https://southfront.org/u-s-strikes-and-scores-of-killed-russian-fighters-in-syria/
Mainstream media outlets and social media are full of reports that on February 7th hundreds of Russian private military contractors (PMCs) died in US-led coalition airstrikes on pro-government forces in the province of Deir Ezzor. Various sources provide different numbers, but one of the most popular versions is that between 100 and 600 PMCs were killed.
So, what is going on?
On February 8, the US-led coalition released a statement saying that on February 7th it had struck “pro-regime forces” attacking “Syrian Democratic Forces headquarters” in the Euphrates Valley. According to local sources, the US strikes hit the positions of pro-government forces near the village of Khasham. The CONICO gas facility and the nearby Jafar oil field were reportedly the targets of the alleged attack.
The US military described its actions as “defensive”. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis even claimed that the incident does not mean that Washington is “getting engaged in the Syrian civil war”. The Pentagon also said that it had informed the Russians via the de-confliction line in advance of the attack and no Russian personnel were there.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the US-led coalition struck a local militia conducting a military operation against ISIS cells in the area of al-Isba. 25 militiamen were killed in the incident.
Meanwhile, the pro-government Arab tribe al-Bakara announced in an official statement that dozens of its sons were killed in the US strikes without providing a precise number.
Later, on February 11, the ISIS Hunters of the 5th Assault Corps of the Syrian Arab Army said that on February 7th they had repelled a joint attack from ISIS and the SDF on Khasham and this had caused the US attack. The unit added that they had lost 20 fighters in the strikes. The ISIS Hunters are known for their links to Russian PMCs.
But there is another side to the story.
On February 7 and on February 8, the English-speaking mainstream media, like Politico, Reuters, CNN, were spreading reports that over 100 pro-Assad fighters were killed in the US strikes. All the reports were based on anonymous sources and were mixed with statements from the Pentagon and the defense secretary to look more reliable. According to these reports, a group of 300-500 government fighters, backed up by battle tanks and artillery, were involved in the alleged attack on the SDF.
On February 8, some infamous figures and media outlets of the Russian media sphere started spreading reports that Russian PMCs had suffered mass casualties in the February 7 incident. The conflicting reports, also based on anonymous sources, included estimates such as “two truckloads of dead bodies”, 10-20 killed, 100, 200, 300, 600.
On February 10, the Russian telegram channel WarGonzo posted 5 audio recordings of an alleged conversation among 3 PMCs. One of the voices provides the number of 177 killed. These audio recordings had also been received by a number of Russian journalists since February 7 and were most likely a forgery.
By February 14, reports had settled at a general number of 10-600 dead PMCs.
Meanwhile, the analysis of open info, including reports from relatives and friends of the PMCs involved in the operation, allowed all the concerned sides to find out that 5 Russians reportedly died in the aforementioned period. However, no details are available.
Independent journalists also noted that no aircraft, which could have been involved in the transfer of the killed and injured PMCs, had been spotted at Khmeimim Air Base since February 7. SouthFront correspondents and sources in Damascus and Deir Ezzor can also not confirm information regarding the hundreds of killed PMCs.
SouthFront’s military experts aware of the situation say that the possible number of the casualties could be higher than 5, but not more than 15-20.
The entire story about mass casualties of Russian PMCs is based on unconfirmed and fake data, that includes a few real facts like the US strikes, some PMCs casualties and the participation of the ISIS Hunters in the incident. The rest is an orchestrated campaign in keeping with the best traditions of propaganda.
The goals of which would be that:
- the US is able to fight back against the Russians in Syria;
- Russia is not able to defend its interests;
- the Kremlin is not concerned over killed Russian citizens or is not able to carry out any pay back.
Thank for your insights on this. I just read a piece from Red State titled “How the US firepower turned Russia’s ‘grey zone’ attack blood red”, and it was enough of a boastful chest-thumper that I wondered how accurate the info was!
Yep, these conclusions are the same ones that popped into my mind when I first read about these reports.
Another pathetic propaganda piece by the really, really desperate empire. It was only a few short months ago when I spoke of 5-10 years until the empire would collapse, I’m not so sure any more. I begin to think it’s going to be much sooner.
I gotta say, Sakers “child with a hand-granade” analogy fits better and better each day. The attacks on Russia have gotten so childish and petty I think this time we live in right now will be studied and laughed at 500 years from now at the Wests expense, it’s just so ridiculous. Heard about the name change DC considers for the street the Russian embassy is on? “Boris Nemtsov Plaza?” Yeah, it’s gotten this low. Stock up on some “Freedom Fries” people, it’s going to get worse.
I am glad to read this sober assessment of what may or may not have happened.
Social media has gone into over drive on this event.
Mark Sleboda who should know better is spouting off about this on his twitter feed. To bash the Kremlin
Strelkov is is bashing the Kremlin
The guardian, Ukrainian media all jumped on this story and report 200s died.
The Russia liberals wrote an open letter to Putin – accusing him of treason and demanding the withdrawal from Syria.
I must say the exaggerated stories of twhat ever has occurred has been promoted by the Russian media, who promote all manner of gossip on this matter – which then gets reported in America.
Then we get the demands for a response – Putin is weak – he can’t defend his country blah blah blah.
All the usual suspects are promoting this story
Yes, this report makes sense. As soon as I read the first reports about a large number of Russian private contractors getting killed in Syria, I started surfing the Internet. All I could find were contradictory reports, all written in a highly unconvincing style. Speculative numbers were given, and one website even gave the names of four Russians who got killed (?) in Syria. The whole incident received moderate coverage in the West. What made no sense was the fact that even if large numbers of private contractors were indeed sent into combat, that the Russian military command in Syria would not make adequate preparations, keeping an eye on the entire operation during it’s execution.
It soon became clear that we were dealing with propaganda, a little bit of psychological warfare, introduced just prior to the elections in Russia. The intention, ofcourse, is to subvert Putin’s chances at winning the election, by creating the impression among the Russian population that large numbers of Russians were getting killed in Syria. This little trick wont work.
” The intention, of course, is to subvert Putin’s chances at winning the election, by creating the impression among the Russian population that large numbers of Russians were getting killed in Syria. This little trick wont work.”
By chance I just wrote virtually the same thing on the WSWS website report on the US attack. http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/02/14/syri-f14.html
My comment there:
“Quite likely former Russian Special Forces or soldiers are employed by the Syrian government as private contractors (mercenaries) similar to those employed by the US, Britain, France, and “allies” as Russian (and other former Soviet) soldiers are familiar with the equipment of the Syrian army and Air Force, almost all of which came from the Soviet Union or more recently, Russia. After 6 years of US imposed war – as long as WW II – the SAA has lost a lot of manpower and trained specialists, and Putin doesn’t want to provide the US with an opportunity to kill Russian Army personnel during the election campaign.
The US, on the other hand, will do its best to kill as many Russian personnel as possible in the next month to provide their puppet candidates in Russia with ammunition for their accusations that Putin is getting Russia “bogged down in a quagmire”. Hence the drone swarm attack on the Russian airbase and port facilities, and any Russian targets of opportunity the US and Israel can identify without overtly firing cruise missiles at Russian bases, for example.
I think the actual effect on the elections will be to increase support for Putin and further isolate open US 5th column puppets. The average Russian voter is much better informed about the world than the average US voter, and understands who the “Liberal Opposition” really are: CIA operatives on the payroll their country’s enemies.”
Scott Humor
“Wagner” Private military company could be a code name for Israel’s black-op
https://scotthumor.wordpress.com/2018/02/13/wagner-private-military-company-could-be-a-code-name-for-israels-black-op/
……………
In addition to what Scott wrote in his article the story was strongly promoted also by Strelkov. As much as I could understand in Russian blogs no one believes the story except liberals and Strelkov and the story was promoted through blogosphere by SBU.
Here is an example of ridiculous fake photographs:
Picture of allegedly destroyed column
https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/manzal/31124806/1342333/1342333_1000.jpg
which is a photoshop composite of two pictures
1 – picture from July 2014, when the Donbass defeated APU column:
https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/manzal/31124806/1342710/1342710_1000.jpg
2 – picture of Mars desert
https://cont.ws/uploads/pic/2018/2/155C11D0-66E2-4E6E-804E-FC9DBC53CE2F.jpeg
video a)
Allegedly original video “the attack on Wagner” with the AC-130
https://vk.com/nezugar_vk?w=wall-46268973_1048
is based on video from year 2010
AC-130U Spooky Gunship Night Live Fire Demo Pt.1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WMGLP2Mpdk
video b)
The second video which is actively distributed as a video of the attack, is a simulator of 2015 (AC-130 Gunship Simulator)
AC-130 Gunship Simulator – Convoy engagement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clL9yZSbcE0
Amazing research!
I also doubt that 500 soldiers would huddle together in the field in such proximity, making it easy for the enemy to get them in one go.
There have also been a lot of comments today from various Russian sources:
“Kremlin urges media not to rely on misinformation on developments in Syria….”
http://tass.com/politics/989966
“MP slams fake news reports about numerous Russian deaths in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor……”
http://tass.com/politics/989945
“Foreign Ministry refutes reports about Russians killed in Syria…..”
http://tass.com/politics/989946
Also RT and Sputnik running similar stories…….Western MSM propaganda with Russian Liberals and their news outlets running with the story. All to attack VVP before the election.
Yes, the Russian liberals received instructions from NGO’s how to conduct some psychological warfare against Putin and ruin his chances at being reelected. When I first read about all those Russians getting “killed”, I was surprised, as the Russian performance so far has been very professional. It soon became clear that the whole event was fake news.
Ruslan Ostashko: Losses of “PMC Wagner” in Syria or Russia takes always
revenge for own people (Потери “ЧВК Вагнера” в Сирии или Россия всегда
мстит за своих)
PMC = Private Military Company
ЧВК = Частная Военная Компания
Video – English subtitles available
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxagq6UetCk
RT has just reported of a second incident:
https://www.rt.com/usa/418748-us-destroys-tank-syria-escalation/
In any case the Americans are up to no good….I wonder how far are they willing to push these “Euphrates” operations in Syria.
Knowing Russia is having a election in about a month, it all make sense. I think Donald is turning up heat on Putin running up to the election. Putin may not think about it when Russian pull back troops a few month ago. I was not sure why, but now I understand. Putin and his people are smart, and I believe they will find a way to take care of the situation.
They will push it as far as they think they can,thats why they have to be stopped,that should have happened a long time ago.
It seems to me what is lacking in all these conflicting reports are embedded journalists who report on the various battles occurring real-time. Pictures, videos, interviews with SAA soldiers will paint a truer picture of facts, not the conjecture the public reads as spun by the western media.
The American people saw how bloody and horrific the killing and destruction of property was during the Vietnam War every night on television. So must Syrian, Russian, Hezbollah and Iranian journalists step up and deliver to the alternate media the imagery of body counts where and when the fighting occurs . The west won’t be able to cover that up any more than they tried to do with the massacre at My Lai as told by Seymour Hersh
see: (http://www.cleveland.com/plain-dealer-library/index.ssf/2009/11/eye_witness_account_of_the_my_lai_massacre_story_by_seymour_hersh_nov_20_1969.html ).
One one hand I’m fully with you. People need to see what is done in their names. But those pictures should be shown in MSM or on posters in front of embassies, offices of political parties, banks, etc.
Personally I don’t want to be confronted with even a single one of such horrific pictures. Those few that I’ve seen in the past will stay forever in my mind.
Most readers that frequent this site should know by now that the West is trying to smear President Putin in the run up to the Presidential Elections . The propaganda campaign is heating up in order to give the impression that President Putin is weak or is faltering hence the shameful political decisions by the IOC and now this ‘fake news’ about Russian casualties in Syria . I trust President Putin is looking down range and is willing to take a few blows before his next move .
That is my guess also. Get the election out of the way first, and consolidate his authority and support.
…..I find it quite possible that there is no such thing as “100” or “”200” or “600” or “big number” of “Russian forces” killed in the attack by the US defending ISIS.
…..There are several reason why some event could be inflated for reasons other than actually happening:
1) demoralize the supporters of the lawful government of Syria and its Russian allies;
2) undercut President Putin in the last weeks before his own election in Russia;
3) cause increased hatred (by exaggeration) among different groups in Syria for purposes;
4) reinforce and make acceptable the promoted idea in the US that Russia really is “the enemy” and killing them is just fine.(i.e,. as practice for later plans)
…..I remember during the USNATO bombing of the Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija that there was a front-page article in the New York Times describing in great detail how the B-52s were totally obliterating the Serbian defenders in the mountains along the Albanian border and they only prayed that they could survive. As it happens, it was all a total fabrication, but the purpose of the article was to demoralize the Serbs and their allies such as us.
Some of those Russian news outlets which helped spreading (hopefully) wrong numbers of casualties may be part of the 5th column residing in Russia. The other ones who got fooled should attempt to implement fact checking procedures before publishing rumors.
This is part of a disinformation campaign to influence the coming Russian election.
Orthodox Christian Russia needs to unite with the conservative Christian core of America.
In theory, one Special Forces A-Team, composed of 2 officers and 10 NCOs, would deploy with one battalion of 550 Montagnards or Cambodians. In practice, that A-Team would be augmented by 5-10 additional men from its parent Special Forces Unit (designated as a Company in the old days, designated as a Battalion after 1971,). So, the report -that 15-20 “Russian PMCs” were killed- would be consistent with the size of the Russian Special Forces unit that would be expected to join with an indigenous force of 500 men in such an attack.
It is likely that the total number of killed by airstrikes could number in the hundreds, since there were little cover and concealment (This is predominantly open desert terrain.) and since the targeted battalion was deployed without viable air-defense support capability (seems likely). A pair of A-10s or F-16s could have done at least as much damage as has been reported. It should be no consolation that the Russians accounted for “only” 10-20 percent of the casualties.
This incident is very troubling. Under the communication protocols in place, there should have been no such attack without some notice being passed on to the other side in advance. The government forces had to believe that their actions would not prompt a response from the US. Therefore, it seems probable that the US forces “suckered” the pro-Syrian forces into an ambush. The Russians and Syrians were being treated by US Forces in the very same manner as the Palestinians, the Syrians, Hezbollah, and the Sinai rebels have been by the Israelis.
The message seems clear: Syria -east and north of the Euphrates- is Syrian no more. The United States has notified Assad and Putin in this way in order to shame them. Like Israel, the United States can and will exercise its power and will do so with impunity.
Why then did we not see an overwhelming response to yesterday’s attach on the Zionazi drone? The answer might be that the Rogue state had its fanny slapped.
Why no response to Hegemon’s warplanes attacking SAA et al? The answer might be that the SAA is not ready to slap Hegemon’s fanny.
Syria north and east of the Euphrates belongs to Syria and I do not see how Hegemon’s warplanes, with their 5,000 mile supply lines, can make it otherwise.
This is another American military victory!
Just like George W. Bush’s famous “Mission Accomplished” photo-op touting America’s enduring victory in Iraq or those America Blackwater mercs who were dragged and hung to death in Fallujah!
USA!
USA!
USA!
So the facts up to now seem to indicate that this is a bloated up incident (at least as far as Russian mercenaries are involved) for reasons of propaganda.
Non the less ,as there was an incident, there are a few fragments of this story that would be worth investigating as info is scarce and conflicting in many areas.
1) Did the Syrian army actually initiate any attack and attempt to seize the oil refinery or other areas in Deir Ez Zor from the IGIL rebranded SDF forces ?
I doubt that they would take any action like this in this time frame (victory in Idlib,Turkish beefing it out with the Kurds etc.) w/o the approval of Moscow , so my answer is No.
2) Could some other force operating in that area (e.g Iran) take such an initiative ? I doubt it as they would risk ‘inviting’ the U.S to take a more active role in this conflict.
My conclusion is that this was a false flag operation of the Empire.
By claiming ‘self defense’ they hit an area were there are high concentrations of Syrian and allied forces (as this is the only area were Syria has a ‘beachhead’ east of the Euphrates river) making a show of force.
Putting in the mix rumors of unconfirmed high casualties of Russian contractors ,they also achieved to put pressure(?) on the Russian leadership before the elections.
At best a short lived tactical victory for them , nothing more.
The serious stuff will be when the Kurds ditch them in that area Iraqi style. (Kurds know they want to be used as cannon fodder there, don’t think it is their cup of tea).
What the Empires reaction will be when they are left in that area only with the re-branded IGIL forces without the SDF cover is the interesting question.
Below is a trail of relatively easy to follow evidence and logical conjecture demonstrating this story is 100% false.
‘Official’ statement by ISIS Hunters posted on Telegram as reported by Leith Aboufadel of AMN.
Here is the statement:
https://t.me/ISISHuntersofficial/3
Here is the article initially directing us to it by Leith Aboufadel, son of well known Ziad Fadel of the vitriolic website Syrian Perspective.
Pro-gov’t ISIS Hunters release official statement after US airstrikes in Deir Ezzor
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/pro-govt-isis-hunters-release-official-statement-us-airstrikes-deir-ezzor/
Who is behind Telegram?
This $5 Billion Encrypted App Isn’t for Sale at Any Price
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-12/cryptic-russian-crusader-says-his-5-billion-app-can-t-be-bought
Pavel Durov wiki:
Biography
Pavel Durov was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), but spent most of his childhood in Turin…
[….]
Durov started VKontakte, later known as VK, in 2006, which was initially influenced by Facebook.[16] During the time when he and his brother Nikolai built upon the VKontakte website, the company grew to a value of $3 billion.
In 2011 he was involved in a standoff with a police team outside his home in St. Petersburg after the government demanded the removal of opposition politicians’ pages after controversial parliamentary elections.
[….]
On 16 April 2014 Durov publicly refused to hand over data of Ukrainian protesters to Russia’s security agencies and block Alexei Navalny’s page on VK.[3] Instead he posted the relevant orders on his own VK page [21][22] claiming that the requests were unlawful.
[….]
Upon leaving Russia, he obtained Saint Kitts and Nevis citizenship through donating $250,000 to the country’s Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation, and secured US$300 million in cash within Swiss banks. This allowed him to focus on creating his next company, Telegram, which was originally based in Berlin and focused on an encrypted messaging service.
Pavel Durov escaped Russia because he is well connected to the powerful capitulation oriented oligarch faction inside Russia, including those with close contacts inside the Kremlin.
Here is John Helmer’s recent write up concerning the two main factions vying for power inside the Kremlin:
The factional lineup for succession to the prime ministry and to the presidency is currently between officials and oligarchs advocating capitulation to the US (CUS), and those in favour of resistance to the US (RUS). The CUS capitulationists include Alexei Kudrin, whom Medvedev sacked in 2011 for trying to replace him with Washington’s backing. Also in the CUS faction are German Gref; Anatoly Chubais; Mikhail Abyzov; and inside the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov.
The RUS faction includes Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin; Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu; former chief of the Kremlin staff Sergei Ivanov; Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev; and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
http://johnhelmer.net/the-clown-and-the-elephants-deputy-prime-minister-arkady-dvorkovich-says-there-are-no-oligarchs-in-russia/#more-18606
The sources and individuals promoting this story (100’s of dead Russian and Syrians) represent an elaborate disinformation network including many people who are prominent within the pro Syrian and pro Russian English-speaking alternative media. I have already mentioned some of their names at the begining of my comment.
Further research will tie most of these individuals to other well known sources on which most of us have come to rely over these past 6 or more years for all information concerning the wars in Syria and Donbas.
The situation in the Kremlin faced by Vladimir Putin looks like this:
The Atlanticist (pro West) faction has promised VVP they can deliver concrete benefits for Russia by secretly collaborating with the United States in Syria and beyond. This is the group which favoured Donald Trump and promoted the idea he would be good for Russia.
This group can claim some minor successes including what appears to be the lessening of pressure on the Donbas, however, this is highly debatable. By and large US policy in Ukraine, Syria and elsewhere has not broken significantly from what is was under President Barrack Obama. Arguably the policy has become much more aggressive nothwithstanding the election of Donald Trump. The war against Russia which started with the coup against Yanukovych in 2014 has only accelerated and prospects for an end are nowhere apparent.
Dmitry Peskov, head of Kremlin communications and chief spokeman for Vladimir Putin, is at the operational head of this group and uses an elaborate network of superficially pro Russian sources in English speaking alternative media in order to push messages this group believes will be advantageous to it’s overall position.
This is different from pushing messages conceived entirely for the benefit of Russia.
The efforts to promote Russian interests as conceived by this group have included projects such as the documentary Putin by (in)famous US Director Oliver Stone, to promote a particular image of the Russian President within the Angloshpere and create an environment in which Donald Trump can make deals with the Russians.
To date one can say their efforts have failed miserably from the (pro) Russian perspective and moreover they have mobilized the strongest ever anti Russian sentiment seen in the West since the end of the Cold War.
This group also controls many media assets inside Russia giving rise to a lively and comparatively competitive media environment fostering, both overtly and covertly, pro Atlanticist, Neoliberal and Zionist positions.
One of the individuals inside this group you may have heard of is Konstantin Malofeev of TsargradTV and Marshal Captial Partners. He has featured prominently in several chapters of the propaganda war over Donbas and is likely amongst the group accused by Igor Strelkov of manufacturing his image and fostering the dream of Novorussia, today almost completely abandoned, almost certainly on orders of the Kremlin.
Strelkov has also accused this group of attempting to force his militia to stand, fight and die in a militarily pointless excercise against overwhelming NATO led Ukro-Nazi forces instead of infamously retreating, as they did, from Slavyansk. According to Strelkov (Girkin) the secretive group that initially stood behind the Novorussia project had wanted to rid themselves of the political problems created by his Novorussian freedom fighters and cynically turn him into a martyr.
Remember, the primary loyalty of this (pro capitulation) group is to their bank accounts and other assets mainly in London, Switzerland, the United States and all in the best tradition of Neoliberal Capitalist Gangsterism. So long as they can steal from Russia they will do so but most of them prefer to live and keep their money tied down in the West.
Further, these are the only individuals in position to bargain directly with those standing behind Donald Trump in the United States.
One can make the Trump versus Hillary argument — that a Clinton Presidency would’ve been disasterous, with which I partially agree, however, had Hillary Clinton actually won the US Presidency it is almost certain that traitorous, collaborating, money hungry ZIo-Atlanticists would be much less relevant in Moscow political circles today.
This is also the most likely reason Hillary Clinton was sabotaged by the US (read Zionist) Deep State which engineered a campaign to elect Donald Trump by having the hated mainstream media attack him relentlessly. More subtle methods were oredered by the same people to secure a victory for UK-Brexit.
The Atlanticists are opposed, as I’ve already highlighted with the quotation from John Helmer above, by another group (Eurasianists) led by Igor Sechin, who as a group generally leave their assets inside Russia and are therefore less liable to be concerned about pressure from Western interests.
With some notable exceptions, perhaps including the Saker who has occaisonally voiced support for prominent Eurasianists, when you hear a seemingly pro Russian position taken in English speaking alternative media, you are encountering propaganda fostered by the pro West (Atlanticist) faction, not for the benefit of Russia (unless you believe neoliberal dogma) but for the benefit of the same people who destroyed the Soviet Union and profited immensely from that destruction while millions of Russians died premature deaths, including from starvation, and who believe breaking up Russia will make them even wealthier and more powerful.
Last comment.
When Western Zionist Capitalists are again fearful of Russia, only then will they turn back to the people they have been raping, pillaging and genociding since the begining of the Reagan and Gorbachev era. The only way common people in the West, the so-called 99%, will ever have leverage against the oligarchs who control our supposed democracies is to have Russia as the enemy of our own Zionist elite.
Either the rich eat each other or they will eat us.
Utterly frustrated by the below par performance of its ridiculously expensive, huge mercenary armies Al Q & ISIS, the Jewish Mafia falls back to what it has done so successfully over the last millennia: grizzly psy-ops and targeted killings accompanied by a steady stream of hoax news. What a surprise.
Propaganda « perception management », psychological warfare indeed! From the usual suspects in the Empire of Chaos.
Nonetheless, even while taking all russian versions at face value, be it regarding Syria or Novorussia, Putin indecision toward « our partners » (after all the Russian Atlanticist class is still alive, with mindsets similar to those of their arab or south american counterparts) will be dramatic if not reversed.
This is not 2015, the « partners » are burning everything, the « long game chess play » is less and less explanatory now…
Syrian Gov. / Afrin Canton Negotiations Close to Break Through?
“ A deal between the Syrian Government and Afrin Canton is being finalized at this very moment. They have arrived in common ground in the past just to be rejected at the very moment to implement, so it is early to declare it done deal. This deal must include the following demands form the Syrian Government:
1) All public institution back to central Government control, i.e. taxes, etc…
2) The entry of the Syrian Arab Army in the Afrin Canton.
3) Russian small police presence.
There are negotiations around the armed militia to be inserted at NDF and police force. Large groups would have to leave the canton to Raqqa Province.
Turkish air attacks have stopped 2 days ago, a demand from Afrin to negotiate.” (Canthama)
Eva Bartlett talks to Elijah Magnier |2018-02-14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf5rcjSHy_c
Elijah J. Magnier – Israel F-16 Downwd And Nothing Iranian Hit |2018-02-10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH1LtxtrWiM
Finally: SAAF starts softening targets ahead of expected major campaign by the SAA in East Goutha.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-syrian-air-force-leaps-action-east-damascus-ahead-major-offensive/
Reports of scores of Russians killed in Syria are disinformation by anti-govt forces – Moscow
https://www.rt.com/news/418894-syria-reports-russians-killed/
Moscow Preliminarily Confirms Death of 5 Russians in Coalition’s Strike in Syria
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201802151061694386-moscow-russians-syria-coalition-strike-killed/
They have yet to confirm if all of these 5 are indeed Russian citizens.
It is my understanding that the units attacked from the air by US were not attacking, they have been sitting in place for some weeks. I have no understanding of numbers of killed, if any, in the attack but that might change on the morrow.
A ‘General Harrington’, supposedly in the command structure of US in the general area of Syria/Irak, stated that the following air assets were used in the attack, this list from his mouth:
F-15, MQ-9, AC-130, AH-64, B-52.
These assets were supposedly used to counter a sudden and ‘surprise’ attack against ‘US Allies’ in the area of the oil fields east of the Euphrates, otherwise known as Syrian Sovereign Land. There is only a couple problems with list but in my opinion the problems show that the units attacked by US were, indeed, stationary and dug in.
B-52’s and AC-130 assets are not sitting on a hot pad waiting for the whistle call to come running and rain destruction on someone’s head and in addition both units are BAFST’s, Big / / Slow Targets, in other words they need protection from just about anything beyond a cross bow fired at them. It is my understanding, and anyone here who actually served in the last 5 years on either air frame can enlighten me if possible, that B-52 takes minimum 24 hours to service, bomb up, assess mission statement, brief crews, arrange protection assets, etc etc. AC-130 could have been on a ‘fast roll’ situation but even then, it takes preparation and time to actually get airborne, hook up with prearranged protection assets and reach the target area.
Perhaps I am wrong, but the whole thing smells to me of a well planned for at least a week in advance attack on units that were sitting in place and did not so much as fire a slingshot at US ground assets, and I’ll qualify the ‘fire a slingshot’ with unless they were attacked, even a probing attack, first.
In my opinion this ‘defensive’ attack had several goals. One was to send a very clear message to Mother that east of the Euphrates is no longer Sovereign Syrian Land, another was to instill fear in the SAA assets in the area. Good luck on instilling fear in SAA and good luck on Mother rolling over and playing dead on receipt of the message. While there may be more than the one seemingly confirmed dead SAA soldier, reality is this massively blown up little fight was just that, a small fight instigated by USA and the aforementioned air assets were already sitting in position and ready to devastate the local AO. In other words whoever was the recipient of this air attack was suckered in to possibly firing a shot or two, if that.
Auslander
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Sevastopol, The Third Defense. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079KRPLS4 Book 1, A Premonition, The Move South
Never The Last One https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZGCY8KK A Deep Look In To Russia, Her Culture And Her Armed Forces
This South Front report does a decent job analysing and debunking the zionazi propaganda about the “100s of Russians killed”.
These zionazi propaganda ops use multiple levels of disinfo and multiple styles to take in as many varied political groupings of the targeted audiences as possible. The zionazi psyops directed at hoodwinking the left is the most insidious, covert and duplicious.
For example, right after the zio-gay media started pumping this “100s Russians killed” propaganda, the covert zionazi blogger at moon of alabama came out with a story that inserted wagner into the incident, thereby reinforcing the propaganda about some Russian Merc outfit called wagner.
“On the Syrian government side in Deir Ezzor are a few Syrian troops, local militia from the area, as well as members of Russian private military contractor named Wagner Group. Wagner allegedly has a contract with the Syrian government that will give it some 25% of all revenues from oil-fields it recovers and protects.” (fron “Syria – U.S. May Have Arranged “Self Defense” Attack On Syrian Government Forces”)
The source they used for this zionazi propaganda was a fox news piece ( literally, if you can believe it :-D ) called “Thousands of Russian private contractors fighting in Syria” derived from ap. The article is an obvious anti-Russian, anti-Syrian propaganda piece full of blatant bias, IE, typical zio-gay media nonsense.
The moa entry speculated the people attacked by the americans were Russian mercs working for Wagner who were in the process of taking over an oil installation as part of some secret agreement with the kurds. That the kurds and americans lured them in and then sneak attacked them. Or something like that.
It is clear that moon of alabama based this whole theory on the zionazi wagner mercs propaganda in the fox news article. This brings me back to what I wrote above about the zionazi propaganda designed to disinform people on the left being the most tricky.
What moa was doing was subtly reinforcing the zionazi propaganda. The wagner merc nonsense has long debunked, the material from Scott Humor posted above being a good example, why was moa using this nonsense? The reason, to give it credibility again. Reviving the wagner merc propaganda reinforces the zionazi propaganda about the incident in a back hand way, as it reinforces the zionazi propaganda meme that there are Russian mercs all throughout Syria. Essentially that Russia is doing what the u.s. did in Iraq and Afghanistan with their merc forces.
The moa piece also backhandedly reinforces the zionazi propaganda about the incident itself, in that a large force from the Syrian side invaded american protected territory. It takes the attention away from the fact the americans attacked a force which was attacking daesh and that the americans were actually protecting daesh.
This is what I mean about zionazi propaganda for left audiences having to be more clever. The left doesn’t buy the obvious manure one finds in the zio-gay media, the zionazis have to work and be creative in how they present their propaganda. It has to look as if it is in opposition to the obvious propaganda, or it won’t wash.
Not just moa, but Zero Hedge, up front and center, for two different articles yesterday.
I’ve said many times it matters not at all whether or not a “mark” is aware of being used for psyop/propaganda. Willing dupes or “useful idiots” are in many ways much better for the perps, “plausible deniability” the ring to rule them all.
ZH backed off on the story today, but the “damage” had been done, almost entirely to American doom-porn consumers who know nothing about Russian politics, despite a good four plus years of decent info readily available. It doesn’t matter a whit to internal Russian politics (I don’t think), but for domestic (US) consumption, “the damage was done” on this limited, super-pathetic hangout, so I guess the hasbara brigades can belatedly point it out to their superiors as a “success.”
Can a new “US Proxy State” in Syria survive?
https://ejmagnier.com/2018/01/17/can-a-new-us-proxy-state-in-syria-survive/
One of the most vivid signs that the news about large losses by a Russian PMC in Syria is fake news and anti-Putin propaganda is the fact that the name “Wagner” (i.e. the name of the alleged MPC fighting in Syria) has been used profusely and in a matter-of-fact way. Officially, no private military company can legally exist in Russia. Covert operations by Russian special ops groups fighting alongside SAA is possible, but any widespread use of legitimate mercenaries, like MPCs, in Syria by Russia or any other potential employer is virtually impossible. Therefore, any widespread reference to a Russia MPC, accompanied by exorbitant numbers of reported casualties among alleged Russian mercenaries in Syria, bespeaks propaganda efforts by those who is trying to lessen Putin’s chances of winning this year’s presidential election.