Russia, the United States, and the Syrian End-State
Gabriel White
Amid the backdrop of renewed fighting and yet another crumbling ceasefire agreement, Russia, has once again embarked on a concerted effort to fracture the Syrian armed opposition. In a direct challenge to the United States, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov recently accused the U.S. of protecting the Syrian al Qaeda affiliate, and internationally recognized terror group Jabhat al-Nusra, which rebranded in July as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. While the factual basis of Lavrov’s remarks is steeped in absurdity, the accusations perfectly illustrate Russia’s divide et impera strategy. Russia remains committed to severing U.S. ties to the armed opposition, propagating trends of extremist homogenization, and fundamentally recharacterizing the war in northwestern Syria.
A year has passed since Russia’s entry into the Syrian Civil War. It is evident that no side is capable of achieving outright military victory, yet Russia’s sustained air campaign has inflicted a heavy blow to Syria’s beleaguered opposition. To date, Russia has succeeded in both: securing the survival of Bashar al Assad’s statelet and in part, fulfilling the myth of the regime's characterization of the opposition as a terrorist entity. These objectives have come at the price of heavy casualties, accomplished through brute force and an indiscriminate bombing campaign. As such, Russia’s involvement has catalyzed the opposition’s integration and cooperation with Islamist extremist factions. In turn perpetuating the myth that the regime's war is a war on terror.
Of course, the trend of moderate integration into extremist elements existed prior to Russia's entry into the war. The near collapse and subsequent irrelevance of the Free Syrian Army as the leading opposition faction was the unfortunate consequence of a cocktail of foreign backing (or lack thereof), toxic ideology, and circumstance. In its place, a plethora of well-armed and equipped extremist factions emerged, securing some of the opposition’s most notable victories, including the storming of Idlib (2015) and championing the continued defense of Aleppo.
Exploiting this reality, Russia began to lay the foundation of its incrementalist divide et Impera strategy during the February 2016 Munich Cessation of Hostilities agreement (CoH). The agreement, as drafted, presented the moderate opposition, and even some extremist factions, with the illusion of choice. These groups were forced to disavow a mostly trusted long-term partner (Jabhat al-Nusra) or face the possibility of becoming ‘legitimate’ targets of airstrikes. Despite limited success featured in Jabhat al-Nusra’s modest reorganization of forces, the ultimatum failed to yield the sought after American outcome--extremist isolation. The failed partitioning within the Syrian opposition demonstrated that the Jabhat al-Nusra challenge had already metastasized.
The failure of the February CoH agreement not only legitimized Russian and Syrian sorties over opposition held territories, but also raised questions over the boundaries of legitimate targets under the Jabhat al-Nusra affiliated umbrella. Most importantly, however, the agreement presented Russia an opportunity to broaden the base of ‘blacklisted’ groups within the armed opposition. This outcome expanded the number of legitimate targets and permanently alienated key opposition groups from participation in any potential peace agreement.
In late April, Russia submitted a request to the United Nations Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee to issue terrorist designations to Syrian Salafi opposition members: Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham, Salafi groups that occupy linchpin positions within the armed opposition. Russia’s motivations to designate these groups are clear— undermine key opposition efforts in Eastern Ghouta and Aleppo while simultaneously coaxing rebel forces to continue their combat operations. This outcome strains and limits whatever influence the U.S. holds within the opposition, while negating what the Cessation of Hostilities agreement in its entirety
To further illustrate Russia’s disingenuity with the peace process, at the time these requests were issued, the Syrian High Negotiating Committee was chaired by Jaysh al-Islam leader Mohammad Alloush. Such a move, even if it was bound to be rejected demonstrates Russia’s ultimate aims in changing the course of the war, not in terms of who can achieve a military victory, but rather who the international community will be left to work with.
Real doubt persists as to whether Russia ever had any real intention of adhering to the second Cessation of Hostilities negotiated in September 2016. Neither Russia nor the Syrian regime has demonstrated any interest in yielding back momentum on the battlefield. Building off the success of the recent re-encirclement of eastern Aleppo, Russian and Syria forces continue their bombing campaign, while using negotiations to buy time for further advancement.
Russia has in large part succeeded in its objectives — extremist factions are entrenched within the opposition, the United States opposition strategy is in tatters, and whatever window remains for meaningful U.S. action is closing.
So long as the United States fails to support what remains of moderate partners on the ground, policy makers will be forced to operate within the reality of a predominantly extremist opposition. Inaction will perpetuate humanitarian disaster and violence that has now raged for five years. Should Aleppo fall, the subsequent options for a military solution will require significantly higher levels of risk and a political solution will rely on terms dictated by Moscow and Tehran. Neither situation is desirable.
Comments
To continue....this saga....as per 09:24 today I formally applied for the German citizenship and passport and will be giving up the US passport due to the fact that a populist pied piper convinced millions of Americans that globalization and immigration can be simply overcome by building a WALL, roadbuilding and creating millions of good paying jobs......AND doubling the annual economic growth %.
So on or about 4 Jan 2017 I will formally be "German and a European" who no longer has to pay taxes to IRS.....and who can visit the US for 90 days per year without a visa....which is far more than I have done in the last years....
A little of my history....and it reflects why the pied piper was and will be totally wrong....in 1964 through 1966 before I volunteered for the Army and went onto to join Special Forces....I was working during my last year of HS and the first two years of the University of Texas as an unskilled oil field worker doing pipeline xray work.....as a "common laborer" EARNING 10 USDs per hour 12 hours per day seven days a week for a monthly take home before taxes of 3,300 USDs in 1966 dollars.....I was making more than my father who had a GI Bill BA and worked for an oil company.
Oil pipeline welders were earning 75 USDs per hour....AND today what are the equivalent wages?.....no way close to 1966...AND that is not due to "globalization"...
Second example...from 1996 thru to the internet bust in 2000 the average bidding war salaries for internet IT personnel and coders was say 100K to 130K USDs plus options....AND today...lucky to break 65-70K...WHY...IT companies took the bust opportunities to drive down salaries and increase bottom line profits to drive their 90 day earnings cycle for their stock...salaries were not driven down by globalization......BUT by the 90 day stock reporting cycle for their shareholders......in order to increase "shareholder value"......
So when a pied piper sells you that the evil of your problem lies with trade deals....or outsourcing....or the other party.....why do we not see people openly questioning those statements.....is it possibly a total lack of information and understanding just how the world's global marketplace works these days...but how could they know as most only have a HS degree???
I now have started an internet security company on the non profit side....for the last three years.. which is part German/part Swedish using available EU startup development funding streams for 17M Euros for the first two years and a follow on funding of 12.3M....in addition to what we earn in our various ongoing/running projects.
THIS is where the pied piper gets it wrong....I could in fact have taken by business directly back to the US and setup shop anywhere in the so called "Rust Belt" that followed the piped piper....and produced WITH Americans in America and then competed for overseas business.....
BUT HERE is exactly why there is a serious problem in the US and also as well in the UK with globalization...WHEN lower paying jobs disappear to even the lower paying BRIC countries .....THEY are never going to come back....
WHY not....the pied piper says they will come back....BUT it is all about competing for business and inherently good paying jobs means health insurance and other benefits driving up the overall hourly wage that needs to compete for business....in a global market where price determines everything. I recently lost a large deal because I was 4.50 Euros higher per hour than a competitor in Asia as the project was driven by a large number of man hours...and that Asian competitor was using outsourced US/UK geeks via the internet....
IF I had moved into this Rust Belt....I would have never been able to hire the 55 individuals I have now from five countries speaking four core languages....and yes the salaries of my employees effects my business decisions daily.....
Why BECAUSE all my employees have at least a BA/MA in computer sciences and or in five cases PhDs...in computer science.....WHERE could I have found that combination in say in Ohio...or Iowa....or Georgia....Iowa.....Wisconsin.....etc????
So when a pied piper claims to create millions of good paying jobs...I laugh and ask exactly how is that to happen....building roads...schools...bridges etc takes planning lead times....and money....if from the government then via taxes and if from private sources then via tolls and user fees.....
So again people love the heck out of populists and their speeches...BUT wait to see what they do when they are in power and can do something..BUT do nothing as they are in it for the "power"........
The so called Tea Party has basically controlled the US House for over 8 years AND what did they do to help those struggling in the Rust Belt....nothing at all...SO WHY will it be any better under a new "pied piper"?????
Anyway.....decision made......AND in a growing number of parts of this earth a US passport is not an advantage nor protection anymore....besides these days the only thing a passport is good for is crossing borders......time to finally not having to defend some screwed up FP by some US President who does not "get it"....
As an American who has for the greater part of 50 years defended the US from enemies near and far under Presidents good and bad from both parties I now after watching a potential Trump presidency give up on my own country…..
I had hoped that a change in US leadership would lead to resolutions of the Russian non linear warfare in eastern Ukraine and that war is as well being directed against the Baltics and Poland…..would have some new solutions for Syria and reigning in Iran in the ME and on how to confront an ever increasingly hostile Russia…..NOT to mention a very serious Russian cyber war we find ourselves currently in…..
BUT a potential US President that alienates a religion of 3B individuals WHICH in turn actually supports the messaging narratives of both AQ and IS…….a President that thinks a “Wall” can resolve immigration……a President that does not even listen to his DNI intel briefings and assumes that the Russians did not hack the US……….a President that publicly belittled US Generals……a President that openly condones and will use torture…..a President that thinks he can be friends with Putin who has unleashed his non linear war directed against US global leadership….which is Putin’s stated goal……a President who had advisors tied directly to Russian black money and whatever the SVR has on Trump’s own weaknesses while he was often in Moscow…..a President that wants and states he will tear up existing trade agreements and does not believe in climate change…a President that does not believe in clean energy……...a President that states that he will not use Article 5 of NATO unless the attacked country has “paid up their dues” ………….AND a President that claimed he was against Iraq all the while publicly stating he was for it and a President that while I fought in VN for 18 very long months used a “bone spur” in his foot which he could never recall which foot four times to evade the draft…..AND a President who has never shown me his tax returns while I have been audited due to residing and working overseas…..
ALL of this leads me to the simple question…..can I continue to defend the US as an American from enemies near and far??……the answer I am really sorry to say is no……
I have for a number of reasons over the years had the ability to file for German citizenship and passport and never wanted to cut my ties to the US…..but if Trump is in fact the new President of the US I will drop off the citizenship request the second he is confirmed as the new US President…
It is time to let the US be what it wants to be which I think it does not even know itself…..and enjoy the rest of my remaining life in a country that does socially care about it’s society and it’s positon inside Europe…..
I will slowly disengage from the postings due to the simple fact that the new US President and his “best friend Putin” will resolve Syria an eastern Ukraine as well as the Baltics and Poland and all the commenting in the coming months will not change that…and this new President will not lead the West as has the US for the last 70 years.....
I have enjoyed the posting simply because I have learned a lot about Ukraine and Syria that was never in the text books nor in MSM….and have learned an extremely valuable lesson in Russian non linear warfare that I use daily in my internet security company on the cyber warfare front that Trumps claims is being carried out by a 400lb person sitting on his bed....when even briefed the opposite by the DNI....
I have previously stated in a SWJ article comment……”people love populists until they take power”…
Per Interfax from today.....
PLANES FR RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT CARRIER, NAVAL SHIPS ARMED WITH PRECISION WEAPONS PREPARING TO STRIKE MILITANTS ON ALEPPO AREA - RUS MOD SOURCE
One year ago at least one thing seemed unthinkable: that the US would look passively as Russia, Iran and Assad leveled Aleppo
Last #USElection2016 voting ends at 5am GMT
#Russia has announced it will begin to flatten #Aleppo at 5am GMT
Pure coincidence naturally.
Kind of flies in the face of what Rhodes spoke about yesterday in his NPR interview....ABOUT not being able to do anything in Syria due to it being to difficult/complex......well moderates and Salafists seem to be getting along just fine...amidst that so called to difficult complexity.
Once again, a rather moderate & a rather extremist operation room participate at the op. to break the siege of eastern #Aleppo.
20+ groups.
AND RIGHT ON TIME AS PER PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES WITH REBEL ATTACKS...CONTROLLED AND PHASED....
JUST ANNOUNCED...
Breaking Opposition groups launch "second phase" of the #Aleppo offensive
Their OPSEC has been amazing to watch...utter silence....
AND as always attacks launched by massive SVBIED and VBIED targeted strikes against key defense points....always looking for the center of gravity that the US Army is currently debating does not exist....
Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (al-Nusra Front) says a suicide bombing attack targeted "shiite" and "Nusayri" (regime) positions in New #Aleppo
Explosive weight of the SVBIED/VBIED strike is in the 10-15 TON ranges
Manpower, weapons, ammunition
While the #US targets JFS leaders in northern #Syria,the group becomes a major proxy of several #Gulf countries and LEADS the fight to relieve Aleppo...SOMETHING the Obama WH stated yesterday was impossible to do in the Rhodes NPR interview...
For those that have forgotten that Russian actions in eastern Ukraine and Syria are not intertwined......they are....
Putin’s Email Scandal Continues - Ukrainian Hackers Leak Key Kremlin Aide’s Email… Again via @DFRLab
https://medium.com/dfrlab/putins-ema...90#.103iokq5j#
… #SurkovLeaks
Documents are really worth going through as it provides a far greater depth of understanding Russian moves reference the eastern Ukraine ...
NOTHING that the Russian hacks of Clinton or the DNC and WikiLeaks has released COMES anywhere close to this major document hack....
Surkov Leaks @SurkovLeaks
#SurkovLeaks (part 2): hacktivists publish new email #dump | #SurkovLeaks2
WHEN comes to the rising Iranian ME hegemon expansionism and their use of sectarian violence encouraged by the Obama WH Iran Deal YOU MUST ADMIT....al-Baghdadi is not far from wrong in his assessment for the regional Sunni's...
Hassan Hassan @hxhassan
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi addresses Iraqis: don't you learn from past mistakes? Look at their banners, listen to their slogans and their talks.
In the rush to give the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH an IS "victory" before December....
IRAQ:
Ken Pollack reports there's no day-after plan for Mosul. Gulp.
SYRIA:
Pentagon Walks Back Promise to Attack ISIS Capital ASAP
When the defense secretary promised an assault on ISIS’s capital in ‘weeks,’ the Pentagon reacted with a collective WTF. Defense officials say an attack is more like six months off.
AND this does not take in the ongoing developments in Aleppo....which impacts greatly on Raqqa..
AND THIS SUPPOSE TO BE ADULT LEADERSHIP??????
Those who use the “WW3” ploy - are they not answerable for nothing in terms of risk?Excellent by @FredericHof:
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs...gFTh.twitter#…
Really powerful paragraph from @FredericHof, revealing the sheer vapidity of U.S. admin's rhetoric on #Syria. Must read:
Quote:
The sheer volume and eloquence of talk about the inadmissibility of mass murder, the requirement for accountability and justice, and the connection between children dead and ISIS alive may impress those whose lips are moving. But verbosity has had no operational companion. Washington proclaims the abomination that is Syria and then stands to the side as Assad and his enablers do their worst to Syrians, to Syria's neighbors, to Western interests, and to the conscience of humanity. As Russia, the regime, and Iran create military facts by terrorizing children and their parents, the leaders of a hollowed-out West intone piously about there being no military solution for Syria: a non-expiring permission slip for doing nothing while people die.
Those who use the “WW3” ploy - are they not answerable for nothing in terms of risk?Excellent by @FredericHof:
http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs...gFTh.twitter#…
Really powerful paragraph from @FredericHof, revealing the sheer vapidity of U.S. admin's rhetoric on #Syria. Must read:
Quote:
The sheer volume and eloquence of talk about the inadmissibility of mass murder, the requirement for accountability and justice, and the connection between children dead and ISIS alive may impress those whose lips are moving. But verbosity has had no operational companion. Washington proclaims the abomination that is Syria and then stands to the side as Assad and his enablers do their worst to Syrians, to Syria's neighbors, to Western interests, and to the conscience of humanity. As Russia, the regime, and Iran create military facts by terrorizing children and their parents, the leaders of a hollowed-out West intone piously about there being no military solution for Syria: a non-expiring permission slip for doing nothing while people die.
Russia urges ALL rebels to leave #Aleppo until Friday eve.
Not only "Nusra" anymore.
They blame the USA for the shift.
275.000 are doomed.
AND the US just stands by and says and or does nothing.....arguing again WHY???????
Ben Rhodes talked to David Remnick NPR on why Obama hasn't done more on Syria. Painful to listen to:
http://www.wnyc.org/story/ben-rhodes...as-role-syria/
NPR: How would you advise new POTUS to solve #Syria?
Rhodes: Well, I’d suggest continuing the counter-#ISIS campaign.
[Yep, that’ll work.]
THIS interview is simply a tap dance...tap dance.....tap dance....tap dance.....tap dance....
NOTICE for the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH....yes sometimes there can be a military solution if one is willing to use force to create political leverage.....
The anti Assad forces have deemed this to be the "Mother of all battles"....the fight for Aleppo has now officially started....OPSEC which the rebels have been practicing well lately will keep the initial reports flowing in slowly.....so as to now give Russian and Assad target info....
Zero Hour for #Aleppo
The battle to break the siege started 2 h ago
It's the mother of all battles that will decide the destiny of the city
Yes, civilians will die in the all-out rebel assault.
But the world left rebels no other option by ignoring 275.000 besieged civilians.
REMEMBER Bismarck once stated that "sometimes blood and iron will decide"....we are at that stage in Aleppo...
UN confirms that 22 children and 6 teachers were killed in a Russian double tap air strike using drag chuted thermobaric bombs. Bombs hit an area containing three schools where the children were leaving for the day.
THIS is interesting as it indicates a possible Russian intel failure.....double tap air strikes have been used on first responders, aid convoys and or thought to be rebel headquarters/bunkers, food storage etc....BUT never on schools.
EXCEPTION....Russia has recently started double tap air strikes on hospitals...
UNLESS Russia thinks it can break the will of the anti Assad forces by directly air striking their children....
Assad and Russian WAR CRIMES can now be never overlooked....this is a true war crime.....AND YET the West, Obama and the UNSC says absolutely nothing......
CHILREN deliberately targeted as they were walking home from school....
Geolocation of the #school in #Hass, the #Russian regime or its puppet #Assad bombed today.
20+ killed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwLDJhoE6RE#
NGO claim #US lead Anti-#IS coalition killed 300+ civilians in #Syria the past 2 years.
#Russia'n airstrikes do this in only some weeks
Russia'n diplomats nervous because possible #UN "Special Emergency Session" about #Syria
ESPECIALLY after they were highly unsuccessful in blocking a UNHRC Resolution calling out the Assad war crimes officially...they attempted SIX times to block and were overruled all six times by the majority of the UNHRC members.
UNHRC decisions carry weight inside the UNSC and UNGA.....
40 ppl. were killed by #AssadPutin & #ISIS on Tuesday in #Syria, incl. 5 children.
12 of the victims died in & around #Aleppo.
- LCC
Another perspective on the same #Assad regime GAS attack yesterday WHICH western MSM took no notice of....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD8or81BCaA#…
Red lines, drawn in sand ...
UNSC Resolutions quickly forgotten....
Children are screaming as an #Assad air force helicopter drops GAS on them in #Lataminah yesterday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycDXxpbwn2I#…
REALLY worth rereading and rereading...AND then rereading it again....
@peterpomeranzev: In his post-fact world, #Putin’s web of lies is entangling the West | Comment in The Sunday Times
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/in...ies-vf523h5mr#
AND the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH has fully bought into them......
SINCE the advent of the Russian info warfare starting for the West with the Russian military annexation of Crimea and then on to the Russian military invasion of eastern Ukraine and now in Syria....Peter Pomeranzev has been one of the leading voices of what Russian propaganda really looks like....
CIA told POTUS he can't defeat #IS while #Assad remains, arranged plan Allies thought was approved. Obama punted.
Obama called Turks in 2011 and said he would remove Assad from power one way or another via @yahyabostan
Turkey also feels deceived on the #Syria "Plan B" proposed in the spring: thought it was a "yes," now find it'll be decided by next POTUS.
"Erdogan has repeatedly slammed the U.S. for...choosing a terrorist organization [#YPG/#PKK] over its NATO ally."
Kyle W. Orton
Verified account
@KyleWOrton
Because of "international matters" (i.e. U.S. pressure) #FSA attempt to recover Tel Rifaat from #PYD has been halted
Quote:
A rebel commander says the Turkish-rebel offensive on the Kurdish militia YPG has been called off.
Abu Firas of the Sham Front said the move on the town of Tel Rifaat was cancelled because of “international matters”.
Turkey carried out airstrikes on YPG positions inside Syria for the first time last Wednesday, and the Free Syrian Army and other units began ground attacks on Friday.
See Syria Daily, Oct 22: Turkish-Supported Rebels Begin Offensive v. Kurdish Militia
However, on Friday the US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter visited Ankara. Washington supported the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Front, which has been pushing back the Islamic State last autumn.
Abu Firas said the Turkish-rebel force would now look towards the ISIS-held town of al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo city.
The YPG, the military branch of the Syrian Kurdistan Democratic Union Party (PYD), and rebels have battled since last year. In early 2016 the YPG took opposition territory, including Tel Rifaat, in northern Aleppo Province.
Turkey considers the PYD and YPG to be part of the Turkish Kurdish insurgency PKK
UNQUOTE
Obama WH does not want to support the CIA activities in Syria BUT it can pressure the anti Assad groups into not attacking the Kurdish terrorist group PKK....
I have been beating up on the total lack of an Obama WH FP on just anything other that the strange drive to allow Iran and Russia hegemony n the entire ME. for the last two full years ...WHY he has done that will be now for the historians to discuss BUT I am afraid they will not be kind for his destruction of 70 years of US FP.
This article now fully exposes the simple fact that through countless spins, lies, deflected and misleading agruments and stalls the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH totally ran out the clock in not having to make a decision at all on either eastern Ukraine, Syria, Russian info warfare directed against the US and the US election, and now the Russian cyber war being waged actively against the US almost daily from where I sit....
WHEN he could have seriously changed the events in Syria in 2012...he chocked and did nothing, WHEN he could have again changed events with his "red line...he basically chocked and when he could have changed the events of war crimes, starvation and genocide he chocked badly and is now seen as being just as complicit in war crimes, starvation and genocide as is Putin.......
THE core question that seriously needs to be asked is why would a sitting Us President actually support and direct a US FP policy that enabled the rise of Russia and the decline of the US in the realm of global FP AND WHY is he so dead set on tying the hands of the incoming President to that FP????
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/plans-to-send-he…
White House skepticism stalls plan to boost CIA-backed rebels in Syria
Officials said there are growing doubts about what the fighters can achieve because of Russia’s intervention, and President Obama now seems inclined to leave the fate of the CIA program, which has been the centerpiece of U.S. strategy, up to the next occupant of the White House.
Obama/Rhodes/Kerry literally ran out the clock and when it is all said and done with the same style of Russian info war spin/stall/lie/deflect used in the standard Russian propaganda against in this case his own cuvil society.....WHY is that?
AND BTW ably supported by Kerry's countless wasted meetings and talks with the Russians....
MORE EVIDENCE that US Kurdish proxy is being supported by Assad/Putin and the US splits hairs and states "these Kurds" in this YPG are not vetted US YPG/SDF proxy BUT WAIT...the same exact YPG/PKK organization ......?????
Syria #Assad forces shelling #EuphratesShield areas around Marea FSA town in northern #Aleppo to support #YPG
ProAssad commenter posted that cannot be possible.....BUT
Maskan - Marea 10km
M-46 range up to 30km
D-30 range 15-20km
Gen John Allen and @Charles_Lister offer a path to rescuing U.S. interests in Syria and, not-incidentally, lives.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=.873df87e2aae
Bring Syria’s Assad and his backers to account now
Quote:
John Allen, a retired U.S. Marine general, led the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2013 and the international coalition to counter the Islamic State from 2014 to 2015. Charles R. Lister is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and author of “The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency.”
For 5½ years, the Syrian government has tortured, shot, bombed and gassed its own people with impunity, with the resulting human cost clear for all to see: nearly 500,000 dead and 11 million displaced. Since Russia’s military intervention began one year ago, conditions have worsened, with more than 1 million people living in 40 besieged communities. Thirty-seven of those are imposed by pro-government forces.
While subjecting his people to unspeakable medieval-style brutality, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has sabotaged diplomatic initiatives aimed at bringing a lasting calm to his country. The most recent such diplomatic scheme was trashed not just by Assad, but also Russia, whose aircraft were accused of subjecting a U.N.-mandated aid convoy to a ferocious two-hour attack in September.
Since then, at least 2,500 people have been killed and wounded in eastern districts of Aleppo, amid horrendous bombardment by Syrian and Russian aircraft, and Russia cynically vetoed a U.N. resolution that would have prohibited further airstrikes in the city.
It is time for the United States to act more assertively on Syria, to further four justifiable objectives: to end mass civilian killing; to protect what remains of the moderate opposition; to undermine extremist narratives of Western indifference to injustice; and to force Assad to the negotiating table.
The United States should not be in the business of regime change, but the Assad clique and its backers must be brought to account before it is too late. The world will not forgive us for our inaction.
The consequences of continued inaction are dreadful. U.S. policy has never sought to decisively influence the tactical situation on the ground. Unrealistic limitations on vetting and a policy that prohibited arming groups to fight the regime left us unable to effectively fight the Islamic State or to move Assad toward a transition. U.S. policy and strategy on Syria had a major disconnect, in being focused militarily on a group that was a symptom of the civil war without any means to achieve the stated policy objective: Assad’s departure.
The hole in this strategy could only have been filled by a comprehensive train-and-equip program for moderate Syrians to fight the Islamic State and decisively resist regime forces. Sadly, we have allowed this connective tissue between our counter-Islamic State strategy and our policy to remove Assad — the moderate Syrian opposition — to come under sustained attack by the regime and Russia.
For years we’ve said there can be no military outcome in Syria, but the Russians and their allies have pushed the military dimension of the crisis to strengthen the regime’s political position and, in the name of fighting “terrorism,” to systematically eliminate the opposition, including moderate Syrians we judged should be part of the political process of transitioning Assad out. These objectives were derived from our unwillingness to tangle with the regime, and now also the Russians.
The administration’s condemnation of Russia, and its forecast of a Vietnam-like morass for Moscow, seem a misunderstanding of Moscow’s calculus. Russia will determinedly protect its interests by any means, including attacking civilians and U.N. aid convoys. The expectation that Russia will tire of its Syria “quagmire” and become diplomatically pliable ignores reality. Russia has shown a remarkable capacity to dig in behind bad policy and fight under adversity. Ultimately, Vladi#mir Putin’s Russia must be — or at least seem to be — on the ascendancy, as it is in Ukraine, along NATO’s frontier, in Syria and even in Libya. Russia’s repaired relationship with Turkey and improved ties elsewhere further complicate U.S. policy.
Ultimately, this leaves us only two options. First, the United States should encourage and join its European allies in imposing an escalatory set of economic sanctions against Russia and bodies and individuals supporting its military and paramilitary activities in Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere.
The second option is one the Russians believe the United States will never do: Escalate the conflict. The United States must challenge the status quo and end the regime’s war crimes, by force if necessary. This need not require some major pronouncement. Indeed, for now, a quiet warning may be more effective, since a major public announcement would almost certainly polarize the situation further.
For a start, the United States must save Aleppo. Damascus, Moscow and Tehran are razing the city to prepare for an eventual ground assault. As both the CIA and Pentagon have concluded, an opposition loss in Aleppo would severely undermine the United States’ counterterrorism objectives in Syria. The city’s symbolism and strategic value are unmatched, and allowing it to fall would dramatically empower extremist narratives. Groups linked to al-Qaeda would reap the rewards of our shortcomings.
To save Aleppo, the United States and its allies must both accelerate and broaden the provision of lethal and nonlethal assistance to vetted moderate opposition groups. This assistance would aim to empower other frontlines in northern and southern Syria to force pro-regime forces to divert attention from Aleppo. Opposition groups should also be provided with the means to bombard regime military airfields, many of which already lie within indirect fire and artillery rocket range.
Simultaneously, the United States must use existing multilateral mechanisms to push for a new cessation of hostilities in Syria in which flagrant violations will be met with targeted U.S. military consequences. Should such an agreement prove impossible due to the likely intransigence from Damascus and its supporters, the United States should gather a “coalition of the willing” to credibly threaten military action against Assad’s military infrastructure.
Initiating such a sequence would almost certainly result in the eventual use of targeted, punitive force in Syria. Any action should target Syrian military facilities and assets involved in supporting the bombardment of civilians, such as military airfields, aircraft, weapons stores and artillery positions. We should expect the possible intentional co-mingling of Syrian and Russian forces and assets as a deterrent. While this may complicate targeting strategies, we should not miss the opportunity to hit offending Syrian elements and units, while sustaining counter-Islamic State operations elsewhere.
In addition, the United States should consider establishing and supporting a task force of regional Special Operations forces, which could play an advisory role in assisting vetted opposition groups in attacking regime assets.
The credibility of the United States as the leader and defender of the free world must be salvaged from the horrific devastation of Syria. It is not too late to enforce international law and norms. However, we cannot wait for a new administration in Washington. Events are moving too quickly.
Bashar al-Assad is not the solution to the Syrian crisis, and he is the least-qualified possible partner in a fight against terrorism, having spent much of the past 16 years aiding and abetting al-Qaeda and, it would appear, the Islamic State as well. Action certainly presents risks, but to allow events to continue to unfold as they are means raising the cost yet further for a future, inevitable U.S. intervention.
Kyle W. Orton @KyleWOrton
My latest:
"Russia Moves in For the Kill in #Syria"
(Spoiler: they probably can't do it)
https://goo.gl/qsd5lZ
Russia is hell-bent on crushing #Syria's rebellion (and humiliating Obama one last time).
A lot of very fast-moving parts in #Aleppo, including #Turkey-backed rebels. Probably enough to hold #Assad/#Russia in place.
CIA and Joint Chiefs consider fall of Aleppo a counterterrorism problem. Fortunately, Obama knows better:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/....0fd2fb25ad43#
WHY does the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH "want to tie the hands of the next President"........?????
Another drastic reduction of ATGM launches by Syrian rebels in October:
https://justpaste.it/October2016ATGM
Obama is again restricting TOWs as he has done in the past hoping to pressure the anti Assad forces into surrendering to the Russians....ALL "to tie the hands of the next President"....
THIS Syrian statement says a lot about the so called US supported Kurdish YPG/SDF/PKK....as being a solid IS fighting proxy and NOT TIED DIRECTLY to Assad and Putin....
HOW could have Obama, CENTCOM and DoD get it so wrong??????
#Syria’s Army threatens to shoot down #Turkey’s jets due to their strikes vs. YPG/SDF in N. #Aleppo
ALL of the above have somehow totally forgotten that the RuAF has been providing YPG/SDF/PKK CAS in their drive against positions held by FSA NOT IS.....
REMEMBER YPG/SDF/PKK AND IS have been willing partners/allies in the Assad/Putin siege of Aleppo....AND THUS never attacked by both Assad and or Putin...strange is it not that Obama, CNTCOM and DoD did not notice this????
Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
Azor....CrowBat will probably agree with me......while everyone including Assad and Putin are so focused on Aleppo JaF, Sham and other top FSA groups indicated in a public statement early last week that they will taking back Aleppo...then the Russians went into a la Gronzy in superdrive and the message got lost in chatter.....but if one notices all groups have gone quiet.
CrowBat response.....
My assessment in this regards is as follows (in simplest possible terms):
- Russia: massively frustrated and curious in achieving - asap - any kind of what Moscow could describe as 'victory': any durable cease-fire, especially anything including some kind of insurgents and/or jihadists 'giving up' some part of Syria on Moscow's conditions.
But, Russia is NOT in control of anything in Syria (no matter what they pretend to be on the international scene, this entire airshow in Syria was created precisely for the purpose of Russians being able to act as a 'superpower').
And, the Russians continue to prove unable of directly influencing developments on the battlefield.
- Iran: the IRGC IS in control of Assad regime, and IS in control of what is going on on battlefields in Aleppo.
But, Iran wants to 'liberate all of Aleppo' (then, lately, they are defining all of Aleppo as 'belonging to the Shi'a).
And, the IRGC continues proving unable to capture Eastern Aleppo (city).
- Assad: is IRGC's puppet and has nothing to say. At best has representative function for PR and public-perception purposes (it is simply 'nicer' to say, 'legitimate president of Syria', than 'hordes of IRGC-controlled Shi'a Jihadists').
But, Assad wants to 'liberate all of Syria' (because he's defining his legitimacy by amount of Syrian population he controls).
There are next to no troops loyal to Assad inside Aleppo left: the area is under IRGC control (various IRGC-controlled gangs are deployed along the frontline, the rear is meanwhile run by Hezbollah/Syria; nominal Ba'athist authorities are retained for PR-purposes).
On the contrary: most of Assadist troops were recently re-deployed to counterattack that insurgent/jihadist offensive on Hama.
All of this means:
- Russians would nuke Aleppo within next 5 minutes - if they could only be sure there would be 2 'terrorists' left alive they could show on TV in the process of 'withdrawing from the city', or 'surrendering', i.e. 'accepting Russian conditions'.
They know they are running out of time - primarily because of US elections. They know that any new US admin is likely to do the same the US admin did in Bosnia, back in 1995: namely, after wasting years while trying not to meddle (or doing so 'just a lil bit'), the USA go 'all in' and sort things out the way USA like.
- Iranians would like to 'liberate' Aleppo for their own purposes, but they can't. They lack the troops for this, and Russians are not cooperating with them: Russians are bombing civilians, instead of providing CAS.
This is so because Russians (correctly) assessed civilian authorities in insurgent-held areas for a bigger threat for Assad's regime than any JFS or Daesh.
Iranians also know they are running out of time in regards of the USA - for exactly the same reason like Russians are running out of time.
- And Assad... he's got to dance to Iranian music, and tolerate whatever nonsense the Keystone Cops in Moscow are babbling.
Against this backdrop, the TSK/FSyA ops in northern Aleppo Governorate are de-facto 'not important'. Yes, they are disturbing, then every time the THK F-16s bomb the Kurds or the Daesh inside Syria, they are creating a 'precedent', which might become important sometimes in the future. But, they are no direct threat before they liberate al-Bab and then establish a coherent frontline to IRGC's troops north of the city.
Or in other words: right now, they are 'problem No. 1789' on all the possible 'to do' lists, whether in Tehran, Moscow, or Damascus.
REMEMBER the very loud arguments out of the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH over the last four years that by providing weapons they would fall into the hands of "AQ".....yes we all remember that particular argument well.....
BUT WAIT.......
Total TOW missile use in #Syria
- 1,030 by vetted FSA
- 9 by non-vetted groups (inc. AQ & #ISIS)
= 0.8% proliferation rate.
DEFINTELY FAR BETTER THAN WHAT WE SHIPPED TO THE IRAQI ARMY THAT HAS LANDED IN THE ARMS OF IRANIAN SHIA MILITAS AND IS BEING NOW USED TO FIGHT FSA INSIDE SYRIA...BUT THE OBAMA WH AND DOD SAYS NOTHING ABOUT THAT DO THEY??????
SO who in the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH has been spinning us and the MSM badly.....???????
Maybe the Trump comments last night on the sheer number of new nuclear warheads FINALLY motivated the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH because numerous complaints that the Russians were in complete violation of the INF backed by evidence over the last four years did not previously motivate them......
U.S. Calls For Meeting With Russia Over Missile Treaty Dispute
http://www.rferl.org/a/28064316.html
Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
Aleppo today
#AssadPutin's #EthnicCleansing busses prepare to transport "terrorists" out of the city via the Castello road tomorrow.
WHAT is interesting is that there is total silence out of the anti Assad forces in Aleppo numbering close 10,000 and only an estimated 500-700 are JFS WHO in theory would be leaving BUT ASSAD and PUTIN thinks somehow all are leaving......IMHO they will not be leaving nor will JFS be leaving any time soon as they are all prepared to go down fighting.....
THINK about it...there are absolutely no international guarantees for their safety and Assad/Putin have declared they are killing IS and JFS....would you get on a bus???? Especially since even the UN has a poor track record in Syria of protecting anti Assad forces....AND Putin does not have a great track record for protecting surrender corridors....ASK the Ukrainian UAF?????
Silence has been the response for the rebels to the Russian/Assad offer.....AND think about it...the so called massive Assad regime operation to capture Aleppo has repeatedly failed thus really a military offensive failure across the board....and more bombing only causes more demands for MORE sanctions on Putin and company...WHICH Obama is actually blocking...why I have no idea....
WHY would actually JFS get on busses flying the Assad fly they have been fighting against for over four long years?....NOT a single UN/SRC flag to be seen.....
Syrian war: Rebels reject Aleppo withdrawal offer from Moscow; UN says all parties must agree first
19 October 2016 Reuters
Quote:
Syrian rebels have rejected Russia's offer of a withdrawal of fighters from Aleppo after Moscow announced a halt in air raids which it said was designed to allow insurgents to leave and to separate moderate fighters from extremist militants.
Key points:
Rebels deem the offer "surrender" and pledge to fight on
UN says Russian unilateral statement is insufficient
Red Cross says it is unclear how much time is needed to get security clearances
"The factions completely reject any exit — this is surrender," said Zakaria Malahifji, the political officer of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim group.
On Monday, Moscow said that Russian and Syrian forces would pause their attacks on Aleppo for eight hours on Thursday to allow rebels to leave while allowing humanitarian aid to enter.
On Tuesday, Russia halted all air strikes, two days ahead of time.
But the United Nations said that Russia's unilateral plan for a humanitarian pause would not ensure any supplies get into besieged eastern Aleppo because Russia and Syria and other groups fighting in the city have not yet given guarantees of safety for aid workers.
"We need assurances from all parties to the conflict, not just a unilateral announcement that this will happen," UN spokesman Jens Laerke said on Tuesday.
"We need everybody to give us those assurances before it is immediately useful for us to do anything meaningful."
The International Committee of the Red Cross also said it was still unclear how much time would be needed to get security guarantees from all sides, including from rebel fighters.
Meanwhile, Al-Farouk Abu Bakr, an Aleppo commander in the powerful Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham, added that the rebels would fight on.
"When we took up arms at the start of the revolution to defend our abandoned people we promised God that we would not lay them down until the downfall of this criminal regime," he said, referring to President Bashar al-Assad's Government.
"There are no terrorists in Aleppo," he said.
Rebels in eastern Aleppo have consistently said that insurgent groups linked to Al Qaeda or inspired by it have no real presence in the opposition-held part of the city.
The Russia-Syria bombing campaign has destroyed most health facilities in the besieged city, where 406 people were killed and 1,384 wounded between September 23 and October 8, according to UN data based on reports from medical facilities
.
REMEMBER the exact Russian actions WHEN even with the agreed to recent US/Russia "deal" and all approving the urgent shipment of aid into Aleppo a KEY CORE element of the US/Russian "deal" the Russian AF bombed the Turkish aid convoy for over TWO full hours killing 21 and destroying aid for 123,000......
Ever wonder why this occurs.....we seem to be unable to learn from our mistakes which just keep on happening...???
The weak coverage of ISIS's defeat from Dabiq by fellow Sunnis is solid evidence the US-led coalition is clueless about how to uproot ISIS.
THIS is indeed a Sunni fight and no one else should be involved..SAD but true.....
BTW.....Russia still has it's own very serious "Sunni" problem and by being in Syria they have made that "problem" massive......now.....and the world seems to have forgotten that Russia is involved in a deep war "with Sunni jihadists/Takfrists" and is barely holding their own...by the use sheer force that in the end does not eliminate the problem..it just makes it bigger in the end....
REMEMBER Russia has on heck of a sizeable Muslim population that is currently quietly figuring out what to do and then......AND they are seriously looking at the way Russia is treating the Tartar's....
Let us understand that Russia -- via its actions in such places as Ukraine, Syria and elsewhere -- has already achieved its objective/its desired end-state;
This being, to show the entire Rest of the World that it has replaced the U.S./the West as the leader/the champion of, shall we say, (a) the "status quo" movement and, thus, of (b) the conservative values, traditions and institutions associated with same; all of which much of the Rest of the World -- in the New/Reverse Cold War of today much as in the Old Cold War of yesterday -- (1) still very much desire and (2) still will readily fight for.
(This "leader/champion of the status quo, conservatives and their causes" movement, after all, was the role that the U.S./the West held in the Old Cold War of yesterday and re: Soviet/communist "expansionist" designs back then. And this is very same role, in the face of contemporary U.S./Western "expansionist" designs, in the New/Reverse Cold War of today, that the Russians, the Chinese and the Iranians have -- quite gladly -- now assumed for themselves. It is in this very light, I suggest, that one might understand why "we" backed "dictators and despots" back then, and why "they" might back "dictators and despots" today.)
In the Old Cold War of yesterday -- and in the face of Soviet/communists "expansionist" designs back then -- (a) a world-wide "resistance to unwanted transformation" movement (more along alien and profane communist political, economic, social and value lines back then) became manifest and (b) the U.S./the West simply "stepped in front" of it. (The Soviet/the communist thesis of "universal [communist] values, thus, being immediately disproved.)
In the New/Reverse Cold War of today -- and in the face of similar U.S./Western "expansionist" designs and efforts now -- a similar world-wide "resistance to unwanted transformation" movement (this time, more along equally alien and profane modern Western political, economic, social and value lines) has become manifest. And the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, etc., today -- and much as we did in the Old Cold War -- have simply "stepped in front" of this such world-wide movement.
(Herein, the U.S./the West's "universal values" thesis -- much like the Soviet/the communist's such thesis before it -- also being, thereby, immediately disproved? In both cases, the "expansionist" entity then having to adopt more of a "hard power" approach; which became necessary to achieve -- in face of such world-wide resistance as noted above -- its "expansionist" designs?)
Bottom Line:
Thus, for Russia (and for China, Iran, etc. also?) the mission of showing the entire Rest of the World that they have replaced the U.S./the West as the leaders/the champions of the world-wide "status quo" (and/or "status quo anti?") movement -- and, thus, of the conservative values, traditions and institutions associated with same -- this, I suggest, has already been, and quite successfully, accomplished.
No EU sanctions, no use of force, no nothing against #PutinAtWar in #Syria.
@FedericaMog will negotiate until the last civilian is killed.
The destroyed several residential areas.
Many killed & wounded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9thDmwO6h8#…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0urhKI3Blyc#…
SO there are now officially no war crimes, starvation and genocide being committed anywhere in Syria.....THAT is great Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH leadership hard at work.....
BREAKINGNEWS
RUSSIAN JETS UNLEASH HELL ON #LATAMINAH RIGHT NOW.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N50PBijwiPk#…
BreakingFootage
#Aleppo tonight.
The #Russian #BunkerBuster bombs obliterated entire blocks of flats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTnccxpjoDU#…
BUT WAIT....here comes the "truth".....
State department spox Toner: "don't expect any breakthroughs in Lausanne." Hope to get multilateral talks on Syria back up and running.
AND from the Russians....as usual.....
Al Arabiya English
Verified account
@AlArabiya_Eng
#Breaking #Russia does not intend to put forward new initiatives on #Syria crisis at Lausanne
SO WHY TALK??
BUT WAIT....here comes the "truth".....
State department spox Toner: "don't expect any breakthroughs in Lausanne." Hope to get multilateral talks on Syria back up and running.
AND from the Russians....as usual.....
Al Arabiya English
Verified account
@AlArabiya_Eng
#Breaking #Russia does not intend to put forward new initiatives on #Syria crisis at Lausanne
Won my bet that the Obama WH would do nothing until they leave....after they announced really for spin purposes and to cover for the Russians and Iranians....that the President was going over his so called "military options"....
Charles Lister @Charles_Lister
After more consultations, White House has decided to give #Syria talks another go
[Try again & again, hoping result will change = insanity]
NOTICE just how the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH caves to Russian demands in order to just get this meeting WHICH in the end will achieve absolutely nothing....
Moscow shaping participants to attend tomorrow's #Syria meeting in #Lausanne:
#Russia
#Egypt
#Iran
#Iraq
#US
#Saudi
#Turkey
#Qatar
NOTICE that the US is not by any means a "neutral party" as Kerry has repeatedly supported the Putin position first on Assad and secondly on disarming the anti Assad forces and forcing them to surrender "believing" that the "ballot box" over rules the motto..."all power comes from the barrel of a gun"....especially when those individuals have more guns than the other side has....
REMEMBER when Kerry stated Putin and Assad should be charged with war crimes for their hospital bombing campaign AND THEN his own DoS spokesperson WALKED IT BACK....and he and the DoS has never said another word about war crimes have they....????
BUT WAIT another hospital is hit by Russian air strikes yesterday....ONE day before the Swiss meeting is to occur....accident or intentional....???
UOSSM Canada @uossmCan 11h
11 hours ago
#Breaking video of Hospital bombed in Aleppo hours ago.
Aleppo City today.
The #AssadPutin terrorism continues.
Let's talk to #Russia!
Will make things better for sure!...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUgd...utu.be#…
Another air strike to add to the dozens of shells lobbed into eastern #Aleppo tonight
Like every day, #AssadPutin air strikes hit the besieged areas in eastern #Aleppo city.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0vsku4BbR8#…
Scary-looking explosions on fields around #Lataminah in #Hama today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgLYfVMOFp0#…
Turkish presidential spox İ. Kalın on the upcoming talks in #Lausanne
#Assad regime,#Russian air strikes off the table
Mission accomplished.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgLYfVMOFp0#…
From the New York Times today.....maybe the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH need to read and reread it......
Critic's Notebook
Berlin, 1945; Grozny, 2000; Aleppo, 2016
By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN 10:02 AM ET
In Aleppo, a drone video reveals a destruction so complete that it obliterates even a sense of time.
Have posted the links to this set of videos on the Syrian thread in the past few days and I think a link to the NYT's article itself...was posted there as well.
THIS is the direct result when a US FP of "do nothing stupid" is allowed to fully and completely function.....
Russian actions in both eastern Ukraine and Syria are not intertwined????
"Some 600 Donbas militants left for Russia to fight in Syria," - State Border Guard Service
http://en.censor.net.ua/n410404#
Are possibly part of the rumored 3000 being recruited in Donbas for Syria....Russia has got to keep them busy for their monthly salary....BTW Russia has been repeatedly late in paying them in Donbas as well....
Estimated Russian war costs for both wars are now topping closer to 15-20M USD PER DAY....
Ever notice that when the Russians hold out a possibility for anything ...and this meeting will go nowhere fast....Obama/Rhodes/Kerry "fall into line" in order to not jeopardize "the vaguest hope" Russia will agree to something that saves their legacy before Dec 2016....
BUT WAIT...Russia talks, agrees even formulates an agreement and THEN ignores everything they said and or signed IE Minsk 2 in eastern Ukraine and the Syrian CoH.....
JUST as Obama is stalling Congress on passing sanctions against Assad as a war criminal....."wanting to not endanger negotiations"....."negotiations" which have never gone anywhere....
WHY will this meeting end as all other meetings has.....in failure.....Russia will not drop Assad, Khamenei will not drop Assad, Hezbollah, and their Green Crescent and all their Shia mercenaries inside Syria......
BUT the US wants the Sunni Front States to drop their support for the anti Assad forces.....
HOW strange is it to see the US carrying out Russian and Iranian FP.....????
Kerry/Rhodes/Obama and the DoS openly stated there is no evidence of any ongoing war crimes otherwise we would have recommended war crime charges in the ICC...
BUT THEN France and UK differ with Kerry/Obama/Rhodes/DoS....it seems in they stated Putin MUST be charged in the ICC.....
Idlib civil defense pull bodies out from rubble in al-Tamanah town #Idlib after russian airstrikes
https://youtu.be/B7etYN5cfAk
EVEN a dove struggles to stay alive after being hit by shrapnel in Huluk neighborhood, #aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwgVzB5GKyA#…
Extremely graphic: child killed by airstrikes on Hula, #homs
https://youtu.be/5i65idLSre0
Aftermath of an airstrike on Huluk neighborhood in #aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajxj1YhCdq0#…
People and family members of those killed and injured in a airstrike on Mashad neighborhood #Aleppo look for bodies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYIpdycG-MM#…
Daraa Civil defense inspect damage caused by regime airstrikes on Dael, #Daraa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkVCul2O1jM#…
Video of another airstrike on Ghouta earlier today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtVsqisCuow#…
Town of Safba, Damascus countryside hit by airstrikes earlier today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WiSQRsqS9E#…
Video of regime bombing eastern #Ghouta.
https://youtu.be/tPvVTR6SMUQ
Airstrike on the town of Sahra in w. #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aKb-k0AfZQ#…
Aftermath of a strike on Saqba, #Damascus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur5i4s2IYKk#…
Child injured in an airstrike on Saqba, #Damascus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_xVg-
Aftermath of an airstrike on Fardous neighborhood, #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr_GLVmraIw#…
Airstrike on E. #Ghouta earlier today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH5fpeT1b3Y#…
Airstrike on Kafr Zeita, #hama earlier today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkEtqMARfLk#…
Aftermath of an airstrike on the town of Jarjanaz, #Idlib
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVi7-L3BVQE#…
After math of airstrikes on #Douma early yesterday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHNzJ-QIEzs#…
Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
THIS meeting is a one sided attempt by the Russians to expand the so called ceasefire talks into a generalized overall Syrian "political solution"...NOTICE it has the US, Russians and Iranians on one side...regardless of what Kerry/Obama say they are fully in agreement with Russia and Iran now with the Obama full tilt to Iran and on the other side Qatar and KSA....notice there is no Turkey attending nor any representatives from the anti Assad side HNC.....
Russia, Iran and the US are attempting to pin down the outside supporters of the FSA and other anti Assad forces and are trying to get them to stop arms shipments AND at the same time refuse to discuss the thousands of Iranian Shia AFG/Pakistan mercenaries, Iraqi Shia mercenaries, Iranian supported Hezbollah, and IRGC personnel inside Syria....
WHAT both Obama/Kerry and Putin fail to realize is that the anti Assad forces have stood down four times for so called "ceasefires, regimes of quiet, CoH, and a new ceasefire and after all four times they were massively attacked by repositioned and rearmed Assad forces and the Russian AF....THIS time they will not ceasefire again....
NOTICE that the so called Russia offer of humanitarian aid via three so called humanitarian corridors has never been implemented....AND Russia is now bombing Aleppo into the ground JUST as he did Gronzy......
REMEMBER it was Putin's own Syrian ambassador who publicly stated Assad was not going to attack Aleppo..SO can Putin even be trusted to implement a single thing he says....not really....
REMEMBER Obama publicly stated in 2014..."we will judge Putin by his actions not his words"....WHILE thousands of actions later Obama/Kerry are still "judging"....??????
Charles Lister @Charles_Lister
Big stakes behind Saturday's US-#Russia-#Iran-#Saudi-Qatari meeting in #Lausanne on #Syria.
(#Moscow blocked UK & #France involvement]
NOTICE how Russia insisted UK/France remain outside...WHY because both have called for war crimes charges against Assad and Putin WHEREAS Kerry backed off his demands as did his DoS WHICH means Obama/Rhodes as well....
The White Helmets @SyriaCivilDef
No. of casualties increases to 15 killd 10 still under rubble nd 20+ injured in AlFardous-Aleppo city after airstrike targeted public market
More than 8 airstrikes targeted civilian areas in #Douma since early morning, SCD is responding at the minute. Pray for the heroes.
Strikes are still ongoing and SCD is in the middle of them right now.
103 civilians were killed by #AssadPutin on Tuesday in #Syria, incl. 21 children.
59 of the victims died in and around #Aleppo
- LCC
A displaced woman & her two daughters were killed in this #Russian attack on #Jarjanaz in Idlib prov. this morning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVi7...utu.be#…
SO just how is that great FP of the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH working these days??...just ask Ukrainians and Syrians...
In Syrian.....
Videos and still photos are pouring in..way to many to post right now....
#Syria is under attack by #AssadPutin.
Hundreds of raids since the morning.
Saqba
#Aleppo
#Hamouria
#Kafr_Batna
#Hazza
#Jober
#Harasta
#Douma
#Sakik
#Dael
#Ibtaa
#Drousha
#Khan_Sheih
AND IT IS JUST NOON......
In eastern Ukraine....
Avdeevka
#Shyrokyne
#Vodyane
#Lebedynske
#Pisky
#Marinka
- ALL shelled/ground attacked by #Putin's forces today
AND attacks on Shyrokyne/Mariupol are still ongoing and heavy....
THIS WH with a little over two full months is simply running out the clock as they have no earthly idea just how to respond to anything....other than do nothing stupid....
WHILE the Obama WH cannot make up their minds on Syria...Putin has made tactical nuclear missile moves that basically eliminated the INF AND YET Obama says not a single word...
Iskander Missiles Kill The #INF Treaty. #Berlin and #Prague in Danger | @Defence24pl #Russia
http://www.defence24.com/467669,iskander-missiles-kill-the-inf-treaty-b…
Putin can now in effect threaten nuclear wise Warsaw, Berlin, Prague and the Baltics...not counting Sweden and Norway....AND still no comments from Obama and company....within TWO minutes from launch time.....
DID everyone notice that as long as Kerry, the French and the UK talked about bringing war crimes charges against Putin and Assad in the ICC...BUT walked back by the US DoS...Putin refrained from further bombings of Aleppo...AND when the "talk died down" he was right back in the heavy bombing of Aleppo.....SO who says threats and potential enforcement of those threats do not have an impact on Putin and company?????
Below is an average Syrian day in the life of the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH "do nothing stupid"...and we cannot seem to make up our minds routine which is nothing more than a "smokescreen" for really not wanting to do anything except make the Syrian problem even worse than it should be.....
#Aleppo destruction is starting to equal the Russian destruction of Gronzy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCTK4llJYaI …
A family mourns the death of two of their children in recent air strikes on Busta neighborhood, #Aleppo
https://youtu.be/LhsfaIlzajE
More footage from Fardous neighborhood, #Aleppo after it was targeted by airstrikes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiLXpe9UmVE#…
Civil Defense look for bodies in al-Qatragi neighborhood after it was hit by airstrikes, #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9tzv1JOrvI#…
Civil Defense look for bodies after an airstrike hit Bustan, #Aleppo earlier today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivLLMvbI4ys#…
Airstrike hits #Jobar neighborhood in #Damascus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhJ3hkGO84g#
Warplanes target Deir Foul in #homs countryside
https://youtu.be/1cfpBHwrbP8
Very Graphic: victims of Bustan, #Aleppo airstrikes being treated in clinics
https://youtu.be/Z7oDagmYdg4
Airstrike on Fardous, Neighborhood in #aleppo damages water pipes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXgh0BNqNM0#…
Airstrike kills a family in Fardous neighborhood, #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtB8VWHah-g#…
An IDP camp n #Quneitra lacks supplies, but their residents still have hope. (Arabic report)
https://youtu.be/myEWIhxtrnE
Alleged Vacuum bomb (thermobaric) dropped on al-Ghantu, #homs earlier today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgTsVNjLG8g#…
Air strike on Khan Touman earlier today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APyj7jcy4TQ#…
Graphic: man in Serious condition due to injuries from an airstike on al-Ghantu, #Homs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLXzkIshWuQ#…
Graphic: OGN - Regime Continues Its Butchery Of Aleppo
https://youtu.be/JnuUrG34wOU#
IDPs discuss being displaced and injured and unable to provide for themselves due to injuries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6UICheSOA#…
IDPs discuss being displaced and injured and unable to provide for themselves due to injuries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6UICheSOA#…
People hunting in W. Aleppo for sport and to get food for their families
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr0-lEZJGw0#…