Further terrorist attacks in Idlib

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 12:22pm

‘Russian, Turkish military specialists among hundreds killed & injured in Syria’s Idlib terrorist attacks – Moscow’, 6 Feb, 2020

“Terrorists took over the Idlib de-escalation zone and carried out thousands of attacks in the last two months, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that the West is portraying them as “moderate opposition.”

Idlib governorate, the last stronghold of anti-government forces in Syria, saw a surge of violence by radical jihadists who have no desire for a peaceful resolution to the almost nine-year-long conflict, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Most of the attacks are carried out by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the latest iteration of al-Qaeda in Syria.

The area was proclaimed a de-escalation zone under the Russia-Turkey agreements. In mid-January, Russian and Turkish forces tried to impose a ‘regime of silence’ there, but the attacks only escalated.” [snip]

““The relocation of some armed groups out of the de-escalation zone to northeastern Syria and later to Libya has boosted the concentration of radical extremists over the boiling point,” the ministry said.

This situation was recently discussed during an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He explained that Turkey needed to separate the armed opposition it is working with from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorists, saying that it has failed to do so.” ‘snip]

“Moscow stressed that the jihadists, who hold hostage residents of the areas they control in Idlib, remain a legitimate target for military action, especially considering that the governorate is under Syrian sovereignty.”

”Earlier this week, following the Turkish-Syrian clash, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized the “ruthless actions” of the “Assad regime” and Russia (as well as Iran and Hezbollah) for “preventing the establishment of a ceasefire.”

Satire alert ahead:

Tags: 
hands off syria!
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Submitted by apenultimate on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 1:10pm

are really making gains in Idlib. Take a look at the gains they made from Jan. 31 to Feb. 5 here:

Gains Over Past Week

and then look at the gains over the past 2 days on the map below (including entirely taking the major city of Saraqib (you'll need to visually compare with the map above to note the gains):

Gains Over Past Two Days

Just about all the forces in Idlib are who we *should* be fighting (mostly former al-Queda groups and even ISIS groups). They were formerly supported by US forces and now are supported by Turkish forces. Erdogan (leader of Turkey) has threatened to declare war on Syria if Syria does not back off. But, Syria and Russia do not seem impressed so far.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 4:12pm
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@apenultimate

even if they're confusing for me to compare w/ my crap eyesight. but as to the rest: yes! hence, the satire videos. 'rescue rangers' blew me over!

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Submitted by edg on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 1:17pm
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I keep wondering why the United States keeps placing itself on the wrong side of history. Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq ... There's such a disconnect between our rhetoric "we're a force for stability and good in the world" and our slash and burn, destabilize and destroy activities.

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Submitted by earthling1 on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 4:01pm
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@edg
I just finished reading the book "Losing Military Supremacy" by Andrei Martyanov. He lays it all out pretty convincingly.
Our military and political leaders are deranged and incompetent.
It really is as simple as that.

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—

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 5:23pm
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@edg

DO, is the short answer. in this current case, the US and nato like pretend they're Exporting Democracy™, but really as the geopolitical board gets rearranged (Zbig), dying empires grow more deranged and dangerous, refusing to cede to a multipolar world.

so now the Pentagon's budget names the Great Competitors china, and russia as kinda the more polite than new Axix of Evil. now in syria, pepe escobar has long called it the center of the pipelineistan wars, all about liquid energy, and i'd imagine it's much the same.

The «Assad must go» obsession in Washington is a multi-headed hydra. It includes breaking a Russia-Iran-Iraq-Syria alliance (now very much in effect as the «4+1» alliance, including Hezbollah, actively fighting all strands of Salafi Jihadism in Syria). But it also includes isolating energy coordination among them, to the benefit of the Gulf petrodollar clients/vassals linked to US energy giants.

but earthling's got a good answer, as well. the US has shit weaponry, as well, as spends 40 times as much on them as say...The Bear.

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Submitted by Alligator Ed on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 1:46pm
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This situation was recently discussed during an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He explained that Turkey needed to separate the armed opposition it is working with from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorists, saying that it has failed to do so.

Yup, working with the Moderate terrorists. Certainly will help obtain peace in the region (s/)

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Submitted by edg on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 1:56pm
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@Alligator Ed

The terrorist of my enemy is my friendly freedom fighter.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 5:21pm
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@edg

you steal that from Voice of Amurika?

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Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 4:41pm
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@Alligator Ed

lavrov may have told edogan to watch his step...or russia will fail to deliver the s-400 manpad missile systems to turkey. by all reports, they work very, very well...

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Submitted by Alligator Ed on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 3:36pm
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@wendy davis All militaries know this--including ours.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 5:58pm
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@Alligator Ed

even the penatagon knows it, but would never admit it.

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Submitted by MrWebster on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 1:55pm

It seems every time the jihadists are on the run, they come up with a chemical attack false flag. Russia military has already stated that White Helmets have moved into area to set up the false flag.

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Submitted by earthling1 on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 4:05pm
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@MrWebster
they have completed the filming. They are in edit now to make sure there are no bloopers like last time.

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—

Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 5:08pm
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@earthling1

white helmets twitter account is very busy, but on this weird account is a mix of their rubbish as well as some decostruction of it. dunno what to make of some of it, but charles davis sure drank the koolaid, as did democracy now and the Intercept...oh, and Netflix.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 5:35pm
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@earthling1

Netflix could produce a new 'White Helmets Bloopers' film. bana alabed's really a 16-yr-old midget living w/ erdogan's niece in ankara...ah, the mind reeeeeels with possibilities, so to speak.

the russians didn't really murder white helmets leader James Le Mesurier, they were trying to film a daring-do rescue of wee chirren bombed by ISIS, and hejumped off when the ka-booom! startled him.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 4:51pm
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@MrWebster

at RT recently. The Greatest Suppressed Story of the Decade: OCPW whitleblowers (what, 4 by now?) calling bullshit on Assad Gassed his People. how many USian electeds still believe it, or worse yet, refuse to believe the Truth of the exposés?

cripes, iirc, i've written up 2 of them, and caitlyn johnstone likely all 4.

but eliot higgins and his 'crowd-sourced journalists' at bellingcat dig in deeper in abject lying lies.

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Submitted by Mickt on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 9:16pm

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/02/06/and-the-oscar-goes-to-a-simplif...
A quiet slam of two films trying to simplify the Syrian conflict.

But even this fails for me. Why did the US actively suppress accounts of the Islamic uprising? Why did Hillary and McCain both go out of their way to support various elements of it? I remember reading an article in the early stages where some so-called journalists dismissed the fact that there were Salafist in northeast Lebanon. Then later a phone call came out with Sa'd Hariri and one of the Salafists from northeast Lebanon who was in Turkey discussing logistics for arming insurgents.

So this is all in the open (just not in the NYT/WP). Yet Al Asad is supposed to ignore all this because it isn't in the NYT/WP. Can you imagine a US president letting insurgents slaughter 120 police like what the peaceful protestors did in Jisr Ash Shaghur? Yet the author still thinks Syria over-reacted.

But given the state of liberal thinking, where Libya is a success story, I have no hope that U.S or Western foreign policy (France and England were chewing at the bit as well) will have any sort of rational thought for a long time.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 9:10am
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@Mickt

your comment, partially because both the author's narrative of the films as well as his own interpretation of the history of a 'civil war' in syria are full of what i'd call agitprop.

there was likely an insurrection movement, but the 'war' writ large was almost immediately astroturfed into a(nother) US/israeli/saudi/iranian/russian proxy war, at lest as i understand it. did assad ever bomb hospitals? i doubt it, but that may be my bias coming to the fore. his father? possibly, i just can't say. but your knowledge of the history may be greater than mine.

note the other titles below his er...quiet screed, for instance: 'why the russians target the white helmets'.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Thu, 02/06/2020 - 9:22pm
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i hadn't kept the name of the weird white helmets account, both rubbish and deconstructions of their 'civil defense', but i'd meant to go back to find again a photo of the head of the white helmets beside the 'leader' of the hong kong protests, which group is apparently being considered for this year's nobel peace price (snort).

but i did find it by bingling externally at Rt.com, one with him and marco rubio, too:

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Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 9:12am
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‘Israeli airstrikes on Damascus suburbs put at risk civilian flight with 172 passengers on board – Russian MoD’, 7 Feb, 2020

“Israeli strikes on Damascus suburbs put a civilian aircraft in serious danger and forced it to divert to Russia’s Khmeimim airbase as the Syrian air defense was activated to repel the attack, the Russian military said.

An Airbus A320 flying from Tehran to the Syrian capital was forced to make an emergency landing following an Israeli missile attack, the Russian Defense Ministry said. It added that using civilian aircraft as a “shield” is “commonplace” for Israeli Air Force pilots.
The aircraft was about to land at Damascus International Airport, but was unable do so as the Syrian air defense systems engaged the hostile targets. The jet could have found itself in the crossfire if it weren’t for the Damascus air traffic control, whose “timely actions” averted a possible disaster.
................................................................
The A320 was landed “at the closest alternative airfield,” the ministry stated. It also said the surprise attack took place around 2am local time, with four Israeli F-16s firing at least eight air-to-surface missiles from outside of Syrian airspace.

Tel Aviv is perfectly aware of civilian flight routes and air activity around Damascus, day and night, and such reckless missions prove that Israeli strategists could not care less about possible civilian casualties, Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said.

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Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 9:28am
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‘IDF Refuses to Comment After Russia Says That Israeli Strikes on Syria Nearly Downed Civilian Plane’, Feb. 7, 2020

'Turkey Deploys Special Forces to Observation Posts in Idlib – Reports', Feb. 7, 2019

from southfront: ‘Syrian Army Reached Main Militant Stronghold In Southwestern Aleppo’, feb. 7, 2020

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Submitted by wendy davis on Fri, 02/07/2020 - 11:19am
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this morning:

@RussianEmbassy · 5h5 hours ago

'26 Russian children evacuated from #Syria yesterday. In total more than 70 kids to return home in the near future.'

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