Syrian Civil War: News #7

Militarov wrote:If there are some colleagues electro and IT engineers among you will appreciate this amusing information, even tho outside the engineering part its not very...interesting:

"They say that the first casualty of war is the truth, and that’s probably only more the case in a civil war. When one side in a conflict controls the message, the other side is at a huge disadvantage. Technology can level the playing field, and in the case of the Syrian Civil War, a swarm of tiny Raspberry Pi transmitters is helping one side get their message out.

We won’t pretend to understand the complexities of this war, but it’s clear that the Syrian government controls broadcast media and access to the internet, and is using them for propaganda while denying the opposition access to the same. A decentralized medium can get the message out under these conditions, and that’s exactly what Pocket FM does. Built around a Raspberry Pi and a frequency-agile FM transmitter, a Pocket FM can take multiple audio feeds and transmit them out to a 5km radius. Small enough to be packed up and deployed quickly and able to be powered by batteries or solar panels, the pirate transmitters can be here one minute and gone the next, yielding a robust network resistant to takedown attempts.



The network built around Pocket FM in Syria is small but growing, and it appears to be making a difference in the conflict. We find the concept of a decentralized network intriguing and potentially empowering, at least in situations where the letter of the law regarding broadcasting is not a prime consideration. That’s where projects like Airchat seek to build an unsanctioned network. The same goes for Tweeting on the Amateur Radio Band in a project aptly named HamRadioTweets."


"The Pocket FMs, as they are called, were designed by a German organisation as a way of providing Syrians with independent radio. The devices have a range of between 4 to 6km (2.5 to 3.75 miles), which is enough to cover an entire town. At the heart of each is a Raspberry Pi, the credit card-sized single-board computers. About two dozen have been built, and the designer says they are intended to be as easy to set up as a piece of flat-pack furniture.

"We lost one device in Kobane", Philipp Hochleichter told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.



"But due to the bombing - not due to a malfunction." The Pocket FMs are deployed in situations in which larger transmitters would be difficult to set up and operate.

"We tried to develop a small box that is easy to carry around, easy to transport, easy to hide [and] that is based on 12 volts so you can connect it to a solar system or a car battery", Mr Hochleichter explained.

The Pocket FMs broadcast a channel created by a network of nine stations based in the region called Syrnet.

The devices pick up a satellite feed of the channel, and rebroadcast it on a FM frequency, so people in Syria can listen on ordinary radios. Eventually, the devices will be capable of picking up the Syrnet channel via wi-fi and mobile data. The channel is also available to listen to online, and via a mobile app.



The group behind the project is Media in Cooperation and Transition, a Berlin based non-governmental body.

As well as designing the Pocket FMs and maintaining Syrnet, MiCT employs a team of journalists, many of whom are expatriate Syrians. They help the small independent stations make programmes.
The Pocket FMs operate in the areas not controlled by either President Bashar al-Assad's regime or the so-called Islamic State militants.

"There is a space, it might be tiny, where people are against Assad and not part of the Islamic movements" said Najat Abdulhaq, who manages the Berlin-based journalists."

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35690688

KoTeMoRe wrote:

short_fuze wrote:Prior to the US/UK invasion of Iraq, Sunnis and Shiites were living together in relative harmony in mixed neighbourhoods. Something had to trigger the sectarian violence. Cue UK SAS driving around out of uniform in ordinary cars loaded with explosives and other military gear. Blow up a Shiite mosque and leave evidence suggesting Sunni involvement and vice-versa.

It is a pleasing thought the the Good Guys might actually be using the same strategy to incite intra-takfiri violence. ISIS takes out FSA. FSA takes out ISIS. All with a little help and encouragement.

Depends what you call relative harmony.

In the coast, yes, for instance Madaya, you know the supposedly death camp in the mountains, was a Sunni resort spot, with mostly "Shia" and Christian visitors during the winter. A place like Aleppo old city was really over its head with Rich sunnis and middle class Alawites and poor Kurds. Then you had places like Jobar in Damascus with a big strong Sunni middle class sourrounded by poor Sunnis that built a lot of their neighbourhoods next to Alawite villages.

Opposing to that you had totally fucked up places like the Euphrates areas that were flashpoints with Sunnis despising the Kurds and Kurds despising both Sunnis and Syrian state. Deir Ezzor for instane was all super patriotic, Sunni dominated and shit, yet those guys Sunni, Kurds picked first the Moderats, then either ISIS either stood with Syrian State.

Now indeed something happened in Syria. And that was the failed attempt to choke Assad by sending back a whole lot of Syrians working in Lebanon.

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06DAMASCUS5399_a.html

Just read and compare the US cables with what happened in reality. However this happened because Syria was reeling from years of inertia. And Bashar and his people couldn't shake the old guard and accept a smaller cut of the whole privatization process, in order to have more cash for the people and economy.

So everything was stacked to turn a relatively benign transition into a clusterf**k.

Syria is a complex place.

SAA Reporter
‏@Syria_Protector
#SyrianArmy reaches #AlRaqqa border after regaining offensive initiative
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https://twitter.com/Syria_Protector/status/705536242499383297

Militarov wrote:
The group behind the project is Media in Cooperation and Transition, a Berlin based non-governmental body.

As well as designing the Pocket FMs and maintaining Syrnet, MiCT employs a team of journalists, many of whom are expatriate Syrians. They help the small independent stations make programmes.
The Pocket FMs operate in the areas not controlled by either President Bashar al-Assad's regime or the so-called Islamic State militants.

"There is a space, it might be tiny, where people are against Assad and not part of the Islamic movements" said Najat Abdulhaq, who manages the Berlin-based journalists."[/i]

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35690688

Erk wrote:

Militarov wrote:
The group behind the project is Media in Cooperation and Transition, a Berlin based non-governmental body.

As well as designing the Pocket FMs and maintaining Syrnet, MiCT employs a team of journalists, many of whom are expatriate Syrians. They help the small independent stations make programmes.
The Pocket FMs operate in the areas not controlled by either President Bashar al-Assad's regime or the so-called Islamic State militants.

"There is a space, it might be tiny, where people are against Assad and not part of the Islamic movements" said Najat Abdulhaq, who manages the Berlin-based journalists."[/i]

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35690688

I don't understand the point of the device. I can see it's a form of pirate radio, but who is it for? Why don't they just use CB for civil emergencies, or are they just trying to broadcast their own propaganda?

Militarov wrote:

Erk wrote:

Militarov wrote:
The group behind the project is Media in Cooperation and Transition, a Berlin based non-governmental body.

As well as designing the Pocket FMs and maintaining Syrnet, MiCT employs a team of journalists, many of whom are expatriate Syrians. They help the small independent stations make programmes.
The Pocket FMs operate in the areas not controlled by either President Bashar al-Assad's regime or the so-called Islamic State militants.

"There is a space, it might be tiny, where people are against Assad and not part of the Islamic movements" said Najat Abdulhaq, who manages the Berlin-based journalists."[/i]

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35690688

I don't understand the point of the device. I can see it's a form of pirate radio, but who is it for? Why don't they just use CB for civil emergencies, or are they just trying to broadcast their own propaganda?

For FSA and Kurds. These Germans use it for their own radio programme.

higurashihougi wrote:What kind of AK is this ?

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=169886330060566&set=gm.584766218345066&type=3

short_fuze wrote:

Militarov wrote:If there are some colleagues electro and IT engineers among you will appreciate this amusing information, even tho outside the engineering part its not very...interesting:



Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35690688

Nice production values for a poor penniless NGO - that employs journalists /sarc

The Syrnet name is a bit lame. Whatever happened to the traditional Radio Free xxxx (where xxxx = Ukraine, Syria etc as required)? Actually, given the German origins of the outfit, Building New Democracies might be a better name.

The old Syria cannot be revived, but at least the killing will stop for most people, if the truce can be converted into a permanent ceasefire. Photo / AP The old Syria cannot be revived, but at least the killing will stop for most people, if the truce can be converted into a permanent ceasefire. Photo / AP

So far the Russian plan for a ceasefire in Syria is working remarkably well. The truce that came into effect on Saturday had been observed with only minor violations on all the relevant fronts, and the United Nations' humanitarian co-ordinator in Syria, Yacoub el-Hillo, called it "the best opportunity the Syrian people have had over the past five years for lasting peace and stability".

Notice the choice of words: not Syria's best chance for democracy or reunification, just for "peace and stability". In fact, the truce is a big step towards the partition of the country.

The old Syria cannot be revived, but at least the killing will stop for most people - if the truce can be converted into a permanent ceasefire, which is far from certain.

When the Russian military intervention in Syria began only five months ago (September 30), even this unsatisfactory outcome seemed to be out of reach.

Indeed, the likeliest futures for Syria were a collapse of the Assad regime and the rapid conquest of the whole country by extreme Islamist forces, or years more of a civil war that had already killed 300,000 Syrians and driven half the country's citizens from their homes.

The immediate effect of the Russian intervention was to foreclose the "collapse" option. Whatever else happened, Russian air power would be able to prevent the Islamist forces from winning a decisive victory over the government army that would bring them to the borders of Lebanon and Jordan (and possibly right across them).

But Russian planners had no wish to be committed to an endless, expensive military campaign in a stalemated war. They needed an "exit strategy", and they had one.

The Russian political strategy was to secure the Assad regime's hold on the more populous parts of Syria, cut the flow of arms and volunteers across the Turkish border to the rebel forces, and then split the alliance between the Islamist and non-Islamist rebels.

This was a direct challenge to the strategy of the American-led "coalition" that has been bombing the Islamists who rule the so-called Islamic State (but not the other Islamists in Syria) for the past two years.

The US strategy envisaged destroying both the Assad regime and Islamic State, and accomplishing both these objectives without the help of any ground troops except the Syrian Kurds.

It was more a fantasy than a strategy, and many people in the US State Department and the Pentagon were aware it would probably mean handing Syria over to the Islamists.

Those people were secretly grateful when Russia intervened to save the Syrian Government, and they managed to limit the American reaction to general statements of "concern" that the Russians were bombing the wrong targets.

"Wrong targets" or not, unstinting Russian air support for Assad's army won it time to regain its balance and push the rebel troops away from Syria's key cities.

In the past month, the Syrian army, in de facto alliance with the Syrian Kurds, has cut the rebel supply line from Turkey.

Only the last part of the Russian strategy remains to be accomplished: split the alliance between the Islamist rebels and the non-Islamists.

And that is best done by politics: negotiate a ceasefire between the regime and the non-Islamist rebels that excludes the Islamists. That game is now afoot, and the people whom the US Government calls "moderate" rebels are clearly willing to play.

They might as well, for the "moderates" have been whittled down to less than a fifth of the troops who are actually fighting the regime. All the rest of the rebel troops in Syria serve Islamic State or its equally extreme Islamist rivals, the Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham.

Since the "moderates" have accepted the truce not offered to the Islamists, the split in the rebel forces has now been accomplished.

And since the United States now officially accepts this new definition of the "good and bad" rebels, the final stage of the Russian strategy has been accomplished: the great powers are all on the same side.

If this temporary truce can be converted into a permanent ceasefire, then the only remaining fighting in Syria will be around the borders of Islamic State in the north and east, and around the territory controlled by the Nusra Front and its ally Ahrar al-Sham in the northwest.

If the US can swallow the bitter reality that this truce leaves the Assad regime in charge of the territory it now controls (and around two-thirds of the Syrian population), then the Syrian civil war could eventually be shrunk to a war of everybody else against the Islamists.

And along the way it would give the US and Russia a chance to rebuild a more co-operative relationship.

JohninMK wrote:More anti personnel ATGM. No shortage in the SAA

Morpheus Eberhardt wrote:

JohninMK wrote:More anti personnel ATGM. No shortage in the SAA

ATGMs are as necessary to the armed forces of SAA as khat to the Yemenis.

Morpheus Eberhardt wrote:

JohninMK wrote:More anti personnel ATGM. No shortage in the SAA

ATGMs are as necessary to the armed forces of SAA as khat to the Yemenis.