Syrian War: News #14

JohninMK wrote:Maybe those missiles were dropped 1000km out, maybe they weren't.

Looks like at least one of them had an escort in.

arpakola wrote:Top YPG commander accuses Syria, Russia and Turkey of conspiring over Afrin issue.............[/img]

arpakola wrote:Top YPG commander accuses Syria, Russia and Turkey of conspiring over Afrin issue
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/top-ypg-commander-accuses-syria-russia-turkey-conspiring-afrin-issue/

MOSCOW — The Kremlin is bringing a new weapon to the fight against the Islamic State militant group in Syria, using market-based incentives tied to oil and mining rights to reward private security contractors who secure territory from the extremists, Russian news outlets have reported.

So far, two Russian companies are known to have received contracts under the new policy, according to the reports: Evro Polis, which is set to receive profits from oil and gas wells it seizes from the Islamic State using contract soldiers, and Stroytransgaz, which signed a phosphate-mining deal for a site that was under militant control at the time.

The agreements, made with the Syrian government, are seen as incentives for companies affiliated with Russian security contractors, who reportedly employ about 2,500 soldiers in the country, to push the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, out of territory near Palmyra, in central Syria.

Most Middle Eastern wars are suspected of having some variant of this deal, but it is seldom made as explicit as in the Russian contracts.

“It’s all very simple,” Ivan P. Konovalov, director of the Center for Strategic Trends Studies, said by telephone of the deals, struck in December but just recently reported. “If a company provides security, then the country getting that service should pay. It doesn’t matter how the payment is made.”

In the petroleum deal, Evro Polis, a corporation formed last summer, will receive a 25 percent share of oil and natural gas produced on territory it captures from the Islamic State, the news site Fontanka.ru reported.

The website has a record of accurately reporting about private security companies in Russia, and just last month Washington appeared to corroborate one of its earlier reports by imposing sanctions on a Russian whose activities first came to light in the publication.

Fontanka’s latest article on the topic, published last week, detailed how Evro Polis was cooperating with a shadowy Russian private security group called Wagner, which American sanctions suggest has also provided contract soldiers to the war in Ukraine.

The deal is distinct from the common practice of oil majors and other corporations outsourcing security in hot spots in the Middle East and elsewhere. Under the contract, the wells are not just to be guarded, but to be captured first, the article said.

“The arrangement returns to the times of Francis Drake and Cecil Rhodes,” it noted, referring to two figures from British history whose careers mixed warfare and private profit.

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(THERE WAS STANDARD MANDATORY BULLSHIT ABOUT TROLL FACTORIES HERE THAT I JUST HAD TO CUT, SORRY, TOO MUCH BULLCRAP EVEN FOR SOMEONE AS JADED AS I AM....)
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In the other deal, the Russian energy company Stroytransgaz won rights to mine phosphate in central Syria under the condition it secure the mine site, the Russian news outlet RBC reported.

Stroytransgaz, which is majority owned by another Russian under United States sanctions, Gennady Timchenko, signed a deal with the Syrian government to resume mining at the Sharqiya phosphate deposit, which was under Islamic State control at the time, RBC reported. Under the agreement, an unidentified Russian private military contractor would guard the site.

In this instance, however, Russian, Iranian and Syrian soldiers — rather than private contractors — conducted the operations in May that expelled Islamic State militants from the mining site, RBC reported.

In anticipation of the commercial payoff, the report said, a Russian ship laden with mining equipment docked at the Syrian port city of Tartus, where Russia has a naval base, even before the military operation began.

Russian officials have not commented publicly on either deal.

The Russian Energy Ministry did not respond to written questions about the reported oil and gas deal. The owner of Evro Polis did not reply to an email sent to an address listed on company records.

Asked on a conference call with journalists about the Syrian oil deal, the Kremlin press secretary, Dmitri S. Peskov, said “We do not monitor some entrepreneurial activity” of Russian companies abroad.

Mr. Konovalov, the military analyst, said the Syrian government was more than willing to strike such deals, trading natural resources for security.

“They get the better side of this contract,” he said. “They get our participation in the security sector in Syria, which is very valuable.”

The Fontanka report suggested that Russian security contractors had already put the agreement to work, fighting to expel the Islamic State from natural gas fields near Palmyra.

The Russians are training and fighting alongside a unit of the Syrian Army called ISIS Hunters, whose exploits are widely promoted in the Russian state news media. The Fontanka report linked to a video filmed from a body camera worn by a Russian-speaking soldier with ISIS Hunters during a firefight in the desert.

“Friendly, don’t shoot!” the soldier yelled in Russian, apparently to other Russian soldiers nearby.

arpakola wrote:https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/rebels-will-use-chemical-provocations-justify-us-airstrikes-syrian-government-russian-fm/
Rebels will use chemical provocations to justify US airstrikes on Syrian government: Russian FM

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (3:45 P.M.) – Syrian rebels entrenched in the Eastern Ghouta region are on the process of stirring provocations by using chemical agents in order to pave the way for a potential US airstrikes against government positions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
“According to the available information, Syrian terrorist groups are planning staged provocations with the use of chemical weapons to ground the US airstrikes on the positions of Syria’s pro-government forces,” she said

Zakharova pointed fingers at the Saudi backed Jaish al-Islam and Faylaq al-Rahman; the main two rebel forces controlling the Eastern Ghouta, which – according to the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman – are known to have a few missiles with warfare chemical agents 150 kg each.

“The actions will most probably be held in a settlement inaccessible to Syria’s government, one of which is the opposition enclave in Eastern Ghouta where they previously delivered warfare poisonous agents,” the Russian diplomat added.

storm333 wrote:

arpakola wrote:https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/rebels-will-use-chemical-provocations-justify-us-airstrikes-syrian-government-russian-fm/
Rebels will use chemical provocations to justify US airstrikes on Syrian government: Russian FM

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (3:45 P.M.) – Syrian rebels entrenched in the Eastern Ghouta region are on the process of stirring provocations by using chemical agents in order to pave the way for a potential US airstrikes against government positions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
“According to the available information, Syrian terrorist groups are planning staged provocations with the use of chemical weapons to ground the US airstrikes on the positions of Syria’s pro-government forces,” she said

Zakharova pointed fingers at the Saudi backed Jaish al-Islam and Faylaq al-Rahman; the main two rebel forces controlling the Eastern Ghouta, which – according to the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman – are known to have a few missiles with warfare chemical agents 150 kg each.

“The actions will most probably be held in a settlement inaccessible to Syria’s government, one of which is the opposition enclave in Eastern Ghouta where they previously delivered warfare poisonous agents,” the Russian diplomat added.

If such provocation will be carried out, predictive analysis based on past western aggression such as Ukraine and August War will set the date to the day of the G-20 summit, where Putin and Trump are set to meet. If the provocation occurs, you they will be able to corner President Putin in the diplomatic domain, while the "alliance" of May, Macron and Trump issue joint statements of a coalition "attack" ( which is actually foreign intervention) on the Syrian government, coming across as unified, legitimate force, while actually, there is no legal basis under international law for the presence or attack of their forces. The west understands the critical role Putin plays as commander in chief, in Russia's effective, streamlined command structure.

Russia must observe early warning and indicators intelligence of western assets in the region, namely from these three countries.

The Syrian government can stage its own "big lie" chemical attack, coordinate with friendly media and social media for content production and dissemination, and justify attack on Al Nusra forces while blaming France, Britain, Saudi and US regimes for their support of Al Qaeda in Syria.

d_taddei2 wrote:I think it's about time S-400, S-300 and Tor finally had some combat experience. The US, France and Israel need to experience this if anymore attacks occur. The systems are in place but never actually target anything.

Also whats people's view on current Syrian air defence up against western aircraft? ??

A bit off topic does anyone know of any combat kills etc of 2K11 Krug  (sa-4)

par far wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:I think it's about time S-400, S-300 and Tor finally had some combat experience. The US, France and Israel need to experience this if anymore attacks occur. The systems are in place but never actually target anything.

Also whats people's view on current Syrian air defence up against western aircraft? ??

A bit off topic does anyone know of any combat kills etc of 2K11 Krug  (sa-4)

Syrian Air Defenses against the west would last minutes, the west would destroy Syria along with it's Air Defenses in mere hours. It is because of Russia that the West does not attack the SAA. The west knows that if it does something stupid, their Fighter Jets would like flies because Russia will hit back.

Good analysis of what going on and what may come.



Also is anyone else getting those annoying "update your account to enable 3rd party hosting" ads? How do you get rid of them.

eehnie wrote:

par far wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:I think it's about time S-400, S-300 and Tor finally had some combat experience. The US, France and Israel need to experience this if anymore attacks occur. The systems are in place but never actually target anything.

Also whats people's view on current Syrian air defence up against western aircraft? ??

A bit off topic does anyone know of any combat kills etc of 2K11 Krug  (sa-4)

Syrian Air Defenses against the west would last minutes, the west would destroy Syria along with it's Air Defenses in mere hours. It is because of Russia that the West does not attack the SAA. The west knows that if it does something stupid, their Fighter Jets would like flies because Russia will hit back.

Good analysis of what going on and what may come.



Also is anyone else getting those annoying "update your account to enable 3rd party hosting" ads? How do you get rid of them.

No, this is not right. If this would be true, it would have been done, but the reality is different.

The size of the Syrian Armed Forces at the begin of the war, was enough to lead to a result like the War of Iraq of 1991 in case of a war at distance. Even using some ground forces vs Syria in the form of rebel opposition (including IS), four years and half were not enough to defeat Syria. In order to defeat a country like Syria, the US and the West need to go to the ground with massive own land forces, like in the War of Iraq of 2003. And the West has not been ready for it.

The effect of Russia in this war is different today. At this point the presence of Russia in the war means that the US must go to a direct war with Russia if they want a massive land campaign. Today this kind of campaign would be massive by both sides, and would be near to WWIII.

par far wrote:

eehnie wrote:

par far wrote:

d_taddei2 wrote:I think it's about time S-400, S-300 and Tor finally had some combat experience. The US, France and Israel need to experience this if anymore attacks occur. The systems are in place but never actually target anything.

Also whats people's view on current Syrian air defence up against western aircraft? ??

A bit off topic does anyone know of any combat kills etc of 2K11 Krug  (sa-4)

Syrian Air Defenses against the west would last minutes, the west would destroy Syria along with it's Air Defenses in mere hours. It is because of Russia that the West does not attack the SAA. The west knows that if it does something stupid, their Fighter Jets would like flies because Russia will hit back.

Good analysis of what going on and what may come.



Also is anyone else getting those annoying "update your account to enable 3rd party hosting" ads? How do you get rid of them.

No, this is not right. If this would be true, it would have been done, but the reality is different.

The size of the Syrian Armed Forces at the begin of the war, was enough to lead to a result like the War of Iraq of 1991 in case of a war at distance. Even using some ground forces vs Syria in the form of rebel opposition (including IS), four years and half were not enough to defeat Syria. In order to defeat a country like Syria, the US and the West need to go to the ground with massive own land forces, like in the War of Iraq of 2003. And the West has not been ready for it.

The effect of Russia in this war is different today. At this point the presence of Russia in the war means that the US must go to a direct war with Russia if they want a massive land campaign. Today this kind of campaign would be massive by both sides, and would be near to WWIII.

The reason west did not send in ground forces into Syria was because it's proxy forces were doing all the dirty work. Right before Russia intervened, Syria was about to fall. Had the west known that Russia was about to intervene, the west would have sent in ground forces but the west was convinced that Russia would not do anything in terms of direct intervention(you can get the feeling from John McCain's comments) and when Russia directly intervened, it took the west by surprise.

Syria survived for 4-5 years because of Russia and Iran(and Syria won because of direct Russian intervention), Syria was no different than Libya and the west destroyed Libya in a matters of days(Libya's Air Defenses were taken out in hours) and the west did not need to send in a "massive ground Forces to Libya".