Syria Superthread [merged]

[CougarKing]

Only 1200 slated for the Syrian moderate rebel groups? Seems they really are scraping the bottom of the barrel... 

Reuters

U.S. identifies 1,200 potential fighters for Syria training

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has so far identified about 1,200 Syrian opposition fighters for potential participation in a U.S. military-led program to help train and equip them to battle the Islamic State, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The fighters will undergo vetting for the program, which is expected to begin in March at multiple sites outside of Syria and train more than 5,000 Syrian fighters a year. Some 3,000 could be trained by the end of 2015, a U.S. official said.

The program is expected to vet fighters using both U.S. government databases as well as intelligence from regional partners.

Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have publicly offered to host the training and Jordan has privately offered to do so. One U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said training is likely to start in Jordan.
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[cryco]

And what's funny is that the 3 countries offering to host the training are the 3 countries I wouldn't trust under any circumstances.
Makes me wonder if they want to get the 'scoop' on the Syrian fighters to use against them somehow (by leaking the info to ISIS).
Would those volunteers be of the Shia faith perchance?

 

[CougarKing]

Is Turkey eager to be part of this process mainly because they want to train new proxies in Syria who will replace ISIS?

Military.com

Turkey, US Sign Deal to Train, Arm Syrian Rebels

Associated Press | Feb 20, 2015 | by Desmond Butler

ISTANBUL -- Turkey and the United States signed an agreement Thursday to train and arm Syrian rebels fighting the Islamic State group, said the U.S. Embassy in Ankara.
The two countries have been in talks about such a pact for several months. The deal was signed Thursday evening by U.S Ambassador John Bass and Turkish Foreign Ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu, said embassy spokesman Joe Wierichs. He gave no further details.

Sinirlioglu called the deal "an important step" in the strategic partnership between Turkey and the United States, according to Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency.

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[CougarKing]

The legacy of the Ottoman Empire era continues to be felt even today, a century later...

To think there's a piece of Turkish territory with the tomb right in the middle of Syrian territory...reminds me of Point Roberts, Washington state, which is cut off from the rest of the state since it surrounded by British Columbia.

Canadian Press

Turkish military launches overnight operation into Syria to evacuate troops, Ottoman tomb

By Suzan Fraser, The Associated Press

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish soldiers launched an overnight raid into neighbouring Syria, evacuating dozens of besieged troops guarding an Ottoman tomb and moving the crypt Sunday back to Turkey after ceremonially planting the country's crescent-and-star flag.

In a one-line report on the incident, Syria's state news agency denounced what it called a "blatant aggression" by Turkey.

The mission, saving Turkish soldiers reportedly stuck for months at the tomb of the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, saw hundreds of troops backed by tanks cross the border near the border town of Kobani once besieged by the Islamic State group.

Turkey was widely criticized for not intervening for months in the Kobani battle, which finally saw Kurdish fighters backed by U.S.-led airstrikes push out the extremists.

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[CougarKing]

Even if Qatar recently condemned the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt, if I can recall correctly, their state-sponsored jihadist funding has only shifted to other groups.

Reuters

Syria's Nusra Front may leave Qaeda to form new entity

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Leaders of Syria's Nusra Front are considering cutting their links with al Qaeda to form a new entity backed by some Gulf states trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad, sources said.

Sources within and close to Nusra said that Qatar, which enjoys good relations with the group, is encouraging the group to go ahead with the move, which would give Nusra a boost in funding.

The exercise could transform Nusra from a weakened militia group into a force capable of taking on Islamic State at a time when it is under pressure from bombing raids and advances by Kurdish and Iraqi military forces.

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[CougarKing]

More talk of mission creep:

Military Times

Dempsey does not rule out U.S. ground troops in Syria

The military's top officer said Wednesday that American military boots on the ground may eventually be needed in Syria to fight alongside moderate Syrian rebel groups.

Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, testified on Capitol Hill that military commanders may consider the need for small teams of U.S. troops to help local Iraqi and Syrian forces if that is critical for defeating the Islamic State militants.

"If the commander on the ground approaches either me or the secretary of defense and believes that the introduction of special operations forces to accompany Iraqis or the new Syrian forces, or JTACS, these skilled folks who can call in close-air support, if we believe that's necessary to achieve our objectives, we will make that recommendation," Dempsey told the House Appropriations Committee's defense panel.

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[CougarKing]

Assad's air force making its presence still felt:

Reuters

Syrian air strike kills an Islamic State commander

Reuters – 1 hour 52 minutes ago

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army has killed an Islamic State commander in an air strike in central Syria that killed more than two dozen members of the ultra-hardline group, a monitoring group said on Saturday.

The Islamic State commander was identified as one of the group's self-declared provincial governors by Syrian state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the war using sources on the ground.

Islamic State supporters circulated a statement on Twitter announcing the "martyrdom" of the commander, Deeb Hedijan al-Otaibi, together with photos showing him dead and alive.
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[Kat Stevens]

"Syrian Observatory for Human Rights" sounds quite a bit like "Greatest Snowman Builder in all the Caribbean" to me.

 

[midget-boyd91]

Assad's air force making its presence still felt:

Reuters

I have to say that I'm rather surprised that the Syrian Air Force is still flying sorties. I'd have thought that the coalition, especially the USAF, would have implemented a no-fly zone for Assad's air force.

 

[Ostrozac]

I have to say that I'm rather surprised that the Syrian Air Force is still flying sorties. I'd have thought that the coalition, especially the USAF, would have implemented a no-fly zone for Assad's air force.

Why? They are our coalition partner. The government of Syria is fighting ISIS, just like we are.

On the slightly more serious side -- No-Fly Zones have historically usually been imposed by UN Security Council resolution -- that was the authority for the NFZs in Bosnia and in Libya. Russia strongly supports Assad, and would veto any resolution put before the UN Security Council.

 

[vonGarvin]

I have to say that I'm rather surprised that the Syrian Air Force is still flying sorties. I'd have thought that the coalition, especially the USAF, would have implemented a no-fly zone for Assad's air force.

Syria has one of the most advanced Air Defence systems on the planet.  Having said that, they are all too happy to let the coalition bomb ISIS et al on their territory.  I'm quite certain that they are turning a blind eye to the "incursions", so long as they don't come from Israel....

 

[The Bread Guy]

I have to say that I'm rather surprised that the Syrian Air Force is still flying sorties. I'd have thought that the coalition, especially the USAF, would have implemented a no-fly zone for Assad's air force.

For now, the enemy of our enemy ....

 

[a_majoor]

Syria has one of the most advanced Air Defence systems on the planet.  Having said that, they are all too happy to let the coalition bomb ISIS et al on their territory.  I'm quite certain that they are turning a blind eye to the "incursions", so long as they don't come from Israel....

Syrian air defense may be the most sophisticated stuff the Russians are willing to sell, bout the IDF seems to have little difficulty entering Syrian airspace almost at will to (say) destroy nuclear reactors being built on Syrian territory.

All the same, I'd still rather let Iran do the heavy lifting against ISIS via their own air force, the Syrian Air Force, Hezbollah, the Quds force and all the other various resources at Iran's command. The Turks and the Gulf States can decide for themselves how many resources they want to expend on ISIS to fight the Iranians, and we can observe the fun from the sidelines. Since Saudi Arabia is waging economic war against Iran and Russia (well, us too, but we are better equipped to ride that one out), the ramped up expenditure of resources from those parties to fight ISIS will strain their logistical base and social and economic structures far more than presently.

That would be a great war for us, where everyone we don't like will loose.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I suspect someone somewhere is talking to the Syrians letting them know what will be tolerated and what will not in regards to airspace.

 

[CougarKing]

Aleppo again.

Reuters

Turkey shuts border crossings as fighting worsens around Syria's Aleppo

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey has closed two border crossings with Syria as a security precaution as fighting around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo intensifies, Turkish officials said on Wednesday.

The crossings at Oncupinar and Cilvegozu in Turkey's Hatay province had been shut to vehicles and individuals crossing from Syria since March 9, officials at both posts told Reuters. Syrians with passports are allowed to cross back into Syria.

Turkey has kept its borders open to refugees since the start of Syria's civil war four years ago. But it has come under criticism for doing too little to keep foreign fighters crossing and joining militant groups, including Islamic State.

Aleppo, around 50 km (30 miles) south of the border, is divided between government forces and insurgent groups fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad in a conflict estimated to have killed 200,000 people.

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[CougarKing]

Are Assad's days numbered now that ISIS is making gains in Damascus?

Reuters

Islamic State expands in Damascus, al Qaeda vows sharia for city

By Sylvia Westall and Mariam Karouny

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters seized most of a Palestinian camp on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus on Wednesday, nearing President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power.

A rival jihadist group said sharia law would govern a city seized by rebels in the northwest of Syria.
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[CougarKing]

ISIS has no respect for the dead...

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3027851/Fleeing-horror-IS-atrocities-Syria.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

'I saw ISIS playing with a severed head as if it was a football.

They killed children in front of their parents': Refugees in
Yarmouk reveal atrocities they have seen since Islamic State took over the camp
Amjad Yaaqub, 16, saw ISIS militants kicking a severed head in the camp
They also beat the schoolboy unconscious while looking for his brother
Meanwhile 55-year-old Ibrahim Abdel Fatah said children are being killed
Extremists are slaughtering innocents in front of their parents he revealed

A young Syrian boy has revealed how he saw depraved Islamic State militants playing football with a severed head inside the besieged Yarmouk refugee camp.
Amjad Yaaqub, 16, said he stumbled on the barbaric scene shortly after the terrorists beat him unconscious when they burst into his family home at the camp in the Syrian capital Damascus.
The schoolboy said the ISIS fighters were looking for his brother, who is a member of the Palestinian rebel group who ran and defended the camp for several years before ISIS carried out a bloody assault that has left more than 200 people dead in just seven days.

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[a_majoor]

This behaviour is both indoctrination for the ISIS members as well as PSYOPS against anyone who may feel inclined to oppose them.

Reintroducing napalm in the Western arsenal might be an appropriate response since it also sends a very powerful message to the people we are directing it against....

 

[vonGarvin]

Reintroducing napalm nuclear carpet bombing in the Western arsenal might be an appropriate response since it also sends a very powerful message to the people we are directing it against....

There.  Fixed that for you...

 

[GAP]

This behaviour is both indoctrination for the ISIS members as well as PSYOPS against anyone who may feel inclined to oppose them.

Reintroducing napalm in the Western arsenal might be an appropriate response since it also sends a very powerful message to the people we are directing it against....

Until you have used and seen and dealt with the aftereffects of napalm....don't even go there...