Syrian Revolution News & Discussions

[Khafee]

Putin warns that militants are flowing into Libya from Syria's Idlib
July 4, 2019


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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte (not pictured) attend a joint news conference in Rome, Italy July 4, 2019. REUTERS/Yara Nardi


ROME (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he was worried that militants were flowing into Libya from Syria’s Idlib province and warned that the Libyan situation was deteriorating.

Putin, who was speaking at a news conference in Rome after holding talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, said Moscow wanted Libya’s warring sides to agree a ceasefire, to hold talks, and to enter into a proper political process to sort out the country’s problems.

Reporting by Rome Bureau and Andrey Ostroukh; Writing by Andrew Osborn

Putin warns that militants are flowing into Libya from Syria's Idlib

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he was worried that militants were flowing into Libya from Syria's Idlib province and warned that the Libyan situation was deteriorating.

www.reuters.com

 

[Khafee]

Conditions in Syria's Al-Hol camp 'apocalyptic': Red Cross
AFP
July 04, 2019

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A woman walks through Al-Hol displacement camp in Hasaka governorate, Syria. (Reuters/File)

• The issue of whether to repatriate nationals who are family members of suspected jihadists has been a thorny one for Western nations

GENEVA: The Red Cross warned Thursday that displaced people in and around Syria's Al-Hol camp were facing an "apocalyptic" conditions, urging countries to quickly repatriate family members of suspected foreign fighters.

The International Committee of the Red Cross warned of the extreme difficulties facing those left behind after the last vestige of the Daesh self-proclaimed caliphate collapsed in northeastern Syria in March.

Around 100,000 people in Al-Hol and surrounding camps, "are kept in a kind of legal limbo in an unstable place, in a disputed area", Fabrizio Carboni, who heads the ICRC's Near and Middle East operations, told reporters in Geneva.

"One hundred thousand people who spent the last months, if not years, under the bombs, starved, wounded, sick, traumatised," he said, adding: "It is just apocalyptic."
The Red Cross is one of the main humanitarian organisations providing assistance inside the overfilled Al-Hol camp, which is housing more than 70,000 people, including more than 11,000 family members of suspected Daesh fighters from dozens of countries.

The issue of whether to repatriate nationals who are family members of suspected jihadists has been a thorny one for Western nations, which have experienced attacks by homegrown extremists and have little interest in seeing more return.

Britain has gone so far as stripping Daesh members of citizenship, while France has said it will only repatriate children and evaluate cases individually.

"Our position is to say to states ' take your nationals back'," Carboni said, condemning the stigmatisation of people, especially children, and efforts to create "categories of good victims and bad victims".

"As if kids can be something else than just victims."

Carboni said two thirds of the residents in Al-Hol were children, mainly under 12, insisting it was unconscionable to leave them there.

"You don't leave kids in the middle of nowhere exposed to extreme heat, extreme cold, violence," he said.

He warned that countries needed to recognise that "at one stage there will be a price to pay," and that if they put off dealing with this issue, "it is going to be higher".
ICRC, which runs a field hospital in Al-Hol, provides food, water and builds latrines, is doing its best to address the needs of the people stuck in a desperate situation in and around the camp, Carboni said.

"But nobody should expect the ICRC to deal with 100,000... for the next 25-30 years," he said. "This is states' responsibility."

He acknowledged that for many countries, repatriating family members of suspected jihadists is "politically toxic", but urged government to take responsibility.

Some of the countries which today are reluctant to bring home children in Al-Hol "have for decades defended (the principle) that kids are victims and cannot be considered as combatants", he said.

Their foot-dragging on the issue today, he said, "doesn't look good".

Conditions in Syria’s Al-Hol camp ’apocalyptic’: Red Cross

GENEVA: The Red Cross warned Thursday that displaced people in and around Syria's Al-Hol camp were facing an "apocalyptic" conditions, urging countries to quickly repatriate family members of suspected foreign fighters. The International Committee of the Red Cross warned of the extreme...

www.arabnews.com

 

[Khafee]

Russian Expert Says ‘Curvature of the earth’ Is Protecting Israeli planes from S-300s in Syria
July 6, 2019

View attachment 9104
Russian S-300 missile defense system

The S-300 air defense systems failed to target Israeli fighter jets in Syria owing to the “curvature of the earth,” a Russian military expert has said.

Alexey Leonkov, the expert, told Moscow’s “Reporter” that the aerial defense systems remained silent due to the “curvature of the earth,” because “the S-300s were unfortunately delivered to mountainous terrain.”

“The radar antennas cannot see down. From the surface, five to ten meters are invisible – accordingly, if the antennas are raised on a mountain, then to these 5-10 meters you must add the height of the mountain. A so-called invisibility cone is formed,” Leonkov explained.

The invisibility cone enables the Israeli aircraft to “hide at low altitudes and strike with air-to-surface missiles,” he added.

The expert identified poor training of crews as another reason for the failure of the Russian systems.

Israeli satellite image analysis company ImageSat International recently released images showing four “fully operational” S-300 missile systems deployed in Masyaf base in north-western Syria.

Moscow delivered the missile systems and 49 units of systems-related equipment such as radars, basic target acquisition systems, command posts and four launchers in October 2018. The deliveries took place after a Russian plane was accidentally destroyed by a Syrian air defence battery that was responding to an Israeli airstrike.

Interestingly, according to reports published in April, Israel has developed “Rampage,” a new supersonic air-to-surface missile that can speed past the S-300 air defence system without getting intercepted.

Defense World

View News at Defense World

www.defenseworld.net

 

[Khafee]

Iranian Militias on Alert after East Syria Deployment Maps Leaked
Saturday, 6 July, 2019

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A picture taken on March 22, 2017 near the town of Latamneh in the countryside of the central Syrian province of Hama, shows a displaced Syrian family travelling with their belongings down a road as two rebel fighters on a motorcycle drive past them. AFP file photo

Damascus - Asharq Al-Awsat

“Eye of the Euphrates” has published on its social media sites maps and detailed locations of 13 key Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) positions in the strategic Syrian city of al-Bukamal.

The page, which was created last year and has more than 122,000 followers, published a video showing a truck transporting arms and ammunition from one base to another.

It noted that the Iranian militias have gone on high alert and were changing their deployment locations.

Fatemiyoun leader in al-Bukamal Salman al-Irani has pledged a financial award to whoever provides information on the persons monitoring and taking photographs of Iranian militia bases.

Such developments come amid unprecedented tension between Iranian and Russian forces in the wake of Russian measures east of the Euphrates to limit Iranian influence in the area.

Among the locations revealed by “Eye of the Euphrates” is a site on the banks of the Euphrates river on the other side of al-Baghouz village which now falls under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The site is a main base for Iranian militias, where 150 Fatemiyoun members are located.

Another map showed two key locations in Hay Jamiat, the first belonging to Hezbollah and the second to Harakat al-Nujaba.

This neighborhood also includes two headquarters for intelligence agents, one belonging to Hezbollah and the other to the IRGC.

According to “Eye of the Euphrates,” the headquarters of Zainebiyoun militias who are specialized in night patrols are widespread as well.

In Bukamal’s countryside, there is a base for the Fatemiyoun that constantly erects checkpoints to inspect civilians.

A meeting bringing together the national security advisers of Russia, the US, and Israel was held in Jerusalem last week to discuss Iranian presence in Syria and urged Moscow to engage in downsizing Iranian power.

Iranian Militias on Alert after East Syria Deployment Maps Leaked

“Eye of the Euphrates” has published on its social media sites maps and detailed locations of 13 key Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) positions in the strategic Syrian city of al-Bukamal. The page, which was created last year and has more than 122,000 followers, published a video showing...

aawsat.com

 

[Khafee]

Russian-led assault in Syria leaves over 500 civilians dead: rights groups, rescuers
July 7, 2019
Suleiman Al-Khalidi

View attachment 9147
FILE PHOTO: A street vendor sells toys next to rubble of damaged buildings in the city of Idlib, Syria May 25, 2019. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi/File Photo

AMMAN (Reuters) - At least 544 civilians have been killed and over 2,000 people injured since a Russian-led assault on the last rebel bastion in northwestern Syria began two months ago, rights groups and rescuers said on Saturday.

Russian jets joined the Syrian army on April 26 in the biggest offensive against parts of rebel-held Idlib province and adjoining northern Hama provinces in the biggest escalation in the war between Syrian President Bashar al Assad and his enemies since last summer.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights,(SNHR), which monitors casualties and briefs various UN agencies, said the 544 civilians killed in the hundreds of attacks carried out by Russian jets and the Syrian army include 130 children. Another 2,117 people have been injured.

“The Russian military and its Syrian ally are deliberately targeting civilians with a record number of medical facilities bombed,” Fadel Abdul Ghany, chairman of SNHR, told Reuters.

Russia and its Syrian army ally deny their jets hit indiscriminately civilian areas with cluster munitions and incendiary weapons, which residents in opposition areas say are meant to paralyze every-day life.

Moscow says its forces and the Syrian army are fending off terror attacks by al Qaeda militants whom they say hit populated, government-held areas, and it accuses rebels of wrecking a ceasefire deal agreed last year between Turkey and Russia.

Last month U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said the Russian-Syrian joint military operation had used cluster munitions and incendiary weapons in the attacks along with large air-dropped explosive weapons with wide-area effects in populated civilian areas, based on reports by first responders and witnesses.

Residents and rescuers say the two-month-old campaign has left dozens of villages and towns in ruins. According to the United Nations, at least 300,000 people have been forced to leave their homes for the safety of areas closer to the border with Turkey.

“Whole villages and towns have been emptied,” said Idlib-based Civil Defence spokesman Ahmad al Sheikho, saying it was the most destructive campaign against Idlib province since it completely fell to the opposition in the middle of 2015.

On Friday, 15 people, including children, were killed in the village of Mhambil in western Idlib province after Syrian army helicopters dropped barrel bombs on a civilian quarter, the civil defense group and witnesses said.

The heads of 11 major global humanitarian organizations warned at the end of last month that Idlib stood at the brink of disaster, with 3 million civilian lives at risk, including 1 million children.

“Too many have died already” and “even wars have laws” they declared, in the face of multiple attacks by government forces and their allies on hospitals, schools and markets,” the U.N.-endorsed statement said.

Last Thursday an aerial strike on Kafr Nabl hospital made it the 30th facility to be bombed durng the campaign, leaving hundreds of thousands with no medical access, according to aid groups.

“To have these medical facilities bombed and put out of service in less than two months is no accident. Let’s call this by what it is, a war crime,” Dr. Khaula Sawah, vice president of the U.S.-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations, which provides aid in the northwest, said in a statement.

Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Leslie Adler

Russian-led assault in Syria leaves over 500 civilians dead: rights groups, rescuers

At least 544 civilians have been killed and over 2,000 people injured since a Russian-led assault on the last rebel bastion in northwestern Syria began two months ago, rights groups and rescuers said on Saturday.

www.reuters.com

 

[Khafee]

Seizure of Iranian Oil-Laden Tanker Troubles Syrians in Damascus
Sunday, 7 July, 2019 - 13:30

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A helicopter hovers near the Iranian oil tanker Grace 1 off Gibraltar, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence, in a night vision photograph released July 4, 2019. British Royal Marines seized the Grace 1 tanker on Thursday for trying to take oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions. MoD/Handout via REUTERS

Damascus- Asharq Al-Awsat

The seizure of a Panamanian-flagged supertanker laden with Iranian oil by Royal Marines off the British territory of Gibraltar has spurred major anxieties among Syrians, especially those residing in the capital, Damascus.

A shortage in oil by-products has crippled power-plants feeding electric networks in Damascus and its surroundings, leaving citizens suffering from long-hours of blackouts.

Contrary to Syrian government officials statements saying that the oil and diesel crisis is over, official orders forcing fuel stations to ration out monthly amounts of gasoline and diesel at a subsidized price suggests that the crisis has been eased, but isn’t over.

“People are afraid,” one of the workers at a gas station north of Damascus, who requested anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

They tied the crisis to the recent capture of the oil tanker.

“Handouts supplied by the government are the same, but the government's stock during the war has been significantly lower, and perhaps this seized carrier was planned to arrive at a specific date,” they said, warning that depots of subsidized public oil could be a few days away from total depletion of supplies.

“As long as there are US and European sanctions slapped on the Syrian government, the crises of fuel, food, medicines ... will not end, and therefore the suffering of people will continue, if there is no government decision to get sanctions lifted,” a private company employee living in the Damascus countryside told Asharq Al-Awsat.

In late last month, the pro-regime Syrian newspaper Al-Watan reported that the state-owned oil company has sustained a total loss of $ 14.55 billion dollars over the course of the Syrian civil war.

This coincided with a nationwide shortfall in production, at an average rate of 2,000 bpd.

It is worth noting that Syria's pre-war production capacity was at 380,000 thousand bpd.

Seizure of Iranian Oil-Laden Tanker Troubles Syrians in Damascus

The seizure of a Panamanian-flagged supertanker laden with Iranian oil by Royal Marines off the British territory of Gibraltar has spurred major anxieties among Syrians, especially those residing in the capital, Damascus. A shortage in oil by-products has crippled power-plants feeding electric...

aawsat.com

 

[Persian Gulf]

So we see that these cruel sanctions harm civilians. This is a form of economic terrorism.

The 80% of Syrians that live in Government controlled areas must suffer more because Assad is a brutal dictator?

 

[Khafee]

So we see that these cruel sanctions harm civilians. This is a form of economic terrorism.

The 80% of Syrians that live in Government controlled areas must suffer more because Assad is a brutal dictator?

They and the Iranians should change their regimes, if they want a normal life. Under these tyrants, life will just get more miserable.

 

[Khafee]

Oman's foreign minster meets Bashar Assad in rare Syria visit
AFP
July 07, 2019

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Oman’s state minister for foreign affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus. (File/AFP)

• The two discussed bilateral relations and regional security
• Oman is one of the few Arab states to have maintained ties with Damascus over the past eight years

MUSCAT: Oman’s top diplomat met Sunday with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, Muscat said, in the Gulf official’s second visit to the war-wracked country since conflict broke out in 2011.

Assad met with Oman’s state minister for foreign affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah to discuss bilateral relations and regional security, the sultanate’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

It added that Abdullah also met with his Syrian counterpart, Walid Muallem.

Oman is one of the few Arab states to have maintained ties with Damascus over the past eight years.

Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 for its deadly crackdown on an uprising against Assad’s rule, and fellow Arab countries, including Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia, have supported the opposition.

Oman’s Sultan Qaboos adheres to a strict policy of non-interference in regional affairs, maintaining relations with rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran — a key backer of Assad.
Abdullah visited Damascus in 2015, Syria’s official SANA news agency reported at the time, to discuss ways to “resolve the crisis in Syria.”

During a visit to Oman last year, Syria’s Muallem praised Muscat for taking “supportive positions toward Syria at various Arab and international forums,” the state-run Oman News Agency reported.

Syria’s once rocky ties with the region are on the rebound.

The United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus late last year after years of closure, and Syria’s relations with Bahrain and Jordan have also improved.
But Saudi Arabia remains hostile to Assad, who has made a military comeback with military support from Russia since 2015, clawing back almost two-thirds of the country.

Syria’s multi-fronted war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it began with the repression of anti-government protests in 2011.

Oman’s foreign minister meets Bashar Assad in rare Syria visit

MUSCAT: Oman’s top diplomat met Sunday with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus, Muscat said, in the Gulf official’s second visit to the war-wracked country since conflict broke out in 2011. Assad met with Oman’s state minister for foreign affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah to discuss...

www.arabnews.com

 

[Khafee]

US call for Syria troops divides German coalition
Updated 5 sec ago
AFP
July 07, 2019

View attachment 9190
The US has called on Germany to send military trainers, logistics specialists and technicians to help the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the fight against Daesh. (File/Reuters)

• The US wants ground troops from Germany to partly replace their soldiers
• A clear rejection of the American request came from Merkel’s junior coalition partners

BERLIN: Discord broke out in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition Sunday, after the United States urged the country to send ground troops to Syria as Washington looks to withdraw from the region.

“We want ground troops from Germany to partly replace our soldiers” in the area as part of the anti-Daesh coalition, US special representative on Syria James Jeffrey had told German media including Die Welt newspaper.

Jeffrey, who was visiting Berlin for Syria talks, added that he expects an answer this month.

Last year US President Donald Trump declared victory against Daesh and ordered the withdrawal of all 2,000 American troops from Syria.

A small number have remained in northeastern Syria, an area not controlled by the regime of President Bashar Assad, and Washington is pushing for increased military support from other members of the international coalition against Daesh.

“We are looking for volunteers who want to take part here and among other coalition partners,” Jeffrey said.

A clear rejection of the American request came from Merkel’s junior coalition partners, the Social Democrats (SPD).
“There will be no German ground troops in Syria with us,” tweeted a member of the interim SPD leadership, Thorsten Schaefer-Guembel.
“I don’t see people wanting that among our coalition partners” in Merkel’s center-right CDU, he added.

But deputy conservative parliamentary leader Johann Wadephul told news agency DPA that Germany should “not reflexively reject” the US call for troops.
“Our security, not the Americans’, is being decided in this region,” added Wadephul, seen as a candidate to succeed Ursula von der Leyen as defense minister if she is confirmed as European Commission chief.

Syria’s war has killed more than 370,000 people and displaced millions since it started in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

Washington has two goals in northeastern Syria: to support the US-backed Kurdish forces that expelled Daesh from northern Syria as they are increasingly threatened by Turkey, and to prevent a potential Daesh resurgence in the war-torn country.

The US is hoping Europe will help, pressuring Britain, France and now Germany, which has so far deployed surveillance aircraft and other non-combat military support in Syria.

However Germany’s history makes military spending and foreign adventures controversial.

Berlin sent soldiers to fight abroad for the first time since World War II in 1994, and much of the political spectrum and the public remains suspicious of such deployments.

As well as the SPD, the ecologist Greens, liberal Free Democrats and Left party all urged Merkel to reject the US request for troops.

The US appeal comes after Trump has repeatedly urged Berlin to increase its defense spending, last month calling Germany “delinquent” over its contributions to NATO’s budget.

But such criticisms have more often hardened resistance to forking out more on the military rather than loosening the country’s purse strings.

Former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told business newspaper Handelsblatt on Saturday that Trump wanted “vassals” rather than allies.
“I’d have liked the federal government to tell him once or twice that it’s none of his business” how much Germany spends on defense, Schroeder said.
“This isn’t a banana republic here!“

US call for Syria troops divides German coalition

BERLIN: Discord broke out in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition Sunday, after the United States urged the country to send ground troops to Syria as Washington looks to withdraw from the region. “We want ground troops from Germany to partly replace our soldiers” in the area as...

www.arabnews.com

 

[Persian Gulf]

They and the Iranians should change their regimes, if they want a normal life. Under these tyrants, life will just get more miserable.

So live under governments the US likes or starve...

Regime change is bloody and never makes things better (mostly makes things worse), so it's not that easy.


This is a matter of principle not politics, that the international community shouldn't starve civilians just because the world superpower doesn't like their government.

 

[Khafee]

So live under governments the US likes or starve...

Regime change is bloody and never makes things better (mostly makes things worse), so it's not that easy.


This is a matter of principle not politics, that the international community shouldn't starve civilians just because the world superpower doesn't like their government.

"A Government" represents it's people. Whatever decisions it makes, will reflect on its people. IF "the people" are willing to live under tyrannical rule, then they will pay the price.

It is not a matter of whether, a superpower likes them or not, it is about exporting terrorism.

 

[Khafee]

Media: Russia worried by presence of Iranian troops in Syria
July 7, 2019
View attachment 9196
Relations between the Russian and Iranian military in Eastern Syria began to deteriorate due to certain disagreements regarding further actions in the region, reports Al-Masdar News.

According to the publication, the disagreements between the military commanders of the two countries are connected to Moscow's desire to avoid any conflicts in the Syrian province of Deir Ez-Zor, as this can create severe problems for the region in the future.

Also, according to an Al-Masdar News source in the Syrian Arab army, Russia is concerned about the security of its troops because the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as their ally, Hezbollah, deployed their troops near the positions of Russian forces. As noted by the interlocutor of the news agency, Moscow worries that if Israel decides to attack positions of Hizbollah, the Russian military could also be hit.

At the same time, Russian troops are in a state of high alert since June 30, after Israel carried out several air strikes on Syrian territory. This indicates that Moscow expects new attacks from Israel soon, said the source of Al-Masdar News.

Israel had repeatedly attacked Syrian territory. Its target was the Iranian units of Quds Force, which are involved in military operations on the side of the Syrian government troops. On June 2, Israeli aircraft bombed several military facilities. Syria clams that several Israeli missiles were shot down. As a result of the attack, three Syrian soldiers were killed, and seven were injured.

Israel indicated that they intend to oppose Iran's military presence in Syria because of Tehran's cooperation with the Islamist movement Hezbollah.

Media: Russia worried by presence of Iranian troops in Syria

Relations between the Russian and Iranian military in Eastern Syria began to deteriorate due to certain disagreements regarding further actions in the region, reports Al-Masdar News. According to the publication, the disagreements between the military commanders of the two countries are...

uawire.org

 

[Persian Gulf]

"A Government" represents it's people. Whatever decisions it makes, will reflect on its people. IF "the people" are willing to live under tyrannical rule, then they will pay the price.

It is not a matter of whether, a superpower likes them or not, it is about exporting terrorism.

Okay it's fine you think like that (in my opinion that's totally inhumane and illogical because it's like you haven't heard of what a dictatorship is...), but don't pretend to care about ordinary Iranians or Syrians if you think it is their fault that they are suffering due to sanctions because they didn't remove their government yet.

 

[Khafee]

Okay it's fine you think like that (in my opinion that's totally inhumane and illogical because it's like you haven't heard of what a dictatorship is...), but don't pretend to care about ordinary Iranians or Syrians if you think it is their fault that they are suffering due to sanctions because they didn't remove their government yet.

NEWS FLASH - The whole world thinks, that tyrannical regimes that have been in place for nearly half a century , do in part, have their subjects to thank for.

Secondly, just because I don't support your weird narrative, does not give you the right to judge me. Keep that in mind, next time you address me, directly or indirectly.

Thank You!