WAR Russian jets resume heavy bombing of eastern Aleppo: rebels, monitor (10-11-16)

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-aleppo-idUSKCN12B14M

World News | Tue Oct 11, 2016 | 3:23pm EDT

Russian jets resume heavy bombing of eastern Aleppo: rebels, monitor

Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm, a rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

Air strikes mostly hit the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, Zakaria Malhifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim rebel group told Reuters.

"There is renewed bombardment and it is heavy," he said.

The Observatory said at least eight people were killed in Bustan al-Qasr and Fardous neighborhoods.

Moscow and Damascus reduced air raids in the northern city last week. The Syrian army said it was partly to allow civilians to leave opposition-held eastern neighborhoods.

The Syrian government said rebels holed up in Aleppo can leave with their families if they lay down their arms.

Insurgents denounced that offer as a deception.

President Bashar al-Assad seeks the complete recapture of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the 5-1/2-year war, and which has been divided between government and opposition control for years.

Assad's ally Russia has meanwhile built up its forces in Syria since a brief ceasefire collapsed last month.

Russia's intervention a year ago has helped the government side gain the upper hand against rebels on many frontlines in the Syrian conflict, including Aleppo where the opposition-held sector has been completely encircled for weeks.

Insurgents had advanced elsewhere against government forces and their allies, including in Hama province further south where they captured a series of towns and villages last month. Government forces have regained some of those areas in recent days, however.

In the southern city of Deraa, which is split between government and rebel control, insurgent shelling of a school killed at least five people including children on Tuesday, the Observatory and state media reported.

Residents reported the same death toll.

A separate mortar attack hit a government complex in the heart of the city with reports of casualties, a Deraa resident said, adding that mosques were appealing for blood donations.

(Reporting by John Davison and Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman; Editing by Alison Williams and Dominic Evans)

Related Coverage
Russia risks pariah status, UK minister says, urging protests
British lawmaker likens Russia's behavior in Syria to that of Nazis
Hezbollah sees more conflict in Syria and rising regional tension

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...USKCN12B2FG?mod=related&channelName=worldNews

World News | Tue Oct 11, 2016 | 3:23pm EDT

Hezbollah sees more conflict in Syria and rising regional tension

The leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said on Tuesday the Middle East was in a phase of escalating tension and there appeared to be no prospect of a political solution to the war in Syria.

"The regional scene is currently one of tension and escalation, and it does not appear that there are paths for negotiations or solutions", he said in a rare live televised speech before thousands of supporters in Beirut.

Speaking about Syria, where the Iran-backed group is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Nasrallah said "the theater was open to more tension, escalation and confrontation".

However, large sections of his more than hour-long address, marking Shi'ite Islam's annual Ashura commemorations, were spent attacking Sunni power Saudi Arabia, the main regional rival of Iran, mostly over its military campaign in Yemen.

Nasrallah said the Saudi leadership were pushing their country to "the abyss" and accused Riyadh of being responsible for an air strike on a Yemeni funeral in the capital Sanaa on Saturday that killed scores of people.

Saudi Arabia, which backs Syrian rebels, earlier this year marshalled other Arab states to denounce Hezbollah as a terrorist group, part of Riyadh's efforts to contain Iran's influence and reduce its ability to support Assad.

Hezbollah denies being involved in terrorism and Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in his speech on Tuesday.

The thousands of Hezbollah supporters in the crowd, mostly dressed in the traditional dark colors worn by Shi'ites at Ashura, were shown repeatedly chanting "Death to the Al Saud", Riyadh's ruling dynasty, while pumping their fists in the air.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam, Tom Perry and Angus McDowall; editing by Ralph Boulton)

 

[mzkitty]

Years ago, I thought there was nothing left of Aleppo, but I see I was wrong. Now they're bombing ruins of ruins.


hgigt ‏@AliSalari1965 22m22 minutes ago

Heartbreaking new drone footage from #Aleppo by @AleppoAMC #Syria

Second one down:

https://twitter.com/AliSalari1965

 

[Housecarl]

Years ago, I thought there was nothing left of Aleppo, but I see I was wrong. Now they're bombing ruins of ruins.


hgigt ‏@AliSalari1965 22m22 minutes ago

Heartbreaking new drone footage from #Aleppo by @AleppoAMC #Syria

Second one down:

https://twitter.com/AliSalari1965

Ruins are more defensible than intact buildings.

 

[mzkitty]

Ruins are more defensible than intact buildings.

Might as well flatten it then; won't be defensible at that point. I don't think Aleppo can ever be rebuilt; it looks worse than Dresden, and nobody will fork over the money.

 

[Possible Impact]

Years ago, I thought there was nothing left of Aleppo, but I see I was wrong. Now they're bombing ruins of ruins.


hgigt ‏@AliSalari1965 22m22 minutes ago

Heartbreaking new drone footage from #Aleppo by @AleppoAMC #Syria

Second one down:

https://twitter.com/AliSalari1965

Your being shown a limited section of Aleppo,
there are over 1.7 million people still living in the city.
(1.5 M Gov side, 250K Rebel side)

The East Aleppo side has many damaged areas, but life goes on
with only moderate disruptions in the Government (Westward) side.
(The European/American press does not show 'normality' in any pictures,
because it would diminish the 'message'.)


A tale of two cities: satellite images show
contrasting fortunes of Aleppo's citizens

While life remains relatively calm in the western half of the Syrian city,
the rebel-controlled east has been almost obliterated, new UN pictures show

6 October 2016
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...show-contrasting-fortunes-of-aleppos-citizens

(A 'typical' western article, that accidentally shows that the non-rebel side of Aleppo
has normal living conditions.)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMNVB0bwOsQ

Syrian tourism video encourages travel to war-torn Aleppo

Fox News

Published on Oct 4, 2016
Raw video: Ministry of Tourism shares promotional video which shows scenes
from regime-held West Aleppo and ignores opposition-held areas in east

 

[mzkitty]

Thanks, P.I. Until you just posted that, over the years I have NEVER seen the untouched side of that city.

 

[Dozdoats]

When the Russians get serious about putting an end to things, the thermobaric (Fuel-Air) munitions will come out.

/snip/
How FAEs Work *
*
A typical fuel air explosive device consists of a container of fuel and two separate explosive charges. After the munition is dropped or fired, the first explosive charge bursts open the container at a predetermined height and disperses the fuel in a cloud that mixes with atmospheric oxygen (the size of the cloud varies with the size of the munition). The cloud of fuel flows around objects and into structures. The second charge then detonates the cloud, creating a massive blast wave. (For a demonstration of a FAE explosion, see the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California, page at "http://www.nawcwpns.navy.mil/clmf/faeseq.html".) The blast wave destroys unreinforced buildings and equipment and kills and injures personnel. The antipersonnel effect of the blast wave is more severe in foxholes, on personnel with body armor, and in enclosed spaces such as caves, buildings, and bunkers. *
*
Fuel-air explosives were first developed, and used in Vietnam, by the United States. Soviet scientists, however, quickly developed their own FAE weapons, which were reportedly used against China in a 1969 border conflict and in Afghanistan. Since then research and development has continued and currently Russian forces field a wide array of third-generation FAE warheads. */snip/

-- https://www.hrw.org/report/2000/02/01/backgrounder-russian-fuel-air-explosives-vacuum-bombs

 

[blueinterceptor]

I'm not so sure about the Syrian conflict.
What started it? Was Assad elected. In the article above it mentions, 1.7 million people living in Alleppo 1.5 mil on govt side. 250k on rebels side.

Is this a civil war where the minority group is uprising?

 

[Dozdoats]

What started the mess in Syria? ISIS.

Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FekVVIVO_o

DEBATING HILLARY: 5 FIGHTING ISIS
BillWhittleChannel

Published on Oct 6, 2016
Hillary Clinton says she has a "plan" to "really squeeze ISIS in Syria." It seems like Syria might be squeezed enough already. In Part 5 of this 6 part series, Bill Whittle lays out the historical facts that show that Clinton and Obama CREATED ISIS.

 

[blueinterceptor]

who are the rebels that Russia and Syria are bombing in Alleppo ?

Isis?

 

[Dozdoats]

who are the rebels

You'd need a scorecard to keep up. DAESH is of course ISIS....

Second, there are the completely surreal events happening in Syria: the US betrayal of the agreement signed with Russia, the US threats to attack Syria (in total illegality), the crocodile tears about the humanitarian situation in Aleppo (and the blind eye to Yemen), the mind-blowing hypocrisy of the USA wanting to take the Syrians and the Russians to an international criminal court for war crimes, the now absolutely open support for al-Qaeda (aka al-Nusra, aka Jabhat Fateh al-Sham aka Daesh) and the threats to arm them, the open threats by Admiral Kirby to have Russian aircraft shot down, Russian cities bombed and Russians soldiers come back in body bags – we now see an Administration which has gone completely “mental” over Syria and which does not even know what it is doing. To say that the 1000-4000 US servicemen and contractors currently deployed in Syria are “serving their country” or “defending democracy” or “our way of life” is simply laughable and everybody knows that. But nobody says a word about it. In fact, their presence in Syria is hardly ever mentioned. -- http://thesaker.is/by-way-of-deception-thou-shalt-lose-your-empire/

 

[blueinterceptor]

Is this a fair summary?

Isis is the remains of al Qaeda from Iraq. The USA after removing quadaffi went into Syria in an effort to remove the last of the Mideast dictators. The left over al queda went into Syria and hooked up with Syrian Rebels in the hopes of removing Assad. Russia came to his aid and the fight goes on?
Alleppo is the rebels stronghold and Russia and Syria are bombing that part that holds the rebels?

Is that about it?

 

[Countrymouse]

who are the rebels

You'd need a scorecard to keep up. DAESH is of course ISIS....

Second, there are the completely surreal events happening in Syria: the US betrayal of the agreement signed with Russia, the US threats to attack Syria (in total illegality), the crocodile tears about the humanitarian situation in Aleppo (and the blind eye to Yemen), the mind-blowing hypocrisy of the USA wanting to take the Syrians and the Russians to an international criminal court for war crimes, the now absolutely open support for al-Qaeda (aka al-Nusra, aka Jabhat Fateh al-Sham aka Daesh) and the threats to arm them, the open threats by Admiral Kirby to have Russian aircraft shot down, Russian cities bombed and Russians soldiers come back in body bags – we now see an Administration which has gone completely “mental” over Syria and which does not even know what it is doing. To say that the 1000-4000 US servicemen and contractors currently deployed in Syria are “serving their country” or “defending democracy” or “our way of life” is simply laughable and everybody knows that. But nobody says a word about it. In fact, their presence in Syria is hardly ever mentioned. -- http://thesaker.is/by-way-of-deception-thou-shalt-lose-your-empire/

thanks for the summary, anyway---it's helpful.

And as to this:

To say that the 1000-4000 US servicemen and contractors currently deployed in Syria are “serving their country” or “defending democracy” or “our way of life” is simply laughable and everybody knows that. But nobody says a word about it.


THAT is why our servicemen and women are coming home so mentally messed up---


One of the most effective tortures in WW II was to set men to doing absolutely USELESS, PURPOSELESS, POINTLESS tasks--and then having them do them over and over and over---

In his book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl told about one of the most demeaning assignments in the concentration camps.

Workers were forced to dig piles of dirt and move them with wheelbarrows over to another part of the camp. Then the next day, they would be forced to move all that dirt back to where it had been the day before. Then the next day, they would be forced to repeat this meaningless task. And so forth. This was psychological torture, and it drove some of the prisoners mad.

Some of them even lost the will to live because of it. Frankl said, “I can survive any ‘how’ as long as there is a ‘why.'”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2016/08/the-purpose-of-life-does-it-exist/#15KYtzTvdtsFMozz.99


that is what we are sentencing our young military men and women to---and it is causing them to lose their minds.

 

[Michiana MaJo]

I wasn't aware that we had so many military people in Syria...no one invited us there! The only country invited was Russia.

What worries me is the American planes that have been painted up to look like Russian ones....I'd like to know what they're up to. The only thing I can imagine is going into Syria, bombing a school or hospital and blaming it on the Ruskies, getting the rest of the world wanting to battle them. With the end goal of ousting Assad.

 

[Doomer Doug]

This should stir things up nicely.

https://www.rt.com/news/362981-turkey-safe-zone-syria/

Turkey seeks to expand border ‘safe zone’ 45km into Syria
Published time: 17 Oct, 2016 04:02
Commenting on the ongoing offensive in Syria, the country’s minister of defense said on Sunday that Turkish forces now control a 90-kilometer (55 mile) stretch along the border, which extends 20km (12 miles) into Syria.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.voanews.com/a/turkish-wa...ilitia-targets-in-northern-syria/3559028.html

Middle East

Turkish Warplanes Strike Kurdish Militia Targets in Northern Syria

October 20, 2016 4:52 AM
VOA News

Turkey says its warplanes struck Syrian Kurdish militia targets in northern Syria, killing as many as 200 militia members.

Turkish media quoted military officials Thursday as saying the raids were carried out late Wednesday night on 18 targets in Maarrat Umm Hawsh, a region north of the city of Aleppo.

The airstrikes came ahead of a unilateral cease-fire by the Syrian army Thursday to allow civilians and rebels to leave the besieged eastern part of Aleppo.

The pause in fighting is supposed to continue until at least 7 p.m. local time, though The Syrian army has said it will last for three days.

As part of the truce, the Syrian army has opened up eight corridors civilians can use to safely exit the city. Two of those corridors have also been opened up to rebel fighters who wish to lay down their weapons and flee; one leading to Turkey and the other a pathway to the rebel-held province of Idlib.

The United Nations said Russia's extension of a truce in Aleppo is not enough time to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered to besieged civilians.

"Before we can do something really meaningful ... we need assurances from all parties," said U.N. humanitarian agency spokesman Jens Laerke. He said the United Nations needs fighting to stop for "a minimum of 48 hours" to allow UN humanitarian aid teams to mobilize.

The United Nations said about 250,000 civilians are in desperate need of supplies on Aleppo's eastern side and hundreds of others who urgently need of medical care also need to be evacuated.

U.N. and Red Cross trucks packed with supplies have been sitting near the Turkish border for weeks, awaiting guarantees the trucks can safely deliver relief supplies.
Syria and Russia halted airstrikes on Aleppo on Tuesday.

Syrian and Russians warplanes had been bombarding the area in an attempt to reclaim Aleppo from rebels.

 

[Housecarl]

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-kurds-idUSKCN12K0ER

World News | Thu Oct 20, 2016 | 4:00am EDT

Turkish jets strike U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in Syria

By Ece Toksabay and Angus McDowall | ISTANBUL/BEIRUT

Turkish jets pounded a U.S.-backed group of Kurdish-led militia fighters in northern Syria with more than 20 air strikes overnight, highlighting the conflicting agendas of the two NATO allies in an increasingly complex battlefield.

The jets targeted positions of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in three villages northeast of the city of Aleppo which the SDF had captured from Islamic State, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said late on Wednesday.

The Turkish military confirmed its warplanes had carried out 26 air strikes on areas recently taken by the Kurdish YPG militia, the strongest force in the SDF, and that it had killed between 160 and 200 fighters.

The British-based Observatory monitoring group reported a much lower toll of 11 dead and dozens wounded. Officials of the Kurdish-led administration that controls much of northeastern Syria said dozens had been killed.

The United States has backed the Kurdish-led forces in their fight against Islamic State, infuriating Ankara, which sees the YPG as an extension of Kurdish PKK militants who have waged a three-decade insurgency in southeastern Turkey.

Turkey fears the YPG will try to connect three de facto autonomous Kurdish cantons that have emerged during the five-year war to create a Kurdish-run enclave in northern Syria, stoking the separatist ambitions of Kurds on its own soil.

The air strikes, the heaviest against the YPG since Turkey launched a military incursion into Syria two months ago, came hours after President Tayyip Erdogan warned that Turkey could act alone in rooting out its enemies abroad.

They also came ahead of an expected visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter to Ankara on Friday.

"From now on we will not wait for problems to come knocking on our door, we will not wait until the blade is against our bone and skin, we will not wait for terrorist organizations to come and attack us," Erdogan said in a speech on Wednesday.

The Observatory named the bombed villages as al-Hasiya, Um al-Qura and Um Hosh. They lie around 30 km (19 miles) west of al-Bab, the last big town held by Islamic State in northwest Syria.

Turkey, a main backer of the insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad, entered the Syrian conflict in August, using its armor and air power to help Free Syrian Army rebel groups take territory near the border held by Islamic State.

But its intervention also aimed to prevent the SDF from gaining more ground. The SDF has been moving eastwards towards al-Bab, a town that the Turkish-backed rebel forces also want to capture from Islamic State.

The Turkish military said its air strikes had destroyed nine buildings, one armored vehicle and four other vehicles that belonged to the YPG.

(Reporting by Angus McDowall in Beirut and Ece Toksabay in Istanbul; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Dominic Evans)

 

[danielboon]

Open Source Intel US ‏@OSINT_US 6h6 hours ago
Russia sending three submarines towards Syria in preparation for major assault on Aleppo - The Indepen... http://bit.ly/2eozQmo #Syria https://southfront.org/russian-subs-...african-coast/

RUSSIAN SUBS ARMED WITH CRUISE MISSILES JOINED THE KUZNETSOV BATTLEGROUP OFF NORTH AFRICAN COAST

 

[Housecarl]

Hummm......

For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/11/youre-not-hearing-the-whole-story-about-aleppo/

You’re not hearing the whole story about Aleppo

Assad and his allies have carried out war crimes. But so have the rebels

Peter Oborne
5 November 2016
9:00 AM

For the past few weeks, British news-papers have been informing their readers about two contrasting battles in the killing grounds of the Middle East. One is Mosul, in northern Iraq, where western reporters are accompanying an army of liberation as it frees a joyful population from terrorist control. The other concerns Aleppo, just a few hundred miles to the west. This, apparently, is the exact opposite. Here, a murderous dictator, hellbent on destruction, is waging war on his own people.

Both these narratives contain strong elements of truth. There is no question that President Assad and his Russian allies have committed war crimes, and we can all agree that Mosul will be far better off without Isis. Nevertheless, the situations in Mosul and Aleppo are fundamentally identical. In both cases, forces loyal to an internationally recognised government are attacking well-populated cities, with the aid of foreign air power. These cities are under the control of armed groups or terrorists, who are holding a proportion of their population hostage.

In Mosul, fewer than 10,000 Isis fighters control about a million people. In eastern Aleppo, it is estimated that about 5,000 armed men, the majority linked to al–Qaeda, dominate a population of about 200,000. In each case the armed groups use the zones they occupy to attack government areas with rockets, mortars and other weapons.

So Prime Minister al-Abadi in Iraq and President Assad in Syria face the same dilemma. Should they do nothing for fear of killing civilians? Or do they take air action and eliminate the so-called rebels, but at terrible cost in innocent blood as they wage merciless war against ruthless insurgents?

In both cases, enormous bloodshed could be prevented if the terrorist groups let the civilian population leave. Last month the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, pleaded with Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly al-Qaeda, but now decoupled and rebranded) to do just that: ‘One thousand of you are deciding the destiny of 270,000 civilians.’ He pointedly used the word ‘hostage’ to describe the way these civilians were being held by the rebels and not by Assad.

This episode highlighted the double standard about western reporting of these terrible problems. In Mosul, western reporters travelling with the invading Iraqi army publish pictures of joyful populations liberated from the jihadists. In Aleppo, the attempt to free the city from al-Qaeda control is portrayed as a remorseless attack on the civilian population.

Assad and his allies have carried out war crimes. But that is not the whole story. When I visited the government-held areas of Aleppo earlier this year, I met scores of people who had fled for their lives from al–Qaeda or Isis in the east of the city. They told me hideous stories of how these jihadists, very few of whom were Syrian, had enforced a brutal form of sharia law, abolished education in schools and forced women to wear burkas and stay at home.

In western Aleppo, I found a woman in a government building where she had come to collect her salary as a teacher (government employees in rebel-held areas are still paid by the regime, even though they are no longer allowed to work). She told me how she was preparing to return home to rejoin her husband and children. She had no doubt at all what fate awaited her: ‘The fighters are preparing ambushes with explosives. They are moving their wives and families out. They are keeping us as human shields.’

Western reports about the fighting in Mosul have made much of the liberated churches. Yet exactly the same narrative applies across Syria. Two years ago I joined Syrian government forces as they freed the eastern city of Maaloula (where Aramaic, the language of Christ, is still spoken). The famous monastery above the town had been dreadfully desecrated by al-Qaeda. In Aleppo, the Christian community has collapsed from 200,000 before the war to maybe 25,000 today. This is because Christians in Aleppo know that if the British and US-backed jihadists in the east win the war, they will be slaughtered.

A further double standard concerns the reporting of Russian and Syrian atrocities. Much has — rightly — been made of the so-called barrel bombs dropped on Aleppo by the Russians. Yet rebel commanders in eastern Aleppo use equally hideous weapons. Last April, fighters from Jaish al-Islam, backed by Saudi Arabia and considered moderate enough that American diplomats retain relations with them, admitted to using chemical weapons against the Kurds in Aleppo. This attack received almost no attention from the media, and failed to generate the faintest outrage in Britain.

Jaish al-Islam employ a so-called ‘hell cannon’ to fire gas canisters and shrapnel weighing up to 40 kilograms into civilian areas. These are every bit as murderous as the barrel bombs. Reports in the western press have suggested that hell cannons are examples of the engineering ingenuity of plucky rebels. Few journalists have dwelled on the fact that these improvised weapons have been deliberately used to kill hundreds of Aleppo civilians.

Yet another double standard applies to the destruction of hospitals. When I was in Aleppo, I interviewed Mohamad El-Hazouri, head of the department of health, at the Razi hospital. He told me that when rebel groups entered the city they put six of the 16 hospitals out of service, as well as 100 of the 201 health centres, and wiped out the ambulance service.

An Aleppo eye hospital, which had been one of the greatest treatment centres in northern Syria, had been turned into a jail for detainees by the rebels. He said that his workers went to great lengths to supply hospitals in the rebel areas. Often they were rebuffed.

There is a wider pattern at work here. When opponents of the West try to reclaim urban areas from terrorists, they are denounced. When our allies do the same — think of Israel in Gaza or the Saudis in Yemen — we defend them. We judge Assad by one set of rules, and ourselves and our own allies by another.

 

[AlfaMan]

Speaking of Russian planes-I saw an Aeroflot AN-124 inbound to Dulles this morning-it was about 0910. Thought it was a 747 but 747's don't smoke (all 4 engines were smoking like a F4 Phantom) and the high wing, C-141 like engine nacelles and the 747 tail was a dead give away. Well, that and the Aeroflot markings....

Obama was out of town today-I saw the C-17 carrying his limo heading into Andrews about 1610 today.

The C-17 I get-what the devil is an AN-124 doing going into Dulles? Aeroflot does have scheduled flights in and out of Dulles once or twice a week-but never a cargo plane. Any ideas?

 

[Possible Impact]

Speaking of Russian planes-I saw an Aeroflot AN-124 inbound to Dulles this morning-it was about 0910. Thought it was a 747 but 747's don't smoke (all 4 engines were smoking like a F4 Phantom) and the high wing, C-141 like engine nacelles and the 747 tail was a dead give away. Well, that and the Aeroflot markings....

Obama was out of town today-I saw the C-17 carrying his limo heading into Andrews about 1610 today.

The C-17 I get-what the devil is an AN-124 doing going into Dulles? Aeroflot does have scheduled flights in and out of Dulles once or twice a week-but never a cargo plane. Any ideas?

The last shipment of Vodka & Caviar ordered by TPTB before WWIII kicks off?

 

[Possible Impact]

Strategic Sentinel ‏@StratSentinel 3h
Reports: A Russian helicopter was shot at after making an emergency landing
near Palmyra, Syria; crew returned safely - @Reuters


Sputnik ‏@SputnikInt 5h
RussianMilitary denies report of servicemen' deaths in Syria
http://sptnkne.ws/cBhB Russia

SyrianMilitaryCap. ‏@syrianmilitary 2h
Russian Special Forces detonating a RuAF Mi-35m
after saving the crew

JihadiThreatMonitor ‏@JihadiThreat 2h
Not MANPAD but ATGM hit. Russian helicopter amaq

 

[Possible Impact]

Found the full video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQIHuXCsRsU

Russian helicopters attacked near Palmyra November 03.

Published on Nov 3, 2016
Nobody died.

 

[northern watch]

Charles Lister þ@Charles_Lister · 5h5 hours ago

Big things happening in #Turkey - internet totally off in southeast & HDP officials being detained.

+ Rumor of imminent invasion of #Iraq.

 

[Possible Impact]

Nasser Atta ‏@nasseratta5 5h
The suicide bombers yesterday are Saudi ,Tunisian &Turkish,
the fighters from Uzbekistan, Saudi ,
where are the "Syria-n Rebels"? in Aleppo

Hassan Ridha ‏@sayed_ridha 3h
Situation in West Aleppo
after Syrian Army repelled JF assault on New Aleppo & 3000 apartments

Al-Masdar News ‏@TheArabSource 1h
Russian jets launch first airstrikes over west Aleppo
https://aml.ink/JQLd6 Russia Syria



Bosphorus Naval News ‏@Saturn5_ 5h
More photos from Admiral Grigorovich's passage through Istanbul Strait.
She will possible join Kuznetsov TG in Eastern Med.

NDF ‏@NatDefFor 16h
@NatDefFor My source:
Quds, Hawks, Hezbollah and Tigers are ready.(+10.000)
They're waiting for 0 hour and A. Kuznetsov
Show will go on


TAHA.K ‏@HKarimi1991 15h
Breaking huge amount of forces moved toward Aleppo from Damascus.
airplanes with soldiers from Iran and Iraq have landed in Damascus.


^^^ Iran, Iraq, Egypt, and Russia joining forces with Syria in Aleppo

 

[Possible Impact]

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts 2m
BREAKING: Russia says two soldiers 'lightly wounded'
in Aleppo rebel shelling - AFP


SyrianMilitaryCap. ‏@syrianmilitary 8m
BREAKING Two Russian officers injured
in militants' attack near CastelloRoad in Aleppo

 

[Possible Impact]

maytham ‏@maytham956 1h
Despite the humanitarian pause,
SAA will retaliate to any attempt by the terrorist
to initiate any new offensive on its locations.

 

[Possible Impact]

Agathocle deSyracuse ‏@deSyracuse Nov 2
NEW SYRIA INTERACTIVE & ZOOMMABLE MAP (Nov 2, 2016) / Click
http://www.agathocledesyracuse.com/archives/848
#SyMap (incl. events since September 2016)

 

[TerryK]

Possible Impact, I just wanted to say thanks for all the work you are doing with these posts.

 

[Possible Impact]

Possible Impact, I just wanted to say thanks for all the work you are doing with these posts.

Just doing my job at the Ukraine & Syria Desks
of the TB2K Foreign Service OSINT Department.





S2 Intel ‏@StratSentIntel 32m
Tu-214PU 'Russian Air Force One' command post
looks to be landing in Sochi

S2 Intel ‏@StratSentIntel 17m
Russian Tu214SR command post likely landed near Volgograd.
Russia threatened to ramp things up in Syria.
Pending bomber strike from Engels?



It is ~ 5:00pm in Aleppo Syria right now.
'Deadline' for Rebels is 7:00pm.

 

[Possible Impact]

Chinese Envoy:
China will expand its participation in political efforts
to stop hostilities in Syria

4 November، 2016
http://sana.sy/en/?p=92473

Beijing, SANA- Chinese Special Envoy for Syria, Ambassador Xie Xiaoyan
announced that his country will expand its participation in the political
efforts to stop hostilities in Syria.

According to Associated Press, the ambassador said that China could be
a “widely valued and trusted” player in the multilateral talks.

“China has expressed repeatedly that the issue can only be resolved
through political settlement and that military means will lead nowhere,”
Xie said, adding that “we call on the United States and Russia to make
efforts to resume their consultation on the cease-fire.”

“We should fight terrorism indiscriminately, wherever it exists.
We need to particularly fight the terrorist organizations listed by
the U.N. including the Islamic State, al-Nusra and the East Turkistan
Islamic Movement,” he affirmed.
​

Manar al-Frieh/Manal

 

[Possible Impact]

The New York Times
The Opinion Pages| Op-Ed Contributor

You Don’t Need a No-Fly Zone to Pressure Russia in Syria

By STEVEN HEYDEMANN NOV. 2, 2016
http://www.academia.edu/29670497/Yo..._to_Pressure_Russia_in_Syria_-_New_York_Times


The Obama administration’s Syria policy has collapsed under the weight of a brutal
assault on Aleppo by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad and Russia.

Shrugging off global condemnation, Russia and Mr. Assad have dispatched
their aircraft to attack schools and hospitals, singling out civilian targets
to make the city uninhabitable and force its remaining population to flee.
Secretary of State John Kerry and other world leaders are now calling
for Russia and the Assad government to be investigated for war crimes.

But for the past year, Mr. Kerry had held firm to the belief that only through
cooperation with Russia could the United States pressure the Assad government,
reduce violence in Syria and move the country toward a political transition.

The United States is now struggling to respond to the reality that Russia
has little interest in a political settlement. With an election days away,
the Obama administration is reluctant to do anything that might tie
the next president’s hands.

Mr. Obama himself remains as resistant as ever to increasing involvement
in Syria’s war. But continuing his hands-off approach will have crippling effects
on his successor’s ability to make diplomatic progress.

Two steps are needed to advance America’s Syria policy.

The first is to move beyond a discussion limited to no-fly zones or increased
support to the armed opposition;

the second is a clear-eyed, fact-based assessment of just how risky
further American involvement might be. Both are possible between now
and when the next president takes office.

There is little that matters more to Mr. Assad or to Russia than the regime’s
claim that it represents the legitimate, sovereign government of Syria,
a claim that Russia and Iran use as legal cover for a murderous campaign
against civilian targets and political moderates.

This claim of legitimacy is the basis on which Russia and Iran defend
their military presence in Syria, and refuse to hold the Assad government
accountable for violations of international law.

Five years have passed since Mr. Obama — rightly — described Mr. Assad
as illegitimate. Yet the United States and other countries continue to treat
Mr. Assad as Syria’s president and his government as the country’s
official representative in international bodies like the United Nations.

The most effective diplomatic means for the United States
to regain leverage in Syria is for Washington to lead
an international effort to undermine the Assad government’s
claims and recognize a different government as the legitimate
representative of the Syrian people.

---The best candidate for recognition
is the little-known Syrian Interim Government, or S.I.G.
​

Unlike many other opposition groups, which are based in Turkey,
the S.I.G. is based inside Syria, with offices in Idlib and scattered throughout
opposition-held territory.

Its prime minister, a politically independent heart surgeon named Jawad Abu Hatab,
was elected in May by a large majority of the General Assembly of the National
Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, an important opposition
group in exile.

Mr. Abu Hatab and his cabinet operate alongside of and are exposed to the same
risks as ordinary Syrians. The S.I.G. has engaged in routine functions of local
government, for example certifying school exams for Syrian graduates.

Yes, the S.I.G. is threadbare and it struggles to provide essential services.
Like many opposition groups it has also struggled to secure its legitimacy among
ordinary Syrians. But Mr. Abu Hatab and Syrian sources say that since the S.I.G.
moved inside Syria, its credibility has improved.

Recognizing the S.I.G. as the legitimate interim government
of Syria would also give the international coalition fighting
the Islamic State a credible partner for local governance in the areas
it liberates in coming months , including Raqaa, the Islamic State’s
major Syrian stronghold.

Alongside such political steps, the administration should also rethink how it uses
air power to advance diplomatic objectives.

One way to do so is to protect United Nations-authorized humanitarian relief efforts
and prevent further attacks against convoys like the one in September that killed
aid workers and destroyed supplies that would have fed nearly 80,000 people
in need. This carefully modulated use of air power for specific, temporary purposes
carries far fewer risks than establishing a permanent no-fly zone.

The White House and its supporters seem to believe that this kind of operation
will provoke counterattacks from Russia or the Syrian government, which could
cause the conflict to spiral.

But there’s already clear evidence that this doesn’t have to be the case:
In August, the Pentagon warned the Assad regime not to conduct airstrikes
on Kurdish forces in areas where American troops were operating.

Instead of escalating into a war, the regime complied, as did the Russians.

This incident shows that careful, limited use of air power can not only effectively
defend American forces but also protect Syrian civilians and address urgent
humanitarian needs.

These are not the only options available to the Obama administration. Earlier this
year, the House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced a bipartisan bill, the
Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2016, to sanction the Assad regime
and its supporters, including Russia.

The administration should throw its weight behind the bill and help enact it into law
before the end of the year, proving to Russia that there are real costs to supporting
the rogue Syrian regime. Together, these steps are just a start. But the White House
should be concerned about handing the next president a Syrian crisis in which
diplomatic possibilities have been all but foreclosed.

These are concrete, practical steps it can take to equip the incoming administration
with tools to regain leverage and revitalize diplomatic efforts to end Syria’s
bloody war.

Steven Heydemann is a professor of Middle East studies at Smith College
and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for
Middle East Policy.

^^^ One seriously deranged dude...



Max Abrahms ‏@MaxAbrahms Nov 2
Regime change salesmen have many bad ideas,
but this one is downright special.


Niccolo Salo ‏@SaloForum Nov 2
@MaxAbrahms Max have you looked into the parallels
that this conflict has with the Spanish Civil War?

Max Abrahms ‏@MaxAbrahms Nov 2
@SaloForum I've heard people draw parallels
because of the strong international dimension
and diverse personal motives.
​

EHSANI2 ‏@EHSANI22 Nov 2
@MaxAbrahms @GamerOps
illustrates the dearth of credible ideas.
Wonder how many Syrians have heard of SIG or their rep

David Walker ‏@AkritasDavid Nov 2
@EHSANI22 @MaxAbrahms @GamerOps
Or how many days they would live
after being declared US allies in JN controlled Idlib.
​

Jodocus Quak ‏@JodocusQuak Nov 3
@MaxAbrahms The question is:
What connections are being used
to give them space in a major newspaper?
Who are those folks in the background?

 

[Possible Impact]

NDF ‏@NatDefFor 2h
22.15 Aleppo: Ceasefire is over
and RuAF ,SyAF jets are doing ''low flight''


loomis ‏@loomisroberto 2h
Final assault on Aleppo will be a highly coordinated
Naval, Air, and ground campaign by the looks of it.


Al-Masdar News ‏@TheArabSource 1h
Russian drones observe every move Islamist rebels make in Aleppo
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/russian-drones-observe-every-move-islamist-rebels-make-aleppo/