Obama’s Syria Plan Teams Up American and Russian Forces

Supporting the #Russian 48hr truce means:
1. Breaching the already existing #Geneva US/Russian sponsored ceasefire for #Syria called the CoH
2. Supporting 5/7 days per week continued slaughter in #Aleppo

Besides Russia and Assad have....have .....have never held to the CoH, the so called Russian announced "regimes of silence"...and the Russian so called three hours a day ceasefire WITH THREE aid corridors THAT never existed ..SO why does Obama/Rhodes/Kerry and the UNSC truly believe Putin this time?

WHY was the Russian announcement timed for next week...so he and Assad can keep right on killing and attacking up to the unknown time they will "ceasefire".

This was the same Russian drill concerning the battle of Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine....Putin continued to fight there and took the town EVEN after signing Minsk 2....BY always "moving" the implementation timeline.

WOW the West has such a short memory these days....????

Surprise, surprise.......the Kurds are awakening to the "simple fact" they have been duped by both Assad and Putin into thinking they would/could have their own governmental region and independence......

The Arab Sunni opposition forces have been warning them of exactly that problem but YPG/PYG/PKK/SDF sided openly and completely with Assad and Putin in attacking FSA opposition groups and towns.......

NOW they themselves are attacked and YET they are surprised.....?????

Assad warned them in his recent speech when he announced he was going to recapture the entire Syria and occupy Aleppo.....

More than 5 years into the war in #Syria, people in #Hasakah seem SHOCKED, #Assad is able to do such things ...

At least now the Kurds fully and completely understand just what the Arab Sunni's have been going through lately.....

A busy night at the hospital in #Aleppo after over 200 Russian/Assad airstrikes in one day #Syria

The Kurds have failed to understand that their way forward lies in working with the Syrian Arab Sunni's who actually have been largely over the years supportive of the idea of "federated areas"....

BUT they have been badly mislead by both the US and Russia......

Daraya’s Only Hospital out of Service as Dozens of #BarrelBombs Pound the District
http://ow.ly/JGIX303qf

Part of the ongoing bombing of hospitals can in fact be contributed to DoS Kerry ......if we step back a couple of months to the last round of Geneva talks when the HNC walked away after countless Assad and Putin violations of the then so called CoH.....

REMEMBER DoS has had a CALL 0-800 us here in DC if you are being bombed or there is a Russian/Assad CoH violation....TO this day DoS has not made a single comment on Russian and or Assad violations......why is that???

Back to Geneva......... before and after Geneva .......Kerry very openingly threatened the Syrian opposition.....it is all there to be read and posted here as the comments occurred....several of his comments could in fact be seen as statements to the opposition to simply surrender and to agree to the Assad and Putin demands....BTW MUCH as he has done with the Ukrainians....

So now really Obama and Kerry have basically washed their hands as they only have 60 days or less in office so WHY "do nothing stupid"......????

I keep going back to the interconnection between Ukraine and Syria that this WH has "done nothing stupid on".....

Many in the West have forgotten this event...MAYBE Obama/Rhodes/Kerry should reread it........might be worth their combined reading efforts.....

The Unsolved Mystery Behind the Act of Terror That Brought Putin to Power
http://bit.ly/2blbq05
Well known in Russia and Ukraine.

Remember non linear warfare does not stop at borders....and can in fact be very "global"....

Turkish artillery pounds Jarabulus, drones overhead, hundreds of FSA rebels wait to storm from inside Turkey.

More #Assad terror.
This time a mortar attack on #Waer.
GRAPHIC!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0JeatvclZA …

Extremely graphic!!!!!!
A black bag ... is all you need to collect the victims of the #AssadPutin shelling of #Homs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0Wm...ature=youtu.be …

Footage
The moderate Syrian islamist rebels that liberated #AlRai from #ISIS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWU-YG9uR9w …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HsGEjV2tYs …

Just another day in Syria where the US decided in 2012..."to do nothing stupid".....

Footage
The #Assad air force targeted a busy market in #Douma.
VERY GRAPHIC!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_FV...has_verified=1 …

Hundreds of rebels enter #Turkey via #Azaz to attack #ISIS in #Jarablus from the Turkish side.

Turkey vetted #FSA massing @ #Karkamis for #Jarablus takeover. Footage shows vanguard crossing from #Azaz to #Kilis

Remember:
Hundreds of #Peshmerga forces entered #Turkey 2 years ago to attack #ISIS in #Kobane from the Turkish side.
Worked back then.

Must be read.......

The price of powerlessness - The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=.2d72f004e5ef …

BreakingFootage
An #AssadPutin CLUSTER BOMB attack took place in #Talbisah tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zdjfSRFMQs …

Exact same message, different messengers:

Kremlin/SVR:
http://katehon.com/news/hillary-clin...gical-problems …

#Trump2016:
https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/st...87009501990913 …

Russian informational warfare/influence operations well underway inside the US...part and parcel of Russian non linear warfare that we should never forget is always in gear

Russia has violated repeatedly the Geneva CoH which actually still applies to all of Syria.

Russia violated multiple times their own proposed "regimes of silence" usually within minutes after they were to start.

Russia has violated within minutes their own proposed three hour windows of humanitarian aid for Aleppo....

Russia has now proposed 48 hour ceasefire SOMETIME next week...all they are doing is gaining more time to bomb....WHY the global community did not demand "immediately is beyond me"??????

AND I am taking bets for coffee here in Berlin...Russia will not hold to that ceasefire either......

A dramatic step: #Russia has now killed (in 10 months) more civilians than #ISIS itself in 3 years via @snhr. #Syria
YET we call IS terrorists...AND Russia is what again?????

Good thing Obama and Hillary only founded ISIS and not the Russian military.

AND the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH continue to say absolutely nothing nor does the UNSC......how strange is that?

This is the 3rd time this #Daraya field hospital was targeted by Assad, mission accomplished now, hospital gone
https://youtu.be/USb9_fnKqFY

Daraya doctor on Assad's napalm barrel bomb attack at 1AM on last field hospital serving 8K+ civilians
https://youtu.be/1EAno6H6Tu4 #Syria

FSA News ‏@FSATruth · 8h8 hours ago
#Breaking #Daraya
Urgently trying to put out fires burning their only hospital dropped by regime barrelbombs tonight

FSA News ‏@FSATruth · 9h9 hours ago
#Breaking
The only field hospital in #Daraya now totally out of service as hit by regime napalm bomb this evening

Aftermath of a Russian airstrike on al-Hal local market in Hawr, west rural #Aleppo today
https://youtu.be/iuFqp6_cIHM

It is just not only about Syria where the Obama WH FP has failed......

Russian defence ministry proud about "fire mushrooms" it has planted during a drill near Estonian border
https://twitter.com/zvezdanews/statu...47123584192515 …

WTH?
Russian Army TV: large-scale military exercises in Pskov Oblast called "NATO soldiers surrender"
https://twitter.com/zvezdanews/statu...45912197812224 …

Latitude 67N SIGINT @Sigint67n
RUAF strategic AF sw net up with voice and W marker. Tu95/160 active today?

Now at least 19 airborne, it could be Tu-160/Tu-95/Tu-22s. Syria or some "Dooms day drill"

My comment....there have never been this many airborne at one time in the last say ten years.....highly unusual whatever it is.....

I have often posted here geopolitical reasons to stand up to Assad, economic, counter-terrorism, genocide, war crimes...Iranian revolutionary islam ....Hezbollah..... all's left is little kids who are dodging bombs and napalm because we adults cannot act...sad..really sad

Devastated little kid screams 4 his mom after surviving an Assad airstrike on Douma ystrday. No idea if mom made it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEvriHq1s_Y …
Again rescued by the White Helmets SCD....who have been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for their selfless actions in the face of death and destruction...AND Obama got his for what again?????

WILL not post this video....
Aftermath of another Assad barrelbomb on civilians. Little kid drowning in his own blood:"Where's dad? Where?" #Syria

From 13 December 2015.....
Syria: [Vid is NOT graphic] Just c the fear in the kid's eyes as he takes cover frm anther incoming Assad airstrike

As one (VN SF vet, served in Kuwait and worked in Iraq) who has been viewing open source videos for use in troop training and analysis from first Iraq starting 2004 and now from Syria...yes one get's use to the violence, blood and destruction.....

BUT what I cannot get use to now with this Obama WH is the total "apathy" expressed in their concept of a "do nothing stupid" FP....

A dramatic step: Russia has now killed (in 10 months) more civilians than ISIS itself in 3 years via @snhr.

YET we call IS terrorists...AND Russia is what again?????

The concept of "morale values and humanity" appear to be missing from this WH as well as "risk taking/courage"......BUT that can be expected when one is driven by "doing nothing stupid"...

AND for Aleppo where both Assad and Putin are committing war crimes and genocide THERE is not a single F16 available...seriously?????

Breaking coalition warplane force Syrian regimes one to leave #Hasakah sky, now F16 above #Hasakah

AND Obama/Rhodes/Kerry have so often stated a NFZ is not viable....?????

Appears that Obama WH does not quite get the perception they are now creating among the Syrian Arab Sunni....that when it comes to Sunni's they have a "golden handshake" with Putin that allows Assad and Putin to kill as many of them as they want to WHILE the US protects only Kurds.....

Reports US warplanes overflying #Hasakah to prevent SyAF from making further airstrikes on Kurdish forces.

Airstrikes on hospitals,schools,women, children & baby food is OK otherwise. Utterly & completely despicable if true

Regime jets targeted this truck transporting children's milk in Maarit Anuman, killing driver & dumping milk on road

Those "moderate Iranians' of the Obama Iran Deal are at it again...and not in a good way....

Breaking Hezbollah
Announce Kurds as Zionist in north Syria to legalize the fight against them

Syria reports claiming NDF are advancing in al-Nashwa district #Hasakah
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.496459&lon=40.750179&z=14&m=bs&sho… …

Airstrikes reported for the first time on Kurdish positions in #Hasakah during clashes with Regime forces.

Dozen civilians killed today in #Hasaka city by airstirkes, artillery shelling & street fights btw #Assad-forces & kurdish militias

NDF have captured Amal school & New Hospital while Asayish did not capture Bassel roundabout and have been on the defensive so far

2 SyAAF air raids on Hasakah so far, a number of Asayish & YPG bases/HQs have been hit including in al-Mushirfah 3km NW of Hasakah

NDF advance inside neighbourhoods north of city centre amid airstrikes/artillery, YPG evacuate from Tell Baydar conscription/training base

Syria'n airforce conducted strikes on 8 positions of kurdish militias (Barriers & HQs) in #Hasaka city & outskirts

5 people killed by regime artillery shelling on #Hasaka city neighborhood

Exodus from #Hasaka city
-flee battle btw regime forces & kurdish militias
https://youtu.be/ZANKeHjph6Q

No totally clean option on any side in Syria: one can engage anyway and shape the battlefield, or not.
http://bit.ly/2bjsKOO
v @AbuJamajem

The Obama WH has chosen not to shape the battlefield and that is their most serious FP mistake in the last eight years......but again he never served in the military....

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
.@SonerCagaptay for the @WashInstitute on the joint Moscow-Assad role in founding the #PKK
http://washin.st/2b3PJ2M

Maybe worth reading for those that do not fully understand the lineage of the PKK a US defined terror group to the current US Kurdish proxy YPG/PYG and the SDF....

Baby Blankets, BabyFood and Babies.
The number 1 Assad/Putin "terrorist" targets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XOMRbEIt9g …

Jihadist/terrorist truck carrying weapons neutralized by an airstrike near Maarrat Al-Numan, #Idlib. Driver killed.
IT WAS CARRYING BOXES OF BABY FOOD.......

Since morning #Assad/#Russia warplanes hit #Aleppo's new road (Alramousah) +20 times using cluster bombs
Russian attempts to cut aid route into Aleppo....WHILE claiming wanting to assist in future aid deliveries....

NFZ for Hasakah is no problem but for Aleppo is impossible

If this does not feed the Islamist extremist narrative of the US ...then I do not know what will in the coming years.....

The story behind the video. His name is Omran and he is 5 years old #Aleppo #Syria
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-1...nflict/7761322 …

This boy was rescued by the SCD......he had been buried under the bomb debris of his destroyed home....SCD was still looking for his parents....

Russian warplanes failed to kill this terrorist...wonder if he at five fulfills the Obama WH definition of what a "moderate" Syrian "looks like?....apparently not.....

BUT WAIT the Russians will eventually air strike the hospital M10 where he is being treated........OR "double tap" the SCD ambulance he is being carried in...OR "double tap" the SCD who were still digging for survivors from this deliberate Russian air strike on civilians not IS......

REMEMBER what Obama in 2014 publicly stated....QUOTE "we will judge Putin by his actions not his words"...UNQUOTE.

BTW...since the West including Obama/Kerry are not doing anything for Aleppo or Syria in general...praise must go to the UK who has been providing these ambulances and volunteer medical personnel into Aleppo...at least they try and have a certain empathy for humanity.....something totally missing from the "do nothing stupid" Obama Syrian FP......

Remember when Obama could have engaged into Syria in 2012 we had only 7,000 killed Syrians....now four years later that number stands at 470,000 to 500,000 and growing daily via Russian iron dumb bombs, cluster incendiary munitions, thermobaric bombs, and now napalm munitions....

Photo of the bewildered/stunned child is posted on the Syrian thread....

REMEMBER it has been the Salafist jihadi's and FSA that have been fighting to relieve Aleppo from the Assad/Putin besieging and starvation NOT Obama and or the West.....

Think what might in fact occur to IS if Syrians (Arab Sunni's) actually got the support that the US has flowed into their Kurdish terrorist proxies YPG/SDF/PKK??????

The solution to IS has been always Syrian Arab Sunni boots on the ground...BUT the Obama WH "smoke screened" everything behind the myth and debate of who is or is not a "moderate".......

The core question is...can anyone really be a "moderate" in the face of constant genocide, war crimes, torture, starvation, besieging, barrel bombs, CWs, thermite cluster munitions, and now napalm??????

Those are the guys,fighting #ISIS in #Syria w/ minimal foreign support.
They liberated #Rai.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjI8I8OtDxY …

This is exactly what the Obama/Rhodes WH "do nothing stupid" has gotten the US image wise into...that we both support and are complicit in genocide and war crimes...especially now with the use by Assad and Putin of napalm like bombs which is a true war crime......

Democracy Now! ‏@democracynow
"Civilians are suffering every day," says Syrian physician @sahloul. "This is the tragedy we are living in."
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/8/1...se_than_hell_a

Ten Times Worse Than Hell: A Syrian Doctor on the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Aleppo

August 17, 2016

Quote:

In the latest escalation of the war in Syria, Russia has begun launching airstrikes from an Iranian air base. The New York Times reports this marks the first time since World War II that a foreign military has operated from a base on Iranian soil. The move comes as fighting has intensified around Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Earlier this month, rebels fighting the Syrian government began a new offensive to break an ongoing government-backed siege of the city. The rebels have been led in part by an offshoot of the Nusra Front, which up until last month had been aligned with al-Qaeda. The International Committee of the Red Cross has described the fight for Aleppo as "beyond doubt one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times." The United Nations is warning of a dire humanitarian crisis as millions are left without water or electricity. For more on the humanitarian and medical crisis in Syria, we speak with Dr. Zaher Sahloul, founder of the American Relief Coalition for Syria and senior adviser and former president of the Syrian American Medical Society. He has visited Aleppo five times since the war began.

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: In the latest escalation of the war in Syria, Russia has begun launching airstrikes from Iranian air bases—an air base. The New York Times reports this marks the first time since World War II that a foreign military has operated from a base on Iranian soil. The move comes as fighting has intensified around Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. Earlier this month, rebels fighting the Syrian government began a new offensive to break an ongoing government-backed siege of the city. The rebels have been led in part by an offshoot of the Nusra Front, which, up until last month, had been aligned with al-Qaeda. The International Committee of the Red Cross has described the fighting for Aleppo as, quote, "beyond doubt one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times." The United Nations is warning of a dire humanitarian crisis, as millions are left without water or electricity. This is U.N. spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci.

ALESSANDRA VELLUCCI: The commission is gravely concerned for the safety of civilians, including a reported 100,000 children living in eastern Aleppo city, where violence has reached new heights in recent weeks as asymmetric warfare intensifies over control of armed group-held neighborhoods and their principal remaining supply lines.

AMY GOODMAN: On Tuesday, a British aid worker named Tauqir Sharif described the dire situation in Aleppo in this video he posted online.

TAUQIR SHARIF: I’ve just had to watch a woman lose three of her children, who were killed—OK?—and crying over their dead bodies. Thirty people just got killed not far from here in place called Shaar [inaudible]. We were just there yesterday. In a marketplace, 30 people just got killed. So, we’ve had so many dead bodies. You can hear what’s going on here. So, my dear brothers and sisters, please keep us in your duas. We need to get the message out right now. Hospitals are being targeted. People are being killed. OK? And war crimes are being committed. We need a no-fly zone in Syria. We need everybody to start voting for a no-fly zone. This is a massacre going on. This is a genocide.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Last week, 15 of the last 35 doctors in rebel-held eastern Aleppo wrote a letter to President Obama calling for help in getting humanitarian aid to 300,000 civilians trapped in the area and an end to Syrian and Russian bombardment of the besieged city. The letter said that there is an attack on medical facilities every 17 hours, and doctors were being forced to decide who will live and who will die.

AMY GOODMAN: According to the humanitarian group Physicians for Human Rights, there have been more than 370 attacks on 265 medical facilities during the five-year conflict, as well as the deaths of 750 medical personnel. Overall, the death toll in the five-year Syrian conflict has reached close to half a million people. The ongoing war has displaced about half the prewar population, with more than 6 million Syrians displaced inside Syria and nearly 5 million Syrian refugees outside Syria’s borders.

To find about about more the humanitarian and medical crisis in Syria, we’re joined by Dr. Zaher Sahloul, founder of the American Relief Coalition for Syria and senior adviser and former president of the Syrian American Medical Society. He’s visited Aleppo five times since the war began. Last week, he addressed the U.N. Security Council on the humanitarian crisis in Syria. He was a classmate of Bashar al-Assad in medical school. Dr. Sahloul is a critical care specialist in Chicago.

Welcome to Democracy Now!, Doctor.

DR. ZAHER SAHLOUL: Thank you for having me.

AMY GOODMAN: When you heard about the latest attack, even since you’ve just returned from Aleppo, Russia attacking from Iran, your thoughts? And then describe Aleppo to us.

DR. ZAHER SAHLOUL: I mean, my thoughts and my colleagues’ thoughts from Aleppo, which I keep contacts every minute with them, is the same, that everyone is bombing Syrians, and no one cares about ending the crisis. So it looks like the Russians are having fun bombing Syria from different parts, now added Iran to this, Iran bases. The coalition are bombing parts of Syria. They are bombing ISIS and also civilians. The Assad regime is bombing, you know, cities and historic sites and civilians, with barrel bombings and all kind of weapons. The Iranians are bombing Syrians. So everyone is bombing Syrians.

And this is really the story that is not being told in the media. I mean, when people know about Syria or hear about Syria, they think it’s something related to ISIS or that it’s something that is complicated. But what’s happening, that civilians are suffering every day. Children are being mutilated and killed with barrel bombs and air missile bombs. Hospitals are targeted. Schools are targeted. Fruit markets are targeted. And historic sites, like the Old City of Aleppo, are being destroyed. So this is the tragedy that we are living in. We had half a million people killed in Syria so far, half of the population displaced. And so far, we don’t have a light at the end of the tunnel.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in terms—you mentioned barrel bombs. What exactly are those, and who is dropping them?

DR. ZAHER SAHLOUL: Barrel bombs are an invention of the Syrian regime. It’s a very cheap way to manufacture weapons of mass destruction. I’ve seen it, in my eyes, and the victims also of barrel bombs in my several missions to Syria, especially to the city of Aleppo. So these are barrels that—big barrels stuffed with TNT, half a ton of TNT, and shrapnels, metal shrapnels. And they come in all kind of sizes and shapes. And they’re thrown from helicopters on urban areas, on hospitals, on blocks, on civilian neighborhoods, on fruit markets, on schools. And it can cause a lot of destruction. I’ve seen them. I took pictures of the victims. I took pictures of the buildings that have been destroyed with barrel bombs. It’s a weapon of mass destruction. It’s a dumb bomb; it’s not a smart bomb. And it can kill a lot of people.

And the only thing I’ve seen—you know, when you go to Aleppo, and this is something that, you know, if you go there—and you will see children pointing to the sky, and then you see this dot, which is the helicopter, and you hear the sound, the chop-chop-chop of the helicopter. And then this dot will throw another dot, which is the barrel, and then you have 30 to 40 seconds to run and hide from the barrel, or you can pray, because you don’t know where this barrel will hit. And it’s happening day after day for the past three years. It caused a lot of displacement. Let’s not forget that 2 million of the people of Aleppo are displaced, either inside Syria or became refugees, because of the barrel bombing. And it’s done by the Assad regime, of course. No one else has helicopters.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And how are the medical facilities and hospitals able to function on a day-to-day basis, if you could talk about that? I mean, what’s the relationship between the various rebel groups and the hospitals? Do they interfere with your work? And is the government paying for the salaries of these doctors? Or—talk about the system, how it’s operating.

Continued......

THIS full interview needs to be inhaled by the Obama WH/entire NSC and then they need to seriously ask themselves the following question....."have we abandoned humanity and our own morals" in order to "not do something stupid".......

Yes might just their own answer of they are honest with themselves......

WHY is it that many do not openly in the US MSM and critical US MSM call out the current Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH FP on Syria what it really is...a complete farce" designed to spin and misled the general public into thinking that "doing nothing stupid" is in fact a great viable strategic strategy?????

@washingtonpost recalls @POTUS once said stopping atrocities is a core US interest, but he did nothing for Aleppo.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=.803bdbf2d87e

As Aleppo is destroyed, Mr. Obama stands by

By Editorial Board August 16

Quote:

“DEVASTATING AND overwhelming.” Those are the conditions in the ancient and once-great metropolis of Aleppo, according to the head of delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Marianne Gasser, who was in the Syrian city recently.

“We hear that dozens of civilians are being killed every day and scores more injured from shells, mortars and rockets,” Ms. Gasser said. “The bombing is constant. The violence is threatening hundreds of thousands of people’s lives, homes and livelihoods.”

War crimes appear to be near-constant also. The air forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his chief backer, Russian President Vladi#mir Putin, target apartment buildings, bakeries and — this is their specialty — hospitals and clinics. The United Nations is investigating credible reports that Mr. Assad again has used chemical weapons, in this case chlorine gas. Water has been cut off from hundreds of thousands of people.

The last surviving physicians in the rebel-held half of Aleppo a few days ago begged President Obama to help. “The world has stood by and remarked how ‘complicated’ Syria is, while doing little to protect us,” they wrote. “The burden of responsibility for the crimes of the Syrian government and its Russian ally must therefore be shared by those, including the United States, who allow them to continue.”

Why would these brave, forlorn doctors look to Mr. Obama for rescue? Perhaps one of them, through the terrible din of war, remembers hearing the president promise to stand by the Syrian people as they were being “subjected to unspeakable violence, simply for demanding their universal rights.”

Mr. Obama made his pledge during an address at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in April 2012. He boasted that he had decreed, in a first for any U.S. president, that preventing mass atrocities “is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States of America.” That did not mean that the United States would “intervene militarily every time there’s an injustice in the world,” he cautioned. But when it came to Syria, Mr. Obama was clear.

“The Syrian people have not given up, which is why we cannot give up,” Mr. Obama said. “And so with allies and partners, we will keep increasing the pressure, with a diplomatic effort to further isolate Assad and his regime, so that those who stick with Assad know that they are making a losing bet.”

Alas, that was many atrocities ago. According to the Red Cross, more than 12 million Syrians — half the prewar population — have been forced from their homes, with millions more under siege. Hundreds of thousands have been killed. Well over 1 million have been wounded. Iran and Russia continue to place their bets on the Assad regime. And Mr. Obama no longer pledges to stand with the Syrian people, though he remains clear-eyed about what they are facing.

“The regime and its allies,” Mr. Obama observed at a Pentagon news conference this month, are engaged in “vicious attacks on defenseless civilians, medieval sieges against cities like Aleppo, and blocking food from reaching families that are starving.”

But the administration’s response has not changed: a combination of halfhearted support for the rebels, who increasingly gravitate by necessity to more extremist groups; requests to the Russians to behave better; and finger wagging.

“It is deplorable,” the president said during his visit to the Pentagon. Small comfort to the people of Aleppo.

BUT again this WH is great with WORDS....."we will judge Putin by this actions not his words"..2014...and this was for eastern Ukraine and now two full years later still nothing is being done to counter Putin's actions......

Is the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH simply marking time until their replacements come in 90 or so days.....afraid so.....and around them their eight years of FP failures are catching up with them.....as sometimes force needs to be used AND just "talking" with get you nowhere......

1. Russian air strikes being flown from Iranian bases in full violation of the Iran Deal UNSC Resolution and even violating the Iranian Constitution AND the still ongoing Assad/Putin continuing genocide and constant war crimes against humanity

2. full support of the US Kurdish proxy YPG which is really just a fig leaf cover for the Kurdish terrorist group PKK which is now headed towards a major clash with the anti Assad forces from FSA/JFS AND Turkey AND KSA......

3. the Obama full support for Iran as the coming regional hegemon in the ME

4. the Obama support for Putin's FP in Central Europe and the ME

5. ATO reported a record number (96) of Russian attacks in Donbas y/day with all types of weapons from small arms to 152-mm heavy artillery

BTW....Based on the attack statistics from 2015 an average of over 50 attacks per day was considered to be full scale combat operations.

That has for 2016 dropped to 40 per day and with 96 yesterday Ukraine and Russia are in a full war mode...

Heavy #RUS artillery working around #Donetsk, #Horlivka and #Avdeevka.
#UKR returns heavy fire with same weapons.

There were constant stream of reports of heavy and long UAF convoys with troops and heavy equipment moving up close to the limits set by Minsk 2....regardless of what the West and particularly Obama think...UAF is anticipating a Russian invasion.....

This Obama WH through their total lack of a coherent, clear and concise set of national level strategic strategies has contributed greatly to an increased level of violence globally than at any time in the last 30 or so years......

AND this from a Nobel Peace Prize winner....who would have thought possible???

Does the US fully understand that the clash of clashes is coming.....apparently not.....

Aleppo: Rebels and #YPG/#SDF are now just 20 kilometers away from each other.

Kyle W. Orton ‏@KyleWOrton
#Syria: "[#PYD] leaders…have previously claimed that…Manbij, Al-Bab and Azaz are all historically part of Rojava."

State Dept gives strong impression it won't be asking #PYD to withdraw east of the Euphrates
http://bit.ly/2aY3xvt

Remember the Turkish FM has clearly and concisely stated PYD must withdraw east of the Euphrates.....that is their "red line" AND that is what Obama told Erdogan....

Taken from the Syrian thread today and it goes to the heart of the failure of the Obama Rhodes full tilt to Iran during the Iran Deal.....

You're going to love this one, Outlaw...

A U.S. official says the Russian bombers that used an Iranian air base to attack militants in Syria have

Namely... while it might be so that the Tu-22M-3s 'only' made something like 'refuelling stop' at TFB.3 (sort of, i.e. with at least two nights in between), and might have returned to Russia ever since (this is still waiting for a confirmation), Keystone Cops in Moscow are announcing further air strikes in Syria as flown by Nojeh AB, this time by their Su-34s.

So, it's all the same story, just a different aircraft. :roll:

*********

Ah yes... as promised, my take of this comedy-deployment to Iran: Russia Has Deployed Backfire Bombers to Iran

(Note: it was also a violation of the IRI Constitution that brought the IRIAF into a situation where it cannot fly such missions on its own. Then, the same Constitution is dictating that the government is responsible for properly equipping and training its armed forces - yet Tehran is ignoring its own air force.)

CrowBat....western MSM and yes the DoS still has not picked up on this yet........

TEHRAN-Islamic Majlis Security Committee head Borujerdi: High Council of Security approved base for Russia.(But it doesn't have that right!)

Islamic High Council of Security head #Shamkhani:#Russia can use any of our bases.

TEHRAN- Foreign Ministry briefing reporters informally, claims it didn;'t know permission was given to Russia to use Iran's Nozheh Air Base.

TEHRAN:-Islamic Majlis member Falaht-Pisheh:Use of Iranian base by Russia is violation of Articles 146 &176 of Islamic Republic Constitution

TEHRAN-Islamic Majlis Speaker Larijani: We've not been informed of granting any base to Russia but cooperate with Russia to protect Syria..

It is quite possible that Foreign Ministry, even #Rouhani weren't told of #Russian use of Iranian bases. Their role is to hoodwink the West.

Did Putin invade Iran also? Nobody in Iran seems to know how Russians appeared inside Iran...maybe some "little green Iranians dropped in from Mars"......

So Iran is not only in violation of UNSC 2231 you are right they even violated their very own constitution.......BUT again these are the "moderates" that Obama and Rhodes feels should be the next regional hegemon in the ME......

WHOA...now the highest Obama supported "moderate" gets into the act......

Neither #Islamic #Majlis nor #Russian #Douma have even discussed use of Iranian military bases. Private deal between #Putin & #Khamenei?

WOW.....a neo imperialist working with a Revolutionary Islamist bent on defending the Islamic Revolutionary Islam declared by Khomeini throughout the ME...WHO would have thought this possible in the 21st century?????

SO is Putin not a member of the ROC but rather a "closet Islamist at heart".....his FSB certainly is......

Syrian commenter tends to sum up the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH Syrian FP......in one tweet.....

2016 is when #USA "ensures safety" of #RUS bombers flying fr.#Iran 2kill children in #Syria.

If one wants to vote for an organization that truly does deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts....this group deserves it ........and a number have paid the ultimate price by being killed in deliberate Russian air strikes on them during their rescue operations.....commonly called a Russian "double tap on first responders and their ambulances".....

whitehelmets - idlib ‏@whitehelmets_sy
from the rubble we stand ..
save your life , save syria
humanity heroes #WhiteHelmets
https://nobelpeaceprize.whitehelmets.org/en

This was the same organization that the US Homeland Security (DHS) recently placed their director back on a plane when he arrived in the US on a valid US Embassy issued visa in order to receive a humanitarian aid award for his organization.....

DHS had responded to a number of fake Russian troll tweets that he was a member of AQ.....

BTW...the Obama WH never said a word about this incident....

From a Syrian thread exchange today....

Azor..
Russian Use of an Iranian Airbase

Does this violate Iran's Constitution?

Article 146: "The establishment of any kind of foreign military base in Iran, even for peaceful purposes, is forbidden."

US shared bases under other countries' administration seem to count as US bases (e.g. Incirlik)...

CrowBat..
No, according to all possible Assad/Putler fans: it does not.

Then, you know, TFB.3/Nojeh AB was already there, and was not established by Russians.

That's the same like that with shields citing 'smoking prohibited': means only that one can't smoke cigarettes in the designated areas. Cigars and pots are permitted, 'of course'...

Outlaw 09..
Worth noting,
1. Russia and Iran do not have a SOFA
2. Russia has interpreted all UNSC decisions and the Iran Deal based on exactly what Iran states
3. Iran has not stated exactly what the conditions were under which they "gave a portion of their airfield entirely to the RuAF.....

ALSO worth noting was the comment yesterday by the Russian Duma rep stating Russia has nukes in Syria....THAT got no play by western MSM.....and it was a further reinforcement of a previous Russian source indicating that "maybe long term" Russia wanted to station nukes in Syria.....in order to surround NATO....

BUT if one relooks the total Russian support now to Iran.....Russian nukes are a given as it balances the Iranian defense against Israeli nukes and those US nukes in Turkey..and reinforces Hezbollah if they go to war with Israel......AND it gives Russia long term a solid voice in any ME developments and or agreements.....

THAT was the reason behind the sudden rush by Putin to have the Duma stamp of approval on the Russian/Syrian SOFA....

BUT what is really interesting is that the US DoS did not walk back their statement so that tells me they fully believe Russia is in violation of the 2231.......

NOTE further US statements.....

US: #Russian use of #Iran base unhelpful, but won't derail #Syria deal talks

At this point Russia can do almost everything and not derail the talks. The U.S. Won't do a thing

For those SWJ readers who still do not believe there is a connection between eastern Ukraine and Syria.......

Let this single photo remind the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH that indeed there is a war ongoing in Central Europe...a war started by a clear Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine with over 14,000 Russian troops and hundreds of Russian tanks least we forget that......AFTER the blatant Russian military annexation of Crimea the first clear and concise European border changes by force since the Wall came down......

War in Shyrokyne, Ukr, June 4, 2016. Photographers Dmitry Muravskiy MoD officer
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater …

BTW....this photo depicts heavy Russian artillery being fired at UAF positions in CLEAR violation of Minsk 2 that Russia threatens to walk away from and WHICH they never fulfilled to begin with REGARDLESS of how many Kerry Moscow visits occurred.....

Obama...2014...."we will judge Putin by his actions not his words"...UNQUOTE

OSCE SMM drone spotted 47 MLRS, 16 towed howitzers, 10 tanks, 74 armoured vehicles, 40 military-type trucks in “LPR”-controlled #Miusynsk.

The only field hospital in Daraya was targeted by Assad air forces with barrel bombs and napalm
https://youtu.be/QbvVL0exWaM

Both a war crime and a clear violation of UNSC Resolutions....AND the Obama WH says nothing.....

The only field hospital in Daraya was targeted by Assad air forces with barrel bombs and napalm
https://youtu.be/QbvVL0exWaM

Both a war crimes and a direct violation of UNSC Resolutions....YET nothing is being said by the Obama WH?

A reminder for the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH that their inactions in Syria have now contributed greatly to a full scale sectarian war between Shia and Sunni's...something they could have avoided if they had engaged in 2012.....

Iraqi Shi'i militias in S #Aleppo drag rebels body. "He's an Umayyad. The son of Aicha (i.e. Sunni")

AND now their total support for the PKK Kurdish proxy YPG/SDF in attempting to take Al Bab a fully Arab Sunni town they are actually now triggering an ethno sectarian conflict between Arab Sunni's, Shia and Kurds.....

BUT WAIT I thought Iraqi Shia militias were in Iraq defending Iraq from IS....then why are the Peshmerge taking Mosul????

Results of the Russian air strikes THAT the US seems to fully ignore as they "do not want to rock the Putin boat" because after two full years of Crimea, eastern Ukraine, Syrian and a massive cyber war THEY still are trying to "talk to Putin" to see if he is "serious" about "talking"...

Syria: a shocking but must watch insight into a Aleppo field hospital https://youtu.be/T1XnX3kP5XI

Many dead after #RUS airstrikes on hospital in Darat Izza town /western #Aleppo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFLigukwDXI …

THIS was a night time precision strike and only the RuAF can carry that out...

REMEMBER that now infamous Obama 2014 public statement..."we will judge Putin on his actions not his words"......

AND now..it seems the WH "totally forgot" that statement....

WORDS in international relations do count....

Russian bombing strikes on over 50 Syrian towns and villages yesterday targeting basically civilians, hospitals, residential areas, schools, markets BUT nothing really against IS.....WHY is that?????

Their few IS strikes hit basically civilians and residential areas....not a single bomb made it onto IS targets......

The al-Rih al-Mursala hospital (Bearing Wind) in Darat Izza, #Aleppo was targeted & destroyed by a Russian night time precision airstrike

YET not a single word out of the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH nor a condemnation in the UNSC.....nothing....

Has the Obama WH basically been lying to the US public and has been using the argument that in the ME they do not want to do anything "stupid" as an excuse to cover up their FULL tilt to Iran and Russia....meaning if we do take the Obama interview at full face value....Obama has basically abandoned the US FP in the ME to Iran and Russia......clearly seen in just about every decision they have made on the ME since 2012.....

AN interesting question that probably is true.....if in fact we were "spun" by Obama and Rhodes on the "Iran Deal" and both basically admitted it in their released interviews.....WHY should we then trust anything the Obama WH does while still in office....

There have been a serious number of times the US could have called out Putin on his actions in both eastern Ukraine, Syria and with the FSB/SVR/GRU hacking attacks on the US...BUT for some strange and unexplainable reason....total silence out of this WH....why is that???

US intel either wrongly assessed "growing recognition" in Russia to get out of Syria - or lied to US public about it

Russia can veto UNSC action. Which is another example of why it was idiotic to put our Iran policy in Russia hands.

BTW...this was a point that a number of SMEs pointed out to the WH...that namely it is the UNSC that must rule on any violation of the Iran Deal and Russia protects Iran ALWAYS during UNSC resolution votes.....

SO just why did the Obama/Rhodes/Kerry WH decide to go down this path unless they were effectively abandoning the entire ME to both Iran and Russia which is exactly what has happened in the last year.....???

Why US must change its failed policy in Syria
http://cnn.it/2bnjOIq

More than 200 airstrikes have hit Aleppo city and province since yesterday evening and counting............Airstrikes hit market Tareeq al-Bab neighborhood of Aleppo.

Lots of dead and counting.....

Daraya repeatedly bombed with incendiary bombs as Regime ground offensive stalling via @DarayaCouncil.

Appears to be a napalm like substance being used not the normal Russian thermite incendiary cluster munitions......

Confirmed now to be a form of napalm.....long ago outlawed by international law ....but Assad and Putin do not care about international law, nor does the Obama WH......

BreakingPictures
Russian bomb attacks on #DaratIzza shortly ago.
Doesn't look like from Tu-22 tbh.
#Aleppo #Syria

NOT sure exactly what the Russians were aiming to hit BUT it sure looks like they deliberately targeted civilian residual housing areas.....NOT IS positions as they claimed...based on the early photos coming out of the strike zone....