Syrian War: News #22

SDF building the relationship with Damascus. Think this is talking about road tankers. Wonder if there is a linited number so there will be fewer trucks left for the 'US pirate' runs NE into Iraq?

syrseal
@syrseal44
·
1h
A new agreement between ′′ SDF ′′ and the Syrian leadership on oil shipments - ′′ SDF ′′ agreed to supply Syria with 400 oil tanks per week, transported by ′′ Qatarji ′′ group with Russian protection,

They credit ISIS with a large area in the SAA west of the Euphrates, but nothing in the US zone east of it.





ISWNews Analysis Group: According to the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, the militants violated the ceasefire 24 times in the Idlib region, of which 3 are in Aleppo province, 8 in Latakia, 4 in Hama and 9 in Idlib.

1- Aleppo:
– A bomb blast in the city of Afrin killed and wounded several civilians. The city is under the control of Turkish-backed militants.
– According to a statement issued by the Afrin Liberation Forces, between August 14 and 19, seven Turkish-backed militants were killed by the group in the northwestern Aleppo on the Mare, Kaljabrin and Azaz areas.
– A car bomb exploded in the northern city of Azaz, injuring seven civilians.
– Turkish-backed artillery shelled the village of Sharava on the outskirts of Afrin.
– Turkish-backed militants targeted one of the SDF positions with anti-tank missiles on the west of al-Bab.

2- Idlib:
– Russian fighter jets attacked militant positions on the outskirts of the village of Kansafra, south of Idlib.
– Russian fighter jets attacked the Balyun area south of Idlib.
– Russian fighter jets targeted an area between the village of Kansafra and the town of al-Bara.
– A civilian was killed by a landmine explosion on the outskirts of al-Bara town.

3- Hasakah:
– Turkish-backed artillery attacked on the Zerkan area north of Hasakah.
– Turkish drones targeted a YPG vehicle on the Qamishli-Amuda road in northeastern Syria, killing two YPG members.

4- Deir Ezzor:
On August 21, a US F-15 warplane shot down an unidentified drone near the US military base in the Omar oil field in Syria’s Deir Ezzor province.

5- According to the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria, the militants violated the ceasefire 24 times in the Idlib region, of which 3 were in Aleppo province, 8 in Latakia province, 4 in Hama and 9 in Hama province.

JohninMK wrote:Jens Hittrien
@JensHittrien
·
5h
Turkey started a drone campaign to liquidate SDF commanders & AANES officials. So far about 25 strikes have been conducted, mainly targetting senior YPG/YPJ leadership & PYD politicians.

So far it did not provoke a strong reaction from US.

I think the top Kurdish dickheads that are being killed by Turkey are ones that are the hardcore element inside Kurdish groups that don't want to end the war and are hoping for a separate state.

par far wrote:

JohninMK wrote:Jens Hittrien
@JensHittrien
·
5h
Turkey started a drone campaign to liquidate SDF commanders & AANES officials. So far about 25 strikes have been conducted, mainly targetting senior YPG/YPJ leadership & PYD politicians.

So far it did not provoke a strong reaction from US.

I think the top Kurdish dickheads that are being killed by Turkey are ones that are the hardcore element inside Kurdish groups that don't want to end the war and are hoping for a separate state.

We don't know who the ones were who were killed

But I suspect the ones that weren't might be inclined towards hedging their bets with Damascus more now

Hedging their bets? Sounds plausible

syrseal
@syrseal44
·
20h
A new American project in northeastern Syria is the formation of a military force separate from the SDF from the member of the Arab tribes,for a salary of $ 200 to $ 400. Initial information. .

JohninMK wrote:Hedging their bets? Sounds plausible

syrseal
@syrseal44
·
20h
A new American project in northeastern Syria is the formation of a military force separate from the SDF from the member of the Arab tribes,for a salary of $ 200 to $ 400. Initial information. .

Last time they spent few millions to train a dozen guys like this who were never seen again after releasing them in the nature. They even sold their weapons.

With 200$ they will they will train an delivry man from amazone to deliver an ak-47 to no one in the middle of the desert.

Isos wrote:

JohninMK wrote:Hedging their bets? Sounds plausible

syrseal
@syrseal44
·
20h
A new American project in northeastern Syria is the formation of a military force separate from the SDF from the member of the Arab tribes,for a salary of $ 200 to $ 400. Initial information. .

Last time they spent few millions to train a dozen guys like this who were never seen again after releasing them in the nature. They even sold their weapons.

With 200$ they will they will train an delivry man from amazone to deliver an ak-47 to no one in the middle of the desert.

Seems to imply $2-400 a month salary. Not to be sneezed at in Syria atm.

So they are no happy with the Kurds and now want a mercenary local army... by the look of how they whipped the afghans into such a powerful fighting force in only 20 years and 3 trillion dollars I am sure this new Syrian force will cost another 3 trillion and take 50 years to fully train...

d_taddei2 wrote:Syria still seems on a stalemate scenario, with no gains by government forces for a very long time. What's the strategy now? Does Turkish backed forces and Turkey really hold the Syrian government to ransom? The odd airstrike here and there achievea very little, the waiting strategy doesn't seem to be working. And ISIS should have really been dealt with during this relatively quiet period, total eradication of ISIS would have been a good success story for the government forces and dealt with a thorn in their side, and freeing up forces to put into Latakia front to finally clear the mountainous area and claim that region back and give good advantage over Jisr Al shughur. Put them in a good position to finally destroy the rats in idilb.  

The Russian/Syrian strategy seems to be softly softly catchy monkey. Before they flatten Idlib they have to try to get as many of the hardened terrorist into it as possible. Now they are in the process of clearing Daraa they have pretty much achieved it. Whether they can neutralize the continuing US injection of ISIS operatives into the SE remains to be seen. It may not be needed before the bulk of the SAA hits Idlib. The RuAF has been steadily hitting a variety of targets but we have no knowledge what they are or the damage caused.

The point at which the Turks are going to have to put up or shut up is drawing closer and Turkey's financial problems are not going away..

In the meantime Government/SDF relations are slowly improving with the first 'hundreds' of tanker trucks heading west out of the oilfields rather than east into Iraq.

The US chaos in Afghanistan will have done no harm at all to the future of Syria, imagine how the Kurds feel today about the US's continuing support? The ongoing attacks on US logistics in Iraq are not going to go away either.

Time is on the Syrian Governments side.

There are 3 players in the game, Russia/Damascus, Turkey/FSA, and USA/Kurds/DEZ Arabs

And they have ground up as much against each others borders as can be done, no side is budging for the moment hence the stalemate.

The Kurds though at least try to keep their options open, so it's possible that they can switch sides over time. Little chance of that with the former ISIS Arabs in Deir-ez-zor, they know they're cooked if Assad rolls in.

With Turkey, Russia has some sort of general understanding, about a political settlement and the withdrawal of Turkish troops eventually, allowing for that territory in northern Syria to be reabsorbed - but that won't happen until the Kurds agree to mostly disarm and reintegrate into Syria.

The delicious irony is that the ISIS fighters the Americans are neutral with in Syria are the ones trying to kill them in Afghanistan... but I am sure the American State Department will say that is totally different...

If the Americans were honest about wanting peace and security in any region they would have been fighting ISIS in Syria as hard as Iran and Russia and Assads Syrian forces have been and if that were the case I would say they would not be a problem by now...

But the reality is that US bullshit is just US bullshit... they occupy Iraq and wanted Assad out of Syria so they could install any messed up group, or no group at all like Libya so they can lay gas pipelines from the UAE through Iraq and Syria to get to Turkey as an alternative to Russian gas feeding Europe... that is what it has all been about.... it was nothing to do with saving Iraq from Saddam or Syria from Assad... America could care less about anybody living in that region... they are tools to make money and try to damage Russia.

How has it worked out... lots of people dead... lots of destruction... Russia and Iran more powerful in the region than they could ever have achieved on their own... even the Taliban respect Russia more than they respect the US, and I would say the same is true for Iraq and Syria and even Turkey...

But the US is exactly like ISIS... if they can't win then they can still twist the knife and damage others so they will stay and operate from Jordan which is going to effect their ability and reach but they will keep supporting some of their proxies and help keep ISIS alive in the region for nothing more than to be a problem for Iran and Russia and Assad.

Like I keep saying... Russia has no future with the US or the EU... the EU is just US jnr that does as they are told most of the time and certainly enough to make them untrustworthy partners in anything important.

The rest of the world is where Russia should focus and be careful not to adopt the wests controlling and smothering tactics... Russias new trade partners should make money too and should be allowed to grow and develop along with Russia with the trade and commerce ties they create.

flamming_python wrote:There are 3 players in the game, Russia/Damascus, Turkey/FSA, and USA/Kurds/DEZ Arabs

And they have ground up as much against each others borders as can be done, no side is budging for the moment hence the stalemate.

The Kurds though at least try to keep their options open, so it's possible that they can switch sides over time. Little chance of that with the former ISIS Arabs in Deir-ez-zor, they know they're cooked if Assad rolls in.

With Turkey, Russia has some sort of general understanding, about a political settlement and the withdrawal of Turkish troops eventually, allowing for that territory in northern Syria to be reabsorbed - but that won't happen until the Kurds agree to mostly disarm and reintegrate into Syria.

Turkey piling on the pressure, moving the SDF moves towards Syrian Government protection?

First part of long article

Breaking a long lull in its military campaign against Kurdish forces in northeast Syria, Turkey has launched a series of drone strikes targeting high-profile members of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), apparently with quiet nods from Russia and the United States.

The YPG lost around two dozen members, including senior figures, in about 20 drone strikes that hit YPG targets last week, including vehicles carrying military commanders, meeting places and command centers.

The YPG forms the backbone of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls much of northeast Syria, as part of a de facto autonomous administration along the border with Turkey. Ankara views both outfits as terrorist groups for their links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which took up arms in southeast Turkey in 1984 and is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara, Washington and much of the international community. Washington, however, makes a distinction between the PKK and the SDF, its chief local ally in Syria.

One of the strikes hit a YPG vehicle on the Qamishli-Amuda road Aug. 19, killing Salahuddin Shahabi, a senior field commander known also by his nom de guerre Renas Roj, a member of the YPG military council and their driver. It was the first Turkish attack against a YPG target since Operation Peace Spring in fall 2019, when Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels wrestled control from the YPG in a border pocket between Ras al-Ain and Tell Abyad, including a section of the strategic M4 highway. According to Turkish news reports, the strike went ahead after Turkey’s intelligence service learned that Shahabi, the commander of the YPG’s Hasakah-Qamishli headquarters, had left Hasakah by car. A Turkish TB-2 Bayraktar drone hit the vehicle in the pre-dawn hours after it left residential areas, according to the reports.

A second strike followed later that day, targeting YPG headquarters in the town of Tal Tamer, north of Hasakah, where a high-level meeting was underway. The building was reportedly the venue of meetings between US generals and YPG commanders in the past. The attack claimed the lives of seven YPG commanders including Sosin Birhat from the Women’s Protection Units, the all-female branch of the YPG, and left nine people injured.

https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/08/turkeys-targeted-killings-signal-new-strategy-against-syrian-kurdish-forces#ixzz74mKpUIx3

Then came the bleating re the US. Don't they watch the news which is showing them quite clearly what is in store for them? Its just a matter of time now.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Spokesperson for the People’s Protection Units (YPG) on Friday slammed his counterpart for the global coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) who said that they are not responsible for stopping Turkey’s attacks in northeast Syria, also known as Rojava. Turkey has recently stepped up its attacks against Kurdish forces, in violation of ceasefires brokered by Washington and Moscow.

“The YPG has been the most successful force in the fight against ISIS and our region is a much safer area for partner forces’ troops compared to Afghanistan and Iraq, thanks to efforts by our fighters,” Nuri Mahmud said in a statement on Twitter.

“Yet we are disappointed to see the coalition spokesman Col Wayne Marotto not taking any responsibility for the silence in the face of aggression by coalition and NATO member Turkey with NATO-supplied weapons on people and troops fighting IS [ISIS], and instead referring the US-EUCOM and US-DoD to assume responsibility. Who is responsible?” Mahmud added, referring to the United States European Command (EUCOM) and the Pentagon.

More at link

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/27082021

Breaking a long lull in its military campaign against Kurdish forces in northeast Syria, Turkey has launched a series of drone strikes targeting high-profile members of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), apparently with quiet nods from Russia and the United States.

The Kurds are not interested in agreements with Russia, these are Turkish attacks on a US ally... not much to do with Russia at all... but perhaps mentioning them is an attempt to dilute blame away from the US who is supposed to be the ally and protector of the Kurds in Syria.

I don't believe this. Anyone seen it from elsewhere?

syrseal
@syrseal44
· 57m
America withdraws from 3 military bases in Syria: 1- Omar field near oil wells in Deir ez-Zor, 2- Tell Baidar near Qamishli in Hasakah, 3- Qasrak south of Qamishli in Hasakah-Al-Alam tv

JohninMK wrote:I don't believe this. Anyone seen it from elsewhere?

syrseal
@syrseal44
· 57m
America withdraws from 3 military bases in Syria: 1- Omar field near oil wells in Deir ez-Zor, 2- Tell Baidar near Qamishli in Hasakah, 3- Qasrak south of Qamishli in Hasakah-Al-Alam tv

I have not seen this from anyone, how reliable is this source?

I don't think they pull out so soon after pulling out from Afghanistan.

JohninMK wrote:I don't believe this. Anyone seen it from elsewhere?

syrseal
@syrseal44
· 57m
America withdraws from 3 military bases in Syria: 1- Omar field near oil wells in Deir ez-Zor, 2- Tell Baidar near Qamishli in Hasakah, 3- Qasrak south of Qamishli in Hasakah-Al-Alam tv

Let's hope this is true. Iraq will be the next Afghanistan (Vietnam) then

I have not seen this from anyone, how reliable is this source?

I don't think they pull out so soon after pulling out from Afghanistan.

They have done so without warning and surprising everyone... so maybe they did learn a good lesson from the screwup in Kabul?

Lack of a countdown from 10,000 before they withdrew would be a sensible way to do it, the only question being... is it true.

GarryB wrote:

I have not seen this from anyone, how reliable is this source?

I don't think they pull out so soon after pulling out from Afghanistan.

They have done so without warning and surprising everyone... so maybe they did learn a good lesson from the screwup in Kabul?

Lack of a countdown from 10,000 before they withdrew would be a sensible way to do it, the only question being... is it true.

Don’t think so tbh

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syria-sdf-kurds-mazloum-kobane/2021/08/30/029d1cd8-ff79-11eb-825d-01701f9ded64_story.html

Maybe a more realistic view

ل
@leithfadel
·
1 Sep
Meh, nothing significant. The US constantly moves troops in and out of Syria. Even if they withdraw from some small base, it doesn't mean much because their primary installation is at the Al-Umar Fields.

Meanwhile

Lebanese News and Updates
@LebUpdate
· 1 Sep
Flag of United States USA Senator Chris Murphy after meeting Lebanese officials:

"Any fuel that is transported through Syria is subject to sanctions, and Washington is looking for a way to do so without sanctions."

ل
@leithfadel
·
1 Sep
Well, the US is currently occupying the largest Syrian oil field. Is that oil sanctioned? If so, is the sale and distribution of this oil subject to sanctions? Asking for a friend.

https://twitter.com/syrseal44/status/1433716164555902980

Syrian air defense shot down 6 israeli missiles, one S-200 missile again fly through Israeli IADS and fall near Tel Aviv.