|
The following is a bit of a compilation, consisting of two translations with commentary and notes [in brackets] by Vince Dhimos and some quotes from Twitter and msm.
I will start with a tweet by military affairs expert Babak Taghvaee from October 13. #BREAKING: I just got confirmation that on request of #SDF, #Russia has agreed to establish No fly-zone over NE #Syria to prevent #Turkish Air Force from bombing #SDF/ #YPG/ #Rojava [Rojava is the Kurdish name for Kurdistan]. #RuAF's Su-35S fighter interceptors left #Hmeimim Air Base to confront Turkish F-16C/Ds & F-4Es! Just prior to this Taghvaee had tweeted: #BREAKING: #Russia has not yet established No-Fly Zone over NE #Syria due to the fact that withdrawal of #US SOF is Now delayed for another 12 hours! Tomorrow when #Syria Arab Army will start its offensive against #Turkish Army & its terrorists, No-Fly zone might be established! – End tweet. This shows that the US was, as usual, indirectly endangering the lives of Syrians, including the Kurds it purported to protect, by staying in Syria and standing in the way of the Russians and Syrians, who, instead of flapping their jaws about democracy and war on terror, actually protect human lives in Syria. Yet US politicians and msm uphold the utter absurdity that only the US – which in fact arms terrorists when it thinks it can get away with it – is capable of defending anyone. Trump is accused of endangering the Kurds when in fact – wittingly or not – he is protecting them by finally giving the Russians a free hand. According to rambler.ru, quoting BBC, journalist Jeremy Bowen has called Putin the most influential person in the Middle East. (The British reporting site has restricted access so I quoted the Russian source.) Yet the US was stifling his influence in ways that promoted terror and Turkish insolence. The essential difference between the US and Russia is that the US divides groups and nations into good guys and bad guys, while Russia takes no sides – except against terrorists – and tries to achieve a balanced harmony among all sides. Westerners are struggling to understand this concept and most are failing. They constantly strive to determine whose side Putin is on. Some insist he favours the Assad “regime” when in fact, he wants the best for the Syrian people, as he keeps saying. Meanwhile, the US keeps supporting the Kurds for the purpose of breaking up the integrity of the Syrian territory. Russia, of course, aims for an intact Syria. Intuitively we know that discriminating against some groups while favouring others is a recipe for failure. Yet the US does this on behalf of the 2 nations that shape its foreign policy, namely, Saudi Arabia and Israel, and for the reasons outlined here. Is it any wonder that this policy is failing colossally? RUSSIAN SU-35S SCARE OFF TURKISH F-16S VIOLATING SYRIAN AIR SPACE The following are translations of two articles appearing at lenta.ru on August 8 and October 15, respectively, of this year with commentary and notes [in brackets] by Vince Dhimos. https://lenta.ru/news/2019/08/20/turc/ BEGIN TRANSLATION Russian Su-35 drove Turkish F-16s from Syria August 20, 2019 Russian Su-35S fighters allegedly intercepted Turkish F-16s and forced them to leave Syrian airspace. As reported by Al-Masdar News. It is known that Turkish fighter jets were forced to leave the sky above Idlib, having already covered a distance of 30-40 kilometres. This clearly indicates either a warning from the [Russian] aerospace forces or the detection of Russian combat aircraft on radar. After this incident, the Su-35S aircraft were seen in the vicinity of the city of Khan Sheikhun. It is noted that the goal of Russian planes that flew from Khmeimim is to "deter Turkish planes from rash actions." Other details are not reported. On August 19, the Syrian Air Force hit the Turkish column invading the country. According to the Turks, the shells exploded in the immediate vicinity of military vehicles, but no losses were reported. Turkish armoured personnel carriers violated the Syrian border and entered the city of Sarakib on August 19. Military equipment was headed towards Khan Sheikhun. The de-escalation zone in Idlib is one of four existing in Syria. It was created [jointly] by Russia and Turkey in 2017. Most of it is still not demilitarized and is under the control of the Khayyat Tahrir al-Sham group (HTS, created on the basis of the banned Jabhat al-Nusra in Russia [Jabhat al-Nusra is a terrorist organization associated with al-Nusra]) and the armed Syrian opposition. Moscow and Damascus consider most of the rebels on its territory to be terrorists. The civil war in Syria began in the spring of 2011. The main participants in the conflict are government forces supporting acting President Bashar al-Assad, the so-called moderate opposition and Islamic groups. The opposition is supported by the United States and European countries, while Russia helps the Assad government. END TRANSLATION http://avia.pro/blog/novosti-sirii-15-oktyabrya-2019-goda-rossiyskie-istrebiteli-perehvatili-tureckie-f-16-nad BEGIN TRANSLATION October 15, 2019 http://avia.pro/news/rossiyskie-su-35-perehvatili-tureckie-istrebiteli-f-16 October 15, 2019 Syria News October 15, 2019. Russian fighters intercepted Turkish F-16s, Russian flag hoisted above Manbij [Turkey is contesting this city. Its population is mostly Arab, with some Kurdish presence] The latest news of the fighting in Syria on October 15, 2019 Russian Su-35 fighters intercepted Turkish F-16 combat aircraft, preventing the latter from delivering air strikes at the headquarters of the Syrian Democratic Forces in Manbij. According to several sources, terrorists, with the support of the Turkish army, tried to storm the city of Manbij, where in addition to the Syrian democratic forces and the Syrian army, the Russian military is also located. TWEET Babak taghvaee @BabakTaghvaee #BREAKING: However #Russia Air Force has just 6 Su-35S fighter interceptors in #Hmeimim Air Base, #Syria. But seems they have done a good job this afternoon well protecting #SDF & #SAA from danger of #Turkish Air Force fighter jets in #Manbij. (Archive video by #Russian Air Force) https://twitter.com/BabakTaghvaee/status / 1183859849223913475 ... @BabakTaghvaee FollowFollow @BabakTaghvaee 13 October More #BREAKING: I just got confirmation that on request of #SDF, #Russia has agreed to establish No fly-zone over NE #Syria to prevent #Turkish Air Force from bombing #SDF/ #YPG/ #Rojava [Rojava is the Kurdish name for Kurdistan]. #RuAF's Su-35S fighter interceptors left #Hmeimim Air Base to confront Turkish F-16C/Ds & F-4Es! Babak taghvaee @BabakTaghvaee #BREAKING: According to my #Russian military sources #Russia Air Force successfully provided top cover for #Syria Arab Army & #SDF this afternoon during which at least in one case, #Turkish F-16Cs which were about to bomb a #SDF HQ in #Manbij were chased away by 2 #Russian Su-35s! Initially, it was planned [by the Turks] to carry out the bombing of the headquarters of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which would start a ground attack, however, thanks to the Russian air forces, the Turkish air strikes were disrupted. It should be noted that in the area occupied in the north of Syria, the Russian aerospace forces are present almost constantly. The Russian military raised the Russian flag over Syrian Manbij. Despite the absence of official statements regarding the presence of the Russian military in Syrian Manbij, this afternoon photos were published showing Russian flags raised above the city. According to unofficial data, up to 150 Russian troops may be in the territory of this northern Syrian city. [The presence of Russian troops will undoubtedly deter the Turks, who are not keen on starting a conflict with Russia.] Read more at: http://avia.pro/blog/novosti-sirii-15-oktyabrya-2019-goda-rossiyskie-istrebiteli-perehvatili-tureckie-f-16-nad END TRANSLATION For the sake of completeness, Al-Masdar has reported on October 20: “The battle for the strategic border city of Ras Al-‘Ayn has ended in a victory for the Turkish-backed militants as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) made the decision to withdraw their troops and the civilians from the area.” Now this incursion by Turkey had to have been tacitly allowed by Russia, but let’s back up and consider who are the SDF, which is known to be a Kurdish-controlled US-backed and armed military group. Human Rights Watch reported in August 2018 that the YPG, a branch of the US-backed SDF had recruited children from refugee camps in Syria. TRT World reported in May 2019 on the abuse of protesters by US-backed militants: “Instead of non-violently dispersing the protesters, residents say the US backed force, which is mostly made up of YPG fighters (a local branch of the PKK terrorist group) [YPG and PKK are components of SDF] and a smaller Arab contingent, opened fire on the demonstrators, wounding several.” .... “...cases of robberies, kidnappings, and other crimes were on the rise, and that in his eyes there was only one suspect. ‘Me and everyone in the village believes that the SDF are in one way or another connected to these cimes,” Hussain said, adding: “’They control everything, their fighters are everywhere...who would dare to commit these crimes unless they were protected by the SDF?’” Kyle Orton reports in March 2018: “The SDF has arrested the relatives of members of the Syrian opposition and IS alike. ‘Several of those detained were women and children, including a 16-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy,’ the Commission reports, adding that the SDF tortured some of its captives to get them to give up their relatives. ‘Some male detainees were reportedly beaten and burnt with cigarettes and did not receive medication for chronic illnesses such as diabetes,’ the IICI report notes. Just a little insight into why Trump said the Kurds, who lead, and make up the bulk of, the SDF, were “no angels.” And this just in from Al-Masdar, shows why the US pull-out has aided in making advances in fighting terror. Note that the Russian engineers were shelled by terrorists, as reported below, giving the lie to the absurd reports that the US had cleared out the terrorists. In fact, the US was blocking the progress of the Russians and Syrians in their fight against terror. It is thanks to the US pull-out that this progress is being made. Russian military builds bridge in record time to deploy heavy arms, aid across Euphrates October 20, 2019 Russian road service military experts have erected a bridge across the Euphrates River, a few kilometers away from Deir ez-Zor in northeastern Syria. It will be used to deploy military equipment and troops to the eastern river bank. The MARM small motorway panel bridge was erected in less than two days under continuous shelling, Head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Road Service Vladimir Burovtsev told reporters. “Unmanned aerial vehicles were used. Explosive substances and grenades were falling on us from the air during the installation work. However, we have no losses. No injured or affected. Everything was erected in the set terms,” he specified. The bridge is 210 meters long. It can serve 8,000 cars a day. The bridge supports heavy armored vehicles, such as tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and multiple-launch rocket systems, Burovtsev said. The bridge will also be used for aid convoys to liberated communities and medical evacuations. Syrian state forces liberated most part of Deir ez-Zor in early September. IS’ (Islamic State, a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) main forces were forced to retreat to the opposite, or eastern side of the river bank. Ahead of the bridge’s construction, only the advance detachments of the Syrian army crossed the river with the use of pontoons. Now the main government forces are preparing for mass crossing of the Euphrates. Source: TASS Finally, the following report shows that the US pull-out has enabled an agreement to be made between the Russian-Syrian side and the Kurdish SDF, which will now, finally, fight as a unit. Previously, the US, fearing losses of US personnel, had refused to fight alongside of the SDF it supported. And since SDF had no support other than American, it has no incentive to negotiate with the Syrian government. But now the terror-fighting SDF has greatly increased the size of its forces, while providing monitoring and supervision to avoid the kinds of abuses described above. From my previous writings, you all know that I am no fan of Trump. But, whether he knows it or not, his sudden unexpected pull-out has hastened the progress toward a final settlement –partly political and partly military – in Syria.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|
