Syrian War Report – October 17, 2019: Syrian Army Entering Kobani And Raqqa
On October 16, units of the Syrian Army entered the city of Raqqah for the first time since 2014. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has controlled the city since 2017, when they with help from the United States seized it from ISIS. The Syrian Army reportedly established several observation posts in the area and continued deployment within the SDF-held area.
According to pro-government sources, government troops are also preparing to enter the Omar oil fields. A day earlier, on October 15, Syrian troops and Russian Military Police units started patrolling the contact line between Turkish-backed forces and the SDF near Manbij.
On October 16, US-led coalition forces withdrew from the Kharab Ashk military base where dozens of US and French troops had been deployed. US-led forces burned the base in order to destroy equipment that they were not able to evacuate.
The Turkish Army and Turkish-backed militants are developing their offensive on SDF positions. They captured thirteen villages west of Tell Abyad and made another attempt to secure Ras al-Ayn. According to pro-SDF sources, 49 Turkish-backed militants were killed in an SDF counter-attack in the town. SDF units employed US-supplied military equipment. Pro-Turkish militants captured a Humvee armored vehicle near the town.
There are also reports that the SDF and the Syrian Army jointly recaptured the villages of al-Ahras, al-Rihaniyah and Manajir from Turkish-led forces south of Ras al-Ayn. Nonetheless, this was a tactical development involving Turkish proxies only. It is not likely that government forces and the SDF will carry out large-scale joint operations attacking positions of the Turkish Army. The main reason is that such an attack may lead to a large-scale escalation in the region and even a limited open conflict between Syria and Turkey.
Cut&Paste. US withdrawing from Syria’s oil/gas rich region:
Brasco_Aad @ Brasco_Aad 10h
US troops are evacuating their military base in Ash Shaddadi, Al Hasakah Governorate and are heading towards Iraq.
They were occupying the Shaddadi oil fields here.
Kurds are allegedly blocking SAA from entering Raqqa. They can not be trusted.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/kurdish-forces-block-syrian-army-russian-military-from-entering-raqqa-video/
It’s not going to be up to them very much longer. For years the arabs in the region have protested the thug-like rule of the SDF, who often act no better than any of the other mercenary thugs in the country that are US-supported. They will be celebrating in massive numbers when the SAA enters the area, and nothing can stop it.
It is a big question if this is the truth.
If so, I do not understand why Syrian Army and Russians tolerate such Kurdish behaviour. Raqqa ia Arabic town, Kurds do not have american support in Raqqa any longer and if Syrians and Russians tolerate them it is ridiculous.
This area was held by the Kurdish Forces who opposed Assad.. Kurds want to create their own state. In order to do that they would need to or want to unite parts of Iran (6 million Kurds) , Iraq (another 6 million Kurds) and some 14 million Kurds in Turkey with the 2 million Kurds in this part of Syria. Oil is the main resource in the Syrian and Iraqi part of the Kurdish territory, while water is important in the Turkish and Syrian regions. It seems to me that Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran are on the same page here . They want to eliminate this Kurdish example in Syria and stop the historical drive for the Kurdish homeland. What about Russia, a small price to pay for their relations with the other 4 powers. What about the US ? They are hated by the Turks, Syrians, Iraqis and the Iranians so rather than leave hanging on to helicopter landing gear might as well just drive out. This Turkish gambit is calculated to gain an advantage all preplanned to establish Syrian control in this region.
“MOSCOW, October 18. /TASS/. Turkey’s forces resumed attacks on Ras al-Ayn in northeast Syria on Friday despite a deal on a temporary ceasefire reached with the US, Al Mayadeen TV channel has reported citing Kurdish sources.
According to Syria’s state news agency SANA, the Turkish military carried out artillery shelling in several villages located near Ras al-Ayn. The Al Arabiya TV channel reported that militants of the Syrian armed opposition units, fighting on Ankara’s side, had attacked a humanitarian convoy heading to the city.”
Finally and at long last the SDFist kurds woke up from their exceptionalist delirium… and made a joint effort with the Syrian army to regain larger pieces of Syrian land. Alas
It may have been a piecemeal, partial awakening, anyway.
Explanations?
Nobody will extract from my mind that those kurdish LEADERS giving orders in east Syria in the last few years have had something to do with tho$e $ECRET budget chunks of the CIA, DIA and myriadlike… other agencies operating in the syrian theater.
Any serious objection projecting doubts on that?
If the Kurds won’t make way for the SAA,roll over them.
Media and politicians didn’t care about chaos the US caused in Syria for years, but now that Trump can be blamed, they’re outraged
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/471073-syria-trump-media-kurds/
“Rania Khalek
Here you have it folks, US media calling for US intervention to stop the chaos caused by US intervention. Can’t make this stuff up.”
“Scott Stedmam
It is a fact that the Russian talking point for years has been that the United States arms al-Qaeda in Syria. Tulsi Gabbard just said it on national television.
Max Blumenthal
This is from a video published by HTS (Al Qaeda in Syria) showing one of its fighters firing a US-supplied TOW missile in West Aleppo. The CIA-backed FSA was a weapons farm for Al Qaeda and ISIS. That’s not a “Russian talking point.” It’s a fact.”
This is all a carefully choreographed ballet, everyone is talking to everyone to make sure there are no untoward engagements. US has a face saving way out, protected the whole way, Syrian Army is coordinating with the Turks and Kurds, Kurds are coordinating with Syria and Turkei, US is coordinating with Russia and Russia is overseeing all. There will be some idiots, there always is, who will try to foul things up one way or the other, but in the end all should be a relatively bloodless change of landlord. I also have few doubts that once Syrian Army and Syrian Admin takes over, Turkei will withdraw on the guarantee that there will be no more attacks on Turkish territory from Syria.
The American units guarding the southeastern oil fields are still there, wells pumping like mad until the last minute. Units in and around Deir say they have no withdrawal orders, but that has to be taken with a grain of salt, orders or no, they have to leave and soon.
What you are witnessing is a visible shift in the world balance of power. Russia did all of this, Russia defeated IGIL while giving Syria time and training and equipment to come back in to the fray. When President Assad invited Russia to help, Syria was on the ropes and had literally two or three weeks left. Russia put paid to that, saved Syria and the Syrian People, then spent the next couple years patiently weaving a fabrik to end this war.
Don’t think for an instant that The World did not or has not noticed. Media and twitter-titter-schmitter posts don’t matter, facts on the ground do, and the fact is USA has been defeated in a pitched battle for control of Syria and the ME and their chaos is almost over. It will never be known how much treasure was spent by Foggy Bottom and Five Points, but methinks the day will come when those two entities rue the day they started this war and all the others they’ve started, and can’t get out of, throughout ME. It will also never be known the toll of dead and wounded Syrians and whether or not Syrian Culture will survive and return to what it was, a vibrant, prosperous secular State in ME. Time will tell, but methinks time is now on the side of Syria, not Foggy Bottom.
Auslander
Author
Never The Last One, paperback edition. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1521849056 A deep look in to Russia, her culture and her Armed Forces, in essence a look at the emergence of Russian Federation.
An Incident On Simonka, paperback edition. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1696160715 NATO Is Invited To Leave Sevastopol, One Way Or The Other.
Auslander; I agree completely with your analysis. A good geo-strategic overview. I keep noticing parallels between the Syrian struggle for liberation and its larger world political context, and that of the
Spanish civil war. I see meaningful parallels here given such a comparable global context between the two. The important point being that in the Spanish case in the 1930’s the reactionary forces won and that led us to the greatest bloodbath in history at the hands of global fascism. This time however in the Syrian victory the progressive forces win. Both the similarities and the the contrasts are striking. One presages a dark nightmare the other some form of global dawn.
Snow Leapard
The war that started in 1914 is not over yet lo these 105 years later. We could not believe when a generation of men died in the mud of the west front, east front and south front and empires and cultures fell in 1918. Little did we know what was coming for the second round after another generation grew to manhood, let alone the depredations of the Japanese in the Far East. Now we know, and we know this war is ongoing, but I think what we are seeing is the beginnings of a tectonic shift of truth, good and morality over the forces of evil. Only time will tell, but at this time there is a faint glimmer of hope and peace on the horizon. Let’s pray that this comes to pass and evil is finally defeated.
Auslander
America is now feigning outrage and shock that the militias that are part of Turkey’s invasion of Syria are wacko jihadists–many of whom are the same wacko jihadist groups that America has been arming, sponsoring, and pimping as “moderate pro-democracy rebels” for years, including the USA’s beloved White Helmets “humanitarian” organization:
The US has backed 21 of the 28 ‘crazy’ militias leading Turkey’s brutal invasion of northern Syria
https://thegrayzone.com/2019/10/16/us-backed-crazy-militias-turkeys-invasion-syria/
US Shocked to Discover the “Free Syrian Army” It Built to Jihad Assad Is “Crazy and Not Reliable”
https://www.checkpointasia.net/us-shocked-to-discover-the-free-syrian-army-it-built-to-jihad-assad-is-crazy-and-not-reliable/
Turkish invasion in Syria: Erdogan achieves primary goals
http://bit.ly/31pie1E