"Everyone wrote off the Syrian army. Take another look now"--Robert Fisk

[KoKo]

Everyone wrote off the Syrian army. Take another look now

All this is only the beginning of Mr Putin’s adventure in the Middle East

By Robert Fisk

October 18, 2015 "Information Clearing House" - "The Independent" - While the world still rages on at Russia’s presumption in the Middle East – to intervene in Syria instead of letting the Americans decide which dictators should survive or die – we’ve all been forgetting the one institution in that Arab land which continues to function and protect the state which Moscow has decided to preserve: the Syrian army. While Russia has been propagandising its missiles, the Syrian military, undermanned and undergunned a few months ago, has suddenly moved on to the offensive. Earlier this year, we may remember, this same army was being written off, the Bashar al-Assad government said to be reaching its final days.

We employed our own army of clichés to make the case for regime change. The Syrian army was losing ground – at Jisr al-Shugour and at Palmyra – and so we predicted that the whole Assad state had reached a “tipping point”.

Then along came Vladimir Putin with his air and missile fleets and suddenly the whole place is transformed. While we huffed and puffed that the Russians were bombing the “moderate” rebels – moderates who had earlier ceased to exist according to America’s top generals – we’ve been paying no attention to the military offensive which the Syrians themselves are now staging against the Nusra Front fighters around Aleppo and in the valley of the Orontes.

Syrian commanders are now setting the coordinates for almost every Russian air strike. They were originally giving between 200 and 400 coordinates a night. Now the figure sometimes reaches 800. Not that the Russians are going after every map reference, of course. The Syrians have found that the Russians do not want to fire at targets in built-up areas; they intend to leave burning hospitals and dead wedding parties to the Americans in Afghanistan. This policy could always change, of course. No air force bombs countries without killing civilians. Nor without crossing other people’s frontiers.

But the Russians are now telling the Turks – and by logical extension, this information must go to the Americans – their flight coordinates. Even more remarkable, they have set up a hotline communications system between their base on the Syrian Mediterranean coast and the Israeli ministry of defence in Tel Aviv. More incredible still is that the Israelis – who have a habit of targeting Syrian and Iranian personnel near the Golan Heights – have suddenly disappeared from the skies. In other words, the Russians are involved in a big operation, not a one-month wonder that is going on in Syria. And it is likely to continue for quite a time.

More at.......

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article43184.htm

[bemildred]

1. Air strikes in Syria kill ‘dozens of ISIL fighters’

At least 40 fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have been killed in an air strike on their convoy in the Syrian province of Hama, a UK-based monitoring group says.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that unidentified warplanes hit the 16-vehicles motorcade overnight between Saturday and Sunday in Hama province.

The Observatory, which monitors the war in Syria and has a network of sources on the ground, was unable to ascertain if the air strikes were carried out by Russian warplanes or those of the Syrian regime.

“But they don’t belong to the coalition led by Washington,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP news agency.

http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/10/air-strikes-in-syria-kill-dozens-of-isil-fighters/

[bemildred]

2. At least 40 Islamic State fighters killed in air strike in Syria – monitoring group

At least 40 Islamic State fighters have been killed in an air strike on their convoy in the Syrian province of Hama, a UK-based monitoring group reported on Sunday.

The attack, which took place on Saturday, also destroyed 16 vehicles in the convoy, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence in the country through a wide network of sources on the ground.

The observatory added that the convoy had just left Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militant group, at the time of the attack. No further details were immediately available.

http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/10/at-least-40-islamic-state-fighters-killed-in-air-strike-in-syria-monitoring-group/

[bemildred]

3. Mole Valley set to take in Syrian refugee families

SYRIAN families fleeing conflict in Western Asia are set to be offered refuge in Mole Valley in light of the migrant crisis experienced across Europe.

Mole Valley District Council's (MVDC) executive is expected to sign up to participate in the Government's Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) Scheme.

The topic will be brought up as an urgent item at the executive's meeting on Tuesday evening and the proposal commits the authority to assisting five Syrian households annually over the next five years.

Councillor Vivienne Michael, executive member for community engagement and resident services said the figure was considered with the district's own housing demand in mind.


http://www.dorkingandleatherheadadvertiser.co.uk/Mole-Valley-announces-Syrian-refugee-families/story-28012605-detail/story.html

[KoKo]

18. "MOLE Valley is the Happiest District in Surry"

MOLE Valley is the happiest district in Surrey.

The greenery, community spirit and Dorking's iconic cockerel are among the reasons residents gave the Advertiser for the sense of joy which pervades our district.

The news comes from figures released by the largest survey of its kind from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

Around 30,000 people nationwide were asked to reflect on their personal wellbeing and Mole Valley residents came out as among the most upbeat in the country – and the jolliest in Surrey.

The chairman of Mole Valley District Council, Councillor Margaret Cooksey said: "I am very glad to hear that Mole Valley is the happiest district in Surrey."

She added: "We are in the most beautiful countryside and our area is nice to be in so people are bound to be happy."

Though when told the news, some did say the traffic puts a damper on their mood, with congestion hotspots like the A25 and M25.

The survey also found that Mole Valley residents were less anxious than the average in the UK.

The figures also showed that Surrey residents are happier about their lives and less nervous than the national average.

http://www.dorkingandleatherheadadvertiser.co.uk/Mole-Valley-happiest-district-Surrey/story-27940060-detail/story.html

[bemildred]

19. Heh. nt

[KoKo]

21. It was the Source of your Post that got me looking....

Dorking and Leatherhead? It was intriguing.......And, yet there they are in Surrey, GB!

I wish those Refugees well and hope they find it a truly "Happy Place" after what they've been through. And, that "Mole Valley" is Truly as welcoming as they sound to be from the article. If it's that good...I'd think about relocating there myself....if I didn't have other obligations. It sounds lovely.

[bemildred]

24. It seemed amusing.

And it's nice to know there are still places like that, so to speak.

[KoKo]

25. .....

It was a good read!

[bemildred]

4. Battle-Weary Syrian Army Struggles Despite Russian Air War

(AFP) Devastated by years of fighting, Syria's battle-weary armed forces are struggling to make significant gains despite intense Russian air support for a series of new offensives.

Nearly three weeks of air strikes have given Bashar al-Assad's regime and his forces a morale boost, analysts say, but so far the effect on the ground has been negligible.

Still, military sources in Damascus say it will take time for the regime to regain ground and are confident of a turnaround.

A longtime ally of Damascus, Russia escalated its support in late September with an air campaign aimed at bolstering regime positions and backing ground operations by Syrian government troops. It has so far carried out more than 500 air strikes.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/202126

[bemildred]

5. Saudi says difficult to see role for Iran in Syria peacemaking

DUBAI, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday that Iran's military role in Syria stopped it from being able to play a role in peacemaking efforts in the conflict there.

Speaking at a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Jubeir repeated Riyadh's view that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is supported by Iran, had to leave power if peace was to be achieved.

"The question is: what must Iran do to be part of the solution in Syria? The answer is very simple:

"It has to withdraw from Syria and it has to stop supplying weapons to Bashar al-Assad's regime and it has to withdraw the Shi'ite militias that it sent ... and then it can have a role," Jubeir said, adding that Iran was now an "occupier of Arab lands in Syria".

http://www.trust.org/item/20151019150738-8thpd/

[bemildred]

6. Drone strike kills high al-Qaida operative, U.S. says

Sanafi al-Nasr, the leader of an al-Qaida offshoot in northwest Syria who was killed in an airstrike, was in charge of the Khorasan Group and was a primary coordinator for moving money and fighters to extremist strongholds in Syria.

WASHINGTON — The military airstrike in northwest Syria that killed Sanafi al-Nasr, the leader of a shadowy al-Qaida cell that U.S. officials say has been plotting attacks against the United States and Europe, was carried out by the U.S.-led coalition, the Pentagon said Sunday.

The 30-year-old Saudi national was the highest-ranking leader of a network of some two dozen veteran al-Qaida operatives called the Khorasan Group, and the fifth senior member of the group to be killed in the past four months. His death was announced in a Pentagon statement describing Thursday’s operation, which U.S. officials said was a drone strike.

The U.S. use of drones, as opposed to piloted aircraft, to carry out such strikes may reduce the stakes of any inadvertent confrontation with Russian planes over Syria.

http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/10/drone-strike-kills-high-al-qaida-operative-u-s-says/

[leveymg]

26. He'll be replaced immediately. What about the Saudi bankers who send the money?

When they start meeting strange ends, then we may begin to believe we're seeing the beginning of the end of ISIS and the regional civil war in the Levant.

[bemildred]

7. Syrian rebels say receive more weapons for Aleppo battle

Rebels battling the Syrian army and its allies near Aleppo said on Monday they had received new supplies of U.S.-made anti-tank missiles from states opposed to President Bashar al-Assad since the start of a major government offensive last week.

The rebels from three groups contacted by Reuters said new supplies had arrived in response to the attack by the army, which is backed up by Russian air strikes and on the ground by Iranian fighters and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

The delivery of the U.S.-made TOW missiles to rebels in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria appears to be an initial response to the new Russian-Iranian intervention. Foreign states supporting the rebels include Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.

But officials from one of the Aleppo-based rebel groups said the supplies were inadequate for the scale of the assault, one of several ground offensives underway with Russian air support.

http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/10/syrian-rebels-say-receive-more-weapons-for-aleppo-battle/

[bemildred]

8. Russia and Saudi Arabia to make the new Middle East

Two high-ranking representatives of the countries of the Arabian Peninsula - Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - have recently paid a visit to Russia and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. These two countries, according to Western media, are skeptical about the operation that Russia is conducting in Syria. Is it true to fact? How can Russia cooperate with leading countries of the Arab world? Pravda.Ru conducted an interview on the subject with senior lecturer of the School of Oriental Studies at the Higher School of Economics, Andrei Chuprygin.

"How do Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and their allies assess Russia's military operation in Syria? Do they see it as a problem?"

"The appearance of Russian airplanes and helicopters in Syria does not seem to be a huge problem either for Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. It is the Islamic State the poses the biggest danger to these countries, especially to Saudi Arabia. I believe that the Islamic State is already a state, some call it a terrorist group or a pseudo-state. I think of it as a state that has been formed within certain borders.

http://english.pravda.ru/world/asia/19-10-2015/132360-middle_east_russia-0/

[bemildred]

9. US, Russia to sign 'understanding' on air safety over Syria: official

WASHINGTON: The United States and Russia are set to sign an "understanding" specifying how pilots can avoid each other over Syria as the two powers conduct separate bombing campaigns, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday.

Captain Jeff Davis said the memorandum of understanding would likely be signed Tuesday. The measure has already been fleshed out and just needs final checking.

"We're very close, we've got a document that's just about signature-ready," Davis said.

Davis stressed the rules established with Russia are not part of a broader agreement on how the two countries could operate in Syria.

http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/middle-east/355558/us-russia-to-sign-understanding-on-air-safety-over-syria-official

[bemildred]

11. Putin’s chess moves and Syria’s future

There has been no shortage of scrutiny of what Russian President Vladimir Putin is up to in Syria and why. Much of the analysis, though, has been narrowly focused on the short term and may be too negative in assessing his actions’ likely long-term consequences.

What we know is that Putin has decided to come to the aid of Bashar Al Assad’s embattled regime. Russian bombs and missiles are now raining down on an array of armed groups that have been fighting Syrian government forces, which has given the regime the breathing space that Russia’s intervention was intended to provide.

As bad as the Al Assad government is, and as much as it has to answer for, this outcome is arguably preferable in the short run to the regime’s collapse. The painful truth in Syria today is that a government implosion would most likely lead to genocide, millions more displaced people and the establishment of Daesh’s (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) so-called Caliphate in Damascus.

Putin’s motives are a matter of speculation, but it would appear that he did not want to see Russia’s long-term ally in the Middle East fall. Moreover, he never misses an opportunity to remind the world that Russia remains a major power, able and willing to act on behalf of its perceived interests. It is also possible that he sought to distract domestic attention from a shrinking economy and the rising cost of intervention in Ukraine. Putin’s high approval ratings suggest he may well be succeeding.

http://m.gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/putin-s-chess-moves-and-syria-s-future-1.1603106

[KoKo]

20. Fascinating, reasoned view coming from Richard Haas (Council on Foreign Relations)

I've seen him on Bloomberg Business...and he's always seemed aligned with NeoCon views--hawkish and totally anti-Putin (although often talking out of both sides of his mouth as they from the Think Tanks do).

A bit more from the end of the article:

Relatively safe enclaves should emerge from this effort. A Syria of enclaves or cantons may be the best possible outcome for now and the foreseeable future. Neither the US nor anyone else has a vital national interest in restoring a Syrian government that controls all of the country’s territory; what is essential is to roll back Daesh and similar groups. The second track is a political process in which the US and other governments remain open to Russian (and even Iranian) participation. The goal would be to ease Al Assad out of power and establish a successor government that, at a minimum, enjoyed the support of his Alawite base and, ideally, some Sunnis.

Such a process might well confer prestige on Putin. That would be a price worth paying if it contributed to a dynamic that, over time, would reduce both the suffering of the Syrian people and the danger posed by Daesh.

Richard N. Haass is president of the Council on Foreign Relations.

[bemildred]

23. Well, I think they are starting to get their minds wrapped around the idea that

getting Assad to leave may require some negotiation.

[bemildred]

10. Iran backs battle for Syria's Aleppo with proxies, ground troops

BEIRUT — A senior Iranian commander is coordinating an assault on the Syrian city Aleppo by a mix of Shiite forces from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq in support of Syrian troops, militiamen say, an indication of deepening Iranian involvement in Syria’s war that has transcended national boundaries.

Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force and the public face of Iran’s military intervention in the region, has ordered thousands of Shiite militiamen into Syria for an operation to recapture Aleppo, according to officials from three Iraqi militias. The militiamen are to join Iranian troops and forces from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militia, the officials said. The Iraqi Shiite militia Kitaeb Hezbollah has sent around 1,000 fighters from Iraq, one said.

The new arrivals shore up the position of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose beleaguered forces had been losing ground before Russia began launching airstrikes three weeks ago. Pro-government forces have claimed victory in a string of villages around the Aleppo in recent days, in a conflict that Shiite militias frame as a single regional struggle between Shiites and Sunni extremists from the Islamic State.

“It makes no difference whether we’re in Iraq or Syria, we consider it the same front line because we are fighting the same enemy,” said Bashar al-Saidi, a spokesman for Harakat al-Hezbollah al-Nujaba, an Iraqi Shiite militia that says it has fighters around Aleppo. “We are all the followers of Khamenei and will go and fight to defend the holy sites and Shiites everywhere," he said, referring to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iran-backs-battle-for-syrias-aleppo-with-proxies-ground-troops/2015/10/19/b8bec268-765f-11e5-a5e2-40d6b2ad18dd_story.html

[bemildred]

12. Syrian troops advance toward air base besieged by IS

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Government forces advanced Monday under the cover of Russian airstrikes toward an air base besieged by the Islamic State group in northern Syria, a Syrian military official and activists said, while a rebel military commander was killed in another battle in a nearby area.

The offensive in the northern province of Aleppo aims to lift the siege that IS has been imposing on the Kweiras military base since 2014. Jihadis have launched several attacks over the past weeks in an attempt to capture the base but were not able to.

The army captured the village of Bkayze, about seven kilometers (four miles) from the air base, the military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Troops also captured two other villages near the base, Aleppo-based activist Maamoun al-Khatib told The Associated Press.

http://www.turnto23.com/news/syrian-troops-advance-toward-air-base-besieged-by-is

[bemildred]

13. Syrian ground offensive advances on Aleppo under Russian cover

Syrian government troops and their allies pushed on with their offensive a few kilometers south of the northern city of Aleppo on Monday, after recapturing several villages from rebels.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said that the Syrian army were attempting to advance east of Aleppo towards Kweires military airport, in a bid to break a siege of the air base by "Islamic State" (IS).

Russia's air force continued its support of Syrian ground efforts on Monday, with state news agency RIA Novosti reporting that Russian warplanes had hit 49 targets in the provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Idlib, Latakia and Hama since Sunday - destroying command posts, bunkers and artillery.

Russia's air force said it had conducted almost 700 airstrikes in Syria since beginning its bombing campaign against Syrian rebels on September 30.

http://www.dw.com/en/syrian-ground-offensive-advances-on-aleppo-under-russian-cover/a-18791806

[bemildred]

14. 2 commanders killed in the ongoing clashes in the southern countryside of Alappo

The number of commanders in the rebel and Islamist factions who were killed in clashes in the southern countryside of Aleppo today has risen to 2, the first one is Ismail Sanif the military leader of Nour al- Din Zanki Movement while the other one is Bashar Mqaddam the military leader in al- Sham Rebels Battalions. Meanwhile, the rebel and Islamist factions targeted a regime forces’ tank using TOW missile in the vicinity of Khan Toman town in the southern countryside of Aleppo, information reported casualties on its crew.

http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/10/2-commanders-killed-in-the-ongoing-clashes-in-the-southern-countryside-of-alappo/

[bemildred]

15. Rebel commanders: Regime seeks to encircle Aleppo city, ‘send the world a message’ with Russian supp

AMMAN: The Syrian regime and its allies are attempting to encircle contested Aleppo city via a land campaign beginning in the province's southern countryside “to send the world a message...that it can advance under Russian air support,” a high-level rebel commander in the field told Syria Direct Monday.

On Friday, the regime unleashed ground troops out of its base in Safira and the neighboring Defense Factories roughly 20km southeast of Aleppo city. From these points, the two-pronged assault is moving both northeast and west into the south Aleppo countryside. The goal, three rebel commanders tell Syria Direct, is to form an uninterrupted cordon around the city that will strangle the rebels, and ultimately civilians, within.

“The regime is trying, through these battles, to establish a large security cordon around Aleppo city,” Major Ahmed Abu Ismael, a Feilaq a-Sham officer with the Fatah Halab operations room, told Syria Direct Monday. The Fatah Halab, or Aleppo Victory, operations room was established this past April to decide the battle for Aleppo city. The alliance includes al-Jabha a-Shamiya, Ahrar a-Sham, Feilaq a-Sham and various FSA-affiliated rebel groups.

The regime, emboldened by Russian air support, “is using the southern Aleppo countryside as a base to launch operations to connect areas under its control” by eliminating rebel and IS-held pockets north, east and west of the city, said Abu Ismael.

http://syriadirect.org/news/rebel-commanders-regime-seeks-to-encircle-aleppo-city-%E2%80%98send-the-world-a-message%E2%80%99-with-russian-support/

[bemildred]

16. The regime forces advance again in the southern countryside of Aleppo and take control of 3 hills

Aleppo Province:
The regime forces supported by fighters from of Syrian and Iranian nationalities and Hezbollah took control of the hills of al-Snobrat, al-Mahruqat and al-Syriatel in the vicinity of Khan Tuman town, after clashes against Al-Nusra Front (al-Qaeda in the Levant) and the rebel and Islamic Factions, which led to the death of 5 fighters, including the head of the local council for the town of Zerba and a member of the “Council of the Free Aleppo Province” during the clashes, and information about more casualties in the ranks of the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them, while clashes renewed between the regime forces supported by al-Ba’eth battalions against the rebel and Islamic factions in the vicinity of Bani Zaid neighborhood of Aleppo, amid mutual shelling and shooting by heavy machineguns, also sporadic clashes took place between the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them against the rebel and Islamic Factions in the vicinity of Salah al-Din neighborhood in Aleppo, accompanied by a mutual shelling between both sides, while shells launched by the rebel and Islamic factions and landed on areas in al-Khaldiyyeh neighborhood in Aleppo, which caused injuries, also the regime forces bombed areas in the town of Masqan in the northern countryside of Aleppo, while the rebel and Islamic Factions targeted using a US-missile TOW positions for the regime forces in al-Hawija area in the southern countryside of Aleppo, which led to human losses in the ranks of the regime forces.

http://www.syriahr.com/en/2015/10/the-regime-forces-advance-again-in-the-southern-countryside-of-aleppo-and-take-control-of-3-hills/

[bemildred]

17. . nt

[KoKo]

22. And, it goes on and on....Fast & Furious....

I've often wondered why Climate Change isn't tied to the Bombings that have gone on for Decades all over our Planet. What Spews into the Skies from all these weapons that carry Uranium and other Toxic Substances that float across the currents all over the Earth.

Why are "Weapons of Mass Destruction" not put in the same category as the well known "Fossil Fuels" that are impacting our Environment causing Health Problems and Fallow Land in every area that We, Our Allies, and the Terrorist Groups are spewing out with the arms that the MIC supplies themselves With on Tax Dollars from Populations of Countries that Participate.

Is this a form of Genocide for the Planet? The air we all Breathe comes across the World...and it is the same Air, Dust from off African Coast that causes Weather Disturbances across Continents.

No one has yet dealt with the consequences of Fukushima ....it goes down the Memory Hole.