Syrian Civil War: News #10

The Syrian Air Force loses an L-39 Albatros over East Aleppo

http://defense-watch.com/2016/12/03/syrian-air-force-loses-l-39-albatros-east-aleppo/

airstrike wrote:The Syrian Air Force loses an L-39 Albatros over East Aleppo

http://defense-watch.com/2016/12/03/syrian-air-force-loses-l-39-albatros-east-aleppo/

RIP to the pilots

The terrorists around Aleppo have MANPAD's(this was not shot down according to the SAA) just use the SU 34 over Aleppo to be on the safe side.



"MORE SYRIAN TOWNS SIGN PEACE AGREEMENT WITH GOVERNMENT."

https://southfront.org/more-syrian-towns-sign-peace-agreement-with-government/

Aleppo

 1:14 geolocation https://twitter.com/2Rook14/status/805128829563994112

2:33 geolocation - https://twitter.com/v4st0/status/805130027197145088

Fatemiyoun HQ in Khanat Assan is defended by 5 main bastions located on 3 sides (N., W. & S.) w/ at least 14 howitzers & 4 tanks. S. #Aleppo
http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=36.086702&lon=37.193913&z=15&m=b&search=Khanat%20Assan




2- S. part. Base (~1 km length) built late 2015 & still has over 8 howitzers, 8 tanks & 3 BM-21 Grad.

Area captured so far in south part of pocket(in last week). From 28km2 to 22.7km2. SAA took over 5.3km2 of density urban neighbourhoods
https://twitter.com/warsmonitoring/status/805413295888928768

"SYRIAN GOVERNMENT REOPENS ROADS TO RECENTLY LIBERATED PARTS OF EASTERN ALEPPO (VIDEO + TEXT TRANSCRIPT)."

https://southfront.org/syrian-government-reopens-roads-to-recently-liberated-parts-of-eastern-aleppo-video-text-transcript/



"SYRIAN ARMY MAKES MAJOR ADVANCES IN ALEPPO, LIBERATE 3 NEIGHBORHOODS AND ENTERS 2 OTHERS."

https://southfront.org/syrian-army-makes-major-advances-in-aleppo-liberate-3-neighborhoods-and-enters-2-others/

kvs wrote:So it looks like the jihadis have collapsed in eastern Aleppo.   That we have not seen a total liberation is due mostly to the
SAA and allies not rushing and trying to minimize civilian losses.

If the terrorists had any serious fight left in them these territorial losses would have been stalled.  It also seems like the
government forces are playing psychological tricks on the exhausted jihadis by first entering and then leaving the Sheikh Sayeed
neighbourhood.   This was probably a ploy to have the jihadis scamper around diverting resources from the true target zones.

This is very true and a good observation, since they have left the Sheikh Sayeed neighbourhood, the SAA and Allies have done attacks in other parts of the pocket and captured it.

Yusha Yuseef ‏@MIG29_ 3 minutes ago

Breaking #Aleppo :SAA Tiger Forces full control Karm Al-Tahan Neighborhood

If this is correct, this neighborhood borders the large hospital in central East Aleppo which is rumored to house the HQ of the rebels. It is also the reported site of clashes between the rebel fractions late yesterday fighting over the dwindling stored ammo reserves.

http://www.mediafire.com/convkey/868a/4o0fqi26kpaf83czg.jpg

He is now reporting the hospital has just been captured...

Yusha Yuseef ‏@MIG29_ 2 minutes ago

#Aleppo Breaking : Eye hospital in the neighborhood Qazi Askar full control by SAA Tiger Forces

Looking at the map, the hospital is in the Safsafah district. Control of this district splits the rebel held East Aleppo in half as Safsafah borders to the west on government held Western Aleppo, in particular the ancient Coliseum. Other reporters are reporting seeing the rumors of this advance but not getting confirmation yet from their military sources. It looks like this is probably the goal of this push by the Tiger Force, even if they have not reached there yet.

"SYRIAN ARMY TROOPS ARE IN AL-MIYSAR NEIGHBORHOOD OF ALEPPO CITY LIBERATED FROM JIHADISTS – PHOTO REPORT."


https://southfront.org/syrian-troops-are-in-al-miysar-neighborhood-of-aleppo-city-liberated-from-jihadists-photo-report/

Elijah J. Magnier
‏@EjmAlrai

Same question always:
In (all) #Aleppo, there are 25000 #SAA, 4000 #Iraqi, 4000 #Iran proxies (Zaynabiyun,Fatimiyoun)& 2500 #Hezbollah.
All (Iraqi, Hezbollah, Iranian proxies) are committed to keep these figures, along with 250-500 #Iranian advisors, always constant.


My research pretty much matches this. I project a total of 35-40,000 pro government fighters in Aleppo. The total of Iranian advisers with some specialist volunteers would be ~ 1,000 when the whole country is included. There would also be another 1,000 - 1,500 Hezbollah in other areas of the country with up to another 500 Iraqi fighters in Dier ez Zur.

kvs wrote:https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/jihadist-leader-will-never-surrender-aleppo/

Supposedly there are 900 jihadis left in the east Aleppo pocket.   So they are toast.

Does that include these 150 arrested last night for planning to surrender

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/rebel-forces-aleppo-arrest-militants-willing-surrender/

Syrian forces are apparently only 500 meters apart and from separating the East Aleppo pocket again.

kvs wrote:If there are only 900 jihadis in the east Aleppo pocket then I would think that an assault along the whole perimeter of the pocket
by a superior number of forces would finish this off more quickly than it is going.   A force of 10,000 split into 10 zones would
stretch the jihadis out completely.    Of course, rapid deployment backup is needed if the jihadis apply some WWII tactics and pile
on the weakest link of the government forces.   But they are not trying to break through and escape but keep control so they
cannot engage in such tactics.

It seems all the action is in the north-east of the pocket.   Are government forces really so small?

There a lot more then 900. This originally came from a Western source and indicated the number of the Al Qaeda fighters fighting with all them pure moderate fighters.

The commanders are trying to do this with the least amount of casualties to their own troops and civilians left inside the zone. Strategy seems to be cut off a third of the territory, absorb and then on to the next area. Read or heard somewhere yesterday or today that the SAA had a 4-1 advantage in manpower. Suspect it may be a little higher then that.

kvs wrote:

franco wrote:

kvs wrote:https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/jihadist-leader-will-never-surrender-aleppo/

Supposedly there are 900 jihadis left in the east Aleppo pocket.   So they are toast.

Does that include these 150 arrested last night for planning to surrender

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/rebel-forces-aleppo-arrest-militants-willing-surrender/

I now think that the 900 figure is overly optimistic.  There are probably around 3000 jihadis still fighting.
The article mentions that 2500 surrendered but I do not think that is just for Aleppo but for the whole
country.  

3,000 or so sounds about right. The total that had surrendered from East Aleppo about 3-4 days ago was going onto 900. But not too many since. A couple of days back they reported only 10 had surrendered in the past 24 hours. The 2500 represents the two areas outside that Damascus that just surrendered along with the Aleppo rebels.

calm wrote:Area captured so far in south part of pocket(in last week). From 28km2 to 22.7km2. SAA took over 5.3km2 of density urban neighbourhoods
https://twitter.com/warsmonitoring/status/805413295888928768

Update additional 2km2 captured.
reports that SAA have reached Eye hospital, if so 700m left Citadel. Gains around 2/3km2 pocket down to 20km2.