Syrian Revolution News & Discussions

[BLACKEAGLE]

U.S. airstrikes hit Nusra Front in Syria

Overnight, the Nusra Front had launched an attack in the area targeting rebels including a group said by opposition sources to have been trained under a U.S.-led program to build a force to fight ISIS (File Photo: AP)

Beirut, Reuters
Friday, 31 July 2015

Warplanes believed to be part of a U.S.-led alliance struck Nusra Front positions in northern Syria on Friday following an attack by the al Qaeda-linked group on Western-backed rebels in the area, a group tracking the war
said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that reports on the war, said the air strikes hit Nusra Front positions near the town of Azaz, north of Aleppo.

Overnight, the Nusra Front had launched an attack in the area targeting rebels including a group said by opposition sources to have been trained under a U.S.-led program to build a force to fight Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Observatory reported.

The rebel group, known as Division 30, said Nusra Front fighters attacked its headquarters at 4.30 am. Five members of Division 30 were killed as they held off the attackers, it said.

The group has accused the Nusra Front of abducting its leader and several other members earlier this week.

Syrian opposition sources say members of Division 30 have been trained under the U.S.-led train and equip program launched in May. The Pentagon has however cast doubt on the report, saying that no members of the “New Syrian Force” had been captured or detained.

The Nusra Front, which Washington has designated a terrorist organization, has a track record of crushing U.S.-backed rebels in Syria. Last year, it routed the Syria Revolutionaries Front led by Jamal Maarouf, viewed as one of the most powerful insurgent leaders until his defeat.

It was also instrumental in the demise of the U.S.-backed Hazzm Movement, which collapsed earlier this year after clashing with the Nusra Front in the northwest.

Washington and Ankara this week announced their intention to provide air cover for Syrian rebels and jointly sweep ISIS fighters from a strip of land along the border, with U.S. warplanes using bases in Turkey for strikes.

Last Update: Friday, 31 July 2015 KSA 12:53 - GMT 09:53
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25 Syria rebels killed in failed Aleppo attack

Smoke rises from what activists said was shelling by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo, Syria July 29, 2015. (Reuters)

AFP
Saturday, 1 August 2015

At least 25 Syrian rebels were killed in a failed attack on a makeshift army base outside the northern city of Aleppo, a monitoring group said on Saturday.

Nine regime forces were also killed in fighting that erupted after several rebel groups launched the attack late Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Three senior rebel commanders were among 25 fighters killed, said the Britain-based monitor.

Syria's official SANA news agency reported that "a number of terrorists were killed and wounded" by government forces in the west of the city.

The Observatory said sporadic fighting was continuing on the western outskirts of Aleppo on Saturday morning, with regime planes carrying out air strikes and rebels firing rockets on loyalist positions.

Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by fighting and divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since shortly after fighting began there in mid-2012.

In early July, two rebel alliance launched attacks against regime forces in the western outskirts of the city, sparking some of the heaviest violence since the country's war arrived in the city in 2012.

The assaults were largely repelled however, though rebels have continued sporadic attacks.

Elsewhere, the Observatory said the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria group had issued warnings to local internet providers to halt private wifi supply in the town of Albu Kamal in eastern Deir Ezzor province.

The militant group issued a similar directive in its de facto Syrian capital Raqqa in July.

The ban there sought to prevent residents from accessing the internet privately, instead forcing them to go through monitored internet cafes.

The Observatory said the bans appeared to be motivated by a desire to create a news blackout but also to thwart foreign fighters who might be trying to return home without ISIS permission.


Last Update: Saturday, 1 August 2015 KSA 12:29 - GMT 09:29
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[BLACKEAGLE]

Syrian army advances after rebel offensive

This photo taken by mobile phone on June 2, 2013 shows Syrian army tanks making their way to the Dabaa military airfield, north of the Syrian city of Qusayr.AFP/Getty Images

By Reuters | Beirut
Saturday, 1 August 2015

The Syrian army and allied militia have regained control over several northwestern villages from insurgents on a plain crucial for defending costal areas that Damascus holds, a group monitoring the war said on Saturday.

The military is battling insurgents including al-Qaeda's Syria wing Nusra Front and the Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham for control of Sahl al-Ghab, a plain that runs alongside the western coastal mountains as well as lying close to Hama city.

The insurgents launched an attack this week in the area but the government has fought back using aerial bombardments, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Syrian air force pounded the area more than 270 times in four days, the Observatory said, and by Saturday government forces had retaken several villages and areas located inside the plain.

These included Khirbat al-Naqus and Mansoura as well as surrounding areas, it said. The army had also won back Ziyadia village and Zezoun power station, one of the country's major thermal power plants, which Nusra Front said it had captured earlier in the week.

A total of 39 combatants had been killed in the recent violence, the Observatory said.

State news agency SANA reported late on Friday that the army had taken control of Ziyadia and Zezoun as well as other locations and had "eliminated many terrorists".

Insurgents have made advances against the military in several parts of Syria in recent months, including capturing most of Idlib province to the northeast of Sahl al-Ghab plain.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad alluded to military setbacks last Sunday when he said the army had been forced to give up some areas in order to hold onto more important ones during the four-year conflict.

Syria's western flank, which runs in part along the Mediterranean coast and Lebanese border, is home to major cities including Damascus and is seen as crucial for Assad's hold on power.

Last Update: Saturday, 1 August 2015 KSA 14:16 - GMT 11:16
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Syria govt forces battle rebels near regime bastion: monitor

Syrian rebels seen loading supplies onto a truck in the northwestern Hama province (Video grab)

AFP, Beirut
Sunday, 2 August 2015

Syrian troops backed by Hezbollah fighters on Sunday pressed a counteroffensive against rebels near President Bashar al-Assad's coastal heartland, a monitoring group said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that more than 100 fighters have been killed in three days of intense clashes in the Sahl al-Ghab region of central Hama province.

The area borders the Latakia province, a bastion of support for Assad and home to his ancestral village.

A rebel alliance including Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, launched an offensive late Monday against Sahl al-Ghab, in a push threatening a string of pro-regime Alawite villages.

The rebel alliance, Army of Conquest, seized more than a dozen strategic hilltops and other positions, including a power plant, before being pushed out by pro-government forces, said the Observatory.

“In the past three days, the army has been able to take back nearly 50 percent of the areas it had lost,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based monitor.

The 72 hours of clashes killed at least 73 rebels and 42 regime forces, including Hezbollah fighters and members of the National Defence Forces militia allied with the government, he told AFP.

On Sunday, regime aircraft conducted air raids on rebel positions while on the ground the two sides traded heavy rocker fire and mortar rounds, Abdel Rahman said.

Sahl al-Ghab also borders the province of Idlib to the northwest, a vast majority of which is under the control of the Army of Conquest.

The Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, is the faith to which Assad adheres.

Last Update: Sunday, 2 August 2015 KSA 21:52 - GMT 18:52
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U.S. to defend Syrian rebels with airpower, including from Assad
WASHINGTON | By Phil Stewart

A fighter from the Free Syrian Army's Al Rahman legion fires his weapon on the frontline against the forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Jobar, a suburb of Damascus, Syria July 27, 2015.
Reuters/Bassam Khabieh

The United States has decided to allow airstrikes to defend Syrian rebels trained by the U.S. military from any attackers, even if the enemies hail from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, U.S. officials said on Sunday.

The decision by President Barack Obama, which could deepen the U.S. role in Syria's conflict, aims to shield a still-fledging group of Syrian fighters armed and trained by the United States to battle Islamic State militants -- not forces loyal to Assad.

But in Syria's messy civil war, Islamic State is only one of the threats to the U.S. recruits. The first batch of U.S.-trained forces deployed to northern Syria came under fire on Friday from other militants, triggering the first known U.S. airstrikes to support them.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to confirm details of the decision, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, said the United States would provide offensive strikes to support advances against Islamic State targets.

The United States would also provide defensive support to repel any attackers.

U.S. officials have long played down the idea that Assad's forces - which have not fired on U.S.-led coalition aircraft bombing Islamic State targets in Syria - would turn their sights on the U.S.-backed Syrian rebels. But they cannot rule out the possibility, perhaps in an unintentional clash.

The Pentagon and the White House declined to discuss the decision on rules of engagement or confirm comments by the unnamed U.S. officials.

White House National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey said only the U.S.-trained forces were being provided a wide range of support, including "defensive fires support to protect them" and pointed to Friday's U.S. airstrikes as proof.

"We won't get into the specifics of our rules of engagement, but have said all along that we would take the steps necessary to ensure that these forces could successfully carry out their mission," Baskey said.

Pentagon spokeswoman Commander Elissa Smith also declined comment on the rules of engagement, saying only that the U.S. military's program focuses "first and foremost" on combating Islamic State militants.

"We recognize, though, that many of these groups now fight on multiple fronts, including against the Assad regime, (Islamic State) and other terrorists," Smith said.

The U.S. military launched its program in May to train up to 5,400 fighters a year in what was seen as a test of Obama's strategy of getting local partners to combat extremists and keep U.S. troops off the front lines.

The training program has been challenged from the start, with many candidates being declared ineligible and some even dropping out.

Obama's requirement that they target militants from Islamic State has sidelined huge segments of the Syrian opposition focused instead on battling Syrian government forces. The United States has sought to avoid a direct confrontation with Assad.

Once the Syrian rebels have returned to the battlefield, the U.S. recruits and other fighters aligned with them have turned into targets of rival militants.

Al Qaeda's Syria wing is suspected of being behind the attack on Friday against them at a compound in Syria, which was also being used by members of a Western-aligned insurgent group, known as Division 30.

U.S. recruits have hailed from Division 30. Nusra Front last week claimed to have abducted Division 30's leader but U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had not undergone U.S. training

One of the most powerful insurgent groups in northern Syria, Nusra Front has a record of crushing rebel groups that have received support from Western states, including the Hazzm movement that collapsed earlier this year.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Andrew Hay)
U.S. to defend Syrian rebels with airpower, including from Assad| Reuters

 

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Syria jet crash leaves many dead and injured

The town of Ariha, once a government stronghold, was captured by opposition fighters and Islamic militants in May. (File photo: AP)

By Reuters | Beirut
Monday, 3 August 2015

At least 27 people were killed and dozens injured when a Syrian army fighter jet crashed into a busy marketplace in the rebel-held northwestern town of Ariha on Monday, residents and witnesses said.

Most of the dead were civilians on the ground in the Idlib provincial town that fell to a coalition of Islamist insurgents in May, according to the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence across Syria.

Scores were also injured, according to the monitor and witnesses. There was no immediate reaction from the Syrian army.

The military plane had dropped a bomb in the heart of the city centre main commercial street where shopkeepers open in the early morning before crashing in the middle of the marketplace, two witnesses told Reuters.

"The plane had dropped a bomb on the main Bazaar street at low altitude only seconds before it crashed," said Ghazal Abdullah, a resident who was close to the incident.

The Observatory said the jet was not shot down.

Fighting has intensified of late in rural Idlib province between government forces and an insurgent grouping called Jaish al Fateh, or Army of Conquest, which includes Syria's al Qaeda offshoot Nusra Front.

Ariha's fall had left the insurgents in control of most of Idlib province, which borders Turkey and neighbours Latakia, the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, on the Mediterranean coast.

Most of the rich agricultural region, however, has since come under heavy aerial bombardment by Assad's forces in a counter-offensive to regain lost ground.

The army has fought back using heavy air strikes to beat back insurgent advances into the mountains of Latakia province that brought them closer to government-held coastal areas north of the capital Damascus.

Syria's western flank, fringing both the Mediterranean coast and the Lebanese border, contains Syria's major cities including Damascus and is seen as crucial for Assad's hold on power.

Last Update: Monday, 3 August 2015 KSA 13:43 - GMT 10:43
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/03/Syria-warplane-crashes-killing-and-wounding-many.html

 

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Russia critical of U.S. plan to give rebels air cover in Syria

Russia on Monday criticized U.S. plans to provide together with Turkey air cover for Syrian rebels. (File photo: AP)

Reuters, Moscow
Monday, 3 August 2015

Russia on Monday criticized U.S. plans to provide together with Turkey air cover for Syrian rebels, saying any support for rivals of Russian ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hampered Damascus' fight against ISIS.

Ankara and Washington are hoping that together with the Syrian rebels they would sweep ISIS fighters from a strip of land along the Turkish border.

"Moscow has stressed multiple times that helping Syrian opposition, let alone helping with financial or (military) technical means, would lead to a further destabilization of the situation in the country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Last Update: Monday, 3 August 2015 KSA 14:23 - GMT 11:23
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[Bubblegum Crisis]

Russia critical of U.S. plan to give rebels air cover in Syria

Russia on Monday criticized U.S. plans to provide together with Turkey air cover for Syrian rebels. (File photo: AP)

Reuters, Moscow
Monday, 3 August 2015

Russia on Monday criticized U.S. plans to provide together with Turkey air cover for Syrian rebels, saying any support for rivals of Russian ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hampered Damascus' fight against ISIS.

Ankara and Washington are hoping that together with the Syrian rebels they would sweep ISIS fighters from a strip of land along the Turkish border.

"Moscow has stressed multiple times that helping Syrian opposition, let alone helping with financial or (military) technical means, would lead to a further destabilization of the situation in the country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Last Update: Monday, 3 August 2015 KSA 14:23 - GMT 11:23
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/03/Russia-critical-of-U-S-plan-to-give-rebels-air-cover-in-Syria.html

Poor s** of a b**** - Putin - !!!

Goes to hell !!!



...

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

First U.S.-trained Syria rebel believed killed in fighting

A fighter from the Free Syrian Army's Al Rahman legion fires his weapon on the frontline against the forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Jobar, a suburb of Damascus, Syria. (File photo: Reuters)

By Phil Stewart | Reuters
Tuesday, 4 August 2015

A member of a new Syrian force trained by the U.S. military was believed to have been killed in clashes last week with al-Qaeda's Syria wing, in what would be the fledgling force's first battlefield casualty, U.S. officials said in an interview on Monday.

The U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the incident, said the Syrian rebel was believed to have been killed during fighting on Friday with suspected members of al-Nusra Front. One of the officials described the information as preliminary.

The Pentagon declined to comment, citing "operational security reasons."

Friday's attack triggered the first U.S. air strikes to support the Syrian force. At the time, the U.S. military said the fighters repelled the attack, without citing casualties among the U.S.-trained force.

Defending the U.S.-trained fighters could become a growing job for the U.S., which has been waging air strikes against ISIS targets in Syria.

U.S. officials disclosed to Reuters on Sunday that the U.S. has decided to allow air strikes to help defend against any attack on the U.S.-trained Syrian rebels, even if the attackers come from forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. President Barack Obama has long sought to avoid any direct U.S. military confrontation with Assad's forces, focusing instead on the battle against ISIS.

The Pentagon, State Department and White House have so far declined to publicly detail the rules of engagement in Syria.

Still, the Obama administration appeared on Monday to play down the chances that Assad's forces would target the U.S.-backed rebels and noted that his military had not fired on U.S.-led coalition aircraft bombing Islamic State targets in Syria.

"So far, we have seen the Assad regime abide by the admonishment that we have offered to not interfere with our activities inside of Syria," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

The U.S. military launched its program in May to train up to 5,400 fighters a year in what was seen as a test of Obama's strategy of getting local partners to combat extremists and keep U.S. troops off the front lines.

Only around 60 have been deployed to the battlefield so far.

The suspected militants from Nusra Front attacked U.S.-trained fighters on Friday at a compound in Syria, which was also being used by members of a Western-aligned insurgent group, known as Division 30, officials said.

Last Update: Tuesday, 4 August 2015 KSA 01:21 - GMT 22:21
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Syrian fighters’ capture spells trouble for coalition against ISIS

Syrian troops fighting in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS were captured near the northern Syrian town of Azaz by an anti-ISIS militia affiliated with Al Qaeda last week. (Reuters)

By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News
Monday, 3 August 2015

Syrian troops fighting in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS were captured near the northern Syrian town of Azaz by an anti-ISIS militia affiliated with Al-Qaeda last week, reported Washington-based news website The Center For Public Integrity on Saturday.

Known as the Nusra Front, the militant group, who considers any Syrian close to America an enemy, captured 17 graduates of the allied train-and-equip program along with the division’s commander, as well as two other division soldiers.

The capture is a setback for the U.S. train and equip program, which is believed will face challenges in recruiting new fighters and maintaining their morale, the report added.

According to the report, recipients of foreign aid are targeted by the Nusra Front and other militant groups because of their anti-Western ideology, but also for the M16s and anti-tank guided missiles that coalition forces provided to other fighters.

Aziz Abu Mohammad, a 30th Division commander based in Turkey, told The Center For Public Integrity that two days after the group’s capture, a militia group affiliated with Nusra made a direct attack on the 30th division’s headquarters, killing five other graduates of the program.

In response, coalition warplanes allegedly reacted to both incidents by bombing the headquarters of Nusra in Azaz.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Elissa Smith, acknowledged that the 30th Division and its trainees were attacked on Friday to The Center For Public Integrity, and said that the coalition had supported them with defensive airstrikes.

Last Update: Tuesday, 4 August 2015 KSA 23:25 - GMT 20:25
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[BLACKEAGLE]

Kerry: No place for Assad in Syria’s future

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, US Secretary of State John Kerry, center, and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir stand together before a trilateral meeting on Monday, Aug. 3, 2015 in Doha, Qatar. (AFP)

By Staff Writer | Al Arabiya News
Monday, 3 August 2015

During a meeting with his Saudi counterpart Adel Jubair and Russian Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State John Kerry made clear that Assad had no place in Syria’s future, and stressed the coalition's commitment to supporting counter ISIS fighters on the ground.

According to an official statement issued by the State Department, Kerry met in Doha, Monday, with Lavrov and Jubair to discuss the ongoing conflict in Syria. It was the such first tri-lateral meeting convened for this purpose.

The statement added “Kerry thanked the foreign ministers ‎for their continued focus on the security situation in Syria. All three leaders acknowledged the dangers posed to the Syrian people by the rise of extremist forces and the need for a meaningful political transition to enable a unified fight against ISIL and other extremist groups, to include the important role played by opposition groups.”

Kerry reiterated the U.S. view that the Assad regime’s brutality against the Syrian people had helped foster ISIS’s growth and the presence of foreign fighters. The leaders agreed to stay in touch and to continue exploring ways to achieve a political solution to the conflict in Syria, according to the statement.

A previous statement said that the tri-lateral meeting will discuss Syria and Yemen.

Earlier, Russia criticized U.S. plans to provide together with Turkey air cover for Syrian rebels, saying any support for rivals of Russian ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad hampered Damascus' fight against ISIS.

Ankara and Washington are hoping that together with the Syrian rebels they would sweep ISIS fighters from a strip of land along the Turkish border.

"Moscow has stressed multiple times that helping Syrian opposition, let alone helping with financial or (military) technical means, would lead to a further destabilization of the situation in the country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

[With Reuters]

Last Update: Monday, 3 August 2015 KSA 22:06 - GMT 19:06
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Let Syrians decide their future | Arab News

 

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[Bubblegum Crisis]

Quote :

Shiite Combat Casualties Show the Depth of Iran's Involvement in Syria

Ali Alfoneh
August 3, 2015

In addition to Qods Force supervision of Shiite fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries, the IRGC is deploying more of its own Ground Forces personnel to Syria in direct combat roles.

During a televised address on July 26, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad admitted for the first time that his regime is suffering from "a lack of human resources" in the ongoing civil war, implicitly acknowledging the casualties inflicted on the various Iranian-sponsored forces assisting his troops. Since first mentioning Lebanese Hezbollah's activities in Syria in early 2013, he has rarely credited the Iranian proxy for its "important" and "effective" role in the war, instead maintaining the claim that Tehran's participation is limited to the provision of "military experts." In this, he has echoed Iranian officials, who typically declare that Iranian nationals killed in Syria are not military operatives deployed there by the government, but volunteer "martyred guardians of the shrine" (shohada-ye modafe-e haram), a reference to Shiite pilgrimage sites in Damascus.

The real number of Iranian casualties in Syria is not known, and Tehran has every reason to downplay the degree of its involvement and losses there. Yet a survey of funeral services for Iranian, Afghan, and Pakistani Shiite fighters killed in the war over the past two-and-a-half years provides some indication of the Islamic Republic's military engagement. According to open-source data collected from Persian-language accounts of funerals in Iran, 113 Iranian nationals, 121 Afghan nationals, and 20 Pakistani nationals -- all Shiites -- have been killed in combat in Syria since January 2013. (The formidable number of Iraqi and Lebanese Shiite casualties are not included in this survey; for more on that subject, see "Hezbollah's Victory in Qalamoun: Winning the Battle, Losing the War" and "Iraqi Shiite Foreign Fighters on the Rise Again in Syria.")





Tellingly, public accounts indicate that all 113 of the Iranian casualties served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Breaking down the casualties by IRGC branch, 8 served in the IRGC Ground Forces, 8 were identified as members of the Qods Force, and 3 served in the Basij militia; funeral photos and online biographical materials suggest that the remaining 94 were active-duty IRGC members as well, though it is not known in which branch they served. For some of these individuals, the lack of information may reflect the IRGC's attempt to obscure their service in the Qods Force (an elite unit focused on extraterritorial operations) or cover up the deployment of IRGC Ground Forces.

As for the Afghan and Pakistani nationals killed in action, all of the former were members of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, while the latter served with the Zainabiyoun Brigade. Both of these militias were apparently organized by -- and still report to -- the Qods Force.

The earliest record of an Iranian national to fall in combat in Syria is that of thirty-year-old Ali Asgari Taqanaki, a Qods Force operative killed in Damascus on January 28, 2013. The first reported Afghan Shiite casualty was Azim Vaezi, killed in an undisclosed location in Syria sometime prior to September 2013. And the first record of a Pakistani Shiite death is that of Hossein Adel, killed in Damascus sometime before February 6, 2015.





While the first IRGC personnel killed in Syria were Qods Force members, published accounts since July 2014 indicate an increasing number of casualties from the IRGC Ground Forces. This is clear when analyzing their place of burial in Iran: Qods Force members are recruited from all over the country and are buried individually in their native province, but the Ground Forces are organized according to Iran's administrative divisions, with a local IRGC unit serving each province. Therefore, mass funeral services in one province indicate that a Ground Forces unit from that province has been sent to Syria.





Deployment of the Ground Forces seems to have taken place in the wake of mounting casualties among the Qods Force, a relatively small unit. This left the IRGC with no other choice but to deploy its "regular" forces to Syria.

In contrast, deployment of the Fatemiyoun and Zainabiyoun Brigades was seemingly planned early in the conflict, perhaps in late 2012, when Iran and Hezbollah recognized the Assad regime's plight. This would fit with the Qods Force plan to provide Afghan and Pakistani Shiites with combat experience -- that is, it was not a reaction to Iranian casualties. Yet maintaining the Fatemiyoun Brigade in Syria despite its high casualties may reflect the IRGC's manpower shortage and Assad's continuing need for troops.

A survey of the rank and technical skills of the casualties reveals potentially significant differences between some of the Iranian and non-Iranian personnel. Among the 113 Iranians, 10 were commemorated as sardar, which refers to high-ranking IRGC officers. To judge by reader commentary on websites commemorating them, they were technical advisors, combat advisors, trainers, combat personnel (including one tank driver), special operations forces, intelligence officers, and even journalists and television documentarians. In contrast, the Afghan and Pakistani nationals seem to have served exclusively as foot soldiers, with four exceptions: brigade commander Ali Reza Tavasoli (an Afghan volunteer who fought in the Iran-Iraq War), his deputy Reza Bakhshi, company commander Mehdi Saberi, and Muhammad Rezaei, a cleric. On Facebook, some Afghan casualties are presented as "snipers," but this may reflect the influence of Western popular culture more than actual expertise on their part.

Very little information is available about the specific operations in which these fighters were engaged. To further complicate matters, the place of death for most of them is listed as "Syria" or "the shrine in Damascus," which is meant to back up the fiction that they were martyred while defending Shiite pilgrimage sites rather than, for example, fighting in Aleppo far to the north. One source admitted that the Fatemiyoun Brigade suffered heavy casualties during the Syrian military's initial takeover and later withdrawal from Dokhaniyeh, east of Damascus, in October 2014. The same source also reported that the brigade was involved in an unsuccessful Syrian army offensive against Aleppo, likely in February 2015.


CONCLUSION

The Qods Force and its Afghan/Pakistani recruits are spread thin and suffering significant casualties, spurring the deployment of the IRGC Ground Forces to Syria. Even so, Iran is unlikely to abandon its commitment to its proxy regime in Damascus in the short term. The Islamic Republic in general, and the IRGC in particular, have invested so much blood and treasure in the war that they no longer believe they can withdraw their support. Arguably, easier access to foreign currency in the wake of the U.S.-led nuclear deal will translate into increased funding for the IRGC's operations in Syria. Looking further ahead, Qods Force efforts to provide Afghan and Pakistani Shiites with combat experience serves as a forewarning of worse times to come for Afghanistan when these fighters return home.

Ali Alfoneh is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

The Washington Institute


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U.S., Russia agree to act on Syria chemical attacks

A marine officer of the Cape Ray, a ship equipped to neutralize Syrian chemicals, shows a chemical protection suits to reporters, during a tour around the ship docked at the naval base of Rota used by the U.S, in Spain’s southwestern coast. (File photo: AP)

Staff writer, Al Arabiya News
Thursday, 6 August 2015

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday said an agreement has been reached with his Russia counterpart on a U.N. resolution that would designate accountability for use of chemical weapons in Syria.

“We also talked about the U.N. resolution and indeed I believe reached an agreement that should try to see that resolution voted shortly, which would create a process of accountability which has been missing,” Kerry said a day after talks with Russia’s Sergei Lavrov in Malaysia.

Earlier Thursday, a U.S. official said the United States and Russia have reached agreement on a draft U.N. resolution aimed at identifying the perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks in Syria so they can be brought to justice.

Two Security Council diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions were private, also said on Wednesday that the final draft has been circulated to all 15 Security Council members. They have until 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on Thursday to raise objections, the diplomat said.

“The work is almost done. We hope to make it to Friday,” said Alexey Zaytsev, spokesman for the Russian U.N. mission, referring to the possible vote.

If there are no objections to the text, one diplomat said the resolution could be put to a vote as early as Friday.

While Russia and the United States have failed to agree on a way to end the Syrian conflict, now in its fifth year, they did agree on eliminating its chemical weapons stockpile.

The U.S. has been pressing for the council to take action to ensure accountability for an increasing number of alleged chlorine attacks that have caused deaths and injuries. Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said in June the council should look for the best way to ensure that people allegedly responsible for chlorine attacks are brought before a court.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the global chemical weapons watchdog, has a mandate to carry out fact-finding missions to determine whether there have been chemical attacks. But neither the OPCW nor the U.N. have a mandate to determine responsibility for the use of chlorine or chemical weapons.

According to one council diplomat, the final draft asks U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in coordination with OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu, to submit to the Security Council within 20 days recommendations to establish an “OPCW-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism.”

It says this investigative body will identify "to the greatest extent feasible individuals, entities, groups, or governments who were perpetrators, organizers, sponsors or otherwise involved in the use of chemicals as weapons, including chlorine or any other toxic chemical" in Syria, in instances where an OPCW fact-finding mission determines or has determined that an incident involved or likely involved the use of chemicals weapons.

U.S. and Russian diplomats have been meeting at the U.N. on the text of the resolution and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the need to address the "possession and potential use of chemical weapons" by the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday, according to a senior U.S. official traveling with Kerry in Malaysia.

Following a chemical weapon attack on a Damascus suburb that killed hundreds of civilians on Aug. 21, 2013 a U.S.-Russian agreement led to a Security Council resolution the following month ordering the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, precursors, and the equipment to produce the deadly agents.

The Syrian government's support for the resolution and decision to join the OPCW warded off possible U.S. military strikes in the aftermath of the attack, which Damascus denied carrying out.

Syria's declared stockpile of 1,300 metric tons of chemicals has been destroyed, but the OPCW is still investigating outstanding questions about possible undeclared chemical weapons.

Chlorine is not a banned agent used in chemical weapons, like sarin or ricin. But it is toxic and its use in attacks in Syria started being reported last year.

In March, the Security Council approved a U.S.-drafted resolution that condemns the use of toxic chemicals such as chlorine in Syria, and threatens further measures including sanctions in the case of violations.

(With AP)

Last Update: Thursday, 6 August 2015 KSA 13:19 - GMT 10:19
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/06/U-S-Russia-agree-to-act-on-Syria-chemical-attacks.html