By Aram Mirzaei for the Saker blog
It’s that time again. Jihadist forces have pushed Damascus’ and Moscow’s patience for too long. These constant provocations have gone too far and it’s time to punish them for their insolence. Damascus and Moscow are gearing up to deal with those damned terrorists again as the Russian Air Force has been flying sorties over the Idlib province, with Ankara’s approval. The Syrian Army’s Russian trained 5th corps, the 4th armoured division and the legendary Tiger Forces have all amassed near the Idlib-Hama border this past week. Something is definitely brewing up.
The so called Demilitarized zone has failed as the terrorist forces of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) have taken over all the positions from the other “rebel groups”. As observers may already know, HTS is not included in any reconciliation or ceasefire deal as they are considered to be terrorists by both Moscow and Ankara. Now it remains to see how Washington, the main benefactor of these terrorists, will react. So far they have remained surprisingly quiet over these recent movements by Damascus and Moscow, but I am willing to bet that they will do their utmost to stop this planned offensive.
It is of absolute importance that this offensive commences this time and that nothing stops the Syrian Army and their allies, not even Washington’s threats. The Resistance Axis must show no fear in face of Washington’s threats. For how long will Moscow remain patient over the constant threat to the Hmaimeem airport? For how long will these terrorists be allowed to terrorize the Idlib province and its population?
It should be noted that this offensive will probably only be limited to the demilitarized zone where the goal will be to clear the area of HTS terrorists. It will be far from a decisive battle that destroys HTS, but it is an important step. The threat to northern Hama and Latakia must be diminished. The offensive will likely also target the crucial town of Jisr Al-Shughour where the Syrian Army in the spring of 2015 bravely fought and held out for over 60 days in the towns hospital before the few survivors managed to evacuate back to Syrian Army lines.
The tragedy at Jisr Al-Shughour’s National Hospital will surely not have been forgotten by the SAA. Ankara would do well to realize that if it wants to save the Idlib deal it must accept that HTS must be dealt with, otherwise this deal is a failure and Syria and her allies should explore the option of widening the offensive to cover all of West Aleppo and southern Idlib.
These next few weeks will tell us more on how this situation will develop.
May God be with the heroic Syrian Army.
Isn’t it weird – surreal, even – that such a huge concentrated cluster of openly professed murderous terrorists should have been left to their own devices for so long? And especially in view of the location. Just look at Idlib province on a map! It’s sandwiched between some of the most heavily populated areas of Syria and Turkey. What’s more, the area the terrorists currently occupy doesn’t even have a coastline, which prevents their sponsors from landing reinforcements and supplies. Those used to come in through Turkey, whose policy seems to have been shifting in favour of Russia, Iran and Syria (in that order) and hence away from the US-backed terrorists.
The only compelling reason I have seen offered for the failure to get rid of the terrorists has been that there are too many civilians around, who might get hurt. But there were even more civilians around in Aleppo and other areas that have been pretty well disinfected.
Leaving the terrorists where they are looks an awful lot like a surgical team finishing an operation and closing up, without touching a large suppurating cyst. The consequences will be dreadful unless something is done – and I don’t think anyone has yet invented antibiotics that destroy terrorists.
Unfortunately it seems that the threat of US airstrikes successfully stopped the last offensive. That’s disappointing, at first, until you realize that time is definitely on Syria’s side and not on the side of the US, NATO & Turk-backed terrorists. Thousands of terrorists have been killed over the past year in constant infighting. Assassinations against rival terrorist groups take place daily in Idlib. They are literally eating eachother alive and as time goes on, the terrorist groups in Idlib are actually weakening rather than being strengthened.
Russia & Syria made a strategic choice to delay the Idlib offensive. That not only stopped (most likely) another planned chemical weapons false flag in it’s tracks, but it also prevented another US bombing run which could have had far more catastrophic consequences this time (Russian & US forces might have actually clashed), which wouldn’t have been good for anyone. Also, there can be no doubt that lives have been saved by delaying such an offensive. The terrorists aren’t the only ones that die in these offensives, but also the lives of hundreds of Syrian Army soldiers every time there is an offensive, along with some inevitable civilian casualties.
Overall, they made the right choice to delay the offensive. The position of the US, Turkey, and their pet terrorists is getting worse every day while Syria’s position only gets stronger. Eventually, the offensive will be launched and the pet terrorists will be neutered, while the will of both the U.S. and the terrorists is progressively ground into dust with every passing day.
Its a strategy. Its not perfect, but its a strategy….and obviously its a fluid and constantly changing situation….things worked out pretty well.
1. They corralled many rebel factions from different provinces into one province.
2. It gave time and space to rearm, regroup, retrain the Syrian Army, even incorporating other factions.
3. They used diplomacy to bring Turkey (and even the UN) into the game. It legitimized their efforts, forcing Turkey to recognize HTS as a terrorist group…….genius!
4. They let HTS basically finish off all other rebel factions, win win situation.
5. Now, they are all ready and prepared to finish off the (by all recognized) terrorist group that basically is running the province. Slowly chocking them by first grabbing the demilitarized zones.
Sergey Shoygu’s smile says it all ;-) :
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-russia/russia-turkey-agree-on-decisive-action-in-syrias-idlib-ria-idUSKCN1Q01L3
Russia will want to be certain that the several thousand terrorists in al Nusra who originate from Russia are killed in Idlib. So too, the several thousand terrorists in al Nusra who come from the Central Asian stans. And they will want to kill the several thousand terrorists who come from the other CIS states.
China will want the several thousand Uyghurs in al Nusra to be killed in Idlib.
Syria will want the several thousand Turkmen and others under pay from Qatar and Turkey who joined with al Nusra to be killed in Idlib.
Likewise, Jordan will want to see the last of al Nusra, as will Lebanon, who with Hezbollah’s help, drove al Nusra out of Lebanon.
These are the stakeholders in the final extermination of al Nusra. Russia, China, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Hezbollah.
Iran, of course, wants to see Qatar, Turkey, Israel and the US lose this last large terrorist army they have nurtured, armed, paid, trained, nursed, led, joined and encouraged in the Syrian war.
Idlib is a final battle to eradicate the ME of al Nusra. It will take many forms of military action. There will be much international objection and false flags and charges of war crimes to protect this terminal group of Muslim Brotherhood warriors, the worst of all the radical terrorists.
Turkey has delayed this for five months. Too much is at stake to linger any longer. Russia and Syria have begun.
Relatively low level perpetual war.
Good for business.
Idlib will have to be taken care of. There is no way that Syria can permit a terrorist mini state to exist within it’s borders, and one which can be used for future agressive moves against Damascus. Logical.
Might we mention that since the last halted anti-jihadi Idlib campaign, the Russians have had a chance to train / integrate the Syrians in on S-300 missiles and to perfect their military GPS jamming, to the point that the Pentagon is now complaining in press conferences that US pilots are electronically blind? In short, the US military no longer deems flying Syrian skies a ‘friendly’ experience.