Category: Syria

According to President Trump, ISIS has been beaten down to the point that countries in the area can deal with them effectively. Would Russia be ecstatic over this decision for the U.S. to pull out?

With the U.S. largely removed from the picture on the ground, it’s up to Turkey and others to counter balance the Russians, Iranians, and other actors. We have the Kurds, and we still have the ability to continue to conduct air strikes over the area.

There’s also the chance that the Russians and Iranians could influence momentum on the ground in their favor. ISIS could be “removed and dislodged”, thus leaving us a Syria that’s grateful to Russia and Iran.

For their part, the Russians are being cautious.

Just as the decision to pull out surprised those within the U.S., and among our allies, it also surprised our enemies and adversaries. They’re praising what they believe is a new advantage on their part to frame and shape the new direction a new Syrian government could take.

From Al Monitor:

First, he agreed with Trump that the Islamic State was on the ropes, while adding that there was still “danger of these groups pouring into neighboring regions, Afghanistan in particular, and other countries to where they originate from.”

Second, the Russian president echoed the skepticism of many of his lieutenants.

“As for the pullout, I don’t know what it means,” he said, commenting, The United States has “been in Afghanistan for 17 years and almost every year they say they are pulling out.”

Finally, Putin tore into Western countries — the United States, France and Germany in particular — for allegedly pressuring the UN to block progress by the Astana trio.

“Do we need American troops [in this situation]? I don’t think so,” Putin said. “Let’s not forget their presence is illegal as they neither have a UN mandate nor a Syrian government invitation, like we do.”

You can read more here.

With friends like this, who needs enemies?

A Russian maritime patrol aircraft with multiple personnel on board was inadvertently shot down by Syrian regime anti-aircraft artillery on Monday after the Syrians came under attack by Israeli missiles, according to a US official with knowledge of the incident

The US official said the regime was actually trying to stop a barrage of Israeli missiles. A second official confirmed that Israel was responsible for the missile strikes on the Syrian regime.

The Russian state news agency TASS reported that a Russian IL-20 military aircraft with 14 personnel on board disappeared over the Mediterranean on Monday. According to TASS, the ministry of defense specified that “the mark of IL-20 went off the radars disappeared during the attack of four Israeli F-16 aircraft on Syrian targets in the province of Latakia.”

The Israelis had fired multiple missiles against targets in the coastal area of Latakia where Russian has based much of its military presence, including aircraft. In an attempt to strike back against the Israelis, the Syrians launched extensive anti-aircraft fire, the official said and the Russian aircraft was hit.

The US found out about the incident because Syrian forces broadcast an emergency search and rescue radio call on an international frequency. The US then got a direct message from another country about the type of aircraft and circumstances of the incident. The official would not identify that country, but it is likely that Russia is the only nation that would know exactly what type of aircraft was shot down.

A spokesman for the Pentagon told CNN that the missiles were not fired by the US military but would not speak as to who was behind the strikes. An Israel Defense Forces spokesman declined to comment on the reports.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/08/21/night-stalkers-warrant-officer-killed-iraq-crash-identified.html

Thanks to GDContractor for the link.

Military Times is reporting Syrian President Bashar Assad has threatened to attack a region held by U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria, saying in an interview broadcast on Russia Today channel on Thursday that American troops should leave the country.

The remarks reflect that despite pressure on multiple fronts, Assad is seeking to consolidate control after seven years of civil war.

With military backing from Russia and Iran, he has reclaimed most of the territory lost to rebels in the wake of the popular uprising that swept the country in 2011, and quickly descended into all-out civil war. But large areas remain beyond his control, including the expansive region north of the Euphrates River that is administered by the Syrian Kurds.

Speaking to the Russian channel, Assad said he has opened the door to negotiations with the Kurdish-run administration while also preparing to “liberate by force.”

Forces loyal to Assad and the Syrian Kurds have clashed sporadically over the eastern oil province of Deir el-Zour. Last year, they led rival campaigns against the Islamic State group, and maintain a protracted front against each other along the Euphrates.

The United States, which supports the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, operates air bases and outposts in the Kurdish-administered region. “The Americans should leave,” Assad said. “Somehow, they are going to leave.”

The U.S. has had a military presence in the country since early 2016 to train and advise Kurdish and Arab rebel forces fighting ISIS in northern and eastern Syria. The number of these mostly special operations forces in Syria had grown to around 500.

Hundreds more Marines arrived in Syria to provide artillery support to U.S.-backed Syrian rebels to retake Raqqa, ISIS’s de facto capital in Syria.

Army Rangers operate in Manbij to essentially act as a visible presence to prevent the Turkish military and Kurdish forces from fighting each other in the city retaken from ISIS months ago, the officials said, bringing the total number of US military personnel to about 2000.

The U.S. has conducted over 7,800 airstrikes in Syria as of March 28, according to the Department of Defense.

Also, a senior U.S. general has confirmed that hundreds of Russians fought – and died – in a major battle against American forces and their local counterparts in Syria.

The skirmish occurred on Feb. 7, 2018 when forces aligned with Syria’s dictator Bashar Al Assad, backed by Russian mercenaries from a shadowy company called Wagner, which were under the direct control of the Kremlin, launched an attack on U.S. forces and members of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a predominately Kurdish group, in eastern Syria. The opposing force consisted of tanks and heavy artillery.

After a massive American counter-attack involving air and artillery strikes beat back the opposing troops, reports emerged afterwards suggesting that as many as 200 Russians had died in the engagement.

I don’t think Assad’s Russian allies have any intentions of going head to head against the US presence in Syria, so he’d have to go it alone. Good luck with that.

Bloomberg

President Trump’s outrage over another WMD attack by Syria’s President al-Assad was clear. For the second time in his presidency, the U.S. commander-in-chief commanded a reprisal.

While images of sick and dying civilians inundated global media all week, USS Winston Churchill sped toward the Mediterranean to join a flotilla of allied warships, including another U.S. warship, USS Donald Cook; both very capable Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.

It was all a con.

Both vessels carry as many as 90 BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAM)– the majority of weapons used in the Friday evening strike on Syria — neither ship actually fired a shot. Instead, they were stalking horses, a distraction from an assault Assad’s government could do little to defend itself against.

It worked. Pentagon officials on Saturday said they faced little resistance to their targeted attack on what they said were three Syrian chemical weapons facilities. Most of the Syrian countermeasures, including defensive ballistic missiles, were fired after U.S. and allied weapons hit their targets, Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie told reporters on Saturday.

“No Syrian weapon had any effect on anything we did,” McKenzie said. He described the joint U.S., French and U.K. strike as “precise, overwhelming and effective.”

As the strategy of how to respond developed, Trump appeared to telegraph his intentions with a tweet on April 11: “Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!”’ The Russians reacted by sortieing 11 warships from the Syrian port of Tartus.

Russian Ships Depart Tartus

In the White House, Trump met with military officials and made several calls to his French and British counterparts, President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Theresa May. Trump was presented with five large target options for potential strikes. The president listened as Pentagon chief Jim Mattis, Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Corps General Joe Dunford and other military leaders outlined the options.

Each potential target was discussed, and was determination was focused on limiting the risk of escalation by Russia. There was agreement among Trump’s top national security staff about conducting strikes, but debate about how hard to hit the Syrians. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was reportedly especially blunt in her assessment of the Syrian regime. In a private meeting with Trump and national security officials earlier in the week, Haley was a leading voice pushing for a robust military response to the chemical weapons attack on humanitarian grounds.

Chairman JCS General Dunford told reporters Friday that the U.S. sought targets that would limit any involvement with Russian military forces in Syria, and reduce the risk of civilian casualties.

With the allies on board and USS Winston Churchill arriving in the Mediterranean region, the attack was nearly under way. As the president addressed the nation at 9 p.m. Washington time on Friday, a barrage of 105 U.S., U.K. and French missiles converged on Syria. They came from the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf and the Mediterranean, homing in from three directions to overwhelm whatever missile defenses Assad’s regime might deploy. Russia’s advanced air defense system didn’t engage the allied weapons.

“A perfectly executed strike last night,” Trump tweeted early Saturday. “Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!”

The targets included a scientific research facility near Damascus, and two chemical weapons facilities outside the city of Homs, the US military said, though reports said the buildings had been evacuated in recent days.

Until next time…