The Syrian Conflict Thread

[Xarog]

The degree to which it happens matters, imo.

Well, unlike Ukraine there's a lot at stake politically and economically. It was always going to be a big conflict considering those stakes.

I would point once again to the speech Putin made in 2006 about the consequences of the Dollar hegemony. Unless you understand just how much Russia stands to gain from that perspective, the violence in Syria and the amount of energy that Saudi Arabia and the West are willing to put into stymying Russia will not seem to make sense.

 

[snoopdoggydog]

"By the way, the Russian military aircraft did not really violate Turkish airspace, because Ankara unilaterally moved the border 8 kilometers (5 miles) into Syrian territory. It has been a so-called buffer zone since June 2012. At the time a rocket fired from Syria shot down a Turkish military plane that violated Syria's airspace," the media outlet explained.

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151009/1028265020/turkey-russia-greece-airspace-violations.html

 

[AntiGanda]

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151009/1028265020/turkey-russia-greece-airspace-violations.html

Even so, the territory is disputed for other reasons and was once Syrian.

 

[Unhappy438]

Oh no... Really hope this doesn't devolve into a proxy war.

Too late for that, it will get a lot worse as well if we start to see Russian casualties.

 

[AntiGanda]

Obama administration ends $500mn program to train Syrian rebels – report
The Obama administration is set to overhaul the Defense Department's $500 million program to train and equip Syrian rebels, according to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. The US president is expected to speak on the matter later on Friday.

Carter said during a Friday news conference in London that Washington has been "looking for several weeks at ways to improve" the program.

He added that he "wasn't satisfied with the early efforts" of the program, and that Washington is looking for "different ways to achieve the same kind of strategic objective."

"I think you'll be hearing very shortly from [President Obama] in that regard about the proposals that he has approved and that we are going to go forward with," Carter said following a meeting with his British counterpart Michael Fallon.

READ MORE: ‘Who are Syrian moderates & where are they?’

Meanwhile, a Pentagon official told The New York Times that the recruitment of so-called moderate Syrian rebels to go through training programs in Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates will end.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added that a much smaller training center will be opened in Turkey, where a small number of “enablers” – mostly leaders of opposition groups – will be taught operational maneuvers, such as how to call in airstrikes.

A separate US defense official said on Friday that the training program is not ending, but is simply being refocused. Speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, the official said that some US training and vetting of Syrian forces would continue, Reuters reported.

A top US General told Congress in September that only “four or five” US-trained rebels were still fighting on the ground, with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ga.) calling the program a “total failure.”
...
https://www.rt.com/news/318107-obama-ends-syrian-rebels/

 

[Rusty0]

Obama administration ends $500mn program to train Syrian rebels – report
The Obama administration is set to overhaul the Defense Department's $500 million program to train and equip Syrian rebels, according to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. The US president is expected to speak on the matter later on Friday.

Carter said during a Friday news conference in London that Washington has been "looking for several weeks at ways to improve" the program.

He added that he "wasn't satisfied with the early efforts" of the program, and that Washington is looking for "different ways to achieve the same kind of strategic objective."

"I think you'll be hearing very shortly from [President Obama] in that regard about the proposals that he has approved and that we are going to go forward with," Carter said following a meeting with his British counterpart Michael Fallon.

READ MORE: ‘Who are Syrian moderates & where are they?’

Meanwhile, a Pentagon official told The New York Times that the recruitment of so-called moderate Syrian rebels to go through training programs in Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates will end.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added that a much smaller training center will be opened in Turkey, where a small number of “enablers” – mostly leaders of opposition groups – will be taught operational maneuvers, such as how to call in airstrikes.

A separate US defense official said on Friday that the training program is not ending, but is simply being refocused. Speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, the official said that some US training and vetting of Syrian forces would continue, Reuters reported.

A top US General told Congress in September that only “four or five” US-trained rebels were still fighting on the ground, with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ga.) calling the program a “total failure.”
...
https://www.rt.com/news/318107-obama-ends-syrian-rebels/

So ISIS is US trained as previously suggested.

 

[pinball wizard]

So ISIS is US trained as previously suggested.

Just like Al Qaeda. I thought we all knew this.

 

[TriGuN]

Turkey has the most powerful military in the M/E apart from Israel, and they control a doorway into Syria.
Russia controls their gas supply though.

Saudi Arabia has drastically increased its military spending recently, and it now spends about as much as Russia does.

 

[snoopdoggydog]

Greece Scrambles Jets After Turkish F16s Violate Airspace

“Just as six Turkish F16 fighter planes conducted a training flight over the Aegean Sea two Greek war jets held them in their crosshairs for 2 minutes and 13 seconds,” the Turkish General Military Staff said in a statement Friday.

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151009/1028274796/greece-turkey-warplanes.html

 

[S.a.i.n.T]

Who's the terrorist now.? Christianists? Slowly but surely the hidden agenda of the western forces will be exposed.

 

[Grant]

Who's the terrorist now.? Christianists? Slowly but surely the hidden agenda of the western forces will be exposed.

?

 

[Fulcrum29]

Obama administration ends $500mn program to train Syrian rebels – report

https://www.rt.com/news/318107-obama-ends-syrian-rebels/

In Reuters,

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/09/us-mideast-crisis-usa-training-idUSKCN0S31GG20151009

U.S. program to train, equip Syrian rebels not ending: U.S. official

The U.S. military program to train and equip Syrian rebels is not "ending" but is instead being refocused, a senior U.S. defense official said on Friday, ahead of an announcement on overhauling the troubled U.S. effort.

Continued in this Reuters article,

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/09/us-mideast-crisis-syria-usa-idUSKCN0S31BR20151009

Obama to overhaul U.S. approach to support Syria rebels: Carter

The United States announced on Friday it would overhaul its effort to support Syria's rebels battling Islamic State, saying it would provide arms and equipment to vetted rebel leaders and their units, in a move that may allow an expansion of U.S. aid.

The U.S. announcement marked a departure from a previous program to train and equip units of fighters at sites outside of Syria, after that program's disastrous launch this year fanned criticism of President Barack Obama's war strategy.

...

But the more than $500 million program was troubled from the start, with some of the first class of less than 60 fighters coming under attack from al Qaeda's Syria wing, Nusra Front, in their battlefield debut.

Read the articles.

 

[OrbitalDawn]

So ISIS is US trained as previously suggested.

Nope.

 

[diane7]

I have read a lot of the posts in this thread .

My opinion I think Putin did the Right thing .

I have followed all the dilemma.

on this link

http://liveuamap.com/

 

[Xarog]

In Reuters,

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/09/us-mideast-crisis-usa-training-idUSKCN0S31GG20151009



Continued in this Reuters article,

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/09/us-mideast-crisis-syria-usa-idUSKCN0S31BR20151009

Obama to overhaul U.S. approach to support Syria rebels: Carter



Read the articles.

That's diplospeak though; if Obama decides to pull the plug then Ganda is right. Although right now all we have are reports of Obama being advised to do that, so it could still go either way.

 

[marine1]

So ISIS is US trained as previously suggested.

What I have been saying all along

 

[Xarog]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/09/putins-endgame-in-syria/
Worth the read.

 

[cybershark]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/10/09/putins-endgame-in-syria/
Worth the read.

Thanks, it is.

Whatever Putin's endgame, Europe will still have a refugee problem. Few will go back while Assad is still there.

To me it appears Putin is killing far more than "moderates", don't forget his Chechnya tactics, kill all the people on the ground, no one left to hate or fight you.

 

[Xarog]

Thanks, it is.

Whatever Putin's endgame, Europe will still have a refugee problem. Few will go back while Assad is still there.

To me it appears Putin is killing far more than "moderates", don't forget his Chechnya tactics, kill all the people on the ground, no one left to hate or fight you.

Really?

Why would the Syrians flee to Europe to live in refugee camps if they had a stable way of life? For the most part, Assad's rule was stable enough to guarantee the peasants some kind of employment and food to eat etc.

I think the Western Media has vastly overstated the Syrian antipathy towards Assad for PR reasons. I don't see people asking actual refugees what their opinion on the conflict is. This lack of perspective makes me suspicious as to the authenticity of the claims.

Juncker's volte-face with regards to Russia is quite telling in this regard. I would not be at all surprised if the reason for his arguing that Europe should support Russia is precisely because he thinks Russia can put a decisive end to Europe's refugee problem. If there's no war, there's no disaster to run from anymore.

And in this regard, any "Mission Accomplished" declaration from Russia might well be used by EU politicians to justify refusing to grant refugee status to any more Syrians.

 

[HideInLight]

What if Assad just quits and Russia grants him asylum?
No one can then claim credit for killing him, that would be a huge blow to just about everyone's agenda.