Syrian Civil War: News #5

Kadmos45 wrote:The only short term solution to Deyr ez-Zor situation is not so precise carpet-bombing with Tu-22M's .

If not done properly this could be biggest fuckup since capture of Idlib by nusrists but with bigger losses.

I'm suspecting all those "coincidences" with scum counteroffensives are coordinated with, or even by turks.

This current attack was total suprise for SAA , so there is something wrong with intel gathering or analyzing.
It  has also probably something to do with D-e-Z  being low on priorities list.


BTW. How many government soldiers are trapped there ?

KiloGolf wrote:check this, out:

Al-Masdar News
‏@TheArabSource
#ISIS changes tactics to advance against the Syrian Army in ... http://bit.ly/1P9WKyw  #DeirEzzor #Syria

The Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) has launched their largest assault on the provincial capital of the Deir Ezzor Governorate since their December 2014 offensive that resulted in the capture of Saqr Island, the village of ‘Ayyash, the Radio Broadcast Tower, and Al-Bughayliyah – these were later recaptured by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

However, once again, ISIS is on the offensive inside this province in eastern Syria that is separated by the vast Euphrates River and the desolate Syrian Desert.

Part of their contingency for this new offensive in Deir Ezzor is to utilize several suicide bombers instead the usual one or two terrorists that are typically killed before reaching their intended target.

Sources from Deir Ezzor reported that dozens of ISIS fighters would charge their defenses and the first one to reach the Syrian Arab Army’s fortifications would detonate their explosives in order to propel the other militants.

According to a military source in Deir Ezzor, ISIS has conducted over 30 suicide attacks in the last 48 hours, with at least 10 of these suicide attacks reported near the 137th Artillery Brigade’s headquarters in Jabal Thardeh.

While these suicide attacks appear foolish, they have turned out to be a successful counter measure to the Syrian Arab Army’s powerful weaponry.

This new tactic of having all their fighters strapped with suicide belts has proven to be the ISIS’ most effective method to combat the Syrian Arab Army in Deir Ezzor.

#SAA recaptured Al-Ruwad Housing & highest hill in Al-Baghliyah as clashes continue with #IS in the town #DeirEzzor

https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/stat...37410810765312

#SAA advances as clashes continue with #IS in Al-Baghiliyah. 4th attack on 137 Brigade Base foiled by #SAA #DeirEzzor

https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/stat...32245248937984

#IS claims control of Missile Battalion base in the outskirts of #DeirEzzor Airbase

https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/stat...26266348244992

#SAA Brig. Gen. Samer Amin Ali From Al-Safsafa #Tartous Martyred in Al-Baghiliyah #DeirEzzor yesterday

https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/stat...24375371489280

short_fuze wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:
On Deir ez Zor, courtesy of HisRoyalHighness:

#SAA recaptured Al-Ruwad Housing & highest hill in Al-Baghliyah as clashes continue with #IS in the town #DeirEzzor

https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/stat...37410810765312

#SAA advances as clashes continue with #IS in Al-Baghiliyah. 4th attack on 137 Brigade Base foiled by #SAA #DeirEzzor

https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/stat...32245248937984

#IS claims control of Missile Battalion base in the outskirts of #DeirEzzor Airbase

https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/stat...26266348244992

#SAA Brig. Gen. Samer Amin Ali From Al-Safsafa #Tartous Martyred in Al-Baghiliyah #DeirEzzor yesterday

https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/stat...24375371489280

The links are broken. They look to be truncated with "..." in the middle instead of text  

Earlier this month, as Syrian pro-government forces closed in on rebels in the mountains of Latakia province, a prominent Islamist leader issued a frank rebuke to fellow militants.

In a nine-minute speech released on social media, Murad Margoshvili complained of a dearth of fighters, saying that he and his men were "in a Roman wrestling ring where the gladiators fight and the rest of the Islamic world spectates."

"In this decisive moment you leave us without assistance?" asked Margoshvili, an ethnic Chechen commander who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Walid al Shishani and heads a hard-line Islamist faction called Soldiers of Syria.

His exhortations went unheeded. Syrian army units, backed by dozens of Russian airstrikes, soon swept through a onetime rebel bastion, Salma. Government forces have since consolidated their hold over strategic swaths of mountainous territory while driving the rebels back to their rear-guard bases across the Turkish border.

The Latakia attack mirrors similar government gains across the country, as forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, backed by Russian air power, have been on the offensive.

In the south, rebels have struggled to maintain their grip on Sheik Maskin, a town about 50 miles south of Damascus, the Syrian capital, and at the nexus of highways leading to the Jordanian border.

Outside Damascus, pro-government forces are pushing forward in the eastern Ghouta area, long an opposition stronghold. An airstrike last month killed the region's most powerful opposition commander, Zahran Alloush, who headed the hard-line Islam Army faction.

In the north, government advances in seven points around the city of Aleppo forced rebel groups to issue a general call to arms. Government forces are also attacking rebels in the northern province of Hama.

And the Syrian army is likewise advancing north in Homs province as besieged rebel forces have agreed to evacuate Waer, the last opposition-held neighborhood in the city of Homs.

Even Islamic State, whose fighters are regarded as some of the fiercest in the conflict, appears to be on its back foot. In November, the Syrian army broke a crippling three-year siege by Islamic State at Kuweires military airport outside Aleppo and is now poised to move in on nearby Al Bab, a city held by the extremist group since late 2013.

It's a dramatic shift for the forces of Assad, who less than six months ago had warned supporters that the government would have to "give up areas" after a string of humiliating setbacks.

The gains have strengthened the government's position in the run-up to Syrian peace negotiations scheduled to begin next week in Geneva. Leading up to the talks, previous demands by the United States and others for Assad's immediate departure have softened into a United Nations Security Council plan for a transitional government and a vague timeline that promises "free and fair elections" in 18 months.

Much of the credit for the government gains in Syria, observers say, goes to the hundreds of airstrikes conducted by Russia, which deployed its forces to the country in September against what it said were Islamic State targets.

Most of its attacks, however, have focused on other Assad adversaries in strategic, opposition-held areas, which are mostly under the control of other Islamist groups, and factions linked to the Western-backed Free Syrian Army. Latakia province has been a particular focus because it is a bastion of government support and is home to the major air base being used by Russian forces.

"Assad is winning. Russian air power [has] changed the entire dynamic of what's going on, and it just gives the Syrian army an incredible boost," said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, in a phone interview.

Moscow's air onslaught appears to be gaining effectiveness as Russian commanders grow more familiar with the conflict and with the capabilities of allied Syrian ground forces, observers say.

"What I'm hearing from Damascus is that it has taken time to digest the new technology, for the Russians to get well situated, get the intelligence they require and know what they're doing," Landis said.

Russia's involvement has also led to a new calculation by Syria's neighbors, "restrict[ing] what they could do in Syria," Oraib Rantawi, director of the Quds Center for Political Studies in Amman, said in a phone interview Sunday.

The Military Operations Center, an Amman-based logistics hub supporting the rebels in southern Syria, has reduced its role, Rantawi said. The center is staffed by intelligence operatives from 11 countries, including the United States.

Turkey, meanwhile, has tightened up security along the more than 500-mile border it shares with Syria — a sharp contrast from the carte blanche previously given to antigovernment fighters, including Islamic State militants. Russian warplanes have been operating close to the border area.

Some observers, however, doubt the ability of the Assad government to regain control of all of Syria. The majority of Syria's land area remains out of government control, though much of rebel-held territory is thinly populated desert. Government-held areas — including the major cities of Damascus, Homs, Hama and part of Aleppo, along with the Mediterranean coast — are home to more than 60% of Syria's remaining population, according to various estimates.

"Can Assad shoot himself into a stronger position, with enough firepower? Yes … but of course he's up against formidable obstacles," Aron Lund, editor of the Syria in Crisis website, wrote in an email exchange Saturday. The site is published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Syria's economy Is reeling, much of the nation's infrastructure has been destroyed, and its army is desperately overstretched and reliant on allied forces such as the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

"Assad isn't trying to conquer every little village in Syria, and he can't do that anyway," Lund noted. "Ultimately, I don't think Assad's endgame is about him being strong as much as it is about making every other option impossible."

More territories in the eastern Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor have been retaken by the country's army and the National Defense Forces (NDF), which also managed to regain control over a spate of strategic heights in the province, according to the Iranian news agency FARS.

"Daesh withdrew forces from its positions near al-Ruwad heights after the army and the NDF stormed them and killed many of the terrorists. Al-Ruwad heights and its surroundings are now under full control of the Syrian government forces," FARS quoted army sources as saying.

The past few weeks have seen the Syrian troops crack down on Daesh positions across Deir ez-Zor province, where scores of militants have been killed and many more are wounded.


The sources said on Sunday that the army had tracked and targeted a Daesh explosive-laden armored vehicle in the province's west before the jihadist group could detonate it.

"ISIL (Daesh) had managed to hit a government position near the village of Ayyash with an armored vehicle, loaded with huge quantities of explosive materials, but the army soldiers targeted the car before the terrorists group could explode it," the sources said.

In a separate development on Sunday, more militant group strongholds were reportedly obliterated by the Syrian Army and the country's air force in eastern and western Ghouta to the east of the capital Damascus.

According to the sources, "the Syrian fighter jets, for their part, bombed the militant groups' bases and gatherings in Jobar," which also claimed the lives of several militants. Jobar is an inner suburb of Damascus located between the city and a key thoroughfare, Almotahalik Aljanobi Street, which connects with the M5 highway leading north to Homs.

Adding to the Syrian Army's anti-Daesh effort is Russia's air campaign, which was launched on September 30, when more than fifty Russian warplanes, including Su-24M, Su-25 and Su-34 jets, commenced precision airstrikes on Daesh targets in Syria at the behest of Syrian President Bashar Assad.