Russia invades ...
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 13, 2026 05:41
VIEWED: 21925
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NICE PICTURE!
THANX! 
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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.
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Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
NICE PICTURE!
THANX!
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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns. Unless you're russia
Thought you may appreciate a picture of your fearless leader.
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Remember, this is ZEROHEDGE. I have not seen this is any of the large Russian websites (yet) but Reuters is quoted. So, about ZEROHEDGE: When they're right, they're spectacularly right. But they're right only half the time ....
Russia, Iran Begin "Promised" Assault On Syria's Largest City In Final Bid To Restore Assad
Quote:
Earlier this week, we noted that Iran had reportedly sent “thousands” of troops to Syria in preparation for an offensive aimed at retaking the city of Aleppo.
With a population of more than 2 million, Aleppo was Syria’s largest city prior to the war and it’s now run by a hodgepodge of rebels and militants including al-Qaeda, the Free Syrian Army, and ISIS.
To get an idea of the effect the war has had on the city, have a look at the following before and after nighttime light emissions images:
The battle is also notable for the scale of Iran’s involvement. Between Hezbollah and Iranian forces, the battle for Aleppo is shaping up to be the largest ground operation orchestrated by Tehran to date.
Here’s more, via Reuters:
Syrian troops backed by Hezbollah and Iranian fighters launched an offensive south of Aleppo on Friday, expanding their counter-attack against rebels across western Syria with support from Russian air strikes.
Aleppo, a commercial and industrial hub near the border with Turkey, was Syria's largest city before its four-year civil war, which grew out of protests against Assad's rule. Control of the city, still home to two million people, is divided between the government and rebels.
"This is the promised battle," a senior government military source said of the offensive backed by hundreds of Hezbollah and Iranian forces which he said had made some gains on the ground.
It was the first time Iranian fighters had taken part on such a scale in the Syrian conflict, he said, although their numbers were modest compared to the army force. "The main core is the Syrian army," the source said.
Hezbollah, which has supported Assad in several battles during the civil war, said the army was carrying out a "broad military operation" with support from Russian and Syrian jets. It made no mention of Hezbollah fighters in its brief statement.
Two senior regional sources told Reuters this week that Iran has sent thousands of troops to Syria to bolster an offensive underway in Hama province and ahead of the Aleppo attack.
And a bit more from AFP:
Russian air cover is backing offensives by Syria's army and allied militias in the central provinces of Homs and Hama, as well as Aleppo in the north and Latakia along the coast. On Friday, the Syrian army pushed south from the provincial capital Aleppo city, where control is divided between regime and rebels forces, as Russian air strikes pounded the villages of Al-Hader and Khan Tuman and nearby localities.
"The Syrian army started a new front on Friday and advanced to take control of the villages of Abteen and Kaddar" about 15 kilometres (12 miles) south of Aleppo city, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
He said "dozens" of Russian aerial attacks in the past 24 hours* had struck the area, which is controlled by a patchwork of groups including rebels, Islamist fighters and Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate, Al-Nusra Front.
Note also that Aleppo is near the so-called "anti-ISIS" zone that the US and Turkey humorously proposed to create a few months back, which means that Iran, supported by Russian air power, is now conducting an all-out ground assault very near territory Turkey likes to think it effectively patrols (if not controls).
But the real key here, is this (again from Reuters): "The assault means the army is now pressing insurgents on several fronts near Syria's main cities inNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
It looks like Erdogan is being hoist in his own petard.
Turkey Rages Against US and Russian Support of Kurds in Syria
While rivals in every other respect, both Moscow and Washington supporting the local branch of the PKK in Syria (The Independent)
Patrick Cockburn
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Turkey has summoned separately the American and Russian ambassadors in Ankara to complain about their countries acting in support of the military forces of the Syrian Kurds who are fighting Isis.
The Turkish government’s alarm underlines its problem in fighting a guerrilla war against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey at a time when the US and Russia, while rivals in every other respect, are both supporting the local branch of the PKK in Syria.
For context, Erdogan has been supporting ISIS in his bid to take over Syria, and recently (and unilaterally) broke a peace deal with the PKK by bombing them. What goes around comes around ... and pretty briskly, too, if you're a smaller nation mixing it up with the big boys.
Quote:NOT al Nusra??? Well, that's progress!
The US military says that its planes have dropped ammunition to the Syrian Kurdish militia or People’s Protection Units (YPG)
Quote:But they're OK using terrorists like ISIS on behalf of Turkey's regional ambitions!
while Kurdish officials say they have received 120 tons of weapons and ammunition. Amina Ossi, a deputy foreign minister in the Democratic Union Party (PYD) enclave in Syria, told The Independent last month that the Syrian Kurdish armed forces “number roughly 50,000 and we have lost 3,000 martyrs”. The YPG is widely recognised as the most effective opponent of Isis which has won a series of victories against it with the support of US air strikes.
The Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that arms supplied to the Syrian Kurds could fall into the hands of the PKK and be used against Turkey. He added that “Turkey cannot accept any kind of co-operation with terror organisations that have declared war against Turkey”.
Quote:Unilaterally breaking a peace deal 30 years in the making ...
Half of Turkey’s 550-mile border with Syria is now held by the YPG which is threatening to launch an offensive to seize Isis’s last border crossing with Turkey at Jarabulus and advance eastwards to link up with the Kurdish enclave at Afrin. Support for the Syrian Kurds from both the US and Russia makes it increasingly difficult for the Turkish army to stop the expansion of the Kurdish-held zone.
The confrontation between Kurds and Turkey has deepened dramatically since the constitutional pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) won 13 per cent in the Turkish general election on 7 June, depriving President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development party (AK) of its majority for the first time since 2002.
In July the Turkish army resumed military operations against the PKK in Turkey
Quote:Turkey bombed/invaded Iraq???
and Iraq.
Quote:This makes it sound as if the PPK bombed itself, Very bad reporting.
Since then Turkish-Kurdish relations have deteriorated rapidly, culminating in the suicide bomb attack on a peace protest in Ankara on 10 October that killed almost 100 people and wounded 500.
Quote:Freedom of the press goes out the window when elections are coming up! It wouldn't do to have the national leader look ineffective!
The Ankara attack is further polarising relations between Turks and Kurds with anti-Kurdish crowds at football matches jeering and shouting abuse during a one minute’s silence for the dead. The public prosecutor in Ankara has declared a gag order prohibiting reporting of the bombing
Quote:
the worst terrorist attack in Turkey’s history. This will only be lifted when those responsible for the bombing have been detained. The bombers almost certainly come from Isis, but government officials have hinted that the PKK may be responsible though without producing any evidence.
Regardless of the outcome of the [NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Interesting analysis, with some even more interesting (if true) fact buried in it
Syria and the Middle East SITREP October 18th, 2015 by John Rambo
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It’s been a mediocre week in Syria. Syrian forces have committed to a relentless offensive and have stepped up their assaults with fresh operations in Homs and Aleppo. Operations are being committed against both the Islamic State and the so called rebels supported by the West.
Gains have been modest, while territory is being recaptured by the Syrian Arab Army (supported by the Russian air force) the offensives, in the words of Russian advisers, have been less than spectacular. The speed of the offensives has been gruelingly slow due to the entrenched resistance seen in places like Aleppo and Hama.
Some of these areas have been in rebel hands for so long they have been reinforced into micro-garrisons. Tunnels are not only used to help shelter fighters during air raids and to move men from one part of the town to another in rapid defense but also to smuggle in supplies from outside the city during government sieges and encirclement.
Needless to say the fighting has been tough, but the SAA, with the aid of the Russian air campaign and Iranian/Hezbollah support, have brought in some hard earned victories.
However there is a lack of a single decisive victory, the big win if you will, for the Syrian Arab Army. Although morale has significantly picked up since the entry of the Russian air force into the fight there is also signs that the Syrian people have become accustomed to war, or ‘crisis’ as the government calls it.
Syria has been a nation at war for quite some time (4.5+ years). Despite this and the fact major parts of the country are destroyed, other parts of the nation have long returned to a level of normalcy. Of course there will always be the security issue as long as the crisis is ongoing. Law abiding citizens turning of age will have to commit to their draft and most likely be deployed in areas of combat against rebels or the Islamic State. Some boys have already been discharged. There is the odd day or two where one or two streets will be shut down due to terrorists but eventually normalcy returns. Life goes on.
Of course that’s not to say large parts of the country haven’t been reduced to rubble. Or that there isn’t an internal refugee crisis. But where the government rules there seems to be a level of order.
The government has had a long-standing program since the onset of the crisis to maintain a series of government grocery shops and bakeries to alleviate demands on the private sector. The government continues to subsidize food and electricity. Roads are fixed and maintained. Syrian TV dramas have continued to film and air over the four years with minor interruptions. Although some parts of Syria are destroyed, major segments still seem to be functioning fine. [Source]
And just like Syrian society so too has the Syrian military accepted the new security situation. Like all conflicts in the Middle East, long protracted wars are the norm. From Lebanon to Iraq to Palestine and back again. The Syrian Arab Army has seen so many causalities and has fought hundreds of thousands of foreign jihadists over the years that to achieve peace now would be as tedious as continuing the war in its current state.
No one has ever put it better than in Shakespeare’s Macbeth:
“I am in blood stepp’d in so far that should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’er,”
And that is what many Syrian regulars are feeling today; fighting a war that doesn’t seem to have an end. Despite the heavy propaganda of the ever-so-happy Syrian soldier, who apparently does not feel combat-fatigue fighting a war for almost half a decade, there is a general acceptance of the facts on the ground.
One of these facts it that to root out these Islamists from Syria once and for all is going to take a lot more effort than initially anticipated. The fact Assad had twice offered an amnesty to all draft-dodgers, deserters, and defectors highlights the comNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by G:
Peace would be the ultimate prize. But if they can't have that then Syrians and Russians and Hezbulah and Iranians and ISIS and Syrian rebels all shooting at each other... I got no real complaints. It's their war.
"Russians trying to bring the Americans in with the Americans shunning all attempts. "
As I said before, glad Obama didn't jump when everyone else wanted him to.
"Like all conflicts in the Middle East, long protracted wars are the norm."
Hey now, sounds a little like what I was saying.
"The Syrian Arab Army has seen so many causalities and has fought hundreds of thousands of foreign jihadists over the years that to achieve peace now would be as tedious as continuing the war in its current state. "
That cute, cuddly Middle East.
Russia's going into debt with all the military actions it's involved in and the Russia people will be kicking on the Kremlin door shortly. Going into Syria was a move of desperation on Putin's part because Assad was about to fall. Anyone who thinks Putin wanted to put troops there and spend despretly needed treasure is ill informed.
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A good article on the effect of Russia's airstrikes in Syria - http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/11/syrian-rebels-decry-russi
an-airstrikes-we-have-not-had-isis-here-in-over-a-year?CMP=share_btn_tw
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Residents in the areas hit by Moscow late last week described widespread destruction of houses and buildings. “The destruction is incredible, and all of them are civilian homes,” said Adnan Kanjo, the head of the local council in Derrat al-Izza in western Aleppo. “This is the first time we see destruction at this scale. There is intense fear and terror – we can’t even open our schools.”
“The regime’s planes could bomb maybe one or two buildings, but now a whole district is destroyed. There is no specific time and we can’t take any more precautions. If you are destined to get killed you will get killed. These Russian warplanes say they are targeting Daesh [Isis],” he added. “Well, we have not had Daesh here in over a year...
Also, doctors say at least 4 hospitals have been bombed by Russian airstrikes, the latest attack killing 12 people - http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/22/three-syrian-hospitals-bo
mbed-since-russian-airstrikes-began-doctors-say
I'm sure Signy, who feels so strongly about dead children and the bombing of nations, will have something to say about this carnage.
It's not personal. It's just war.
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Extraordinary use of Russian cluster-bombs in Idlib province:
https://www .youtube.com/watch?v=MsCbG0t1Ds8&feature=youtu.be
(video not playing so copy and paste the link and remove the space after the www)
Reportedly two whole towns evacuated after this. Expect the refugee crisis in Europe and elsewhere to get much worse...
It's not personal. It's just war.
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Can't seem to get the video working but it doesn't matter. It's obvious Russia is bombing indiscriminately.
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Gee, not working out like they thought. Imagine that. And all that to keep Asswad in power.
Being cynical, maybe it's working out exactly like Putin thought. The main goal is to prop up Assad and protect Russia's military base, but if a side effect is making the EU's refugee crisis twice as bad then I'm sure Putin wouldn't mind that at all. I would be surprised if Putin has shed a single tear for all the untold Syrian suffering he has caused and facilitated over the past 4 years. This is all just a game to him.
It's not personal. It's just war.
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