The Syrian Conflict Thread

[Alan]

China is to step up personnel training and humanitarian assistance to president Bashar al Assad’s Syrian government, state media reported on Thursday, in a signal of growing concern in Beijing about the course of Syria’s civil war.

Rear Admiral Guan Youfei, who heads China's office for international military cooperation, met Lt. General Fahd Jassem al-Frejj, the Syrian defence minister, in Damascus earlier this week, the Xinhua news agency said.

The Chinese military is “willing to strengthen cooperation with its Syrian counterparts,” the agency quoted the defence ministry as saying.

“They reached consensus on improving personnel training, and the Chinese military offering humanitarian aid to Syria,” the Xinhua report said of the Damascus meeting.

Xinhua said Adm. Guan also met Lt. General Sergei Chvarkov, the Russian general in charge of the reconciliation centre Russia set up earlier this year to monitor a short-lived ceasefire between the government and rebel groups.

The Russian defence ministry was not immediately available for comment. Russia entered the war in Syria on Mr Assad’s side in September 2015.

China shares Russia’s view that Mr Assad remains the legitimate ruler of Syria and has joined Moscow in blocking resolutions critical of his regime at the United Nations Security Council, but has not followed its lead in deploying combat forces to the country.

However, the Global Times, a paper published by the ruling Communist Party, said advisors are already on the ground in Syria to train regime forces in the use of Chinese-bought weapons including sniper rifles, rocket launchers, and machine guns.

China’s support for Mr Assad is motivated by hostility to uprisings against autocratic regimes and long running concern about the spread of militant Islam in its predominantly Muslim western provinces.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ary-cooperation-with-assad-as-top-admiral-vi/

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

[video=youtube;xpQDD4cJOEI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpQDD4cJOEI[/video]

 

[Unhappy438]

Syria bombed the Kurdish YPG, a key US ally fighting ISIS, while US troops were "nearby"

https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/766408839218552833

 

[Noah]

Kurdish Assayish simply can't miss an opportunity to sperg out.

 

[saor]

Is there an ISIS thread? Anyway:

[video=youtube;yMKOV2zA9Wc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMKOV2zA9Wc[/video]

 

[Unhappy438]

Iran: Russia has stopped using Iran base for Syria strikes

Russia has stopped using an Iranian air base for launching airstrikes on Syria for the time being, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday, just hours after the Iranian defense minister criticized Moscow for having "kind of show-off and ungentlemanly" attitude by publicizing their actions.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/iran-chastises-russia-publicizing-iranian-bases-070018878.html

 

[Alan]

Kurdish security forces defusing an explosive belt attached to a child suicide bomber

[video=youtube;e_zLS2PjwCI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_zLS2PjwCI[/video]

The boy, who allegedly wore a suicide belt and was reportedly aged between 12 and 13, can be seen surrounded by several armed officers. The youngster’s hands are held by two law enforcers while another one is defusing the explosive device attached to the boy’s body.

“Security forces are now defusing the explosives belt,” Rudaw reporter commented on the operation. The arrest was also reported by Kurdish Kurdistan24 channel, with the media outlet posting the full clip of the incident on their YouTube channel.

https://www.rt.com/news/356687-teenager-suicide-belt-iraq/

Staged?

 

[Noah]

Kurdish security forces defusing an explosive belt attached to a child suicide bomber




https://www.rt.com/news/356687-teenager-suicide-belt-iraq/

Staged?

Didn't think so until I saw that camera... yeah nah no one is running around with those cameras and no one is waiting for someone that does to pitch up before defusing.

 

[Alan]

[video=youtube;jifS0fi9WB8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jifS0fi9WB8[/video]

Obviously a propaganda outlet but still damning for the MSM. Their hypocrisy plays straight into the hands of Putin and his allies

 

[Unhappy438]

Syrian forces, Kurdish YPG 'agree to Hasaka ceasefire'

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Gaziantep on the Turkish side of the border with Syria, described the ceasefire as fragile, citing the collapse of a similar reported truce in recent days.

"The terms of the truce state that the Syrian army will pull out of the city, but they can easily re-deploy to military bases around Hasaka," said Ahelbarra.

Kurdish fighters are also expected to pull out as part of the truce, our correspondent said, adding that security was going to be handed over to the Asayish, the police branch of the YPG.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/...g-agree-hasaka-ceasefire-160823133734031.html

Looks like bombing the Kurds didnt work out too well for Assad.

 

[Unhappy438]

Turkish military, U.S.-led coalition launch major operation in northern Syria

Turkish special forces units and jets supported by warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition launched an operation in northern Syria to wipe out Islamic State militants along the Turkey-Syria border, Turkish officials said.

"The aim of the operation is to ensure border security and Syria's territorial integrity while supporting the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State," one military source said, adding work to open a passage for ground forces was underway.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-turkey-idUSKCN10Z07J

 

[Noah]

Syrian forces, Kurdish YPG 'agree to Hasaka ceasefire'



http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/...g-agree-hasaka-ceasefire-160823133734031.html

Looks like bombing the Kurds didnt work out too well for Assad.

Taking Hasaka won't work out too well for the Kurds in the long run.

 

[Unhappy438]

Turkey’s Military Plunges Into Syria, Enabling Rebels to Capture ISIS Stronghold

Turkey sent tanks, warplanes and special operations forces into northern Syria on Wednesday in its biggest plunge yet into the Syrian conflict, enabling Syrian rebels to capture an important Islamic State stronghold within hours.

The operation, assisted by American warplanes, is a significant escalation of Turkey’s role in the fight against the Islamic State, the militant extremist group ensconced in parts of Syria and Iraq that has increasingly been targeting Turkey.

By evening, Syrian rebel fighters declared that they had taken control of the Islamic State stronghold, the town of Jarabulus and its surroundings, which had been the militant group’s last major redoubt near the Turkish border. Turkish officials said one rebel fighter was killed but no Turkish troops died.

Numerous fighters posted photographs and videos of themselves online with the green, black and white flag adopted by the Syrian opposition as they walked through what appeared to be empty streets, passing buildings still flying the flag of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/world/middleeast/turkey-syria-isis.html

 

[Noah]

ISIS (((strangley))) pulling out of all the territory helps a lot.

 

[Dave]

Daraya surrenders to Assad regime after four years of siege and starvation

For four long years the Damascus suburb of Daraya endured siege, bombardment and starvation at the hands of the Syrian regime.

The city was one of the first to rise up in peaceful protest against Bashar al-Assad during the early days of the Arab Spring and it stood strong in face of his violent oppression.

But on Friday Daraya’s long defiance came to an end and the city finally surrendered to the regime troops who have besieged it since 2012.

Its loss is a blow to the Syrian rebels as Daraya, which is just 15 minutes from central Damascus, was an icon of resistance. Its capture is both a symbolic victory for Mr Assad and a battlefield success that will free up his troops to fight elsewhere around the Syrian capital.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...o-assad-regime-after-four-years-of-siege-and/

 

[Noah]

Now just Yarmouk and Zamalka need to surrender and Damascus will be safe.

From 3 years ago, even then the place was a mess.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lQJ8dMOvqk

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

Source: Turkey ratchets up Syria offensive, says warplanes hit Kurdish militia

Rebels supported by Turkey fought Kurdish-backed forces in northern Syria on Saturday, as Ankara ratcheted up its cross-border offensive by saying it had launched air strikes against both Kurdish forces and Islamic State.

Turkey's government, which is fighting a Kurdish insurgency at home, has said the Syrian campaign it opened this week is as much about preventing Kurdish militia fighters from gaining territory in Syria as about pushing back Islamic State.

Turkey wants to stop Kurdish forces gaining control of a continuous stretch of Syrian territory on its frontier, which it fears could embolden the Kurdish militant group PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency on Turkish soil.

Turkish security sources said two F-16 jets bombed a site controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia, which is part of the broader U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition.

So shocked that Turkey isn't in Syria to attack ISIS, but using it to strike at Kurds, shocked I say!

 

[Alan]

If US Vice President Joe Biden hoped for a trade-off with Turkish President Recep Erdogan – US assurances over Euphrates River ‘red line’ for Kurdish militia in lieu of Turkey’s acquiescence with Islamist preacher Fetullah Gulen remaining in Pennsylvania – that was not to be. ‘Euphrates Shield’ pre-empted Biden’s bidding. Erdogan thereby made Gulen’s extradition a ‘stand-alone’ issue. US’s Syria policies are in free fall and Turkey is increasingly eyeing Russia and Iran as its key interlocutors to resolve the Syrian problem.

Strategic ambiguity becomes necessary even between allies while addressing difficult issues. Turkey, with its long experience in diplomacy, displayed this week its exceptional mastery over the concept of strategic ambiguity.

When US President Barack Obama ‘upgraded’ the mission to Ankara from the level of secretary of state to the vice-president, Turkey was expected to feel honored. Instead, when Joe Biden arrived in Ankara on August 24, he was received at the airport by the deputy mayor.

Again, even as his aircraft was approaching Turkish air space, Ankara deftly undercut his negotiating brief. Turkish Special Forces had crossed the border already into Syria by the time Biden landed in Ankar

http://atimes.com/2016/08/joe-biden-came-saw-but-failed-to-conquer-turkey/

 

[NarrowBandFtw]

Source: Syria war: US warns over Turkish-Kurdish violence

The US says fighting between Turkey, pro-Turkish rebels and Kurdish-aligned forces in northern Syria is "unacceptable" and must stop.

Clashes in places where so-called Islamic State (IS) was not present were a "source of deep concern", the US envoy to the anti-IS coalition tweeted.

Turkish forces have attacked what they say are Kurdish "terrorists" since crossing the border last week.
But the Kurdish YPG militia says Turkey just wants to occupy Syrian territory.

Ankara says it aims to push both IS and Kurdish fighters away from its border.

 

[Unhappy438]

We must not let chemical weapons to become the 'norm'

There is now, at last, conclusive evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) have used chemical weapons in Syria, nearly 2.5 years after I collected evidence that proved that Assad had dropped chlorine barrel bombs on the towns of Kafr Zita and Talmenes in Idlib province.

The much anticipated and now leaked report by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Joint Investigation Mechanism (JIM) has at last concluded that both the Assad regime and ISIL have used chemical weapons on a number of occasions.

Full article: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/08/chemical-weapons-norm-160828085920169.html