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Saker Message:
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How the Turkish mafia organizes the trafficking of refugees
http://bit.ly/1PlnIlj
Shia militias: what militias? There are different groups and factions of Shia militias so there is a particular reason why the army is discouraging these. Why?
Question more.
Its because the areas they are fighting in in Iraq are majority Sunni (Ramadi is a vastly Sunni area). So they are trying to keep the Sunni areas from opposing the government forces, as being only a Shia invasion of the Sunni provinces. In Iraq you don’t see the unity of the military forces around a charismatic leader that you do in Syria. Where 70% of the SAA is said to be Sunni fighting alongside Shia,Christians,and Alawites,under an Alawite President. Sectarianism is much stronger in Iraq. So the government is trying to be careful not to inflame it more.
It was a US prerequisite.. The shia militia is under Iranian IRGC control.. Yes the entire shia militia of Iraq.. The US went ape… To get US support the Iraqi army cant use them when US presence is needed.. But Iraqi army is mostly shia anyway.. And they would not have been able defeat IS without them. The Canadians bombed the shia militia when they were attacking IS and the front collapsed.. The US bombed the shia militia when the IS front collapsed near the dam.. It is to prevent the Iranians from having a say and that cant happen if they are already in there…
From almastar latest news:
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/islamist-rebels-fall-apart-near-marj-al-sultan-as-the-syrian-army-enters-al-nishabiy
I’m curious about how so many views happen when a new thread appears. Can computers be wired to link up immediately with a new thread. Or are some computers given pre-views. Or is this site so hot that saker groupies live here all the time. It’s become kind of a game with me, trying to be the first view. I’ve been the first commenter but never the first viewer. As is well known, I am a narcissist who simply must be number one. If it were not for my inferiority complex to provide balance I’d fall overboard like ballast.
Enough already. The war is on and SF is the first on the front.
Russia seems determined to actually win the war which is a way to end it. The clip of Obama Bomb Not is designed apparently to deceive (what else?) and to undermine Russia’s new war mind. I hope Russia sticks to her guns and cuts off the end-runs.
In the larger view of stopping the Empire’s war on Russiana I must clearly uncover the roots of war and cut them off at the tip of the taproot. This can only be done with the ax of love since love is the axel-rod of earth loving power.
The problem is that decent people don’t want to go that deep because it hits where it hurts their own assets. I need to tread lightly and not ruffle too many feathers or I’ll be tarred and feathered. I like feathers but tar I don’t. I don’t want to be no tar-baby nor no Brer Rabbit stuck in the tar, waiting for Brer Fox to make a meal of me.
I think the moral is clear regarding Russiana and the Fox guarding the Syrian hen house. If Russ doesn’t wise up and either win this war or lose it with honor, it’s going to be Tar Baby all over again, caught in a quagmire of something worse than tar on a czar.
Uncle Remus could only one tale at a time and Uncle Sam tells nothing but tales. I’ve got to find some middle ground on the killing ground to ground the big story of love. I tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth at thelovegovernment.com but here it’s about bits and pieces or in modern parlance bytes and pixels.
I’m a bad boy for making fun when war is serious business. I wouldn’t think of risking my life by messing with serious mafia money so I stick to messing up monkey minds. If you can make sense of that you’re better than me. Love alone knows and she’s not saying except to those who are praying like Mona Lisa to the Sphinx. “My lover she speaks like silence without ideals or violence…”
Dennis … view are also counted in draft mode… so when saker reviews his article its counted as a view. Only the author of the article gets view number 1 as its has not yet been published. … mod-hs
Thanks. That makes sense. The author gets to read her/his article first and then proof-read it. Well and good. Writers have a heavy responsibility since the pen is mightier than the sword. The information war is where it starts with each of us getting view number one on our own thoughts and feelings.
If I recall correctly, the vineyard saker is an anagram of the author’s real name.
An anagram of my name is “sinned early.” Like original sin, I need lots of proof-reading and re-writing. I need a community that understands anagrams and the holograms behind them.
I’m grateful to you, mod-hs, and to all the vineyard sakers. I stand to be corrected anytime and to be called on my ana-writing. Real writing needs a real community. Whether Sakerville passes the test of time only time will tell.
Because we use RSS to read the threads using EMAIL automatically.. It downloads the threads whenever you check email.. I dont need to come here to read, I read it like I read my email… And since my email client is running all the time, it just kind of does it even if I am not here..
Watching all these updates day after day, I almost feel too close to the whole thing. Every day it seems like the Syrian army take another village or two and the bombers whack some more moles, but over the course of a couple of months what does it all mean? Are all those little villages adding up to anything? All the pockets of Jihadist control are still there, even the little one right by Damascus. Some of them are looking kind of nibbled around the edges, and Aleppo keeps getting a bit closer and a bit closer to being encircled by government-held turf, but nothing big has changed hands except that one airport a while back.
It certainly seems as though the Syrian army has the initiative. Attempts by ISIS et al. to counterattack have pretty consistently stalled, while the Syrian army keeps advancing a bit more and a bit more. But I have no idea from this whether the jihadists are hurting overall, whether they’re running low on people or at least trained people or ammunition or anything, whether any hoped-for difficulties in supply from taking roads or what have really materialized, how their morale is doing . . . I also don’t know how many casualties the SAA or Hezbollah are taking, because South Front announces estimates for rebels killed but to listen to them nobody in the SAA ever, ever dies, which presumably can’t be the case. I’d love to see an update from somebody solid giving a broader impression of what’s happened over the last while and what the overall impact seems to be.
I don’t think the SAA gives out the information on their losses on a regular basis (if at all). I’ve read something about that on RT before. So that might be why South Front doesn’t show SAA losses.
Seems likely. I’m sure some ISIS spokesbeing would be happy to spout all kinds of numbers about how many infidels they’re offing, but nothing they say would be credible because they’re just as much all about the propaganda as their American masters.
SAA gives out accurate detailed reports about losses to the red cross and UN since the beginning..
But that is only the Syrian arab army.. Not the defense forces which number more than twice SAA or the Iraqi, Afghani, Iranian or Lebanese militias.. SAA is less than 100K while the NDF is 200K, YPG like 50K.. The NDF and militias are not well trained so losses are very high.. Hezbollah has the lowest but 20% in 3 years is still higher than what the Germans had.. IRGC losses are 10% but they only been fighting since august.. Both IRGC and Hezbollah also publishes losses, with Hezbollah also publishes names and pictures.. Kind of hard to keep up separately.. I would say 100 losses a day.. But the russians say they kill 150-200 terrorists a day.. and SAA kills like a few dozen a day.. Yes SAA/Allies losses are exponentially higher… If not for the Russian, they would be in very deep trouble and maybe why they never went on the offensive before..
Because of the problems with super powers helping terrorists wage guerrilla wars, the way the battles takes place are far different than facing military formations. Usually a dozen or so terrorists takes over a village of 20 or so buildings.. Clearing that takes hundreds of soldiers. It usually takes a 5:1 ratio to take out terrorists, so for that dozen terrorists more than 50 soldiers die. Obviously Syria can not take such losses.. We can see that almost 100,000 security members have died for less than 50,000 terrorists.. That pretty good, very good actually and which is why I believe most are just gangs and not real rebels.. I do not believe US numbers of 1 soldier to 10 terrorists.. Never happen anywhere else..
With over 50K IS and 75K Syrians, that’s like 125K of mostly small terrorist units. Syria would need an army of over a million to clear them out.. An example would be the surge in iraq and Afghanistan where 100,000 US soldiers did not eliminate them even using local proxy forces but they were able to contain them,maybe what 20-30K insurgents? On the other hand india used over a million men to secure almost the same area to prevent terrorists attacks which mostly worked but did not stop it.. Because Pakistan helped the terrorists infiltrate in using fire support so even a million man army wont stop terrorism in Syria without Jordan, turkey, Israel and Iraq also preventing terrorism. The 100K Syrian army and 200K national defense force can slowly clear areas and try to cut off supplies from turkey.. but that wont stop terrorism.. It would only mean the terrorists wont control the governance of an area like they do now.
Also another problem is the US has a no limit credit card that is used to bribe Syrian officials to run away… How they were able to get terrorists into Aleppo and take half the town before the army even noticed it. Turkish military directly helped terrorists take ildib. So clearing this area is a priority but it is very slow.. Would have been impossible without Russia’s help because of direct military assistance by turkey.. Its like Stalingrad except with over a million civilians inside of it and 10,000 soldiers and terrorists duking it out in the middle… I don’t see how the terrorists can be rid of here.. That million civilians are hostages..
and 500 Iranians and 1000 Hezbollah upto now… and 100/SAA daily because they are attacking the last 2 months..
Animated GIF of battle maps..
Syrian revolutionary war map Jan. 2015-Dec. 2015 HT
https://twitter.com/_alhamra/status/679440267691339776
Updated map of clashes.. You have to select the area from the menu on top left.. next to world map -> Syria and the drop down select the area…
http://worldconflictsresearch.t83.net/deir-ez-zor-city/4589609233
An awesome article on Fort Russ about what Russia is doing and needs to do in today’s situation:
“Hounding the Bear: Hybrid Methodology of Containing Russia”
http://fortruss.blogspot.com/2015/12/hounding-bear-hybrid-methodology-of.html
Closest thing I’ve seen to date for a program to keep track of the players.
Save it!
It’s got it all, including up to that recent 34-nation “alliance” :
Caliphistan;
Thugistan;
Sandistan;
Pipelineistan;
BRICSstan;
Shiitestan;
NATOstan;
…
https://aamichael666.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/nato-and-sunni-islamic-coalition-vs-russia-eeu-sco-and-shia-block.png?w=670&h=607
The new coalition will be headquartered in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, and it seems as if Turkey is already moving into Iraq to prepare an operation to secure the Euphrates corridor (see below RT clip). This move by Turkey is preemptive, anticipating a Russian move to dig into Iraq also, as it already has in Syria. It would seem that the old Ottoman Turk vs Arab rivalry can be settled quite easily, well, when such large natural gas sales and transit revenues are involved, a century of resentment between frenemies dissolve as quick as a AAA-rated security stamped in London
http://aamichael666.com/2015/12/23/34-sunni-led-islamic-countries-create-coalition-against-extremism-with-saudi-turk-leadership-vestigial-caliphate/
Fantastic bit of news out of Syria, for the first time ever in the world combat robots have been successfully employed against the jihadi vermin infesting Syria :
Syrian Army Use Military Robots Made In Russia
For the first time in the world, an attack on a fortified area of militants was conducted by battle robots. In the province of Latakia, army units of the Syrian army, with the support of Russian specialists and Russian combat robots, took the strategic tower of “Syriatel”, 754m in height.
Full article can be read here :
http://fortruss.blogspot.de/2015/12/syrian-army-use-military-robots-made-in.html
Now we all know what president Putin meant when he said recently the capabilities of the Russian armed forces were by no means exhausted in Syria. When Putin speaks people better listen up good because he always says what he means and means what he says.
It has just been reported in Fortruss that the terrorist who claimed responsibility for the downing of the Russian Airbus flight A321 over Sinai has been eliminated :
He claimed responsibility for shooting down the Russian A321 over Sinai, and now he’s gone
The terrorist Abu Musabi [Shabi al-Manai], who took responsibility for the destruction of the Russian aircraft A321, flight 7K9268 from Egypt to St Petersburg, has been killed. This was reported by Andrei Popov, “Vesti FM” correspondent in Cairo.
Popov: The Egyptian Air Force has eliminated Abu Masabi, the leader of the terrorist organization in the Sinai Peninsula, south of Rafah. It is near the very place the remnants of the fallen Russian plane. According to eyewitnesses, the Egyptian air force helicopter gunships launched a series of attacks on the gathering of militants who were in the village of El-Ugra.
Abu Musabi, the leader of the group, tried to escape by car, but was stopped by a rocket direct hit.
According to the Egyptian air force, together with the head of the organization at least another 10 extremists were also killed.
With regard to Abu Musabi, though he is known to have come from a Sinai tribe, yet he was born in Amman from an Egyptian father and a Palestinian mother. Already in 2005, when he was still very young, he was suspected to be a member of the extremist network “Al-Tawhid wal-Jihad” (“Monotheism and Jihad”) organization operating in the Palestinian territories.
Funny thing is, you want to know how crazy stupid these people really are ? The article further down had this to say :
It is known that a few weeks ago he was in the Palestinian territories, where he met with the leadership of the ‘Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade, knownto have fired onIsraeli territory. The group he headed has claimed responsibility for shooting down the Russian aircraft in the Sinai peninsula on October 31 as a result of which, as you know, 224 people were killed.
So I am assuming that unlike seemingly the majority of these jihadi nutters he does have a beef with Israel, probably because of his Palestinian background. So instead of viewing the Russians as allies in the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation which Russia is they go bring down a Russian airline with innocent civilians on board just to make a point. Go figure. The full article can be read here :
http://fortruss.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/he-claimed-responsibility-for-shooting.html
Turkjey is shelling a YPG border crossing with tanks and now Turkish army entered north west of #Qamshli, NW of #Syria…
.Russia might have to send a few calibers their way soon…
Turkey is shelling Kurdish towns in turkey like Israel shells Gaza.. Guess now that they kissed and made up..
Waiting for Putin to get his axe to chop of erdo’s other leg….
4000 #IS militants & their families will be transferred from Hajr Al-Aswad & Qadam in south #Damascus to #Raqqa as part of agreement
As part of the agreement, areas that were under #IS control will be handed over to the #SAA
Dozens of buses are now there, the transfer will begin with the 1st batch on Saturday
Live from #Latakia city, Christmas celebrations in #Syria pro govt areas.
https://twitter.com/Hamosh84/status/680115383911714820
Bwhahahahaha how embarrassing…
source said that 300 Colombian recruits “decided voluntarily” to fight in southern Yemen, a decision for which they are paid a bonus of $1000 a week in addition to the $2,000-$3,000 a month salary they already receive.
It is unclear how many fighters refused to fight, but a report from the Spanish language HispanTV, which is operated by Iran’s state-owned public broadcasting corporation, site “Western sources” putting the number at 300.
This was a smaller number than previously reportedly intended, with the UAE hoping to send 800 soldiers to fight in the conflict. “The Colombians were supposed to pass unnoticed as local Emirati troops, and that caused a large number of them to desert,” he said. “They said their contract was in the UAE and not fighting other people’s wars.”
http://www.conflict-news.com/colombian-fighters-are-refusing-to-fight-in-yemen/
The Colombian regime handles much of the Jewish mafia’s cocaine business. I wonder what sort mafia business those Colombians were to protect in Yemen? Drugs, human and human organ traffiking, protection of the zionazi’s daesh/alqaida subsidiaries…?
Report it testing on hill 754.5,”Syriatel” tower in Latakia mount “Platforma-M”
https://twitter.com/miladvisor/status/680106174566510592
Report Russia testing newest weapons in Syria.Platforma-M & Argo combat robots took part in recent Latakia ops
https://twitter.com/miladvisor/status/680104698695782400
Platform-M is a remote controlled robotic unit on a crawler, armed with grenade launchers and Kalashnikov rifles. It was revealed last summer during a Russian military drills near Kaliningrad.
https://www.rt.com/news/310291-russia-military-robot-sevastopol/
10,000 Iraqi army forces against 300 IS in Ramadi.. Just today’s losses are over 50 dead and 100 wounded Iraqi’s.. Hopefully the Platforma-M will help the SAA avoid losses like the Iraqi’s…
Merry Christmas from Iran
https://twitter.com/_ssssns/status/680081678442823680
Nobody trusts Turkey anymore. NORAD is closely monitoring Santa Claus and his sleigh and eight tiny reindeer to make sure trigger-happy Erdogan doesn’t shoot them down. He shoots first, asks questions later.
BREAKING NEWS Christmas has been cancelled..
Santa has been shot down by F-16 Fighter jets as he entered Turkish airspace without permission.
https://twitter.com/SlyNewsBreak/status/680152798017777664
the whole ‘Santa’ thing is such a distortion of Christmas anyways…its a materialistic alternative to Christ – Mass.
Well, the specifics, yes. But the gift-giving is older than Christ; it dates back at least to Roman winter solstice Saturnalia celebrations. Capital turns the whole thing into a marketing-driven addiction, but at the core there’s nought wrong with giving gifts to those you love.
And by the way, Merry Christmas everybody!
Well santa is fat white guy who never shaves riding a skinny reindeer or something bringing gifts… This is found in every culture.. Not the fat white guy.. But giving gifts is a special occasion.. People save up the entire year so they can give something that someone is expecting.. Mostly family.. or even giving something to others.. Like feeding orphans or giving something to your village/community.. While a birthday is selfish.. And there are many names for it.. I have not seen any culture without such a practice..
Oh dear. Santa enters Turkish airspace.
https://twitter.com/jesuiscanard/status/680059442948366336
OR
https://twitter.com/BBassem7/status/679769187334529024
https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/status/679612666449547264
MY xmas gift… Thanks Russia!!!!!
Alloush blown up an hour ago… The guy who kidnapped Christians and Syrian soldiers and killed them to make it look like the Syrian government committed an atrocity to get the US to bomb syria..
The best xmas gift Russia gave syria… He should have gone back to SA or taken the amnesty to moved to raqqa yesterday.
https://twitter.com/Ibra_Joudeh/status/680409804309983232
There was a very interesting post on the Twitter link:
#IS fighter captured by #YPG: “We received military training in Adana [#Turkey], local media were told we were FSA.”
Looks like firefight hit the plane as it was preparing to land and the pilots panicked… Or maybe all the explosion going on right under it.. Why is turkey using tanks and stuff inside the city?
An Iran passenger plane crashed into barrier at Istanbul airport
http://turkey.liveuamap.com/en/2015/24-december-an-iran-passenger-plane-crashed-into-barrier
Wiretapped calls reveal communication between Turkish officers and ISIS – report
https://www.rt.com/news/327024-wiretapped-calls-turkish-officers/
“Turkish officers on the Syrian border have communicated with Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, Turkey’s Cumhuriyet daily reported, citing an investigation by the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s office which allegedly eavesdropped on their phone calls.”
Katie Hopkins ‘happy US stopped Mahmood family flying to Disneyland’
https://www.rt.com/uk/326986-katie-hopkins-mahmood-disneyland/
Another colonial success for zionazi, inc.
EU Turns Blind Eye on Erdogan Atrocities – Media
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151225/1032280567/EU-Turns-Blind-Eye-Erdogan-Atrocities.html
“But…but…but, he’s our tool” – zionazis/nazis, “we don’t commit atrocities, we have automatic exemptions when it comes to these sorts of things”.
Russian version of armored Humvee?
PHOTO: SAA Soldier infront of an RuGF GAZ “Tigr”.
https://twitter.com/2Rook14/status/680045860009324544
PHOTO: Group picture of #Syria’n troops and RuGF “advisors”
https://twitter.com/2Rook14/status/680034199835815936
SAA/NDF troops along with RuGF soldier in Northern Latakia
https://twitter.com/2Rook14/status/680191878466289664
An SAA soldier infront of an IVECO “Lynx” LMV in Latakia.
https://twitter.com/2Rook14/status/680258512392355840
Lavrov says #Russia is ready to cooperate with Kurds against Daesh
http://bit.ly/1NLtHLA
Iran President wishes Christians a Merry Christmas
well, I sure didn’t understand the end of this video…Shia’s are banned from fighting ISIL ?
‘
By the US ?-
And by the way – that Iraqi leader looks like a US puppet in this video….
Please explain.
All shia militias in Iraq are under Iranian supreme commander.. And any iraqi military that are involved are also under Iran.. hence US wont allow it.. But the Iraqi army is mostly shia anyway just like the SAA is mostly sunni..
Worlds largest US embassy is in Baghdad.. enough to house like 10,000 people.. Yea iraq is a US protectorate.. Like Puerto rico
That, but also to be fair there’s also a political/military problem with using the Shi’ite militias. It’s partly an excuse perhaps, but there is some reality to it: The turf involved is mainly inhabited by Sunnis, and Iraq just had a (US-triggered-and-nurtured) Sunni vs. Shi’ite civil war with plenty atrocities. Some would say in Iraq at least this is still that same fight under a different name, and ISIS would certainly like that to be true.
Sooo, have Shi’ite fighters, not particularly disciplined ones, put down a Sunni armed force in a city inhabited by Sunni and they might not draw overly careful lines between Sunni combatants and Sunni civilians. You could get a bloodbath and drive more locals into the jihadist camp. Plays into the ISIS narrative that Sunni should all join them because the (Iranian-backed) Shia are out to get the Sunni. So yeah, I can see the reluctance to use those guys; letting them loose could give you the kind of “win the battles but lose the war” results that, say, American troops are always getting when they deal with insurgencies.
There was a lot of sectarian violence before shistani put an end to it, sadr became a monk and such and disbanded his Mahdi army.. It was Pepe who said the Iraqi military was under the command of the Iranian supreme commander.. If they wanted to fight IS.. They had already lost to IS dozens of times so it made sense.. 10,000 of them fighting a rag tag bunch of under 500 IS fighters in ramadi, their losses have already exceeded 500 dead.. IS is still there and weaker but still holding out.. And this is after the shia militias had taken care of the front line fortifications already.. I dont know what the US teaches these guys but it sure aint how to fight and live.. and I dont mean the million man iraqi army they spent 50 billion or what not, this is the new improved iraqi army.. part deux.. they are better dressed..
This article pretty much explains the US reluctance to allow shia militias anywhere near the battle field..
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/hezbollah-in-iraq-a-little-help-can-go-a-long-way
The #Yemeni launched ballistic missiles against #Saudi coalition Missile flight paths..
https://twitter.com/YemenFightsBack/status/678986575330586628
The yellow is where the ballistic missile launched at. The red circle is King Khaled Airbase, killing is commander
https://twitter.com/mowali75/status/679731540000047104
Announced today : 50,000 #Yemen army & Houthi militia ready to attack & liberate biggest cities in Jizan & Asir regions of #Saudi Arabia.
Yemeni launches ballistic missile Qahir1 against oil company Aramco in Jizan!
Ballistic launched a little while ago in Jizan resulted in a direct hit of Jizan airport
Yemeni forces invading Shabakah and Mustahdath and burning storages in Jizan SaudiArabia
https://t.co/iZTBk8XN9x
Yemeni forces launched 2 ballistic missile of #Qahir1 to Safir in Marib and al-Tuwal land port in Jizan!
https://twitter.com/YemenFightsBack/status/678448268402147328
Russian soldiers admiring an SAA solider and his badass pickup truck..
https://twitter.com/Ald_Aba/status/679925333362085888
Well dont just sell weapons, sell people too.. I say go for it.. Let them die killing each other for once..
Mike Hindmarsh, 59, is a former senior Australian army officer who is publicly listed as commander of the UAE’s Presidential Guard.
The Presidential Guard is a unit of marines, reconnaissance, aviation, special forces and mechanised brigades, according to the US State Department website.
Hindmarsh oversaw the guard’s formation in early 2010 shortly after he took up his estimated $500,000-a-year, tax-free job in Abu Dhabi, where he reports directly to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
“All GCC (Gulf) states should be doing this. Don’t just buy the best equipment, buy talent too,” he wrote, referencing the Gulf state’s huge investment in military hardware.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/mercenaries-charge-uae-forces-fighting-yemen-764309832#sthash.i5jNt5af&st_refDomain=t.co&st_refQuery=/eAdEo4w2Yi
Is it me or is Russia bombing tankers waiting to cross the border every day the last week?
Syria #RuAF used ShOAB 0.5 bomblets against truck convoy north of Aleppo. https://t.co/aLUg8C1Xwt
Russian airforce RuAF targeting ISIS oil tankers in north Aleppo Syria.
https://twitter.com/Hamosh84/status/680041038401138688
RuAF Airstrike on an ISIS/Daesh column of oil tanker trucks (Aleppo province). https://t.co/RYxDO5E5mr
ALEPPO, SYRIA – DECEMBER 24: Smoke rises from the burning vehicles after the Russian airstrikes targeted roads at Ihsin town of Aleppo, Syria on December 24,…
Notice secondary blasts after #RuAf bombing, it’s proof Turkish trucks weren’t carrying humanitarian aid to Syria
https://t.co/N4E7l77m07
Another convoy hit…
Russian Air Forces target supplies tankers in Ehres village, that were heading to Turkey
https://www.facebook.com/syriareport2/videos/431213603736429/?theater
Russian airforce RuAF targeting #ISIS oil tankers in north Aleppo Syria.
https://twitter.com/Hamosh84/status/680041038401138688
Syria ISIS’ video of downing jet over Qalamoun….Is one of the best Propaganda piece of 2015
https://archive.org/details/1fl122
Russia’n SOF in Syria .. “No boots on the ground” only Sneakers .
https://twitter.com/towersight/status/679935811731746816
Oh guess Russia was going after the oil trucks the last week…
The Russian Air Force in Syria has destroyed about 2,000 tankers used by the Islamists for oil transportation. In the last week, Russian warplanes eliminated 17 convoys of oil tankers and a number of installations used by terrorists for oil extraction and processing.
“According to satellite data, the number of oil tankers moving through the ‘northern route’ towards the refinery in the [Turkish] city of Batman has considerably diminished,” Rudskoy said, adding that the number of tankers using the ‘western route,’ between the Turkish cities of Reyhanli [on the Syrian border] and the city of Iskenderun, has decreased to 265 vehicles.
“The [aerial] imagery was made in the vicinity of Zakho (a city in Iraqi Kurdistan), there were 11,775 tankers and trucks on both sides of the Turkish-Iraqi border,” Lieutenant-General Sergey Rudskoy told journalists on Friday.
“However, despite a considerable diversion, the finishing point of the trafficking route remains Turkey,” Rudskoy said.
https://www.rt.com/news/327063-russian-intelligence-oil-tankers-turkey/
She is having a good year, got a promotion last week..
Happy Bday, Mariya! Spokeswoman of #Russia ‘ s Foreign Ministry
https://twitter.com/SgforgoodStella/status/680111218460327936
Putin forces women to wear hijabs..
https://twitter.com/upgradepcfr/status/680027674610405376
President Vladimir Putin
I gave an example at the so-called Valdai Club remembering our most recognizable symbol, the bear, that guards our taiga. If we follow through with this analogy, then I sometimes wonder whether our bear should, perhaps, sit quietly instead of chasing pigs and piglets throughout the taiga, eating berries and honey. Perhaps, then he would be left alone. [But t]hey won’t leave him alone, because they’re always trying to chain him up. And as soon as they’re able to put him on a chain, they’ll pull out his teeth and declaw him. In today’s context, this is the power of nuclear deterrence. As soon as, God forbid, this happens, and the bear is no longer needed, they’ll appropriate the taiga.
WHY IS RUSSIA PERCEIVED AS A THREAT?
Why does today’s Russia pose such a threat to the current international status quo? It is certainly no longer Communist—if we are to take the official Western argument about its dangers at face value—and thus does not seek to promote a particular ideology to the rest of the world. Indeed, this country is not yet fully sovereign, primarily because of the Liberal economic direction inherited from the 1990s when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ‘guided’ it all the way to hyperinflation. Even its Constitution is based on Western models from the same period.
Russia, however, is sovereign enough to challenge Washington’s global hegemony, by advocating various international and domestic aspects of multipolarity, and to dare talk about challenging this hegemony in public. Thus, the Pentagon lists Russia as one of the top threats to the U.S. in its military strategy.
The Russian Federation is also a large, resource-rich land, which is very attractive to foreign capital that has its own interests in mind rather than those of Russia’s citizens. Some of those energy resources are sold to China, the biggest competitor to the U.S.
TAKING SMALL BITES
Let us examine some of the notable episodes of hybrid warfare—what we dubbed as “bear-hounding”—applied to Russia.
Media
This is the most overt factor in anti-Russian methodology. Detailing attacks on that country and its leadership in Western mainstream media could easily turn into a book of its own, though one does not need to go any further than the slanted coverage of the events outlined below. The purpose of this hyperbolic, half-truthful reporting is to influence public opinion in order to support particular government decisions in the West. Indeed, some commentators have described the current situation as being worse than the Cold War era.
In part, this media modus operandi is a result of low-quality, tabloid-like journalism by those, who neither have the academic background, nor the language skills, nor the travel experience covering Russia. In part, this is an aspect of Postmodernity in terms of the general nihilism it exemplifies.
Ukraine, Donbass, and Crimea
Ukraine has been a pressure point, or a geopolitical pivot, to quote Zbigniew Brzezinski, used against Russia since 1991. Indeed, some analysts would argue that this strategy goes back to relying on Galician Banderites in various capacities after the Second World War. Because working with that country’s corrupt elites had not been difficult, Washington alone officially invested $5 billion into the creation of the so-called civil society, that is, an entire class of opinion-makers and media personalities hostile to the country’s historic roots and heritage shared with Russia.
Turkey, Middle East, and Terrorism
The complex situation in the Middle East is akin to a multi-layered cake, in which geopolitical rivalries are entangled with regional interests and religious disagreements. There are several centers of power, including the U.S., Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iran. As of recent, this list extended to Russia with its legal engagement in combatting terrorism in Syria—including hundreds of its own citizens, who joined Daesh (‘Islamic State’) and could come home— and defending its own regional interests in the Caspian. We must not underestimate the extent to which certain Middle Eastern countries are capable of acting as autonomous players, despite their alliances with Washington in various formats, as the case of Turkey’s entry into Iraq—that does not necessarily work for the U.S.—indicates.
NATO Expansion
And what about NATO? We know that this military alliance has been moving ever closer to Russia’s borders since 1991 despite guarantees made to Mikhail Gorbachev. Many commentators, like Richard Sakwa, have pointed out that whereas the Warsaw Pact is long-gone, NATO keeps expanding: it “exists to manage the risks created by its existence.” Indeed, in an Orwellian twist, this multi-national, Washington-dominated organization, designed to “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down” even refers to itself as an omnipresent super-entity by using terms like “NATO’s borders.” The alliance brazenly holds military parades in the Baltic 300 meters from Russia’s border, all the while accusing the latter of aggression.
https://ninabyzantina.wordpress.com/2015/12/24/hounding-the-bear-hybrid-methodology-of-containing-russia/
Hezbollah’s Russian Military Education in Syria by Brig. Gen. Muni Katz, IDF and Nadav Pollak
NEW EXPERIENCE, NEW STRATEGY
In Syria, Hezbollah has had to shift its main objectives to taking over territory and maintaining control over it, all while fighting quasi-conventional forces that use guerrilla tactics. Against the IDF, the group was accustomed to fighting in small units on familiar terrain, but now it is deploying hundreds of fighters in complex offensive operations on unfamiliar territory. For Hezbollah’s commanders and fighters, such experience can change their views on the most effective way to win a battle, and Russia’s involvement means that they are learning such lessons from one of the best militaries in the world.
From the start, Russia has depended on Syrian, Iranian, Hezbollah, and other Shiite forces to get the job done on the ground. Given the complexity of the campaign and Moscow’s desire to avoid perceptions of failure, Russian forces are probably maintaining very close cooperation with their partners to make sure they are executing their missions. Reports indicate that joint Hezbollah-Russian operations rooms have been established in Latakia and Damascus, while Hezbollah and Iranian personnel apparently helped recover a downed Russian pilot in November. Moscow still seems reluctant to add significant ground forces to the fight, so it will need to strengthen such coordination even further.
PLANNING AND EXECUTING A MILITARY CAMPAIGN
On the macro level, Hezbollah will be exposed to Russian military thought, which entails sophisticated operational concepts and advanced military planning skills. The Russian military has ample experience in conducting different types of operations, including counterinsurgency and conventional campaigns. Consider this scenario: a Russian commander sits with Hezbollah, Iranian, and Syrian commanders and lays out the military strategy for the Syria campaign. He talks about the objectives, the timeframe to achieve these objectives, and the priorities in the fight. He then emphasizes which assets can be instrumental in battle, and perhaps offers important lessons from past operations such as the counterinsurgency campaign in Chechnya. For Hezbollah, this will be the first time it will be able to watch how a first-tier military plans a fighting campaign.
Learning processes such as these happen all the time. For example, Syria’s experience as part of the American coalition during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 transformed its war strategy altogether. After witnessing firsthand the effects of a U.S. AirLand battle and the efficiency of precision-guided munitions, the Syrian military correctly inferred that Israel could employ some of the same munitions and tactics. Accordingly, the regime shifted its focus from thinking about how to conquer the Golan Heights to a more defensive strategy that entailed restructuring certain units and procuring/developing multiple antitank, fire, and improvised explosive device capabilities.
During the 2006 Lebanon war, a joint Syrian-Russian intelligence post located in Syrian territory passed intelligence reports to Hezbollah.
In Chechnya, for example, the Russians formed “Storm” detachments composed of snipers, soldiers with automatic weapons, forward observers, and reconnaissance personnel — an approach meant to maximize mobility and flexibility. They also used numerous rocket launchers (e.g., the TOS-1 mobile thermobaric multiple rocket launcher and the man-portable RPO-A Shmel) while maneuvering inside the Chechen capital of Grozny, indicating good coordination between different elements. Discussing these tactics with experienced Russian commanders could give Hezbollah deep insight into properly task-organizing its forces, effectively coordinating disparate elements on the battlefield, and other matters — an invaluable benefit despite the group’s lesser training and equipment compared to Russian troops.
On the tactical level, Hezbollah now has a front-row seat to watch the variety of weapons systems and equipment the Russians are bringing to bear in Syria, some of which it has never seen before. Thus, the group can learn how to use its existing weapons (some of which are Russian made) more effectively and examine systems it might want to procure in the future. Recently, for example, reports indicated that Hezbollah has acquired SA-22 surface-to-air missiles. Russia has brought the same system into Syria — if these weapons are put into use under the supervision of joint operations rooms, Hezbollah personnel could get a better sense of how to operate the system’s radar and deal with multiple targets at the same time. Similarly, they will witness how Russian ground forces use rocket systems such as the TOS-1 and RPO-A Shmel, which have already been spotted in Syria and might seem useful to the group in a future war with Israel. Even experience with superior Russian versions of basic equipment could prove crucial, including night-vision goggles, tactical vests, and medical supplies.
Recent history has also shown that whatever Hezbollah learns, its partners in crime will soon follow suit. Numerous terrorist organizations have studied and implemented the group’s military tactics — in some cases, Hezbollah even sent trainers to help certain proxies upgrade their capabilities. For example, Hezbollah-trained Shiite militias demonstrated such tactics against American soldiers in Iraq prior to the U.S. withdrawal (see PolicyWatch 2277, “Hezbollah in Iraq: A Little Help Can Go a Long Way”). High-ranking Hezbollah veterans also reportedly trained Houthi forces in Yemen, who are now showing significant capabilities in their fight against the Arab coalition. And in Gaza, terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have long implemented Hezbollah strategies in the political and the military realms.
Muni Katz, a brigadier general in the IDF, is a 2015-2016 visiting military fellow at The Washington Institute. Nadav Pollak is the Institute’s Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Fellow.
full article…
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/hezbollahs-russian-military-education-in-syria
Interesting article, although rather Western-centric. In real life I expect the Russians have a good deal of respect for their Hezbollah counterparts, and may learn a thing or two themselves. Hezbollah are no slouches.
There are People who think that the United Nations was Not set up to be an Accomplice to Genocide.
I define Euro-America as being Terrorist England, Terrorist America, Colonial France, Nazi Germany, and ISIL Turkey, and Euro-America has its Puppets in Europe, who are the Secret Allies of ISIL.
Euro-America found that this method was successful in Libya, where Al Qaeda was Euro-America’s Secret Ally, and where Libya has Al Qaeda as their Government, and so Euro-America used Terrorist ISIL to try to do the same in Syria.
While those People who are Informed, are Not surprised that Euro-America Commits Genocides, there are People who think that the United Nations was Not set up to be an Accomplice to Genocidal Euro-America.
These People do Not think that the United Nations was set up be an Anti Democratic Accomplice to Dictatorial Euro-America towards Democratic Countries, because this is against the United Nations Charter.
Everyone at the United Nations Knows the History of how Syria’s fight against Terrorism began, and it was a fight against Terrorism rather than a civil war, which is sometimes mentioned, and it is Certainly Not a brutal repression by the Syrian Government against its Citizens.
The Syrian Conflict began because the Syrian Government had the Intentions to serve their own Citizens rather than Anglo-American Corporations, and Anglo-America Engineered Illegal Anti Democratic Coups in Many Countries for the same Criminal Reasons.
The Syrian fight against Terrorism began similar to that of what happened in Ukraine, where a peaceful legal demonstration was either authentic or it was Subtly Engineered by Anglo-America, and it was Subtly taken over by Anglo-American Agents, and in Ukraine it was the Ukrainian Nazis, and in Syria it was Euro-American Funded Terrorist ISIL.
All Honest Governments fought backs against the Terrorists Attacks, which resulted in deaths of People and destruction of property, but Euro-America was on the side of their Terrorists ISIL Allies.
Euro-America then Deliberately and Maliciously Slandered the Innocent Syrian Government for all of the death and destruction in Syria.
Euro-America then said that this was proof that the Syrian President had to leave power, and give the Syrian Government over to their Terrorist ISIL Allies.
Euro-America uses the Fancy Euphemism of transition, Knowing that the type of transition that Euro-America and ISIL want is for ISIL to become the Government of Syria, so that the Armies of ISIL Turkey and ISIL Saudi Arabia can come to Syria to fight against the Non ISIL Syrians, who would be Slanderously Labelled as Terrorists, and who along with Millions of Kurdish People would then become Refugees in Europe, with no hope of returning to Syria and ISIL Turkey.
The Syrian President was recently reelected in a Free and Fair Democratic Election by the Syrian Voters who Know all of these things, and this is why he was reeelected, because they Know that most of the Other Candidates were ISIL Lite, who are Euphemistically called moderates, and who would readily become ISIL because of who they are themselves, and because of Money and other Terrorists coming from ISIL Saudi Arabia and ISIL Turkey.
ISIL Lite does have its small minority of supporters in Syria, but they can Never win an Election in Syria, and so they have chosen Terrorism with the help of Euro-America as their way to become an Illegitimate Government in Syria.
All Syrian Citizens have Equality under the Law, and that means that any Syrian Citizen can stand for any Public Office at any Election, and there are People who think that the United Nations was Not set up to be an Accomplice to Anti Democratic and Anti Human Rights Genocidal Dictatorial Euro-America who Ignore Syria’s Constitutional Arrangements, which is Illegal under the United Nations Charter.
There are People who think that because of this, and other things, that Euro-America should be Charged with Crimes against Humanity and Genocide.
Genocidal Euro-America has Immorally placed Economic Sanctions on Syria, because of Syria was fighting against the Terrorism of Euro-America’s Secret Ally of ISIL.
The other reason why Euro-America should be charged with Crimes against Humanity and Genocide is the Immoral Economic Sanctions are compounding the Refugee Crisis in Europe, because Syrians are Struggling to purchase the Necessities they Need, and More Refugees in Europe is Also making it Unnecessarily harder for poorest People of Genocidal European Union, who have the Policy of Genocidal Based Austerity.
There are People who think that the Architects and Promoters of Austerity should be put on Trial for Crimes against Humanity and Genocide.
ISIL Saudi Arabia and ISIL Turkey want to Divide Syria up between themselves, and ISIL Turkey who has Not as yet apologized for the Armenian Genocide, and ISIL Turkey would use Syria as a Region to Ethnically Cleanse the Kurdish People of ISIL Turkey, and this would cause All of the Syrian People and Millions of Kurdish People to become Refugees in Europe.
The European Union Elites want Millions of Refugees in the European Union, so that they can make the European Union a Police State, and a Military Dictatorship.
All Good and Decent People are against Terrorism and Lawlessness, which are Sponsored and Funded by Terrorist Anglo-America, Colonist France, Nazi Germany, ISIL Saudi Arabia, and ISIL Turkey against the People of Syria.
There are People who think that a Country should write the following to All Politicians in the European Union, and it would ask for at least one European Union Country, or some Political Parties of the European Union to File Charges of Crimes against Humanity and Genocide against certain Countries of the European Union at the European Court of Human Rights.
The Letter should Request a Written Reply to that Letter from All of the European Union Politicians, because of the Seriousness of the Situation, and notify them that a copy of that Letter, along with their individual Replies or their lack of replies to that Letter will be Published on a Website, and that this will be done in Every European Union Language.
The European Union is Committing Genocide on the Syrian Refugees, because these Syrian Refugees want to Return to their own Country which they Love, and because they are Homesick for Syria, and they Know that they Belong in Syria.
The European Union is Committing Genocide against the Syrian People, because they do Not want All Syrian Citizens to have the Human Right and the Democratic Right and the Legal Right to stand for any Public Office at any Election.
The European Union is Committing Genocide against the Syrian People, because it is Vital in a Democracy that Everyone agrees that their Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land, and that Everyone accepts the Election Result, and that there Must be No coercion for having an early Election, and this is Vital during peace time to maintain the peace, and it is even More Vital, when a Country is under attack from ISIL Terrorists, and this Must be accepted by All of the Legal and Legitimate Political Parties of Syria.
The European Union is Committing Genocide on the Syrian People, because it is helping the ISIL Terrorists, and the European Union is saying that the Innocent in Syria are guilty, and that the Guilty in Syria are innocent, and that the Guilty Perpetrators of Terrorism are the innocent victims of terrorism, and that the Innocent Victims of Terrorism are the guilty perpetrators of terrorism, and this is Unnecessarily Delaying the Return of the Syrian Refugees back to their Country that they Love, and where they Yearn to be once again.
The European Union is Also Committing Genocide on the Syrian People in Syria, because the European Union are placing Economic Sanctions on Syria, and they are doing this for Unjustifiable and Illegitimate reasons, and certain European Union Countries should be charged with Crimes against Humanity.
The few Honest Countries in the European Union want Saudi Arabia and Turkey to Prove that they are the Allies of the European Union, and not Only the Allies of Terrorist England, Colonialist France, and Nazi Germany.
The European Union has gone and Committed Genocide against Ukraine, and Ukraine is now a Black Hole for Money, and a White Elephant, and so the the European Union, wants to save Money on Refugees, and so they want Saudi Arabia and Turkey to Secretly pay 30 Billion Euros to Syria and Iraq as Just Compensation, so that the European Union can spend Money on its White Elephant of Ukraine, which is a Black Hole for Money, and this will Prove that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are Allies of the few decent Countries in the European Union.
The few Decent Countries in the European Union may ask America to Persuade their Allies of Saudi Arabia and Turkey to be the Allies of the few decent Countries in the European Union, and it will Prove that America is an Ally of the few Decent Countries of the European Union.
There are People who think that Only those Countries who are Just will Cooperate with the Legitimate Democratically Elected Syrian Government and its Armed Forces, who are Valiantly Fighting against Terrorism, because they say that this will Provide Proof that they are against Terrorism, that they Respect the Sovereignty of Nations, and that they are Committed to International Law.