Small Wars Journal

Obama’s Syria Plan Teams Up American and Russian Forces

Thu, 07/14/2016 - 4:52am

Obama’s Syria Plan Teams Up American and Russian Forces by Josh Rogin, Washington Post

The Obama administration’s new proposal to Russia on Syria is more extensive than previously known. It would open the way for deep cooperation between U.S. and Russian military and intelligence agencies and coordinated air attacks by American and Russian planes on Syrian rebels deemed to be terrorists, according to the text of the proposal I obtained.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry plans to discuss the plan with top Russian officials in a visit to Moscow on Thursday. As I first reported last month, the administration is proposing joining with Russia in a ramped-up bombing campaign against Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s Syria branch, which is also known as the Nusrah Front. What hasn’t been previously reported is that the United States is suggesting a new military command-and-control headquarters to coordinate the air campaign that would house U.S. and Russian military officers, intelligence officials and subject-matter experts.

Overall, the proposal would dramatically shift the United States’ Syria policy by directing more American military power against Jabhat al-Nusra, which unlike the Islamic State is focused on fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. While this would expand the U.S. counterterrorism mission in Syria, it would also be a boon for the Assad regime, which could see the forces it is fighting dramatically weakened. The plan also represents a big change in U.S.-Russia policy. It would give Russian President Vladi­mir Putin something he has long wanted: closer military relations with the United States and a thawing of his international isolation. That’s why the Pentagon was initially opposed to the plan…

Read on.

Comments

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 2:53pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Amazing. Convoy not allowed to cross from Turkey until today, at which point it's immediately bombed.

REMEMBER the following comments...

1. 2014 Obama press conference
"we will judge Putin by his actions and not his words"....

2. countless Kerry Statements almost always the same.....stated about eastern Ukraine and Syria when ever he is in Geneva or Moscow
"we need to see if Russia is serious"

SO now does Obama and Kerry "get it"...Putin is not to be trusted on anything he says end of story.....HIS actions have now spoken both for eastern Ukraine and now in Syria......

NOT sure the WH understands this........

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 2:36pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

MORE Russian MoD vodka moments......

Russia: One-sided fulfillment of ceasefire deems Geneva deal 'meaningless' https://youtu.be/nbJOg34Xhc4

TYPICAL Russian double tap of first responders.......THESE are the true Russian actions that both Kerry and Obama have blatantly ignored.....costing Syrians their lives simply for driving aid to starving civilians.....under a so called ceasefire agreement.....

UN appears to have confirmed that its aid convoy to Aleppo has been bombed. Locals say the warplane returned to strike the rescue team.

IF the US and Russia WANTED Erdogan and his TAF and it's 15,000 man FSA army in Aleppo in the coming days..Putin just got it.......

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 2:25pm

Kremlin ceasefires in Syria proving about as effective as they are in East Ukraine - maybe 'ceasefire' means something different in Russian?

BREAKING: Reports of a Red Crescent aid convoy targeted by airstrikes in W #Aleppo after cease-fire ends #Syria

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 2:21pm

FROM proAssad/Putin commenter..HAS Russian MoD declared war on the US...most certainly it has it appears.....

Elijah J. Magnier @EjmAlrai
Opps
#Russian source in #Syria:"We r not interested in the '#USA 7 days game' and we shall protect #SAA from any 'AF mistakes' from now on".

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 2:09pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

BREAKING: US says it's prepared to extend Syria truce despite violations and Syrian announcement it is over - AP

REMEMBER....Obama 2014 stated the following...

"we will judge Putin by his actions NOT his words".......

WELL we have now his actions AND Obama/Kerry....simply missing in Action it appears......HAVE only words...that is just how bad US FP has gotten in Syria......

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 2:45pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

SECOND convoy hit as well...aid for over 185,000 for a full month destroyed by Russian stupidity.....the deal they got from Kerry will now never return to the table.....

Aleppo: #Russia|n airstrikes have destroyed 31 aid trucks in Western #Aleppo. #Genocide #WarCrime

There were 40 trucks total in the two convoys

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 2:17pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

FROM Kerry/Obama utter silence.......

ANY info about location of the second convoy? WAS it hit as well????

BOTH convoys were carrying enough aid for 185,000 for a month.....

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 2:07pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

BREAKING #Statement
#Russia declares the ceasefire over, blames the United States and Syrian rebels.

Keep in mind that the #Assad regime killed around 150 civilians during the last "ceasefire" week while rebels killed around 0.

Aleppo residents: "More airstrikes and barrel bombs hitting Eastern #Aleppo than we can count."

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 2:05pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

DOES KERRY now have an explanation for this AFTER he states the US would extend the ceasefire...FOR WHAT to destroy more aid convoys......

IN from Aleppo minutes ago.......
QUOTE/UNQUOTE
Unbelievable ...
These bastards bomb the aid convoys, the international community lured into their trap, now ...

AWAITING more confirmation ie reports or video footage of the air strikes which occurred this evening.......this source is usually very accurate with his reports.....

SECOND CONFIRMATION IS IN......
Syrian opposition media reports a convoy of 20 aid trucks was hit multiple time by #Russian jets in Urem al-Kubra.
http://www.shaam.org/news/syria-news...%84%D8%A8.html

Aleppo: #Russia|n airstrikes destroyed 20+ humanitarian aid trucks in Western Aleppo, dozens of civilians killed and wounded.

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 1:46pm

DOES KERRY now have an explanation for this AFTER he states the US would extend the ceasefire...FOR WHAT to destroy more aid convoys......

IN from Aleppo minutes ago.......
QUOTE/UNQUOTE
Unbelievable ...
These bastards bomb the aid convoys, the international community lured into their trap, now ...

Barrel bombs been used to target civilians in Aleppo city now ..

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 1:41pm

Again pardon my French...BUT what the hell is Kerry doing.....???

BREAKING: US says it's prepared to extend Syria truce despite violations and Syrian announcement it is over - AP

US says it's prepared to extend Syria truce despite violations and Syrian announcement it is over" ...'let's pretend' ...

Why even bother making/extending it if Assad/Russia violate it at will AND NO AID WAS DELIVERED?

Now the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH is an embarassment to US FP.......

A THREE YEAR OLD could do better by simply throwing darts against a list of options pinned to a wall......

SO Assad/Putin conducts air strikes, starves thousands, adheres to no ceasefire, conducts artillery strikes and ground offensives non stop AND DELIVERS NO HUMANITARIAN AID as agreed to........

BUT WE THE US will look the other way...come on...this is really bad policy that is coming out of this WH.....this is not diplomacy...this is simply surrendering US FP to Assad, Putin and Iran......

THIS will fully now convince the armed opposition to Assad that in fact there has been a "golden handshake" between Obama and Putin for their destruction......

NOW this explains the Erdogan statement stating the US told him to go no further south....AND his response was "kiss me on the cheek"...I will go where I want to as it is my TAF and the armed Syrian opposition FSA that determines where we go...NOT the US.....

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 1:24pm

Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
Photos from new #ISIS vid showing them overlooking #DeirEzzor AB. Video is zoomed in, still, shows IS has direct LOS

THIS is actaully interesting as it confirms that IS had in fact taken the hill that was supposedly hit by US/UK/Danes/Australians supposedly killing Assad troops EVEN WHEN IS also claims they were hit on the same hill.....

SO were the so called Assad loses from FF OR from being overrun by IS who then got hit ......

BreakingNews #ISIS has started fierce heavy artillery preliminary bombardment on Deir Ezzor air-base..

Reported that some of the fire is coming from this hill that was supposedly the FF Event....SO IS is still on the hill.......

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 1:14pm

Per reports, #Syria’s ceasefire has 90mins remaining.

1 week on & *zero* aid has crossed any borders into Syria, for besieged communities.

There you have it...

#Syria’s Army has announced the ceasefire is over.

Now what?

WAR is back on again and Kerry remains silent as usual.......

Syria #Russia'n airstrikes on Urem al-Kubra in western #Aleppo

Syria #Russia'n airstrikes on Qabtian al-Jabal near
Darat Izza in western #Aleppo

Syria Airstrikes & artillery shelling on several neighborhoods of #Aleppo City

Interesting: Major news outlets didn't give much play to the 4 Aleppo airstrikes yesterday. Any theories?

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 1:16pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Erdogan: "They (#US) tell us not to move further. We will go wherever we need to."
Manbij #Afrin #Raqqa

APPEARS that Obama/Kerry tries to control Erdogan and TAF..is that the reason CENTCOM sent along US SF??????

As they defintely are not calling in CAS as the Turkish AF is flying CAS for TAF/FSA

AND they will not stop TAF/FSA from taking Manbij and moving towards Aleppo

EuphratesShield: after nearly zero support since start of operation US-led Coalition increased its airstrikes vs #ISIS since mid. September

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 11:48am

REMEMBER Kerry's early Statement..."the ceasefire is largely H
holding"...not exactly sure what planet he was on......

Syria Facts of a week #Ceasefire:
~300 violations by regime incl 80+ airstrikes

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 6:07am

NOW we can officially call the Obama/Kerry WH Syria FP a "farce" and that is about the best that can be said for it.....

The ceasefire is now officially over and what was achieved for the taxpayers money in sending Kerry multiple times to Geneva....nothing really outside of a photo op and a press conference......

HOPE that Obama/Kerry have some sort of comment for this outside of the normal platitudes "ceasefire is largely holding"......

Syria #UN aid convoy for besieged Muadamiyat al-Sham suburb of #Damascus was looted at last #SAA 4th Div checkpoint

Reuters India ‏@ReutersIndia 22m
22 minutes ago

Eastern Aleppo aid stuck in Turkey as Syria truce ends

Quote:
Two 20-truck aid convoys destined for eastern Aleppo with enough supplies to feed 185,000 people for a month are still stuck in Turkey, a U.N. spokesman said on Monday, hours after a ceasefire in Syria expired.

The U.N. has said it does not have sufficient security guarantees from all sides in the conflict, now in its sixth year, to be able to deliver to eastern Aleppo, which is held by rebels battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad.

The aid has been sitting at the border for around a week.

The U.N. also wants to deliver to other hard-to-reach areas in Syria, but says it has not received necessary permissions from the Syrian government to proceed.

The seven-day ceasefire declared by the Syrian army expired at midnight with no announcement of its extension. A Syrian rebel official said the truce had ended, and there was no hope the eastern Aleppo aid would be delivered.

Up to 275,000 people remain trapped in that part of Syria's most populous city without food, water, proper shelter or medical care, said U.N. Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Stephen O'Brien.

"I am pained and disappointed that a United Nations convoy has yet to cross into Syria from Turkey, and safely reach eastern Aleppo," O'Brien said in a statement.

He referred to a 20-truck convoy, the first of two that would have carried flour and other food supplies, enough to feed some 185,000 people for one month, he said.

Both convoys are still sitting at the Turkey-Syria border, where they have been for almost a week, U.N. spokesman Jens Laerke said.
Humanitarian access to Aleppo hinges on control of the main road into the besieged rebel-held part of the divided city.

The road needs to become a demilitarised zone in order for aid to proceed. Russia has said the Syrian army had begun to withdraw from the road, but insurgent groups in Aleppo have said they have seen no such move and would not pull back from their own positions around the road until it did so.

"I hope that all parties to the conflict, and those with influence over them, would see the convoy as an opportunity to move forward," O'Brien said.

"Humanitarian aid must remain neutral, impartial and free of political and military agendas."
Unquote:

SO based on Kerry's own "drop dead date of Monday" for aid deliveries JUST what is his move now......

Onto the JIC and joint bombing operations with a so called "partner who fulfilled nothing" as that is also exactly what they have done with Minsk 2 in eastern Ukraine and act as if all is well in fairy tooth land?????

AND a so called partner that accuses you of being the "bad guys".....
 

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 5:29am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

If only U.S. policy reflected the clear-eyed view of Russian cynicism in Amb. Power's speech last night.
http://bit.ly/2cADbjt

BUT WAIT...she was placed on a very short leash when she was attacking the Russians constantly in the UNSC for their invasion of eastern Ukraine....and Obama spoke degradingly about her book in his 20,000 interview and he has not allowed her to post much on Twitter until the FF incident in Syria this weekend .....

The only other true major critic of Russian policies in the Obama WH/NSC concerning both eastern Ukraine and Syria basically resigned from DoD as she could not get here views heard inside the Obama WH and his NSC.....

WHY is that?

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 5:19am

All key Syria armed groups threaten to break ceasefire if Assad regime continues to seek sectarian displacement:

"Is the real Samantha Power being held prisoner in the U.N. basement with access to Twitter ... ?"

The Ambassador From Hell?
Samantha Power wrote the book on how the U.S. government ignores and legitimates genocides. Or was it a handbook?

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news...ador-from-hell

By Lee Smith

Quote:
Even die-hard supporters of President Barack Obama’s “realist” approach to foreign affairs are nauseated by the White House’s Syria policy. New York Times columnist Roger Cohen, a vocal supporter of the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran, is fed up with nearly five years of the “fecklessness and purposelessness” of a Syria policy that “has become hard to distinguish” from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s. “Syria is now the Obama administration’s shame,” Cohen wrote last week, “a debacle of such dimensions that it may overshadow the president’s domestic achievements.” Ambassador Dennis Ross and New York Times military correspondent David Sanger also published articles excoriating Obama’s policies in Syria.

There is a military solution, it’s “just not our military solution,” a senior U.S. security official admitted to Sanger. It’s Putin’s.
Perhaps most damning of the stink-bouquets was a Washington Post op-ed from former New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier and Harvard professor Michael Ignatieff. “It is time for those who care about the moral standing of the United States to say that this policy is shameful,” they wrote. “If the United States and its NATO allies allow [Putin and his allies] to encircle and starve the people of Aleppo, they will be complicit in crimes of war.”

What made the Post op-ed particularly striking is that Wieseltier and Ignatieff are both friends and former colleagues of Obama’s U.N. ambassador, Samantha Power. Ignatieff taught with her at Harvard, and Wieseltier published early parts of her book on genocide, A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, which described in searing detail the strategies by which American officials typically deflect responsibility for the massacre of innocents.

Power’s 600-page book consists largely of case studies of how the United States responded to 20th-century genocides, like the Turkish genocide of the Armenians, the Nazi Holocaust, Cambodia, Saddam Hussein’s genocidal campaigns against the Kurds, Bosnia, Rwanda, Srebrenica, and Kosovo. As Power notes in the book’s conclusion, “What is most shocking about America’s reaction … is not that the United States refused to deploy U.S. ground forces to combat the atrocities. For much of the century, even the most ardent interventionists did not lobby for U.S. ground invasions. What is most shocking is that U.S. policymakers did almost nothing to deter the crime.”

There can be no doubt that the murderous campaign of sectarian cleansing that Assad and his allies Russia and Iran have been waging against the Sunni Arab population of Syria is a crime of historic proportions—the first genocide of the still-young 21st century, or, if you prefer the language of a recent U.N. report, state-sponsored mass extermination. Power herself has documented it all on Twitter:

Continued.......

EVER notice that the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH have basically since 2012 totally ignored genocide, war crimes and starvation in Syria.....why is that???

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 4:40am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

EuphratesShield ‏@EuphratesShield
#PresidentErdogan : "We will move down to Al Bab and cease those regions to be a threat." #EuphratesShield

Reuters Top News ‏@Reuters
Turkey-backed rebels could push further south in Syria, Erdogan says

A not so subtle warning to both Assad and Putin .....that Aleppo is not far from where the TAF/FSA with US SF advisors are currently heading towards and that includes Manbij........

BTW...REMEMBER turkey and KSA "has not signed onto the bombing/targeting of JaN now rebranded JFS"......IS yes...but not JFS.......

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/19/2016 - 4:01am

DAY EIGHT of the so called "ceasefire" that Kerry signed up for......

Syria Airstrikes on Kafr Nabudah & Morek towns in northern #Hama

STILL no aid deliveries and Monday was suppose to be the "drop dead date" that Kerry told Lavrov/Putin aid must be delivered by.......AND??????

AND there is an ongoing massive ground assault by Assad regime forces supported by heavy artillery (Russian/Assad) and Russian/Assad CAS in eastern Aleppo.....

THIS was programed yesterday by the Russian MoD statement that the rebels were planning an offensive themselves so Russia/Assad had their excuse to break fully the ceasefire.....

Actually since it started there has never been a "real ceasefire"...it was only real in the minds of those that signed the deal.....Lavrov and Kerry.....

Outlaw 09

Sun, 09/18/2016 - 2:02pm

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan
New:
On how Jabhat Fateh al-Sham's notable change of tone and how it's gaining from Washington's latest blunders
http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/co...al-qaeda-group

September 18, 2016 Updated: September 18, 2016 05:52 PM

Syrian war enters a new phase as factions realign

Syria’s peace plan is flawed and Jabhat Al Nusra knows it

Quote:
A week ago, the United States was on track to launch a campaign against Jabhat Fateh Al Sham, formerly Jabhat Al Nusra, in collaboration with Russia. But the deal has so far led to further division between the two countries and deeper solidarity with JFS from a diverse range of Syrian rebel forces and individuals.

Diplomatic tension between Washington and Moscow escalated on the weekend due to Russia’s failure to help aid convoys enter Aleppo. The US gave Russia until Monday to ensure the delivery of aid. Tension peaked after the US-led anti-ISIL coalition killed "by mistake" dozens of Syrian military forces in Deir Ezzor on Saturday.

Meanwhile, JFS – the focus of the latest US effort in Syria – appears to be gaining in some quarters. On the day that the US-Russian diplomatic spat reached a high point, the group’s leader, Abu Muhammad Al Jolani, appeared on Al Jazeera to talk about the international plan to fight his group.
For the first time since its rebranding on July 28, JFS’s tone and conduct seem to be changing amid a noticeable increase in solidarity among various forces in Syria, even as many doubt the group’s true disengagement from Al Qaeda.

Al Jolani highlighted issues to which many in rebel-held areas relate and which jihadist groups often neglect. One was the lack of education for thousands of children in rebel areas, which he said would cause those children to engage in crimes as they grow up. He also suggested an armed struggle would continue "until the toppling of the regime".
Another interesting aspect of his remarks was his favourable tone towards the regional order. He referred to the resistance in Syria as a cornerstone for Arab Sunnis’ opposition to Iranian hegemony in the region, referring to certain countries by their official name, in contrast to the pejorative way his former "emir", Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri, refers to them.

Recent messaging by JFS echoes that tone. The group released a letter of gratitude to rebel organisations that opposed the US-Russian plan to target it. The statement contradicted a fatwa issued only days before by Abu Muhammad Al Maqdisi, a notorious Al Qaeda ideologue who said rebels who co-operated with Turkey against ISIL in northern Syria were apostates. The way the statement was worded specifically targeted the takfiri attitude within Syria.

Whether JFS has truly split from Al Qaeda is still in question, but many in Syria now view it differently. More importantly, the American plan to target the group is pushing more people to support it, since the US-Russian deal is seen as aiding the regime of Bashar Al Assad.
Even as Washington doubts the group’s disengagement from Al Qaeda – as do many, including this author – the US cannot pretend that nothing has happened since July 28, when the group recast itself as a Syrian group committed to a Syrian cause. In this sense, JFS outplayed the US by its rebranding, and the change in perception requires a new way of dealing with it, regardless of whether American officials believe the group has truly changed its ideology and allegiance.

For many ordinary Syrians, fairly or not, the US targets JFS not because of its ideology but because it is emerging as a powerful rebel force in Syria. The group, they say, has demonstrated time and again that it is committed to the fight against the regime and not to the forceful implementation of sharia, as ISIL did. It then announced publicly, through its leader in May last year, that the group was forbidden by Al Qaeda to use Syria to launch attacks in the West. Finally, it abandoned the name of Al Qaeda in its public discourse.

Russia violates the deal, the US clings to it

Outlaw 09

Sun, 09/18/2016 - 2:02pm

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan
New:
On how Jabhat Fateh al-Sham's notable change of tone and how it's gaining from Washington's latest blunders
http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/co...al-qaeda-group

September 18, 2016 Updated: September 18, 2016 05:52 PM

Syrian war enters a new phase as factions realign

Syria’s peace plan is flawed and Jabhat Al Nusra knows it

Quote:
A week ago, the United States was on track to launch a campaign against Jabhat Fateh Al Sham, formerly Jabhat Al Nusra, in collaboration with Russia. But the deal has so far led to further division between the two countries and deeper solidarity with JFS from a diverse range of Syrian rebel forces and individuals.

Diplomatic tension between Washington and Moscow escalated on the weekend due to Russia’s failure to help aid convoys enter Aleppo. The US gave Russia until Monday to ensure the delivery of aid. Tension peaked after the US-led anti-ISIL coalition killed "by mistake" dozens of Syrian military forces in Deir Ezzor on Saturday.

Meanwhile, JFS – the focus of the latest US effort in Syria – appears to be gaining in some quarters. On the day that the US-Russian diplomatic spat reached a high point, the group’s leader, Abu Muhammad Al Jolani, appeared on Al Jazeera to talk about the international plan to fight his group.
For the first time since its rebranding on July 28, JFS’s tone and conduct seem to be changing amid a noticeable increase in solidarity among various forces in Syria, even as many doubt the group’s true disengagement from Al Qaeda.

Al Jolani highlighted issues to which many in rebel-held areas relate and which jihadist groups often neglect. One was the lack of education for thousands of children in rebel areas, which he said would cause those children to engage in crimes as they grow up. He also suggested an armed struggle would continue "until the toppling of the regime".
Another interesting aspect of his remarks was his favourable tone towards the regional order. He referred to the resistance in Syria as a cornerstone for Arab Sunnis’ opposition to Iranian hegemony in the region, referring to certain countries by their official name, in contrast to the pejorative way his former "emir", Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri, refers to them.

Recent messaging by JFS echoes that tone. The group released a letter of gratitude to rebel organisations that opposed the US-Russian plan to target it. The statement contradicted a fatwa issued only days before by Abu Muhammad Al Maqdisi, a notorious Al Qaeda ideologue who said rebels who co-operated with Turkey against ISIL in northern Syria were apostates. The way the statement was worded specifically targeted the takfiri attitude within Syria.

Whether JFS has truly split from Al Qaeda is still in question, but many in Syria now view it differently. More importantly, the American plan to target the group is pushing more people to support it, since the US-Russian deal is seen as aiding the regime of Bashar Al Assad.
Even as Washington doubts the group’s disengagement from Al Qaeda – as do many, including this author – the US cannot pretend that nothing has happened since July 28, when the group recast itself as a Syrian group committed to a Syrian cause. In this sense, JFS outplayed the US by its rebranding, and the change in perception requires a new way of dealing with it, regardless of whether American officials believe the group has truly changed its ideology and allegiance.

For many ordinary Syrians, fairly or not, the US targets JFS not because of its ideology but because it is emerging as a powerful rebel force in Syria. The group, they say, has demonstrated time and again that it is committed to the fight against the regime and not to the forceful implementation of sharia, as ISIL did. It then announced publicly, through its leader in May last year, that the group was forbidden by Al Qaeda to use Syria to launch attacks in the West. Finally, it abandoned the name of Al Qaeda in its public discourse.

Russia violates the deal, the US clings to it

Outlaw 09

Sun, 09/18/2016 - 1:51pm

Hassan Hassan ‏@hxhassan
New:
On how Jabhat Fateh al-Sham's notable change of tone and how it's gaining from Washington's latest blunders
http://www.thenational.ae/opinion/co...al-qaeda-group

September 18, 2016 Updated: September 18, 2016 05:52 PM

Syrian war enters a new phase as factions realign

Syria’s peace plan is flawed and Jabhat Al Nusra knows it

Quote:
A week ago, the United States was on track to launch a campaign against Jabhat Fateh Al Sham, formerly Jabhat Al Nusra, in collaboration with Russia. But the deal has so far led to further division between the two countries and deeper solidarity with JFS from a diverse range of Syrian rebel forces and individuals.

Diplomatic tension between Washington and Moscow escalated on the weekend due to Russia’s failure to help aid convoys enter Aleppo. The US gave Russia until Monday to ensure the delivery of aid. Tension peaked after the US-led anti-ISIL coalition killed "by mistake" dozens of Syrian military forces in Deir Ezzor on Saturday.

Meanwhile, JFS – the focus of the latest US effort in Syria – appears to be gaining in some quarters. On the day that the US-Russian diplomatic spat reached a high point, the group’s leader, Abu Muhammad Al Jolani, appeared on Al Jazeera to talk about the international plan to fight his group.

For the first time since its rebranding on July 28, JFS’s tone and conduct seem to be changing amid a noticeable increase in solidarity among various forces in Syria, even as many doubt the group’s true disengagement from Al Qaeda.

Al Jolani highlighted issues to which many in rebel-held areas relate and which jihadist groups often neglect. One was the lack of education for thousands of children in rebel areas, which he said would cause those children to engage in crimes as they grow up. He also suggested an armed struggle would continue "until the toppling of the regime".

Another interesting aspect of his remarks was his favourable tone towards the regional order. He referred to the resistance in Syria as a cornerstone for Arab Sunnis’ opposition to Iranian hegemony in the region, referring to certain countries by their official name, in contrast to the pejorative way his former "emir", Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri, refers to them.

Recent messaging by JFS echoes that tone. The group released a letter of gratitude to rebel organisations that opposed the US-Russian plan to target it. The statement contradicted a fatwa issued only days before by Abu Muhammad Al Maqdisi, a notorious Al Qaeda ideologue who said rebels who co-operated with Turkey against ISIL in northern Syria were apostates. The way the statement was worded specifically targeted the takfiri attitude within Syria.

Whether JFS has truly split from Al Qaeda is still in question, but many in Syria now view it differently. More importantly, the American plan to target the group is pushing more people to support it, since the US-Russian deal is seen as aiding the regime of Bashar Al Assad.
Even as Washington doubts the group’s disengagement from Al Qaeda – as do many, including this author – the US cannot pretend that nothing has happened since July 28, when the group recast itself as a Syrian group committed to a Syrian cause. In this sense, JFS outplayed the US by its rebranding, and the change in perception requires a new way of dealing with it, regardless of whether American officials believe the group has truly changed its ideology and allegiance.

For many ordinary Syrians, fairly or not, the US targets JFS not because of its ideology but because it is emerging as a powerful rebel force in Syria. The group, they say, has demonstrated time and again that it is committed to the fight against the regime and not to the forceful implementation of sharia, as ISIL did. It then announced publicly, through its leader in May last year, that the group was forbidden by Al Qaeda to use Syria to launch attacks in the West. Finally, it abandoned the name of Al Qaeda in its public discourse.

Outlaw 09

Sun, 09/18/2016 - 11:28am

HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend watching this Netflix documentary of the Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets....nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

Recommended: "The White Helmets", a 40' Netflix documentary on @SyriaCivilDef.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu-TxsKCw1Q#

This film depicts the humanity/humility that is solely lacking in the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH....

MAYBE the US should play this entire film at the UNSC and then ask the Russian UNSC Ambassador if he has an explanation for why Putin/Russia is supporting a genocidal dictator.....

This is the same civil society that has repeatedly told the Obama WH ....assist us in throwing out Assad and then we will take care of IS....only to be repeatedly ignored by the Obama WH....who supposedly spent the last four years looking for "moderate Syrians".....

Outlaw 09

Sun, 09/18/2016 - 11:06am

DAY SEVEN going on DAY EIGHT

STILL no humanitarian aid has been delivered A KEY component of the Larvor/Kerry chaotic ceasefire that is highly secretive.........

SO alone on that single fact their "ceasefire" has and is a total failure....

REMEMBER the US set Monday as the drop dead date for humanitarian aid to be delivered.....

THE SECOND PART of their chaotic ceasefire is just that no dropping of bombs for a solid SEVEN DAYs.....that has failed as well.....

Activists in rebel #Aleppo say airstrikes are hitting them now. If true, they're first strikes since ceasefire + major violation of truce.

Lavrov/Kerry ceasefire is now officially over..dead and buried so to speak....

Syrian activists now reporting airstrikes in three Aleppo neighborhoods.

Outlaw 09

Sun, 09/18/2016 - 9:30am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Russia selective memory: "US supporting #ISIS" but patently ignoring #RuAF strikes vs #FSA fighting exclusively IS in N. #Aleppo & S. Syria.

Outlaw 09

Sun, 09/18/2016 - 6:58am

Russian UN Ambassador Churkin sarcastically: “Out of nothing, the US chose to help the Syrian army in Deir Ezzor.“ ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMq31SVciqM#
He has a point.

USA give close air support to #Syria's #Assad-regime that gassed, tortured & killed tens of thousands people- for a non existing #ceasefire

Who give #US airforce the wrong coordinates for airstrikes near #DeirEzzor airbase which killed 80-100 #Assad-forces?
Intention?

IF confirmed...this is a sad statement on the Obama/Kerry FP....provide CAS for a genocidal military and deny CAs to those fighting against that genocidal dictator.....MIGTH in fact explain just why Kerry does not want to fully release all the secret agreements around his somewhat chaotic ceasefire that has basically failed due to no humanitarian aid being delivered as Assad/Putin still block all shipments....

Seems this was part of "ceasefire" deal with #Russia: help #Assad-regime with airstrikes against #IS

Obama FAILED

Question: Is it normal for CENTCOM to carry out strikes vs #ISIS *so* close to #Assad regime troop positions?
(i.e. Was this air support?)

ACTUALLY a very fair question in light of the secrecy Kerry has had in place on the ceasefire agreement...

WHAT is strange about this whole incident is that there have been a number of reports that US led coalition AFs have previously hit Assad forces in their air strikes around DeirEzzor and not much was made of it by Russia and Assad .....

AND Russia has had a number of FF strikes on Assad regime forces killing far more than in this strike....

Outlaw 09

Sun, 09/18/2016 - 3:15am

We are now officially in DAY SEVEN of the Lavrov/Kerry ceasefire.....

Still not a single humanitarian aid delivery by the UN....all the while Turkish Red Crescent has been sitting on the border with over 40 trucks carrying tons of food and no premission to enter.

So what will the US response be to a complete and final ceasefire failure?????

MORE Geneva's and MORE talking??????

Outlaw 09

Sun, 09/18/2016 - 3:08am

Dear USA,
congrats for bombing terrorist forces in eastern Syria.
Although you wanted to support these terrorists against other terror scum.

US strikes Syrian forces will feed conspiracy theories that US in league with IS and give Assad another reason to evade cease/fire

And US "friendly fire" response will feed Isis and other jihadists' propaganda line that US backs the regime.
 

Outlaw 09

Sun, 09/18/2016 - 2:54am

HOPE that finally the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH realize exactly who they have been trying to talk to since the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine........

UPDATE: @mfa_russia spox: "After today's attack on Syrian army, we come to the terrible conclusion that WH is defending IS" -

BUT THEN this is the reality that Russia does not talk about at the UNSC meeting they called about Assad being bombed...

Footage
Burning inferno after incendiary ammo attack on #Homs towns last night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sFKsonxJRI#

Outlaw 09

Sun, 09/18/2016 - 2:56am

In reply to by TheCurmudgeon

Obama apologizing to Assad for air support gone awry, while UN confirms Assad still using CWs, is really the only way this could have ended.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Obama administration official expresses #US regret for 'unintentional loss of life' after airstrike on #Syria forces.

BUT has Assad and Putin "apologized" for the "unintentional" killing of over 470-500,00 Syrians, genocide, war crimes, torture and disappearances.....????

Since 2012 the Obama WH knew of the genocide, war crimes, torture and starvation being driven as Assad's anti Sunni agenda....BUT decided that doing "nothing stupid"...was the way forward in 2012 which then then there were only 7000 dead....now four years later it is over 470-500,000 and it is still climbing.......

SO this now appears to be a "fig leaf" to cover the Obama WH failure to respond......

Samantha Power saying Russia complicit in Syria's "systematic atrocities." She's right, but it's too little too late.

Samantha Power at UN: "we regret the loss of life" but "since 2011 Assad's regime have been striking Syrian civilians relentlessly"

Power accuses Russia of cynicism because Russia "never called for investigations or emergency UNSC consultations" into Assad's atrocities

Power at UN: "This meeting tonight is a diversion - The Syrian government allowed ISIS to grow and prospered right beside the Assad regime"

TheCurmudgeon

Sat, 09/17/2016 - 7:58pm

Its all fun and games until somebody bombs the Syrian Army. This will be a huge PR win for Russia, no matter who is to blame.

Outlaw 09

Sat, 09/17/2016 - 3:34pm

Months of working on a deal & after all put in place, the US can't even get its partner to deliver on agreed terms.

DAY SIX going on DAY SEVEN and STILL no humanitarian aid delivered anywhere in Syria.......

Outlaw 09

Sat, 09/17/2016 - 2:50am

DAY FIVE GOING ON DAY SIX OF THE SO CALLED LAVROV/KERRY CEASEFIRE CHAOS

-Humanitarian Aid STILL NOT Delivered
-UNSC meeting canceled
-Civilian deaths in Aleppo
-Fighting near Hama,near Tartous, in Aleppo

Footage
#Assad's Su-22 ignoring the #SyriaCeasefire, bombing rebels in S #Hama province.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P-Mex7V8HE#

HOW naïve is Kerry and Obama/Rhodes really??

Syria : US reportedly gives #Russia until Monday to deliver Aid to Aleppo. Deal might be in jeopardy otherwise!

Based on the massive increase in the Assad and Russian air strikes and now ground attacks........CEASEFIRE is DEAD

BUT hey let's wait till Monday to see if anything has changed..which it will not..seems to be the Obama WH motto lately.....

Outlaw 09

Fri, 09/16/2016 - 12:39pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

Russia|n MoD : "The #Syria|n Army is the only side committed to the ceasefire agreement."

HOPE the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH have both heard and read this Russian MoD statement???????

Outlaw 09

Fri, 09/16/2016 - 12:35pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

The highly touted Kerry successful Russian Geneva ceasefire in THREE words....

It is over......

EastGhouta, #Aleppo, #Idlib, #Hama, #Homs (video).
#AssadPutin and the #SyriaCeasefire ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xqkd5Ksxck …

Aleppo: Pro-#Assad forces trying to storm "1070 Apartments Project" in Southern #Aleppo City now. Second attempt since last night.

Aleppo: #Assad/#Russia|n warplanes bombed #Deir_Hafer town & nearby villages, killed 4 children & destroyed many homes today.

Damascus: Rebels have repelled #Assad regime attack at #Hawsh_Nasri village in Eastern #Ghouta and killed several pro-#Assad forces today.

Damascus: Rebels have repelled the #Assad regime attack on #Jobar District, killed 20+ pro-#Assad forces and destroyed 1 #Assad tank.

Homs: #Assad airstrikes on #Harbinafsah town & #Zara village in Northern #Homs.

Outlaw 09

Fri, 09/16/2016 - 12:23pm

IT only took the Obama WH and maybe Kerry as he has been largely silent since Geneva FIVE DAYS AFTER stating DoD was still stuck in Cold War thinking......

#BREAKING US says no cooperation with #Russia until #Syria aid flows: @AFP

BUT WAIT....aid is no longer needed as the Kerry/Lavrov ceasefire is today going down in flames from increased Russian/Assad air strikes and ground attacks....

Putin got what he wanted...a stop to the combat operational momentum that the rebels had, a refit, rearm and repositioning of the Assad regime forces for three major ground offensives and a final attack on Aleppo.....

ALL thanks to Kerry and company in the Obama WH.....coupled with a lot of DoD confusion as to what side they are supporting....

Outlaw 09

Fri, 09/16/2016 - 11:58am

Fighting steadily escalating in #Syria - reports of heavy combat around #Damascus, #Hama & #Aleppo.
Aid still being blocked by regime too.

We’re now 5 days into the initial 7-day ceasefire, and *not even one* substantive aid delivery has taken place, anywhere in #Syria.

IMPORTANT referencing the above comments.......as it will have to do with potential JFS resumption of combat operations as Assad and Russia have not adhered to their own so called ceasefire.....

Upcoming statement by JFS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani?
[If yes, watch carefully, given context]
https://twitter.com/kateb11_2010/sta...312192#
 

Outlaw 09

Fri, 09/16/2016 - 8:03am

I am now calling this.....the Russian/US Lavrov/Kerry so called chaos ceasefire plan is now fully failing and the fighting is ramping up again.....

Assad and Putin air strikes on rebel positons not on JFS/IS have been steadily increasing with each passing day of the so called ceasefire...Russia does not have their so called partner under control at all BUT WAIT Russian FM stated Assad would adhere to the agreement.....well he is not......

Syria #Hama Airstrikes on Al-Lataminah

Syria Airstrikes on Al-Jinah in western #Aleppo

Syria Several airstrikes on Khan Shaykhun town in south #Idlib
Lots of injured

Syria Airstrikes on Kawkab in northern #Hama

Syria Airstrikes also on #Morek town
Seems regime back in daily business
#Ceasefire collapsing

BACK to double tapping Syrian first responders......there is no ceasefire now at all as the Russians and US remain totally quiet....

Syria Civil defence/#WhiteHelmets-HQ in Al-Taman'ah out of service after hit by number of airstrikes
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=35...14&m=b#

STILL NOT A SINGLE AID DELIVERY ANYWHERE IN SYRIA WHICH IS A KEY EVENT IN THE SO CALLED CEASEFIRE AND THIS IS DAY FOUR GOING ON DAY FIVE

Syria #UN food convoy for E-#Aleppo now in regime held
Kiffin village (back to #Turkey?)
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=de&lat=36...14&m=b#

Outlaw 09

Fri, 09/16/2016 - 8:18am

CENTCOM and SF have outstayed their invitation now that TAF and FSA are on the offensive in northern Aleppo...especially since CENTCOM/SF are being viewed as supporters of YPG/SDF/PKK who have been constantly attacking FSA and Arab Sunni villages......

Aleppo: #US soldiers in #Al_Rai, Northern #Aleppo, this morning.

25 #US members went to #AlRaii to give #ISIL locations to fighter jets in the sky east of #Azaz

Aleppo: Angry #FSA rebels have forced the #US soldiers to drive back to #Turkey.

US troops and their affiliated groups were expelled from the boiler # Çobanbey (2) #Halep
WHAT is extremely interesting in the smart phone video was the fact that these 25 SF were accompanied by TWO US Abrams tanks....so who is driving them for SF???

FSA/TAF now view CENTCOM/FSA to be just another extension of the Assad regime mercenary army....

CENTCOM and the Obama WH are going to get someone killed because they seem to not fully understand the dynamics now inside Syria after TAF has entered...NOR do they seem to understand the FSA anger at YPG/SDF/PKK ethnic cleansing of Arab Sunni villages while being advised by CENTCOM/SF NOR the anger of FSA at being attacked in eastern Aleppo by YPG/SDF/PKK.

Outlaw 09

Fri, 09/16/2016 - 3:02am

In reply to by Outlaw 09

More #SyriaCeasefireFail: The French, and perhaps the entire "ISSG" outside Iran and Russia, have not seen the text of the deal

APPEARS both the WH and Kerry are spinning and lying again..as we have previously seen in the Iran Deal.....

Outlaw 09

Fri, 09/16/2016 - 2:51am

Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
BBC World Service
Verified account
‏@bbcworldservice
US State Dept says it has 'legitimate reasons' for not releasing Syria deal details
http://bbc.in/2cBU4rM#

SURE...just as the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH spun the US Congress and public on Iran Deal by not revealing any of the so called secret agreements.

Kerry is doing the same exact thing here as well...

Kerry is asking the Syrian opposition to "trust me" and he then states you do not need to see the agreements as I am the all knowing.....that is a leap of faith that many in the ME would not take at face value based on Kerry's ME track record.

His actions simply reinforce the ME "perception that he is in the pocket of the Russians and wants the destruction of the Syrian opposition and to maintain Assad in power as a favor to the Iranians for signing the Iran Deal.....

As with Trump not releasing his tax records....WHAT is Kerry hiding that he does not want people to see and to fully understand....WHAT has he agreed to that say DoD has not signed up for.........????
INTERESTING IN THAT THE OBAMA WH DISCOVERS WHAT KERRY SIGNED THEM UP TO.....

REMEMBER there have been an increasing number of "comments" from unnamed senior EU diplomats who openly question what Kerry is actually doing with the Russians both in eastern Ukraine and now Syria AS he discusses nothing with them before he wheels and deals.....

AFP news agency
Verified account
‏@AFP
Obama gathers advisers amid unease over Syria deal

Laurent Barthelemy, Andrew Beatty•September 16, 2016

Quote:
Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama will huddle with top national security aides -- including his secretaries of state and defense -- Friday, amid deep unease over a tenuous Syria ceasefire deal.
Barely a week since the United States and Russia agreed to halt bombing and let humanitarian aid into Aleppo, shaky implementation looks set to dominate a meeting ostensibly about countering the Islamic State group.
The deal has somewhat quieted the bombs over Syria's second city, but aid convoys have not been allowed to reach the roughly 250,000 civilians besieged by government forces.
Washington and Moscow are already trading blame over who is responsible.
"Right now, the trucks that could bring them lifesaving assistance are idling on the wrong side of the border," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday.
"That's the direct responsibility of the Assad regime and their benefactors in Moscow."
A Russian military spokesman earlier slammed the United States for what he called "rhetorical fog" intended "to hide the fact that it is not fulfilling its part of the obligations."
Only the Syrian army is observing the ceasefire, he said, pointing the finger at US-backed rebel groups.
Since US Secretary of State John Kerry agreed the deal with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov after marathon talks in Geneva, Obama has increasingly been forced to referee disputes within his own administration about the agreement.
Some within the Pentagon have expressed deep skepticism that Russia will live up to its side of the bargain and believe Kerry is being led down an alley.
Russia, critics say, has repeatedly used talks to blunt criticism of its support of Assad, sow doubt among US allies on the ground and buy time for Syrian forces to improve their position.
But White House and State Department officials have argued any ceasefire, even if imperfect and even if fleeting, offers desperately needed respite from a brutal five-year civil war that has killed 300,000 people.
Privately they express concern that Russia may be stalling for time, but say ultimately talks are the only way the Syrian war will come to an end.
The White House has warned that deeper military cooperation with Russia -- a tacit vindication of the Kremlin's war in Syria -- will not come until Moscow fulfills its obligations.
"What really matters here is that the president of the United States supports this agreement, and our system of government works in such a way that everyone follows what the president says," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
While debates within the administration continue, the White House is also coming under fire from outside for refusing to make details of the agreement public.
Even allies like France have gone as far as publicly stating they want more details.
"The United States has certainly been in touch with our other allies and partners to help them understand exactly what we are trying to achieve," said Earnest.
"I think that we've been quite clear about the details in terms of what the arrangement requires on both sides."
NOTICE the contradiction in this PR from Friday and the PR from Kerry yesterday.....

THE US HAS NOT INFORMED IT'S ALLIES nor the the armed opposition nor their negotiation team HNC....

Kerry appears to be truly lying again and again just as he did in the Iran Deal and the WH is spinning as much now as they did in the Iran Deal as well....

Outlaw 09

Fri, 09/16/2016 - 2:49am

Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
INTERESTING IN THAT THE OBAMA WH DISCOVERS WHAT KERRY SIGNED THEM UP TO.....

REMEMBER there have been an increasing number of "comments" from unnamed senior EU diplomats who openly question what Kerry is actually doing with the Russians both in eastern Ukraine and now Syria AS he discusses nothing with them before he wheels and deals.....

AFP news agency
Verified account
‏@AFP
Obama gathers advisers amid unease over Syria deal

Laurent Barthelemy, Andrew Beatty•September 16, 2016

NOTICE the contradiction in this PR from Friday and the PR from Kerry yesterday.....

THE US HAS NOT INFORMED IT'S ALLIES nor the the armed opposition nor their negotiation team HNC....

Kerry appears to be truly lying again and again just as he did in the Iran Deal and the WH is spinning as much now as they did in the Iran Deal as well....
IS NOW THE US, THE OBAMA WH AND KERRY BEING BLACKMAILED BY THE RUSSIANS?????????

WHAT DID IN FACT KERRY SIGN THE US FOR?????

WHY IS THE ENTIRE AGREEMENT NOT BEING RELEASED.....

ALL LEGITIMATE QUESTIONS....ESPECIALLY FROM THIS COMING OUT OF RUSSIA TODAY.....

Russia complains US hasn't provided it with precise location/composition of "moderate opposition" or the SURNAMES OF THEIR COMMANDERS.

Russia implicitly threatens that regime will not allow in any aid until this information is provided
http://tass.ru/politika/3624216#

THIS TYPE OF INFORMATION IS EXACTLY WHAT DOD/CIA DID NOT WANT TO REVEAL.....

DID KERRY SIGN THE US FOR THIS AS THIS IS A TOTAL COMPROMISE OF THE ENTIRE SYRIAN OPPOSITION....

THIS IS HARDCORE TARGETING INFORMATION AND IF KERRY DID NOT UNDERSTAND THIS AS A FORMER VIETNAM VET HE HAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM.

Outlaw 09

Thu, 09/15/2016 - 1:08pm

FIRST it was SF wearing YPG uniform patches, then CENTCOM telling SF to take them off, THEN SF putting them back on and NOW US FLAGS........

NOT exactly sure if US SF wants to be in the middle when the Turks arrive after the Russian ceasefire ends....as they have firmly signaled they will enter Manbij SF or no SF.....

American forces place US flag on the border town of GirêSpî (Tal Abyad) to warn Turkey not to attack SDF there.

BUT WAIT Turkey has warned both the US and SDF which is really part and parcel of YPG/PKK...Turkey has clearly and concisely told the US and the Kurds it will not tolerate Kurdish forces controlling the Turkish border......WHY..... the Turks view the SDF/YPG allowing PKK troops to move back and forth across the SDF controlled border areas...AND they view the SDF/YPG as part of PKK..A US named terrorist group......

MAYBE CENTCOM, SF and the Obama WH urgently need to speak French...........

PYD is carrying out PKK policy in Syria, Massoud Barzani tells Le Monde:
http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/...055_3218.html#

Outlaw 09

Thu, 09/15/2016 - 5:33am

Reports: BUT not confirmed as the FSA has seen no moves by Assad and Putin to start delivery of humanitarian aid and by pulling back and then no aid arriving it would give Assad forces greater Aleppo territorial gains...meaning they pulled back from hard fought gains and then nothing arrived except more Assad mercenary forces moving into their former positions.....

Assad regime & FSA forces will begin withdrawing personnel & weaponry from Castello Rd area, from tomorrow.

This Reuters report confirms today the non movement....highly suspect that the anti Assad opposition NOW fully feels that absolutely no humanitarian aid will flow as Kerry/Lavrov CLEARLY indicated it would is the ceasefire largely held....WELL it has "larely held " and Assad is fully blocking the UN and the Red Crescent from delivering aid to Aleppo and other besieged areas.

Rebels now firmly believe Assad and the Russians are simply using the ceasefire to reposition and rearm for another round of heavy major attacks...

Quote:
Syrian government forces and rebels had yet to withdraw from a road to be used to deliver aid to Aleppo on Thursday morning, a war monitor and a senior rebel official said, a step that must happen for the delivery to take place under a U.S.-Russian deal.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Director Rami Abdulrahman said each side wanted the withdrawal from the Castello Road to happen simultaneously. The Britain-based Observatory follows the war using a network of contacts in Syria.
Russia said on Wednesday it was preparing for the Syrian army and rebel fighters to begin a staged withdrawal from the road.
"The regime is ready ... to withdraw but will not move unless the opposition begins to withdraw," Abdulrahman said.
A senior Syrian rebel official in Aleppo said a withdrawal by rebel factions was under debate "because the agreement stipulates that the regime must respect the truce but that did not happen."
"Even yesterday it targeted the area surrounding the Castello," the official told Reuters.
There was no comment from state media or the army about the proposed withdrawal. A Syrian military source said on Wednesday that armed groups had violated the ceasefire 15 times in the Aleppo area in a 24-hour period.
UNQUOTE:

NOTICE Russia and the US say absolutely not a single word ABOUT the total lack of the flow of humanitarian aid.....telling......

BTW...not a single Russian soldier seen in attempting to establish the Castello Road as a DMZ which was also a key point inside the Kerry/Lavrov agreement.....

REMEMBER the Assad mercenary forces have still ringing in their ears the Assad Eid public statement that he is going to recapture all territory end of story....so why pull back and why delivery humanitarian aid....

NOTICE Putin and Lavrov did not contradict his statements.....

Outlaw 09

Wed, 09/14/2016 - 12:12pm

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
John Kerry: pleased with the #IranDeal and frustrated on #Syria, doesn't see that the one is the cause of the other.

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton Pentagon, NATO terrified of sharing intel with #Russia. Kerry's "inner team of advisers" sees this as "reflexive Cold War-era thinking."

NOW we are into the FOURTH DoS "explanation" of what Assad can and cannot bomb...REALLY Kerry and DoS do not want to admit they got taken by Putin on allowing Assad to be part of the joint operations....

Key from State:
- #Assad's jets allowed to hit #JFS outside JIC areas
- Even that restriction only applies once US-Russia airstrikes begin

Even after 7-days "sustained" reduction of violence, once JIC forms, still no theoretical restrictions on Assad.
http://bit.ly/2cMXf0M#

So…
- US-Russia will target #JFS in some areas
- #Assad can bomb #JFS outside those areas + #IS anywhere
- Assad promises not to bomb rebels

BUT WAIT Hezbollah is a US named "terrorist group" as is Kathib Hezbollah and QUDs Force..ALL fighting in Syria against the FSA....AND the PKK as well.....

BUT they are not being bombed?????

DoS/Kerry are CLEAR in their intentions as is muddy water if you ask me.

WHAT they are clear on is their support for Iran and her Shia mercenaries.....
 

Outlaw 09

Wed, 09/14/2016 - 4:56am

Ah.......the truth always wins out...finally US MSM is thoroughly understanding the slight of hand trick the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH pulled with their latest Kerry/Lavrov ceasefire chaos plan......

The #US-#Russia deal on #Syria is a face saving manoeuvre for #Obama and #Kerry, nothing else.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/

Quote:
WASHINGTON — The agreement that Secretary of State John Kerry announced with Russia to reduce the killing in Syria has widened an increasingly public divide between Mr. Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, who has deep reservations about the plan for American and Russian forces to jointly target terrorist groups.

Mr. Carter was among the administration officials who pushed against the agreement on a conference call with the White House last week as Mr. Kerry, joining the argument from a secure facility in Geneva, grew increasingly frustrated. Although President Obama ultimately approved the effort after hours of debate, Pentagon officials remain unconvinced.

On Tuesday at the Pentagon, officials would not even agree that if a cessation of violence in Syria held for seven days — the initial part of the deal — the Defense Department would put in place its part of the agreement on the eighth day: an extraordinary collaboration between the United States and Russia that calls for the American military to share information with Moscow on Islamic State targets in Syria.

“I’m not saying yes or no,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, commander of the United States Air Forces Central Command, told reporters on a video conference call. “It would be premature to say that we’re going to jump right into it.”
White House officials were also dubious. “I think we’d have some reasons to be skeptical that the Russians are able or are willing to implement the arrangement consistent with the way it’s been described,” Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Monday at a briefing. He added, darkly, “But we’ll see.”

In Mr. Kerry’s view, the administration has needed to do everything it can to restrain the forces of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria from continuing to bomb civilians. Once the Russians entered the war, that meant making the deal with President Vladimir V. Putin — one in which the Russians would pressure Mr. Assad to stay out of the skies.

For Mr. Kerry, the search for a reduction in violence in Syria, and ultimately a political agreement that will ease Mr. Assad out of office, is a matter of legacy and reputation. His first major project as secretary of state, reviving Middle East peace talks, collapsed before his first year in office was complete. His next major effort, the Iran nuclear deal, was far more successful, and he ultimately found a way to persuade the Iranians to ship most of their nuclear material out of the country and dismantle key facilities.

Video Idlib Province in Syria was hit by deadly airstrikes ahead of the Eid al-Adha holiday, which began on Monday, the same day as a cease-fire. An area resident, Muhammed Najdat Kaddour, filmed the scene.

But the Syria deal, as Mr. Kerry himself conceded at the State Department on Monday, is far more complex, in part because there are so many other players, beyond Washington and Moscow, with stakes in the outcome. In private, he has conceded to aides and friends that he believes it will not work. But he has said he is determined to try, so that he and Mr. Obama do not leave office having failed to alleviate a civil war that has taken roughly half a million lives.

The first full day of the cease-fire passed on Tuesday with no notable violations, but an atmosphere of deep mistrust prevailed in Syria’s war-ravaged areas, residents and monitoring groups reported. The skepticism was fed partly by what appeared to be delays in expediting United Nations aid deliveries to the northern city of Aleppo and other combat zones where civilians have long been deprived of food and medicine. Relief for these areas is an important component of the cease-fire agreement.

The United Nations mediator in the conflict, Staffan de Mistura, told reporters in Geneva that there had been a “significant drop in violence” since the cease-fire plan took effect at sundown on Monday. But he said United Nations relief trucks bound for Aleppo, lined up at southern Turkey’s border with Syria, had not received assurances of safe travel. Mr. de Mistura also said the Syrian government had still not provided required authorizations for deliveries to other locations, “but we are eagerly hoping and expecting the government to issue them very soon.”

The divide between Mr. Kerry and Mr. Carter reflects the inherent conflict in Mr. Obama’s Syria policy. The president has come under increased fire politically for his refusal to intervene more forcefully in the five-year civil war, which the United Nations says has killed more than 400,000 people, displaced more than six million and led to a refugee crisis in Europe. But keeping large numbers of American ground forces out of Syria has also created space for Russia to assume a greater role there, both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.

The result is that at a time when the United States and Russia are at their most combative posture since the end of the Cold War, the American military is suddenly being told that it may, in a week, have to start sharing intelligence with one of its biggest adversaries to jointly target Islamic State and Nusra Front forces in Syria.

“I remain skeptical about anything to do with the Russians,” Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, who recently stepped down as NATO’s supreme allied commander, said Monday in an interview. “There are a lot of concerns about putting out there where our folks are.”
In an email, Peter Cook, the Pentagon press secretary, said: “As Secretary Carter has said, Secretary Kerry has worked tirelessly to try and ease the suffering of the Syrian people and bring about a diplomatic resolution to the Syrian civil war. If fully implemented, this arrangement could advance those important goals.

The Defense Department, he added, “will carry out its responsibilities, but it’s really up to Russia and the regime to comply with the terms and finally start doing the right thing in Syria.”
UNQUOTE:

SOUNDS like the Kerry/Lavrov ceasefire chaos plan is really really working well.......

1. massive Russian and Assad air strikes three hours into the ceasefire with a large loss of civilian lives
2. continued Assad barrel bombing and air strikes today ALONG with heavy artillery shelling's
3. AND absolutely not a single aid convoy from ANYONE being allowed by Assad to be delivered.....Turkish 40 truck aid convoy was turned back to Turkey....by Assad...BUT nothing is being sent currently by any UN organization to any of the besieged Sunni areas...a core demand inside the Kerry/Lavrov plan....

AND this is DAY TWO going into DAY THREE of a SEVEN DAY ceasefire...

NOW that sounds like the beginnings of a highly successful ceasefire to me.......????

Outlaw 09

Tue, 09/13/2016 - 1:15pm

SO did Kerry and Obama "buy the Russian agreement to the ceasefire"....

Quote:

Russia says U.S. lifts sanctions concerning helicopter project - RIA

The United States has lifted some of the sanctions it imposed on Russia's state arms trader Rosoboronexport concerning a helicopter project, RIA news agency quoted Russia's Foreign Ministry as saying on Tuesday

Part of Syria deal? Russian media abuzz, USG silent

Outlaw 09

Tue, 09/13/2016 - 4:09am

Former US Syrian Ambassador Ford who was in Damascus at the beginning of the rebellion has often stated that there is inside Syria among the Sunni opposition to Assad the deep very deep perception of a "golden handshake" between Obama and Putin...."for their destruction".

REMEMBER Kerry has a number of times actually used threats against the opposition ...that they have not forgotten....

Seems that Obama/Kerry ignored this perception and now with the Russian/US "joint deal"....the Syrian opposition firmly now believes that it in fact exists.....IMHO actually I would tend to agree with them...

SO why now this feinted anger on the part of DoS.....????????

"[State Dept] officials deeply resent the impression that an unholy alliance is taking shape between the United States and Russia."

US + Russia still not worked out a mechanism for coordinated strikes in Syria; will do so with "representatives from about 11 other nations"

ALL the armed opposition has to do is to Google all of recent comments, DoS PRs and press conferences and a logical person would come to the same conclusion....."that there is an unholy alliance".....

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
Reading the initial statements from Kerry and Kirby, they both seemed pretty clear that #Assad and #JIC would work together against #JFS.

Regardless, it is now clear U.S. policy that the #JIC will not coordinate with #Assad in airstrikes in western Syria against #JFS.

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton The U.S. and the #JIC, however, are still in a de facto alliance with #Assad against #IS, and IS-held areas are a free-fire zone.

Outlaw 09

Mon, 09/12/2016 - 3:31pm

In reply to by Outlaw 09

In the Assad comments from today he defined anyone resisting him as a "terrorist".......end of story...AND the Russians have said the same thing......

Quote:
Assad’s rhetoric in the hours before the ceasefire began also calls into doubt his willingness to abide by the agreement. Assad appeared in a symbolic neighborhood Monday and vowed to “retake every inch of Syria.” Assad painted any group who opposed his rule as “terrorists” and said “After five years, some people still haven’t woken up from their fantasies.”

Surprised? For #Assad and #Putin all rebel areas are full with Nusra now. Thank you, #Obama!

Aleppo: 6+ #Russia|n and #Assad airstrikes have hit Eastern #Aleppo since start of the "#ceasefire", including 1 barrel bomb attack.

BREAKING
EXTREMELY GRAPHIC
LOTS OF CHILDREN DYING DUE TO #ASSADPUTIN CLUSTER RAIDS ON DOUMA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbo6D9eXrQg

Scenes are from 21:12 local time,
2 hours and 27 mins into the #SyriaCeasefire.
#Kerry, #Steinmeier, were you dumb enough to believe in it?!