Syrian War: News #13

Is shooting down a US Jet going to damage the US? No, not even at the tactical level. Russian and its allies should pursue its offensive in the other domains of warfare, specifically diplomatic and political.US strategy follows creating a 'coalition" of nations to support its illegal activities, never acting unilaterally. Isolate them diplomatically. Russian and its allies should use information operations to de-legitimize US activities in Syria. There is a myriad of real talking points that could be capitalized on, such as the failure of the CIA and Special Forces training program to Syria, casualties in their airstrikes.Additionally US distributors and disseminators of propaganda, CNN, Washington post and NY times should be targeted in this operation as these based on their recent content which tries to legitimize US operations in Syria to the public with blatant lies, misinformation,disinformation, propaganda and attempts to spin opposing information.Militarily, Syria and its allies could instead interdict aircraft, harass their operations based on regular flight routes of coalition aircraft.

Militarov wrote:

ultimatewarrior wrote:Pilot KIA. Like I said, Syrians are expendable to Russians. You all laughed when I said that first.

https://www.reddit.com/r/syriancivilwar/comments/6i2c85/syrian_mod_pilot_kia/

Yes, i think Russians should move all Syrians to Siberia and repopulate Syria with Russians. Put them in safe Heaven.

haha, no thanks.
It would be 2nd Israel in no time.

Apparently TRump was saying that Raqqa is not a go zone for Syrian army.
That it was allowed to take Aleppo but that Raqqa is off limits.

NO idea if true.. but if this is confirmed it will mean US is drawing lines in Syria
they plan to partition.But before moving into Raqqa Syrian army needs to control
in full every other part of Syria , Including IDLIB ,otherwise it will be point less.

Russia is also apparently telling its own red lines in the previous message.
Where Russian military told any foreign plane west of Euphrates will be seen as a target.
Interestingly DeirZur.. where the Syrian army are under siege by ISIS and the Syrian
military wants to link is on the border of west of Euphrates. So if the claims of what told Trump
are Truth,it seems pretty much their lines of defenses are being drawn.

And i do agree ,with being totally pointless to capture RAqqa. while Syria still have a lot of territory to liberate ,all eastern desert ,south Syria ,hama,homs ,Damascus,control in full IRAQ borders or most of it and same with control of border with jordan. and Israel. and Idlib very important for Syria too. Raqqa not important there is nothing there.

Now comes the interesting part. If US takes control of Raqqa for Kurds ,they will need to supply
100% everything to them by plane. because it will be a land locked region. with Turkey in north, Iraq in west and south Syria. This will benefit Russia ,because Turkey don't like what Americans are doing there ,that are helping Kurds to become a very modern and lethal army
armed by Americans weapons. And Russia and Syria can talk with Kurds .but Turkey not.
So it could benefit Russia actually to keep kurds in control of Raqqa. while being friendly to them. because Russia can sabotage in just a month , 7 years of war of the americans against Syria. by restoring relations with Kurds and creating a free transit for Syrians and kurds through all Syria. and demanding US to remove its military bases from there.

So Russia do have a lot of potential to convince Kurds to go closer to Syria. This is specially
True because US will have to literary carry the economy of Kurds ,feed them ,give them a job,
develop their business and transport all by air ,because they are landlocked. So me thinks
AMericans will be forced in a long term to abandon Syria and with empty hands. IF both agree to use the Euphrates left and right as the line of separation between Kurds and Syria.
when their economy weaken significantly and after major pressure of public opinion to abandon middle east.

So Russia policy should be the same they have. To capture territory as much as possible
without provoking an unnecessary war with Syrian neighbors and NATO and after than retake the remaining parts of Syria , using master diplomacy and politics.

and use the cease of fires for enhancing Syrian army military capabilities ,their training
and air defenses but also to raise the Syrian economy. very important too. and while all that
happens Idlib and Raqqa will be bleeding US and Turkey economy . So eventually they will
have to go ,because Kurds ,neither Turkey backed jihadist have much of a chance to become a developed region.

I put this really as an aide memoir as to the different groups up there.

The deal was brokered by the recently formed Victory Union under Turkish supervision and involved al-Bab local council

But then a few days later we have, just proves no honour amongst terrorists.

Nadie Harbieh‏ @NadieHarbi 5h5 hours ago

Sultan Murad Brigade military commander Abu Hilal al-Homsi (Abu Hilal Darwish) was killed in IED blast in Al-Bab #Idlib

Here we have the W-I-B account of the shoot down, I doubt they made it up.

West and south of the areas occupied by the SDF are areas nominally under the control of the Syrian regime. Damascus insists that its forces in the region are all regular Syrian military. But there’s strong evidence that Hezbollah and groups answering to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are also present on the Raqqa front.

After the SDF beat them to Tabqah, 20 miles west of Raqqa, regime military forces and their allies pushed south into outlying ISIS-occupied areas. To prevent aerial mix-ups along this fast-changing front, the United States and Russia agreed on a demarcation line. According to this agreement, the village of Ja’Den, six miles south of Tabqah air base, should belong to the SDF.

But the SDF had to take the town, first. On June 17 and 18, 2017, ISIS repelled the initial SDF attack on Ja’Den. After the SDF retreated, regime or pro-regime forces advanced on Ja’Den. It’s worth noting that Hezbollah and IRGC units in Syria do not reliably respect demarcation lines that the United States, Russia and even the Syria regime generally agree upon. By the afternoon of June 18, it was unclear who controlled Ja’Den.

Amid the confusion, U.S. military aircraft kept close watch on Ja’Den. On the afternoon of June 18, F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet fighter jets from Carrier Air Wing 8 — embarked on the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, then underway southwest of Cyprus — were flying continuous combat air patrols over Tabqah.

At 4:30, pro-regime forces clashed with the SDF near Ja’Den, according to the U.S.-led coalition. Starting almost simultaneously, at least five Sukhoi Su-22s from the Syrian air force — some launching from Shayrat, the others from Tiyas — approached the area, too.

After one of the Sukhois dropped its bombs on or near SDF positions at around 6:40 in the evening — possibly as the result of a navigational error — U.S. commanders ordered two F/A-18E Super Hornets to open fire.

One of the Super Hornets targeted the second Syrian jet as it was approaching the combat zone from the west, apparently firing an AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile. The wreckage of the Sukhoi hit the ground a few kilometers east of Rassafah, a small town southwest of Tabqah and east of Ja’Den.

http://warisboring.com/confusion-in-the-air-and-on-the-ground-as-u-s-and-syrian-planes-clashed/

Syria conflict: Australia suspends military air operations
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40339101?ocid=socialflow_twitter

Australia says it is temporarily suspending its military air operations over Syria, after a warning from Russia that it would treat aircraft from the US-led coalition as potential targets.
The pause was a "precautionary measure", the government said, without giving details.

You always bring propaganda from NATO to justify a clear aggression by United States on a
sovereign nation. The F/18 planes came from Israel according to other sources, so this whole story is bullshit. Simply Americans wanted to halt the progress of Syrian forces on ISIS.
Syria was bombing ISIS that is allowed to escape by US coalition and then americans bomb Syria.  So now bring the CNN version. And i supposed you also believe it was "self defense"
when US planes for no reason bomb Syrian army ,not one but two times in IRAQ border?

US can't create unilateral zones of control of a sovereign nation this is total bullshit.
and your report is insulting to human intelligence. That attack was plain an act of war.
Americans have NO legal base to enter in Syria airspace ,invade a sovereign nation territory,
provide weapons to any Rebel group ,no matter the pretext. and then later use its Airforce
to defend them when they stealing lands from Syria territory. you have to be kidding big time.



Now some positive news ,
The Australian Government is withrawing permanently all its military troops from Middle east
in light of US latest adventure provoking Russia and Syria into a war.



http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/06/fearing-russia-australians-decided-to.html

JohninMK wrote:Here we have the W-I-B account of the shoot down, I doubt they made it up.

West and south of the areas occupied by the SDF are areas nominally under the control of the Syrian regime. Damascus insists that its forces in the region are all regular Syrian military. But there’s strong evidence that Hezbollah and groups answering to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps are also present on the Raqqa front.

After the SDF beat them to Tabqah, 20 miles west of Raqqa, regime military forces and their allies pushed south into outlying ISIS-occupied areas. To prevent aerial mix-ups along this fast-changing front, the United States and Russia agreed on a demarcation line. According to this agreement, the village of Ja’Den, six miles south of Tabqah air base, should belong to the SDF.

But the SDF had to take the town, first. On June 17 and 18, 2017, ISIS repelled the initial SDF attack on Ja’Den. After the SDF retreated, regime or pro-regime forces advanced on Ja’Den. It’s worth noting that Hezbollah and IRGC units in Syria do not reliably respect demarcation lines that the United States, Russia and even the Syria regime generally agree upon. By the afternoon of June 18, it was unclear who controlled Ja’Den.

Amid the confusion, U.S. military aircraft kept close watch on Ja’Den. On the afternoon of June 18, F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet fighter jets from Carrier Air Wing 8 — embarked on the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, then underway southwest of Cyprus — were flying continuous combat air patrols over Tabqah.

At 4:30, pro-regime forces clashed with the SDF near Ja’Den, according to the U.S.-led coalition. Starting almost simultaneously, at least five Sukhoi Su-22s from the Syrian air force — some launching from Shayrat, the others from Tiyas — approached the area, too.

After one of the Sukhois dropped its bombs on or near SDF positions at around 6:40 in the evening — possibly as the result of a navigational error — U.S. commanders ordered two F/A-18E Super Hornets to open fire.

One of the Super Hornets targeted the second Syrian jet as it was approaching the combat zone from the west, apparently firing an AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missile. The wreckage of the Sukhoi hit the ground a few kilometers east of Rassafah, a small town southwest of Tabqah and east of Ja’Den.

http://warisboring.com/confusion-in-the-air-and-on-the-ground-as-u-s-and-syrian-planes-clashed/

This smell to fake news thousands of Kms.

eehnie wrote:

This smell to fake news thousands of Kms.

I suspect that's correct and W-i-B is well known for it. But this article went to a curious level of detail that could have been fed to them but still as rubbish of course. If there had have been more Su-22 it is probable someone would have spotted them and their reaction to their buddy being shot down would have been interesting, unless a sudden command came over the radio "return to base" in Russian. Suspect there will be Mig-23s around next time, assuming the SyAF have enough, otherwise its the RuAF.

Incidently, once the SAA gets to Deir I doubt there will be any problems for the RuAF if they want to use Iran for fuel stopovers again. About time the RuAF big boys laid some more waste.

Vann7 wrote:

Now some positive news ,
The Australian Government is witrawing permanently all its military troops from Middle east
in light of US latest adventure provoking Russia and Syria into a war.

http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/06/fearing-russia-australians-decided-to.html

This is what Russia needs. Create Public opinion on their favor. this is what will stop the war.
That the entire world start rejecting American illegal war in Syria. This is why is so important
Public Opinion in Syria . Canada a recent report told ,rejected sending troops to help American in Syria. and they are in IRAQ. and then Australia now leaving. This is how you isolate Americans from the Syrian war. By fully documenting and reporting US illegal actions
in Syria and exposing them. all this is achieved with patience while using the power of
communications.  In Infowars . com that is very pro Trump ,everyone 99% of the poster
there support Russia and reject US war against Syrian government. Russia is winning
big in public opinion in the Syrian war.

I can't find this anywhere but FR. There is a chance that they misinterpreted the Aussie announcement of standing down their air campaign for a while.

Don't think your assumption about Russia winning public support re Syria stands up in the West. Most people here don't give a shit what happens as long as there are no more ME refugees.

This is priceless

The news of Australia recalling its pilots after US attack on syria plane
creating new tensions , is becoming viral in RT.  

Mike was asking why Russia is cooperative with Americans , why the 60km..
why calling american their partners. why being polite , why not rushing to the use
of force, why doing their best to play by the Rules in United Nations. Why to be
respectful. This is all about Public Opinion.  Russia is not only fighting with bombs.
but is also fighting with diplomacy. with showing the world it have the moral high
ground. This is why the cease of fires and the reconciliation center created by
Russia in syria.  sounds good eh ?

Russia have the moral high ground big time in Syria and the world is awakening.
and if anyone listen Assad how he speak , he could not have been better leader to
earn public support.  I remember one time reading the yewish liberal media yahoo news.
The comments section after they posted Assad interview with one of them. One comment
made me laugh for a lot of time.. This lady was saying. something like this about Assad.

more or less.

"I never knew anything about Syria , but after seeing this ,im confused . Because my government tells us one story and Assad says another. And he answer all the questions,
and explained all the problems he face ,he answered all the questions and was all the time
very respectful and professional ,he doesn't seems to me the Brutal dictator that kills
his own people ,that my Government says. and looks very educated man.. and the most scary thing of all , is that Assad sounds very convincing. more credible than my own president. "

So here are some more comments of what people are saying today
about the Syrian conflict. in RT.. very big thread about 1k replies ,about the news of Australia abandoning the ship of the US coalition after US planes attack on Syria.  
99% of the people in support of RUssia.

@LoraSTrahl
Australia - such a wonderful country that probably everybody likes. What the hell is their interest in Syria in the first place? I have yet to meet one Aussie rooting for bombing Syria. They all seem to be well aware of the criminal nonsense.

@SS18    reply...
It's their puppet government.

@bm069au    reply..
Our nation is being ruined by these globalists and we are all but an extension of the USA.  I used the word prostitute above.. and that is how many of us Australians feel. Our government is weak, and our population mostly asleep. If our jets stray into Syrian air space.. please shoot them down.

@LoraSTrahl
I could say exactly the same talking about my country Germany. It's time to stop being US vassals!

my anonym reply..
Defections from US Coalition ,very good. Now if Only the US military and US Airforce
felt some self hate for helping ISIS and also defect from the war in Syria. it will leave just a couple of dozens of pentagon Generals alone with a rifle with the task to fight the Syrian army. This is the way ladies and gentlemen how the war will end. Public opinion support to end Pentagon illegal war on Syria and  major public protest against the war. This will only provoke defections withing the military and a major pressure. Canada also said no thanks to the Syrian war ,to the Pentagon. Japan the same.and now Australia.  lol

So the Public Opinion is provoking the major damages to US coalition.
If Russia keeps momentum ,maintaining patience ,not jumping fast to provocations
of Americans , but at the same time expressing in public their rejection of US military
actions and the potential targeting of their planes ,that are seen with hostile intentions.
while helping Syrian army to advance ,and hold territory. Then eventually US will become
completely isolated in Syria before the end of year. and only Middle east dictators becoming
part of the coalition.  They seem so desperate to go alone but in any major conflict start.
with american planes shutdown. US will find itself with no support not even from their own allies , from NATO or from United Nations in their illegal war in Syria. and it will be told ,that needs to cooperate with Russia.  

https://www.rt.com/news/393166-australia-halts-flights-syria/

and here is one of Assad best interviews.. how they try to create a trap for him
with questions and he completely own him ,with the answers. just a small part of
a larger interview with charly rose. watch the first minute of the interview.
You will see how Assad is in a different level in Intelligence ,this happens usually
with almost all other journalist that interview him.

nomadski wrote:
Does public opinion matter ? Of the middle eastern or European nations ? During the cold war , it took thirty years of nuclear threats to finally force mothers worried about their children's future . And constant nightmares of nuclear annihilation , to bring these mothers to their moral senses and force them on CND marches . And forced them to chain themselves to the nuclear yank bases Iin UK .

During David Cameron prime minister . The British public contacted their MP's . And forced them to vote against UK going to war in Syria against Russia . This moral decision was forced on them by the fear etched in their mind of going to nuclear war with Russia .

The battle for the hearts and minds has been won in Syria . Circumstance has forced people to it . But this moral battle is yet to be won in the Arabia peninsula . There , the fear of death may bring similar moral decisions .

After isis , the countries in the region need to attack the yank / kurdish separatist alliance and destroy it . The alliance needs to form now . There is no East or west of the euphratees . Only international borders .

Do not forget that the public opinion of the late 40s, the 50s and early 60s were WWII survivors. People without habit of contestation of their own gourvernments and military forces.

CNN: US F-15E fighter jet shoots down Iranian-made Shahed 129 pro-regime drone in Syria; was armed and in firing range of US troops

https://twitter.com/CNNnewsroom/status/877158038993424384

This is getting silly. In the case of the Syrian war there are really only two public opinions that matter, Russian and US. In both cases they are needed to support their respective forces.

Currently, and I can't see any change to this, both are either supportive or couldn't give a toss and both take a lot to move them.

Any 'puff' for or against any particular action on virtually any website anyway is irrelevant. I'll say that again, it doesn't matter. The decision makers either never see it, just don't care or even make up their own version which is the one splashed across the TV and press in the World. In the case of the US the decision makers are in the Pentagon and since the Vietnam War they have moved strongly against public opinion.

Vann, you say that there is a strong movement on RT as if it mattered, but as most in the West (apart from anti Russian US politicians) have no clue who or what RT is (apart from watching Max) it is just wasted energy, don't get hung up on it, chill a bit as there is nothing, nothing we can do.

Those Aussies are not going home and they are not 'suspending operations' due to public pressure, they quite sensibly don't want to be shot down due to some stupid, probably SDF, activity when they know, due to their activity against the SAA in Deir at the start of the year, they have a bloody great throbbing target marked on their F-18s. Their other planes, tanker and AEW may even continue.

Believe what you want

Majd Fahd @Syria_Protector 1h1 hour ago

Private: SAA Pilot Ali Fahd is with SDF in Tabqa & in good condition. Gen. Suheil Hassan (Tiger) negotiating with the Kurds to recover him.

JohninMK wrote:Believe what you want

Majd Fahd @Syria_Protector 1h1 hour ago

Private: SAA Pilot Ali Fahd is with SDF in Tabqa & in good condition. Gen. Suheil Hassan (Tiger) negotiating with the Kurds to recover him.

That is true(for now lol), that man is his relative. Informations from yesterday turns out to be false.

JohninMK wrote:Believe what you want

Majd Fahd @Syria_Protector 1h1 hour ago

Private: SAA Pilot Ali Fahd is with SDF in Tabqa & in good condition. Gen. Suheil Hassan (Tiger) negotiating with the Kurds to recover him.

So this means that he is being held as a captive (or maybe even as a POW) by the SDF?

Benya wrote:

JohninMK wrote:Believe what you want

Majd Fahd @Syria_Protector 1h1 hour ago

Private: SAA Pilot Ali Fahd is with SDF in Tabqa & in good condition. Gen. Suheil Hassan (Tiger) negotiating with the Kurds to recover him.

So this means that he is being held as a captive (or maybe even as a POW) by the SDF?

He will of course be being held, for his own safety, as a fellow anti-ISL combatant, no doubt in the Officers Mess.

PapaDragon wrote:

calm wrote:

CNN: US F-15E fighter jet shoots down Iranian-made Shahed 129 pro-regime drone in Syria; was armed and in firing range of US troops

https://twitter.com/CNNnewsroom/status/877158038993424384

Father the Lout is getting desperate to start trouble lately

Best response would be for SAA to grab some more of that sweet territory from ISIS and rebels

Mother wants that alimony moneyz

Anything that is flying, armed, within range of anyone related to the US and has no pilot is now a US target. We will see how far they push this as the USAF gets trigger happy.

confusing reports..

Syrian Army's Tiger Forces Rescue Shotdown Syrian Pilot




http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/06/shotdown-syrian-pilot-reportedly-fine.html


About the public Opinion.. and UK vs Syrian war. Public Opinion needs to be followed
by Protest ,and not just one day but every day. It needs to be done nation wide with an acceptable number of people. Look at Egypt. for example. They removed 2 dictators without
firing a shot. What made it possible to overthrow the government was.

1)massive Public Opinion against their government.
2)massive Public Protest to demand resignation of President.

Russia took crimea without firing a shot thanks to a favorable Public Opinion.


SO anyone that says Public Opinion doesn't matter is disconnected from this planet.
The Western GLobalist elite  pay a fortune , hundred of billions of dollars ,buying media ,
all for controlling Public Opinion. It was Public Opinion + public protest what overthrow the government of kiev too.  

IF Public opinion was not important , then you will not have all this Globalist western billionaire elite buying every media outlet out there and the government not seeking to censor and ban alternative media. Already European Union bans Infowars.. Ukraine ban Russian media.
this is not by coincidence. they understand how powerful Public opinion can be.

Russia needs to pursue greater advocacy campaigns to weaken the establishment control over the masses. Some ideas would be in the following categories:
Public Acts:
Global day of protest movement - I stand with Syria movement using the red, white and black colors of Syrian National Flag, in marches through cities of capitals which ends up with protests in-front US, Saudi embassies.Use vigils and obstruct the function of US embassy and officials connected to Syrian occupation effort.
Lighting of famous structures in Syrian colors
Pressuring US Senators and Individuals:
Haunting and Taunting of Washington hawks
Art:
Parodies and satire skits similar to SNL to mock and ridicule US establishment and neocons.
International:
Get its allies to support its humanitarian operation in Syria.Its time for them to pick a side, their isn't neutrality in politics.
Get UN general assembly to condemn US actions.
Syria:
Organize unarmed Syrian civilians to overrun and seize US bases in Al Tanif
Economic:
International boycott of American made products.

storm333 wrote:Russia needs to pursue greater advocacy campaigns to weaken the establishment control over the masses. Some ideas would be in the following categories:
Public Acts:
Global day of protest movement - I stand with Syria movement using the red, white and black colors of Syrian National Flag, in marches through cities of capitals which ends up with protests in-front US, Saudi embassies.Use vigils and obstruct the function of US embassy and officials connected to Syrian occupation effort.
Lighting of famous structures in Syrian colors
Pressuring US Senators and Individuals:
Haunting and Taunting of Washington hawks
Art:
Parodies and satire skits similar to SNL to mock and ridicule US establishment and neocons.
International:
Get its allies to support its humanitarian operation in Syria.Its time for them to pick a side, their isn't neutrality in politics.
Get UN general assembly to condemn US actions.
Syria:
Organize unarmed Syrian civilians to overrun and seize US bases in Al Tanif
Economic:
International boycott of American made products.

Massive Public Opinion + peaceful Public protest , can bring down any government
in the world including Washinton DC. This is not science. It just require nation unity which is rare to happen. But what this major activism produce is major defections withing the Government and major rebellions against the Government. But in this case is not overthrowing a government what is need , but demanding  Pentagon and Congress to stop their illegal war
in Syria. and abandon its support to any Islamic Jihadist fighters ,regardless if they called Democratic of Alqaeda or ISIS.  Once they see an ocean of people completely stopping washington DC operations. they will panic and will back down.

This is why Russia try to do everything through United Nations and by the law.. and reason
why Also Assad in Syria document every aggression with a letter to UN by foreign countries.
Is because they understand that any is important to draw world attention and create public opinion favorable to your nation ,in case a major war start. then it will have more chances
to use international pressure on the aggressor countries. Not even Israel ,who cares nothing
about International laws , is immune to International pressure. When Israel invaded Lebanon
in 2006 to fight hezbolah ,they lasted about ~30 days . the combination of US + International pressure forced them to retreat. and you could see Netanyahu in flames , had to backdown and achieved none of its objectives of defeating hezbolah and capturing its arrested israeli soldiers.
In the end Israel was humiliated because was forced to negotiate with hezbola for the release
of its soldiers through diplomatic means.. So the soldiers were returned unharmed and hezbolah got 10 times more loses , but in the end it was Israel who was defeated ,because it looked that they could not handle a mercenary group in Lebanon.

Vann7 wrote:confusing reports..

About the public Opinion.. and UK vs Syrian war. Public Opinion needs to be followed
by Protest ,and not just one day but every day. It needs to be done nation wide with an acceptable number of people. Look at Egypt. for example. They removed 2 dictators without
firing a shot. What made it possible to overthrow the government was.

1)massive Public Opinion against their government.
2)massive Public Protest to demand resignation of President.

Russia took crimea without firing a shot thanks to a favorable Public Opinion.


SO anyone that says Public Opinion doesn't matter is disconnected from this planet.
The Western GLobalist elite  pay a fortune , hundred of billions of dollars ,buying media ,
all for controlling Public Opinion. It was Public Opinion + public protest what overthrow the government of kiev too.  

IF Public opinion was not important , then you will not have all this Globalist western billionaire elite buying every media outlet out there and the government not seeking to censor and ban alternative media. Already European Union bans Infowars..  Ukraine ban Russian media.
this is not by coincidence. they understand how powerful Public opinion can be.

As I said in a post on that thread, it was a bit premature, apparently Gen. Suheil Hassan is a cousin.

Public opinion is important in the West, but NOT on this issue, Syria. They don't care, enough. So get used to it.

The Western media has, to all intents and purposes, been owned by 6 corporations for a few decades now, whilst before then much was under the influence, still is, of the CIA.

Some here might not think so but Russia is doing pretty much the maximum that it can get away with. It has achieved amazing results, mainly under the West's radar, since Putin came to power but it has to grow a lot stronger before it can kick sand in the bully's face and live to tell the tale.