The US military has reinforced its troops, supposedly mostly withdrawn from Syria, with a new batch of military equipment, this time M2A2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.
In an official comment released on September 18, the US-led coalition said that mechanized infantry assets, including Bradley IFVs, were positioned to Syria in order to “ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS”, “ensure the protection of Coalition forces” and “provide the rapid flexibility needed to protect critical petroleum resources”.
The M2A2 Bradley is armed with a 25 mm chain gun, a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and a dual TOW anti-tank guided missile launcher. This makes the IFV the heaviest weapon deployed by the US on the ground in Syria.
As of September 21, the newly deployed armoured vehicles were already spotted during a coalition patrol in al-Hasakah province, where the US has a network of fortified positions and military bases. US forces regularly conduct patrols in the area. Another area of US interest in Syria’s northeast are the Omar oil fields on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. Washington reinforced its troops deployed there with M2A2 Bradley IFVs in October 2019.
The main difference is that, according to local sources, the vehicles deployed in al-Hasakah province will most likely be involved in patrols in the area and thus regular confrontations with the Russian Military Police and the Syrian Army.
Just a few days ago, Russian attack helicopters chased US Apaches after they had tried to harass a Russian Military Police patrol. Earlier, the US military claimed that US troops sustained “mild injures”, when a Russian vehicle rammed a US MRAP in the al-Hasakah countryside.
The US-led coalition regularly tries to limit the freedom of movement of Russian and Syrian forces in the northeast of the country and faces an asymmetric response. Now, US forces will have an additional argument in securing what they see as their sphere of influence.
Syrian government forces have suffered even more casualties from ISIS attacks in the provinces of Homs and Deir Ezzor. On September 19, at least five members of Liwa al-Quds, a pro-government Palestinian militia, died in an explosion of an improvised explosive device near the town of al-Shumaytiyah. On September 20, an explosion hit a vehicle of the Syrian Army near al-Mayadin reportedly injuring several soldiers. Also, a field commander of the National Defense Forces was killed in clashes with ISIS terrorists west of Deir Ezzor.
As of September 21, the Syrian Army, Liwa al-Quds and their allies continue a combing operation to clear the Homs-Deir Ezzor desert from ISIS cells. However, the strong ISIS presence is still a notable threat for the security situation in the central Syrian desert.
In Greater Idlib, the Russian Aerospace Forces continue their air campaign targeting training camps, weapon depots, HQs and fortified positions of Turkish-backed terrorist groups. The interesting fact is that with the resumption of active Russian strikes on targets across Idlib, terrorists have decreased the number of attacks on the Syrian Army and civilian targets along the contact line. It would appear that the airstrike diplomacy has all chances to become an integral part of the Idlib ceasefire.
It seems clear to me the U.S. is attempting to provoke a wider war. And if they can’t goad Russia or another party, say China into taking the bate then they will just start it themselves. I was reading this morning about negotiations (if you can call them that) over a new nuclear deal. U.S. arrogance is all you would expect it to be. They will not even discuss moving troops and equipment away from the Russian border. And if Russia does not accept the U.S. proposal then the U.S. will just go ahead with their nuclear upgrades (as if they wouldn’t do so anyway) and the price of admission later will be higher.
Russia and China and other threatened countries need to see the writing on the wall. The U.S. economy is badly broken. It’s citizens are starting to experience what it is like living in a police, surveillance state as slaves but the foreign policy moves ahead full speed. The U.S. is now primarily just the military and what they have planned.
“… the U.S. is attempting to provoke a wider war …”
I fully agree. And its London poodle dutifully pitches in: /moveable-feast-cafe-2020-09-20/#comment-854622
A dying empire’s death throes are quite perilous to the world.
Let them do all the ‘nuclear upgrades’ they want. Nukes are as fake as flying saucers. It is the conventional upgrades you need to worry about.
The US is moving additional troops and equipment to the north east of Syria to shore up their Kurdish allies.
Enrich them by stealing Syrian oil.
Wider war is acceptable to them. . But they are certainly looking to antagonize Turkey that’s for sure. As they have all along.
Then Iran. The US has already been working that angle- for years now.
Russia, sure.
Not so likely with China- Perhaps the US would prefer China and Russia fight?
The Russians and Syrians rightly will not stand for US troops bullying.
But I am worried. What if a finger on a trigger is pulled and neither side backs up?
The Americans are in Syria illegally so I think it would be best to destroy them all in whatever exchange occurs. If you pull punches with the US they see it as a sign of weakness. Get the SAA to destroy the US oil fields too, it’s the main reason they are there and Syria is not benefiting in any way from those fields of it’s own oil. Trump and especially Pompeo are idiots when it comes to the military, at some point the gloves have to come off, Trump will not risk a wholesale conflagration at election time.
“… Trump will not risk a wholesale conflagration at election time …”
That is one valid assessment.
Another is that he might want a big war before election: the herd of sheeple usually sticks with the president in a wartime.
Arius, I greatly fear that The Plan (the “Great Reset”) calls for exactly that: neither side is going to back up. I am not ready for this.
I would love to know if Russia and/or China have enough signals intelligence to track down US navy SSBNs. If so, have they ever been discovered in Soviet/Russian Arctic waters? We already know S-400s can detect & shoot down B-2s & B-52s; should the Russian and Chinese navies pre-emptively destroy those SSBNs, both US as well as British?
If Chinese ICBMs are precise enough to fly into Yellowstone volcano then China likely does not need to expand its nuclear arsenal. What China desperately needs are mass production of A-235s, S-500s, and S-400s; in other words, re-inforce its air defence network.
Finally, to send a powerful message to Uncle Scam, a joint Chinese-Russian navy crew should sail a Chinese Type 92 Xia-class SSBN, modified for safety, to achieve the following goals:
*Test Russian & Chinese ballistic missile defences, & see if they can shoot down (old) JL-1 missiles
*Test the latest Russian & Chinese ICBMs
*Provide valuable experience to Russian & Chinese crews
*Noisy Xia-class will be easily detected by US & Japanese navies, therefore they will show Trump & Pompeo that Moscow & Beijing are NOT afraid of their bullying.
SF remark ” It would appear that the airstrike diplomacy has all chances to become an integral part of the Idlib ceasefire.” is rich in irony.
Evidently the distinction between diplomacy and violence or war has ceased to have relevance, and the two methods of conflict resolution are now coequal. Moreover, a “ceasefire” now includes bombing. Marvelous semantic absurdities!
This seems to imply a sitzkrieg now exists de facto and naturally the rhetoric must adapt.
Too bad for America that it’s military intimidation tactics are having no impact on Russian opposition to the USA’s economic siege warfare against Syria such as the US Caesar Act.
Russia Breaks the US “Caesar Act” and Syria Refuses The Lebanese & Iraqi Models
https://www.greanvillepost.com/2020/09/20/russia-breaks-the-us-caesar-act-and-syria-refuses-the-lebanese-iraqi-models/