View Full Version : Conflict in Syria
Jimbuna
12-09-24, 07:43 AM
As of now can we leave the Hamas thread to what it was originally intended for and post all of the Syria - related material here.
Thanks in advance.
Jimbuna
12-09-24, 07:47 AM
A Syrian civil defence group has deployed specialist emergency teams to Saydnaya prison following reports that inmates are being detained in underground cells
The White Helmets says, so far, it has "not found any of the secret doors being talked about" - but will continue searching with the help of people "who know the prison's entrances and secret passages"
Efforts are continuing in Syria's capital Damascus to free prisoners after former president Bashar al-Assad's regime was overthrown by rebels on Sunday
Assad, who's now reported to be in Russia where he's been granted asylum, fled after rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of Damascus
Shadowblade
12-09-24, 08:17 AM
Not good news for Europe as this offensive can cause another refugee wave to Europe.
I was quite surprised that Syrian army collapsed so fast under islamist offensive.
Jimbuna
12-09-24, 08:20 AM
Plenty of room here in the UK, we let everyone else in :o
Shadowblade
12-09-24, 08:48 AM
well, they would mostly go to Germany (until their social system will collapse)
People is celebrating their freedom in the streets in Syria. I say it is to early, since they don't know what will come after Assad's regime.
I'm convinced that Syria is heading for an even bloodier civil war.
Markus
Shadowblade
12-09-24, 09:37 AM
I'm convinced that Syria is heading for an even bloodier civil war.
Markus
I agree, I expect the fight for power between various factions in Syria.
Skybird
12-09-24, 09:52 AM
And so the wheel begins a new revolution...
[FOCUS] In north-eastern Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continue to fight against the “Islamic State” (IS). Supported by the USA, the SDF also have the Syrian National Army (SNA) as an enemy. The SNA, which is supported by Turkey, has been attacking areas of the autonomous region for days.
Now “Die Welt” reports that the SNA fighters are attacking the city of Manbij with its 100,000 inhabitants. According to the SDF, however, reports about the capture of the city are false. Nevertheless, the situation on the ground is chaotic. According to the “Welt” report, new refugees are arriving in Kamishli every day, many of them of Kurdish origin. And they are already reporting atrocities committed by the SNA. According to a Kurdish family father who also fled, “the SNA have posted severed heads on the streets” to prevent the Kurds from returning.
Raf1394
12-09-24, 11:36 AM
I also fear for a bigger civil war in Syria.
I understand Assad's regime was harsh. But look at Saddam and Kaddafi.
Some countries are held together only with a iron fist...
You can't compare those countries with western countries.
A lot of people in Iraq regret what they did... even in Libya.
Like someone mentioned in Iraq ''we got rid of 1 tyrant, but he got replaced by 1000 tyrants''
Shadowblade
12-09-24, 11:53 AM
I also fear for a bigger civil war in Syria.
I understand Assad's regime was harsh. But look at Saddam and Kaddafi.
Some countries are held together only with a iron fist...
You can't compare those countries with western countries.
A lot of people in Iraq regret what they did... even in Libya.
Like someone mentioned in Iraq ''we got rid of 1 tyrant, but he got replaced by 1000 tyrants''
yes, this happens when dictator is removed, country becomes destabilized and fight for power breaks out.
Libya and Iraq are both good examples when it went wrong.
yes, this happens when dictator is removed, country becomes destabilized and fight for power breaks out.
Libya and Iraq are both good examples when it went wrong.
Not only that-We force our way of living here in the west with our democracy onto them.
Trump have stated on his social media-USA should stay out of it-Does this mean it will be the end of American support to SDF ?
Markus
Jimbuna
12-09-24, 12:55 PM
The humiliated Assads' new life in Russia with their $2bn fortune
President Assad, his British wife and their three adult children have left behind their Syrian palaces and will begin a new life in Russia after being granted asylum by Vladimir Putin. Asma Al-Assad, a London-born doctor's daughter who married into the brutal autocratic dynasty, has become accustomed to a life of luxury, with reports that she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on home furnishings and clothes during her husband's reign of terror.
The US state department estimates that the family are worth $2billion, with their wealth concealed in numerous accounts, shell companies, offshore tax havens and real estate portfolios. Now they are likely to draw on their family connections and extensive assets in Moscow in the hope of keeping up their comfortable lifestyle in exile. The Syrian dictator's extended family bought up at least 20 Moscow apartments worth more than £30 million in recent years, illustrating Russia's status as a safe haven for the clan.
The Kremlin today confirmed that the family was given asylum on the direct orders of Putin. Moscow disclosed no further details, with presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov telling reporters today: 'We have nothing to say about Assad's whereabouts.' Mrs Assad, who has been battling an aggressive form of leukaemia, is widely believed to have arrived in Moscow with her daughter and two sons days before her husband finally fled Syria. Secret tunnels beneath an Assad family mansion were reportedly uncovered after rebels seized the capital Damascus on Sunday, with the network serving as a possible escape route for the dictator and his allies.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/the-humiliated-assads-new-life-in-russia-with-their-2bn-fortune/ss-AA1vxqAw?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=7b14802bb3784dd7a1ea3b9978a76e58&ei=16#image=6
The Military Operations Department in Syria and de facto transitional government announces a general amnesty for all military personnel conscripted under compulsory service. "Their lives are safe and no one may assault them," they add. The loss of its military harbor, airfields in Syria, threatens Russia's influence over African autocrats it seeks to support as its African military supply route would be significantly diminished. Putin's Syria debacle undermines Russia's broader geopolitical goal as a reliable global superpower. The biggest loser is Iran, its route to Lebanon and Yemen is severely hindered.
Raghad al-Tatary, a pilot who refused to bomb the city of Hama during the uprising against Hafez al-Assad in the 1980s, was freed after 43 years; Tal al-Mallouhi, 19 when she was arrested in 2009 for a blog post criticizing state corruption, was found alive. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/08/tears-of-joy-and-sadness-as-disappeared-syrians-emerge-from-assads-prisons
Day 1020 of my 3-day war. It's going so well that NATO, an aggressive alliance that seeks to destroy Russia, has 1 of their members helping me safely leave Syria. I remain a master strategist.
https://i.postimg.cc/vHyTZJpX/master.jpg
https://bsky.app/profile/darthputinkgb.bsky.social/post/3lcvbmxl3rs2k
It's as we all feared. They just discovered a massive pile of bodies in the dungeons of Sednaya prison. Former regime troops seems to have started executing detainees in large numbers as rebels were closing in on Damascus. Between 2011 and 2024, more than 100,000 Syrians, including members of the opposition, were detained without due process in state prisons, of which Saydnaya was the most notorious. Human rights organization Amnesty International has described the prison as a ‘human slaughterhouse’. It is estimated that more than 30,000 prisoners died there between 2011 and 2018 as a result of torture, lack of care and starvation. There were also said to be special ‘salt chambers’ where the bodies of perished prisoners were stored for disposal.
The former prime minister of Syria's Assad regime has agreed to hand over power to his rebel counterpart, outgoing prime minister Mohammad Ghazi Al-Jalali told Al Arabiya TV, according to Reuters. The Syrian rebels shared a video of the leader of the main rebel group HTS, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, meeting with al-Jalali. The rebels said the meeting was to ‘coordinate the transfer of power in a way that guarantees service to our people in Syria’. The transitional government in Syria will be headed by Mohammed al-Bashir, an engineer who previously worked as an administrator in rebel-held territory. According to Syrian television, the rebels have now appointed him and his main task is to ‘prevent the country from sliding into chaos’. Al-Bashir, from Idlib, was previously a minister in the rebel-held north-western Syria. Earlier this year, he came to lead the government there, which was supported and funded by HTS. Al-Jolani remains the face of HTS as a military leader and is likely to play a major role in setting up a new government.
Israel have conducted a series of bombing on Syrian air bases-Here they went after Helicopters and fighterjets. They did this because they don't want these to fall into the hands of these rebel groups.
Markus
Skybird
12-09-24, 08:25 PM
The Russioans will not give their bases up silently. Peskov already announced they want to negotiate their status with any follow-up government there may be. This gives the Syrians a very tempting opportunity to drive the costs up and squeeze quite some out of Russia, if they jump over their shadow and consider the Russian request. Its not clear to nom what the new current leader values higher: to itch the West by allowing the Russians to stay and make " fortune" from this, or to appease the West by not allowing and by that maybe inviting Western instead of Russian support. None of the possible outcomes I would call "obvious" at this time.
Shadowblade
12-10-24, 09:43 AM
Not only that-We force our way of living here in the west with our democracy onto them.
Trump have stated on his social media-USA should stay out of it-Does this mean it will be the end of American support to SDF ?
Markus
yeah, some countries are not compatible with democracy (or not ready for it).
Then these people run to Europe and want to establish Caliphate and Shariah law here <facepalm>.
Aktungbby
12-10-24, 11:06 AM
:hmmm:...methinks Baba Vanga is right, and the collapse of Assad's regime will simply commence WWIII in earnest ala the shot fired in 1914 at Sarajevo. With Turkey which controls the Bosphorus preventing the travel of Russian warships out of the Black Sea, Putin will be loath to give up his western Syrian bases and influence in the eastern Mediterrainian Sea. With ally Iran, also bereft with the fall of the Assad regime, the matter will escalate out of control.
The Israeli army ‘destroyed’ the Syrian military fleet on Monday night with rockets fired from ships. So says Defence Minister Israel Katz on a visit to a military maritime base in the city of Haifa. The aim of the operation was to ‘pre-emptively eliminate strategic threats against Israel’, Katz said. AFP photographers were able to capture the damage in the port city of Latakia this morning. Israel has also carried out more than 300 airstrikes up there on Syria since rebels took Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad fell, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) reported earlier today.
The organisation, which relies on an extensive network of sources across Syria, said it had recorded ‘almost 310 attacks’ by ‘the Israeli air force’ since the announcement of Assad's fall Sunday morning, with AFP journalists in Damascus reporting explosions this morning. Israel sees the upheaval in Syria as an opportunity to weaken that country militarily. Katz confirmed the attacks, though without giving the exact number. ‘The Israeli army has conducted operations in Syria in recent days to attack and destroy strategic capabilities that threaten the state of Israel,’ he said. The minister also warned Syria's new leaders not to ‘follow the Assad path’.
According to the OSDH, the attacks were aimed at ‘destroying the weapons still present in the warehouses and military units controlled by the forces of the former regime’, which were affiliated with Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, the organisation said in a statement. According to the Observatory, major Syrian military bases, warehouses, airfields, anti-aircraft installations and radars have been destroyed. In Damascus, a scientific research centre was bombed. According to eyewitnesses, almost nothing is left of the centre.
Katz said this afternoon that he has effectively ordered the army to create a ‘sterile defensive zone’ in southern Syria to ‘prevent any terrorist threat’, without requiring a permanent Israeli presence on Syrian territory. At issue is the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israel strenuously denies that it wants to advance towards Damascus in the process. The Syrian capital is less than 45 kilometres from the truce line between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights. That line was the front line at the end of the 1973 war, after which the narrow buffer zone was established.
The Israeli army denies that it is advancing towards the Syrian capital Damascus. Earlier today, international news agencies, based on anonymous Syrian sources, wrote that groups of Israeli forces had approached the capital. But according to army spokesmen, the units barely got past the buffer zone, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Spokesman Nadav Shoshani said the forces had taken a ‘limited number’ of points around the buffer zone. Israel says the capture of the buffer zone this weekend, which covers some 400 square kilometres, is temporary. Shoshani argues that the military presence in the region is necessary to ensure Israel's security now that rebels control Syria. The Israeli presence should prevent abandoned weaponry from reaching them, Shoshani argued.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israel faced criticism from Turkey, which has had a big finger in the country for years. Turkish-backed militant groups, united in the Syrian National Army (SNA), have long been operating across the border in northern Syria, fighting Kurdish forces in particular. Moreover, Turkey itself has occupied parts of northern Syria for years. Nevertheless, Turkey criticises Israel's action: ‘Israel once again shows that it is an occupying power,’ the Turkish foreign ministry wrote in a statement.
Turkey “strongly condemns” Israel advancing into Syrian territory, says Israel is displaying its “occupying mentality.” Hypocritical, as Turkey itself occupies large swaths of Syrian territory and is currently attacking the SDF to occupy even more.
Skybird
12-10-24, 11:26 AM
Israel thought of Assad as the evil known. What now comes is an unknown evil, most likely. So they do the only reasonable thing they are left to do: trying to pull as many teeth out of the evil's jaw while it still is lying still in paralysis.
I would do the same.
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, Manbij, and Deir Ez-Zor. The region gained its de facto autonomy in 2012 in the context of the ongoing Rojava conflict and the wider Syrian civil war, in which its official military force, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has taken part. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_Administration_of_North_and_East_Syria#
Rojava is and will be supported by the West this region has majority of the oil of Syria do not think the US that on the moment protect those wells military retreat from Rojava this region has more than 10 years a Democratic administration this is stable the only trustworthy and stable region in Syria. A system of popularly elected administrative councils, allowing local communities to exercise autonomous control over their assets, while linking to other communities via a network of confederal councils. Decisions are made by communes in each neighborhood, village, or city. All are welcome to partake in the communal councils, but political participation is not mandated. Anybody saying they are not ... are misinformed! Rojava is open towards other political groups, religions and factions. It is flexible, multicultural, anti-monopolistic and consensus-oriented. Ecology and feminism are central pillars!
The Women's Protection Units or Women's Defense Units is an all-female militia. The YPJ is part of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the armed forces of Rojava, and is closely affiliated with the male-led YPG. While the YPJ is mainly made up of Kurds, it also includes women from other ethnic groups in Northern Syria. These women and men have successfully fought ISIS with the air support of NATO. Israel's new foreign minister has said his country should reach out to Kurds and other regional minorities that are "natural" allies. The Kurdish people are a great nation, one of the great nations without political independence. It is a national minority in four different countries, in two of which it enjoys autonomy: de facto in Syria and de jure in the Iraqi constitution. Victim of oppression and aggression from Iran and Turkey, and Israel needs to strenghten ties to them. This has both political and security aspects.“The attacks on the Kurds, as we saw yesterday in Manbij, must stop!” Sa’ar said. “There must be a commitment and actions by the international community to protect the Kurds, who fought bravely against ISIS. We have spoken with the U.S. administration and other countries on this matter.” Sa’ar’s calls for aiding the Kurds were echoed by former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, who posted a message on ��, saying, “Israel must convince the US not to abandon the Kurds.”
The Russioans will not give their bases up silently. Peskov already announced they want to negotiate their status with any follow-up government there may be. This gives the Syrians a very tempting opportunity to drive the costs up and squeeze quite some out of Russia, if they jump over their shadow and consider the Russian request. Its not clear to nom what the new current leader values higher: to itch the West by allowing the Russians to stay and make " fortune" from this, or to appease the West by not allowing and by that maybe inviting Western instead of Russian support. None of the possible outcomes I would call "obvious" at this time.Several Russian Navy ships have left the Syrian port of Tartus. This was reported by Reuters news agency on the basis of satellite images from Planet Labs. These show three Russian ships anchored about 13 kilometers from the coast. Russia has not yet responded to the ships' departure or explained the motivation for their departure. According to Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, the new Syrian rulers must decide what to do with the Russian presence in the country. The still some seven thousand Russian military personnel in Syria are in the highest state of readiness.
Aktungbby
12-10-24, 12:13 PM
Israel thought of Assad as the evil known. What now comes is an unknown evil, most likely. So they do the only reasonable thing they are left to do: trying to pull as many teeth out of the evil's jaw while it still is lying still in paralysis.
I would do the same.:hmmm:...shouldn't that be a stake through the heart?:shucks::timeout::yeah:
Skybird
12-10-24, 12:36 PM
:hmmm:...shouldn't that be a stake through the heart?:shucks::timeout::yeah:
:yep:
Jimbuna
12-10-24, 01:39 PM
Memo to the Assads: Putin may welcome you in Moscow, but I wouldn’t drink his tea
For now, Syrian refugee Bashar al-Assad might be telling himself that if Vladimir Putin has offered him asylum, he can’t possibly be angry with him for putting Russia’s unrivalled network of military bases in Syria at serious risk. In which case, it’s possible Bashar is about to go on a journey of discovery as long as the Trans-Siberian railway. Then again, it could be much, much shorter. But perhaps Assad’s comfortable with limbo. He has, after all, spent the past two decades apparently unable to decide whether he is or isn’t growing a moustache. Follically speaking, I guess he now finally has time to pick a lane. Or, as I say, doesn’t have time. For while the man who used chemical weapons against his own people may be physically located in Moscow, in security terms, and for the rest of his entire life, he cannot be at all clear where he stands.
Nor, at present, can the Syrian people, who deserve so much more than a few days of giddy celebration. None of it is unalloyed, given the utter grimness of the stories being disgorged from Assad’s torture prisons, and the ominous uncertainty of what comes next under victorious Islamist rebel chief Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
Having said that, you have to celebrate the bright spots. What is not to love about that footage of a toppled Assad Sr statue being hooked to the back of a truck and ridden through the streets by cheering Syrians? Elsewhere, one of the best bits of any successful coup against a murderous tyrant is watching their giggling former people swarm through the private chambers of their ghastly palace. And so it has been with the Assads. Here are half a dozen oppressed citizens grinning as they take goofy photos on a souvenir sofa; here are a few hundred helping themselves to all the incredibly expensive things that got bought instead of food and medicine for the country’s children. No doubt Assad’s wife, Asma, will be aware of this, and sobbing into a diamond-encrusted iPhone to anyone who’ll still listen (an increasingly small field) that she “can’t watch the news footage”. No doubt it feels like a … what’s the word? … violation?
Perhaps Asma could distract herself by writing one of those end of year family letters that always cause so much appalled merriment for those who receive them. “Well, we finally made the big move to Moscow! Downsized a little bit, for sure – but we keep saying it’s so cosy. BTW if anyone sent greetings to the old address, it’s not totally clear they’ll be forwarded to us by the new owners. Incidentally, we heard on the grapevine that people thought our dear friend Vladimir was angry with Bashar. We assure well-meaning friends that this could NOT be further from the truth. Vladimir adores Bashar. He keeps inviting him to come and drink tea with him, which seems so hospitable, and we mean to take up the invitation just as soon as we finish unpacking the money.”
Anyway: the money. For some reason, news reports about fleeing dictators often peg their fortunes at the $2bn mark, and I duly read this week that Assad had escaped with $2bn of squirrelled-away funds; “$2bn” must be the answer to the question “what’s the precise amount of money that sounds like an ill-gotten running-away fund?”
But if the megarich Assads are nevertheless wondering what happens next – guys, get used to it! The not knowing is the whole fun of being a former dictator! Your **** creek may yet become ****ty enough to satisfy even your most persistent detractors. It’s definitely possible that at some point, your gracious hosts will get bored of being gracious – as hosts in these situations historically have – at which point you might be suddenly forced to take a trip to The Hague after all.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/memo-to-the-assads-putin-may-welcome-you-in-moscow-but-i-wouldn-t-drink-his-tea/ar-AA1vBp0B?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=a2e06c90697540b8808b86e44c0488d0&ei=14
The fall of Assad provides Israel with a prime opportunity to deal with the Syrian army altogether. The new rulers will soon be forced by the airstrikes to repurchase many heavy weapons when building a new armed force. Iraq had to do the same after 2003, when America destroyed many weapons from President Saddam Hussein's army during the invasion. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which closely monitors the fighting in the country, Israel has now destroyed ‘the major military sites’ in the country with its nearly 300 airstrikes. Israel said on Monday that the bombing campaign will last for days, but that it was not intended to interfere in the fighting in the country.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel was working to deal with its enemies ‘step by step’. He called Syria ‘the central part of Iran's Axis of Evil’. Netanyahu: ‘We are changing the face of the Middle East. The state of Israel is establishing its status as a centre of power in our region, as it has not been for decades. Whoever cooperates with us reaps many benefits. Whoever attacks us, loses much.’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Syria's new rulers that he will not allow a new Iranian presence in the neighbouring country. He said in a video that the rebels will pay a ‘heavy price’ if, like the previous regime, they decide to give Tehran free rein.
‘If this regime allows Iran to re-establish itself in Syria, approves the transfer of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah or if it attacks us, we will react forcefully,’ Netanyahu said. ‘Then what happened to the previous regime will also happen to this regime.’
Jimbuna
12-10-24, 02:16 PM
^ precisely that :yep:
Raf1394
12-10-24, 02:24 PM
i don't agree what Israel is doing. They are just benefiting the chaos of a country who just lost there government, and is in a transit moment.
In the meanwhile, they just decided to move in deeper in Syria... Even the Golan Heights are annexed and condemned by the UN for years.
I understand Israel feels danger on there borders. But now Israel is basically invading a other countries sovereignty...
If this is accepted by the international community. then Egypt or Jordan can just send tanks across the Israeli border, and invade Israel
Egypt or Jordan, or any other nation that borders Israel can say this.
''We feel threatened by Israel expanding there forces, so we invade Israel too''
Oh no wait Israel can do everything what it wants and get away with it...
Raf1394
12-10-24, 02:51 PM
And Israel just destroyed part of the Syrian navy.
So can Syria now attack Israel out of self defence?
oh no wait they can't... Only Israel can attack other countries...
Skybird
12-10-24, 02:55 PM
^ Syria was hostile to Israel since decades. ;)Its the transfer highway of Iran to supply Hezbollah in Lebanon with wepaons. The truce between Israel and Syria was uneasy at best. The new Syrian government will be at least as hostile to Israel as Assad has been.
The UN is since always absolutely biased.
If you want to complain, the n complain about Turkey havign invaded Syria many years ago anbd for the purpose to stay, which makes it different from Israel'S attacks now. And already now Turkey and its allied militias commit atrocities against the Kurds, whose resistence is being overwhelmed, they have just been driven out of one of their major cities in their territories, and now their unofficial capital is under attack by the Turks and their proxies.
Israel will leave Syrian territory again sooner or later. The Turks are there to stay - and to widen their influence, and with it their dream of a neo-osmanic sphere of power.
Raf1394
12-10-24, 02:59 PM
To be fair enough, every foreign power needs to leave Syria.
How can they hold a stable government, or even hold elections. when there is still fighting going on...
I feel removing Assad will leave a vacuüm for power, and they will all fight for the throne...
They removed the regime without having a replacement. And does the current rebel group who took over Syria represent all the Syrians ? I don't think so.
Who gave them the right to take control over Syria? They basically seized power with force... noting democratic about that.
Israel is only attacking those who's a threat to their existence.
I agree with Raf1394. We should stay out of this mess which even mean Turkey as well.
Markus
Skybird
12-10-24, 04:27 PM
then Egypt or Jordan can just send tanks across the Israeli border, and invade Israel
I seem to recall they already tried such stunts. I further recall it did not work well for them.
Every time.
Raf1394
12-10-24, 04:41 PM
That current conflict in Syria is been going on since 2011.
And it worsened and its a never ending story, because other countries got involved for there own benefits and defence... Russia, Turkey, Israel, The US ect...
Its like the early protests of Syrians demanding more change and freedom and more rights. Erupted in a big revolution and civil war and the country got hijacked by foreign countries. Sad story.
Skybird
12-10-24, 04:59 PM
Still, the Assads ruled for five and a half decades. And the reputation of the father was not any better than that of the son.
u crank
12-10-24, 06:26 PM
I seem to recall they already tried such stunts. I further recall it did not work well for them.
Every time.
I don't think Egypt or Jordan are interested in a military conflict with Israel. Bad for business. Bad for your health. :D
Iran may have lost influence in Syria after Assad's exit. This would not prevent them from trying to get a foot inside Syria again.
The question would be-Which rebel group could they support to get back in the seat again ?
This mean that there could very well be a conflict of interest between Turkey and Iran. Both are working on getting influence in Syria.
I could be wrong-Just a standpoint in what may come.
Markus
Jimbuna
12-11-24, 06:01 AM
In the meantime everyone who supported Assad id being murdered and butchered....what a lovely place to reside in.
Shadowblade
12-11-24, 06:16 AM
yeah, "peaceful transfer of power" - Middle East version
Jimbuna
12-11-24, 11:19 AM
Colossal fortune: Assad's gone, but he hasn't lost everything
After 24 years at the helm of Syria, following in the footsteps of his father who ruled for three decades, Bashar al-Assad finally left his country on the sly.
The Arab Spring, resurrected in an expeditious form, ousted him from power, driven by an Islamist rebellion led by the HTS (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham). Abandoned by his long-standing allies, Russia and Iran, absorbed in their own conflicts, he had no choice but to go into exile in Moscow. But while the presidential palace in Damascus burns behind him, his coffers are far from empty.
The former Syrian president fled with his family to the Russian capital, where he still finds a form of protection, even if Vladimir Putin is now keeping his distance. However, it's thanks to Putin that Assad has escaped justice and the vengeance of his opponents. But this salvation doesn't come without a generous supply of money. For despite the fall of his reign, the Assad clan isn't sinking into poverty. Their fortune accumulated over decades of power exceeds one billion dollars, according to the most modest estimates.
American reports from 2022 put their wealth at “between 1 and 2 billion dollars”. This immense wealth is divided between Bashar, his brother, sister, cousins and uncle. Discretion remains as to the assets owned by his children: Hafez, Zein and Karim. Yet behind these figures probably lies a far more impressive fortune, amassed in secret over the past fifty years.
The Assads have perfected the art of concealment. Shell companies, opaque financial arrangements and nominees have enabled the clan to hide their wealth from prying eyes. These complex financial maneuvers were often facilitated by their Russian ally, weaving an invisible but incredibly strong network to protect their wealth.
When the HTS rebels made their decisive breakthrough, a veil was lifted over this hidden opulence. A hangar overflowing with luxury cars revealed a glimpse of the splendor enjoyed by the clan. But these visible treasures are only a tiny part of a fortune carefully buried far from the hustle and bustle of Damascus.
Bashar al-Assad may have lost his throne, but he hasn't lost everything. Behind the walls of his gilded exile, wealth continues to ensure a comfortable future, while the Syria he left behind struggles to rise from the rubble of his reign.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/colossal-fortune-assad-s-gone-but-he-hasn-t-lost-everything/ar-AA1vFRiw?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=4448f2bebd6744c5913e9924b2f89fcc&ei=17
The SDF have agreed a ceasefire with Turkish-backed Syrian rebels in Manbij, an until recently Kurdish-controlled city in northern Syria. The agreement was reached through US mediation, reports SDF commander Mazloum Abdi. According to SDF commander Abdi, the truce was necessary ‘to ensure the safety of civilians in Manbij’. Over the past three days, at least 218 people have been killed in fighting for control of Manbij, reports the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Kurdish fighters will withdraw from the area ‘as soon as possible’, Abdi said.
Syrian interim Prime Minister Mohammad al-Bashir is calling on Syrian refugees to return to their homeland. He made that call in Corriere della Sera, Italy's most widely read newspaper. It was his first interview with a Western daily. Although Bashir will hold the post for only a few months, he will be in charge during an important period. He will have to demonstrate to the international community that minorities are safe under the rule of HTS Islamists. Partly due to the unclear political situation in Syria, the Dutch government decided on Monday not to make any decisions on asylum applications from Syrians for the next six months. ‘My appeal to all Syrians abroad: come back,’ Bashir told Corriere. ‘Syria is now a free country, which has regained its pride and dignity.’ According to Bashir, the new government's first agenda item is to bring stability and security back to Syria. This requires the second action point he mentions: bringing back millions of Syrians who have fled. ‘This human capital is needed to revive the country.’
Syrian rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (previously acting under his militant name Abu Mohammed al-Jolani) made it clear on Wednesday that those involved in torturing prisoners will not be pardoned. In recent days, thousands were freed from the Assad clan's notorious prisons. ‘We will not pardon those involved in torturing and eliminating prisoners and we will persecute them in our country,’ al-Sharaa said. He called on other countries to extradite all criminals who have fled so that they can be tried.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has urged Turkey and Israel not to jeopardise the peaceful transition in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad. ‘If we want a peaceful Syria, its territorial integrity must not be called into question, and neighbours like the Turkish and Israeli governments, who assert security interests, must not jeopardise the process by their actions,’ Baerbock told a press briefing in Berlin. ‘Syria must not again become the plaything of foreign forces or powers,’ the German minister warned. Berlin wants to ‘promote positive developments in Syria in close cooperation with its partners and prevent negative influences’, she stressed.
The tomb of Hafez al-Assad is in the centre of his hometown of Qardaha, in northwestern Syria. Assad was in power from 1971 to 2000. He died in June 2000 at the age of 69. His son Bashar, who was 34 at the time, succeeded him. Bashar's brother Basil was the actual heir to the throne, but he was killed in a car accident. Photos and videos show how Syrian rebels set fire to parts of the mausoleum, and the former president's coffin, and then waved the Syrian flag. One of the pictures shows the destroyed coffin lying burnt out in front of the mausoleum. In another picture, a rebel smiles broadly at the camera while standing on the coffin. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed to news agency ‘AFP’ that the tomb was badly damaged after the arson attack. Last weekend, rebels also took down a statue of Hafez al-Assad in central Damascus.
Jimbuna
12-11-24, 12:19 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_gAJATv9vI
What will happen in Syria is unclear. The SDF and the HTS are now the two main actors left in Syria. If both can strike a deal, and I think they will. Both can bring back Syria into calmer waters, however, HTS I still not convinced they walk the talk, but it can not rule Syria alone reason for this offensive was economic problems because of the sanctions as for the SDF it has the majority of oil and backing of the west hope this will go good it is important for the region.
What will happen in Syria is unclear. The SDF and the HTS are now the two main actors left in Syria. If both can strike a deal, and I think they will. Both can bring back Syria into calmer waters, however, HTS I still not convinced they walk the talk, but it can not rule Syria alone reason for this offensive was economic problems because of the sanctions as for the SDF it has the majority of oil and backing of the west hope this will go good it is important for the region.
And to keep Iran out of influence in the country. Wish Turkey could stay out as well.
Markus
Jimbuna
12-11-24, 12:43 PM
Putin rejects Assad's request for Syrian mercenaries to back his regime
Russian President Vladimir Putin refused to send Syrian mercenaries from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to assist Bashar al-Assad's regular army. This led to the leader losing control over Syria, according to the National Resistance Center of Ukraine (NRC).
Assad asked the Russian president for military assistance and to release Syrian mercenaries, who had been sent by the Russians to fight in Ukraine, to defend his regime. However, Putin refused his "ally" and effectively lost Syria.
The NRC reminded that this is not the first time Putin has betrayed his "allies" in pursuit of at least some success in Ukraine.
"Previously, the leader did not come to Armenia’s aid because all combat-ready Russian units are in a meat grinder for the sake of the Kremlin’s aggressive ambitions," the NRC stated.
Last week, the insurgents of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group seized key cities in Syria, including the capital Damascus. Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, along with his family, left the country and sought refuge in Russia.
The rebels' victorious rapid offensive was achieved thanks to Abu Mohammad al-Julani. To achieve his objectives, he abandoned his jihadist image in favor of more moderate views.
The Iranian government also refused to assist Assad's rebels.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has not ruled out the possibility of Putin seeking revenge for the collapse of Assad's regime.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/putin-rejects-assad-s-request-for-syrian-mercenaries-to-back-his-regime/ar-AA1vDS34?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=48a2132e704d4032b0ecf5aa2791198a&ei=54
And to keep Iran out of influence in the country. Wish Turkey could stay out as well.
MarkusThink Turkey is told today to dim in exchange for guarantees by the US. Iran has to rebuild its lines if a new government can prevent factions in Syria to work with Iran and is strong enough to keep Iran out. Do not forget Israel, it will do everything to prevent Turkey and Iran to get a too great foothold in Syria.
Jimbuna
12-11-24, 01:11 PM
test
Top US general Erik Kurilla spoke to Turkey’s military chief last night to discuss Syria. Washington is again warning Ankara against threatening the SDF, a key US ally in the fight against ISIS. Earlier in the week, officials said the SDF accidentally shot down an American MQ-9 Reaper drone after mistaking it for a Turkish drone. With around 900 American troops stationed in Syria, US and SDF forces have for years conducted joint raids against ISIS targets and militants. Secretary Blinken is set to visit Ankara in the next few days. “We will see how this plays out over the next 48 hours. But we’re not going to tolerate this again,” a US tells Al Arabiya English, referring to Turkish attacks on the SDF.
Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin spoke separately to their Turkish counterparts on Monday. Both US officials stressed the need to continue the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS (D-ISIS) mission in Syria, an indirect way of saying Turkey should ensure that their military operations do not threaten US troops or their mission. Austin acknowledged Turkey’s “legitimate security concerns” while also stressing the need to “avoid any risk to US forces and partners, and the Defeat-ISIS Mission.”
Jimbuna
12-12-24, 05:56 AM
And? :03:
A pass :)
Jimbuna
12-12-24, 05:56 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M22rFgMHi3g
Jimbuna
12-12-24, 06:26 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ictvq6r2N4
Skybird
12-12-24, 07:11 AM
To me it looks more and more unlikely that the Russians will easily withdraw their bases from Syria. And that the new rulers even care to negotiate their status despite the Russian support for Assad and their role in the war shows that nothing is engraved in stone.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgn8e2zznno
Jimbuna
12-12-24, 07:18 AM
Well, now is the ideal opportunity to rid themselves of Putin but I would ask, why would they want to?
Russia bombed them during their offensive and the idea was that the sanctions against Syria would be lifted if Assad was gone with a possible staying of Russia, sanctions will stay. So letting Russia stay is not in the interest of Syria, I see no other move than to kick them out. No matter how negotiations will end, Russia has been reduced from the one faction calling the shots in Syria, down to being the beggar. None of these outcomes is good for Russia. In fact, what we see here is probably the biggest hostage situation in the world.
Syrian prisons hosting ISIS terrorists will remain under SDF control - Pentagon If those +50,000 ISIS terrorists were to escape from Syrian prisons, they would likely join Turkish-led forces and implications would be severe for the entire region.ISIS is now stronger in the Syrian Desert. Previously, they were in remote areas and hiding, but now they have greater freedom of movement since they face no issues with other groups and are not engaged in conflict with them. In the areas under our control, their activities have also increased. Just a few days ago, three members of the Internal Security Forces were killed near al Hassakah in an ISIS operation.Clashes with Turkish-backed groups are making it more difficult to concentrate on stopping ISIS from regenerating. At the moment, joint operations against ISIS are halted. This is not a decision but rather a military reality, as the coalition is also preoccupied with the ongoing conflict. Therefore, I stress that if these attacks persist, joint operations will remain suspended. It's possible that ISIS prisoners kept in detention camps and prisons could escape in the chaos.Large scale protests in Manbij reported against the Turkish led SNA. The SDF withdrew from Manbij city and the Turkish led SNA took over as the SNA seized control over the rest of the city, they started to loot Manbij. The people of Manbij have now risen up against the SNA. :)
Skybird
12-12-24, 04:43 PM
Well, now is the ideal opportunity to rid themselves of Putin but I would ask, why would they want to?
Exactly.
This is the litmus test for the new government. If they really want a tolerant, multi-ethnic government, then they will need the West for reconstruction and will have to accommodate it in terms of values and the rule of law. Or do they just want an Islamist tyranny, in which case Western donors won't go along, while Russia doesn't care and offers economic incentives for bases.
Exactly.
This is the litmus test for the new government. If they really want a tolerant, multi-ethnic government, then they will need the West for reconstruction and will have to accommodate it in terms of values and the rule of law. Or do they just want an Islamist tyranny, in which case Western donors won't go along, while Russia doesn't care and offers economic incentives for bases.I fear the worst and hope for the best. While HTS began to move in a more pragmatic and locally focussed direction several years before the offensive, it remains to be seen what they do in the future, and there are already worrying signs for many of Syria's minority communities. What will HTS do when they feel more secure and safe as they consolidate power and become established in Damascus? No one can say for sure, yet actions will matter a lot more than words. We can easily solve this rusky problem, say to HTS we lift the sanctions (or parts of) if you deny Russia a base in Syria.
Just saw this
Jimbuna
12-13-24, 07:12 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPRoQ8jza3g
Exocet25fr
12-13-24, 09:08 AM
Remember all of the jubilation created in Baghdad by the CIA, who hired a crowd that stormed the center square and tore down the statue of Saddam Hussein? Remember the mobs looting the presidential palaces, banks and commercial outlets? Welcome to Damascus 2024. To quote Yogi Berra, “It is Déjà vu, all over again.”
I admit, I am surprised by how rapidly the Assad regime collapsed. This was not the result, primarily, of military pressure from the terrorist fighters of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Something else was afoot. A deal was cut and Assad was persuaded to abandon his government and head for Russia.
I am sure there are champagne corks a popping at CIA Headquarters in McLean, Virginia and at MI-6 Headquarters in London. I think this operation surpassed even their expectations. But, if the subsequent events that unfolded in Iraq in 2003 and in Libya in 2011 are any guide, the celebrations should be tempered with trepidation.
Why? Because Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is now in charge. Instead of bringing peace and reconciliation, HTS will impose strict Sharia law and will punish those guilty of heresy — which means large segments of Syrian society are likely to be purged. HTS itself will become a target of terrorism. The most likely fate for Syria — at least for the next decade — is chaos and mayhem.
While the West is busy celebrating Assad’s downfall as a blow to Russia — and let me be clear, this is not an outcome that Moscow welcomed or wanted — Donald Trump and his advisors do not understand what happened.
Trump’s ignorant statement about Russia’s economy and its progress with respect to the war in Ukraine guarantees that Putin will be in no mood to sit down to negotiate with Trump or any of his water boys.
The chaos that is likely to consume Syria over the coming two months will cause more harm and danger for Turkey and Israel than for Russia and Iran.
Yes, the fall of Assad was a diplomatic blow for both Moscow and Tehran, but managing the emerging security risks presented by an HTS-led government?
Those hot turds are now the problem of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Israel. Russia and Iran can sit back and watch or, through intelligence assets, help stir the pot.
https://sonar21.com/syria-mission-accomplished/
Skybird
12-13-24, 09:41 AM
The Jerusalem Post lists the achievements of the Israeli campaign against the remains of the Syrian regime's military assets. Impressive, if the numbers are correct. They really made hay while the sun was shining.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-833201
The right player. The right tools used. The right place. The right timing.
All that ^ defines the right opportunity - resulting spectacular success.
Well played, Israel!
Exocet25fr
12-13-24, 12:20 PM
^
Remember The Jerusalem Post in 2017
Syrian representative to the UN: Israel has directly supported ISIS
Israel directly supported the jihadist organization by bombing Syrian regime sites, Jaafari told the UN Security Council at a session devoted to the ongoing catastrophe in the wartorn nation.
The direct Israeli support to ISIL, through attacking Syrian Army sites in Palmyra city on March 17, 2017
According to Jaafari, the United States was complicit in aiding Islamic State and other rebels fighting the Assad regime.
[It was] the same scene on April 7, 2017, when the US administration and its allies felt that the terrorist groups began to retreat,” he said. So they committed their flagrant aggression against Shayrat Air Base under pretexts of [Syria] using chemical weapons in the terrorist- held town of Khan Sheikhoun.
Jaafari said the US “fabricated” events to justify attacking the airbase, and that its real purpose was to “rescue armed terrorist groups.” He charged the US with moving from “proxy aggression” to direct military action.
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Syrian-representative-to-the-UN-Israel-has-directly-supported-ISIS-486865
https://www.unz.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Figure1Syria.jpg
The new regime will be worse than the previous one !, Shariah law was not practiced in Syrian Arab Republic. SAR is a secular state, founded on the principles of Baathism......BRAVO!
Well played, israel and ISIS!
__________________
Otto Harkaman
12-13-24, 12:52 PM
https://youtu.be/M22rFgMHi3g?si=f4VNfl8mQGWG_MmP
Exocet25fr
12-13-24, 01:11 PM
^
Deja vu on the previous page !:)
Jimbuna
12-13-24, 01:27 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxgsBi-ZcC4
HTS will impose strict Sharia law and will punish those guilty of heresyNo it will not a large part of HTS are former Free Syrian Army (FSA) a big-tent coalition of decentralized Syrian opposition rebel groups founded on 29 July 2011 by Colonel Riad al-Asaad and six officers who defected from the Syrian Armed Forces. The officers announced that the immediate priority of the Free Syrian Army was to safeguard the lives of all protestors and all civilians from the deadly crackdown by Bashar al-Assad's security apparatus. This is the moderator in HTS. A majority of the FSA militias are currently under the command of the Syrian Interim Government; while the rest have either allied with the Syrian Salvation Government, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, or are in the Al-Tanf Deconfliction Zone.
It's not so much what we believe or where we stand. No it is a matter of time-Time will tell us if Syria become a Sharia lead country or a country more or less free-Like Morocco
Markus
Oh boi you are wrong it has everything to do what we think of, act on in Syria this country is so important for the region the whole existence of Israel is depended on this and the state of war/peace of the Middle East is at stake here. Why do you think Ukraine send drone operators with hundred of drones to HTS, why is Israel destroying the Syrian army, why is the US in Syria? If they can stabilize Syria, it means the region can stabilize.
Oh boi you are wrong it has everything to do what we think of, act on in Syria this country is so important for the region the whole existence of Israel is depended on this and the state of war/peace of the Middle East is at stake here. Why do you think Ukraine send drone operators with hundred of drones to HTS, why is Israel destroying the Syrian army, why is the US in Syria? If they can stabilize Syria, it means the region can stabilize.
I do not disagree what you just wrote I meant that we ordinary can only wait and see how Syria develop into what may come.
A stable Syria would mean a lot for the region.
Edit
Until the day Iran get their first nuke-Then the region would turn into an unstable region again.
End edit
Markus
That is why Israel destroyed the Syrian air force/defence, it has now a save air corridor into Iran to execute the second plan (nuclear sites).
That is why Israel destroyed the Syrian air force/defence, it has now a save air corridor into Iran to execute the second plan (nuclear sites).
What about Iraq do they possess any threat to IAF ?
Markus
What about Iraq do they possess any threat to IAF ?
MarkusNo Israel has permission of the Kurds to fly over their airspace and Iraq has no permission from the US to target his friends is neither capable by the way Iraq army is an origami tiger. :D
Would I be wrong when I say
Almost rest of the Muslim countries in the Middle East await Israel's attack on Iran's Nuclear facilities, 'cause they feel afraid with Iran as a nuclear power and that they don't have the means to do it them self.
Markus
I do not think a lot of countries will shed a tear for Iran.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow believes it has an informal understanding with Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS, the former al-Qaeda offshoot that led the offensive to oust Assad, that it can stay at the Syrian bases, the person in Russia said. The situation could still change amid the instability in Syria, the person cautioned. https://archive.ph/Ek26KWho thinks this "Russia Nears Deal With New Syria Leaders to Keep Army Bases" is an oxymoron? I do not see any agreement between a partner that bombed you to prehistory in the past and the HTS the ones being bombarded for a decade.
https://youtu.be/M22rFgMHi3g?si=f4VNfl8mQGWG_MmP
https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showpost.php?p=2936015&postcount=50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFnRD3BeY94
A larger number of Russian transport aircraft can now be seen at Khmeimim. The S-400 battery is packing up for transport. While tactical aviation is still there, Russian Forces appears to be consolidating at Khmeimim and Tartus. In short, a withdrawal is under way. Now it's clear that even if some temporary Russian presence in Syria was agreed upon, it will be a skeleton crew at best. Images captured by Maxar and Planet Labs reveal an increase in ground vehicles at the Hmeimim air base, the arrival of several large transport aircraft and the disassembly of Russian helicopters and air defences — all factors consistent with forces gathering there to depart. The Maxar imagery of Hmeimim captured two An-124 aircraft on the airport runway. The An-124 is the largest heavy-lift aircraft in the world, capable of carrying about 150 tonnes of cargo.
Three Il-76 transport aircraft, RussiaÂ’s workhorse heavy lifters, were also on the ground. Three An-32s and one An-
Otto Harkaman
12-14-24, 01:46 AM
Turkey seeks to purge pro-US Kurdish force that helped defeat Islamic State in Syria
In apparent snub to US, Turkish foreign minister says 'elimination' of group is country's 'strategic goal'
https://www.foxnews.com/world/turkey-seeks-seeks-purge-pro-us-kurdish-force-helped-defeat-islamic-state-syria
https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/10/720/405/Erdogan.jpg?ve=1&tl=1
Will the The Russioans will not give their bases up silently. Peskov already announced they want to negotiate their status with any follow-up government there may be. This gives the Syrians a very tempting opportunity to drive the costs up and squeeze quite some out of Russia, if they jump over their shadow and consider the Russian request. Its not clear to nom what the new current leader values higher: to itch the West by allowing the Russians to stay and make " fortune" from this, or to appease the West by not allowing and by that maybe inviting Western instead of Russian support. None of the possible outcomes I would call "obvious" at this time.
Well, I think all of the"Brain Pans"of NATO, Are squiggling, and asking themselves. Oh, how can we use this to our advantage? There is none. NATO and all of it's, wealthiest are playing a poker game, based on wokesim,The new Ideology and it will light the fires across this planet.The bitches of destruction never sleep.And they remerge,if you give them power and they can find wealth. Well you end up with the EU,NATO and War.
Will the United States, give up their naval base in Cuba ? Oh but no.Democracy is a fiction,that does not exist, only in the hivemind can it survive.In reality it's chaos.
Exocet25fr
12-14-24, 07:07 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lptcBJBFsjE
Jimbuna
12-14-24, 08:52 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJrqewyT29Q
Aktungbby
12-14-24, 11:26 AM
:hmmm:...methinks Baba Vanga is right, and the collapse of Assad's regime will simply commence WWIII in earnest ala the shot fired in 1914 at Sarajevo. With Turkey which controls the Bosphorus preventing the travel of Russian warships out of the Black Sea, Putin will be loath to give up his western Syrian bases and influence in the eastern Mediterrainian Sea. With ally Iran, also bereft with the fall of the Assad regime, the matter will escalate out of control.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFnRD3BeY94
A larger number of Russian transport aircraft can now be seen at Khmeimim. The S-400 battery is packing up for transport. While tactical aviation is still there, Russian Forces appears to be consolidating at Khmeimim and Tartus. In short, a withdrawal is under way. Now it's clear that even if some temporary Russian presence in Syria was agreed upon, it will be a skeleton crew at best. Images captured by Maxar and Planet Labs reveal an increase in ground vehicles at the Hmeimim air base, the arrival of several large transport aircraft and the disassembly of Russian helicopters and air defences — all factors consistent with forces gathering there to depart. The Maxar imagery of Hmeimim captured two An-124 aircraft on the airport runway. The An-124 is the largest heavy-lift aircraft in the world, capable of carrying about 150 tonnes of cargo.
Three Il-76 transport aircraft, RussiaÂ’s workhorse heavy lifters, were also on the ground. Three An-32s and one An-:hmmm:...too bad we can't shoot them down before the evacuating troops are redeployed in Ukraine; giving credence to Baba Vanga's WWIII prediction and bring things to a pretty pass per MIT's study that "civilization ends around 2040" anyhow. This is Russia's second bugout in the 21st century, since their swift departure from Afghanistan....and terrorist Osama Bin Laden once said "the US was a 'paper dragon'!!?:o
Jimbuna
12-14-24, 01:33 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2yibRONY08
150 mass graves containing about 75,000 bodies of detainees were discovered in one area, the Al-Hussainiya area in the Damascus countryside behind the Conference Palace. Each hole is 20 meters deep.
Raf1394
12-14-24, 04:02 PM
Everyone kinda gets focused on the Assad regime.
But they have to examine the other groups too.
The Turkish backed rebels, or even the Kurds...are also doing war crimes.
And don't forget that sleeping cells of ISIS are still active.
The focus on the Assad regime is because this regime has committed Nazi like war crimes so heinous it is child play what the rebel forces have committed and war produce war crimes in any war on any side. I surely not focus on Assad alone, I try to follow all factions also the foreign actors in this country.
Raf1394
12-14-24, 04:20 PM
The focus on the Assad regime is because this regime has committed Nazi like war crimes so heinous it is child play what the rebel forces have committed and war produce war crimes in any war on any side. I surely not focus on Assad alone, I try to follow all factions also the foreign actors in this country.
Yep, agree.
I am looking forward to April 2025. Will Syria have had their first election in March or what ?
Of course no one can predict the future. I hope they, the sitting government, decide to choose free election when their time is over 17th of March
Markus
Raf1394
12-14-24, 05:03 PM
I am looking forward to April 2025. Will Syria have had their first election in March or what ?
Of course no one can predict the future. I hope they, the sitting government, decide to choose free election when their time is over 17th of March
Markus
I'm a bit pessimistic about having elections. In a unstable country. where different factions still fight each other.
In the perfect scenario. You should have hostilities being ON HOLD, or just fixed. Then you can have general organised elections.
The general fighting in Syria needs to stop. A cease fire. Then you can hold elections.
All factions are talking all foreign partners are talking the whole Arab region is talking to each other to get this country a stabile government on the moment agreements are being agreed on. Syria itself wants peace their country is in ruin they want peace and a stabile country this includes the two mayor factions 1 a democratic one more democratic than our ones Rojava is becoming a direct democracy. In a month or 3 we will see if all that talking has any result, thing is everybody wants to stop this war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERUrPcjlyvw
Raf1394
12-15-24, 12:18 AM
Its the involvement off foreign countries that still make things worse.
Turkey for example will always try to weaken the Kurds in Syria for gaining more land or power. I don't believe Turkey will sit back and see a region growing under Kurdish influence.
When there is peace. That Kurdish region in Syria can stabilize it.
I honestly believe there will be no real peace. There will still be fighting going on in Syria. Maybe not a larger scale like we had the last years. But still fighting.
Ostfriese
12-15-24, 04:16 AM
I honestly believe there will be no real peace. There will still be fighting going on in Syria. Maybe not a larger scale like we had the last years. But still fighting.
Way too many parties have a serious interest in keeping the middle east unstable, so I'm certain you're right.
Skybird
12-15-24, 09:46 AM
What is most relevant is that the Syrian air defence has almost seized to exist, opening an aerial approach vector for Israel to Iran where it does not depend on compliance by Jordan or Saudi Arabia.
And with recent reports on that Iran is edging in to critical enrichment levels... :hmmm:
Thats why Iran was so heavily invested in Lebanon and Syria - to help keeping Israeli air strikes on its bomb building program away, at least reducing their effectiveness by making things complicated for Israel. But right now Israel has open skies right up into Iraq.
Jimbuna
12-15-24, 09:55 AM
After all that has taken place in the region since Hamas invaded Israel I expect Israel will maintain its dominance over said region.
Jimbuna
12-15-24, 09:59 AM
Turkey ready to offer military aid to new Syrian rulers
Defence Minister Yaşar Güler has expressed Turkey's readiness to offer military support to the new Syrian leadership, a statement from his ministry said on Sunday.
Turkey, a member of NATO, had agreements with several other countries on military training and other assistance and would offer this to Syria if requested, Güler said.
While the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist movement, which led the assault on the regime of Bashar al-Assad, is listed as a terrorist organization in Turkey, Ankara maintains strong links with its leadership.
The director of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, İbrahim Kalın, visited Damascus on Thursday. And on Saturday, Turkey reopened its embassy in the Syrian capital.
Al-Assad's fall and flight to Moscow on December 8 has prompted a major political realignment in the region, with Russian and Iranian influence severely dented.
Turkish forces have been engaging Kurdish separatists in the north of Syria, as Ankara seeks to expand its influence.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/turkey-ready-to-offer-military-aid-to-new-syrian-rulers/ar-AA1vTvGV?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=7533d903f85741a392ea2e02b55e3aac&ei=32
Aktungbby
12-15-24, 10:34 AM
:hmmm:...methinks Baba Vanga is right, and the collapse of Assad's regime will simply commence WWIII in earnest ala the shot fired in 1914 at Sarajevo. With Turkey which controls the Bosphorus preventing the travel of Russian warships out of the Black Sea, Putin will be loath to give up his western Syrian bases and influence in the eastern Mediterrainian Sea. With ally Iran, also bereft with the fall of the Assad regime, the matter will escalate out of control.
Its the involvement off foreign countries that still make things worse.. ...precisely. Damascus will prove to be the Sarajevo of WW III...a mere 110 years later; particularly with antichrists like Putin, Xi, and Trump currently on stage...and to think I just paid off my house loan yesterday!:O::damn::dead:
Jimbuna
12-15-24, 12:39 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukkQL6lx3A4
Jimbuna
12-16-24, 09:43 AM
Ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad breaks silence after fleeing to Moscow
Ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad claimed he had no plans to leave the country after the fall of Damascus but the Russian military evacuated him after their base in western Syria came under attack.
The comments are the first by al-Assad since he was overthrown by insurgent groups earlier this month.
He said in a statement on his Facebook page that he left Damascus on the morning of December 8, hours after insurgents stormed the capital. He said he left in coordination with Russian allies to the Russian base in the coastal province of Latakia, where he planned to keep fighting.
He said that after the Russian base came under attack by drones, the Russians decided to move him on the night of December 8 to Russia. "I did not leave the country as part of a plan as it was reported earlier," he said.
His whereabouts, as well as those of his wife Asma and their three children, were initially unknown, until Russia said Assad had left Syria after negotiations with the rebel groups.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/ousted-syrian-dictator-bashar-al-assad-breaks-silence-after-fleeing-to-moscow/ar-AA1vX5Yd?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=3a6756dd5c10431e9b4ebd987c62595b&ei=16
Aktungbby
12-16-24, 11:15 AM
Ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad breaks silence after fleeing to Moscow:hmmm:....oh I see, blame it on the Russians!??:shucks:...In today's WSJ, the hunt is on for the A$$ad regime's half century of stolen billions.
EU seeks assurances from Syria’s new leaders in exchange for dropping sanctions (https://www.arabnews.com/node/2583238/world)European Union nations on Monday set out conditions for lifting sanctions on Syria and kick-starting aid to the conflict-ravaged country amid uncertainty about its new leaders’ intentions just over a week after they seized power. At a meeting in Brussels, the EU’s top diplomats said they want guarantees from members of Syria’s interim government that they are preparing for a peaceful political future involving all minority groups, one in which extremism and former allies Russia and Iran have no place.Dutch foreign minister says closure of Russian bases in Syria will be among European conditions to support Damascus.The only reason HTS wanted to oust Assad was because he needs the sanctions to be lifted they destroy his economy.
Jimbuna
12-16-24, 11:54 AM
In the meantime Two Tier Keir gives them £50 million :doh:
Moonlight
12-16-24, 06:06 PM
He's been splashing money about like confetti since they discovered a black hole in the UKs finances, perhaps the thick currant should spend some cash in the UK as well, you know, like on people who don't get this pension credit benefit.
Skybird
12-17-24, 07:31 AM
This should be taken note of.
https://www.meforum.org/mef-online/what-al-jolanis-past-can-reveal-about-syrias-future
As has been widely reported, the government of Israel has been engaged in recent days in preventing the emergent Islamist regime in Damascus from possessing any but the most rudimentary military capacity. Some have questioned the motivation for this action. In this regard, it may safely be assumed that what the civilian researcher (and former IDF military intelligence officer) Alex Grinberg knows, the government of Israel also knows. What HTS started and finished in Idleb is now in Damascus. Israel’s decision to disarm it as far as is possible is likely to yet be considered prescient.
At the moment, Jolani is trying to ensnare the West and wrap it around his little finger by using the very words that the West loves to hear. And once again, I fear, the West is stupid enough to fall for it all too readily.
Thousands of bodies have been discovered in a mass grave near the Syrian capital Damascus. Mouaz Moustafa, the head of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based Syrian advocacy organisation, said in an interview with Reuters news agency that at least 100,000 people were killed by ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his predecessor (and father) Hafez. That number has not been independently verified. It is known, however, that some 130,000 people went missing under the Assad regime. An unknown proportion of these ended up in the infamous Sednaya prison just outside Damascus, where prisoners were tortured to death or executed. Estimates of how many people have died since the start of the civil war run to over 600,000.
The Netherlands' demand for Russia to close its military base in Syria before discussing easing sanctions with the new leaders is shared by several foreign ministers, EU foreign chief Kaja Kallas said. ‘We will raise this condition in talks with the new leaders at different levels,’ Kallas said on Monday at a closing press conference after the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. Before the start of that meeting, Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp put that condition on the table. According to Kallas, more EU ministers want the new Syrian leadership to ‘get rid of Russian influence in Syria’. It is a base for the Russians to carry out actions in Africa, but also in Russia's southern neighbours. ‘This is certainly also a concern for European security,’ he said. Several Arab countries also feel the same way, Kallas heard when she was in Jordan this weekend to discuss developments in Syria with a number of Arab leaders. They too have concerns about Russian influence in Syria ‘which they do not need and do not want there’, the EU foreign chief said. She said it is certainly an issue on which the EU can cooperate with a number of Arab countries.
The leader of Syria's main rebel group, Ahmed al-Sharaa, wants all the country's armed groups to merge into one army. He said this in talks with representatives of the country's Druze minority. After the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, one of the big questions is how Syria's many armed groups do not descend into conflict among themselves. Al-Sharaa plans to disband the various ‘armed combat groups and incorporate the fighters into a national army’, which should fall under the defence ministry. To what extent this is a realistic plan remains to be seen. For instance, the pro-Turkish rebel groups are on bad terms with the Kurds. Even after Assad fled the country, fighting between them still took place in the northern city of Manbij. Only after mediation by the United States did it come to a shaky ceasefire, which allowed Kurds to retreat towards the autonomous Kurdish region of Rojava, further to the east of the country. Talking to the Druze, a small population group that feels threatened by Sunni radicals, Al-Sharaa further said there should be ‘a social contract by which the different ethnic groups live together’. Among the Druze living in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, there are increasing calls for them to join that country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZO4bPhxSq4
Markus
Russia will withdraw all its military forces from Syria within a month, information from sources close to the military operations department in Syria told The New Arab’s Arabic language sister publication, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Monday. Moscow has already withdrawn part of its combat military forces from the Hmeimim base, its largest base in Syria located in the Jableh region of Latakia’s countryside, the report said. Russia withdrew 10 percent of its combat military forces from Syria to Russia over the past two days as two aircraft had transported military equipment from the Hmeimim base to Russia daily, in batches of two or three, the report added. Citing information from the Abu Amin Observatory, a local war observer also known as Observatory 80 and works alongside the military operations department, Russian military forces in the Hmeimim air base, Jableh region, Tartous and Qamishli airport will all withdraw successively within a maximum period of one month. https://www.newarab.com/news/russia-withdraw-all-military-forces-syria-within-month
Skybird
12-17-24, 06:14 PM
The Economist gets quoted in German media with a report on that the HTS and Russia have started formal negotiations. The HTS demands full diplomatic recognition and economic aid and cooperation for leaving the bases to Russia. A HTS spokesman gets quoted with that "it is not about ideology, but about interests." The HTS obviously wants to avoid getting isolated and cut off from foreign aid like the Taleban in Afghanistan. So far Russia has offered only humanitarian aid, The Economist reports further. It remains to be seen if they value their bases that much that they will comply with the Syrian demands.
According to military analysts, Russian bases moving to Libya would be more vulnerable to NATO attcks in case of a war, Syria is seen as the safer of the two safe havens.
The Economist gets quoted in German media with a report on that the HTS and Russia have started formal negotiations. The HTS demands full diplomatic recognition and economic aid and cooperation for leaving the bases to Russia. A HTS spokesman gets quoted with that "it is not about ideology, but about interests." The HTS obviously wants to avoid getting isolated and cut off from foreign aid like the Taleban in Afghanistan. So far Russia has offered only humanitarian aid, The Economist reports further. It remains to be seen if they value their bases that much that they will comply with the Syrian demands.
According to military analysts, Russian bases moving to Libya would be more vulnerable to NATO attcks in case of a war, Syria is seen as the safer of the two safe havens.
Look,Turkey backed by the NATO collapsed Syria.It's just another chess move against Russia.I for one if i live long enough want to see NATO destroyed. They have become not the World's Defender's.The Ideology of Democracy is no different than the past Ideology's is it ? I live in the country where you would think freedom exist.I can't afford to leave this country and see what is across the ocean that separates us.
And this government.Will not allow it. We would never come back. World dominice and if it means billions will die so be it. As long as Democracy has its own thousand year existence. And the worst for you is knowing your country will be obliterated again. All because the world's wealthiest will kill to stay in power,.
Look,Turkey backed by the NATO collapsed Syria.It's just another chess move against Russia.I for one if i live long enough want to see NATO destroyed. They have become not the World's Defender's.The Ideology of Democracy is no different than the past Ideology's is it ? I live in the country where you would think freedom exist.I can't afford to leave this country and see what is across the ocean that separates us.
And this government.Will not allow it. We would never come back. World dominice and if it means billions will die so be it. As long as Democracy has its own thousand year existence. And the worst for you is knowing your country will be obliterated again. All because the world's wealthiest will kill to stay in power,.
Oh, Damn the restrictions are strong on Subsim. Do not think you will get 2 paragraphs of opinion here if your not blue.
Exocet25fr
12-18-24, 06:02 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHtTrWbxSEc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIMWfJmti7E
The Economist gets quoted in German media with a report on that the HTS and Russia have started formal negotiations. The HTS demands full diplomatic recognition and economic aid and cooperation for leaving the bases to Russia. A HTS spokesman gets quoted with that "it is not about ideology, but about interests." The HTS obviously wants to avoid getting isolated and cut off from foreign aid like the Taleban in Afghanistan. So far Russia has offered only humanitarian aid, The Economist reports further. It remains to be seen if they value their bases that much that they will comply with the Syrian demands.
According to military analysts, Russian bases moving to Libya would be more vulnerable to NATO attcks in case of a war, Syria is seen as the safer of the two safe havens.The new rulers face a huge task. More than 14 million refugees and displaced persons cannot return home properly until there is indeed a home. Most of the time, there is none. Reconstruction requires something of an economy, which also barely exists, plus some stability. That too is lacking in parts of the country where rival, sometimes Mafioso rebel groups call the shots. The new Syria lies in ruins, after 13 years of war. Car rides through Idlib province and around the city of Aleppo leave no doubt about that, elsewhere in the country it is no different. Entire villages and urban neighbourhoods have been shot to pieces. At best, concrete skeletons stand tall. Not a mortal to be seen.
The new government will have 14 provinces under its control, with a multitude of armed groups and minorities like alawites, Christians, Druze, not to mention the Kurds with their fait accompli, an autonomous region. If HTS makes a deal with the Russians, they will never get the foreign support Syria so desperately needs. Sanctions will not be lifted if we see the creation of an Islamic state, which none of the other factions will accept. The democratic Kurdish faction will not, and the Druze have already indicated that they would rather live under Israeli rule than under the next dictator, HTS. Who will help them Russia? Nah, so this rumor of Russia keeping its bases is just rumours there are no indications otherwise Russian FSB playing the western media.
Skybird
12-18-24, 09:47 AM
^ That might be Western reasoning - but not nessecarily that of HTS.
Meanwhile it gets reported Turkey mulls a larger scale invasion of Syria, probably to go after the Kurds, and to widen its own influence inside Syria, Greater Turkey and Osmania 2.0 and all that... Confidence of such reports is undeclared.
^ That might be Western reasoning - but not nessecarily that of HTS.
Meanwhile it gets reported Turkey mulls a larger scale invasion of Syria, probably to go after the Kurds, and to widen its own influence inside Syria, Greater Turkey and Osmania 2.0 and all that... Confidence of such reports is undeclared.This is reasoning of the HTS the economy of Idlib that is sanctioned HTS wants to get those lifted else HTS can not rule. Turkey does this for years not with boots but with air force support to the SNA turkey backed IS/Al-Qaeda groups. Nothing new, we know who is IS/Al-Qaeda and Turkey is one of them. Kurds fight for at least a decade on two fronts, IS/Al-Qaeda and Turkey.Attacks from Turkish-backed forces on our Syrian Kurdish partners undermine regional security and efforts to prevent an ISIS resurgence. Turkey must accept a ceasefire and demilitarized zone, or we’ll move forward with bipartisan sanctions legislation.https://thehill.com/policy/international/5044667-van-hollen-graham-sanctions-turkey-ceasefire-syria/
Jimbuna
12-18-24, 11:20 AM
Netanyahu's bold move: Israeli forces claim buffer zone in Syria
The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced that Israeli troops would occupy a buffer zone in Syria "for the foreseeable future." This marks the first occurrence of an incumbent Israeli leader advancing so far into Syrian territory.
The decision to occupy the buffer zone has sparked a wave of criticism. Opponents accuse Israel of breaching the 1974 ceasefire and exploiting the turmoil in Syria to annex new territories.
In addition to conducting military operations against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel has resolved to seize further areas in Syria.
According to Palestinian doctors, the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of at least eight family members, including women and children. The international organisation Médecins Sans Frontières reported the closure of the emergency room in southern Gaza due to the threat posed by Israeli military actions.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/netanyahu-s-bold-move-israeli-forces-claim-buffer-zone-in-syria/ar-AA1w4tSI?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=67b4316c52bd4e088a97fed289bb7713&ei=19
Skybird
12-18-24, 11:47 AM
This is reasoning of the HTS the economy of Idlib that is sanctioned HTS wants to get those lifted else HTS can not rule.
Thats why HTS negotiates with Russia over diplomatic recognition - and economic support. If Russia gives that, they can do a deal. Who gives them that - is of secondary interest, and the Russians would not mind if the HTS later lets the mask fall and pisses the Western philantropists. "Interest before ideology." (^) Also, HTS is aware of Western concerns for Syria falling into a multi-front civil war, and that this outlook may prevent the West from being a reliable economic supporter. Hence, Russia maybe even is the preferred option, even if the civilian population hates them - the HTS seems to look at it quite pragmatic.
The Russian manouvering to bring their troops to the airfield maybe is just negotiation tactic, to mount pressure on the HTS: "We are on our way out anyway, so tone down your demands if you want aid from us, else we are gone."
Its all open, I only say that I do not take any results this or that way as granted in advance. Maybe the Russians leave for Libya for sure. But its premature to say already now that they do. What we know is that Russia and HTS hold negotiations. And apparently on a higher intensity level than with the envoy of the EU.
^Russia can not invest in Syria, it does not have the means or can lift the sanctions that are main reason for the state of the Syrian economy could not support Syria in the past also never in the future. If Russia could it had not let the Assad regime fall they had a stable person in power with HTS they have none certainty it will become unstable. Russia could/can only offer a lifeline, no structural aid for the Syrian economy. Nobody and utterly nobody will invest in a Russian vassal.
The situation in Libya is different from Syria; there, the Russians had official agreements with Assad, the country's sovereign leader. Haftar does not have that status, which means the Russians cannot set up an official air base either. Added to this, Haftar is 81 years old. His sons are already fighting over who will take over after their father's death, according to analysts. This does not help the warlord's stability as a potential partner of the Russians. A naval base near Port Sudan would give the Russians strategic access to the Red Sea. From there, the Russians would be able to reach more western countries in the Sahel by land. This would require an end to the Sudanese civil war, which has been raging in the East African country since April. Djibouti is strategically located on the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, through which a lot of cargo traffic between Europe and Asia passes. For this reason, China, Japan, Italy and France have bases there. The largest US army base on the African continent, Camp Lemonnier, is also located in Djibouti. The Russians first expressed in 2012 that they also wanted to settle in Djibouti, a request that Djibouti later rejected under US pressure, as the Djibouti government ‘wanted to prevent the country from becoming terrain for a proxy war’.
For HTS the only pragmatic option is going for the western and Arab block, they can lift sanctions that destroyed the Syrian economy and have the means to boost it. Russia, the pariah never it, is an origami tiger.
Russia is withdrawing advanced air-defense systems and other sophisticated arms from bases in Syria and shifting them to Libya, U.S. and Libyan officials said, as Moscow scrambles to preserve a military presence in the Middle East... https://www.wsj.com/world/russia-air-defense-bases-syria-libya-25810db0?2 <- Paywall!
Jimbuna
12-19-24, 12:34 PM
Syria not a threat to world, rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa tells BBC
The de facto leader of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has said the country is exhausted by war and is not a threat to its neighbours or to the West.
In an interview with the BBC in Damascus, he called for sanctions on Syria to be lifted.
"Now, after all that has happened, sanctions must be lifted because they were targeted at the old regime. The victim and the oppressor should not be treated in the same way," he said.
Sharaa led the lightning offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime less than two weeks ago. He is the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the dominant group in the rebel alliance, and was previously known by his nom de guerre of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.
He said HTS should be de-listed as a terrorist organisation. It is designated as one by the UN, US, EU and UK, among many others, as it started as a splinter group of al-Qaeda, which it broke away from in 2016.
Sharaa said HTS was not a terrorist group.
They did not target civilians or civilian areas, he said. In fact, they considered themselves to be victim of the crimes of the Assad regime.
He denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan.
Sharaa said the countries were very different, with different traditions. Afghanistan was a tribal society. In Syria, he said, there was a different mindset.
He said he believed in education for women.
"We've had universities in Idlib for more than eight years," Sharaa said, referring to Syria's north-western province that has been held by rebels since 2011.
"I think the percentage of women in universities is more than 60%."
And when asked whether the consumption of alcohol would be allowed, Sharaa said: "There are many things I just don't have the right to talk about because they are legal issues."
He added that there would be a "Syrian committee of legal experts to write a constitution. They will decide. And any ruler or president will have to follow the law".
Sharaa was relaxed throughout the interview, wearing civilian clothes, and tried to offer reassurance to all those who believe his group has not broken with its extremist past.
Many Syrians do not believe him.
The actions of Syria's new rulers in the next few months will indicate the kind of country they want Syria to be - and the way they want to rule it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05p9g2nqmeo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efKFRgGzI80
Markus
Jimbuna
12-20-24, 01:45 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7pt9xXIP0s
After a US meeting with HTS leader today, Barbara Leaf said Ahmad al-Sharaa (AKA Jolani) had committed to not allowing terror groups to operate in Syria and threaten US or neighbouring countries. As a result, the US won’t pursue $10 million “reward for justice” on al-Sharaa. https://www.axios.com/2024/12/20/us-syria-diplomats-meet-hts-leader
Syria's foreign trade has been decimated by sanctions. Just lifting them will not be enough for recovery, years of civil war have severely damaged the economy. Before the civil war, oil and agriculture were Syria's biggest sources of income. Much of the oil went to Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Those exports are no longer possible due to sanctions. The Syrian economy shrank by more than 75 per cent during the civil war. Gross domestic product fell from $60 billion to less than $15 billion between 2010 and 2021. In 2010, exports accounted for about 20 per cent of GDP, 11 years later 7 per cent.
Estimates of total reconstruction costs range from $100 billion to a trillion. Inflation is sky-high, reaching 139.6 per cent in 2023, a more than doubling of prices in one year. Over a quarter of Syrians live in extreme poverty, living on less than $2.15 a day. HTS, another group or another foreign power alone can solve this. HTS must cooperate with everyone though, if not Syria will remain the same, another disaster on top of the old one.
Jimbuna
12-22-24, 12:30 PM
One potential problem many countries will bear in mind is simply.....if we give them expensive aid, will they later turn on us?
We have to do something else we are certain it bites us in the ass, and we need to dim the foreign actors, they are the ones that make Syria an extreme jihadi state. Erdoğan says he is fighting terrorism, while he is the one who brought tens of thousands of terrorists into Syria from Turkey, and today he wants to tell us that there is no ISIS organization. In reality, ISIS is still inside Syrian territory and carrying out terrorist attacks. Since the beginning of the month, ISIS has carried out operations that led to the killing of more than 90 people and there are 50,000 ISIS fighters in Kurdish prisons when they are freed it is over for Syria and us to. We can then start over with in Ukraine needed resources.
Seems like there's in their interest to see these 50.000 ISIS warriors free ?
Markus
From the moment Assad left the country, ISIS backed by Turkey groups started operations to free the men from SDF prisons. The SDF could prevent this, that is why we see the coalition bombing operations on resurfaced from the desert ISIS fighters.
Otto Harkaman
12-22-24, 04:11 PM
Turkish foreign minister says no room for Kurdish militants in Syria's future
Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan meets with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, in Damascus, Syria, December 22, 2024.
https://www.reuters.com/resizer/v2/WCI5TI3ALFPRFORLP43M6AV7GU.jpg?auth=f8c86dcbfc92fd a2b9b7066b1e07f995bf100ba9b7943da42894dea2da8cc123&width=960&quality=80
This is economical the one with the deepest pockets will get HTS on his side and Turkey ain't has deep pockets the Arabs, Europe and the US are the only ones that can save the economy of Syria. If HTS chooses otherwise, they stay in the Middle Ages. It’s as if the Turkish Foreign Minister (Hakan Fidan) came only to (Damascus) incite against the SDF and seek approval to support the fight against the SDF.
The SDF is all over the place, not just at the Manbij frontline but several frontlines. The SDF is on the offensive near Manbij, painting the grey zone near the Euphrates crossings yellow. This comes after daily clashes despite a supposed ceasefire. The SDF control the town of Tishrin and the village of Qushlat Yusuf Basha just to the north of it. SDF drone watches some SNA fighters withdrawing from the area around the Tishrin Dam. The SDF is taking advantage of cloudy, rainy weather to launch this operation. The hope is that it limits the ability of Turkish drones to assist the SNA on the ground, allowing the SDF to exploit their qualitative advantage. The SDF has knocked out a tank belonging to the SNA at Abu Qalqal. A different axis opened tonight. But things are still moving and there's no guarantee they'll be solidified.
Jimbuna
12-24-24, 11:30 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFsuuOZ8M9Y
Syria's new ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa has reached an agreement with rebel leaders to disband all rebel groups. The former rebels should then be transferred to the defence ministry. This is according to a statement from the new Syrian authority. Al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, himself led an offensive as a rebel leader that ended President Bashar al-Assad's regime early this month. He already announced his intention to make all armed groups in Syria into one army. He also wants all weapons in the country to come under state control. Syria has numerous rebel groups. Al-Sharaa faces the task of preventing clashes between the groups.
Jimbuna
12-24-24, 12:14 PM
Wish him the best of luck with that and will believe when it happens.
Wish him the best of luck with that and will believe when it happens.The SDF will never disband if there are no guaranties that the SNA and Turkey will not attack them. And the new Syrian army will have to have SDF command included the Kurdish region has to have autonomy democratic government that it now has HTS needs all the luck convincing the Kurds all that.
In northern Syria, Kurdish militias have launched a counter-offensive against a pro-Turkish rebel group. The SDF fighters claim they have advanced in the vicinity of Manbij. That city was recently taken by the Turkey-affiliated militant group SNA. There is heavy fighting in several places in the area. SDF claims the group has driven out pro-Turkish militia in several villages. A local monitoring group also reports this based on eyewitnesses, but there is no independent confirmation yet. An SDF spokesman says the fighters have approached Manbij to within 10 kilometres. Shelling is also reported near Aleppo. Meanwhile, the US seems to be sending a signal to Turkey. Videos and photos are surfacing of US army vehicles in the northern city of Kobani. These vehicles may be a show of support for Kurdish militias, who fear SNA wants to take the city. Kobani is on the border with Turkey and has been bombed by Turkish fighter jets in recent days. The situation in the border area with Turkey has been under high tension for weeks. Negotiations between the SDF and SNA on a ceasefire have stalled.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said last Sunday that these militias should disband themselves. Fidan was then visiting Syria's new leader, Sharaa. An SDF spokesman said the Kurdish militias were in danger of being excluded from negotiations on power-sharing in Damascus. ‘Turkey is trying to exclude us, through attacks, from this,’ he said. The SDF is largely controlled by the Kurdish YPG and claims they are being forced into a counter-offensive. The SDF do not want to give up their power, their goal is to maintain the autonomy they have amassed in the northeast over the past decade. You can forget about the Kurds disbanding and joining the new Syrian army. With that, Al-Sharaa already faces a major problem in forming a unitary state with an accompanying unified army. Last weekend, after a meeting with Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, he announced in a stern tone that the new rulers would ‘absolutely not tolerate any weapons in the country that are outside the control of the state’. Earlier, a senior HTS military leader said that Kurdish-controlled areas would come under the new Syrian leadership.
The question, however, is how far Al-Sharaa is willing to go to enforce it. After all, he cannot afford an armed conflict with the Kurds. The United States, as the Kurds main ally, has made it clear that it will not then lift sanctions against HTS. However, the Kurdish issue is not the only problem Al-Sharaa faces in integrating all militant groups. The animosity between HTS and various rebel groups under the SNA is also high. The Islamist rebel group Jaysh al-Islam, which had its power base in the Ghouta region, around Damascus, during the civil war. Jaysh al-Islam drove HTS out of Ghouta in 2017, and later joined the pro-Turkish rebels. How will you ever manage to get these groups to reconcile? With the fall of Assad, they have lost their common enemy. One rebel leader will not simply accept being lower in the pecking order than another rebel leader. And then the rebel leaders, who currently all have their own territory from which they generate revenue, will also wonder how, under Al-Sharaa's leadership, they can be assured that they will not lose out. Money plays an important role in this, and can do so again now to speed up the integration of the various militant groups. With it, Al-Sharaa can, for example, buy off a rebel leader who is frustrated with his new role in the army. Or Al-Sharaa will have to fall back on repression. But then we will be back to square one.
HTS has begun a crackdown on protests in the newly captured areas in the cities of Lattakia, Jableh, Qardaha, and Homs. Soldiers of the new Syrian government under HTS and the Turkish led SNA have executed 5 alawite civilians and stepped on their dead bodies they have set fire to the tomb of *Hamdan Al Khasibi* who is among the most important and known alawite scholars. Across Syria, in the coastal areas of Latakia, Tartus, Hama, Homs and dozens of villages, Alawites have started to protest these attacks against their community. Soldiers of the new Syrian government have opened fire on the protestors, killed several of them and wounded dozens. Do not care or think reasons for protest are truth but look how the HTS suppress this, that will be the true face of the new Syrian government. In the meantime, the people of North-East Syria are with SDF, YPG and YPJ. To show their support, in all the major cities of the democratic region big demonstrations took place over the last days peacefully.
Jimbuna
12-26-24, 01:46 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAqVt64EthU
Jimbuna
12-27-24, 12:01 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZMepBhBC-Q
U.S. Reportedly Setting Up New Base In Northern Syria (https://www.twz.com/news-features/u-s-reportedly-setting-up-new-base-in-northern-syria)A half dozen years after abandoning Kobani, U.S. forces are reportedly building a base in this northern Syrian city on the Turkish border that has been riven by strife between Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkish-backed forces. This all comes as a new Syrian government is trying to establish control over the country after ousting Bashar al-Assad.
Several videos and images have emerged on social media claiming to show U.S. troops and equipment heading toward Kobani, reportedly to build a new international coalition base. The U.S. has a presence of about 2,000 troops in Syria, ostensibly deployed to continue the ongoing fight against ISIS. That fight apparently came to the U.S. on Wednesday, when a man claiming ISIS affiliation carried out a deadly attack in New Orleans.
Skybird
01-03-25, 06:14 AM
Germany's Annalena has come over Syria in a surprise visit to fix things and sort it all out.
May Allah have mercy with them.
Jimbuna
01-03-25, 06:31 AM
:haha:
Jimbuna
01-03-25, 06:42 AM
Oh the irony of it all :)
Syrian ex-leader Assad survives poisoning in Moscow asylum
Deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was reportedly poisoned in his flat in Moscow. A Russian channel on Telegram conveyed this information.
According to the media, former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad suddenly fell ill on Sunday in his Moscow flat.
At a certain point, he began to "cough violently and choke." According to informants, tests revealed that he had been poisoned. He was then treated at his home, and his current condition is stable.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/syrian-ex-leader-assad-survives-poisoning-in-moscow-asylum/ar-AA1wS70U?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=3f2a7cf082324ae5bc2252a28c12be0e&ei=14
Catfish
01-03-25, 07:24 AM
^ I wonder who in this world would be capable of such a poisoning, in Russia.
:hmmm::hmmm::hmmm:
Skybird
01-03-25, 07:44 AM
Beware a rusty Samova. :D
Jimbuna
01-03-25, 07:53 AM
Might be something as trivial as having fallen into arrears with his rent :)
Catfish
01-03-25, 05:33 PM
^ oh yes.
Seems he was not able to transfer his.. assets from Syriah to Russia.
Inexcusable for a democraticaly elected russian president who cares so much for democratically elected leaders of other nations.
Jimbuna
01-04-25, 12:17 PM
^:haha:
Coalition forces bolster security measures in Rojava amid regional challenges (https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/818209)
According to a U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) statement, coalition forces have reinforced their security presence in Western Kurdistan (Rojava – northern Syria), with M2A3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle crews carrying out perimeter security operations at a coalition site on Dec. 14, 2024. The statement emphasized that the International Coalition continues to preserve security and stability within the joint operations area, employing proper defensive measures to maintain readiness against potential threats targeting coalition forces and partners attempting to destabilize the region.
In a parallel diplomatic development, a top U.S. delegation visited Syria in December 2024, where officials discussed critical matters regarding political transition and regional stability. The United States reiterated its commitment to working with relevant parties to advance comprehensive political solutions in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254, highlighting support for the Syrian people's aspirations toward a secure and stable future. The International Coalition, led by the United States, has upheld a military presence in Syria since 2014 as part of Operation Inherent Resolve to combat ISIS.
UN Security Council Resolution 2254, adopted in December 2015, outlines the roadmap for a peace process in Syria, urging a Syrian-led political transition, including constitutional reform and UN-supervised elections. The resolution remains a keystone of international diplomatic attempts to resolve the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011. The Bradley Fighting Vehicle, specifically the M2A3 variant, signifies a vital component of coalition ground forces' capabilities in Syria, providing both offensive and defensive abilities while conducting security operations in the region.
Jimbuna
01-07-25, 01:05 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N_zA0ziBeM
Jimbuna
01-10-25, 12:50 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un4dfUkSmTw
Syrian government refuses Russian ships access to port in TartusRussian ships have been unable to enter the Tartus port in Syria, where they have been stuck at outer anchorage for several days A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy, Dmytro Pletenchuk, shared the information on national television. "The situation in the Mediterranean is quite interesting. They (Russian ships - ed.) are still at sea. They have not been granted permission to enter the [Tartus] port… As of now, they’ve been stuck on the outer anchorage for several days and cannot enter the port," he stated, without specifying the number of vessels involved.
At the same time, the Militarnyi outlet, citing MarineTraffic data, reports that the ship Sparta, which Moscow uses to transport military equipment, has been unable to enter Tartus for 5 days. "This puts the evacuation of Russian weapons and equipment from Syria in jeopardy. Russia’s only foreign naval base is located in Tartus. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Russians brought a significant number of trucks with equipment here.," the report states. https://global.espreso.tv/sanctions-russia-syrian-government-refuses-russian-ships-access-to-port-in-tartus
Jimbuna
01-11-25, 09:08 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXzsbNuZZ3s
Syria Terminates Russian Naval Base DealSyria’s new government terminated a treaty granting Russia a long-term military presence in the Mediterranean, a deal brokered under ousted leader Bashar al-Assad, Syrian media reported Tuesday. The agreement, signed in 2017, extended the Russian Navy’s lease on the port of Tartus for 49 years. However, its future became uncertain after Assad was overthrown by Islamist rebels last month.
The de facto authorities in Tartus reportedly annulled the agreement and demanded the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces, the Syrian opposition news outlet Shaam reported Monday, citing the regime’s ministry of information. Authorities also said that revenue from the port would “now benefit the Syrian state,” reversing the previous agreement under which Russia received 65% of Tartus’ profits. The report added that Syria’s new leadership may investigate the treaty’s economic impact on the country.
Moscow has not yet issued a statement regarding the reported termination of the Tartus lease. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered military intervention in Syria in 2015 to bolster Assad’s regime during the civil war, has sought to downplay the fall of Assad. Putin claimed that Russia had achieved its objectives in Syria despite the regime change.
On Sunday, the new Syrian government reportedly imposed bans on imports from Russia, Iran and Israel. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/01/22/syria-terminates-russian-naval-base-deal-reports-a87690
Jimbuna
01-23-25, 09:36 AM
Hopefully they'll maintain their stance but I suspect they'll reverse their position after they've sucked as much as they can get out of the West.
The outbreak of violence in western Syria has reportedly left more than a thousand dead in a matter of days. There are reports of dozens of summary executions of civilians and militants. Middle East expert Kawa Hassan of US think tank Stimson fears a new chapter in the 14-year civil war. After all, how much violence will the country's new rulers use to defeat opponents? ‘The situation is spiralling out of control,’ he says. The violence began when former soldiers from the army of ousted dictator Assad took up arms against the new rulers. Last Thursday, they carried out a full-scale attack on order troops of interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa.
The armed group calls itself the Military Council for the Liberation of Syria (MRBS). Their leader is a former general, Gaith Dalah, who they say ‘wants to liberate the country’. ‘But he is just a killer from Assad's fourth army division,’ says Hassan. The US imposed sanctions against Dalah over the infamous poison gas attack in Ghouta in 2014, which killed an estimated 1,400 civilians. Following Thursday's attack by MRBS, Al-Sharaa launched a counter-offensive. ‘You have attacked all Syrians,’ the interim president said on Friday, “by targeting those who protect Syria, storming hospitals and terrorising innocents”. He announced that ‘the remnants of the fallen regime’ will be hunted down and stated that ‘criminals will be given a fair trial’.
Today, Al-Sharaa called the violence ‘one of the challenges already expected’ by the new ruler. His forces managed to defeat Assad's forces in December with relatively little resistance, but supporters of the former dictator still remain in the country. Coastal towns of Latakia, Tartous and some surrounding villages are now occupied by military and armed groups loyal to Al-Sharaa. A curfew has been imposed due to a manhunt for MRBS fighters. Access roads have been closed. According to eyewitnesses, militias linked to the current regime have committed massacres on a large scale. However, there are few, if any, independent journalists in the area to verify this information. The reported victims are Alawites, the minority to which Assad also belongs. Thousands of them have fled for fear of new reprisals. There is still hard fighting between MRBS and the patchwork of forces supporting the interim president.
A fleeing resident of the city of Baniyas told news agency AP that bodies were lying in the streets. ‘It was very bad,’ 57-year-old Ali Sheha said. According to him, at least 20 local residents were killed, some in their shops or homes. He claims that at least one person was asked for an identity card to check what religion the person had, before being killed. There was also alleged looting and theft. In Latakia, a body was dragged through the streets behind a car, the BBC (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrxkm2evnlo) has established from two videos on social media.
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), several hundred civilians have been killed, although even these figures are unconfirmed. An anonymous government source speaks to Syrian state media of ‘individual violations’. It is unclear what exactly is meant by this and whether the regime has done anything about it. There should be a UN commission of enquiry as soon as possible to establish what happened, Hassan says. According to him, it is already clear that leaders affiliated with the al-Sharaa government were inciting their supporters to violence against alawites in inflammatory videos. ‘Even the intelligence chief and the defence ministry have called on people to go to the coastal area. Pro-regime demonstrators have also said live on TV: Syria is Sunni and will remain so for the next thousand years.’
Al-Sharaa heads the Sunni group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a militia that emerged from terror movement al-Qaida. Al-Sharaa presents himself as moderate towards the international community. When he took office as interim president in late January, it was hoped that he could unite Syria's many ethnic groups, although there were also concerns what that would mean for minorities in the country, such as Kurds, Druze, Christians and Shiites. According to Hassan, divisions have actually grown under Al-Sharaas transitional government. ‘In the past three months, there were already more liquidations, which were always attributed to individuals. Most of the killings seem to be carried out by foreign jihadists, especially from Uzbekistan and Chechnya. I wonder if the regime is in control of all the armed groups.’ Hassan hopes European and Arab countries will put pressure on Al-Sharaa to act against men who carried out executions. He thinks more international pressure is also needed to make the interim government representative of all people groups in Syria.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0iAz0AMyxA
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