War breaking out in the Middle East: Israel vs Syria, May 2018 (perhaps entangling Iran, Russia and the US)

[shaberon]

A residence in Damascus was destroyed by Israeli missiles and what is not explained is this was the son of a Palestinian resistance commander, who was also assassinated in Gaza. So far, Iron Dome has intercepted twenty of over 200 missiles that made a mess around Rafah.

Around the corner, the Ukranian tycoon who heavily backed the right-wing death squads has turned coat and is seeking rapprochement with Moscow.

[shaberon]

Here is the German answer to the Turkish prisoners: nothing. Just let them go.

Russia has seized Sirrin Airbase as soon as the U. S. bugged out, and have looted a gymnasium. The landing strip will of course turn into a significant asset for humanitarian recovery.

One of Iron Dome's Tamir Interceptors landed in Gaza with its radar and fuse intact, which means thy classified technology are now belong to Gazans. The U. N. has just reaffirmed that Golan belongs to Syria, and Israel should pay Lebanon for the 2006 oil spill. Trump and Erdogan just met, but nothing much seems to have come from it. Instead, the U. S. is invigorating Qamishli.

[shaberon]

Continuing the fracas from the top of the page, Israel claims that four missiles were launched by Iran from inside Syria, all were repelled, and they retributed by annihilating dozens of Iranian and Syrian military installations.

Syria maintains they were watching their radar, the attack came in, and most of it was blocked, except for a few civilian casualties. Israel did not mention civilians.

Why would Iran launch a measly four missiles to achieve nothing but massive return fire?

They are busy with thugs paid $60 to start fires. Again there is a scene of legitimate peaceful protest against gasoline prices, into which, there is a mostly Saudi-backed media blitz, along with a few suitcases full of cash, to exploit the situation and turn it violent. There are now some heavily armed gangs and wounded police. Same way the Syrian situation started. We keep finding international tentacles that buy violence and terror where otherwise there would be little. Meanwhile, terror acts prevented by Homeland Security are believed to amount to zero.

Syria tends to under-report its losses and defeats, but it does seem reliable to say their Frankenstein air defenses get rid of 70-80% of the incoming. Iron Dome probably can block four. What we can also see is they did not enter Syrian airspace beyond Golan. It is relatively easy for them to take jabs at Damascus which is fairly close to them. Oh, and recycle the same story.

Turkey is far from pleased with Israel in general, a few years ago they had almost become fellows, but now with the West Bank, embassy in Jerusalem, etc., it's all evaporated. Their invasiveness to Syria seems to have come to a standstill.

[Cara]

It seems that the UAE and Syria’s President Assad have come to some agreement about the state of affairs in Syria and the Middle East.

[shaberon]

Here, something happened on the border to Iraq.

The U. S. controls most of the Iraqi crossing points, and just bombed the Iraqi Popular Forces at the one they do not. Pretty majorly, 30+ fatalities, 40+ injured.

Well, quite similarly to Israeli behavior, this was response to a small ground rocket that did actually kill an American. Of course, no one is really sure where it came from, but the U. S. is known for having the answers prepared ahead of time. So they attacked the "guilty party" at a location 450 km away.

At this point, U. S. Baghdad Embassy is stormed by thousands of protestors, and they called in Marines to break it up. The same protestors may stop their own Parliament if it does not enact things to drive the U. S. out of Iraq.

This is full of anti-Iran rhetoric, while the Iran sanctions are increasingly seen as a bad idea by legislators. In other words, they are trying to tell Iraq what to do in order to protect everyone from Iran, but there may be a pivot here where the whole thing washes away.

Syria itself just seems to be slowly winning back pieces of Idlib. Turkey has moved elements of the "Free Syrian Army" to Libya.

[silvanelf]

Breaking News

Iran's top general killed in US airstrike in Iraq
Qassem Soleimani: Pentagon confirms US has killed leader of Iran’s Quds Force

The Pentagon has confirmed it killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s most powerful general in Iraq, on the orders of Donald Trump.

Within an hour of news breaking that Soleimani, the head of the elite Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, had been killed in an airstrike at Baghdad Airport, the US said it had carried out the operation and claimed it acted to “deter future Iranian attack plans”.

“At the direction of the president, the US military has taken decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad by killing Qassem Soleimani,” a Pentagon statement said.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a9268486.html

U.S. airstrike kills top Iran general, Qassim Suleimani, at Baghdad airport

Suleimani's death could drastically increase tensions with Iran, which were heightened by the New Year's attacks on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad.

The United States killed a high-profile commander of Iran's secretive Quds Force, the Defense Department said late Thursday.

"At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad," the department said in a statement announcing the death of Qassim Suleimani, a commander of Iran's military forces in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere throughout the Middle East.

The deadly airstrike will raise tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which were already heightened by the New Year's attacks on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad.

Another man, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, said to be the deputy of the militias known as the Popular Mobilization Units and a close adviser to Suleimani, was also killed in the airstrike near Baghdad's airport, according to Iraqi television reports. The PMU tweeted that al-Muhandis and Suleimani were killed when their vehicle was hit on the road to the airport.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/a...iraqi-n1109821

[shaberon]

We have not forgotten this and it is not surprising that Mr. Kolomoysky is in the top post of this page.


They are resuming the complaint about Raqqah to the U. N. Security Council:


The ministry added that the US-led coalition’s aerial attacks in Raqqah took place between June and October 2017 and resulted in the full destruction of the city and the death of thousands of civilians, whose corpses were buried under debris.






Meanwhile the U. S. is actually fortifying its base in the northeast. The military positioning seems to remain stable although Israel keeps doing air attacks. It is long "over", in the sense that an insurrection is not going to flip the government, but it is far from "done".

[shaberon]

This has changed mildly.

Israel and Turkey are using the distraction of Ukraine for escalations.



Like a ricochet shot into a side pocket, here is a somewhat complex response in the northeast at a secondary base:


On May 28, the Russian military deployed reinforcements at al-Qamishli Airport in northeastern Syria in what appears to be a response to Turkey’s recent threats to the region.

According to Russian and Syrian sources, the reinforcements included a number of Su-34 fighter bombers and Ka-52 attack helicopters. Last year, the Russian military stepped up its presence at al-Qamishli Airport turning it into its main base in northeastern Syria.

The deployment came amid reports of ongoing preparations by Turkish military and its proxies to launch a new large-scale operation against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern and northeastern Syria.

In what appears to be an attempt to warn Turkey against making such a move, units from the Syrian Arab Army and the Russian Military Police conducted a joint patrol with officials from the SDF along the frontlines in the northeastern region in the morning. The patrol was escorted by several Russian attack helicopters.

Prior to the joint patrol, warplanes of the Russian Aerospace Forces dropped a number of flash bombs over Turkish-occupied areas in the northeastern region in a clear warning to Turkey’s proxies.

Speaking following a cabinet meeting on May 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara will launch a military operation in Syria to link up two areas already under Turkish control in the northern and northeastern regions of the country.

Since then, the Turkish military and its proxies deployed large forces in the two regions and stepped up their artillery strikes on SDF-held areas.

The US has warned Turkey against launching a new operation in Syria. However, unlike Russian and Syrian forces, the US-led coalition didn’t make any moves to deter the Turkish military and its proxies.

It won’t possible for Turkey to launch a new military operation against the SDF in Syria without a green light from the US. Washington may grant Ankara a green light if it withdraws its objection to the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. Due to this, the SDF’s only chance to survive is likely to improve its relations with Moscow and Damascus, who maintain large forces in the northern and northeastern region.

[shaberon]

Just a little bump from an actual war that has been going on nearly sixty years.

Only one basic thing has changed since 2017:


It is important to understand that Daesh militants are mercenary groups funded by intelligence agencies of the US, Israel, the UK, and Saudi Arabia on behalf of global financial elites who desire a psychopathically inspired one-world governmental system of control and dominance over the world’s people and natural resources.



Dr. Assad said he hasn't found Saudi interference in his country for a few years now.

They have even become somewhat less aggressive in Yemen.

Syria is occupied by Israel, U. S., and Turkey. It has Russian presence by invitation, as well as Hamas and Iran. Daesh was defeated by Trump thanks to the American presence, so, a few days ago, they inflicted significant casualties on a Syrian military bus. As said on August 13:



Kana'ani said the rise in terror attacks in Syria in recent months is due to the continued intelligence, security and logistical support to terrorists with the aim of preventing stability and security in the war-torn country.

The diplomat further noted that helping to create a breathing space for the survival of Daesh and Takfiri terrorists to continue their operations in Syria is a coordinated action in line with the Israeli regime's aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of this country, and they pursue common goals.

On Friday, Daesh ambushed the bus carrying Syrian soldiers in the country’s East, killing dozens and wounding several others. The terrorists surrounded the bus in a desert road near the Eastern town of Mayadeen in Deir Ezzur province that borders Iraq.

Since 2011, Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy, as a result of which Daesh and other terrorist groups emerged in the country.

Syria and its allies, including Iran and Russia, defeated the terrorist outfit in late 2017. Since then, Daesh has been carrying out sporadic attacks across Syria through its remnants and sleeper cells.

Attacks by Daesh sleeper cells in Syria, particularly in the vast desert zones they once controlled, have become bolder and bloodier in recent months.

Israel has also been a key supporter of the terrorist groups during the war and has targeted the positions of the Syrian Army and resistance groups that have been fighting the militants.

Iranian officials have repeatedly denounced the UN Security Council for its silence in the face of the continued Israeli acts of aggression against Syria. They slammed Israeli attacks against civilian population and basic infrastructure in Syria as a flagrant violation of international law and humanitarian rights, and argued that the Security Council’s inaction has emboldened the Tel Aviv regime to broaden the scope of its aggression.

Israel frequently targets military positions inside Syria, especially those of the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah which has played a key role in helping the Syrian Army in its fight against foreign-backed terrorists.

The Tel Aviv regime rarely comments on its cowardly attacks on Syrian territories, which many see as a knee-jerk reaction to the Syrian government’s success in confronting and decimating terrorism.