‘the painted jets’.
1. But b is sceptical of ‘the painted jets’ use in a false flag attack …

There is a curious coincidence of a remark Secretary of State Kerry made to Syrian opposition activists and a new paint scheme applied to some U.S. military jets.
…
This may be an innocent coincidence: Secretary Kerry is asking the scam artists of the White Helmets for video of Russian jets “bombing civilians” in Syria and, just by chance, the U.S. military is painting one of its jets to look like a “Russian” Su-34 strike fighter like those deployed in Syria.
…
No cheap paint scheme trickery will be accepted as reason to hold back. Russia WILL hit back should the need arise.

2. Kerry had just explicitly asked the White Helmets for pictures of Russian air attacks on civilians, as b noted …

Interpreter (translating from a male Arabic speaker): We don’t believe that Russia can be the guarantor of the actions of the regime. We see Russia is a partner of the regime in bombing Syrians, Syrian civilians, market places, even our own team, the Syrian Civil Defense team. We documented since the start of the Russian intervention in Syria from day one until February of this year more than 17 of our Syrian Civil Defense personal have been killed by Russian airstrikes.
Kerry: Do you have any videos of the airplanes of these strikes?
(crosstalk interpreter and male Arab voice)
Kerry: Can we get that (unintelligible) videos the agents have been asking for?

3. b runs down previous US false flag operations in Syria …

But many incidents in Syria, the Ghouta gas attack, the recent aid convoy attack, get attributed to Russia or the Syrian government without any proof (or even despite contrary evidence). The media always eat these falsehoods up based simply on some official’s say-so, some unverified pictures or video and without asking any further questions [all ‘the hallmarks of good actual journalism’,as ProPornOT might say]. A “Russian attack” on some large civilian target like a refugee camp, documented on video!, would be a very easy sell.

4. This post comes three weeks after the USAF’s stint as the ISAF …

The U.S. recently bombed a Syrian unit in a well known position it had held for many month. 82 Syrian soldier died and many more were wounded. The strike furthered the advance of ISIS on the besieged Deir Ezzor. That was no ‘mistake’ as the U.S. claimed.

… more skull duggery was (always is) to be expected from the US. Since that attack … during a ceasefire just negotiated by Kerry and the Syrian/Russian side … there was/is a real question of who is in what degree of control of the US armed forces, at least in Syria.
So the point of b’s post was not the likelihood of a US attack by ‘the painted jets’ in Syria, but of the wild and wide-open ‘play’ of the US armed forces in Syria, at whomever’s command in Washington DC. ‘The painted jets’, however improbable, just provided dramatic focus.
Clearly the ProPornOTeam didn’t even read b’s post beyond the headline … or did read it and hope that their readers wouldn’t. They’re too busy making ego network charts, ‘automating’ the ‘proof’ of their ‘non-partisan’ points about ‘Russian propaganda’ to spare time to actually read the stuff they’re criticizing.
The ProPornOTeam is just the mirror image of what they’re projecting onto the Russians. If they actually do eat their own dogfood.
Note how nicely their ‘work’ segued into ‘the Russians elected Trump’.
Washington really does seem to be up for grabs, with the CIA doing the grabbing at this point during the interregnum. Will tee-rump become tee-rex in the brawl for power? Someone will. It seems to be an authoritarian future for ac/dc, the USA, and the world at large, at least in the immediate future.

Posted by: jfl | Dec 11 2016 20:15 utc | 34

@13 Harry, @23 jfl
From the Within Syria Blog on Dec 10 this tweet:
“My source it TA AB
many USAF UAVs are over the battlefield
in #Palmyra just watching!”
If true, it makes one wonder about the plan “B”, and why after 5 years, the sudden opening the weapons floodgates to the “moderates”. Is BO going to make Russia and Syria bleed because he lost?
Also, this SouthFront article has a good analysis of the lapses of SAA and Russia on the ISIS / Palmyra attacks.
https://southfront.org/breaking-critical-moment-near-palmyra-events-analysis/

Posted by: Dean | Dec 11 2016 20:31 utc | 36

Sorry a correction @37:
TA = T4 (airbase)

Posted by: Dean | Dec 11 2016 20:54 utc | 38

There is considerable detail on ISIS taking Palmyra at the Colonel Cassad website – colonelcassad.livejournal.com

Posted by: Joe100 | Dec 11 2016 21:16 utc | 40

jfl says:
This post comes three weeks after the USAF’s stint as the ISAF…
stint?

Posted by: john | Dec 11 2016 21:24 utc | 42

@Circe 21
Depends on what Erdogan’s real game is. Eurasian or not?
China’s got quite a few ‘trumps’ up its sleeve to make the US comply. No worries there.

Posted by: smuks | Dec 11 2016 21:44 utc | 44

Turkish “Eurasian pivot” is obviously part of the false coup psy-op to fool Russia and China into lowering their guard. The intention of the false Turkish coup was to expand Erdogan’s powers and lower Russia’s guard.
Observe: Erdogan’s ruling AK Party submits bill to expand powers of presidency and abolish prime ministry in Turkey
Where has Turkey shown a pivot? It keeps violating Russian red-lines in Syria and clearly has its own plans. You people keep thinking in binary terms of pro-West/anti-West, pro-Eurasian/anti-Eurasian. Erdogan is neither pro-West nor pro-Eurasian. He is pro-Erdogan, and he will do anything to expand its power. But NATO will use Turkey to the extent that Turkish plans for Syria and NATO plans converge. Turkish/U.S. co-operationin Syria has been strong: Western media articles reccomend that Turkey occupy al-Bab and Mosul, U.S. was never kicked out of Incirlik, and further we remember in August the joint invasion of Syria by Turkey/U.S. in order to save the terror proxies.
The latest Turkish moves in Syria seem perfectly timed to take Russian attention off Aleppo. No doubt that Turkish intelligence was heavily involved in the ISIS takeover of Palmyra (as it was responsible for the 2013 Ghouta chemical weapons attack).
The AKP bill proves BTW that the July Turkish “coup” was staged, contrary to the incessant screeching of the shameless Erdogan apologists on this site.

Posted by: David | Dec 11 2016 22:02 utc | 46

It seems to me that ISIS were directed by their foreign handlers to move to Palmyra mainly for the strategic propaganda value. Some nine months ago when Palmyra was recaptured by the SAA, the Russians held a concert in the ancient amphitheatre. So ISIS’ “retaking” of Palmyra is to be seen as a slap in the face to the Russians.
One can hardly expect the SAA with its limited manpower and resources to keep troops stationed at Palmyra to defend it when Aleppo’s need was much greater. What value does Palmyra really have for ISIS anyway? It is an ancient ruined city in the middle of a desert. The only real value it has is for the US wanting to “Libyanise” Syria into a western non-Sunni half and an eastern Wahhabi-Sunni half that can be at each other’s throats.
Indeed this action (ISIS storming Palmyra) shows more clearly that ISIS are receiving orders from outside the region. This suggests that whoever is pulling ISIS’ strings is acting in desperation without a clear long-term military strategy.

Posted by: Jen | Dec 11 2016 22:17 utc | 48

They probably want ISIS to destroy some historical site so the USA can justify sending more illegal occupying troops to Syria

Posted by: Ike | Dec 11 2016 23:44 utc | 50

December 11, 2016 YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS STUFF UP
Reuters article. Apparently the militants attacking and holding Palmyra, Syria posses two white pickup trucks with mounted machine guns, four fighters on foot and a tent ans sleeping bags.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-palmyra-idUSKBN13Z073

Posted by: ALberto | Dec 11 2016 23:51 utc | 52

Interesting theory from a Russian journalist near Palmyra that what happened there was a pre-arranged agreement, exchanging Palmyra for Aleppo (thousands of former rebels in Aleppo agreed to lay down their arms recently):
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/808088639607607296
He mentions that there were a lot of Russian forces in Palmyra, but no video or photos of them in the recent battles. Various sources say that the Russians left early and that ISIS entered from where the Russian checkpoints used to be:
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/808017009992724480
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/808015103052443648
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/808013229855215616
The Syrian leadership was giving commands to withdraw (by itself, this is nothing unusual):
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/808013646727102465
And Russian aviation was absent in the final hours: https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/808018211107196929
https://twitter.com/IvanSidorenko1/status/808017783233581057
At first glance, this seems implausible – after all, there is no ISIS in rebel-held Aleppo on any of the maps. If you watch many of the recent ANNA-News reports from Aleppo, though, it seems to be not uncommon to see ISIS logos painted on walls next to various Al-Nusra and FSA logos, in buildings liberated by the Syrian army. They used to be allies and their ideology is the same; they only differ on who should lead the Islamic State.
Moreover, recent Wikileaks documents show Erdogan’s son-in-law involved in the ISIS oil trade, while NATO planes helped ISIS near Deir Ezzor this summer (scuppering the Syrian ceasefire). Perhaps this was the deal reached with Erdogan or Kerry in recent days – Assad gets to keep Aleppo and the coast, unmolested, and in return for that, NATO and its allies get the “Salafist principality” between Syria and Iraq that they’ve wanted for years to block Iran from Hezbollah, and to allow them to build a pipeline from the Gulf States to Europe.
If that’s so, then the next place to fall to ISIS would be Deir Ezzor. Shortly after that, the borders will stabilize, the new “Salafist principality” will have some sort of “anti-ISIS revolution” or “change of heart among the leadership” (the ISIS ideology no longer being needed as a motivator), and will promptly ally itself with Turkey, the Gulf States and the West. The US will announce victory and leave, as will Russia (except for keeping a contingent in any air or naval bases).

Posted by: E | Dec 12 2016 1:21 utc | 54

I still think that a complicated conspiracy is unnecessary to motivate ISIS to attack Aleppo. First, they want to distract Syria from finishing off rebels in Aleppo because they can be next. Second, they need a victory to bolster the morale. Syrians clearly put the priority on completing the job in Aleppo, they payoff there is big: undivided Aleppo will function order of magnitude better, increasing the popularity of the government. Contrary to some fantasies, maintaining order will not be hard for the government, no harder than in the bulk of Aleppo that is under control, and the elite forces will be again available for other fronts. There will be also significant international impact.
Interestingly, ISIS did not attack were it would hurt Syrian government most, on Khanasser highway that forms the life support for Aleppo city and all the forces in and around. That happened few times in the past, and each time the counterattack was quite swift. Basically, substantial force is on standby to defend that highway. (Similarly, no new rebel attack on Aleppo from the west. Again, there is no much of current activity there, but another force must be kept there. The same holds for the northern Hama and Latakia.) This shows that ISIS has no capacity to truly hurt the government.
It remains to be seen if (a) Syria will stage gradual retreat from Palmyra direction that would be bloody for ISIS, or it will send more forces there after all, (b) if the pace of mopping up East Aleppo Pocket will be maintained. After few days of pause, another 10% of the pocket was cleared in 24 hours.
Last word: ProPeace @28. For the love of everything what is pure and good, do not paste long links without enclosing them them like that lovely song. It severely affects ability to read the page in many browsers.
The trick is to remove spaces in the following: < a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51tvZnkn5V8">that lovely song< /a> Thus the link can be a mile long, but we will see only your description, “that lovely song”.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 12 2016 2:17 utc | 56

Can someone please explain to me why the page widens horizontally instead of wrapping-around lengthwise that is so much easier to read?

Posted by: Circe | Dec 12 2016 3:16 utc | 58

@ Circe who asked about the Typepad blogging tool controls with commenters text/links
I suspect that b is not a techie like some of his readers and is willing to live with the limitations of the Typepad blogging tool.
I would think that somehow running any comment through a simple Perl script that strips Typepad offensive formatting stuff out would work but I am not a Typepad guru
Others may provide you with a better explanation and have already documented how to do proper links in prior comments.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 12 2016 3:26 utc | 60

@ Piotr Berman who chastised me for my improper link formatting
I am guilty as charged…..have not ramped back up on techie shit yet, sorry….Hmmm.
That said, I took the initiative to send an email to the folks that own Typepad to find and provide a solution…..I want to stay lazy about posting links that break formatting but be notified when it happens so I can choose to exert the effort.
Where is the “app/hotkey” for link check/fix?…….probably not even available with Linux….sigh

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 12 2016 3:56 utc | 62

Sorry, after you type in your browser: how to do a href in html
Hit the return and then you’ll see at the top of the page
You simply:
followed by 3 point instructions.

Posted by: Circe | Dec 12 2016 4:36 utc | 64

O/S Winxp Opera V12.18 screen wrap.
O/S Winxp Opera V36 and Yendex off screen.

Posted by: Jack Smith | Dec 12 2016 5:04 utc | 66

Latest
“BEIRUT, LEBANON (7:00 P.M.) – The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and their allies are quickly advancing inside the remaining east Aleppo neighborhoods, capturing several sites amid the jihadist collapse around the provincial capital….”
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-armys-lightening-advance-continues-east-aleppo-jihadists-struggle-hold-ground/

Posted by: Jack Smith | Dec 12 2016 5:56 utc | 68

Israel’s Defense Minister Outlines Plan to Divide Syria and Iraq along Sectarian Lines

Liberman goes on to draw three conclusions as the solutions for ending the crisis in the Middle East. The second conclusion is clearly a call to attack the sovereignty of the independent countries. Liberman says,
“many of the countries in the Middle East were established artificially, as a result of the Sykes-Picot Agreement and based on colonial considerations that did not take into account the pattern of inhabitance and the deep sectarian rifts within the respective societies.
Thus, to genuinely solve the region’s problems, borders will have to be altered, specifically in countries like Syria and Iraq. Boundaries need to be redrawn between Sunnis, Shia and other communities to diminish sectarian strife and to enable the emergence of states that will enjoy internal legitimacy. It is a mistake to think that these states can survive in their current borders.
A similar conclusion holds true for the Israeli-Palestinian arena and for the borders that will ultimately need to be drawn for the achievement of a stable two-state outcome. We need ‘out of the box’ analysis to avoid being misled by habitual ways of thinking.”

How about …

“Israel, the Apartheid state at the heart of the hatred and bloodshed in the Middle East was established artificially, as a result of the Balfour Amendment based on colonial considerations that did not take into account the pattern of inhabitance and the deep sectarian rifts within the respective societies.
Thus, to genuinely solve the region’s problems, borders will have to be altered, specifically between the countries of Israel and Palestine. Boundaries need to be redrawn between Zionist settlements in Israel and the Palestinian communities of the West Bank and Gaza – along the 1967 borders, as a start, with a subaerial or subterranean thoroughfare connecting the two – and the Zionist ‘settlers’ removed from Palestine in order to diminish sectarian strife and to enable the emergence of the two states that will enjoy internal legitimacy. It is a mistake to think that these states can survive in their current borders.
We need ‘out of the box’ analysis to avoid being misled by habitual ways of thinking.”

Posted by: jfl | Dec 12 2016 7:04 utc | 70

Greenwald documents the fake news produced and disseminated by ‘actual, real journalists’ at MSNBC, the Atlantic, and Newsweek …
A Clinton Fan Manufactured Fake News That MSNBC Personalities Spread to Discredit WikiLeaks Docs
… to counteract ‘Russian propaganda’, no doubt. bs.
William Binney says US Insiders – Not Russia – Leaked Clinton Emails, and Craig Murray says he knows who leaked them …
We’re in the midst of an attempted coup by the neo-cons and the cia. On or about 21 January we’ll see what happens.

Posted by: jfl | Dec 12 2016 7:22 utc | 72

@MadMax2 | Dec 12, 2016 2:18:47 AM | 76
Thank you. YouTube “MUSTWATCH- ABC Australia interview
w/ Bashar al-Jaafari, Syrian Am to UN”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6DSEkehMAI

Posted by: Jack Smith | Dec 12 2016 8:03 utc | 74

are all the sabre rattling designed to extract commercial concessions ?
i guess iran’s deal with boeing would keep *mad dog* mattis off their back for now.
hhhhhhhh

Posted by: denk | Dec 12 2016 8:52 utc | 76

More US Troops in Syria Under Risk of Attack from Turkey

The 200 additional U.S. troops heading into Syria will support a drive on the self-proclaimed ISIS capital of Raqqa led by Syrian Kurds who are under risk of attack from NATO-ally Turkey, according to a senior U.S. military official.
“They’re the horse we’re riding to Raqqa,” the senior official said of the Syrian Kurdish fighters known as the YPG, or People’s Protection Units.
“Their biggest concern is the Turks behind them” and not the ISIS fighters arrayed against them in Raqqa, the senior official said of the YPG fighters who have been trained and equipped by the U.S. and are widely considered the best rebel fighting force in northeastern Syria.
The Turks “hate who we’re working with,” the senior official said. The U.S. has cut off air support for the Turkish forces inside Syria out of concern over their intentions.
In a video briefing from Baghdad to the Pentagon last Friday, Air Force Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, said …
“These [nearly 300] strikes have destroyed about 90 fortifications and over 50 vehicles, … The SDF, with its Arab elements, has enabled the establishment of a governance structure representative of the local population … They’ve begun providing services to the people of Manbij, including having opened more than 240 schools since its liberation. A similar model with local governance is in the works for Raqqa once it is liberated … [the US is] facilitating joint discussions with Turkey, the SDF and other coalition partners to promote de-escalation in the area. These meetings are starting points in addressing a challenging situation. … There have been instances where — previous instances where — there has been an exchange of fire between the SDF and the Turks — the Turkish military. That has already occurred at different times during the campaign. So what we’re trying to do is make sure that we keep all these operations de-conflicted.”
The Turkish General Staff claimed Saturday that more than 70 PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) and ISIS terrorists had been killed by recent Turkish airstrikes in northern Syria and in Kurdish areas of southeastern Turkey, Turkey’s Andalou news agency reported.
The senior U.S. official who spoke on background last week said the U.S. also had concerns about a potential all-out fight he called a “meeting engagement” around al-Bab that would involve the Turks and the Syrian opposition, and the Assad regime forces backed by the Russians moving from the south. “This is a very tenuous situation,” the senior official said.

1. Appears they’re not anticipating a problem with ISIS fighters … because they’re all in Palmyra?
2. They are anticipating a problem with Turkish fighters … because they plan on taking over the same are in Syria that the Turks do?

Posted by: jfl | Dec 12 2016 10:08 utc | 78

Anyone care to speculate on how violent US reaction would be if Putin took Iraq up on its offer of an airbase several months ago? Russia doesn’t have the extra planes or resources to spare, I’ve heard. Still, securing Deir Ez-zor from the east would shore up what appears to be a crumbling front, and seeing as the US is bombing Iraqi soldiers anyway, maybe they would benefit from having a choice from where they get their air coverage. Yeah, I know. I’m still in shock from the fall of Palmyra.

Posted by: Wwinsti | Dec 12 2016 10:26 utc | 80

@80, Petri Krohn, very interesting!
@84: Yes, very much a Russian failure. Colonel Cassad has a list of the equipment that was left behind, and many photos. Truly a colossal screw-up:
http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/3122478.html
The following were left behind in Palmyra for ISIS: 30 tanks, 6 IFVs, 6 122mm artillery, 7 ZU-23 anti-aircraft guns, various cars, anti-tank missiles, small arms, plus a lot of supplies and ammunition that was there for a planned future offensive to Deir Ezzor.

Posted by: E | Dec 12 2016 10:33 utc | 82

A good visual Aleppo update. Rebel losses of the last 24h in blue.

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Dec 12 2016 13:41 utc | 84

@84 if that was indeed the case, then I wonder if Putin will hold some chestnuts to the fire

Posted by: aaaa | Dec 12 2016 14:14 utc | 86

jfl@ 35
For more information on the WaPo, CIA, Ukraine neo-nazi’s and PropOrNot see:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/09/the-anonymous- blacklist-promoted-by-the-washington-post-has-apparent-ties-to-ukrainian- fascism-and-cia-spying/
Worth noting that Ukrainian associations have been deeply embedded in most large US cities since the early 1950s. Not unlike the AIPAC propaganda wing that pulls the strings in the US government.

Posted by: Krollchem | Dec 12 2016 14:21 utc | 88

re 84

Hear the last Emir speak from the last mosque in Aleppo.

Strange that the guy is not even a local, but an African. They seem to have given up on pretending to be locals. By the way, maybe Imam rather than Emir.

Posted by: Laguerre | Dec 12 2016 14:53 utc | 90

From Yemen
https://twitter.com/BaFana3
(note: Wahhabis consider any special celebration of Muhammad is wrong, i.e. celebrating his birthday, as do the Sufis and many Sunnis, or visiting his house or his grave)

Posted by: Mina | Dec 12 2016 18:09 utc | 92

ref last emir
he shows up at 1’17, he might be North African rather than Syrian, from his accent
the anchorman is an American

Posted by: Mina | Dec 12 2016 18:15 utc | 94

94
If you will all gather around me, you will find your answer right … here … The Cipher Brief
Please note that bookmarking is disabled and you won’t be able to link to it. And Dahoit,
they’re not messing with Trump, you are playing checkers, they are setting up Cold War 2,
just like NASA is setting up Mission Mars, just like NOAA is setting up Climate Chains, it’s
what the largest Mil.Gov bureaucracies on Earth do to ‘defend’ (sic) their salaries and their
pensions for life. And here’s a cold knife in the heart if you’re an USAryan: all this time
Mil.Gov has been underfunding their own pensions and looting the capital budget for higher
salaries and benefits. Everyone in and out of government knows this. But then when Mil.Gov’s
pensions reach critical underfunding, THEY’LL ROB SS/MC TO FUND THEIR FULL PENSIONS FOR LIFE.
That’s not just a USAryan problem, it’s global, why Modi is India is forcing cyber-currency,
why EU will follow, and like USAryans, everyone will remain willfully blind to the fact that
Mil.Gov underfunded their own pensions so they could front-end their salaries and benefits,
because they knew, in the end, they were going to f*ck the taxpayers up the ass on pensions.
Is the CIA protecting USArya against these Mil.Gov thieves? NO, THEY ARE ALL MIL.GOV THIEVES.

Posted by: chipnik | Dec 12 2016 18:58 utc | 96

E @ 54. Thank you. Extremely interesting.
—
Julian @ 57. MH17 was a hoax you know; quite impossible for heavy objects
falling from the sky to leave no dents & gouges in the earth (impact craters, etc)
Real plane crashes have impact craters like these:
http://killtown.911review.org/flight93/crash-comparisons.html
Heavy parts were all by the road. Guys who collected either long-dead bodies
or dummies were all employees of one Ukrainian oligarch mine owner.
State of the art medical dummies are here http://www.waldomason.com/ .
Anna News, embedded w the Russian/Donbass fighters shows the raw crash site at
“MH17 the Plane that Never Crashed ” & you can decide for yourself.
Select English subtitles. Don’t look if you’re sensitive.

Posted by: Penelope | Dec 13 2016 6:18 utc | 98

US Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit, Saleh v. Bush. The sides present arguments, starts after 1:47.

Posted by: iegee | Dec 13 2016 8:47 utc | 100