Russian forces eliminated a group of militants, which conducted the mortar attack on Hmeimim airbase on December 31, 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on January 12. Russian forces used the 2K25 Krasnopol 152 mm laser-guided artillery munition to eliminate the group, according to the ministry.
The ministry added that the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) uncovered a fixed-wing drone assembly and storage workshop in Idlib province. The workshop is likely linked to the armed drone attack on Hmeimim airbase, and Tartus naval facility base on January 6. The workshop was also eliminated with the Krasnopol.
In the period from January 12 to January 15, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), the Tiger Forces, the National Defense Forces (NDF), Liwa al-Quds, Liwa Fatemiyoun and other pro-government factions increased pressure on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), Ahrar al-Sham and their allied militant groups in southern Idlib and southern Aleppo.
Government forces advanced west and northwest of Khansir and established control over al-Hass Mount and a large number of the nearby villages. The distance between government positions southeast of the Abu al-Duhur airbase and west of Khanasir is now about 2 km.
In southern Idlib, the Tiger Forces and their allies engaged militants in the villages of Atshan, Tell Maraq, Umm Khalakhil, Zifr Saqer, Zif Kabir, Suruj, Istablat and Rasm al-Qard that had been a target of counter-attack launched by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham(HTS)—led forces.
Separately, the SAA and the NDF advanced in northeastern Hama and captured the villages of Tafahah and Tal Mutilat as well as attacked the villages of Abu Khaf, Aniq Bajrah and Sukari.
In the coming days, government forces will secure the remaining pocket in southern Aleppo and make a fresh push in order to create another militant pocket southwest of Khansir.
Meanwhile, the Turkish military deployed more troops and military equipment including tanks, artillery pieces and armored vehicles around the city of Afrin controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). The deployment followed a series of artillery strikes conducted by Turkish forces on YPG positions in the area.
Earlier, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkish forces may soon carry out an attack on the city of Afrin in order to “clear” the southern border of his country from groups described by Ankara as “terrorists”. The YPG is a core of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Ankara says that the YPG is a branch of the Kurdish separatist armed group PKK that mainly operates in southern Turkey and northern Iraq.
Government troops have recaptured Tell Farzat from Jaish al-Islam in the southern part of Damascus’ Eastern Ghouta, a SAA officer told SouthFront on January 14. According to the source, the advance is a part of the effort aimed at preventing Jaish al-Islam from supporting Ahrar al-Sham’s attack on the Armoured Vehicles Base. Clashes between Jaish al-Islam and the SAA were also reported in Hazrama and Hush al-Duahra.
On January 14, ISIS captured several positions, including the headquarters of the Palestine Charity Organization and Abd al-Qader al-Hussine school, in the eastern part of the Yarmouk refugee camp, the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq reported. 5 HTS members were reportedly killed there. According to pro-opposition sources, about 70% of the camp is now in the hands of ISIS. The expansion of the terrorist group there poses a direct threat to the government-held areas, especially if the terrorist group reaches districts near the Damascus Airport highway.
Wasn’t this area relatively calm before Syria’s launched its current campaign? Why I ask is because ISIS was not completely destroyed before embarking on this current campaign; would it not have been better to eliminate ISIS first?
The big question is what will the Syrian army do about the US occupation? While it is nice for the Turkish & kurdish armies to fight amongst themselves, how seriously committed is Iran about sending in multiple divisions to destroy the US army in Syria?
“how seriously committed is Iran about sending in multiple divisions to destroy the US army in Syria?”
Huh?
The question should be “how seriously committed” is Dick Lenning, to restoring the American Republic, (destroyed, along with our last Constitutional President, John F. Kennedy, on November 22, 1963), and, thereafter, withdrawing the American troops, Zionist land thieving and Bank usurer Terrorists, and paid agents, Blackwater, et. al.), from over 700 foreign military bases, as our first action?
To demand that the Iranian, Syrian, Chinese, or Russian people, – save our political asses – while we do nothing, is a bit much.
Durruti,
for the Anarchist Collective
I agree it is better for USA to voluntarily withdraw, however that is unlikely to happen… James Mattis just confirmed USA will stay in its 13 bases.
I am being a realist when I say Iran will need multiple divisions to completely evict USA + all terrorist groups.
Dick Lenning,
you wrote “I agree it is better for USA to voluntarily withdraw,”
I never mentioned the concept “voluntarily.” The American People, my people, must assume their responsibilities, before God, and their children, to -Restore Their Republic!
Then, (and only then), the wrongs committed by the Zionist Puppet American Traitorous Regime can be Righted.
The Russians, Chinese, Cubans, the Russians of Novorossiya, Lakota Nation, and others, may, and do, resist Zionist American Anglo Imperialism. However, the pain will not end until the American People assume their responsibilities, (and I repeat for emphasis, before God and their children), and fix their government.
There is no option, “voluntarily’ here, only a Revolutionary Restoration of our Freedom! Evil, Zionist Land Thieves, Imperialism, Exploitation, will never “voluntarily” take their hands from our throats. We must remove their hands.
A sovereign America will disarm the Zionists, (one of President J F Kennedy’s goals), and I will enjoy a beer with (my neighbor), the Saker.
I emphasize:
It is not ‘real’ to rely on the Iranian (or any other), People to do all the hard work, alone, and against a Rothschild controlled Super Power, with NATO, and the Zionist Land Thieves in tow.
To be “a realist,” is to understand that there is no easy road to Heaven. The road to Heaven is paved with good deeds that we must do; the road to Hell, (where we are now), is paved with our fatalistic denial of the homework we must complete.
*I might suggest a perusal of JF Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage,” followed by Kenneth Robert’s “Rabble in Arms” (that’s us – we the people), for the spirit, after the sadness of Orwell’s “1984” (also required reading).
God Bless!
Russian Journalists Blow Lid Off Alleged US Terrorist Training Network in Syria
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201801141060746468-us-occupation-cooperation-with-terrorists-southern-syria/
“The Pentagon was forced to go into full public relations mode late last month amid fresh allegations by the Russian General Staff that US instructors were providing training assistance for some 350 ex-Daesh (ISIS) militants at the US Army’s al-Tanf garrison in the southern Syrian province of Homs. Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov accused Washington of intending to use the militants to create a so-called ‘New Syrian Army’, a military formation aimed at further destabilizing the war-torn country after Daesh had been defeated.
Late last month, General Gerasimov pointed to al-Tanf as being one of two staging areas for the continuation of an armed struggle against the Syrian government by the jihadists, with the other located at Shaddadi camp, under the control of Kurdish forces operating in Syria’s north. According to the general, the al-Tanf militants, many former members of Daesh, were brought into the area by US special forces from Deir ez-Zor province, where Daesh had suffered total defeat.
According to Petrashevich and Martynovich, the presence of these former Daesh fighters made local residents wary of helping them to make their way into the US military-administered enclave. “A young man named Marshod warned our correspondents about this and said that two of his own attempts to make his way to a nearby village beyond the line of demarcation led to threats against his life from militants guarding the enclave’s inner perimeter.”
Although the Russian military conservatively estimated the presence of roughly 350 Daesh militants at al-Tanf, Syrian military sources speaking to Patrashevich and Martynovich explained that the number may, in fact, be upwards of 1,200 fighters, some 200 of them Daesh jihadis brought to the area by US special forces, mostly from Deir ez-Zor province. Other forces include the so-called ‘New Syrian Army’, the Forces of Martyr Ahmad al-Abdo (formally part of the Free Syrian Army), and the Martyrs of Islam Brigade (an Islamist group). According to the Syrian military, these forces’ armament includes large-caliber mortars, anti-tank missiles, tanks and other heavy weaponry.
Furthermore, the journalists’ Syrian Army source said that other members of the US-led coalition were also deployed in the area, with about 400 mercenaries, intelligence operatives and members of the special forces of the UK, France, Jordan, and possibly other countries, operating in the region. These forces’ arsenal includes HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems, as well as anti-aircraft artillery, tasked with defending the US base.
“While the main jihadists are based at the US Armed Forces base and receive a monthly allowance, another 5,000 Islamists reside at the Rukban refugee camp, some still armed and in contact with their field commanders. Last November, militants began voicing their dissatisfaction with the noticeable decline in US funding. As a result, the al-Tanf base’s command, fearing military insurrection, decided to pay out a severance payment of several thousand dollars to each fighter, and gave them the right to remain inside the enclave in the tent camp zone.”
Last fall, a group of some 300 Daesh militants carried out an offensive toward Al-Qaryatayn, successfully avoiding the Syrian Army’s hidden outposts using coordinates Moscow and Damascus later alleged were obtained through aerial reconnaissance provided by the US. Although the offensive was stopped, the Syrian military has concerns that new attacks may be in the offing. Furthermore, US and jihadi occupation of the area put important roads, including the Homs-Deir ez-Zor and Damascus-Palmyra highways, as well as strategically important oil and gas fields, under threat.
Sahim, the local man now living in Damascus Governate, confirmed to the journalists that the humanitarian situation in the US-occupied territory is approaching desperate, with basic foodstuffs and other necessities unavailable, while militants have seized local wells, selling water to locals at marked up prices.
The eyewitness added that when locals tried to organize to get the attention of US military command about arranging the supply of necessities, their requests fell on deaf ears. This, combined with the lack of any effort to rein in the militants, has given rise to anti-American sentiments, as well as hopes for cooperation with the Syrian government or even representatives of the Russian military.”
The PKK/YPG enclave can be funded by the U.S. military itself, not in form of donations but purchase of refined oil products to fuel it’s fleet. This way, the Kurds will be able to sell their resource and US invasion force will purchase energy at a discount.
If US Occupation Forces move a large part of their assets from the Mediterranean Sea, Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, to the Occupied Eastern Syria, they will be able to establish an unsinkable carrier. Even a landlocked base is easier to defend, if occupation is the end goal, when there are more occupation forces.
The occupiers can be supplied through Iraqi airspace with or without their central government’s permission. At the end of the day, will an Iraqi MiG 21 challenge the F-22?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_usage_of_the_United_States_military
Syrian foreign minister Fayssal Mikdad: Washington’s step to form “an armed militia”
aims to divide Syria, prolong crisis
https://sana.sy/en/?p=124488
“wouldn’t it not”
Hindsight is 20/20. Warfare in Syria was/is very complicated and often the SAA had to manage several fronts with the limited means available.
ISIS will never be totally destroyed until its means of existence will be eliminated, it’s a USA/NATO/Israhelly construct and can stick up its ugly head anywhere and be named anything.
Thank you Southfront and Happy old NewYear!
Members of the Free Syrian Army have apparently asked the US to revive the previously suspended CIA military aid program to rebel groups seeking the ouster of Syria’s President Bashar Assad.
Mustafa Sejari, a senior representative of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) said that the group’s envoys who visited Washington explained to US officials the downsides of President Donald Trump’s decision to shut off the CIA-facilitated supply of weapons to certain rebel groups in Syria.
“We asked for the resumption of aid and explained the dangers of leaving moderate FSA forces without support,” Sejari said.
In this photo taken on Tuesday May 23, 2017, provided by the Syrian anti-government activist group, the Hammurabi’s Justice News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a U.S.-backed anti-government Syrian fighter form Maghaweer al-Thawra stands on a vehicle with heavy automatic machine gun, left, next of an American soldier who also stands on his armored vehicle, right, as they take their position at the Syrian-Iraqi crossing border point of Tanf, south Syria
© AP PHOTO/ HAMMURABI’S JUSTICE NEWS
Russian Journalists Blow the Lid Off Alleged US Terrorist Training Network in Syria
According to him, these measures would be necessary to fulfil Trump’s intent to “confront Iranian hegemony in the region” and to curtail the activities of “the Iranian militias that are expanding without serious resistance.”
“With every US statement about the need to confront Iran’s influence, Iran has been expanding in Syria while moderate forces that are backed by Washington see aid being dried up and are weakened,” the FSA representative complained.
Sejari added that the FSA delegation included recipients of the CIA-led program in question, launched in 2013 and used to supply money, weapons and instructors to select rebel groups opposing the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The CIA came under fire in March 2016 when a CIA-backed rebel group based in northern Syria was attacked by the Pentagon-backed, Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces.
Earlier, in 2015, it was admitted that a large proportion of the weaponry originally intended for ‘moderate’ rebels eventually found its way into the hands of the internationally-condemned terrorist groups Al Nusra and Daesh, either due to FSA defections or their sale on the black market.”
https://sputniknews.com/world/201801161060781718-syrian-rebels-cia-arms-program/
proof why liberation is required…
AQ & ISIS throwing in everything they have. Fierce ping pong battles, villages gained, lost, gained, lost withing hours. SAA & allies doing very well and progressing slowly but surely. Current maps for Idlib cauldron:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DTmsJJdW0AAtVC7.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DTmlD5oVQAEjxHM.jpg